Old Timey Flower Shop Blues

Before a packed stadium ...

In front of a cheering multitude....
... an adoring crowd ....

Along with some good friends, our troubador buddy Steve Kelman helped us celebrate the arrival of fall at Encke Flowers in Teaneck last Saturday. Accompanying himself on guitar, mandolin and strumstick, Steve ran through a couple of sets that included some old time blues, bluegrass tunes, his own arrangements of some jazz standards and two of his own compositions. The rest of us grabbed up some of the Fair Trade frame drums and rhythm instruments lying around the shop to accompany him. We couldn't resist.

We started doing these "salon concerts" a couple of years ago when our son was home, studying piano. We still have his upright piano in our shop, and we're keeping the concert tradition going. We hope you get a chance to stop by sometime. If you ever get a chance, be sure to catch Steve Kelman, too. Make sure he plays the strumstick for you.

Drum Circle Welcomes the Fall at Tiger Lily

Rich Reiter led about 20 of us in welcoming the arrival of fall last night at Tiger Lily. We had a terrific time with a variety of djembes, shekeres, doumbeks, tablas, and percussion instruments I've never seen or heard before. When we ran out of chairs, we used upside-down water buckets from the back, and they became drums as well.

Folks just wandered in off the street and grabbed a drum. Nice to put little Teaneck in an uproar. You could hear the polyrhythms up and down Cedar Lane.

On top of it all, we managed to raise some money for All for Africa's "Palm Out Poverty" campaign to promote sustainable agriculture projects across the continent. Very cool.

Tiger Lily and Fair Trade Featured on HouseSmarts TV

We recorded this segment the day after Mother's Day (note Tim's haggard look...) and it aired on HD Cable in July. We only just found out that it was, in fact, broadcasted, so pardon our delay in getting you the link. You can see what we all missed by going to this link on the HouseSmarts website: http://www.housesmartstv.com/#/Green_Piece//  You can access this in the future by clicking on the HouseSmarts "Segments" menu and going to Season 4, Episode 82 under their Green Piece segement.

It wasn't quite 15 minutes of fame, but we're OK with that.

"Palm Out Poverty" in Africa

Tiger Lily and Encke Flowers Join All for Africa’s

“Palm Out Poverty” Campaign

with Benefit Drum Circle,

Solo Blues Salon Concert

and Fair Trade Gift Sale

Drum Circle led by Richard Reiter
Tuesday, September 22, 7:00 p.m.
Tiger Lily by Encke
569 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
$15 donation
201-287-1800


Steve Kelman
Solo Blues Salon Concert
Saturday, September 26, 7:00 p.m.
Encke Flowers and Gifts
281 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck
$10 donation
201-836-1276

Encke Flowers and Tiger Lily by Encke, Teaneck’s Fair Trade gift and flower shops are joining with businesses, foundations and individuals around the country in “Palm Out Poverty Week,” a campaign to support sustainable development in Africa. On Tuesday, September 22 at 7:00 p.m., jazz musician/drummer Richard Reiter will host a drum circle at Tiger Lily by Encke, located at 569 Cedar Lane. All for Africa’s Director of Operations, Diane L. Burstein will be on hand to talk about the POP campaign. There is a $15 suggested donation. Then, on Saturday, September 26 at 7:00 p.m., bluesman Steve Kelman will appear in a salon concert at Encke Flowers & Gifts, located at 281 Queen Anne Road in Teaneck. There is a $10 suggested donation. Donations from both events will benefit the Palm Out Poverty campaign. To celebrate Palm Out Poverty Week, Encke and Tiger Lily will be donating 10% of the price of each gift item sold to the POP campaign.


Organized by the nonprofit foundation, All for Africa (http://www.allforafrica.org/) , the Palm Out Poverty initiative seeks to raise money for the planting of palm oil trees in Ghana within 17 Beneficiary Trusts. It is envisioned that each trust will produce $30,000 annually for a number of designated African charities that include clean water projects, education and health care initiatives and reforestation projects.

Rich Reiter, an acclaimed jazz musician and Emmy Award-winning composer has studied African drumming in Senegal, and has led drum circles around the country including New Jersey venues such as the Puffin Cultural Forum, Outpost in the Burbs, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Montclair's First Night. Rich, who is more well-known as a jazz saxophonist and composer, has performed with his ensembles internationally. He was recently acknowledged in a New York Times feature as one of the area's busiest drum circle leaders.

This is Rich Reiter’s second drum circle at Tiger Lily. No musical training is necessary. Rich brings many drums and percussion instruments for everyone to use if you don't have one yourself. Tiger Lily also carries a selection of Fair Trade drums and percussion instruments for those who would like to buy their own.

Steve Kelman performs a mix of blues, bluegrass, rock, and folk. Mostly known for his curation of folk series and festivals for Outpost in the Burbs, the Puffin Cultural Forum and other venues, Steve has also taken the stage, accompanying Hudson River storyteller Jonathan Kruk. Along with guitar, he also plays mandolin and a three-stringed instrument called a strumstick.

Fair Trade Month coming in October...

Fair Trade Month is observed in October. It is an opportunity to ponder, chat, google, text, twitter, email, network, organize and conversate face-to-facebook about the principles of Fair Trade. 11 cities and towns across the country have organized and proclaimed themselves "Fair Trade Towns," seeking to promote the purchase of Fair Trade certified agricultural commodities and goods wherever these goods are imported from developing countries. We support the efforts of towns like Burlington, Vermont, Media, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Amherst, Massachusetts in becoming Fair Trade Towns and we look forward to making this happen in Bergen County. Anyone out there interested in helping? To get an idea of what's involved, check out the websites: http://fairtradetownsusa.org/ and http://fairtrademonth.org/ and then give us a call or send an email: tigerlilyflower@optonline.net.