Appearances

Starlight Circle Players Samhain All Hallows Masquerade (2007)

The Englander Pub,
San Leandro

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BACDS promotes traditional English and American country dance in the Bay Area. Their website, www.bacds.org
has dance schedules, including
Across the Pond. See http://liveavatar.com/ceilidh/ for more about Ceilidh, and dance schedules.

ACROSS THE POND

English-style Pub Band

High energy music for
dancing ~ listening ~ drinking
rants, hornpipes, jigs, schottisches, polkas, waltzes and more

Across the Pond, the Bay Area's English Pub-style band, has been invited to play at the Princeton Traditional Music Festival, August 16-17. Princeton is in British Columbia, in beautiful mountain country a few hours east of Vancouver. The festival is modeled after Seattle's famous Folklife Festival. Across the Pond started early in 2005 as a jam session in a Berkeley, California kitchen, close to the refrigerator with the beer. The quartet — Colette and Jody Veahman, Alan Lochhead (unfortunately unable to make the trip) and Dick Bagwell, plays music from the British Isles, specializing in the English dance traditions. They play for the English-style Ceilidh dance series sponsored by the Bay Area Country Dance Society (BACDS). ATP is the house band for the California Revels, playing for cast parties and fund-raisers. Both Jody and Dick have been featured musicians in the Christmas Revels in the Bay Area, and Dick also in the Portland Revels. They are also musicians for the Deer Creek Morris Men (San Francisco Bay Area). Other band performances include Pub Night at the Berkeley City Club, and the Englander Pub in San Leandro.

Jody and Colette both playing mainly melodeon, with Jody switching off to ukulele, mandolin and whistle on occasion. Both are veterans of the Dickens Christmas Fairs and Renaissance Pleasure Faires. Jody is an authority on British Isles musical traditions and the related history. Colette is a costume designer and language geek.

Alan Lochhead plays bass and concertina. He accompanied Berkeley Morris and Sword years ago, wherein he first met Dick and Jody. Alan also teaches at the Community Music Center in San Francisco's Mission District.

Dick plays winds: whistle, flute, pipe and tabor, and saxophone. He is the Fool for Deer Creek Morris Men. Dick's credits include gigs as diverse as The Christmas Revels (also as an actor), U.C Berkeley's Collegium Musicum, and Jubilee Dance Theatre. He was a regular at the Renaissance Pleasure Faires and Dickens Christmas Fairs in Olden Times. He was Featured Artist at the 2002 International Pipe & Tabor Festival, Gloucester UK. Dick's a composer, and designs sound for theatrical productions.