Irish Songs etc.

My Autoharp arrived safely to my home yesterday evening, completely out of tune and missing the tiny wrench needed for the fine tuning. Today I went out on a quest to obtain a tuner, some picks, sign up for my first lesson, and then to the hardware store for the wrench.

Online this week I discovered Marc Gunn. He's a fan friendly, Ren-Faire working, singer of Irish music and what's more - he plays Autoharp. For you purists out there, I will note that the Autoharp should not be played at a Renaissance Fair, as it was only invented in the mid 1800's, but it's great for Celtic music. But for me, it's the perfect fit, and he even has put together a lovely web-page for people like me who want to learn to sing and play Irish songs:

Folk and Art

While searching the internet for songs that I would like to learn to play on my lovely Autoharp when it arrives, I found this favorite of mine by Joan Baez. It's called "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda." A song about a young Australian soldier maimed during the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during the First World War; written by Eric Bogle in 1972. The paintings of Degas, Sargent, and the visual arts of Spadecaller, augment the song's theme.



I heard her play it live once, her opening act was Dar Williams who made me cry. Seriously, just sitting there wondering if the opening act was any good and there I go...crying. I'm such a schmuck.

SF&F Con Creates Music...And Musicians

It's all Becca's fault. If she hadn't pulled out that Autoharp from the case on that fateful June evening and played it right there in front of me and the whole world, I never would have known how much I wanted one of my own. So now I've gone and ordered this one from Ebay:


So now it's my latest obsession, along with all things related to folk/irish music. It even comes with it's own gig bag to keep it safe and sound.


Speaking of sound, I plan to visit Homestead Pickin' Parlor to pick up a tuner and see about taking classes with Karen Mueller, because she actually did write the book on Celtic Autoharp. I may never watch TV again, I'll be busy tuning my Autoharp. And yes, Becca, it has 21 bars and the fine tuning. It was a good deal on Ebay, brand new, free shipping and even had the soft-case with it. I'm all kinds of excited to dive right in and learn how to play well enough to sing, and then well enough to play with the Autoharp as my main instrument.

BTW-I sing well without an instrument, but accapella sounds lonely in a music circle. The thing about Autoharps is that they are not respected by folks around here much. They probably heard more than one that was horribly out of tune and decided they weren't cool. Also, all you have to do to get a chord is push a button. That's a big plus for me as a vocalist, because it will be much easier to learn material without having the difficulty of learning guitar.

Life is meant for living, and I'm tired of sitting outside the music circle when my voice is longing to soar. I love the sound of the 'harp anyway, always have, and I plan to learn to play it well enough to earn a little respect with it as well.

Wyrdhaven Studio Notes - July 2009

It is the morning before CONvergence starts, and I wisely took today off from work as well as tomorrow. Wyrdhaven Studio Notes include music, because I'm listening to "Meander" by Riverfolk this morning.

Believe it or not, I actually plan to have a new piece of art completed and for sale at the convention. If I can get it done and scanned and framed and...well you get the idea. No work in progress pictures though, I want to unveil the tiny little thing at the convention. I'm heading off in a slightly new direction artistically which I will discuss at more length in later posts this month. Enough to say I plan to be doing some art at the con at my little table in the Artist Alley. I'll have prints available for sale there directly on Friday Morning and Saturday Morning.

I plan to have originals and maybe some limited editions in the Art Show as well.

Riverfolk will be playing at the con too, on Friday night. For more details on the CONvention itself, check out my live journal post of their Email newsletter. I'm looking forward to hanging out with 3000 of my nearest and dearest friends.

I hope to see you there!! :)

Celtic & Ren Faire Music

One of my favorite things to do is listen to live music, with my favorite being folk and celtic music. I am longing to get out and do some singing you see, which can be kind of difficult without an instrument to sing along to. I tried taking up the guitar a couple of times, the first time in high school with a six string, the second time in my late twenties with a twelve string. I loved the sound of the twelve string, but my tiny fingers had problems with holding down two strings and a time. But all those strings sure were yummy!

Fast forward to last Saturday night, when my husband and I went to see Riverfolk play at the Riverview Cafe & Wine Bar. When I saw Becca pull out an Autoharp memories of my childhood flooded back to me. You see my grade school had an Autoharp and they let me take it home to play with. I sat for hours strumming away on it, and I remember that I was loathe to return it to school after the weekend. A quick search on Autoharp and it yeilded some fabulous YouTube videos.

Next weekend is CONvergence, can you beleive it? Riverfolk is scheduled to play Friday Night in the Harmonic Convergence Room, and I'm certainly going to make an effort to go hear them play again.

Caught in Lucinda's Web

Today was supposed to be the day I got caught up on housework, where all the dishes would be done, floors would be mopped and clutter would be de-cluttered. Then I decided to start reading one of the books I picked up at Eye of Horus. Nine hours later I'm typing the review, now that the book has been completely devoured. Essentially, I got caught in Lucinda's Web and lived to tell about it.

The story got me from the beginning, because I love a good fantasy and I love a good mystery, and this has elements of both. Throw in a couple of steamy love scenes and we have the romance genre covered too. But I digress. It is a romp worth romping for those of you who enjoy Mercedes Lackey. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I do.

Walking the path between a century old spell and reincarnation, Dorothy Morrison spins a tale about a writer, Tess, who is also a Witch of the Wiccan variety. As such, strange happenings begin when she moves into a new rental house in the South. Overall though, it left me wanting more, more depth, more character development, and more drama. But clearly I found this a fun read, since I refused to put it down despite gentle nagging from my husband that there were dishes that needed attention. So Lucinda's web saved me from that fate, at least temporarily. Overall it's a nice little book.

Wyrdhaven Studio Notes - June 2009

It's June at Wyrdhaven Studio and the new garden is in, complete with birdbath which is being used by very stealthy (or possibly invisible) birds. The water has gone down and there's fluff floating, but we have yet to see our first bird in the birdbath.

Geek Update
In general news, my computer had a virus, and Norton eventually got it, but it took more than one try. My geek friend Ben went through everything, and found a couple of oddly behaving programs and deleted them, so it shouldn't be back any time soon. So that's why not much got posted this month in the blog.

Art Update
Creatively, my juices all flowed into planting the new flowers, now I'm eager to get some new work done in time for CONvergence. Speaking of which, they are looking at having a more formal "Artist Alley" so I'm not sure of the status of my demonstrations at this point. It was going to be a free-form event before, now they are talking about reserved time slots etc. I'll post any new news in the July edition of Wyrdhaven Studio Notes.

Upcoming Shows
This Friday at Eye of Horus Metaphysical, I plan on attending the Faeries Gone Wild book release party. I'm not involved with the book or the event, I'm a fan just like everyone else at this event. Except for the fact that three of my original paintings are hanging in the gallery there at this time. This event is not for children, the book has very adult themes, so do not bring your child or teenager to this event.

June 5th (Friday) 7-8:30pm

• Location: Eye of Horus Metaphysical, 2717 Lyndale Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55408
• 612-872-1292

Four sensuous stories of pixies, stardust, moonbeams, and fae lust . . .

Lois Greiman, Michele Hauf and Leandra Logan, contributors to “Faeries Gone Wild” will be in the house, schmoozing, signing books and generally exciting the Faeries. These are Faeries for Grown ups .

Featured Fantasy Gifts for June

This Fairy & Fantasy Art gift collection is officially licensed with Ellen Million Graphics, one of the world's most trusted licensors of fantasy art. She's really cool, not only because she lives in Alaska, but because she has been a great resource for emerging artists in the field. Check out the collection:

	A Gift Available as: totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, buttons, unisex t-shirts, cap-sleeved ladies shirts - CLEARANCE, babydoll shirts
	A Merry Meeting Available as: mousepads, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, button
	Ebony Available as: mousepads, totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons, unisex t-shirts, cap-sleeved ladies shirts - CLEARANCE, babydoll shirts
	Ella Available as: mousepads, totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons, unisex t-shirts, cap-sleeved ladies shirts - CLEARANCE, babydoll shirts
	Leaf Walker Available as: mousepads, totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons, unisex t-shirts, cap-sleeved ladies shirts - CLEARANCE, babydoll shirt
	Lilith Available as: mousepads, totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons, unisex t-shirts, cap-sleeved ladies shirts - CLEARANCE, babydoll shirts
	Lira Available as: mousepads, totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons, unisex t-shirts, cap-sleeved ladies shirts - CLEARANCE, babydoll shirts
	Queen's Knight Available as: mousepads, totes, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons, unisex t-shirts, cap-sleeved ladies shirts - CLEARANCE, babydoll shirts
	Tara Available as: mousepads, cards, magnets, bookmarks, stickers, keychains, buttons

That's all that I have for you in this edition of the newsletter. Have a wonderful month and maybe I'll see you this Friday for Faeries Gone Wild!