(click to enlarge photos)


Both groups posing her performed at Seattle’s by now venerable Northwest Folklife festival. The earlier pleased posers are all members of the Love Israel religious community, living then near each other in several homes on Queen Anne hill. They are performing from the Seattle Center stairway, between the Flag Plaza Pavilion built for Century 21 (our World’s Fair of 1962) and the Folklife visitors seated on the plaza behind photographer Frank Shaw. (You cannot see them.) Shaw was a skilled amateur who filled several binders with his 2×2 negatives and transparencies (slides) recorded on his camera, a Hasselblad I envied then and still do.

Posing for Jean, the contemporary players have named themselves the Mad Robins, and dress appropriately. Earlier singing a cappella (without instruments), they accompanied contra dancers at this year’s Folklife Festival. By Jean’s accounting they sang very well. To prove it, Jean both recorded their performance and edited it into a youtube video that you will also find with a link below under WEB EXTRAS.. The Mad Robins’ own description of themselves is packed with joyful influences. ”We are a group of eight contra dancers who also sing in a variety of traditions: sea shanties, barbershop quartet, Sacred Harp, pub carols from the British Isles, folk songs, Broadway show tunes, and choruses.”

Thanks to Red Robin Melissa Coffey for help with the Red Robins and to both Rachel Israel and Charles LeWarne for their help with Love Israel history. Historian LaWarne’s book, published by the University of Washington Press and sensibly named “The Love Israel Family,” is in print.







WEB EXTRAS
Jean here. I’ve added a photo of The Mad Robins in performance at this year’s Folklife:
And here’s a short video of their performance provided by member Melissa Coffey:
Anything to add, compañeros? First, congratulations to Jean on completing the staging and directing what I’ll estimate was your 75th play with the good student-thespians of Hillside Academy. Will you please estimate the number of productions that comprise your total Hillside opera, so far? Hillside is featured with a link at the top of the blog’s front page, in the column directly to the right.)
Here follows a small spray of weekly links pulled from the last 37 years. CLICK to open and CLICK to enlarge.
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BELOW: A REMINDER TO VOTE THIS NOVEMBER

In the Love Israel picture by the Flag Pavilion the string bass being played is likely ‘mine’. In the early ’70s I put my bass up for sale at the ‘Folk Store’ in the U District and I was told that it was bought by the Love Israel family.
I played in all of the early Folklife Festivals with the jug band ‘Rag Daddy’.
Good to see the picture of Stan James. A real Seattle folk treasure.