Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
--Abraham Lincoln

Links of Interest

Folk Music & Dance

Dulcimer Organizations & Information

Dulcimer Builders & Music Shops

Other Good Stuff

Folk Music & Dance Organizations, Events & Information

Ceolas: Ceolas houses the largest online collection of information on celtic music, and has links to hundreds of related sites.
Folk Music Index: Jane Keefer of Portland maintains this searchable online index to recorded folk music resources.
Norske Runddansere Dancing: This group offers Scandinavian dancing in the Portland area, with weekly lessons and open dancing on Mondays, special events, and links to other Scandinavian culture events and resources.
Northwest FolkLife Festival: This huge festival of folk music, dance and arts is presented free (donations encouraged), at the Seattle Center grounds, Memorial Day weekend every year.
Old Liberty Theater: Offering live music, movies, magic, and your daily coffee in downtown Ridgefield, WA.
Old-Time Music in Portland: This site is devoted to Old-Time music, bands and events, including traditional square dancing.
Portland Country Dance Community: PCDC sponsors contra dancing (2nd, 4th, and 5th Saturdays) and English country dancing (every Friday) in Portland, as well as a New Years dance, the Portland Raindance weekend (4th weekend in April), the Northwest Passage dance camp (Labor Day weekend), and occasional special dances.
Portland Dancing: A comprehensive listing of upcoming events in the Portland area for dancing of all kinds, from Balkan to Zydeco.
Portland Folk Music Society: PFS is dedicated to keeping folk music traditions alive and well in Portland, sponsoring a monthly concert series, the annual Singtime Frolics weekend (late March), concerts, open mics, and song circles.
Portland Songwriters Association: PSA provides workshops, showcases and other events and services to support songwriters.
The Session: The Session maintains a large on-line library of traditional dance tunes, provided with annotation and recorded sources. Tunes are available in sheet music and abc formats.
Victory Music: This non-profit organization was founded in 1969 to support local acoustic, jazz, blues and folk music in the Pacific Northwest, mainly the Tacoma-Seattle region.

Dulcimer Organizations and Information

Dulcimer Players News: DPN is the national magazine for hammered and mountain dulcimer players, in publication since 1975. Each issue now includes a sampler CD, and the companion web site offers a variety of useful information.
EverythingDulcimer.com: After a recent change of hands, this source of information, links, discussions, etc. relating to the world of the dulcimer - both kinds! - is back online and under development.
Dulcimer Rendezvous: Annual spring gathering of hammered dulcimer players and friends. Early to mid May at Oral Hull Park near Sandy, OR, with a mix of national and regional instructors.

Dulcimer Builders and Music Shops

Artichoke Music: Now legendary, Artichoke Music is nearing 50 years as Portland's premier music shop catering to folk musicians! They are your Portland source for Dusty Strings hammered dulcimers. More than just an instrument store, the shop also houses the Artichoke School of Music and the Cafe Artichoke listening room, with outreach to schools and other institutions, private lessons, classes, workshops, concerts, open mics, song circles, jams, and other special events.
Dusty Strings: In the Fremont district (“center of the universe”) of Seattle, Dusty Strings builds fine hammered dulcimers and folk harps, and has a well-stocked music shop featuring folk music and instruments. Their music school sponsors private lessons and an ongoing series of classes, workshops, jams, and concerts.
The Kitchen Musician: AKA Sara Johnnson, publisher of a fine series of inexpensive tune books, each with a different focus (Scottish Airs, Michigan Tunes, O'Carolan, etc.), and purveyor of all kinds of other musical goodies and information.
Lark in the Morning: Quirky music shop featuring an incredible variety of musical instruments and oddities from all over the world.
Troubadour Music Center: Troubadour is your friendly source for acoustic music instruments, instrument repair, music books, and a concert venue to boot, in Corvallis, OR.
Whamdiddle Dulcimers: Built in Seattle by Rick Fogel. He is also a phenominal player, teacher, and maker of dulcimer hammers, playing stands, and bones.

Other Good Stuff

Better World Club: Tired of supporting the AAA and its highway-centric lobbying programs? Switch to Better World Club, the only roadside assistance and travel club that strives to balance your transportation needs with protecting the environment. You will be supporting a socially responsible company that donates 1% of its revenue to environmental cleanup efforts and supports sustainable travel and transportation. They also provide maps and travel planning assistance.
Catscapes: I admit bias, but my daughter Rose produces very cool T-shirts, comics, small art, and more. If you like cats, you'll love her work!
Doug Plummer: Doug's photography is legendary in the contra dance world, and the rest of his work is amazing, too. Check out Doug's Today I Saw blog.
MailWasher Pro: Tame the spam monster! I used this excellent program for several years, and it helped me eliminate virtually all the annoying spam from my incoming e-mail. Highly recommended!
Unitarian Universalist Church of Vancouver (formerly Michael Servetus Unitarian Universalist Fellowship): Celebrating over 50 years of liberal religion in Clark County, WA.