“Fanning The Fire — Bluegrass For A New Generation,” a documentary about the launch of a young Mexican-American’s bluegrass music career in Texas, will be on the program for the FREE 5th Annual NCBS International Bluegrass Music Museum Film Festival in Redwood City on January 29.

Filmmaker Alan Tompkins

The festival will be held at the Redwood City Main Library, 1044 Middlefield Road, Noon-5:00pm, as part of the January 27-29 NCBS Bluegrass On Broadway Festival.

In the film, Lucas White of Corsicana, Texas talks about learning to play bluegrass music and meets and eventually performs with his favorite bluegrass musicians at the Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival near his hometown.

Filming Lucas White

The film by Dallas attorney & CPA and bluegrass musician Alan Tompkins is a project of the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation of Farmer’s Branch, TX. and is Tompkins’ first cinematic project.

The FREE BOB festival receives principal financial support from the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission, Redwood City Public Library, One World Montessori School, Tapestry Church and Wickersham & Murphy.   Complete Festival Schedule

Four longtime current leaders of Bay Area non-profit music organizations will be honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards on January 28, 2012, as part of the 5th Annual Northern California Bluegrass Awards. They are:

Steve Baker, Berkeley Society For The Preservation of Traditional Music dba The Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, Berkeley.

Richard Brooks, Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association, Palo Alto.

Bruce Edmundson, Redwood Bluegrass Associates, Mountain View.

Mike McKinley, Northern California Bluegrass Society/Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society, Santa Cruz.

The FREE day-long awards concert will be held in the Main Hall of the Tapestry Church, 1305 Middlefield Road, Redwood City. The Awards program will take place from 3:00-5:00pm. The program will be part of the weekend’s Bluegrass On Broadway Festival presented by the Northern California Bluegrass Society.

Complete Festival Schedule

Principal financial support for Bluegrass On Broadway comes from the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission, Redwood City Public Library, One World Montessori School, Tapistry Church, and Wickersham & Murphy.

San Jose filmmaker and bluegrass musician Chip Curry’s documentary about Evo Bluestein’s elementary school folk dance week program will be screened on Sunday, January 29 as part of the NCBS International Bluegrass Music Museum Film Festival. The films will be shown Noon-5:00pm at the Redwood City Main Library, 1044 Middlefield Road in Redwood City.

The filmmaker will speak to the audience and answer questions about the project.

The Bluestein Family

“American Folk Dancing — A Week With Evo Bluestein” examines the value of roots music and dance instruction for students in an era when arts education has been eliminated in many California schools. The documentary was shot at Buena Vista Elementary School in Walnut Creek. Bluestein is a Fresno-based musician and educator who has appeared at numerous California bluegrass and folk festivals over the past three decades. He began his music career as a young member of Fresno’s famed Bluestein Family.

Producer & director Curry of Chrysalis Films has been making films for over 25 years. He has been experimenting with the art of moving imagery since his very first 16 mm project.  He believes that story is the foundation upon which all great visual media is based. “My greatest joy is building a story from the drama, and color I see in the fleeting moments of daily life and assembling it as an indelible piece of moving art.” This is his first project selected for showing at the festival.

Filmmaker Chip Curry

Curry’s musical career started in Tucson, Arizona in the 1970s when, with his five-string banjo, he led the Summerdog Bluegrass, Mariachi, and Swing Ensemble to a ten-year stint as the Southwest’s premiere string band. He currently plays several hundred shows a year in the Bay Area for children, seniors, and general audiences.

The NCBS IBMM Film Festival is part of the FREE 5th Annual NCBS Bluegrass On Broadway Festival, set for January 27-29, 2012 in Redwood City.

Complete Festival Schedule

Principal financial support comes from the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission, Redwood City Public Library, One World Montessori School, Tapistry Church, and Wickersham & Murphy.

Evo Bluestein leads a student dance.

“Strawberry Music Festival 30th Anniversary” by Bay Area filmmaker and bluegrass musician Alec Oyung will be screened at the 5th Annual NCBS International Bluegrass Music Museum Film Festival on January 29, 2012 Noon-5:00pm in Redwood City. The event is FREE and open to the public.

Filmmaker Alec Oyung jams at Strawberry.

The documentary was filmed at the 2011 Labor Day weekend event held at Camp Mather near Yosemite National Park. The Strawberry Music Festivals are held each Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Oyung is  a Strawberry festival regular, an independent San Francisco-based video producer, a Berkeley native, and a graduate of UC-Santa Cruz. This is his first film to be shown at the NCBS festival.

The film festival, which will be held at the Redwood City Main Library, 1044 Middlefield Road, is part of the FREE NCBS Bluegrass On Broadway Festival, set for January 27-29 at various venues in Redwood City. Principal financial support comes from the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission, Redwood City Public Library, One World Montessori School, Wickersham & Murphy, and the Tapestry Church with support from other Redwood City agencies, organizations and businesses.

Complete Bluegrass On Broadway Schedule

The Northern California Bluegrass Society thanks the principal sponsors of the 2012 Bluegrass On Broadway Festival, who make this FREE annual gathering possible:

Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission, Redwood City.

Redwood City Public Library, Redwood City.

One World Montessori School, Santa Clara.

Wickersham & Murphy, Palo Alto.

The Tapestry Church, Redwood City.

The 5th annual festival will be held January 27-29, 2012 at various venues in Redwood City. Complete Festival Schedule