12.29.06
Posted in babble, holidays, life at 3:22 pm by Deb
Well, I think that Scrooge had it right. Bah, humbug! That’s how I feel this year. In less than a week, and right before Solstice and Christmas, we found out that X has very serious lung cancer. We all spent days and nights at the hospital after he was rushed by ambulance to the ER and put on a respirator for 5 days. We didn’t think he was going to make it at all. Now he’s being told he has about a year to live. He is 51 years old! We had a whirlwind life together with lots of adventures and even more drama. He is one of my oldest friends. I realized how much I count on him to remember details about those years. He’s always been the one to keep track of names and dates, etc. None of us have even had a chance to get used to the idea yet. We’ve been thrust into management mode. We have to figure out how he’s going to survive this year and where he’s going to be. He can’t live a half-hour away in a run-down moldy trailer in the woods without people around to help him out. He’s on oxygen now and can’t get around very well. He certainly can’t drive himself anywhere. None of our three children have cars, and only one of them has a license. There is a huge support network here that would be an enormous help and already has been helping these past two weeks. I have to just stop and cry sometimes so I can think clearly again. I want to write a song, but can’t get there yet. I’m sure I will eventually. I actually sat down and played the guitar for a little while today for the first time in two weeks. Grandsweetie is out of school until Wed., RC2 is out of school for the next month for intersession apprenticeships, work, community service and/or travel, and I would like to have my house to myself for at least a little while. I can’t even imagine what RC2 must be going through now. He is 16-years old and facing losing his father to lung and possibly bone cancer within a year. I’m so glad he has his music to sustain him somewhat. I really want my music back, and not just gigs, either. I feel like I’m maintaining by playing gigs and doing my promo stuff, but I want my songwriting and practice back. I remember when music was my life. Now it’s pretty much turned into business. Thankfully, it’s still lots of fun and inspires me greatly. All of this will pass, and things will be back on track. I can’t wait!
Permalink
12.14.06
Posted in babble, music news at 11:49 pm by Deb
Life is as crazy as ever, but things continue to fall into place just as they should. When will I ever get the message to try not to rush things, but to just let things happen in their own time? There are so many things up in the air right now that are dependent on others to be completed… As always there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything I want to… Once again I need to give up completely and surrender to the powers that be, whatever they be… This weekend will be filled to overflowing with events and commitments. I think I’ll just add a day into the weekend to accomplish the home and holiday things that will still need doing. Why did I think that I could raise a toddler and a 16-year old and pursue a career in music? And…where were you when I had this crazy thought? After this weekend, we will have had 5 gigs in 8 days. I guess maybe I should practice saying “no!” It’s so much fun, though. We keep getting better and better. Last night, and this morning, we were so relaxed and performed really well - despite the fact that Dick has a chest cold with a raspy throat. Not only are we well polished lately, but our performing has improved greatly because we’re doing so much of it. We are even managing to continue to work on some new things. We should have a new fiddle tune pretty soon and another traditional song. We are pulling out some older originals that we put on the shelf for a while and working on at least one new one. We have really settled into Deep Elem Blues and Shady Grove. They are very smooth and easy now - and people really like them both. I think it may be because they are traditional but were both covered by rock & rollers. Everyone seems to recognize them. Also, our upgraded website should be up and running soon. We have a new logo and new color scheme for the website in the works as well as having our promo package almost completed. It’s been lots of fun working on it. I love being involved in the visual arts end of it as well as the music. Many thanks again to Dan Rain for all his work on the site and the graphic arts.
Permalink
12.09.06
Posted in Uncategorized, babble at 7:35 pm by Deb
My daughter, FyreGoddess, just accepted a new contract doing more accounting - something she really doesn’t want but is accepting rather than be unemployed right now. It reminds me of her first year back at public school after years at The Albany Free School, a very alternative school. She had the incredible bad luck to get a math teacher who believed in teaching the lesson for the week on Monday then giving worksheets and homework for the rest of the week. Fyre was not only not used to this style of teaching, but it made her “unlearn” the lesson. She went to her math teacher and asked to make a deal. The deal was that he would let her do whatever she wanted during his class period, and if she could pass the test on Friday without doing the worksheets and homework, she could continue the next week doing whatever she wanted during that class period through the end of the year. If at any time she failed the test, she would do the work. That afternoon I got a call from him telling me that he “wanted to teach her a lesson” and wanted my permission to approve the deal. He was very snide about the whole thing, so I, chuckling to myself, told him to go right ahead. I thought a lesson was certainly in order. Fyre, true to form, spent the rest of the year doing all of her homework for her other classes and reading many wonderful books. In June, I got another call from him, thanking me for letting the deal go through. He told me he was reevaluating his style of teaching as a result of this experience. Fyre always was a go-getter and still is. Go get ‘em, Fyre!
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized, holidays at 7:03 pm by Deb
I promised I would give more info about the “Snow Fairies.” I figured it wasn’t really fair to ask a three-year old to just give up Santa, so I decided that the Snow Fairies would come to our house as part of our Solstice celebration. They come randomly starting on Dec. 1st, leaving small gifts on our candle table while we are asleep. I’ve found that this dispels a lot of the anxiety around that “one big blowout day.” They don’t come every day, but often enough to keep the magic alive. They often leave new candles or candleholders as well as toys, trinkets, or warm clothing like scarves or mittens. Here is a story I wrote about the snow fairies that I have copywritten but not found an illustrator for, yet. If you are an illustrator and are interested, please contact me.
Winter Solstice ©2006 Deb Cavanaugh
On the longest night, as winter breathes a frosty sigh and reaches icy fingers across the sky, through starlight and moon bright, the snow fairies begin to dance down their blanket of white. They dance down a blanket of company, comfort, and plenty for all. They dance for those who believe the light will come again. They dance to every child young or old, happy or sad, asleep or awake, alone or together. They bring dreams of peace and light and hands holding hands around the whole wide world. We light our twenty-one candles this night. Their heat and brightness warm our hearts. We sing songs of light and love and the beauty and harshness of winter. Our voices ring through the cold quiet night. We sleep deeply. We wake in the morning to small gifts the snow fairies have left - warm sweaters, scarves and mittens, slippers for chilled toes, a light-up top and hope for another day.
Permalink
12.08.06
Posted in trivia, babble, music news at 9:54 am by Deb
Back on December 8th in 1980, one of biggest heroes was shot and killed. I remember that day very vividly. He was my hero as an activist as well as a songwriter. I was stunned when I heard the news. I remember walking around like a sleepwalker and crying off and on for the rest of the day. My daughter, who was 5-years old, kept asking me what was wrong. I recently saw the movie “The US vs. John Lennon” with her and cried during the movie, too. What a waste his death was. I didn’t understand it then, and still don’t understand it today. How can people be so angry with the way you conduct your life that they decide you should die? There is another movie, “Shut Up and Sing,” coming to our local theater soon about The Dixie Chicks and all the trouble they had because Natalie Maines said one thing folks didn’t like. She had death threats, but luckily no one has tried to actually kill her. I know it’s things like this that stop other artists from speaking out. Whatever happened to free speech? Anyway, I will go through today thinking about our loss of a real hero and humanitarian.
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
Permalink
12.07.06
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 3:25 pm by Deb
It continues to amaze me how things work out just the way they should. I have been a little stressed about my lack of work lately, and having to remind myself that I really want to try to make a go at music. We got offered a set with a new friend near Ithaca, NY at an interesting sounding coffeehouse, The Blue Frog Coffeehouse. That’s pretty exciting. We’re both looking forward to trying out a new area. Then, yesterday I got a call from someone looking for a musical director for a school musical, Once Upon A Mattress. I’ll be doing auditions this Wed. and Thurs., then doing weekly rehearsals starting in the middle of Jan. through the middle of May. I almost turned it down. Once again, like when I did the classical mandolin performance in Kingston, I’m feeling like I may be in over my head. After speaking with the co-director though, I think I can do this. Mostly they want someone who can work with the singers and accompany them during rehearsals and the performances. If I have the music ahead of time to practice, I should have no problem. It’s just my lack of self-confidence that always gets in the way. Anyway, I said, “Yes.” Yikes! Here I go again.
Another very cool thing happened this week. Someone randomly found this blog, left a nice comment, sent me an e-mail and wrote a wonderful post about us on his blog. Thanks so much, Mark. Please go and check him out.
Permalink