Fall Getaway Weekend

Each fall, FSSGB sponsors a weekend in a tranquil setting within easy driving distance of Boston. The weekend is filled with music -- song swaps, workshops and mini-concerts led by professional staff and campers on Saturday and Sunday. The Fall Getaway gives campers a chance to meet each other, trade songs and tunes, and enjoy a relaxing weekend away from the city.

Please get your registration form (in PDF format) to us by September 15th (or call or email to let us know you're coming by that date.) (The camp requires 3 weeks notice from us.) If you can't meet the deadline, please email fgw AT fssgb DOT org so we can have an accurate meal count, and an idea how many people might attend the workshops.

Download this year's materials:

2008 Registration form (PDF)
Confirmation form with directions (Word doc)
Additional logistics (Word doc)
Map of Bement Camp & Conference Center (PDF)
Tentative schedule for the weekend (PDF - coming soon)

* There'll be copies at the registration table for anyone who doesn't fill one out in advance.

The next Fall Getaway Weekend will be held October 11-13, 2008 (Saturday through Monday of Columbus Day Weekend) at Bement Camp & Conference Center in Charlton, MA. This year we'll be having our meals provided by a catering company, so it won't be the usual camp fare!

We're pleased to announce that our staff for this year features Debra Cowan, a wonderful and powerful ballad singer, and acoustic blues master Martin Grosswendt.

From the minute she begins to sing, Debra Cowan grabs her audience and doesn't let go. Her ability to communicate the story within the song is rare. Her rich voice conjures images of stony grey Celtic castles, green and rolling English landscapes, and humorous American urban scenes. Just as the audience is left spellbound after Debra presents a woeful traditional ballad of love gone wrong, she immediately brings laughter with an outrageous comic song. Her love of songs from the British Isles has led her to search out the connections with their North American ancestors and her desire to be true to the song brought her to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1997.

Martin Grosswendt is about as terrific an acoustic blues revivalist as there is. He has mastered, and made his own, the guitar styles of the Delta, Piedmont and Texas schools. His slide guitar playing is superb, as is his fingerpicking. Grosswendt is a masterful, soulful player, a top-notch teacher, and blues musicologist. He is absolutely the real deal - music courses through his veins, and its authenticity is conveyed effortlessly in the music that comes through his hands and hearts.

Read past campers' reminiscences of past getaway weekends. Look at photos of past getaway weekends!

If you have any questions about the weekend, please email fgw AT fssgb DOT org.