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Guitar player led area's folk revival
By JON WILSON
Published February 8, 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. 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. He 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 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.
[Last modified February 7, 2007, 23:00:37]
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by Mikael
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02/09/07 12:20 PM
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It has been my pleasure to have known Bill fot over 25 years. Thank you for awwll Wrien article. He will be greatly missed
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by Zona
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02/09/07 12:16 PM
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Bill will be missed for years to come. I feel bleesed to have known him and call him a friend. Now the music tapes I have of him playing mean even more to me.
Go in peace my friend
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