NCBS members have elected Daniella Irish Allen of Santa Cruz to fill the seat of retiring board member Lois Kellerman of Mountain View. Eric Burman, Elicia Burton, Jessica Evans, Penny Godlis, Michael Hall, Brenda Hough, Jennifer Kitchen, and Mike Russell were returned to the NCBS Board of Directors for the 2009-2010 term.
The new board re-elected Michael Hall, president; Eric Burman, vice-president; Brenda Hough, secretary; and Elicia Burton, treasurer.
Long-time Society member Daniella Irish Allen is a UC Santa Cruz senior majoring in community studies and is a photographer, graphic artist and musician. She leads the Ladies Banjo Collective jam at Fins Coffee that starts its new season later this month. She is a native of Concord and has lived in Santa Cruz since 2000. Daniella is married to Todd Allen, a landscaper specializing in California native plants, and is the mother of two daughters, Maybelle (age 3) and Manzanita (15 months). She created the art poster for three Santa Cruz Bluegrass Fairs and the upgraded program for the 2009 Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival. She has done other volunteer work with the Bluegrass Fair over the past several years and volunteered at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
Her interest in bluegrass came about when she heard an old Earl Scruggs banjo recording. “That was a clear moment in my mind — it was so good,” she said. At the time, she was living in Estes Park, Colorado, and her friends seized upon her new interest in the banjo and whisked her to the Telluride and Rockygrass bluegrass festivals. Now, her biggest influence is the Carter Family and her favorite festivals are the Good Old Fashioned and Strawberry. She plans to focus on bluegrass education and outreach to schools, but also plans on working on the Bluegrass Fair and other NCBS events. “I am happy to have this opportunity to serve on the NCBS board, she said.
Lois Kellerman of Mountain View served on the NCBS board for the past two years. She volunteered at the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival, Bluegrass On Broadway, San Francisco Bluegrass and Old Time Festival, Mission City Coffee Roasting Company bluegrass concert series, Santa Cruz Bluegrass Fair, Aromas Community Grange concert series, and at the NCBS information booth. She also counted the ballots for the Northern California Bluegrass Awards.
She is an independent statistician, specializing in medical research for Bay Area biotech companies and research institutes. For the past 15 years, she has hosted the Sarah Bellum That’s Not Bluegrass program on KZSU radio at Stanford, as well as a Jewish music radio show on the station. One of those rare New York City native bluegrass fans, she plans to continue her NCBS volunteer work, but left the board to have more time to care for her mother, who is ill.
The new board will serve until August 2010.
