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Harp for the Peoples

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So, tomorrow I’m playing music for the peoples of Capitol Hill and you are invited! 9pm. Donations appreciated. I’ll be playing a rare solo set of my songs on harp with vocals too. I’m featured artist the first set, the second set is open to jam for anyone who wants to.
The performance will be at:

The People’s Republik of Koffee
1718 12th Ave
9pm
Here’s a flier.

One other fun thing on my plate has been recording. I’m happy to say I’m finally committing my songs to some sort of permanent record. The plan is to invite guest friends to play on some pieces after I’ve got all the harp and vocals done. Last weekend, I worked on “Forcythia”, a song inspired by my youth growing up on an apiary in Northern Wisconsin, and Anne Sexton’s poem, “It is a Spring Afternoon.”

Phil and Sam from Hey Marsailles had me record some harp for their upcoming album too  – it was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, in fact, it couldn’t have been better. They’re good guys with good songs and I can’t wait to hear the final product!

Blessing Poem

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My friends Marty and Anne are getting married in a few weeks. As a harpist, I play for so many weddings, but most often they are for people I don’t know. And when I do go to weddings for friends and family, I get asked to play on my pedal harp. I’m excited that I have just asked been asked to read a poem! What a joy to show up with a simple piece of paper instead of a dolly, a 90 pound instrument, music stand, bench, power cables, amplifier and music. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do! But it sure will be nice to be a regular, plain ‘ol guest in the crowd.

Well… I might just bring my little 20 string harp too. There aren’t too many details yet.

I’ve been wondering what poem I could share with them. I wrote this poem last year for no particular reason. Its small concise nature left me wondering where the idea had come from. I guess now it has its place.

A Blessing (Sunflower)
May you continue to give graces
And bloom again next year
The bride will want to see you
Growing tall in the golden field
May your head be high
And small creatures
Lift you up with their sweetness
Though they may crawl through life
We are all born with wings

Black Eden: Nocturnes show Aug 28

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I’m so happy that our first rehearsal in many months went so well. Sheri Brown, Rosalyn DeRoos and I all met up for rehearsal joined by Baby Z, who enjoyed her first exposure to the clarinet.

The show will be at the Gypsy Cafe in (Wallingford) Seattle, which is a cute little all ages venue. It is located at:
3510 Stone Way North
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 632-0647

Showtime starts at 6pm with Pretty Abandoned, then Black Eden at 7pm.

Black Eden: Nocturnes is a performance with the same name of a poetry book that I wrote, published by Pudding House Press. Copies of the book will be for sale at the show for $10. Here’s a photo of a performance we did in 2009 at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center with Manifold Motion.

Gettin’ Busy Again

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July has brought about a lot of play time for me. I’m grateful to my husband Stephen Schildbach for building me a brand new website! Not only that, but he drew all of the illustrations. The one of me on the About Section was re-cycled from our wedding programs, drawn on a springtime outing with pink cherry blossoms falling everywhere.

The month of July has been getting busy: I’ve had three private jobs. The first was a wedding at the iconic Salish Lodge (cue Twin Peaks theme music) where I played on the hidden terrace at the crest of the waterfall. The second wedding was on Whidbey Island where I enjoyed a beautiful drive across Deception Pass. The most recent job was at the Plateau Club in Sammamish where I was hired to play harp for a private party.

This weekend I’ll be traveling up to Vancouver for the World Harp Congress. You can imagine my excitement – harpists from around the world! Then its off to my brother’s wedding in Madison and when I get back, it will be time to start getting busy for the Black Eden show next month.

#24 Myth

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The ground is water
and spits straight at my heel
at my back
and on the arrows of my elbows
It wishes for everything I have
to be sunken and of Atlantis
What I wanted once
can no longer be obtained
so I turn back
but am forgotten
The ground is water
and made of sweat
Sometimes I forget
all of the work that
got us here
our civilization
our Emerald City
like a crystal it shines
when there is light
like a crystal inside
we’re all it absorbs