[Callers] Rich Castner

Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2012 14:46:27 -0400 From: Joyce Isen <joyceisen(a)gmail.com> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Cc: Joyce Isen <joyceisen(a)gmail.com> Subject: [Callers] Looking for Rich Castner -- can you help? Message-ID: <CALr5BzkgG0nLHxmTZvNn2J8ZF_ZV0gHFX777jqDeCvn3ohFbBg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Dear friends in the traditional dance community, I am looking for information that can help me locate Richard Castner, former head of the dance department at the State University of New York at Brockport, and accomplished square and contra dance caller. Rich authored some contra dances that are classics today, including ?The Road to Boston,? and ?All the Way to Galway.? I am a musician (hammered dulcimer and percussion) who was often hired by Rich for dances in Rochester, NY, and it was through his mentoring that I attended my first Ralph Page dance camp at East Hill Farm and my first local contra dance in Nelson, NH. I moved to the Boston area in 1976 because this kind of music and dance was a living tradition in the northeast and I wanted to be part of it. I?ve been living in Concord lately and playing snare drum with a local fife and drum company. I?m struck, as Rich must have been a long time ago, by the common ground in repertoire between the fiddle and fife in the 18thcentury, and I finally bonded with ?The Downfall of Paris,? a tune Rich had asked me to play for him and that I never liked. The very first drum part I memorized was ?The Road to Boston,? so of course Rich was on my mind. It would be wonderful to sit down with him and talk about old times, and to tell him about the ways in which my musical and personal life evolved as a result of his influence. I heard that he?d moved to Maine and was last seen at a festival in 2005. The last information I got is that he was living in Waldoboro and had restored the old family homestead to its 18th century appearance. Unfortunately, the contact information is out of date and all my leads so far have been dead ends. I would be most grateful for any information anyone could provide about Rich recently or in the form of a story from the past. There are other friends here in Boston who would like to be in touch with him, too. We agree that even sad news would at least bring closure. With thanks, Joyce Desmarais Isen, Concord, MA 978-369-2671 joyceisen(a)gmail.com ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers End of Callers Digest, Vol 94, Issue 2 **************************************