Thoughts for the New Year

To be honest, I haven't even had a chance to think much about Christmas yet, so it seems a little premature to be writing about the New Year, but since this is not a historical blog, here it goes..

I have been thinking about the New Year a lot lately, mainly because my band has a First Night Show (New Year's Eve) and I wanted to make it a special night for the audience and for us. With all the logistics of gigs sometimes, the good part- having and doing a show - sometimes gets lost in all the preparations. I was thinking about how I wanted the show to be, and what we should or should not change, and then I got this Christmas card in the mail today from my friend Dehconte. Dehconte is a musician - really great djembe player who also sing and plays guitar.
See if this inspires you to make a good year for 2007...it inspired me!

"Our goal on this path of awakening is not to change who we are, but to remember who we are. Are you a chicken or an eagle? Were you born to scratch in the dust, or soar in the heavens? In your answer lies your destiny."
- A. Cohen

TAXI Road Rally

I made it to Hollywood! I have to admit, although I am a member of Taxi (a screening organization, -helping with placing music in film) and I'd heard that their annual conference was great, the fact that it was in LA was an extra incentive to go.
Seeing the Chinese Theater and all the prints of the actors over the ages was inspiring...
and the Taxi Road Rally was inspiring, informative and a great place to meet others in the music business. I went to several classes on music business topics, but my favorite one was about "groove"...

I've always enjoyed playing fiddle tunes with different rhythms underneath them - everything from Irish bodhran to African beats to Brazilian percussion.
Last year I had a heart test (just checking on my heart valve) and I was amazed when I saw the heart on the screen and heard a Brazilian rhythm. I guess this explains why I have such an interest in the groove...

Storm King Arts Center

My band did a show this month at the Storm King Arts Center which is a 500-acre museum in Mountainville, NY that celebrates the relationship between sculpture and nature (ww.stormking.org). The sculptures are HUGE - and the trees are beautiful.
One of the tunes I played at the concert is one I wrote and haven't been able to think of a name for it. So I asked the audience for ideas- I've never done this (is it sort of like asking someone else to name your child?) but I was really delighted by the number of people that had ideas and that had a visual image during the song. Not being very visual, I don't usually picture things when I hear music, but obviously, some people do.
Some of the names ideas were: The Muse, Cozy Cottage, anything with the Storm since we were at Storm King, Isle of Clover, and "Breath of the Sculpture in C".

Recording and choosing a musical identity

I've been working on a new recording project recently and something about having it "on the record" feels sort of ultimate. All of a sudden I'm checking to make sure the music is really "me" and then it goes back to that essay question they used to give you in Jr. High - "Who are you?" Choosing a musical identity is tricky. Maybe it's because I"m a Gemini, but some days I want to go for a real world rhythm sound, other days the Irish influence seems most important, and then I listen to some of the tracks and a few of them sound very orchestral, but not in a bad way. I guess we all aren't just one thing, but since an album is supposed to be some sort of cohesive unit, figuring out what that is, is a project in and of itself....

Celtic Sisters, Dunkin Donuts, and the tow truck on the road

The new show we're doing, Celtic Sisters, officially kicked off in MA. It was an auspicious beginning. Jodee James, our singer extraordinaire likes to stop at Dunkin donuts for coffee. In fact, she seems to do the tour routing based on the locations of these places. Some people do mapquest, some people do donut places... whatever works.
When I told one of my violin students I was going on tour this summer he said, "Oh, like Rock Star". I guess he watches tv...
After the car overheated somewhere in MA and we were stuck on the highway for 3 hours due to the traffic jam, waiting for the tow truck, I decided it's not exactly like Rock Star, but probably infinitely more interesting.
We did the Glasgow Lands Festival, and later the Blackstone Celtic Festival (as the Jodee James Band)...
Audience members at the Blackstone Festival came out in pouring rain to support Celtic music and that was fantastic....they had groups of sheep running around too, which made me laugh.

Cleveland Police Memorial

In May I have the opportunity to go to Cleveland for the Police Memorial service and Tattoo (Concert). The Tattoo (show) is a highlight for me - it's all Police pipes and drums, plus the Marine band. The band I play for is from NJ, and they're a great group. There's something really magical about playing with the bagpipes....

Celtic Lullaby Album

I'm collecting lullabies for a celtic lullaby album. I'm asking everyone for their favorites. Any beautiful melodies...

and anyone who has some tunes to recommend from some of the less common Celtic Nations...for the Celtic Sisters show I'm looking for some nice tunes from Galicia, Isle of Man, and Cornwall in particular....

St. Patrick's Month

Before I started playing Irish music, I thought of St. Patrick's Day as one day. Now I know better. It's a whole month of festivities and parades and events. In New York, they stagger the parades, so each city might have theirs on a different day.

It's exciting to be a part of all these things, and at the same time part of me is thinking, Irish music is here to stay, it's here to be listened to all year, not just this month. March seems to be the month the mainstream media pays attention to Irish music, so I guess we just have to go with that!

I saw the film The Emerald Diamond, about the Irish National Baseball team. They used music from my Harp and Shamrock CD, as well as several other Irish bands, so I was looking forward to seeing how they used the music. The film is very funny and inspiring and I highly recommend it. Visit www.irishbaseballmovie.com for a full schedule of screenings across the country.

Upcoming projects include a new show I'm doing with Welsh singer Jodee James called Celtic Sisters. We are featuring spirited music from Seven Celtic Nations - Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Isle of Man and Galicia. That is a research project in and of itself! But seriously, there's something for everyone in this show, and we're looking forward to sharing it with the world.