Just the facts, Jack...photojournaling

I just found the following quote in a book that I am reading ("The Origin" by Irving Stone, a biographical novel about Charles Darwin) "It is not encumbent upon thee to complete the work, but neither art thou free to desist from it altogether." It is a Hebraic saying and I have no idea of its original context, but it followed perfectly from my last entry "Celebrating the Half-Assed Effort", so I was happy to have discovered it.

I have started thinking in blog entries since I started journaling this way...if I was a newspaper columnist, I would have a deadline and probably follow through on all the ideas I have for fun and fascinating blog entries...I know I should write more often, but I feel some pressure to be INTERESTING or ENLIGHTENING in some way. I probably ought to give that up and just stay in touch, no? So let's embark now on a strictly documentary and utilitarian kind of update.

The largest project of the moment is my involvement with the River Bluff Acoustic Music Festival in Ashland City, which is coming up this weekend (Oct. 8). I am coordinating the Performing Songwriter Competition, and, so far, have selected 10 finalists, secured judges, confirmed sponsors and prizes and such...it's an exciting event and this whole week is dedicated to the tying up of loose ends and basic logistical stuff. Check out the festival website, and if you're in the Nashville area, I highly recommend it - great music all day long... River Bluff Acoustic Music Festival

Meanwhile, I am busy with all things art, music and children...teaching tie-dye workshops, refinishing a wrought-iron table and chairs, doing a photo shoot for a friend who needed head shots for an upcoming audition, writing songs with several 2nd and 3rd grade classes in Williamson County, playing gigs both far and near (see my performance calendar, plotting upcoming adventures, and plenty of other stuff that I will probably save for another post.

I am also investigating the best way to publish photo journals online - I take A LOT of pictures and I enjoy documenting even the most mundane things...they somehow take on a glory and an importance when they are captured and described in detail...for instance, the refinishing of the wrought iron furniture...I hope to have the entire story online soon, punctuated by photographs and meticulous (tedious?) details of my learning process, how my tools and techniques evolved as I invented my own methods...how thrilling it will be for you! It will be impossible for you to remain unchanged in the face of your newfound knowledge about soy stripper and the 5-in-1 tool...here's a sneak peak of what awaits you:



NOW you're on the edge of your seat...

-kathy

Celebrating the Half-Assed Effort

There is plenty that I could have written about here, since my last
entry...among other things, I taught three week-long songwriting
workshops, had a benefit for the Humane Association, went on a
horse pack trip in the San Juan Mountains, played to an enthralled,
sold-out theater crowd in Colorado, and an empty, disinterested
coffeehouse in Atlanta. There have been so many stories and
adventures that I don't even know where to begin. If I started
telling you about the horse trip, I would feel compelled to mention
that I rode a $60,000 Arabian named "Famous" who was somewhat
neurotic, and I might even attempt to explain how he got that way.
I would, no doubt, go into way too much detail, get bogged down,
and give up because I just don't have the time. Here's a picture
instead...it allegedly being worth a thousand words:



And that's exactly the point of this here ramble ... my "all or
nothing" attitude when it comes to just about everything...
housework, gardening, career...whatever. My office is more
than likely to be a complete disaster area, because if I actually
start to clean it, I'm liable to end up with all the furniture out
in the yard, drop cloths and dry wall mud scattered from one
end to the other, and me sitting in the corner reading each
book before I decide whether to deem it a keeper or a tosser.
So the more likely scenario is that I'll look at the stacks of
clutter and paperwork, ponder the quantities of drywall mud
that it's going to take to fix it, and then simply DO NOTHING.
I am thorough to the point of incapacitation.

So, this morning, I went completely against my nature and
emptied SOME of the dishes from the dishwasher, while I
waited for the kettle to boil. That's right. I left a full sink
of dirty dishes, and the entire upper rack of the dishwasher
untouched. It felt pretty good, actually. So maybe later I'll
walk through the kitchen and put away JUST the clean coffee
mugs. At this rate, I might even have the whole thing emptied
by the end of the day. Maybe I'll even [carefully!] open the scary
bathroom closet next time I'm in there and throw away ONE
abandoned hair product or a prescription from the 80's.
What the hell, I'm gonna empty half the trash as soon
as I finish this.

So today, I hope you'll join me in celebrating the Half-Assed
Effort. It is elegant in its simplicity, and dignified in its slow,
purposeful march toward perfection. I have so few chances
to be elegant and dignified, really. I'm going to try this
for a while.

half-heartedly yours, kathy

Peter McCann at French QuarterFriday, May 14, 2004 4:27:03 PM

This was already a kinda different feeling night. Stephen Taylor was in town from Austin, so I booked a round for me, him, and David Llewellyn at French Quarter (Barbara Cloyd's show) ... we found out later that Joyce, Susan and Deanna Walker were playing the round after us, so I stayed and this guy Peter McCann played after them. He wrote "The Right Time of the Night" (jennifer Warnes sp?) and he spawned all these really cool song ideas as he talked to us - most notably "love and travel, travel and love are what I know" and I left all jazzed up about this guy inspiring a song about aging songwriters who had their hits 20-30 years ago.

I got in my car to leave, turned on XM radio (it was ALREADY on the 70's station, and the song that was playing was... THE RIGHT TIME OF THE NIGHT.

This same night, Mal Pope and Barbara Fleishhaker were in town and came out to hear me and David - David had known Mal 20 years ago in Wales and when I met Mal at Gum Tree he at first thought he didn't know David, but eventually realized that he did...and was planning to come to Nashville on Thurs, but came a night early to see David (and brought Barbara : )

The night before at Wilhagans, it was Kerrville night - I already knew that Stephen Taylor was going to be there, but David Lamotte was also in town...also in attendance, Kerrville-wise:
Joyce Woodson
David Llewellyn
Jim Stephens
Laurie McClain
Kevin Faherty

Happy 4th of July weekend - AND girls, girls girls!

It has been a weekend of fabulously talented women...last night I was part of a benefit for the Magdalen House at the Bluesboro in Murfreesboro, TN. The Magdalen House offers refuge and rehabilitation to women who have resorted to prostitution and/or dependence on drugs as a lifestyle - those who are willing to change their lives are given that opportunity...housing, counseling, etc...just a great cause. The bill last night was Treva Blomquist, Annie Mosher, Cheley Tackett, Cathey Stamps, Lisa Durand and me...great fun! A huge, steaming pile of talent.

Tonight was a reminder of where it all comes from - old friends, Nancy and Mike Morris, were in town from CT with their two daughters, Mandy and Melodie...Jim and Toni Ferguson hosted a dinner party on their beautiful new screened porch (that Jim built) - I felt like I was back in France - one delicious course after another, plenty of wine, and joyous exuberance all around. The evening was capped off by performances by all the kids - we had a house FULL of professional musicians, but tonight the kids were the focus. Melodie Morris is a gifted cellist - her sister, Mandy, is a singer on par with Mom, Nancy. Laura and Larry Winslow's daughter, whose name escapes me (!sorry!) played an extraordinary piano piece that she had written, called "Flicker", fulll of flying-fingered arpeggios and whacky dissonant chords - she's 10 years old and is already writing songs that could easily be orchestrated and arranged for...I dunno, string quartets, or any ensemble, really. Lily Ferguson is a virtuoso violinist, and joined all of the above, along with her Mom and one young woman I didn't meet, on a string arrangement of "Benjamin", a James Taylor song that sounded only vaguely familiar, but incredibly beautiful. GO GIRLS! It was just lovely to see this roomful of young women (10-15 years old) playing their hearts out and getting support, not only from their elders, but from each other. I wish I had my camera. Instead, here's a picture of a sweet group of young girls that I wrote songs with last year in Colorado...

We are continuing to see VERY encouraging support from Folk radio on "Moments of Wonder" - DJs, please keep playing it, and listeners, please request songs from the album on your local folk show!

love, kathy

Radio play, more on the way, good thrift store day

The official release date for "Moments of Wonder" is still a few days away, and it is already getting airplay all over the country (including Hawaii). It's very exciting to get this kind of reaction from folk radio before we have even begun any promotional efforts. Thanks very much to all of you who are playing it and showing us the LOVE!

Went to my favorite thrift store yesterday to find a good gig bag that would house my pedal board, cables and all the various items that I carry to the stage with me at shows - I have gone through lots of different arrangements and still am not happy with what I've been using. I found the PERFECT bag yesterday, for only 4.99. God, I love that. Not to mention, I told Bob the other night that I really needed an 8X8 or 9X9 square baking pan (you know, for brownies) and what did I find at the dang thrift store? Yup. I also picked out about 6 paperbooks that I actually want to read...and just as I was finishing shopping, they announced that everything sporting a yellow price tag was 1/2 off! All of my books and the baking pan were marked with yellow tags, so I got out of there for under 10.00.

I am stunned by how much space I allotted to the thrift store adventure, and I greatly admire anyone who has made it this far in this post. I think I should find a picture of some sort to reward your tenacity.

Okay - here's your "reward". A picture of me, Bob, and Gary at my CD Release party - I was leaving for Kerrville the very next morning and so Gary the Gnome, a Camp Singkerrnicity icon who travels around the country between festivals, living in the homes of various Singkerrnicity-ites, was along for the party and anxiously looking forward to the Texas trip. (Look how anxious he is!):



and I can't resist one more, also from the CD release party:



Bob Mater (husband, producer, drummer), Dan Schaefer (songwriter, pal, guest vocalist), Kathy, Jim Savarino ("Sing My Memory" co-writer)

until next time! -Kathy

Back in Nashville, where the talent convenes

I drove home from Steamboat Springs (21 hours), arriving late Monday afternoon, in time to drop in on my parents and see them off as they head to upstate NY for the summer. It's hard to get us all in the same place, so I take every opportunity to visit with them.

I listened to a Jimmy Carter audiobook on the trip "Sharing Good Times"...the basic premise is that he has learned over the years that experiences gain added value when you share them with people - either directly, by experiencing them together, or indirectly by recounting them and sharing stories. That's exactly the sort of impulse that made me want to start this blog, and I'm grateful and a little surprised by how many of you seem to be enjoying sharing these experiences with me!

Nashville has spent the last 2 days proving to me [again] that there is magic here - it takes a couple weeks away to see that with fresh eyes...that may be just another good excuse for my endless wandering? I had been home for a mere 2 hours on Monday night when Bob and I headed out to a housewarming party, here in the 'Hood (Sylvan Park). Gail Davies and Rob Price have been busy renovating a place and we went to oooh and aaah over all their hard work. It was bound to be a great gathering of folks - Gail's son Chris is a multi-instrumentalist, and for this occasion he had brought the pedal steel - Rob Price is a wonderful bass player, and of course Gail is incomparable as a singer and a songwriter. The three of them started off playing a few songs, and over the course of the evening every talented human in the room had contributed a song or a vocal or picked a little on their instrument of choice. It was mostly classic country, and I can't get enough of that...another fun element to the evening was Kathy Chiavola shuttling musicians from all over the world back and forth to the party - she brought a young woman from Japan, Mari, who has moved here to Nashville recently to pursue her songwriting - next she arrived with a nice fellow from Germany, and later two guys from Holland, one of whom played one of his songs for us...it could have been a country radio hit in the 70's and his Dutch accent completely disappeared when he sang. We got to hear and visit with Pete Huttlinger, which is always a treat...what a great player.

As if all that wasn't enough, my weekly Tuesday writers night at Wilhagans last night turned into a reunion of this year's Kerrville New Folk competition...along with some of my favorite regular attendees (Dan Schaefer, Alan Oatley, David Llewellyn, Doc West, Steve Taylor, etc) we also had the pleasure of hearing Tony Laiolo, Treva Blomquist, and "Ilyaimy" a duo from the Baltimore area who had simply blown me away in Texas a couple weeks ago. We did a campfire circle format last night, which is quickly becoming my favorite way to do the show. Aside from the obvious ease of not having to set up the PA, it allows us all to focus on each other and chat in-between songs. It's very intimate and warm...I may never set up the PA again, until we are forced back inside the bar by cold weather - that's a long way off, according to today's 90+ degrees.

I am going to post a few belated Kerrville pictures here...the first week was punctuated with some major thunderstorms (as usual) and after the biggest of those, I captured these kids playing in the "swamp" formerly known as the "road" in front of our camp:


and here's a lovely portrait of me having a post-storm measuring cup of wine:



That's all for now - I'll be home in Nashville for over a month, but there are plenty of interesting things coming up to report on...stay tuned.

-Kathy

from Colorado...

I made it to Steamboat Springs where I am teaching songwriting to kids at Perry-Mansfield...one of my favorite things to do all year. I have a couple days of classes under my belt and so far there are two songs happening, one called "Tossing and Turning", the other called "Grizzly River". The latter involves 3 characters: Little Creek, a native american boy, and his two pals Peek-a-Bear, an adult female bear, and her baby, Honey Cub. Too cute.

It was snowing like crazy when I drove over the Continental Divide on Saturday morning. It felt just like winter. I have never seen it do that out here in June, but apparently it is possible. Continued rainy and cold all that day and night, but otherwise has been pleasantly cool and sunny - more what I expect out here this time of year.

The new CD should be going out to radio right about now - I left Kari Estrin back in Nashville with a huge mountain of CDs to send out this week while I'm away. Hopefully, you'll be hearing your favorites on your local folk radio station very soon. Be sure to call and request it!

I'm enjoying seeing friends that I have worked with out here for the past seven years...there's always a lot of catching up to do with this motley crew of artsy, vagabond, life-loving folks. Looking forward to getting out into the mountains either on horseback or on foot sometime in the next couple days. If I get any good pics, I'll post them.

-Kathy

from Texas...

Well hey there. Writing a quick note from Kerrville - have been living in the tent for a week and haven't had a chance to write or to gather up any good pictures to show you, but will post some as soon as possible. It has been a lot of fun down here at the festival - lots of song swapping and laughter, interspersed with moments of weather-induced terror. Hail and wind and lightning - unbearable heat...then more fun and music.

I am lucky enough to be in the hotel room of a friend right now, checking email, showering, and lying still on a COOL soft surface. It's the little things, no?

I'm off to Steamboat Springs tomorrow (or the next day, depending on energy level) to teach the annual song workshop at Perry-Mansfield. I can hardly wait to get to Colorado where it is unlikely to be hot and muggy - the workshop is for young kids (8-11 yrs) and is one of my favorite things to do. They write with a fresh perspective and a lack of inhibition that is always an inspiration to me.

I'll write more soon and post pictures as soon as I can get my camera and my computer in the same place at the same time.

Peace, love and air-conditioning,
Kathy

Guitar good as new - other exciting news...

After many requests to post pictures of the damage to my Taylor 615, I decided to take some pictures...I took it to Greg Krochman at Classic Ax here in Nashville for repair, and told him I didn't really care about what happened cosmetically, I just wanted it to be structurally sound and unlikely to get worse. I couldn't believe what a great job he did:


I highly recommend that you trust your guitars to Greg: http://www.classicax.com/

More fun news soon! -Kathy

Kathy wins Smith Vinson Award - puts nasty hole in guitar...

I had a lovely time in Tupelo this past weekend, after a quick trip to Monroe, LA to play at a college coffeehouse where I provided a soundtrack by which several students studied for their medical chemistry exams. I did my best not to disturb them, and managed to sell some CDs in the process. On to Tupelo...I was invited to play at the Gum Tree Songwriters Festival as a finalist in their song contest, and I won the Grand Prize - The Smith Vinson Award! Thanks to Keith Sykes who was the judge this year...he clearly exhibited good taste in that regard, although missed the mark by not awarding my good friends Dan Schaefer and Alan Oatley who were, and always are simply marvelous. The three of us are great buddies and had the best of times spending the weekend together.




The wonderful Bill Kapenakas of Vanelli's restaurant (where I have played several times) took great care of us, feeding us Fri and Sat nights, so we repaid him by playing an "In the Round" set at his place Sat night. In my attempt to run sound and navigate the close quarters with 3 people and 3 guitars, I managed to knock my Taylor 615 off the stool that I had CARELESSLY laid it across, It hit the edge of a table on its way down with a sickening *crunch*, and I now have a large crack in the maple right on the top where I can gaze at it as I play. Of course, this was before we even started to play, so I had to just go on...2 songs in, I broke a string, so I borrowed Dan's guitar - promptly broke a string on his guitar too. All of this served to handily knock me back to my pre-Grand-Prize-winning level of humility, which I'm certain is a good thing.

Comedian Brad Tassell was playing Vanelli's Fri and Sat night, and we all hit it off and had fun eating dinner together and hanging out at the festival...he's hilarious and an awfully nice guy...lives in Santa Claus, Indiana. Here's a picture of Bill Kapenakas and Brad being our fans backstage at the songfest:



Of course the trip back was one of the highlights - a crisp and clear day to drive the Natchez Trace with the windows open, doing some hand surfing and trying to avoid being pelted by insects - especially the "hard, pointy ones" which are the worst kind, according to Alan (though at 55 mph, even the soft, rounded ones feel hard and pointy). We stopped several times - Indian burial mounds and several water features. I didn't have to rescue any turtles from the highway on this trip, though I was always at the ready and on the lookout. Here's Dan and Alan in an inexplicable pose by a lovely stream:



So, every time I look at the gash in my beautiful guitar I have the privilege of recalling all the fun, love and hilarity of this weekend. I'll keep it. May all of your wounds come with joyful memories.

love, kathy

Moments of Wonder available on CDBaby now!

The new CD is now available at CDBaby.com! The address is: http://www.cdbaby.com/hussey3

Florida Trip

I just returned from a week and 1/2 trip in Florida...fun, productive, and pretty wet. I was invited to Live Oak, FL as a finalist in the Suwannee Springfest songwriter competition, along with 5 other performers. I came in second - the wonderful Michael Troy was the winner this year. As if that wasn't enough excitement, I also received a box of CDs from Discmakers the first night there, containing the new CD, Moments of Wonder...just in time to sell some at the festival.

3:00 am that following morning - a rain/hail/thunderstorm, the likes of which had NEVER been seen in this little part of the world, rocked the campground. The torrents of rain lasted, non-stop, until about 10:30 am...the folks in RVs were cozy and dry, but those of us in tents had a slightly harder go of it. I had just gotten a new tent for my birthday (note: I can buy beer legally now, finally) - actually attaches to the back of my station wagon, so I can keep all my gear in the tent, and set up the car as a bedroom...worked like a champ, so I was one of the lucky ones.

There are two main stages at the festival, and they were both underwater by Friday morning. No, that's not hyperbole...look:

I took lots of pictures to document what quickly became known as the "Tsunami in Suwanee"...I captured one guy walking around in a snorkel and mask - never figured out if he was actually going to use them or if it was just a bit of physical humor.

After the festival, I picked up Bob (my husband) in Jacksonville, and we drove down to St. Augustine for an actual vacation. The water was a little chilly (60 deg) but I have to swim, so I did it...ONCE. The rest of the time was spent relaxing on the beach, and either eating, drinking, or trying to decide where we were going to eat and drink next.

I also did a set at the Milltop Tavern, thanks to the fabulous Don Oja Dunaway, who has been playing there regularly for 28+ years. Amazing.

After taking Bob back to the airport - I went on to Tampa for a Southeast Regional Folk Alliance planning session...we are just getting organized as a region, and will have our first conference in Asheville, NC next year. Aside from the meeting and related camaraderie, the highlight here was visiting my good friends Erbie and Jackie Garrett in St. Petersburg. Erbie and I used to have a duo - we played a couple summers on the patio of Pizza Perfect on 21st Ave. The good ole days : )

Stay tuned for more adventures, kids! -Kathy

"Moments of Wonder" just moments away!

The CD "Moments of Wonder" is done and will be available very soon through www.kathyhussey.com, CDBaby, ITunes and most other online retailers. Those of you that already have a pre-release copy may be wondering where the "behind the music" stories are - they are coming soon too!

Feel free to leave comments here - start discussions - whatever...I will answer questions or just keep in touch on this message board, so come back often!