A Few Special Places…(cont.)

In the stockade neighborhood of Schenectady, NY, amidst structures that have stood since the late 1600’s, there is a wonderful café called the Moon and River. Part coffee house, part restaurant, part bookstore and part market the Moon and River nurtures it’s patrons body, mind and soul. Delicious food, great ambiance, live music, local art and healthy items to stock your pantry with all contribute to the warm welcome of this space that owner/operator Richard strives for. This is one of the few shows we were able to set up over the phone because Richard does not own a computer nor does he use the internet. The town of Schenectady itself seemed to support our art as well through media. We were featured in The Daily Gazette thanks to avid music writer Brian Mcelhiney who seemed genuinely interested in our current method of touring to more small towns than cities to achieve more intimate and memorable performances. Also we are able to phone in an interview with Gary Goldberg on his weekly radio program called “In the Spirit” which features many local musicians, artists and healers who are doing interesting things in the Schenectady area.. Gary gave us a wonderful interview and as promised he came to our performance because he so enjoyed our records and interview and then even gave us a further shout out in his weekly newsletter the week after our performance just to try and reach those who were unable to come out to the Moon and River. We met some very nice folks mostly due to our new friend Brian Alvarado who shared the bill with us that night. Schenectady had a lot to offer but Moon and River is what made it really great.

A Few Special Places…

In an attempt to recap from our inability to keep up and in accordance with the themes of some earlier blog posts I would like to recognize a few special rooms we have had the pleasure of performing in during the last two months. The first one Elysium Arts in Rollingsford, NH is a place that stands out in our memories of our recent regional tour in September. Joe Simes, owner, operator and music lover has a wonderful Folk club that is contributing to preserving and continuing the legacy of an old mill building in Rollingsford, NH. This is not our first experience with these types of places where enough motivated individuals decided to enrich their community by converting an old mill building into a once again useful space full of boutiques, artisan shops, art studios and galleries as well as Folk clubs or (in this case the Public Library as well) rather than allow the building to be reclaimed by its natural surroundings until it must be torn down. Elysium Arts Folk Club offers a truly authentic listening experience and intimacy that artists and listeners alike seek out and covet. Elysium Arts has had many great and widely known performers grace the stage and many unknown but still great performers grace the stage as well. Aside from the wonderfully unobtrusive listening environment the room itself contains so much vitality from its rich historical industriousness and the lifeblood of the river still flowing just outside the back windows. Joe Simes, owner/operator is a true music appreciator and he has created an ideal environment to listen as well as share.
Photo Credit: Ron St. Jean -- http://www.ronstjean.com/

A Frank Inability To Keep Up With The Internet

It's really quite natural to want to live unfettered by the constant cataloging events, like taking loads of pictures while sight-seeing.
In summary, we have had great performances, superb camping, quality time with friends, and not enough to eat. We are working on that last one.
There will be pictures posted shortly - as soon as we have time to stalk a CVS for about an hour. Tonight, we look forward to performing a house concert for a bunch of college students, and then off to Doylestown to see some good friends.
This leg of the tour is being viewed as a preliminary practice run - as Raianne and I are trying different methods of hobo-ship. As October approaches, we should be ready to navigate the country with minimal discomfort.
Today, as we folded our campsite, I noticed that we have attained the schedule of retired people. My uncle is envious of our travels - I don't know what keeps him stapled in place. Routines perhaps.
m.m.

Leftover Thoughts from Last Friday

This morning, I came to think of reading Frankenstein as maybe through it some light could be shed on this feeling I’ve had that my art is growing evermore able to extinguish me. There are so many projects that I wish to start, cultivate, and finish, well. But like anything else, expediency only proves that acts may be done, and does not attempt to flirt with reason. “Be responsible children,” is what came to mind, and in reference to a cartoon that I had once followed, I drew a bee above “Responsible Children.”

Burnt Norton Abbey

To the lonesome harmonica’s introduction to Wright’s “Prodigal Hope”, we drove away from another visit to Burnt Norton Abbey. On this second year – and despite schedules which would curl your feet under themselves – we managed to make time. “You make time for what you put first,” would be that mother’s statement forged of guilt. The great responsibility is then to “put first” that which is most important; in belief and faith synonymous with the passing of one’s days and doings, Aaron would quote this as “human being.”

He also used the term “business.” It is my understanding that dialogue must begin with a mutual agreement in language; it is also my understanding that this activity is a trick by method and most often prolongs discourse ad infinitum.

However, when he said “business,” in regards to faith, community, and “good (as referring to a common good or truth),” it was as if I suddenly looked down at my hand to reveal a splinter which had long skinned over, a microscopic chuck of wood which at the time could not be easily removed by tweezers or pins, of that my wonder imagines other wooden masses like the remaining rotted planks of a boat which had been long stranded. The wood is moist and flakes off to the touch exposing mold, cob-webbery, and beetle bugs – an infestation of infinitesimal organisms breaking down the integrity of the structure long after the vessel’s purpose lost proper function.

I would claw at the shard, but I am resigned to recall its place notwithstanding its lingering hazard – and to scratch and dig it out in plain view would surely repel my neighbors, distracting them from the simple introductions taking place.

But I think to myself, “He cannot mean business.”

Referencing Thoreau and Tolstoy, the latter seeming a more appropriate source, I would pose the pieces of this question: is it business to clothe the world, or rather to clothe only those involved in the business of clothing the world? When I think of the word business, I see busy-ness – you see now that which Aaron and assumedly Tolstoy would refer to as our universal lack of labor. Our work, of which has the utmost impact on our individual well being, has been long disenfranchised. We are most certainly busy, but what are we busy with? What are we busy doing, daily? And as an effect, what are we busy being?

The negative connotation of “business” would then be the latter end of the initial question. The effect of business would be singular gain, reducing community to a fuel. I have become highly sensitive to this term in regards to art and tend to be the most defensive, sprung to action, and ultimately, scared.

“I put down my sword and shield, down by the riverside.”

The final piece of Burnt Norton this year was a conversation I had late last night with a friend who now resides in Santa Fe New Mexico. “Divine,” must be we, in motive, practice, and thought. In our doings, we must be responsible for those in our community – through our being, we must not mistake one word for another, because in doing so is the significant difference between us, as artists, as human beings.

Celebration of Life

Every year for the last four or five we have gone to a Celebration of Life in Barre, MA. It is a free event hosted by our friend Dylan Clark and his family on their farm that includes live music, vegan potlucking and camping with some of the greatest people you might ever meet. We asked Dylan once why he wanted to host such an event and he replied it was because he wanted for all his friends to hang out together long enough to become friends and want to help each other. This kind of camaraderie between musicians is usually only present when among those who consider or have gone touring. Most years the ratio of bands to music listeners leans heavily towards bands. Some bands come all the way from Georgia just to play in a basement filled with excited listeners who may or may not give them the "Barre-O".

Every year the CoL consistently improves mostly due to the Clark Family. Aside from being gracious hosts they tend to improve something each year esthetically or with furniture or various other things to share that they came across throughout the year. This year for example more space and seating for the show was provided by reorganizing an enormous wood supply and by building simple benches out of pine boards and cinder blocks. Also the stage was surrounded by flowing curtains with irises on them to disguise the basement walls behind. The field has always been hayed to make way for an impromptu wiffle ball game or campers. The grass is always mowed. The fire is always ready.

Every year at CoL I hear new music that I probably would not have otherwise heard!! I am so grateful that this festival has a consistent delivery of new music and performance. Not all festivals can boast this same legacy.This years show included an on stage engagement!

The renewal this event provides for many of it's participants is unmatched.

Gratefulness for the sharing, the beauty and good company washes over me and coats my mind. I will carry this feeling for the next year until we all can celebrate again.
~R.R.
shown from left to right Mark Mandeville, Raianne Richards, Hannah Peckham and her Mack
Photo: Paul Gandy

Simplicity Vs. Life

The idea of simple living. I believe I may have tasted this. I believe that this may have been created at a tiny cabin in Maine. Untouched beauty, simplistic pleasures and aspirations. However to remain too far outside the world we all share, together, for too long is just irresponsible. Unfair to the rest of your fellow man.
As soon as you cross that border, that beloved bridge, technology has already grappled you in it's talons. You are getting the dish, you are being inspired, you are making plans and you are consoling a friend who seems troubled though it just is because they are simply stumbling on to something and are afraid to realize it. The farther away from this place, the more you digress. The more weight you feel. Anxious weight. Not the kind that makes you stronger and maybe better looking but that kind of weight that will draw away years of your life. You know.. The REALLY heavy stuff. whew.
So you wanna live simple? It seems so far away and so hard. Maybe you need to escape and get far enough away to really relax.. But you somehow want one foot in the game. One foot that hasn't turned it's back on it's friends just yet. You want to add to their life. You haven't given up. You realize your inner power and you now understand that you must share this knowledge with the rest of the world. Sorry if that was culty sounding. I am not trying to be culty. I am trying to make you see that giving up on the world is not the answer. Honestly it takes so much more power to stay in the world than it does to live outside of it. This is so draining that you need to recharge. Or simply seek some help that you are proud enough to accept. Come over that bridge with vengeance! Ready or not? Wow was I really doing all these things when I left? Here I come. It's is not too much or too many things it is simply never enough. Simple living? Want a simple idea? tackle your demons!! Sounds simple right?
~R.R.