April 8, 2008
Hi music fans,
April may be the cruelest month, but after the drubbing we got here in New England this past winter, I say "bring it on!" I just found out that the word "April" is derived from the Greek "Aphrodite," Goddess of Love, who was by turns both charming and aloof. I'm so desperate for spring, I'll take the snow that came today if I still get to keep the crocuses that have been poking up regularly in our gardens for the past few days. I am so grateful for crocuses and tulips and daffodils and forsythia—those hardy power-plants that won't take snow for an answer.
We are so crazy busy this month that it'll be a miracle if a single load of laundry gets done. We're in the middle of recording Rock All Day, Rock All Night, our double family CD. Our father came up from Virginia along with our mother for Easter weekend and we recorded a bunch of songs. After the Easter egg hunt on Sunday, we gathered everyone—including all five grandkids—into the studio and recorded "Bye Bye My Roseanna." It's a long song, and mentions everyone's name in our family. During the very last verse, our nephew fell off his mother's lap and bonked his head on the floor and then, quite reasonably, proceeded to wail. We kept on recording. We figured it would be one of those "I've got blisters on my fingers" moments. And indeed, it was ultimately the thing that got him to stop sobbing; we brought him into the control room and he got to see up on the screen exactly what it looked like acoustically when the "bonk" happened. Dave had to play that part over and over, always to huge gafaws.
We're also finishing up the final touches on our book How to Be an Adult, our complete guide to life and which kitchen utensil goes in what drawer, available May 1, just in time for graduation. (We'll send a super duper mailing in May complete with graphics so you can get a load of it, and also order it.)
And then there are the gigs. April 11 we'll be at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, CT which has been voted Best Place to Hear Music Anywhere for 3 years in a row by the Fairfield weekly paper. We expect to see leaves on the trees.
April 12 we are too cool for school, opening for Dar Williams and Shawn Mullins at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, our home town (our Iron Horse show, which was supposed to be that day, has been postponed until November.)
April 18 we'll be in New Paltz to a venue we've never played. We love playing venues we've never played. If we play somewhere we've never played, and no one who's ever seen us comes, we pretend to be a different band, usually Gandalf Murphy.
April 19 we are back at the Living Room in the East Village with Dave Chalfant!!!! And Ben Demerath opens. The last time we played here was so fun my mind spun for days. This time, we get to perform a longer set. Wheee!
That's all for April. Katryna's going on vacation to Williamsburg and Nerissa (I) is (am) having a writing retreat. (Also I'm having a baby, but not till August.) Then, in May, we're at Kripalu for Powerful Women, Powerful Voices. It's going to be so great. We will ACTUALIZE YOU! (Not really. But you will learn amazing things about music, your own creativity, your own voice and also get to hear the amazing Eliza Gilkyson, the fabulous Gretchen Peters and, oh yes, us. You can also do yoga during your breaks. And the food is THE BEST!)
To find out why I can no longer watch TV, read newspapers or listen to NPR—or even surf the net—read our blog.
Have a great April and don't let the goddess get you down.
Love, Nerissa and Katryna
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