A Change That Was Long Overdue

Photo by Rick Jackofsky

String change that is. Since we haven't had a show for a few weeks, and knowing I will be going through a half dozen sets of strings for the twelve sets of music I'll be playing over the next couple weeks, I decided to milk my last set of for all they were worth. I was almost getting used to the muffled sound of dead strings . . . NOT!  Nothing like a fresh set of strings! Looking forward to getting back on stage with my fresh Martin SP medium light phosphor bronze acoustic guitar strings and my Larrivee 000-50!

September 18th Rocky Point Farmers Market - Rocky Point, NY

September 24th  Long Island Fair - Old Bethpage, NY

September 25th Long Island Apple Festival - Setauket, NY

October 1st & 2nd The Hudson Valley Garlic Festival - Saugerties, NY

Rocky Point Farmers Market 5th Annual Havest Festival

It's 2016 Fall Festival Season! In the next few weeks we will be wrapping up our 2016 outdoor show schedule. Our next show will be at The Rocky Point Farmers Market's 5th Annual Harvest Festival on Sunday September 18th, where we will be performing two sets between 11 am and 1 pm.

September 18th Rocky Point Farmers Market - Rocky Point, NY

September 24th  Long Island Fair - Old Bethpage, NY

September 25th Long Island Apple Festival - Setauket, NY

October 1st & 2nd The Hudson Valley Garlic Festival - Saugerties, NY

Rocky Point Harvest Fest - Sunday Sept. 13, 2015

The Homegrown String Band™ & Shecky & the Twangtones

Sunday September 13th

At The Rocky Point Farmers Market

2014 Rocky Point Farmers Market Harvest Festival

2014 Rocky Point Farmers Market Harvest Festival

Pig Roast by Naturally Grass Fed

Roast Corn by Sujecki Farms

Music by

Shecky and the Twangtones

&

The Homegrown String Band

Rocky Point Farmers Market Opening Day 2014

Mothers Day, Sunday May 11, 2014 - 8 am to 1 pm

 

 It's opening day at the Rocky Point Farmers and Artisan Market.

  Come on down to Depot Park (Prince Rd. and Broadway) in Rocky Point

to pick up a homegrown or handmade gift for Mom!

Whittling Away the Winter Blues

Well, this has been one of the longest winters I've seen in a while. The music business is always slow this time of year, but this year has been even slower than usual. The bright side is we haven't had to travel in foul weather or worry about last minute show cancellations (my glass is always half full). Now we finally have a couple shows to tell you about. This Sunday, March 9, 2014, we will be "flying" off to Tenafly, NJ, for a free show at the Tenafly Public Library. The show starts at 2:00 pm. Daylight savings time starts at 2:00 am, so don't forget to spring ahead or you might not get that front row seat. Saturday April 12, 2014 well be back at The Crazy Beans Cafe in Miller Place for a 7:00 pm show.

I  always look for some interesting way to spend my time when we're not traveling. Two years ago I used our down time to put together my banjo tutorial, Ragged but Right: The Ungentle Art of Clawhammer Banjo. Last year I restored a couple of old banjos and took up maple sugaring. This year the weather has even been too cold to make syrup. The daytime temps need to be above freezing for the sap to run, but this year we haven't had more than two or three days in a row where the mercury has risen past the 32 degree mark. This winter I conquered my winter cabin fever by teaching myself some whittling and woodcarving. So far I've made 20 wooden spoons using only hand tools. I rough out the spoons using a hand axe and finish them with knives, gouges and sandpaper. I should have a nice inventory by the time the Rocky Point Farmers Market opens on Mothers Day, May 11th.

Tenafly Public Library
100 Riveredge Road
Tenafly, New Jersey 07670
201-568-8680

From "The Market" to Montrose

2013 Rocky Point Harvest Fest - photo by Charlie Bevington

This year's Rocky Point Farmers Market  Fall Festival was a huge success, a big crowd and perfect weather along with great food, drink, and music. A big thanks to everyone who helped make it happen. It is really nice to be part of a hometown event, like "The Market," that helps to bring the community together while supporting local agriculture and arts.

The Homegrown String Band will take to the road for the next two weeks with performances at the Hendick Hudson Library, in Montrose, NY on September 22, 2013 and at the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY on September 28 and 29, 2013. The band will be back on Long Island for the Setauket Fall Festival, which takes place October 5, 2013 on the grounds of the Emma S. Clark Library.

Rocky Point Farmers Market Harvest Festival

This Sunday, September 15, 2013, the Second Annual Rocky Point Farmers and Artisan Market Fall Festival will take place at Depot Park in downtown Rocky Point. The park is located at the corner of Prince Road and Broadway, adjacent to Thurber Lumber and Gracie's Restaurant. The festival will feature the usual offerings by food, farm, and craft vendors, as well as a pig roast, courtesy of Naturally Grass Fed, and music by none other than Rocky Point's own neo-traditional, high energy, old-time 20th century family string band, The Homegrown String Band, and Long Island's number one beach, surf rock band, Shecky and the Twangtones. The festival will be starting at 8 am and continuing on throughout the day till 4 pm. The Homegrown String Band will be performing from 11am 'til 1 pm. The Twangtones will take the stage at 2 pm and play 'til 3:30pm.

Rocky Point Farmers and Artisan Market

The Homegrown String Band provides the sound track for the Rocky Point Farmers and Artisan Market promotional video.

Every Sunday 8am to 1pm from May to November
Prince Road - Rocky Point, NY

Rocky Point Farmers Market Winds Down

Annalee minding the store at the Rocky Point Farmers Market 

Today was our last day at the Rocky Point Farmers Market. This was the first year for the local market place sponsored by the Rocky Point Civic Association. The market started out slowly in May and built up to a peak with the big Octoberfest pig roast celebration in early October. Since then activity has been gradually winding down as the weather cools and farmer's crops become more limited. As winter sets in I will miss the community spirit that was built and nurtured by this local gathering. I'm already looking forward to springtime in Rocky Point.

This Sunday (November 18, 2012) will officially be the last day for the market, but we wont be there because we have a show next Sunday. The Homegrown String Band will be performing at the East Meadow Library at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. The library is in an area that was hit hard by "Post Tropical Cyclone Sandy". Hopefully we can give folks a break from clean up and recovery with a couple hours of old time music and dance.

East Meadow Library
Sunday, November 18, 2012 @ 2pm

1886 Front Street

East Meadow, NY

516-794-2570

Octoberfest! Rocky Point, NY - Sunday, October 7, 2012

Octoberfest at The Rocky Point Farmers Market

Pig Roast by Naturally Grass Fed Meats

Octoberfest Beer by Rocky Point Artisian Brewers

&

Music by The Homegrown String Band

www.rockypointfarmersmarket.org

A New Arts and Crafts Movement

Gourd bowl with pyrographic design by Georgianne Jackofsky

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century a movement, led by English writer and artist William Morris, sought to restore the glory and appreciation of traditional craftsmanship. The movement took place at a time when the industrial revolution and machine-made products were devaluing skills that had been refined by artists and craftsmen throughout the course of human history. Once again we find ourselves at a crossroads in human history; where artists and designers with unique and valuable skills are being replaced by machines. This time the machines are not the steam, coal, and electric powered inventions of the nineteenth century, but the digitally controlled computer programs of the twenty-first century. There is a New Arts and Crafts movement taking place right now and it is happening on a global scale. In the last century, the movement was centered around schools, communities, and individuals dedicated to preserving traditional art forms. This time around the movement has no clear leader or epicenters of activity. One reason for the difference between the twentieth century movement and the twenty-first century movement is that the same technology that is creating the need for the movement is also aiding the movement by providing easy availability of tools and the rapid dissemination of the information needed to learn the practice, as well as the appreciation, of traditional art forms. The digital genie is out of the bottle and there is no turning back to the age of analog technology, but we should follow the advice of William Morris by recognizing the talents of traditional artists and craftsmen, giving the simple beauty of traditional folk art the respect it deserves.

Now for some shameless self promotion. The Homegrown String Band not only creates homegrown and handmade acoustic music, we are also practitioners of traditional arts and crafts. Annalee has created her own line of handmade soaps and lotions, Erica is a well known knitter and designer who creates original knitting and crochet patterns as well as a line of hand dyed yarn. Georgianne is an amazing artist who creates incredible works of beauty using pyrography (drawing with fire) on wood and gourds, as well as fashioning copper, brass, and aluminum wire jewelry. I work in copper, silver, pewter, wood, and fiber to create jewelry, decorative art, spoons, bowls, buttons and Navajo spindles

You can find us hawking our wares, every Sunday (if we are not doing a show) through November, at The Rocky Point Farmers Market located on Prince Road just east of Broadway (Old Depot Park) in Rocky Point, NY. We put up two tents and several tables displaying soaps, sundries, jewelry, gourd art, copper bowls, knitwear, and hand dyed yarn. Stop by and support the New American Arts and Crafts Movement. While you're there you can also stock up on organic produce, nursery stock, eggs, grass fed beef, free range chickens, and maybe catch a few tunes.