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