What: The Creative Gathering
Time: Various
Date: February 17-19, 2005
Place: Western Historic Trails Center, 3434 Richard Downing Ave. Council Bluffs.
Sponsors: Ameristar Casino & Best Western Crossroad of the Bluff

Contact: Western Trails Historic Center: (712) 366-4900
Dick Zion, Museum Guide; Teressa Sward, Museum Guide; K.C. Hummel, Site Manager

The Western Historic Trails Center will host “The Creative Gathering” February 17-19, 2005, at 3434 Richard Downing Avenue in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The event is a collection of fun activities that focus on entertainment and education for the entire family.

Schedule
Thursday, February 17, 1-4 p.m.
The creative weekend kicks off with our regularly scheduled jam session from 1-4 p.m. Termed “Jam and Bread,” attendees are served fresh baked bread and excellent traditional music.

Friday, February 18, 7-9 p.m.
The metro area “Slow Jam” group will move their regularly scheduled Friday evening jam to the Western Historic Trails Center for our event. As the name implies, they play mostly fiddle tunes at a slower pace. This allows the musicians to concentrate on learning the song. This Friday evening jam will allow musicians who normally work during the day to experience the great jamming at the Trails Center. Refreshments will be provided.

Saturday, February 19
There is a five-dollar fee for the Saturday day events. One $5.00 ticket will let you into any or all-daytime events. There is a $10 per person charge for the Saturday evening concert in the theatre and seating is limited.

10-10:50 a.m. - Cherie Beam Clark
Cherie Beam Clark, A noted historian, teacher, naturalist, and educator, Cherie presents GETTING CRAZY WITH RHYTHM in the Rotunda.
“Ready to be silly, laugh a lot, have fun and make music?
We’ll use drums, unusual instruments, our mouths and even our bodies.
Come on, let’s rock and vibrate with rhythm.
What to bring: Your hands, legs, arms, feet and mouth.”

Group size limit is 35 children and participants must be at least 8 years old.

11-11:50 a.m.: Dennis Devine, Johnny Cash Fan #1
Dennis Devine, Council Bluffs resident, is recognized in two recent books on the life of Johnny Cash as the “World’s Number One Johnny Cash Fan.” It is a title Dennis is very proud of. He was instrumental in bringing Johnny and his show to Council Bluffs twice in the past. Dennis has closely followed John and his career since 1960 and through the years became a personal friend of Johnny and June Carter Cash. A recent collection of remembrances written by those who knew Cash best includes only two fan-written chapters and Dennis Devine wrote one of them. His stories, remembrances, opinions, knowledge, photos, and memorabilia of and about Johnny Cash are the valuable core of Dennis Devine’s presentations. Dennis will autograph copies of the book after his presentation.

Noon-1:20 p.m.: Lunch Break
Box lunch/old-time dinner on the ground with blankets on rotunda floor. Bring your own lunch and blanket or use the provided seating.

Elder Ron Thurber will conduct a fiddle tune workshop during the lunch period. Elder Thurber comes to the metro area from Weiser, Idaho. Weiser has hosted a National Old-time Fiddlers Contest since 1953 and Ron will teach us how they learn fiddle tunes out West.

1:30-2:20 p.m.: Joe Watson, "How did I get here?"
Joe Watson has been a musician, writer, poet, recording artist, and socially active member of the metro scene for many years. He began stage appearances in the early 1970’s and has played and sung in numerous bands since. He was 38-years-old when he was told he was adopted. It came, as you might well understand, as a life-altering event. His first book, a fictionalized biography, is named Raincrow and deals with that topic. Joe will visit about his creative process and perform his songs, prose and poetry. Joe will autograph copies of his new book in the Trails West Gift shop following his presentation.

2:30-3:20 p.m.: Peter, Paul, and Morrie; Parody Song Writing for All
In the spring of 1989, three middle-aged retreads—all of whom were old enough to know better—decided to form a trio. Three weeks later they were on stage as a warm-up act for the Florence Days Melodrama in Omaha. They sang every song they knew—all five of them. Now they create good parody songs and will talk about that process and demonstrate their trio's folk music style.

7:30 p.m. Saturday Night Concert: The Acoustic Billy Buffalo Band
Shadric Smith brings The Acoustic Billy Buffalo Band from Fort Dodge to share his brand of original music. Songwriter and recording artist Smith began his career as a folksinger in Iowa City in 1970 and recorded the original Billy Buffalo Band album in 1978 in Otho. He's done songwriting workshops for the Iowa Arts Council and has played all over the state as a member of various groups, including the Frontier Fiddle Band, the Bobby Awe Band, and P.J. Winn & Southbound. His songs have been recorded by Leon Redbone, Chuck Henderson, Greg Brown, and Dave Moore. He currently operates a website at www.shadric.com where you may download samples of his folk, country, swing, boogie & blues music. Accompanying Shadric will be longtime Billy Buffalo sidekicks Brian Nelson on bass; Kris Karr on vocals; acoustic guitar, lap steel & harmonica; and David Parker on vocals, snare drum, washboard, spoons, mandolin and fiddle. Admission price is $10.00. Seating is limited.

For information on this event, please call (712) 366-4900.

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