The Drum Boogie Festival®

Welcome.

Drummaster — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:43:22 +0000

Coming Soon…Drum Boogie Festival 2013!

Stay tuned for upcoming news for Drum Boogie Festival 2013!

Most recent past Drum Boogie Festival event:

Fabulous Drum Boogie In Woodstock

The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild presented the first ever Byrdcliffe Festival of the Arts in Woodstock, NY (Colony of the Arts) from Friday, July 13^th to Sunday, July 15^th. The Drum Boogie Festival was one of nine Festival Presenting Partners that Byrdcliffe joined creative forces with. The schedule was jam-packed with a diverse selection of artistically rich presentations: story-telling (the spoken and written word), film, dance, music (and the sung word).

On Saturday, the DRUM BOOGIE FESTIVAL® offered a concert called “Garry and Friends,” which was a mini-version of our biennial, all-day-long DRUM BOOGIE FESTIVAL. The “Garry and Friends” concert exemplified the Drum Boogie theme, it was definitely -A Celebration of World Drums and Drummers- with performances in the first set by: Matoaka Little Eagle and Powhatan Swift Eagle, Valerie Naranjo and Barry Olsen, POOK and Evry Mann and the Energy Dance Company, and in the second set by: NEXUS members yours truly and Russell Hartenberger with guest Chris Earley. The audience participated in numerous ways: clapping, singing, toe-tapping – heads were bopping and I saw a few jaws drop in amazement too. The audience was turned on and responded wildly to the eclectic mix of world-class drummers and dancers. The instruments were acoustic but the feeling in the Byrdcliffe Barn was electric. In fact, I built a set of three acoustic instruments for the Steve Reich piece we did, Mallet Phase. The three instruments, tuned in the ancient system of ‘just intonation’, were a large African style xylophone, a very large metallophone made of Woodstock Chimes tubes and a cool sounding instrument made of resonators on which the openings are “slapped” with flip-flop like mallets.

On Sunday, the DRUM BOOGIE FESTIVAL® offered a workshop for children ages 5-12 led by musician and music educator Dave Laks. The workshop called, “Open Ears” taught participants how to build an instrument –in this case a tambourine with a personal story or design depicted on the drum head! Dave paced his workshop with the seasoned wisdom of an educator; there were periods of concentration mixed with break-out sessions of participation and movement. The great selections of music that accompanied his lesson helped focus and energize the participants accordingly. Each child was accompanied by a parent, friend or guardian -they seemed to enjoy the workshop as much as their young attendee.

We’re happy that the Woodstock Chimes Fund produced the Drum Boogie Festival element of the Byrdcliffe Festival of the Arts event. All in all we had a great time and we feel this ‘festival of festivals’ ignited anticipation for our next all-day-long, Free DRUM BOOGIE FESTIVAL® – in Fall 2013. Keep posted and poised to boogie with us again! A big thank you goes out to all that made that weekend of amazing events happen.

Garry Kvistad

Drum Boogie Festival is Booming Success

woodstockchimes — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:01:54 +0000

Drum Boogie Festival 2011 Photos By Ruth Rich and Steven Silberstein

The 2011 Drum Boogie Festival was a huge success thanks to the wonderful performers, sponsors and volunteers.

We were able to give $3000 to Family of Woodstock for the Kathy Janeczek Memorial Fund which will benefit Breast Cancer Tre

atment in the Hudson Valley as a result of the fundraising effort organized by the Woodstock Chimes Fund which produced the free festival.

Bread Alone, Walters-Storyk Design Group, Precision Flow Technologies, Markertek.com, Woodstock Chimes and Two Boogie Friends were the major sponsors while additional support came from Stewart’s Shops, Steve Weiss Music, First Niagara Bank, the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, Ulster Publishing, Herzog’s Home Center, Arthur Anderson, Miller/Howard Investments and many more.

Local restaurants and distributors supplied food and beverages for the performers throughout the day. Interage Mediaworks sponsored the website and provided beautiful graphics for marketing the festival. Family of Woodstock supplied volunteers, SUNY Ulster students and Woodstock Percussion employees served as stage hands and Nancy Donskoj opened her house to the performers and staff. Live Sound, Inc. of Troy provided a brilliant sound to the festival. The president of the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce Ward Todd was the perfect emcee with his mellifluous voice. Many thanks go out to all of these individuals, businesses and groups, without which, great community events like this would not be possible.

Cornell Park is an absolute gem of a venue for concerts with its amphitheater like setting, great acoustics, view of the Hudson River and access to wonderful shops and restaurants. I hope the powers to be decide to build a permanent stage to encourage more events.

Check out our website for photos and updates of the festival: www.drumboogiefestival.com. We welcome continued financial support to help with the cost of the festival. Thanks again Hudson Valley for your enthusiasm and support.

Boogie On!,
Garry Kvistad, executive director of the Drum Boogie Festival® and CEO of Woodstock Chimes®

The Drum Boogie Raffle!

woodstockchimes — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:04:08 +0000

We have a number of wonderful items to give away on the day of the festival. Raffle tickets are $5.00 each or five for $20.00. All prizes have been generously donated by the companies listed here. Proceeds will help offset the cost of the festival and support the Kathy Janeczek Memorial Fund for Family of Woodstock Breast Cancer Treatment Grants. Look for the Drum Boogie Booth at the festival.

Remo Infinity Mondo® Djembe from Remo, Inc.($430 value). The Infinity Mondo® Djembe features the Mondo®, Skyndeep® Natural Graphic drumhead, newly engineered key-tuned “Contour” brackets and Designers Touch Eco-grain finishes.

Large , Limited Edition 2009 Drum Boogie Festival Poster designed and signed by Milton Glaser from the Woodstock Chimes Fund ($350 value). Hand printed, small run.

16 inch “A” Zildjian Custom Crash Cymbal from the Avedis Zildjian Company ($230 value). Natural, bright, not too high, not too low. Speaks very quickly. Beautiful warm undertones.

14″ Woodstock Hanging Chau Gong ($220 Value). Indoors or out in the garden, this bold design will complement any decor and create a peaceful, meditative mood. This authentic Chinese Gong is hand hammered producing a rich sound with a wide spectrum of sonic colors.

Beat Boogie Custom Snare Drum from Beat Boogie Quality Drums ($180 Value). These drums are built with heavy-duty hardware, triple flanged hoops,vertical throw switch, 20 strand snare wire and an internal mute for a nice crisp pop & full sounding rim shots!

Woodstock Chimes Awakening Bell developed by Jack DeJohnette, John Beaulieu and Garry Kvistad ($100 Value) An instrument for sound healing and relaxation that anyone can play. The Awakening Bell naturally puts the user into a theta, or relaxed state.

Woodstock Chimes of Hope ($35 Value) from Woodstock Chimes. “Chime in” to support breast cancer initiatives. The Chimes of Hope is musically tuned to create pure vibrations of comforting sounds. A portion of the profits from this chime are donated to organizations committed to the fight against breast cancer.

Festival Schedule

woodstockchimes — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:33:24 +0000

9:30 AM Public Drum Circle benefiting Family of Woodstock’s Cancer Treatment Grants Program and the Kathy Janeczek Memorial Fund organized by drumStrong and led by Chet Doboe

11 AM Opening Ceremony with Michael Hein Ulster County Executive, members of the Drum Circle and selected Drum Boogie Soloists

11:15 AM Dennis Yerry, Matoaka and Powhatan, Native American Music and Dance

12 NOON POOK, drumming and Energy Dance Company youth groups

12:50 PM Not So Traditional American Rudimental Drummers

1 PM Xylopholks, Ragtime Quartet and East Indian Drumming with Orlando Hernandez, tap dancer and Liam Teague, Steel Panist

1:50 PM Liam Teague, steel pan solo

2 PM Mandara, African Imbued Jazz Percussion Ensemble and Dance

2:50 PM Not So Traditional American Rudimental Drummers

3 PM NEXUS, Music of Steve Reich

3:50 Liam Teague, steel pan solo

4 PM Jack DeJohnette Jazz Quartet

5 PM Hip Pickles Drum Band with Chet Doboe

5:50 Orlando Hernandez, tap dance solo – Robert Mann, guitar

6 PM NYU Steel Band with Jonathan Haas and Liam Teague soloist

7 PM Jerry Marotta Rock Group with guests NEXUS, Liam Teague, Orlando Hernandez and Tasa Kvistad.

The DRUMSTRONG Drum Circle

Drummaster — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:31:39 +0000

DRUMSTRONG at The Drum Boogie Festival : enjoy hands-on percussion fun with Heart!

September 17, 2011 @ 9:30am for the kick-off DrumCircle! Special treat : Chet Doboe of Hip Pickles will facilitate!

DRUMSTRONG facilitated DrumCircles encourage people to share their spirit and focus their rhythm for positive results and fortification.

DRUMSTRONG brings together the community in an uplifting, informative, rhythm-filled environment; raising awareness & funds for cancer education, research and survivorship support.

DRUMSTRONG at the Drum Boogie Festival will benefit the Kathy Janeczek Memorial Fund which will be administered by Family of Woodstocks Cancer Treatment Grants Program.

DRUMSTRONG :: drumming to BEAT cancer

Please visit WWW.DRUMSTRONG.ORG and come out & play!!!

The Drum Boogie Festival Kickstarter Campaign

Drummaster — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:34:59 +0000

The 2011 Drum Boogie Festival needs your support.

We’ve set up a kickstarter campaign to raise funds – you can donate here.

Announcing the Kathy Janeczek Memorial Fund

Drummaster — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:28:36 +0000

We were all tremendously saddened by the passing of Kathy Janeczek in 2009, City Clerk of Kingston, who assisted us in the planning stages of the first festival.

As a devoted public servant and organizer, her spirit lives on in Kingston and will be present at all Drum Boogie Festivals.

The Kathy Janeczek Memorial Fund will be established in her name to benefit Cancer Research in NY’s Hudson Valley through the Drum Boogie Festival.

Welcome!

Drummaster — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:39:01 +0000

We are happy to announce the 2011 Drum Boogie Festival – a free multi-cultural arts and educational event, celebrating the diverse styles of world percussion to benefit cancer research.

Two years ago, we put together a very special free musical event in Kingston which drew several thousand people. World-class musicians performed diverse styles of percussion music and dance.

We are presenting this one day event again this fall on September 17th (rain date 18th) from 9:30 AM to 8 PM in beautiful Cornell Park in the historic Rondout district of Kingston, NY – overlooking the Hudson River.

The lineup of performers reads like a who’s who of stars within their styles of Jazz, Rock, Classical, Rudimental, Steel Pan and African. This year’s festival will offer an exciting morning drum circle to benefit cancer treatment in the Hudson Valley and for Family of Woodstock, a local advocacy organization for people in need.

Jazz, Rock, African, Ragtime, Indian, Contemporary, Native American, Steel Pan, Kids, American Rudimental, Dance – and MORE.