D-Squared

Friends,

We have lots of music swirling around our heads at the moment.

Saturday, June 14, 5 PM…….The Kid’s Cove, Tsunami on the Square Festival in Prescott, AZ
(Cortez St. side of the Courthouse Square) FREE! www.tsunamionthesquare.com

Friday, June 20, 7:00 PM, Folk Sessions’ 5th Anniversary Show. Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Church, 882 Sunset Ave., Prescott, AZ. Performances by D-Squared, Vyktoria Pratt Keating, Dennis Garvey & Remedy, with Linda Bilque, Alexa MacDonald, Tom Agostino, and Layne Longfellow. All this for only $5! www.folksessions.com

Saturday, June 21, 7:00 PM, Don hosts the Folk Sessions Live! radio show on 89.5FM and 90.1 FM. This signal can be heard from Kingman and Flagstaff, Verde Valley to Prescott. Taped replay is Midnight- 2:00. Don’s been spinning some great tunes, telling tales and waxing philosophical on occasion. (Even I listen to his show………and I have to listen to him all the time! ~Deb)

Saturday, June 28, 7:00 PM, Don hosts the Folk Sessions Live! radio show. (see above)

Sunday, June 29, 1:55-2:40 PM, Main Stage at FFOTM’s Flagstaff Folk Festival, Coconino Center for the Arts,
2300 N. Fort Valley Road. Come for the whole festival, Saturday and Sunday! http://www.ffotm.net/folkfest

And the thing we’ve been working the hardest on is the all original folk opera “Joe Mayer and the Town That Built Him”, written by Jody Drake (of the Blue Rose Theater at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott), music by D-Squared. We’re in production now and will perform the play July 18, 19 and 20 in Prescott. The actors are kids with great talent and we feel honored to be a part of this adventure! This is a story about Joe Mayer, the founder of our fair town! More details later……………

See ya ’round town,
Don & Deb

On Saturday, April 5, at 7 PM, Big Bug Station in historic downtown Mayer presents “April’s Fools - A Night of Banjos,” featuring old-time banjo players Bill Burke and Fred Coon in concert with local artists D-Squared. Burke and Coon are masters of old-time frailing and clawhammer styles on the five-string banjo, while Don Charles of D-Squared offers a unique approach to the tenor banjo with partner Deb Gessner accompanying on folk harp and concertina.

Fred Coon learned the banjo growing up in the mountains of West Virginia. His father played a two finger style that Fred adapted as well as a frailing style prevalent in the local ‘hollers.’ He picked up techniques from Wade Ward, Franklin George, Aunt Jenny Wilson, Mike Seeger and others while making extensive field recordings of banjo players. He has played with many of the greats in folk music including Doc Watson and David Holt and currently resides in Phoenix.

Bill Burke has been a fixture in the Flagstaff music scene for decades as a guitar, banjo, and mandolin player. He has appeared on stage with Jay Ungar, John Cohen, and the New Lost City Ramblers and toured for many years with Rick and Lorraine Lee. Burke makes his living as a woodworker and luthier and plays his own beautifully crafted instruments on stage. His fine furniture is on permanent display at both the Henry Moore Trust and the American Craft Museum.

While D-Squared is best known as a harp and guitar act, they have long incorporated the tenor banjo into their intriguing sound as well. Charles credits his banjo style to “trying to sound like an old-timey player with one string missing.” They have promised a set of original banjo hits and a few you haven’t heard.

If you like banjos, this is a concert you won’t want to miss. The suggested donation is $10 with refreshments provided. Big Bug Station is located in the Old Mayer Mercantile Building at the stop sign on Central, catty-corner from the Mayer post office. Call (928) 632-4177 for information or visit bigbugstation.com.

D-Squared will be playing “Live at the Library” at the Glendale Public Library, 5959 W. Brown in Glendale on Thursday, March 20, 7 PM. The show is free! We know it’s a school night, but we promise to have you out of there by 8:30.

It’s one of our favorite venues to play and we look forward to seeing your shining faces there……….

First Fridays are always fun in Phoenix. What goes better with music than good art? We will be playing at the 2See Gallery during the First Friday Art Walk in downtown Phoenix. Please join us at at the Garfield Galleria, Ste. 201, 316 W. McDowell Ave. D-Squared plays from 7-9 PM. Deb will be exhibiting 4 of her pinhole photographs at the show as well. What is pinhole photography, you may ask? Come down and find out!