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Edward "Doc" Flemming March 19, 1919 - March 4, 1981
​Folk Singer and Supporter
"Doc" Flemming played music with the original Black Eyed Pea March Society and collected Florida folk instruments, music and folk tales, cabinetmaking and wood carving, hand guns, oil painting, and playing the five-string banjo, guitar, and dulcimer.
His involvement in the Florida Folk Community was significant. He was one of the original trustees at the Stephen Foster Folk Center.
He had a long friendship and association with Cousin Thelma Boltin. Doc, Thelma Boltin, and Luther Rozar helped start the fist off-shoot folk festival of the Florida Folk Festival by starting the Heart of Florida Folk Festival at the Pasco County Fair. He continued to organize small music sessions and always encouraged everyone to participate in the musical experience at some level.
Doc brought his talents as a group psychologist and as a folk singer together to
create “folk dynamics”, the art of bringing people together & opening up personal expression
through folk music.
Steve Blackwell April 18, 1948 -September 4, 2006
Blackwell, well known as a musician and songwriter on the Florida folk scene, a teacher at Charlotte High School and a founder of the Guitar Army that plays weekly and welcomes anyone, died at 58 years old. Steve lived in Punta Gorda and was the grandson of a vaudeville performer. His passions for poetry and storytelling was reflected in his life and in singing folk songs.
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"Deep inside we know that an important part of our job is to help God bless other people by blessing them ourselves. It's just a matter of reaching out with the deepest part of ourselves."
- Steve Blackwell
Culbreath "Cubby" Whitehead
Jun. 18, 1927 - Jul. 31, 2013
​FLORIDA FOLK ARTIST:
Dancer, Puppeteer, Storyteller, Musician, FOFF and folk organizer.
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Culbreath Cecil Whitehead, 86, of Sarasota, FL . Cubby was a well known fixture in the Florida folk scene. You could find him dancing, doing puppet shows, or playing the old jawbone on stage with
Don Grooms and Chief Jim Billie.
Hailing from Sarasota, Cubby was a longtime participant in the Florida Folk Festival. In addition to leading two dance groups, the Sarasota engineer organized informal square dances at the White Springs clubhouse and gave craft demonstrations.
The “Whitehead Family Dancers” - Cubby and wife, Jeanie, son Craig and daughter Randi performed Danish and Swedish dances. The International Folk Dancers, a group of professional people would meet at the Whitehead recreation house and do Russian and English dances for area festivals. Whitehead was a lifetime member of the Florida Folk Dance Council (FFDC)
Culbreath (Cubby) Whitehead and his wife Jeanie were among the co-founders of the Florida Folk Dance Council. They met in 1954 at the Methodist Youth Camp in Leesburg, Florida, when he was teaching folk dance and she was attending. They led the Sarasota folk dance group for many years. They gave performances around the state, with the highlight being at the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs, Florida, every year. In later years, they founded the Sarasota Scottish Country Dancers, again performing for Robert Burns Nights dinners and at White Springs. Cubby also was one of the founders of Friends of Florida Folk, in 1982.
In North Carolina, Jeanie joined a dulcimer group in Franklin and was on the Arts Council of Macon County.
Jeanie Whitehead, born February 24, 1933, passed away in Asheville, NC on January 20, 2012.
Cubby presenting a puppet show in White Springs in the early 1960's.
Florida Folk Festival
l-r, ​Don Grooms, Chief Jim Billie, Dennis Devine,
Wayne Martin, Cubby Whitehead
Bill Wasel 1939 - 2007
Bill Wasel was organizer of folk fair society, a musician, and a medieval re-enactor.
By Jon Wilson, Times Staff Writer
February 7, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG - A memorial service for Bill Wasel, a musician and medieval re-enactor, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Weedon Island Preserve, 1800 Weedon Island Drive NE.
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Wasel, widely known in the Tampa Bay region as a guitar-playing folk artist, died Jan. 29. He battled cancer, friends said, and was 68.
Bill was one of the first musicians to play at the old Beaux Arts coffee house in Pinellas Park during the folk music revival of the 1960s, said Llyn French, a longtime friend.
Wasel also was an avid listener to other artists' music and sometimes helped judge contests.
Besides folk music, Wasel also picked bluegrass and blues on his guitar. He was one of the organizers of the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society. One of his other avocations was medieval re-enactment, which he pursued through the Society of Creative Anachronism. Known as [the Honorable] Lord Vassillaskas of the Amber Shores, Wasel was an accomplished knife and battle-ax thrower. He was a member of SCA's Order of Weapons Masters and was considered an expert archer.
Friends who attend Saturday's service are encouraged to bring an instrument and contribute a song.
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Wasel, William Robert, 68, of St. Petersburg, died Monday
(Jan. 29, 2007) at the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. He was born in Pittsburgh, and was a boat finisher for Embree Marine Service and Repair. He was a folk musician and former member of the board of directors at SPIFFS. He was vice president of the American Folk Art Society, co-founder of the American Indian Society and was active in the Society for Creative Anacronism.
Jim Ballew
Jim Ballew​
Paul Champion
Paul Champion​