Cathy & Marcy's Blog

Since the Sunday night concert at Wits University went so late, we got so sleep in today. At 10:00, we boarded the bus for a tour of Pretoria. We started at Freedom Park, which is built on a hill overlooking the city. It is a series of memorials, museums, and walking trails that cover the hilltop. A park guide brought us through the sites. There was a Vietnam War memorial-type wall of the names of all the people killed in South Africa’s eight wars and conflicts. There was a circle of standing stones, one from each region of the country, surrounding a steaming central stone circle. This was a spiritual site dedicated to fallen South Africans and we had to remove our shoes and cover our heads before visiting it as a sign of respect.

We had lunch at Huckleberry’s restaurant, which served very large portions. The breaded mushrooms and roasted chicken were especially good. While waiting for food, we went to the adjacent park to test out some playground equipment which is probably banned at home.

Then we went to the Voortrekker monument, which honors the Boers who retreated from British rule from the coasts to inland areas. They traveled in covered wagons and seemed very similar to the people who traveled the Oregon Trail. The monument itself is a marble atrium on top of another hill decorated with friezes of the events of the treks. There were great views from the top of the monument of the surrounding garden, game reserve, and Pretoria. The final ride took us to the government buildings in Pretoria. We saw the presidential building, which was where Francois Peinaar (Matt Damon) met Nelson Mandela in “Invictus.” Finally, we drove past the US embassy (not McDonalds, the real one). It is a very ugly building, especially when compared to the other embassies on the Embassy Row. After a dinner that was definitely not fast food, we did our laundry, and went to bed, exhausted from the long day. We can all agree that we’re having a BLAST!

Aloha Snowstorm!
Click on each photo for larger version
ALOHA In the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English greeting to say goodbye and hello.(wikipedia.org)

While the east coast was getting slammed with 30+ inches of snow, we went directly from the GRAMMY Awards to the land of sun, sand, whales & Aloha – Hawaii. We spent lots of time in the music community-taking in a Slack Key Guitar concert with George Kahumoku and Ledward Kaapana, writing songs and jamming on ukuleles, guitars and harmony singing for hours and hours with Ginger Johnson and Robyn Kneubuhl of the Hula Honeys, visiting Keola and Moana Beamer (gorgeous slack key guitar and hula dancing), meeting songwriter/producer Melinda Caroll (who has compiled lots of CDs of Girl Scout Songs) and even meeting up with our local friend, Paul Reissler of Kid Pan Alley. We’ve got lots of ideas for a recording and brought home plenty of new material to work on.

Cathy took her first Hula lesson and is hooked-now looking up where to take classes in Maryland. Marcy taught Ginger of the Hula Honeys some CELLO BANJO and left one behind so Ginger could practice.

Meantime, we saw humpback whales up close and personal! Right now, the locals call it “Whale Soup”, not cause we’re gonna eat them (Cathy is still very vegetarian), but because the ocean is FULL of whales. We took a Pacific Ocean Foundation whale watching boat and marveled at 45 solid minutes of a boat side visitor-a baby whale (only 2 tons), playing with us. Then some star gazing, volcano trails, snorkeling, and a visit to a fabulous aquarium.
Whale MovieCLICK TO SEE WHALE MOVIE
Cathy lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba for 5 years and Marcy in Michigan for more than 15, so we apparently had already survived enough monstrous snow storms. As big as this was, neither Winnipeg or Michigan would have closed down. But, we’re shoveling now-both through the mail and the snow.

Out with the old, in with the new. But how did we spend 2009? It’s amazingly difficult to choose 1 highlight per month but it beats writing a whole book, so here we go:

JANUARY: We performed at the Smithsonian’s American Indian Museum the day before Obama’s inauguration in a pre-inaugural multi-cultural party.
Marcy produced a CD by Kellie Allen & Pete Peterson

FEBRUARY- At the GRAMMY Awards we announced about 20 awards, handed the GRAMMY to 2 friends (Bill Harley and Art Rosenbaum) and Cathy had her photo taken with Paul McCartney, REALLY.

MARCH- We launch the Brownie Troop of Kensington, MD Ukulele Orchestra

APRIL- BANJO TO BEATBOX plays Philly kids fest and CD is released on our SongShop™ label

MAY- Can’t do just 1. Birchmere Mother’s Day show with Deborah Tannen (NY Times Best selling author), Peggy Seeger & the dynamic duo AND
While in Maui for business (ha, ha, ha) we meet the HULA HONEYS, jam for days on end with them and vow to produce their next CD
Film JUBILATION MUSIC VIDEO
JUNE- Perform tribute to ELLA JENKINS at Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert

JULY- gotta do 4
*Old time Banjo Festival at the Birchmere includes Cathy & Marcy, Bruce Molsky, Mike Seeger, Adam Hurt, The Old 78′s- Mike’s last Washington DC performance
*Ukulele Festival- James Hill, Victoria Vox, Cathy, Marcy, local friends & 3 uke orchestras-WOW
*Wolf Trap Theater in the Woods w/ Chris Bacon & BANJO TO BEATBOX
*Kennedy Center Millenium Stage w/ James Hill & Adam Hurt

AUGUST- Clifftop Appalachian String Band Festival gives a chance to chill & play old time music with friends from all over the country. BUT, we lost good friend and old time music torch bearer Mike Seeger to cancer.

September- Record 2 DVD’s (Meet the Instruments) and a CD (Michele Valeri’s “Little Ditties for Itty Bitties”) for our SONGSHOP™ label. February releases.

October- Favorite show was the Tribute to Utah Phillips celebrating the 2 CD set, “Singing Through The Hard Times” honoring his music & raising $ for the homeless shelter he helped build.

NOVEMBER- The dynamic duo sold 110 ukuleles to pre-school teachers at the National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference in Washington DC, plus plenty of C&M CD’s & DVD’s, but most importantly, loved hanging out with pre-school teachers and teaching ukulele at our booth. 2 chords makes you ready to sing 100 songs! 3 chords=500+ songs

DECEMBER- gotta mention a few
*BANJO TO BEATBOX becomes our 14th consecutive GRAMMY nominated CD, for Best Musical Recording for Children
*24th Annual Winter Family concert including Scottish fiddle virtuoso Bonnie Rideout and the Rockville High School Bagpipe Band. Some families bring 3 generations of Cathy & Marcy fans
*Then a memorial & music party in honor of Mike Seeger
Then- Marcy’s mom has major surgery and lives to tell the tale
Then- 17th Annual Gingerbread House decorating party
Then- Xmas party at rehap center for Marcy’s mom with musical friends
Then- Xmas dinner & music party
Then- Hank Williams Tribute nights at the Birchmere Music Hall & Court Square Theater (Harrisonburg, VA)
Then- HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Someplace in there we also contributed to the National Geographic’s new Documentary on the Appalchian Trail on dulcimer, banjo, guitar and mandolin. Cathy got a new bike in trade for banjo lessons. Marcy collected a few tenor guitars and we each rescued some special instruments from gloom and doom on ebay and elsewhere. Cathy became more active with the Washington Area Women’s Foundation and Marcy built up the Girls with Guitars and Ukulele Social Network social websites. There’s always more, but now that it’s 2010, we’ve got new work & projects to get to.

Here’s to a year of CHANGE, HEALTH CARE FOR ALL AT AFFORDABLE PRICES, GOOD HEALTH, SONGS, PEACE, HAPPINESS, PEACE and ever expanding hat collections. Keep your sense of humor-you’re gonna need it. Get up and do something and it’ll get done!
Cathy & Marcy

Today’s Hats
Dust Collector, Human Snow Plow, Bookkeeper, Philosopher, Mosaic Artist, Buddy, Shipping Clerk, Secretary, Label Manager, Artist Rep., Grammy Winner, Banjo Player, Pro Bono Advisor, Satirist, Content Creator, Dishwasher, Songwriter, Activist, God-Mother, Aunt, Chameleon

Cathy & Marcy’s HEARTSTRINGS program is a way for us to help you find the musical instrument of your dreams within your budget and to inspire you to give the gift of music to a child who doesn’t otherwise have the opportunity.GUITARS NOT GUNS of the National Capital Area Area is a local nonprofit whose mission is to inspire at-risk and underprivileged youth to succeed by providing them music education opportunities through the use of volunteers and partnerships in our community. They help instill in these youth the confidence and character necessary for them to grow into productive members of society and responsible adults. The program provides free guitar lessons with the belief that the art of music connects the child to higher life goals and ambition. Students are loaned a guitar to use for the beginner’s class; once they complete the class they are awarded that guitar; it is theirs to keep. Read HERE.

Our goal is to raise at least $2500 for GUITARS NOT GUNS this holiday season. By setting the example of us giving our time to you, we hope you will donate some of your $ to this wonderful program. The process is quick and simple.

First: Make a tax deductible contribution of $25 or more to Guitars Not Guns by going to their web site www.gngnca.org – and clicking on the “Donate Now” button in the upper right corner of any page. Specify the amount you want to give and in the “Dedication” section, write:“HEARTSTRINGS”.
Second: You will receive a Thank You from Guitars Not Guns that includes a request form for you to fill out.
Third: Complete the request form and e-mail it to us at info@cathymarcy.com
Fourth: You’ll hear back from us within a few days. We will suggest up to 3 instruments within your budget as well as recommendations of convenient, friendly and reasonably priced places to buy online or near you, depending on where you live.

Then: as you make more music in your life, you’ll enjoy it more knowing that you helped provide that same opportunity to a deserving kid in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area.

We will be helping people find electric & acoustic guitars, banjos of all kinds, ukuleles, mandolins, whistles and folk flutes, dulcimers and more.

We teach Marcy’s song, “SHARING” in sign language. The sign for “sharing” shows that you give some away and you take some for yourself. Click on song to LISTEN.
The song is from the CD, “CHANGING CHANNELS“.
SHARING

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. The program will run from November 1- December 20, 2009

We have always enjoyed hearing, seeing and performing with talented kids. Our upcoming 24th Annual Winter Family Concert will include the best in Scottish music. Our good friend and master Scottish fiddler, Bonnie Rideout joins us. In 1998 Marcy produced Bonnie’s family CD, “Gimme Elbow Room” which won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award.

Bonnie introduced us to the Rockville High School Pipe Band. They will also perform in the concert. The members of the band meet every Wednesday at Rockville High School to rehearse. Ages range from 12yrs.-high school. They work hard, practicing as a group for 2 hours per week marching in formation, learning new material and fine tuning the band sound with Highland Pipes, bass drum and snare drums.To keep up, many of the kids take private lessons during the week and everyone has to practice. We LOVED the sound of lots of Pipes together.

This band has been going since 1961 (with different kids of course). Some of its more notable performances include concerts at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the dedication parade for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial; a Redskins half-time show; the world premeires of the movies Patton and a Bridge Too Far. For over 30 years, the Pipe Band has also been responsible for holding the annual National Capital Area Scottish Festival.

Come meet these talented kids, see and hear how the bagpipes work-or if you don’t live near here, find a local Pipe group.
Hear the Pipe Band, Bonnie Rideout & Cathy & Marcy together!
Check out the pipes up close!
For tickets, click HERE

KIDS/TEACHERS/FAMILIES

Sept. 1- Sept. 30 with COOL PRIZES

We’ve gotten so much fun response to the song and video “JUBILATION” from the BANJO TO BEATBOX CD. The first time we performed it, for a 5th grade class, the teacher said, “Wow, we could use that song as a lesson plan on rhyming and vocabulary.” A week later, we got 3 pages of new verses to the song from that class.

That gave us the idea to invite everyone in on the fun. We’ll read every submission and choose some of the best for publication in the blog. We will even record some of the best for folks to hear in the blog and on the website.

We encourage kids, families and even teachers to have as much fun with this as possible!

Read the original lyrics here

Watch the JUBILATION MUSIC VIDEO below

PRIZES: Top 5 will receive FREE CD of their choice from www.cathymarcy.com AND Cathy & Marcy SongShop Washboard.

Here’s how to join the JUBILATION LYRICS CONTEST:

1)Write a new verse to JUBILATION and email it to: info@cathymarcy.com

PLEASE INCLUDE

Name of entrant

Age of entrant

Your new verse

2) YOU MUST INCLUDE AND AGREE TO THIS IN YOUR SUBMISSION:

I understand that by submitting my verse to the song JUBILATION, Community Music, Inc. has the right to print, record or otherwise use and distribute my verse. It becomes the property of Community Music, Inc. Though Community Music, Inc. will attempt to credit  and thank each entrant if their material is used, there are times that this may not be possible. Community Music, Inc. has permission to use my submission regardless of credit.

____ AGREED    Name___________________________________

_____Parent/Guardian Agrees for entrants under 21

Name of Parent/Guardian__________________________________

Email:_______________________________________________

That’s it-let the word fun begin.

And, you can also have fun with the JUBILATION WORD SEARCH HERE