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Animaterra

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Everything posted by Animaterra

  1. My thoughts and prayers are will all affected by this horrible tragedy.
  2. Thanks, David- Mudcat's been down today so I haven't had access. Good news, indeed!
  3. On the 21st of July my daughter Maggie and I will be arriving in the UK for a 3 week visit! The current plan is a little crazy, but it has to do with the schedules of various friends and family. The day after our arrival we plan to take the train to Doncaster, to be met by our good friend Bill Sables. We will spend a few days in Yorkshire. Train back to London by the 28th, where we will spend a few days (until 1 or 2 August) visiting my cousin and another good friend. Then it gets silly- do we scoot back north to Edinburgh, where my cousin is performing in the Fringe festival on the 5th? Or do we spend the last week tootling around the obligatory sights? In any event, we will probably end with a hasty spin around the most important shrines- Oxford, Stratford, Stonehenge/Avebury, Bath (these are my daughter's wishes- she's a very bright, not-at-all-typical 16-year old who's biggest teen idol of the moment is Will Shakespeare, although Jane Austen and the Brontes are up there in her pantheon!) Back to the US on the 10th of August. I am looking forward to meeting Alan Day at the George on August 1. Are there others of you I'm likely to run into- or who would love to show us the beauties of your particular corner of the motherland?
  4. Welcome back, Helen! Yes, you've been missed! It'll be good to have you around again.
  5. Tom, I wonder what your wife would think to see you playing your concertina with your hands down your trouser legs!!!
  6. Well, I've done a little research and it'll be awhile before anything gets made, so, no, Alan, I won't be wearing my pin at the George! But I've contacted the two companies my friend told me about: Pinsource (www.pinsource.com) and National Custom Insignia (www.lapelpins.com/) and they're going to send me catalogs and price lists. Now, should I just use the logo as used on the merchandise- mugs, tshirts, etc? I'm not an expert so don't know how it would look in smaller dimentions (no more than an inch square, for instance).
  7. As for me, I was swamped last week with end-of-school year stuff, then hied me off to the Old Songs Fest. Now that I have time on my hands, I have the same problem as Mark- battling teenagers! So, early bird that I am, I keep to my early morning hours for my fix!
  8. Yes, thanks David, I should have done this myself, since I was at Old Songs and spoke to John several times before he went missing. He was looking hot and tired (but so were we all!) but seemed his usual cordial, funny self. On Saturday afternoon he participated in a sea songs workshop with Michael Cooney, Alistair Brown, and Danny Spooner (my friend and I dubbed the session, "dueling concertinas"- they all had theirs, and kept admiring and showing them off). He was low-energy, but not alarmingly so. He was supposed to MC the evening performance on the main stage, and I was concerned when he wasn't there- I think it must have been Bill Spence who took his place. The next day, at the English barn dance workshop, I heard the whole story from Gail Griffith. Apparently Bill Spence talked with him and urged him to check in at the first aid tent. The rest is history! The surgery is today. I know he will be held up by hundreds of well-wishers sending healing thoughts. And after all of this- he's bound to feel so much better!
  9. A small discreet pin or button would be cool. I know a place that has recently had both small pewter pins and those enameled pins with a logo made. If there's enough interest here I could look into prices, etc.
  10. Are we talking 2005 or 2006? Because that will affect my choice on the poll. My dad's moving to Gig Harbor this summer some time and I'll be visitng him next spring or summer. The date of a Squeeze-In just might affect my choice of season a wee bit....
  11. And here I was thinking there was actually a concertinist looking for a wife....
  12. I keep trying to think of a snappy comeback, but I'm laughing too hard!
  13. Just to chime in with my $.02... It's been so hot and sticky here- too hot for this early in the season, at least in the hills of my little village. But Monday evening I was dutifully practicing away for a little while, enjoying the ceiling fan effect (not to drift onto another thread...) Finally it was time to put the instrument and me to bed. I noticed a strange bruise on my right thigh. Started to rub it, wondering where I'd gotten it. Lookng more closely, it had the definitive Jeffries scrollwork- it was so humid and I was so sweaty, i ended up with a temporary Jeffries tattoo! I'm packing that silk scarf in the box (oops- drifting into another thread! ) for the next H & H practice session!!
  14. HOORAY FOR RHOMYLLY!! Good for you! That took courage, and an ablility to look at yourself dispassionately and with humor. You'll do fine! Helen, I refer you to my last post: (No one reads my posts- boo hoo! ) As for Danny Boy, it was the last performance I ever did with my late beloved Byron. We sang at a funeral, ironically enough, and after practicing it on a beautiful September afternoon on the deck overlooking the NH hills, we decided we really loved the song after all. After a painful year and a half, I find I can sing it once more, and love it.
  15. Bill, congratulations on your new Edgely! It sounds like a wonderful instrument. You've made an interesting and informative comparison and it sounds like you've increased your versatility (to steal a term from Alan Day!). Enjoy your new friend!
  16. I got to admire the beastie at the Marlborogh Morris Ale last weekend- it's a big honker! Very impressive, wonderful low bass notes. Made me drool for one, in fact!
  17. Great name ideas, everyone! But this was for our "joke name". For now, at least, we're Seanma, a word that Bunting said meant musician or player of music. We'll be performing next week at the Irish Connections Festival in Canton Massachusetts!
  18. Rhomylly, I'm in about the same boat as you in terms of just starting to venture out in public. In my other performing life as a director, I almost always wear all-black, so as not to distract from the singers in my chorus who are wearing many colors. But in my duo, my long black dresses seem a bit too fancy and become distracting- to me, at least! I've come up with a collection of plain shirts (I think they're called "ballet shirts") that I wear with black pants, and they seem to work- they're comfortable, attractive, but not likely to distract the audience. The real trick is to not clash with my partner- already a challenge, since her hair is prematurely white and mine has yet to go grey, so we're completely yin and yang as far as color go! Thread creep- yesterday we were both with some of my students who tried to come up with a new name for our duo, based on our hair color. They had lots of ideas that could imply another type of duo- Ebony and Ivory, for instance. One suggested "Oreo". Another thought of the color of holsteins and wanted to name us "Cows" (wouldn't we just love that one??). We finally came up with our "joke name" - Moo Two!
  19. Mark, what a wonderful story! I can just picture the little cherub, staring up at you. Jim, I'm trying to picture just how that mother managed both hands on the fiddle... must have used a baby front pack or something! I did very little performing when my kids were young enough to need child care. My bigger issue now is with local performers who let their children run wild in the hall while they themselves are performing on stage. We've had a couple of little knee-biters get into very dangerous and/or disruptive situations that way.
  20. I posted a reply last night but must have forgotten to press Submit. Or something. Alan, I think you should go right back to Oxfam and get the dress back! Gretchen, I also remember reading about the concertina as a woman's instrument. I remember reading a biography or memoir about growing up in Ireland; there was a reference there about going into the villages and seeing women sitting in the doorway, playing concertina. But I have no memory as to the author or title, or anything else! My brain is now full; any new information pushes out old stuff.
  21. Well, I'd like mine big enough to hold my concertina, my music, my music stand, and a water bottle, with a handle, a shoulder strap, and backpack straps, padded with a hardshell case, small enough to fit behind the driver's seat of my car, and light as a feather, please! That would be my ideal! But seriously, I'm in awe of all of you who are able to conceive an idea and build beautiful cases- just listening to your contributions makes my head spin, but the results sound fantastic!
  22. Good for you, Wendy! That looks like good stuff. Have you tried sleeping with the stuff and the gloves on? I forget where I read that lubricating your hands and wearing white cotton gloves at night was an old custom of our foremothers to keep the skin soft and smooth.
  23. Malcolm, I was going to suggest the same thing. I receontly had this problem with a password on the US FAFSA site (one of the dreaded hoops US parents have to jump thru to get financial aid for their college students!). Turns out it was case-sensitive- which I didn't figure out until they rejected me on my third attempt and I had to reapply for a password! Dunno if it's case-sensitive here, but might be worth a try!
  24. And welcome, Alan! You have a concertina that many of us could only dream of owning. As a fellow Jeffries-inheritor (anglo, not duet), I wish you much joy in your instrument.
  25. Welcome, Nezu, and yes, you are doomed! Prepare to be assimilated! Resistance is futile!! Bwah hah hah hah!!! But seriously, you've found a great instrument and a wonderful, informative, cordial cyber-community. Let us know when you start squeezing!
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