Wednesday, December 2, 2015

December 2015

Hi Country Friends,

This is the December / January newsletter so we want to begin by wishing everyone Happy Holidays as we look forward to a New Year. It is good to look back and remember how fortunate we are to be able to share good times with our country family and friends and the fun we’ve had this year with this hobby we love. As the Country Music and Dance organization on Long Island, it’s been a great year topped off with celebrating our 30th anniversary. We have been successful all these years because we have continued to add new members to our family, been willing to make changes to keep up with the changing country scene, and kept our focus on having fun as we enjoy country music and dance. We look forward to another great year dancing with friends and listening to country music.

Everyone should be receiving our monthly dance reminder email messages and most people are now receiving the Pony Express newsletter electronically. We are using a program called “Constant Contact” to more effectively manage email distribution and message quality. We plan to use email as the primary method to stay connected with members so make sure we have your current address – or multiple addresses for couples in our records. (Send updates to us at membership@licma.org) Another reason your email address is so important to us is beginning in 2016 we will no longer be sending the printed version of the Pony Express newsletter in the mail. The cost to print and mail the newsletter is one of the association’s largest expenses and the board has decided it is time to embrace the advantages of an electronic version of the newsletter and reduce this cost. So again, make sure we have your email address or one of your children’s or a friend’s so we can deliver news to you. We recognize change can be upsetting, but please work with us as we work to offer even a better newsletter – color pictures for example. As the Jamey Johnson song says – “you should have seen it in color.” This is one of the ongoing changes our organization needs to make.

We also want to encourage everyone to continue to check our web site (licma.org) for timely information like changes to dance instruction and continue to share news on our Facebook page - let the group know where you’re dancing tonight – it’s always more fun when we’re joined by friends.

On behalf of the entire LICMA board, we would like to say thank you to the many volunteers who share our interest and donate their time to make your association events possible. Please continue to show your support for the country bands, teachers, radio stations, and sponsors that support our activities by attending their events and using their services. We look forward to seeing “you all” real soon.


“LICMA is FUN Country”
Jim Teeple

Thursday, October 22, 2015

September / October / November 2015

Hi Country Friends,

After a busy summer for everyone, our first dance of the fall in September is always special as we reconnect with all our country friends and kick off a new dance season – it really does feel like the beginning of the year as we begin our 31st year celebrating the Long Island Coun- try Music Association.  If you attended the September dance you know what a fantastic time we had with the band “County Line” and DJ Lyndy. The band played a special tribute to Matty T’s during the second set bring- ing back some old favorites such as the Watermelon Crawl, Red Neck Girl, Copperhead, and a bunch of other fun dances from a few years ago. As always, Lyndy had everyone on the floor teaching a new dance and playing some of our favorites including a 2-step and a waltz.  It was a great crowd and so wonderful seeing everyone after the summer break.

Our next dance is Saturday October 24th and even though it is a bit early this year, this will be our annual Halloween dance.  So what’s the costume going to be this year – the cowboy, the gypsy, the wash machine and dryer, M & M’s – it’s always fun and I’m looking forward to seeing how creative this group can get. The band will be Tied to the Trax with Neil and Sandy as DJ and dance teachers so you know there will be lots of great country dancing.
Have you checked out the “Dance Instruction” page on our LICMA.ORG web site recently? There is something happening just about every night of the week and the feedback from the dance teachers is “wow” you can’t believe how many students we have in our classes. There is clearly a lot of interest in learning to country dance and our monthly LICMA dances are a great place for people to practice and meet friends.  Please take the opportunity at
a dance to welcome newcomers and help make them feel good about being part of our community.  With new people at dances we often get asked to remind people about dance floor etiquette. The best way to teach floor etiquette is by example – be courteous of other dancers, leave room around the outside of the floor for couple pattern dancers, and look around the floor before starting a new dance – there’s just not enough room for too many different dances at the same time.


Your e-mail address is important and is the primary method for us to communicate dance information to members - Please make sure we have your current e-mail address.  If you change your e-mail address or would like to provide additional addresses, please send us a message at membership@licma.org and our membership chairperson will update the records. Also, please continue to share news on our Facebook page - let the group know where you’re dancing tonight – it’s always more fun when we’re joined by friends.

On behalf of the entire LICMA board, we would like to say thank you to the many volunteers who share this hobby and donate their time to make your association events possible. Please continue to show your support for the country bands, teachers, and sponsors that support our activities by attend- ing their events and using their services.

“LICMA is FUN Country”
Jim Teeple

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

May / June 2015

Hi Country Friends,

This month we (The Long Island Country Music Association) will celebrate our 30th anniversary. Everyone should feel proud and extremely pleased to share in this celebration because we truly are a unique group of friends that share this fun hobby of country music and dance. When I travel around the country and mention that we have an active country music association on Long Island, people are surprised and don’t often connect country music and New York together. Thanks to the many dance teachers, dance clubs, radio stations, event venues, and special volunteers over the years, we have kept alive this wonderful interest in country music and dance on Long Island. When I think about LICMA and why our organization has lasted 30 years, two things always come to mind – friends and fun. The lifelong friends we have met through this hobby have become very special and it’s fun to talk with a number of couples who have met and married as a result of meeting at a country dance. I’m sure you have noticed that I always end each president’s message with “LICMA is FUN Country”. One of the things we have continued to stress at dances is just have fun.  Sometimes we struggle with a new dance move or a crowded dance floor but in the end, just laugh about it and remember we’re having fun with friends and that’s the most important thing to remember. I would like to again say Thank You to everyone who continues to support our Long Island country dance community for working together, donating their time to make events work, and continuing to support our love of country music and dance. Let’s celebrate our anniversary and look forward to another year of fun and time spent with good friends.

As you know, LICMA is a volunteer organization, and I’m extremely pleased to announce that during our yearly general meeting in March, the following members were elected to the board for a two year term – Jim Teeple, Kathy Burke, Donna Eidinger, Maria Gaiewski, Marge Tuthill, Jim Nash Vafeas, Tom Masone, Rene Masone, Terry Barrett, Mat- thew Skiba, and Eddie McGay.  Please express your appreciation when you see these board members for their continued support and years of service to the association.

Our association doesn’t host dances during July and August because of all the summer activities and vacation sched- ules, but that doesn’t mean we stop dancing or looking for cool places to enjoy country music. To help make it easier to locate country events supported by our members and advertisers we are planning to send out an e-mail update during the summer with more “real time” country event information, so continue sending country news events that you think we all would enjoy to our e- mail box LICMA@LICMA.ORG. Also, please continue to share news on our Facebook page - let the group know where you’re dancing tonight – it’s always more fun when we’re joined by friends. Please make sure we have your current e-mail address. If you change your e-mail address or would like to provide additional addresses, please send us a message at membership@licma.org and our membership chairperson will update the records.


On behalf of the entire LICMA board, we would like to say thank you to the many volunteers who share this hobby and donate their time to make your association events possible. Please continue to show your support for the country bands, teachers, and sponsors that support our activities by attending their events and using their services. Have a wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing you soon.


“LICMA is FUN Country”
Jim Teeple

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

March / April 2015

Hi Country Friends,

It feels a lot like last year with every three days another snow storm or a blast of cold weather. We hope you have been staying warm and finding places to dance, although even that has been a challenge with so many events needing to be canceled because of weather. Our next dance is March 14th – so get out your green for St. Patrick’s and come on down and dance to the tunes from “Tied to the Trax” and learn a new dance with DJ/teacher Frankie K and Lynn.

Have you checked out our updated Dance Instruction page on the licma.org web site? This is a perfect time to sign up for a dance class or just get out of the house and burn some of those winter calories. There is literally dance instruction here on the Island every night of the week so be sure to check our updated page for current listings.

Our annual general meeting this year will take place on Thursday March 12th (7:30pm – 9:00pm) at the Paradise Dinner in Hauppauge – please call the hotline or see the web site for more details. I would like to encourage members to attend the meeting to meet the board members, share ideas, and explore ways you can help support our organization. I’m extremely pleased to announce we have three new members who have been appointed to the board – Terry Barrett, Mat- thew Skiba, and Eddie McGay. These new members and the following board members will be elected to the board for a two year term during the general meeting - Jim Teeple, Kathy Burke, Donna Eidinger, Maria Gaiewski, Marge Tuthill, Jim Nash Vafeas, Tom Masone, and Rene Masone.  Please express your appreciation when you see these board members for their continued support and years of service to the association.

Be sure you have the May 16th LICMA dance on your calendars and plan on helping us celebrate our 30th year anniversary as the Long Island Country Music Association. Six Gun will be the band and lots of old friends are planning to attend.

Do we have your current e-mail address? Because of the increasing cost of mailing material, we will be expanding our use of e-mail to share information with members so we can include more pictures, hot links and current information. If you change your e-mail address or would like to provide additional addresses, please send us a message at membership@licma.org and our membership chairperson will update the records.

I would like to again say Thank You to everyone who is part of the Long Island country dance community for working together, donating their time to make events work, and continuing to support our love of country music and dance. Check our web site (licma.org) and Dance Instruction page for the most current information and continue to follow us on Facebook. Stay warm, and we look forward to seeing you at the next dance.

“LICMA is FUN Country”
Jim Teeple

Friday, January 16, 2015

January / February, 2015

Hi Country Friends,

What a way to end the year 2014 – if you attended the November dance with the band Six Gun or the December dance with Southbound you know what I mean. As you all know, our new “dance” home is the Sons of Italy Hall in Deer Park and we certainly filled the hall for both of these dances. After a year of searching for a new dance location to replace the K of C in Lindenhurst, it was great to see the turn-out and I hope you agree with me that the momentum for country music and dance on Long Island is continuing to grow. This year our organization will be celebrating our 30th anniversary. Wow, it’s hard to believe the time has gone by so fast. It’s really fun to look back at some of the changes that have occurred. This was before I got involved with the organization, but do you remember when the monthly newsletter (The PONY EXPRESS) was the only way to share news, no web sites, emails, Facebook, YouTube, Kickit, or smart phones – really – I know there are some of you out there because we have a number of original members still actively involved. There was also a time when you could tell who was a couple by their matching country outfits – that often included a western hat. There are some dances that are classics like the el paso, the wooden nickel, and the sixteen step that are still danced. We’ve come a long way, and the one thing that has remained the same over all these years is the fun we share getting together with good friends. This year, as a number of us shared New Year’s Eve at the Polish Hall, the one comment I heard several times was – “I can’t think of a nicer way celebrate the year than spending it with our country friends having fun dancing”. Let’s continue to share the fun as we look forward to another wonderful year together. Happy New Year!

Our annual general meeting this year will take place on Thursday March 12th (7:30pm – 9:00pm) at the Paradise Dinner in Hauppauge – please call the hotline or see the web site for more details. I would like to encourage members to attend the meeting to meet the board members, share ideas, and explore ways you can help support our organization. As you know, we are a volunteer organization and we need more help to keep things going. A number of board members and volunteers that we’ve relied on in the past are going to be snow birds this year so we need more help. If you are interested in helping out and possibly becoming a board member please send me a note at our new email address (licma@licma.com) or calling the hotline (515-775-5678) and leaving a message. Becoming a board member is a great way to get more involved in our country music and dance hobby and join a great group of folks who have fun together.  Do we have your current e-mail address? Because of the increasing cost of mailing material, we will be expanding our use of e-mail to share information with members. If you change your e-mail address or would like to provide additional addresses, please send us a message at membership@licma.org and our membership chairperson will update the records. I would like to again say Thank You to everyone who is part of the Long Island country dance community for working together, donating their time to make events work, and continuing to support our love of country music and dance. Check our web site (licma.org) for the most current Long Island country dance and event information and continue to follow us on Facebook.

“LICMA is FUN Country”
Jim Teeple