FFOTM Board Elections 2020-2021

There are 6 seats open and 6 nominees for board elections. Only current FFOTM members may vote, one vote per member.

Please vote for 6 seats.
Votes must be received by Dec 31, 2020.
There are 2 ways to vote:

• Email your vote to: admin@ffotm.org
• Mail to:
  FFOTM
  PO Box 23366
  Flagstaff, AZ 86002

Nominees include:

• Paisley Boone
• Rebecca Cooke
• Jim Cross
• Henry Kaldenbaugh
• Ted Nation
• Mike Thompson

Candidate Bios

Paisley Boone – Growing up in a home filled with music, Paisley Boone has always appreciated and understood music to be one of the great blessings of life. At 10 years of age she had her first taste of creating folk music when she received a fiddle in FFOTM’s Young Jammers program, and has loved the world of folk music ever since. Branching out and picking up multiple other instruments, she and her sister formed a bluegrass band with some friends, Route 66:2, and were blessed with opportunities to play at the Flagstaff Folk Festival and the Pickin’ in the Pines band contest. Learning and playing proved to be just the beginning of her journey with FFOTM, as she and her family have had the opportunity to volunteer at the Pickin’ in the Pines Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival, her parents now supervising the official PIP Merchandise booth. When Lloyd Holdeman revived the Young Jammers program to again offer volunteer taught lessons, he asked Paisley if she would be interested in teaching fiddle to beginner Jammers. Enthusiastically she said yes, seeing an opportunity not only to expand her skills to include teaching, but also to infuse the next generation of musicians with a love of making music with others. She sees a position on the FFOTM board as another opportunity to invest in bringing traditional music to the Flagstaff community.

Rebecca Cooke (returning board member) – I consider myself more of a dancer and singer than a musician since I only picked the guitar up again a few years ago in order to accompany myself at open mic. Also started playing the mandolin.I sang in the chorus of five shows with FLOC including The Sorcerer, HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, Annie, and Hello Dolly. I also sang and played rhythm bones with my Celtic band Pure Dead Brilliant for 7 years. We performed around town and at the Flagstaff Folk Festival, once as a tweener at Pickin in the Pines. I am also a Bard in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), which means I sing period type songs at events, around campfires, etc.
I started running sound at the Flagstaff Folk Festival in 2010 in order to learn how to work with the equipment and hopefully transfer that knowledge to the band. I have run sound there every year since, including while organizing the Folk Festival, and learned a lot.
I would like to be on the FFOTM board because as an organizer for the Folk Festival I need to be at the meetings, and I found the rest of the meetings quite interesting. I like being part of the group that makes the decisions, and I think I can offer some insights at times.

Jim Cross (returning board member) – As a member of the FFOTM Board, I would like to introduce myself to those of you who do not know me.  I am Jim Cross and have been involved with FFOTM for a number of years.  I started with volunteering back-stage for the Pickin’ in the Pines starting around 2008.  I also do sound and have done so at the Commercial Building during Pickin’ in the Pines for the last few years.  I also play guitar and bass.  Hope we have more concerts and fun in the future!

Henry Kaldenbaugh M.D. (returning board member) – I want to thank the membership of FFOTM to allow me to participate as a Board member for the past two years. I would like to continue as a FFOTM Board Member because I love acoustic, particularly string band,  music and am proud of the mission of FFOTM to present and encourage acoustic music in Northern Arizona. In addition to my Board participation, I help with the Pickin in the Pines Campground as a volunteer and the FFOTM campouts.  I enjoy jamming and encouraging our next generation to learn to play and sing. The restrictions caused by Covid-19 will end and we can go back to our group playing, dancing, singing, and enjoying acoustic music which we all love.

Ted Nation (returning board member) – Ted grew up in a traditional music household, primarily country music and bluegrass. He started teaching square dancing at the age of 9.  Twenty Seven years later he was done with teaching and calling square dancing.  However during those years he called and taught in most of the western states, also in Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, and in Canada.
Prior to moving to Arizona Ted’s primary musical focus was in blues, standing in on harmonica with various blues bands in Southern California.  However he has played most styles of music.   Ted is a multi-instrument musician. His primary instrument is harmonica. He also plays clarinet, bass clarinet, bass guitar, 3-string cigar box guitar, sings, and writes music.  He recently has taken up dobro.
Locally Ted has performed as a band member with Just Deserts, the Flagstaff Contra Dance Music Band.  He jams with the bluegrass musicians at the Wednesday lunchtime jam.  He sometimes joins the open-mic jam sessions.  And has done stand in with the trio at Fat Olive’s, and with the Mother Road Trio playing harmonica and clarinet. Currently Ted is the harmonica teacher at Arizona Music Pro’s in Flagstaff. He has volunteered for, the Folk Festival, Pickin’ In The Pines, and Blues and Brews.  He has performed at the Flagstaff Folk Festival, and at the 3rd Friday Folk Project.
Ted would like to re-elected to the FFOTM Board.

Mike Thompson – I tried to learn guitar in high school, because who didn’t want to be a rock star in the seventies. I never practiced though, so I never got any good. I didn’t even pick it up in college and didn’t miss it when it was stolen from my house 15 years later.
Being from West Virginia, I also loved bluegrass music. And the festivals were a great place to get drunk which was one of my favorite past times in those days. The most notable festival was Aunt Minnie’s farm.  The security was run by a local biker gang, and I was amazed how openly people were selling acid.  John Hartford quit after 2 songs because the crowd was too rowdy.
I also really enjoyed the occasional square dances I would come across in college, or at a special party.  Nothing beats live music. (MFOTM  stands for Morgantown Friends of Old Time Music).
Fast forward through 8 years of college (veterinary school) and a decade working in Phoenix.  When I moved to Flagstaff in 1996 I heard about the contra dances.  I loved the live music and flirting with ALL of the women.  That’s where I met Karen.
I was 42 when we had Parker. I think he was 2 years old before we made it to our first FFOTM camp out.  It was a wonderful way to listen to some of our best musicians around the campfire playing for themselves instead of an audience. And it was great to have the village help watch the toddler.  After 2 or 3 campouts we decided if we were going to continue coming we were going to have to participate more. I bought a new guitar to re-learn my 4 chords. Karen got a fiddle.
I would sit in the background and try to strum the right chords.  It was an honor just to be playing at the same circle as Tony Norris. Then came the thrill when I could lead my own songs well enough for others to follow. Later came the Wednesday jams. That can be the highlight of anyone’s week.  I still can’t pick and don’t practice enough, but it sure is fun.
FFOTM has given me a lot of joy. It’s time for me to pay it back, or better yet pay it forward.  If the board needs me, I will be happy to serve.