On Friday May 19th, 2017 we will be back at the Mill Courtland Community Centre for our monthly Open Stage. There will be no feature set this month so that means lots of time for Open Stage performers.
Bring your guitars, accordions, voices, acoustic instruments of all sorts or just your eyes and ears and make yourself feel “at home”.  Do not feel shy because you have not played for us before.  The doors will open and sign-up for the open stage will start at 7:30 pm. Remember when you sign up you get to play/sing two songs in a set of 10 minutes or less and you need to be ready to start playing when your turn starts so you won’t lose any of your 10 minutes.
The details are outlined on our About Page.  The parking is free at the back of the Mill-Courtland Community Centre and admission is still $3 at the door. the facility is wheelchair accessible, alcohol, smoke and peanut free and every show is different. If you don’t come, you’ll miss it. The next open stage will be June 16th.
If you are having any difficulty with viewing any content, please post a comment or send a private email to:  mailto:wayne@blackwalnutfolkclub.com

On Friday, April 21, 2017 we had a two NEW Open Stage performers. We had a NEW sound guy, Nick Czudyjowycz  who took over at the end of the setup and did a fine production. We had NEW treats – bags of chips and such. Our next open stage night is Friday, May 19th.  On April 21st, our Open Stage performers were:

1. David Maranta
2. Don
3. Bob & Sue
4. Don, Lorraine, Ann & Gord
5. Jeff Beckner
6. Ann & Gord
7. Jakki Annerino
8. Lawrence Cresswell
9. Doug Peterman – NEW
10. Wayne Cheater
11. Rebecca Nickers – NEW , Cathy King
12. Ron Hammar
13. Cathy King

Ann & Gord, Sue and Bob and Don & friends did an extra song.

On Friday, February 17, 2017 we had a full slate of 16 Open Stage performers including 2 first timers. I will not try to write all the details, you had to be there. Our next open stage night is Friday, March 17th. There could even be some Irish music. On February 17th, our Open Stage performers were:

On Friday, January 20th, we were treated to many returning artists and to three acts featuring 5 folks who performed at the Black Walnut for their very first time. Wha-hoo! Most chose to do 3 songs/tunes and we made a full evening of it. We will be back on Friday February 17th for our next Acoustic Open Stage. On January 20th, The performers in order of appearance were:

1. Bob & Sue Cutler – NEW
2. Dan Hergott
3. Jason Rogers – NEW
4. Gord and Ann
5. Randy Ouillette
6. Jakki Annerino
7. Peter van der Maas
8. Sylvia & Walli Sawatsky – NEW
9. Scott Abrams
10. Ron Hammar
11. Cam & Pat
12. Wayne Cheater
13. David Maranta

Yes, on Friday, November 18, 2016 we had a full slate of Open Stage Performers and full tables all around the room. We’ll be back with some seasonal treats on Friday, December 16, 2016 at 8pm. The Open Stage Performers on November 18th were:
1. Mike & Tamara Monaghan
2. David Maranta
3. Dan Hergott
4. Ed Barrington
5. Jakki Annerino
6. Randy Ouillette
7. Lawrence Cresswell
8. Gord and Ann
9. Scott Abrams
10. Jack Cole
11. Peter Van der Maas
12. Cam and Pat
13. Terry & Jim Krentzkamp
14. Ron Hammar
15. Wayne Cheater
16. Scott Chalmers and Dan McQuade

On Friday, October 21st we had an excellent showing of musicians and listeners.  We saw some new folks and were treated to more female performers than usual and mostly duets and/or accompanied artists. I’ll put some pictures of the more recent performers on our “Performers’ Pictures” page.

On October 21st,  The open stage performers were:

1. Lawrence Cresswell
2. Terry & Beth Krentzkamp
3. Dan Hergott with Randy Ouillette
4. Ron Hammar
5. Jakki Annerino with Wayne Cheater
6. Randy Ouillette with Dan Hergott
7. David Maranta & Jeff Wilmer
8. Ann Mark and Gord Castle
9. Neil Light
10. Wayne Cheater with Jakki Annerino
11. Scott Abrams
12. Kyle and Mike (NEW)
13. Paul Horton
14. Jeremy Maloney
15. Mike & Tamara Monaghan
16. Cam & Pat

On Friday, September 16th we started our 23rd season of the Black Walnut with a fine evening of music. Our new equipment all worked fine. We saw some folks who have not been around for a long time and welcomed the world premiere of a great 4 piece band (3 ukuleles, one guitar and 4 voices).

On September 16th, we had a great turnout, in-spite of a lot of other stuff happening that night.  The open stage performers were:

On Friday, November 20th we had a fine evening of songs and tunes. We gave everyone the option of a third song and some people did two and others did three.  For something a little different, we have an attempted listing of all of the numbers performed. If you can provide corrections to any of our errors in the listing below, please do so by posting a comment.

Next month we will have two special treats at our Acoustic Open Stage. Friday December 18th.  We will have Christmas goodies and some door prizes. Inevitably, there will be some seasonal songs as well. AND: Our featured performer next month will be Neil Light who will treat us to a 30 minute opening concert starting at 8 pm. Neal has told me that he has been working on a special project of original songs.  He will have more details to provide about the project.

On November 20 the performers and their songs/tunes were: 1. Andrew Maranta-2 instumentals (originals); 2. Scott Abrams -Turn the page (Bob Seegar), Please Don’t Bury Me (John Prine) & Wonder where the Lions are (Bruce Cockburn; 3. Dan Hergott (with Randy Ouillette) – Sweet Home Alabama (Lynard Skynard), Riot In Cell Block No. 9 (Blues Brothers) & Buy Me a Boat (Chris Janson); 4. Mike Miller – I Got My Mojo Workin’ (Muddy Waters) & She’ll Be Comin ‘Round the Mountain; 5. Lawrence Cresswell– Our Town (Chet Atkins) & an Original medley of railroad songs; 6. Randy Ouillette (with Dan Hergott) – Can’t you See? (Marshall Tucker Band ) & Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down (Merle Haggard); 7. Jakki Annerino (with Wayne Cheater) Deep Roots & A Safe and Welcome Land (both originals); 8. David Maranta – Will the circle Be Unbroken & Harmony (original); 9. Neil Light – 45 Years (Stan Rogers) & an Original Song; 10.Wayne Cheater – Rain -O (Chilliwack) & Still Small Voice (Betty Soo); 11.Cam and Pat – Jericho (Fred G. Eaglesmith) Couldn’t Do Nothin’ Right (Jerry Jeff Walker) & Across the Great Divide (Kate Wolf); 12.Ron Hammar – Dress Rehearsal for the Blues (Original?), You Blew My Heart All to Hell (Original?) & The Cowboy Rides Away (George Strait)

We had a very generous group, including the purchaser of our Old Degas guitar. The high bid at our silent auction and others also put additional donations in the hat to raise a total of $170.00 which we have given to the Central Frederick Neighborhood Association sponsoring of a Syrian refugee family. They have surpassed the amount required for the sponsorship through the Government of Canada and the Mennonite Central Committee.

And there was music. A small but enthusiastic audience was treated to the following list of performers: 1) David Maranta, 2) Ward Brownell, 3) Mike Miller, 4)Dan Hergott, 5) Scott Abrams, 6) Jakki Annerino, 7) Ron Hammar, 8) Randy Ouillette, 9) Wayne Cheater, 10) Cam and Pat

We’ll be back with another Acoustic Open Stage on Friday, November 20, 2015.