8/15/2005 - Folk Club Honors Wanda Fischer (at GottaGetGon Festival, Ballston Spa
NY, Memorial Day Weekend)
* The Pickin' & Singin' Gatherin' (PSG) is a folk music club in the
Capital region of New York dedicated to the appreciation and enjoyment
of folks and folk music.
* Wanda Fischer is an on air folk music host at WAMC and luminary in
the local folk music scene.
For the past several years PSG has taken the opportunity at its annual
GottaGetGon folk music festival to honor someone who has had a profound
effect on our appreciation and enjoyment of folk music. We named the
award "The Lena Spencer Award" after the founder and proprietress of the
legendary folk music venue that opened in 1960 in Saratoga Springs.
Pete Seeger said: "Our songs are like you and me, the product of a
long human chain." With the "Lena," we honor some of those voices in
that chain.
This year, 2005, The Pick'n' & Sing'n' Gather'n' honors Wanda Fischer
for her efforts in bringing folk music traditions to us and many others.
Wanda Adams Fischer is best known to folkies in the Albany NY area as
the WAMC radio personality hosting "The Hudson River Sampler," which she
began on September 18, 1982. Previously in Worcester, Massachusetts, she
did the "Folk Spot," on WCUC-FM, for four years before moving to the
Capital District. She recalls spending a "lot of time" in the 1960s and
early 1970s in the folk music clubs in Boston--the Unicorn, the Sword in
the Stone, and the legendary Club 47 (now Club Passim).
Introduction to folk music came from her father, Giles "Red" Adams,
who was born and raised in southwestern Virginia, in Carter-family land,
and who was friends with members of the Carter family, particularly
June, Joe, and Janette. While at the University of Tennessee, Wanda
often went to the Highlander Center and did social justice work through
music and also literacy training to help people register to vote in
the mid-1960s. She is on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity
of Schenectady County and 440 State Street/Arts District in Schenectady.
She was on the board of the Eighth Step and helped raise funds for
Eighth Step and Caffe Lena, as well as Old Songs and the Association for
the Protection of the Adirondacks. For about three years, she did op/ed
pieces for the Sunday Gazette. She's been an active member of PSG
including performer selection for GGG.
Her credits are long and inspiring. It's now our turn to recognize the
profound effect Wanda has had on our lives, and the lives of others that
enjoy pure and unadulterated music of the common folk.
In past years PSG's Lena award has gone to recognize the contributions
of our local folk legends, including: Andy and Bill Spence - founders of
the Old-Songs organization and producers of the OldSongs festival in
June; the late Bob Beers - god father of folk music here-abouts and
producer of the groundbreaking Fox Hollow Folk festival; Sandy and
Caroline Paton - founders of Folk Legacy Records ... ; Jackie Alper,
George Ward, John Roberts & Tony Barrand, Vaughn Ward, and Lena Spencer.
The Lena Spencer Award will be presented to Wanda Fischer during the
GottaGetGon Sampler Concert 10:25AM Saturday, May 28, 2005, Saratoga
County Fairgrounds, Ballston Spa NY.
