Staying CloseDear Friends,An interesting month for Robin and Linda! We're on "staycation" and spent 30 of the 31 days in July sleeping in our own bed. The one night away was with some friends on the Cow Pasture River at their old family house, a relaxing escape from the heat to an unpolluted mountain river with nice people, wonderful food and fantastic scenery. We could get used to this life, being close to home. One of the pleasures of staying at home is getting things done. We've taken care of several projects and are working on some others around the place. And we've really enjoyed the flowerbeds and the garden because we've been her to see and eat the fruit of our labors. We can't tell you how many times the lilies have bloomed and we've missed them or the squash has come in and we've told our neighbors to come by and help themselves, all because we've been gone. Last night we got our first two cantaloupes. That's big news. Another pleasure is getting new music together and playing fun gigs near by. We have a couple of new songs and have freshened up several old ones that get requested regularly. We played at a festival and helped raise $20,000 for local organizations to help keep a 42 inch natural gas pipeline from coming through our county. Last weekend we joined with a 19 year old violinist, Maura Scanlin, who has spent five weeks here in our home area in Staunton, VA studying at the Heifetz Institute. One of the ideas at the Heifetz is to open up other areas of music to these young classical music prodigies and so, there she was, playing fiddle tunes and accompaniment with our songs in front of a paying audience. The real enjoyment was rehearsing with her and realizing that one day a lot of could be paying hard earned cash to hear her play. We'll keep our ears open. We just received the four CD "40th Anniversary Collection" from the good folks at "A Prairie Home Companion." It came in the mail completely unsolicited and we were surprised to find ourselves on two or three of the CDs, either as Robin and Linda or with The Hopeful Gospel Quartet. If you like the APHC and good music, this would be a real asset to your CD collection. There are 85 amazing, live performances here, folk, bluegrass, blues, country and jazz, all performed by masters, famous and not so famous. It's surprising to hear Willie Nelson singing parodies of his hits and Ricky Skaggs singing with his mother and father, performances you'll find no where else. Amazon.com has the collection or, if you'd like the APHC folks to make more of the money you spend, you can go to http://www.prettygoodgoods.org/products/135121-a-prairie-home-companion-s-40th-anniversary-collection-4-cd-set. Bumper Sticker Of The Month: I try to watch what I eat but my eyes just aren't quick enough We're getting ready to do some traveling in August. Our upcoming shows are in Virginia, Ohio and Colorado. If you're close, drop on by and support some live music.
Your pals,
BOOKINGS: Trish Galfano, Myriad Artists, |