Acoustic Live presents its nominee for The Undisputed All-Time Heavyweight Champion of Folk Music Support… This is about passion. Everyone in the folk singer/songwriter community has some, or a lot, or knows somebody else who carries the torch. Acoustic Live hereby asserts that, in our community, this guy has more than anyone else we know. The man, the myth… Gordon Nash. At the 2011 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Red Molly was playing an early evening main stage set. Red Molly founder, Laurie MacAllister, called for attention to a special someone who had provided the title for their second full album, Love and Other Tragedies. She asked Gordon to stand up so they could see him. Midway up the hill, in front of several thousand attendees, he stood and waved. They sang his name. It was a glorious moment (he later acknowledged that it was both exciting and terrifying). Full disclosure: As someone who had been one of the first to call attention to the group with an Acoustic Live cover article in 2005, I was green with envy at the attention Gordon was getting. A leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day would have been cowed by my intensity of green. A short time later, I looked at his Facebook page and his blog, Wise Madness, and managed to get over myself. I was awed by the depth of his contributions and his widespread presence on the folk scene, documented by a plethora of photographs. The amount of concerts he attends is staggering. I knew Gordon had been at many Red Molly concerts right after they’d formed, since, at the request of the group, he’d taken pictures of every audience they’d played for and posted them online. He’d always sold “merch” — CDs and other paraphernalia — for Red Molly (and scores of other artists). I realized that he deserves every ounce of recognition he gets and then some. So, Gordon, here’s a little bit of “then some.” Hooked on Folk The seeds of interest in folk music were planted while listening to his oldest sister Alison’s record collection. The genre took root as a major obsession when he was in college. His roommate had Dave Van Ronk in his album collection and Gordon describes Van Ronk as his “entry drug.” The ’80s were a dry spell for popular interest in folk, so Gordon was primarily a loner in his early concert-going years, seeing as many live performances as possible — people like Van Ronk and Loudon Wainwright III, mostly at the now defunct Bottom Line. Also, during the ’90s, without knowing who was playing, he’d go to Sin-é and CB’s Gallery (also now-defunct venues), and Sidewalk Cafe, learning who was who. In the absence of friends with similar musical interests, he found that he could befriend musicians. He finally met other concert-going friends when he became a “Fruhead” (self-anointed fans of the now-inactive Canadian band, Moxy Fruvous). The Budgiedome Gordon is music director for the celebrated Budgiedome, a Falcon Ridge late-night campsite performance space (Budgiedome.org). He books and schedules featured players. A shady haven by day for Fruheads and friends, it was conceived by LORi and Steve Martin, and created in 2000 by Steve, the chief Fruhead engineer. Made of curved pvc tubing and a huge tarp, it was originally intended as a hang for Fruhead non-musicians to get together and sing songs by Moxy Fruvous and others the Fruheads liked. The Moxy Fruvous logo was a strange cartoon morphing of a dog and a budgie (parakeet), thus the name “Budgiedome.” The first year, one Fruhead who was a musician used it to perform and promote his new CD. He brought in other musicians. Each year it has grown, from a one-night sing-along with separate feature acts to two (sometimes three) nights of a scheduled roster of performers, followed by an open mic. On Saturday nights, the music continues all night until sunrise. A pinnacle event for Gordon was when he arranged for a combined jam that included Amy Speace, Abbie Gardner and Anthony da Costa, backed by fiddler Eric Lee and accordionist Radoslav Lorkovich. For many singer/songwriters, playing the Budgiedome has become a rite of passage. Gordon, Volunteer Supervisor Gordon has been a volunteer at Fordham University radio station WFUV since 1992. In 2012 the station gave him its equivalent of a gold watch, an iPod mini with every Cityfolk Live performance already installed. During fund drives at the station, Gordon helped newcomers so often he was made a supervisor. Gordon has overcome a bout with cancer and continues to battle Crohn’s disease. He struggles with anxiety but still manages to teach math at the New York Institute of Technology and serve the folk community while seeing more concerts in a month than most people see in a year. It’s all chronicled in Wise Madness (horvendile.diaryland.com). In 2001, brushing aside enormous pain from a perforated small intestine (he later discovered), he finished teaching his class, took a train to Baltimore and was picked up by a friend who drove them to see a concert by Dar Williams in Alexandria, Va. After getting home, he spent the next month in the hospital — with no regrets. In fact, he relishes the memory. You want passion? Look no further. This is your guy.

Acoustic Live presents its nominee for

The Undisputed All-Time Heavyweight Champion of Folk Music Support…

This is about passion. Everyone in the folk singer/songwriter community has some, or a lot, or knows somebody else who carries the torch. Acoustic Live hereby asserts that, in our community, this guy has more than anyone else we know. The man, the myth… Gordon Nash.

At the 2011 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Red Molly was playing an early evening main stage set. Red Molly founder, Laurie MacAllister, called for attention to a special someone who had provided the title for their second full album, Love and Other Tragedies. She asked Gordon to stand up so they could see him. Midway up the hill, in front of several thousand attendees, he stood and waved. They sang his name. It was a glorious moment (he later acknowledged that it was both exciting and terrifying). Full disclosure: As someone who had been one of the first to call attention to the group with an Acoustic Live cover article in 2005, I was green with envy at the attention Gordon was getting. A leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day would have been cowed by my intensity of green. A short time later, I looked at his Facebook page and his blog, Wise Madness, and managed to get over myself. I was awed by the depth of his contributions and his widespread presence on the folk scene, documented by a plethora of photographs. The amount of concerts he attends is staggering. I knew Gordon had been at many Red Molly concerts right after they’d formed, since, at the request of the group, he’d taken pictures of every audience they’d played for and posted them online. He’d always sold “merch” — CDs and other paraphernalia — for Red Molly (and scores of other artists). I realized that he deserves every ounce of recognition he gets and then some. So, Gordon, here’s a little bit of “then some.”

Hooked on Folk

The seeds of interest in folk music were planted while listening to his oldest sister Alison’s record collection. The genre took root as a major obsession when he was in college. His roommate had Dave Van Ronk in his album collection and Gordon describes Van Ronk as his “entry drug.” The ’80s were a dry spell for popular interest in folk, so Gordon was primarily a loner in his early concert-going years, seeing as many live performances as possible — people like Van Ronk and Loudon Wainwright III, mostly at the now defunct Bottom Line. Also, during the ’90s, without knowing who was playing, he’d go to Sin-é and CB’s Gallery (also now-defunct venues), and Sidewalk Cafe, learning who was who. In the absence of friends with similar musical interests, he found that he could befriend musicians. He finally met other concert-going friends when he became a “Fruhead” (self-anointed fans of the now-inactive Canadian band, Moxy Fruvous).

The Budgiedome

Gordon is music director for the celebrated Budgiedome, a Falcon Ridge late-night campsite performance space (Budgiedome.org). He books and schedules featured players. A shady haven by day for Fruheads and friends, it was conceived by LORi and Steve Martin, and created in 2000 by Steve, the chief Fruhead engineer. Made of curved pvc tubing and a huge tarp, it was originally intended as a hang for Fruhead non-musicians to get together and sing songs by Moxy Fruvous and others the Fruheads liked. The Moxy Fruvous logo was a strange cartoon morphing of a dog and a budgie (parakeet), thus the name “Budgiedome.” The first year, one Fruhead who was a musician used it to perform and promote his new CD. He brought in other musicians. Each year it has grown, from a one-night sing-along with separate feature acts to two (sometimes three) nights of a scheduled roster of performers, followed by an open mic. On Saturday nights, the music continues all night until sunrise. A pinnacle event for Gordon was when he arranged for a combined jam that included Amy Speace, Abbie Gardner and Anthony da Costa, backed by fiddler Eric Lee and accordionist Radoslav Lorkovich. For many singer/songwriters, playing the Budgiedome has become a rite of passage.

Gordon, Volunteer Supervisor

Gordon has been a volunteer at Fordham University radio station WFUV since 1992. In 2012 the station gave him its equivalent of a gold watch, an iPod mini with every Cityfolk Live performance already installed. During fund drives at the station, Gordon helped newcomers so often he was made a supervisor.

Gordon has overcome a bout with cancer and continues to battle Crohn’s disease. He struggles with anxiety but still manages to teach math at the New York Institute of Technology and serve the folk community while seeing more concerts in a month than most people see in a year. It’s all chronicled in Wise Madness (horvendile.diaryland.com).

In 2001, brushing aside enormous pain from a perforated small intestine (he later discovered), he finished teaching his class, took a train to Baltimore and was picked up by a friend who drove them to see a concert by Dar Williams in Alexandria, Va. After getting home, he spent the next month in the hospital — with no regrets. In fact, he relishes the memory.

You want passion? Look no further. This is your guy.