Urban Pioneers:Polly Stewart Correspondence, 2009

Email archive of Polly Stewart, 2009; includes preparation for a May 2009 concert associated with a Utah Humanities Council grant

Print View 1 of3 https://groupwise.salisbmy.edulgw/webacc?User.context=n}dsm7Tkfr ... From: To: Date: Subject: Polly Stewart Sunday - April 12, 2009 8:31 PM RE: Urban Pioneers invitation to participate Thurs evening May 14,2009 Sunday, April 12, 2009 Jennifer, thanks very much for your quick reply. rm relieved you are out of school by May 14. I'm glad you will get in touch with Tom and Steve. Before that, though, some clarifications about the questions in your second and third paragraphs. They are answered (or were meant to be answered) in the attachment referred to in my opening sentence: < I don't remember if we spoke at all last fall about the Thursday, May 14 Utah Humanities grant program detailed in the attached.> That attachment in itself was redundant, since I had just copied the posting to you directly. Perhaps you did not receive it. It was a mass letter to all the people who performed in the Urban Pioneers concert in January 2007. Just for safety's sake, I'll paste it in below. If it leaves questions yet unanswered, let's get on the phone and work everything out no later than Wednesday noon, when I leave for the Western States Folklore Society meeting in LA. But if you feel okay about what it is asking, go ahead and get in touch with Tom and Steve. The program should not last longer than one hour. I have not yet heard from eveyone and don't know how many will step up. Suppose five artists participated in the program: me, Heather, Tom, Steve, and Peter Netka (he has already accepted, the dear man). If each of them prepared two numbers and came to the concert ready to sing just one of them, but maybe both, to be performed at such time as a portion of their recorded interview material was played, that would be sufficient. If I don't hear from you, I will take it to mean that the cover letter material is sufficiently informative for you to go ahead and get in touch with the Commercialfolkmen. Hey, a group. <April 11, 2009 <Dear Urban Pioneers, <Last fall, we were honored with a generous grant from the Utah Humanities Council to fund the transcription of sound recordings connected with the Urban Pioneers Oral History Project-radio interviews, the concert at Highland High, the interviews that Jennifer Bateman and I have conducted and are still conducting, and odd bits and pieces of spoken recorded material gathered over the past three years. All these transcriptions, along with their CDs, are soon to be reproduced in triplicate and placed in identical research troves in three public research facilities in Utah for the benefit of future researchers. <If you've ever had a grant with the Utah Humanities Council, you know that their charter with the National Endowment for the Humanities, their parent agency, requires that all grant recipients present a free public program at the grant's condusion to tell the public about the grant and to impart some idea of its outcome. Our program, to last approximately one hour with a brief period for questions from the audience, is scheduled Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 with the Humanists of Utah, Biot Hall, First Unitarian Church, 569 South 1300 East, Salt Lake City. (This is the same venue as the Intermountain Acoustic Music Association's Open-Mike Fridays.) The Humanists plan to put publicity about the program into various local media. <Playing bits of recorded interview and displaying paper copies of transcriptions, and talking, is not likely to make for the most uplifting free public program and might actually put the assembled throng to sleep. But some live singing and playing by a few Urban Pioneers in addition to the transcriptions and the playback of clips could make for a really great evening. It doesn't have to be vintage 60s material but can be anything anybody desired to perform. Similarly, there is no need for whole groups to assemble themselves as we did at the concert. <That's why rm writing-to see how many of you heroic Urban Pioneers might be able and willing to appear and perform a piece or two in connection with the dips of your interviews at the Thursday, May 14 program. Heather and I will be there but we think having other Urban Pioneers will add variety and depth to the presentation. There is only a token financial reward for participants, just a few dollars, but the excitement of a reunion and the fun of listening to dips of those interviews will be something of a reward in themselves. Another reward is that the Humanists serve wonderful refreshments-five or six different kinds of homemade 4/12/2009 6:31PM 2 of3 https://groupwise.salisbmy.edulgw/webacc?User.context=D}dsm7Tkfr ... cookies; cheese and crackers, punch, coffee. <May 14 is short notice, I know. We made the venue agreement with the Humanists of Utah months ago, but the final arrangements are waiting to be done--a detail that somehow fell through the cracks. Please write or call and let me know if you can or cannot particpate. I will be pleased and grateful to hear from you. I could really use your help. <Polly >>>Jennifer Bateman 04/12/CF.J 7:50PM>>> Polly, I have nothing going on May 14th. The last day of classes for me is April 23rd. I have finals and stuff until the 30th (or whenever I get it done ... possibly sooner than the 30th). fd, of course, love to help/participate in any way I can. I will look through our lists of interviewees and see who I can find that is not already included in your original invitation. Steve doesn't have email, so I will call him. I'll email anyone else (including Tom). Just to make sure I understand (since this is the first rm hearing of this): You're putting on a program of interview clips and song performance with room for Q&A at the end? I take it this is open to the general public ... Will there be tickets sold or just a gathering of interested people? This sounds like great fun! What can I help with? Should I be preparing anything? Does this have any affect on the transcription deadline you gave me (August 1st)? Should I make an event posting on Facebook? How much room is there for seating? Best, Jennifer Jennifer Bateman From: Polly Stewart Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 8:52 PM To: Jennifer Bateman Subject: Fwd: Urban Pioneers invitation to participate Thurs evening May 14, 2009 April 11, 2009 Jennifer, I don't remember if we spoke at all last fall about the Thursday, May 14 Utah Humanities grant program detailed in the attached. I unfortunately forgot that the program needed to be put together, not merely calendared, and so did not mention it to you while at Logan. I don't even know if you're still in school on May 14. Would your calendar permit you to come to SLC for the program? I'm asking because you played an integral part in the interview component of the project and you would make a valuable addition to the program. Quite aside from the glamor of the Highland High Auditorium concert and the CD and the DVD, the core of this oral history project is the interviews. We collected upwards of ten interviews with performers from the Commercial side, and some of them might be prevailed upon to appear at the program. I guess Tom and Steve are the two who live right in SLC. What I'm asking you to do very suddenly is to determine whether you yourself can appear on the program and (irrespective of the answer to that question) whether you might be willing to ask Tom and Steve, and any other Commercial guys we interviewed, if they can appear as well. If you approach them in writing you are 4/12/2009 6:31PM Print View 1 of 1 https://groupwise.salisbm:y.edulgw/webacc?User.context=ej3trfLafojb ... From: To: CC: Date: Subject: , n f f..-.( (-.A"".V J.. ~ ~~y Pt-t t,.. tvtk~ ....... Polly Stewart .....- Tuesday- May 5, 2009 11:24 AM Urban Pioneers update on May 14 program for Utah Humanities Council grant Tuesday, May 5, 2009 TO: Steve Barnes, Brent Bradford, Hal Cannon, Tom Carter, HeatherS. Dorrell, Tom Drury, Chris Montague, Peter Netka CC: Jennifer Bateman, Utah Humanities Council staff, Culture Conservation Corps officers, UAC Folklife Program staff, Humanists of Utah officers RE: Utah Humanities Council program at 8iot Hall Thursday, May 14, 2009 update FROM: Polly Stewart Friends, An update. As you know, we are gathering next Thursday evening, May 14 at Siot Hall of the First Unitarian Church, 569 S. 1300 E., Salt Lake City, for a brief free public program to thank the Utah Humanities Council for its generous grant to transcribe oral history interviews conducted with you and other artists who participated in the 1960s urban folk revival in Utah. Following a brief introduction by me, the program will integrate the playing of selected dips from your interviews and performances by you of one or two numbers of your choice. Eliot Hall is an intimate performance space requiring little or no sound amplification. The maximum seating capacity is 70. This program will constitute the entertainment portion of the May meeting of the Humanists of Utah. Let us gather at about 6:30 pm to get ourselves organized. Their Humanists of Utah meeting starts at 7:30. I believe we will have the floor starting about 8 pm. Our portion of the evening should end no later than 9:15. Jennifer Bateman and I are pleased to add to the program two Salt Lake City artists who made their mark on the "commercial" side of the 1960s Utah folk music revival·- Tom Drury and Steve Barnes. We were privileged to make contact with them and interview them following the Highland High reunion concert of January 2007. Welcome, Tom and Steve. About timing: 1) By arithmetic, each of us, if performing solo, has slightly over 5 minutes of performance time, but there is one trio among you and it also could be that some of the solo artists will want to team up with others for this show. The bottom line is that we need to finish up Oy' 9:15, including my introductory and explanatory time. If you plan to work solo, you can count on five to six minutes. I recommend that you oontact others on the bill if you wish to team up with them. 2) Jennifer Bateman and I will select and excerpt oral-history interview sound dips of up to 90 seconds from each of our oral history interviews and will store t-hese on some mysterious device that Jennifer knows about. I don't know how important it will be to store them in order .of your appearance on the program. I will be writing again in a couple of days to follow up on that. If you have questions please call are-mail me right away (contact info below). I can provide phone numbers if you want to call any of the other artists. soon-- Polly 515/2009 9:25 AM