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Prez Sez – Happy New Year 2026 

     Happy 2026 music lovers! Our Songmakers investments returned 13.6% for 2025, allowing us to continue our tradition of donating about $1000/year to other worthy music-supporting nonprofits and maintaining a healthy balance over $23,000 in financial assets.  We will be starting the new year by serving our geographically Southern members with our new San Pedro Song Circle on Jan 11.

     I hope to see you at our annual Round Up 2026 election meeting, concert and jam on February 21.  We return to a more central valley location this year at St. Luke Lutheran Church at 5312 Comercio Way, Woodland Hills CA 91364. You can arrive as early as 10 am to help set up, but the official start time is noon, with the signup concert starting at 1.  This year you will be able to sign-up via email for the concert beforehand.  We will reserve 3 slots on the day of the Round-up for those who might not have responded to the email signups.  Doug Kerr will be emailing out further details.

We will finish our last jam and be out by 9PM. Louise Dobbs, chair of the RoundUp Committee, will soon release the official timetable but the signup concert will be followed by announcement of election results, an early dinner provided by your club for all who PREREGISTER, and 3 song circles to choose from until 9! The parking lot is not as large as Somis was, so please carpool.

    March will start with the 8^th year of our Music in the Mountains-Lite gathering at Camp DeBenneville Pines in beautiful Angeles Oaks 3pm Thursday 3/5- 3pm Sunday 3/8. This both celebrates the return of the light and is a smaller more intimate gathering than our November Music in the Mountains, usually 14-20 Songmakers in luxurious Craigs Cabin for 3 nights of jamming and friendship by the central fireplace until 10PM, with later jamming in the Coffeehouse available for night owls! As our own contribution to the affordability crisis, this wonderful weekend costs only $100 per camper plus shared food costs. Sandy sends a spreadsheet to sign-up for the food you bring, and what cooking and cleanup shifts you volunteer for.  We always have a great time! Contact me by the end of January if you are interested in joining us.

     March also ushers in the first of our four Kenney Grove Park musical camping weekends in Fillmore 3/26-29.  We’ll have two Summer picnics again in 2026, with the first one at past Prez Dean Donins home and the second a pool party at Sandy and my Agoura home in September.

     In sum, I’m hoping to enjoy a lot of wonderful jamming with all of you in 2026!  I also hope some of you will join us for the 2^nd Songmakers cruise 9/18-10/4/2027 on the Emerald Princess.  There are 4 days of jamming each way from San Pedro and 7 stops with optional excursions in the major Alaska ports. Sandy and I had an incredible time with 6 other Songmakers on our first cruise to Mexico, and can’t wait to go again! We booked 2027 with James Jimenez of Redweek Travel 833-9044071 x932087.  Our booking number is 9X9R9L.  You can also try other cruise travel agents and see if you can find a better deal. James offered about $5600/per person for a balcony suite for 2, and as low as $2400/per person for an interior cabin shared by 4 cruisers. Prices include the Princess + medallion package, all food, drinks, and tips. What a party it will be!

HERE’S TO A GREAT MUSICAL 2026 AS WE KEEP PASSING THE MUSIC ON!!

Steven Berman

San Pedro Song Circle!

Please join us on Sunday, January 11, 2026, from 2:00-5:00 PM
for a song circle in San Pedro, 731 South Pacific Avenue, San Pedro, CA  90731.  Our host is Collage: A Place for Art and Culture (phone 424-450-8239).   This non-profit hosts many and varied Live music, entertainment, art shows, performance workshops and culinary programs. Check out their website—Our event is posted there! https://www.collageartculture.org/

Our host, Richard Foss, met us at Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest and wanted to see if we could make music together.

This is our second time at this venue and we hope to make this a semi-regular event!  Last time the Songmakers (there were about 9 of us) went out to dinner after the hoot at a local pub.
For more information, call Louise at 310-403-3351.   Song circle will be led by Songmaker, Chuck Behrman. For info on the day of the event, call Chuck at 310-849-9403.

Louise

Kenney Grove Campout Dates

Reservations can be made 6 months in advance.  Here are the campout and reservation dates for 2026:

March 26-29, 2026 (reserve c. 9/26/25)
April 30-May 3, 2026 (reserve c. 10/30/2025)
June 4-7, 2026 (reserve c. 12/5/2025)
October 1-4, 2026 (reserve c. 4/1/2026)

Prez Sez Songmakers 2^nd Cruise 2027!
Steve Berman

Hi Fellow Songmavens!

Songmakers 2^nd Cruise!!! Last year 8 Songmakers led by Andy & Janice Gelencser had such a wonderful time on our first jamming cruise, to see the total eclipse off the Mexican Riviera, that we can hardly wait to do it again!  For my 78^th birthday in 2 years, Sandy and I are committing to take the 16 day (9/18-10/4/2027) Los Angeles to Alaska cruise on the Emerald Princess.  There are 4 days of jamming each way and 7 stops with optional excursions in the major Alaska ports. We are absolutely doing the Mush! Glacier dogsled ride, and probably a couple others.  Interior cabins, like the one Sandy and I loved last year, are only $6258 ($3129 per person) which covers all the amazing food and world class entertainment. As a special AAA promotion, it will also cover the Princess+ package (otherwise over $1000 per person), covering gratuities, alcohol, internet and more.  Beds can be added for a 3^rd or 4^th person for $1559 each. So the budget price for 4 in an interior cabin would be $9376/4= $2344 each!  You’ll sleep crowded but spend little other time in your room because there is so much to do! Sandy and I will book a balcony room ($5659 per person) because there is a lot of wildlife viewing in Alaska. Because the cruise just opened, all categories of room should be available for at least the next few weeks, but this cruise is offered only once a year so don’t wait too long! If we book 5 cabins soon, the price drops! You’ll have a fabulous time! To book or get more information, call AAA agent Jennifer Ullrich at (805) 477-9077 and give my name.  Let’s make some more precious Songmakers musical memories! If not now when!!

October 2025 Songmaker Cruise Update: We switched agents to James Jimenez of Redweek Travel 833-9044071 x932087 for the 2027 cruise.  Our balcony cabin for 2 went down $125 each, still including Princess +.  Our booking number is 9X9R9L.  You can also try other cruise travel agents and see if you can find a better deal.

Far-West Campfire Zoom-based Songcircles

We have been invited by Far-West to participate in their twice a month Songcircles:

Every month on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays Join us around the virtual campfire for our twice-monthly song circle, where artists and audiences from the FAR-West region and beyond are welcome to enjoy original songs, favorite covers, and tunes inspired by that week’s theme.

Don your slippers and join us around the campfire. First timers are always welcome!

Sign up in advance using the link to perform or be in the audience.

Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month (with the exception of November and December due to holidays) you can register for free at found.ee/farwestcampfire. What started during the pandemic to keep us Folkies busy is still going strong! We would love to see a Songmakers presence there.

From the Webmaster:

• If you are aware of any LIVE or virtual song circle or performance that will welcome Songmaker participation (or want to host one), please provide the info to the webmaster for inclusion to the calendar. Do you know of an upcoming musical event that may be of interest to our readers? Please provide a write-up with dates & website &/or other pertinent information and send to: webmaster@songmakers.org.
   
• Joining Songmakers is not accomplished via Meetup. The www.songmakers.org list of events will continue. Songmakers membership is only $10 per year per family / household – join via https://songmakers.org/member-registration

Old Time & Celtic Music Calendars. The latest revisions on the oldtimeSF & celticSF groups.io groups. To join these groups go to https://groups.io/g/oldtimesf & https://groups.io/g/celticsf. Also available via: https://www.berkeleyoldtimemusic.org/ – select “Monthly Calendar of Old Time Music” under the About menu AND here https://sites.google.com/site/davbrown2/celtic Join the CelticSF group via https://groups.io/g/celticSF