SEFAN member, musician and storyteller, Dave Arthur has just had confirmation that he has been selected to perform at this year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival, in Washington, in July. Dave, along with 39 other participants from Kent (including fishermen, farmers, boatbuilders, stonemasons, archaeologists, gardeners, foresters, brewers, singer Pete Castle, and Kent's answer to the Coppers, the Millen Family) will join with delegates from Virginia and West Africa to present 'Roots of Virginia Culture'. The festival theme fits in well with the interest that Dave and his band Rattle On the Stovepipe have in the cultural exchange of music and oral traditions between Britain and the United States.

The festival, which attracts over a million visitors, takes place on the National Mall in Washington DC and is America's premier cultural heritage festival. It's the first time an English county has been teamed up with an American state to examine cultural connections, and Dave is looking forward to working with some of Virginia's finest folk musicians and storytellers.

Dave has also just been invited to take on the job of Storytelling Category Editor for the new EFDSS internet Folkopedia, and was recently commissioned by the Society to write a biography of A.L.Lloyd to be published next year to coincide with the 2008 EFDSS centenary celebration of Bert Lloyd's birth. Dave would love to hear from anyone with any Bert Lloyd, anecdotes, memories (however small) or club or festival recordings. You can contact him at <storyart_at_aol_dot_com> or 07765377441.

P.S. The website's finally been updated and I now have a Rattle On the Stovepipe page under 'music' with news and photos of our new guitar/banjo player, Dan Stewart, with whom we are going into the studio in June to start work on a new album for Wildgoose.

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Penny Allen - General Manager

Anthony John Allen - Chair of the board

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