...plays a variety of traditional and contemporary New England, Southern, Old Time, Cape Breton, French Canadian, and Celtic music for contra and square dances, festivals, concerts, and other events.
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Members of the band and the instruments we play are:
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The band originally sponsored and now performs several times a season at the 3rd Saturday Northboro Contra Dance in Northboro, MA. We also perform at other area dances including those in Worcester MA, Lancaster MA, Providence RI, Hartford CT, and Manchester NH as well as a variety of private dances and parties for both individuals and organizations.
For booking information for your event please email Jon Weinberg.
| Date | Event & Location | Additional info, etc. |
|---|---|---|
| Sat. Oct 17 2009 |
Northboro Contra Dance | |
| Sat. Nov 14 2009 |
Worcester Contra Dance | |
| Sat. Dec 12 2009 |
South Amherst Contra Dance | at the Munson Library, 1046 S East St, Amherst, MA |
| Fri. Feb 13 2010 |
Hartford Contra Dance | |
| Sat. Feb 20 2010 |
Northboro Contra Dance | |
| Fri. Apr 9 20109 |
Manchester, NH Contra Dance |
Jon lives in Marlboro, MA and is a founding member of the Polys.
He has been playing folk guitar for over 30 years and hammered dulcimer since 1990.
Jon has been a member of several other bands over the years including Roaring Jelly,
Over the Waterfall (with Jim Guinness and Judy Francis),
the New Potatoes (with Myra Franks, Bill Fisher and Lista Duren), and
Wild Card (formerly contras.com) (with Vince O'Donnell, Robin Kynoch, and Terry Traub).
Dick joined the Polys in 2001. He arrived in Mass as an escapee from the Washington, DC rat race where he worked as a mad government scientist for 37 years. Dick began playing old time country music at age 13 and graduated to bluegrass music in college. In the mid-90's he was introduced to contra dancing and contra dance music, loved it, and helped form a band at the NIST where he worked.
Lyn is also from Marlboro, MA and joined the band with her double bass at the beginning of the 1996-97 season. With a background in guitar and piano, Lyn became interested in playing traditional music after dancing to it for a number of years.
| Year | Members | Mugs | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 |
Myra Franks (fiddle) Jon Weinberg (HD & guitar) Bill Fisher (guitar, mandolin, banjo) Brian Rost (bass) |
We begin our regular monthly dance at the Berlin town hall | |
| 1996 |
Myra Franks (fiddle) Jon Weinberg (HD & guitar) Bill Fisher (guitar, mandolin, banjo) Lyn Paul (bass) |
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Lyn joins the band replacing Brian on bass |
| 1998 | Our monthly dance moves from Berlin to the First Parsih Unitarian Churcn in Northboro, its current home | ||
| 2001 |
Lois Sommers (fiddle) Jon Weinberg (HD & guitar) Dick Hyland (guitar, mandolin) Lyn Paul (bass) |
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Lois and Dick join the group replacing Myra and Bill. Bill occassionally plays with the band at the Northboro dance (and still does!) |
| 2004 |
Evy Dueck (and Becky Miller as sub) (fiddle) Jon Weinberg (HD & guitar) Dick Hyland (guitar, mandolin) Lyn Paul (bass) |
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Evy (and Becky) join the band replacing Lois. | 2007 |
Jon Weinberg (HD & guitar) Dick Hyland (guitar, mandolin) Lyn Paul (bass) |
Evy leaves the band - we play the season as a three piece band with various friends joining us on occassion | 2009 | We turn over the job of running the Northboro dance to Gary and Lucy Phillips (and others), and continue to play there several times a season |