Next Workshops:
Guitar: Mt. Rainier, MD 10/4; St Louis 10/25 & 27
Mandolin: St Louis 10/26

New Animal
Among the most notable doings here at Star Central has been the doubling of
the in-house mammal population with the addition of Kiki the cat in late March.
(A handsome brown/grey tabby, she was two and a half when I adopted her. Though less shy than her predecessor, Sandy, she too seems vexed by an
"is-this-a-friendly-gesture-or-an-attack?" world-view that just can't be good for
the blood pressure.)

Recent Travels
I was out on the west coast again in May (with return visits to Reno, Sacramento,
and sundry Bay area locales). Though challenged by a delayed arrival flight and
the Memorial Day weekend it turned out well overall and I will certainly keep returning. (On the first leg of my return flight I moved out of my crowded row to
the one behind me - and ended up sitting next to a woman who runs a folk
concert series in Michigan.)
Also had a very nice return trip to VA Beach and VA's Northern Neck peninsula
last weekend.

Music
Following a vexatious hiatus I have resumed working on my intimate solo/duo
guitar recording. Am hoping to have it finished by September. The tunes to be
included have evolved over time. Though it will mostly reflect my solo and duo
concert repertoire ("Alberta/Billy in the Lowground", One Day At A Time", "Music
From A Found Harmonium") it will also feature a few rarely heard but cool newer
and older pieces (including "Away With Words", a piquant fingerstyle waltz in
open-D tuning written by my friend Jim Collier who, may he rest in peace,
passed away unexpectedly at his home in Ft Lauderdale a few weeks ago.)

Speaking of recordings, Bill Christophersen, my NYC fiddler of many years recently released a beautiful old-time music CD called "Hell and High Water".
Check it out (and hear excerpts) at http://cdbaby.com/cd/billchristophersen.
(BTW there are 21 cuts on this thing - 21! - the old-time crowd apparently never
got the memo that CDs are supposed to have around 12 tracks on them; they're
making the rest of us look stingy I tell ya. Bill will be fiddling with me thrice this
month (at the Brooklyn, Stamford and Manhattan shows) and will surely have copies available.)

The Mandolin Dialogues
A nicely detailed interview my mandolin playing and interests appears in the
June/July issue of Mandolin Sessions, Mel Bay's online mandozine.

Other
Two very tall trees in the forest of performing are no longer with us: Utah Bruce
Phillips and George Carlin. Both master storytellers - one in the guise of a
folksinger and songwriter, the other a stand-up comedian - they each called
things as they saw them with laser-like honesty and with a deeper mission than
just entertaining: they were crusaders against hypocrisy and injustice. Not your
usual song & dance guys.

I'd never seen Carlin live. Utah Phillips I saw on many occasions at small venues
back when I was first getting into folk music. And I recorded his song "Queen of
the Rails" on my first LP back in 1979. Among the online communications
following his death in May was a reflection on his career he'd written in 1995
(after being first forced to curtail his heavy touring schedule).
It provides a lovely window into his being as well as a great summary of why
followers of his on the folk trails like myself do what we do:

Listen, for 25 years now, I have been part of a family which has given me a
living – not a killing, but a living – a trade without bosses, in which I could own
what I do, make all of the creative decisions, be free to say and sing whatever
I chose to... Front porch, kitchen, back yard, drunk and sober, young and old,
coast-to-coast folk music, a world in which I discovered that I don't need
power, wealth, or fame. I need friends. And that's what I found and still find.

To hell with the mainstream. It's polluted. What purifies the mainstream? The
little tributaries up in the wilderness where the pure water flows. Better to be
lost in the tributaries known to a few, than mired in the mainstream, consumed
with self-love and the absurdity of greed. Please. Don't give our world up. It
needs to grow, yes – but subtly, out, through, under, quietly, like water eroding
stone, subversive, alive, happy.

Upcoming
Am looking forward to returning to NY and CT this month for several shows as
well to teaching & playing again at the Common Ground week in Maryland and
to some fall midwest and winter Texas things that are brewing.

Have a good summer and hope to see you at something.

Orrin