The Dog Days Ate My Homework - August 9, 2010
Somehow, I totally missed posting a Raison D'Etre news item in July. I'll blame it on the fact that the period from July 1-20 was possibly one of the busiest stretches of days in my life.
July started out looking like a leisurely month for Raison D'Etre. We played back-to-back Swing Canaries gigs the first weekend, one of them at the Cincinnati Museum Center for a Heritage Tour luncheon and the other for Downtown Frankfort's outdoor concert series on the Old Capitol lawn. I remember saying at rehearsal the night before the Heritage Tour, "well, July will be easy since we only have five dates booked." I had forgotten that my own schedule was stepping up for the month.
Immediately after the 4th of July weekend, I realized my mistake. Not only had I signed up for the summer session of Practice of Poetry at Grailville on every Thursday afternoon with Pauletta Hansel, but I had also signed up for poet, Cathy Smith Bowers' "Abiding Image Workshop" on July 10. Cathy had come to Grailville during our worst snow storm of the year, so those of us who couldn't make the winter date were promised a summer session. All of those poetry sessions were wonderful, of course, but most of the writing I did during that time was my own.
My HealthRhythms schedule also picked up during July with two sessions at Walton Senior Center and one at Active Day in Blue Ash. I kept thinking, "I'll get around to posting something about Raison D'Etre's wonderful midsummer adventures soon." But again, I didn't.
So, you missed learning how much fun we had dressing up in period costume and debuting "Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen" for the Heritage Tour. Probably the most fun we're having with that tune is that Violet Rae is breaking out her bari uke and doing a little lead on the song. Vickie and I are also being our braver selves and trying our hand at a little klezmer-sounding riff each. We did the tune the next day at Frankfort's Downtown Concert Series and almost nailed the parts. However, it wasn't tight until we played at the Cincinnati Art Museum's celebration of American Song on July 11! I wanted to high-five Violet and Vickie after our lead sequence, but we still had to finish the song. Thanks to our friends who came out to those three concerts, bringing love, support and even pie. Gil Thurman captured the Frankfort party ambience in his photos of their event.
So after the Art Museum, I took a deep breath and realized that my personal calendar was taking over. Kate Larken--singer/songwriter/publisher extraordinare-- e-mailed me to say that the Motes Books Gathering scheduled for Grailville July 16-18 was pretty much filled up and that my songwriting workshop might have as many as 21 participants. So I spent a couple of days getting my handouts together for this wonderful new adventure. In the meantime, my yearly Arts in Education Roster training was scheduled in Frankfort on the 13th, and I picked up a last minute solo booking from Creative Aging for my "Story Behind the Song" program. I gave up all hope of a website update for July when Gary scheduled a few vacation days for July 22 and 23. Then the gals of the Raison clan celebrated our sister, Rosanne's birthday with a lunch at the Greyhound Tavern.
Let me tell you that all of this activity might have kept me from updating our news page, but it sure was invigorating. The Grailville Gathering turned out to be filled with really great writers of all genres--including a few songwriters--who styled our swarps into something special. We sang hymns, original songs, and the Rolling Stones, played avocado percussion, took turns holding the youngest member of the Gathering(five days), and shared writing. It was magical! Those of us who had work published in Motes Books' latest themed anthology, MOTIFv2: COME WHAT MAY, AN ANTHOLOGY OF WRITINGS ABOUT CHANCE were thrilled to receive our contributor copies at the Gathering.
Following the Gathering I took a few days to get back to my exercise routine before Raison D'Etre finished out our month playing Acoustic Thursday on Fountain Square, following a talented singer/pianist/songwriter from Denmark, Tommy Hansen. The next day, we headed up the road to Wilmington, OH to close our performance month with two Swing Canaries shows and two more chances for "Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen." I love a complete cycle.
Hope you are having a thrilling summer.
Still missing the wonderful John Benjamin who left us on July 13.
(Photo of John Benjamin sent to Kentucky Artist listserve by David Marshall.) Thanks, Carrie Nath!
Raise on!
And in John's honor...
Never defer those midsummer night dreams.
http://java5concertseries.com/tv.php (you might end up on tv in Alabama!)
July started out looking like a leisurely month for Raison D'Etre. We played back-to-back Swing Canaries gigs the first weekend, one of them at the Cincinnati Museum Center for a Heritage Tour luncheon and the other for Downtown Frankfort's outdoor concert series on the Old Capitol lawn. I remember saying at rehearsal the night before the Heritage Tour, "well, July will be easy since we only have five dates booked." I had forgotten that my own schedule was stepping up for the month.
Immediately after the 4th of July weekend, I realized my mistake. Not only had I signed up for the summer session of Practice of Poetry at Grailville on every Thursday afternoon with Pauletta Hansel, but I had also signed up for poet, Cathy Smith Bowers' "Abiding Image Workshop" on July 10. Cathy had come to Grailville during our worst snow storm of the year, so those of us who couldn't make the winter date were promised a summer session. All of those poetry sessions were wonderful, of course, but most of the writing I did during that time was my own.
My HealthRhythms schedule also picked up during July with two sessions at Walton Senior Center and one at Active Day in Blue Ash. I kept thinking, "I'll get around to posting something about Raison D'Etre's wonderful midsummer adventures soon." But again, I didn't.
So, you missed learning how much fun we had dressing up in period costume and debuting "Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen" for the Heritage Tour. Probably the most fun we're having with that tune is that Violet Rae is breaking out her bari uke and doing a little lead on the song. Vickie and I are also being our braver selves and trying our hand at a little klezmer-sounding riff each. We did the tune the next day at Frankfort's Downtown Concert Series and almost nailed the parts. However, it wasn't tight until we played at the Cincinnati Art Museum's celebration of American Song on July 11! I wanted to high-five Violet and Vickie after our lead sequence, but we still had to finish the song. Thanks to our friends who came out to those three concerts, bringing love, support and even pie. Gil Thurman captured the Frankfort party ambience in his photos of their event.
So after the Art Museum, I took a deep breath and realized that my personal calendar was taking over. Kate Larken--singer/songwriter/publisher extraordinare-- e-mailed me to say that the Motes Books Gathering scheduled for Grailville July 16-18 was pretty much filled up and that my songwriting workshop might have as many as 21 participants. So I spent a couple of days getting my handouts together for this wonderful new adventure. In the meantime, my yearly Arts in Education Roster training was scheduled in Frankfort on the 13th, and I picked up a last minute solo booking from Creative Aging for my "Story Behind the Song" program. I gave up all hope of a website update for July when Gary scheduled a few vacation days for July 22 and 23. Then the gals of the Raison clan celebrated our sister, Rosanne's birthday with a lunch at the Greyhound Tavern.
Let me tell you that all of this activity might have kept me from updating our news page, but it sure was invigorating. The Grailville Gathering turned out to be filled with really great writers of all genres--including a few songwriters--who styled our swarps into something special. We sang hymns, original songs, and the Rolling Stones, played avocado percussion, took turns holding the youngest member of the Gathering(five days), and shared writing. It was magical! Those of us who had work published in Motes Books' latest themed anthology, MOTIFv2: COME WHAT MAY, AN ANTHOLOGY OF WRITINGS ABOUT CHANCE were thrilled to receive our contributor copies at the Gathering.
Following the Gathering I took a few days to get back to my exercise routine before Raison D'Etre finished out our month playing Acoustic Thursday on Fountain Square, following a talented singer/pianist/songwriter from Denmark, Tommy Hansen. The next day, we headed up the road to Wilmington, OH to close our performance month with two Swing Canaries shows and two more chances for "Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen." I love a complete cycle.
Hope you are having a thrilling summer.
Still missing the wonderful John Benjamin who left us on July 13.
(Photo of John Benjamin sent to Kentucky Artist listserve by David Marshall.) Thanks, Carrie Nath!
Raise on!
And in John's honor...
Never defer those midsummer night dreams.
http://java5concertseries.com/tv.php (you might end up on tv in Alabama!)







(Photo by Janet Arno, Campbell County Library.)




















