If A Tree Falls

2286 Cedar Street,Berkeley CA 94709

15 September, 2022

Description

About the band: Bernie Lenhoff (Guitar, dobro, voice) Classically trained on guitar, Bernie found more in common with the singer/songwriters of the 60s & 70s. Inspired by the improvisation of the Grateful Dead, he taught himself electric bass and lead guitar. While pursuing a degree in Theater Directing, he studied West Javanese gamelan, learning to drum this exciting village style. Bernie's love of movement, improvisation, and percussion came together in learning the art of tap dance, becoming one of the top hoofers of his generation, including tapping in the Gregory Hines movie "Tap." Moving to the Bay Area in the 90s, Bernie returned to his roots in acoustic guitar-driven Americana/folk/rock/pop, often covering other artists with fresh inventive arrangements. His latest tangent is learning dobro, inspired by its melodic expressiveness. Bernie considers his beloved dobro ("The Mighty Scheerhorn") to be the fourth member of IATF. Mark Walstrom (Guitar, mandolin, nyckelharpa, voice) Mark started playing guitar in High School to spite his older sister and monopolize her instrument. When he was growing up his family moved around Wisconsin and Minnesota and he later spent two years working in northern Wisconsin cranberry bogs to earning his master's in Botany. He then moved to Oregon where he worked with in commercial plant propagation and joined an Irish music band. He worked at UC Berkeley as their plant collector for 20 years before retiring to open Timbre Folk and Baroque in Berkeley where he builds, repairs and sells musical instruments. Jennie Walstrom (voice, nyckelharpa) Mark’s daughter Jennie has been singing with Mark since before she was old enough to understand what she was doing. Together Mark and Jennie like to play and sing Swedish folk music. Mark taught Jennie how to play nyckelharpa (Swedish key fiddle) from the time she was in High School and now they play at local Swedish gatherings and festivals including Lucia Day and Midsommar. Like her father, Jennie is interested in science and plants. She got her bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in genetics and plant biology and later went on to get her master's in education and teaching from Mills College. She is now a full-time knitter and part-time High School chemistry teacher.