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News Of Note | April 15 | Sept 29 | Sept 21 | July 30 | Mar 15 |Mar 10 |Feb 2 |Jan 21 |Nov 12 | News Archive

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April 15, 2011

LATEST JAM FOR THE FANS UPDATE

Jam For The Fans, the 20th Anniversary celebration of all things Nields will take place June 10, 11, 12 in Northampton, Massachusetts. Tickets for the weekend are on sale now - click here to purchase!!

Tickets for just the Iron Horse show are on sale now at the Iron Horse web site. If you have already purchased the full package, your Iron Horse ticket is included, so there's no need to purchase another one.

Tickets for the rest of the events "a la carte" are now available at www.bulletproofstore.com.

We are first putting out announcements and updates on Facebook and Twitter, so if you're not following "NerKat" on Twitter or don't already "like" The Nields on Facebook, please do so, to make sure you're the first to know about everything!!

Package includes:

Friday evening: Registration and happy gathering time (snacks included)

Friday night: * Open mic (package purchasers will have first option to sign up)

Saturday Morning: * Family show

Saturday day: Scavenger/ Treasure Hunt

Saturday Evening: * Iron Horse show- 20 Year celebration. ALL the Nields will take the stage at some point!

Sunday Morning: Gospel Brunch (show only, food can be purchased separately)

Tickets for the whole package include a goodie bag with NICE premium items and a BINGO card for a special round of nields bingo before the Iron Horse show!

Adult tickets are $100 plus a $5 processing free. We are currently working out the details for children's (10 & under) al a carte ticket prices. There will only be 90 adult tickets available.

* some tickets will be available for these events separate from the package

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Sept 29, 2010

Hello Friends and Happy Fall.

I must say that this is the first year in a LONG time that I have not resented the hell out of the fall. I so love summer in New England that I am always sad about it. Maybe it's the fact that we had a really long summer this year thanks to a hot June; maybe it's the fact that I got to see a majestic Moose crossing the road this week; maybe it's the fact that Monarch butterflies chose OUR front yard to lay their eggs, live their caterpillar lives and spin their crysalides(I looked that up); or maybe it is the fact that my son, having started Kindergarten, is as cheerful as I have ever known him to be. No matter why, everyone's favorite season in New England is finally also mine. Though the leaves are different than usual owing to the drought, they are no less beautiful this year. I tell you this because I am attempting to lure you here. You really should come. It's gorgeous and better than that, Nerissa and I are planning our annual Iron Horse show.

Some of our very favorite musical memories happened at the Iron Horse. Three of our cds include material recorded live in this magical space. Two of them were recorded entirely in this our beloved hometown club. We moved to this Pioneer Valley in large part because of this club. People all over the country are always telling us that they dream of making it to Northampton for a show in that hallowed room. Well, folks, now is the time. But I am guessing you are wondering about those famed musical memories. Here are my top 5:

1. Our first headline show at the Iron Horse in June of 1992. We had only played the open mic. We were as green as anyone could ever be. We were given the amazing opportunity to play a free show on that stage by the founder of the club, Jordi Herold. Nerissa made us the best press kit out of our two measly pieces of press and wrote us a fabulous bio and included photos taken of us by one of our students at the time. She sent it to every newspaper in western Massachusetts and some of them chose to print it. We plastered the town with posters and told all of our fans in Connecticut to come. We expected about 25 people if we were VERY lucky. 165 came. I will never forget the sound of their feet above our heads as we sat in the dressing room, incredulous. We played the best show of our lives up to that point and danced around the dressing room afterwards, happy, oh so happy. And then we knew that we might actually be allowed to do this thing again. After that, Jordi let us open for Cheryl Wheeler and Vance Gilbert. And a beautiful relationship was formed between the Nields and the Iron Horse.
2. One snowy night in January, we were scheduled to play two sold out shows. The first show was exciting and joyful. But during the encore, the electricity went out. We did something off mic and expected that everything would be fine in a few minutes. The audience carefully left and Eric Suher came up to us and said, "there is a line all the way down the block for the second show and the power company has no idea when they'll be able to get the power back on. What should we do?" We were a 5 piece band. And only three of us had instruments that worked without amplification. So Dave drove to Hatfield to pick up acoustic guitars at Nerissa's house. We figured we do 3-4 songs and be done. But when we started to play, we realized that it could be better than amplified sound. The room was lit by a candle on every table and several candles on the stage itself. We sang without mics, Dave Hower played drums with brushes, Dave Chalfant, David Nields and Nerissa all played acoustic guitars. Without a sound system we were not even tied to the stage. We hung off the rafters; we swung from the metal balcony; we joined the audience on the floor as we sung our hearts out. When the electricity came on halfway through the show, the audience all shouted to leave it off. We did. The Iron Horse could handle it.
3. In March of 2001, when I was 32 weeks pregnant with my first child, we took over the Iron Horse for our second set of two shows that we were recording for Live From Northampton. Recording was wonderful, but I had not accounted for how difficult it was going to be to play guitar for "Snowman"! We worked it out, but I am guessing that the Dec version of "Snowman" was the one included on the live CD. The CD ("Live From Northampton") was the last recording the 5 piece Nields ever recorded. It remains our ode to our favorite club in the world, filled with the best fans on the planet.
4. On a terrible day in 1995, we did what we thought might be our last Iron Horse show. Jordi Herold had sold his beloved club to Jo and Craig, two very nice people who, that day, told us they could no longer afford to run it. Everyone said that whoever bought it would turn it into a run-of-the-mill rock club with nothing but cover bands. But then Eric Suher bought it and protected it and preserved the amazing musical treasure that it remains today. This is one of my favorite musical memories because I was so very grateful that night for what the club had given me- both as a performer and as a member of the audience. This club is a community center, and we are so lucky to have it in our Valley.
5. Then there are the times when we were in the audience: Michelle Shocked in 1993 from the third row, Fleming and John- one of the coolest bands EVER. Google them. You will not regret it, Moxy Fruvous so many times, but particularly one night when a couple got engaged. We saw The Story in 1992 playing on a stage crowded by the set for Daniel Lanois; Ollabelle in 2003--one of Nerissa and Tom's very first dates; Ben Demerath and Dave Chalfant and Tracy Grammer and Jim Henry- Dave sang! The Roches- from the balcony. I almost died when they did "Hammond Song;" Suzanne VEga when Nerissa was a couple of days away from giving birth to Johnny. Northern Lights when Katryna was a couple of hours away from giving birth to William... and so many more, too many to count. This place is like no other. Come sit in the audience and sing with us. It won't happen again for a WHOLE YEAR!

So there. Come to our show. We like you and we want you to be there! If, however, you live in Pennsylvania, you will also have an opportunity to see and hear us this month in Zionzville, PA at Listen Live Music http://listenlivemusic.org in the Lehigh Valley.

We'll be in the southeast at the beginning of November- Strings Attached @ St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Durham, NC on Friday November 5 and at the Barns of Wolf Trap on Saturday Nov 6 in Vienna, VA. See you there!

Love, Katryna & Nerissa

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Sept 21, 2010

Hello wonderful readers,

September is my favorite month. I know I'm not so original in this, but it's the truth, so I say it. I love the smells of September: the way the ground gets grungy and dank and fetid and skanky; the whiff of a woodstove, the smell of new school shoes. Yesterday I lay in the grass in our backyard in back of the sungold tomatoes, almost all picked, vines turning gold, and savored a last warm day with my kids, Katryna and her kids, and a dear friend visiting from New York. I don't quite believe that tomato plant is about to die; and indeed it won't really. Those squashed orange tomatoes on the ground will leave their intrepid seeds behind and next year there'll be all sorts of volunteers nearby. The kids built forts out of umbrellas and broken tree branches and a magenta scarf. They almost didn't fight at all.

Usually we have a ton of gigs in September. Not this year. We were supposed to play the Driftwood Cafe in Plymouth, but our grandmother's funeral was scheduled for that day, and the good producers of that show graciously moved our date to January 15. I had a writing retreat this past weekend, so that leaves only next Saturday, Sept. 25 to play with. And play we will! We are going to bring the house down, or rather the church down, or maybe just its roof down, but in any case, we are going to play and sing our hearts out at First Acoustics in Brooklyn Heights at the UU church on Monroe. I love Brooklyn so much. Our aunt and uncle live there, along with their five kids and two dogs. Also Katryna's sister in law, brother in law and niece live there. We made Bob on the Ceiling there. Also a lot of you live there. Also, half of Northampton MA is from there. Seriously, when we drive down Atlantic Avenue from the BQE I feel as though I've just turned onto Pleasant St. in Northampton. There's some je ne sais quoi. Probably the Camelback water bottles and Bob strollers.

We have more gigs in October, but we'll write a new newsletter then. We are almost finished our book, and as soon as that happens, two more things will be given some attention:

1. Our next CD, tentatively titled Motherlode. Or Full Catastrophe. Or Ten Year Tin. See, when I said tentative, I wasn't kidding.
2. Our new blog! We are going to start a blog to go with our book (All Together Singing in the Kitchen: Creative Ways to Make and Listen To Music With Your Family.) We plan to post six times a week, including a Friday night podcast with us singing a lullaby to your kids. Or to you. We won't check your ID.

Save us from tentativity! Tell us:

1. Should the subtitle of our book be "Creative Ways to Make and Listen To Music With Your Family" or "How To And Why To Make Music With Your Family"?
2. What should our new blog be called? Mama Rocks? HooteNanny? Kitchen Music? Kitchen Music Musings?
3. What should we name our new CD? Full Catastrophe, Ten Year Tin or Motherlode?

We will, as always, rely on your wisdom in all things.

Thanks for reading! Hug your kids, play your funky music, and come see us in Brooklyn!

Love, Nerissa & Katryna

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July 30, 2010

Howdy, friends!

We are back from Falcon Ridge, Green River Festival and the Festival of the Eno, and ready to enjoy these last, best days of summer. Oh, wait--except we have a book due on the Tuesday after Labor Day! Good thing we love our work. Our work is so delicious that I often find myself bored on so-called vacations. Not a bad problem to have.

This month, besides writing like crazy, we will be:

• playing an outdoor show in the beautiful Adirondacks, in Old Forge, NY (near Utica)
• doing a family show in Lowell MA
• playing at the Tomato Festival in Granby MA--combining our favorite things: music, family and organic food.
• recording our "grown-up" CD with our beloved CrackerJack band
• finding local swimming holes and watching our kids learn to swim
• eating as much fresh local corn on the cob as possible
• planning fun things to do in the fall, like play shows, teach HooteNanny, make up new curricula for "big kid HooteNanny," run writing groups and teleclasses and watch our children discover what's next.
• developing ideas with WGBY (our local PBS affiliate) to promote our DVD "Organic Farm."
• starting a new blog called "Mama Rocks"--stay tuned!

Sweet. If you want to know more, follow us on Twitter, do that thing to us that uses a noun as a verb on Facebook, read our blog, come to our shows. We'd love to take you home with us, but we can't: so take us home with you by emailing Patty and asking her to send you free copies of our 1996 release Gotta Get Over Greta.

July was a big month for our family. Our grandmummy celebrated her 103rd birthday on July 1; on July 15 she left this world, with her two daughters by her side, in her home in NYC. Three days later, our sister Abigail gave birth to her third child, a baby boy named Trenor Augustus Hillman. Our parents heroically flew up for the birth, and then our mom spent the week taking care of Abigail's 6 year old twins Emmett and Reese. Our dad flew back and forth, and on Saturday of Falcon Ridge, they put the twins in the back of the car and drove three hours out to Falcon Ridge (where they were assaulted by their other four grandkids), stayed all day in the rain and mud and blistering sun, sang with us on the Kid's Stage (our highlight was when four of the grandkids formed a Guitarchestra for "Going to Boston" complete with Katryna's handmade cardboard guitars; see this video if you need convincing.) After supper, our parents put the twins back in the car and drove back to Boston. They rule. Both Lila and Amelia said similar things in separate cars as we drove away from Falcon Ridge.

Amelia: I wish every day could be Falcon Ridge.
Lila: Mama, how long till the next Falcon Ridge?

By my count, just three hundred and fifty nine days to go.

Love, Nerissa & Katryna

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March 15, 2010

Hi Nields Fans,

Due to unforeseen circumstances we have been for forced to cancel Friday night's show at the Living Room in NYC. The show in West Hartford at the Sounding Board is still happening. The live Facebook web broadcast will also be rescheduled to a later date. We are very sorry about the cancellation and hope to have a new Living Room date listed shortly.

– Patty

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March 10, 2010

Hi Everyone!

Usually I let Nerissa and/or Katryna speak first and then I give you detailed show information but we have exciting show news that many of you that live far away will be very excited about. On Friday March 19th we will be broadcasting the show from the Living Room in NYC live on Facebook!! This is a new App for Facebook so we hope this all goes smoothly. There will be no cost and all you have to do is go to http://apps.facebook.com/streamjam/ to enter the virual concert venue. The show begins at 7pm. OK, now on to words from Katryna.... — Patty

Greetings all you Nields Niews lovers,

We had a wonderful February filled with loads of shows. The road brought us from St Louis, MO to Marblehead, MA. For us it was extra exciting because we were debuting new songs from our upcoming new cd that we are currently recording. In case you were worried that we were slacking with the shows on the road and the songs in the can, we also participated for the 3rd year in a row in February Album Writing Month (FAWM). That means that Nerissa wrote 14 new songs this month! You can listen to them and maybe even see her play them on her blog.

Sadly, this news is coming to you via Katryna because Nerissa has carpal tunnel syndrome! She is taking a much needed rest from keyboards, fretboards and washing dishes. If you have any great advice for her, let her know either through our blog, her facebook page or here. She loves advice.

This month we just have a few shows, but they are good ones. Some of our favorite venues:

On Saturday March 13 we are playing at the Homegrown Coffeehouse in Needham MA. Expect a few songs from the new cd and a smattering of FAWM songs. We aim to please.

On Friday March 19 we are headed back to the land of our birth- New York City. We'll play the Living Room 7-9pm with a special opening act. We are filming this for a live simulcast on Facebook so if you are in Albuquerque and you have been begging in vain for a Nields show. here it is. It might be on your computer but it will at least be live! See info from Patty at the top of the email for more details.

On Saturday March 20 we return to the Sounding Board, Hartford, CT is where we got our musical start. It is one of those wonderful long standing, volunteer run coffeehouses in a UU chirch. You can go grab some delicious Harry's Pizza down the block before the show too!

On Saturday April at 10:30am we are performing a FAMILY show to benefit the Nonotuck Community Preschool. Come and dance with your child. Sing songs you remember from when you were little. Nothing like a Northampton area kids show. See you there!

April sees us coming to Maine, Connecticut, Harrisburg, PA, and Vienna, VA. The very best kind of road trips!

Like I said, we are working on our new cd and hoping for a summertime release. We are trying to decide on a title these days... Motherlode, Full Catastrophe, Ten-Year Tin. We are really loving these songs. As usual, Nerissa is writing about life- the good the bad and the beautiful. It is an honor to sing these new songs. Come out and hear them!

Our family dvd is going to the printers this week!!!! We know it has taken longer to complete than we had originally planned, but we are now so very proud of the final product. We hope it brings music into your family's life.

Love, Nerissa & Katryna

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February 2, 2010

Dear Friends of Ours,

Nerissa and I have had the most wonderful beginning to 2010. I like to say Twenty-Ten. I cannot even imagine how much time I am saving by not uttering Two-Thousand And.... anymore. So much time that Nerissa and I have decided to embark on an exciting new venture. We figure that having a touring and recording music career for both kids and adults, creating and teaching a class for children and their grown-ups, writing a book on creating a musical family, making and releasing a DVD of our family music show, recording a new "grown up" CD, participating in February Album Writing Month, being a life coach, training to be a yoga teacher, running creativity and writing retreats, being moms and wives, having dear friends and spiritual communities, volunteering in our kids' schools to make music music, music, is not enough.*

We have always dreamed of running for office. The thing is, Nerissa and I have always worked well together. The idea of running for office individually always felt like a compromise. Thanks to the Supreme Court's latest decision, we no longer have to make that compromise. Back in the 90s we Nields incorporated our fine outfit. We called our company Peter Quince Touring Corporation. (It was Dar's idea. She said, "I always thought 'Nields' sounded like one of Shakespeare's Mechanicals...") Now that lovely Mechanical- whom you may remember from A Midsummer Night's Dream- can have his day on CNN. Or maybe New England Cable News. Peter Quince can officially RUN for office. Since Corporations are individuals, cannot they too petition the citizens for placement on the ballot? Now we just have to decide what office to run for.... Ideas are welcome on our facebook page: Nerissaandkatryna Nields.

Meanwhile, we've got to keep the political machine afloat by playing a lot and getting our message of making music to as many people as possible. So come to some shows, send your friends, send your "facebook" friends, send your old classmates. That'll give you something to talk about on facebook.

This weekend we are hopping on an airplane and flying to the gorgeous midwest. We are visiting the fine Washington University and running a workshop called I Wanna Be A Woman (Man) Like Me on Friday afternoon. Then....

Friday, February 5 at 8pm we are playing at the Focal Point in Maplewood, MO

Saturday, February 6 at 7pm we are playing for Tri States Public Radio in Macomb, IL

Saturday, Feb 13 at 10:30 in the Morning, we are rocking the Jones Library in Amherst, MA. This show is free. It tends to be crowded, hot and awesome. So come dance with your kids!

Saturday, Feb 20 we are driving across the great state of New York to play in Oswego. Don't forget your sunblock and swimsuit. It's hot in Oswego this time of year. Oh, wait, maybe you should bring the chains for your tires and a snowsuit. Seriously, though, we have the great honor of playing the amazing Oswego Music Hall. It has been too long since we've been in western New York. We have to check out if Southern California still wants to be you.

We finish the month with a Friday night play at one of very favorite venues, the Me and Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead, MA Friday, February 26 at 8pm and the really incredible Seth Glier opens.

Saturday February 27 we have the great pleasure of returning to Kripalu in Lenox, MA. Sometimes I want to just play this gig over and over and over again. Kripalu is nestled in the Berkshires. You can come even if you are not staying at Kripalu. But if you have never stayed there, you should. The food is delicious, the yoga exceptional and the serenity priceless.

Nerissa and Dave and I continue to work on our new CD, Full Catastrophe. We will be playing new songs all month as we prepare them for the recording. Nothing makes us enjoy playing so much as scaring our pants off by performing new songs. Nerissa has also taken on the task of February Album Writing Month again. Check our blog for updates of both of these activities.

We love you and can't wait to see you out on the road! Stay Warm.
Love, Katryna and Nerissa Nields

* This is Nerissa. I just wrote my first song for FAWM. Lila helped. It's called Five Fingers and it's a combination kids song/treatise on the 36 Tattvas from Tantric philosophy. That's what you get from the above list of career bedazzlements.

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January 21, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Katryna and I took an appropriate Solstice-y holiday break in late December. We ceased work on our new CD. We stopped bugging our producer about our DVD. We didn't write a word on our book All Together Singing in the Kitchen: The Musical Family. We did not gig.

But we did make music. My favorite thing about Christmas is getting to sing carols and other seasonal songs. I love that they come once a year. I love that I know the words and the harmony by heart. I love hearing the different parts my family members sing. This year was extra great because our cousin John Colonna came via Berklee School of Music and played piano with us. Dave, our father and I played guitar. Tom, Amelia, William, Lila and even Johnny played the drums. At one point, Amelia, William and Lila were all sitting in a row behind the coffee table with their full focus on their drum part to Deck the Halls. I wish you could have seen their little intent faces. It answered the question, "What are we for if not for this"––in spades.

There were other musical, familial highlights of the season. Amelia was in a wonderful production of Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Many of us went to see the Christmas Revels in Cambridge. Lila was given the new Dan Zanes DVD, and William got Paul McCartney's DVD of his tour last summer (which we wrote about in August--remember how we met his bodyguard at the Nova Scotia baggage claim?) and now William has multiple paper guitars laid out in front of the TV so that when Paul changes guitars, William can change too. Lila and Johnny also got They Might Be Giants Here Comes Science, which has made her decide that she wants to be a songwriting doctor when she grows up. I told her to talk to Hugh Blumenfeld. Also, she is mad at me because I won't schedule a playdate with John and John. (She was amazed to discover, "MAMA! Did you know that They Might Be Giants are REAL? And they live in BROOKLYN?") She says they do too know who we are because we watch their DVD so often.

She has a point. Katryna and I have not met all of you who read this or who listen to our CDs, but we feel like we know you anyway.

And we CAN meet you if you come to our shows, for this month, we DO have shows! Check out the tour page for some amazing shows coming this spring!!

Love, Nerissa

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November 12, 2009

Hello fun friends!

We Nields are about to embark on the creation of our 16th (!) CD! We are most excited about it. Those of you who have been at our recent shows have been treated to some in progress versions of our newest compositions. We debuted "Which Side Are You On" — a Nerissa recreation a la Sister Holler — and "Can I Love You Too Much" at the Iron Horse. Also appearing on the new cd will be "I Am Half My Mother's Age" - the Ash Wednesday/ Merry Christmas, Mr. Jones sequel, "Good Times Are Here, Johnny", "Between Friends" and a bunch of others. We have songs! We have songs! Oh, it's so much fun to be writing and learning new songs! Nerissa sang "Back at the Fruit Tree" at her church the other weekend, and we have some more that we might work up for Saturday. Maybe. We have been having a tremendous time of creativity recently, capped off with a weekend Creativity retreat entitled I Wanna Be a Woman Like Me! Oh we had fun. All this creating is going to be taking up loads of time in the coming months. (After rejecting Motherlode as the title for fear of alienating half our demographic, we are flirting with calling it Full Catastrophe. But Katryna just called Nerissa up and said she wanted us to name it What Are We For If Not For This and for Nerissa to use that line (for the third time) in a new song. Thoughts?)

As a result, we have only 3 shows left this year AND two of them are THIS Saturday, November 14, 2009.

We are returning to one of our very favorite places. The Steeple Coffeehouse in Southborough, MA. The people who run this coffeehouse should probably be the ones revamping our healthcare systems. They run a beautiful, friendly coffeehouse. We liked it so much last time that we are playing TWO shows this time. The 3pm show is aimed at kids and their grown ups. We have been delighting in these family shows of late. Come and hear your favorite songs from YOUR childhood plus some Nieldsian inventions. The family shows are very interactive. Just imagine, a whole hour when YOU do not have to entertain your child. We will do it for you! Telephone: (508) 599 3339.

The 7:30 pm show will be one of our grown up Nields shows, packed with new songs and pearls of wisdom. Plus they make amazing mixes of music. I discovered many a wonderful tune last time we were there.

The only other shows of 2009 are family shows in Northampton, MA for First Night. (Dec 31st)

We can't wait to see you!

Meanwhile, our dear friend Jonas created a new video for Easy People which you can see here on YouTube or here on our blog.

Nerissa is going to be part of the annual WriteAngles conference at Mount Holyoke College on Saturday November 21. More information here.

Ongoing: we are updating the blog once a week. We are active on Facebook as NerissaandKatryna Nields and on Twitter as NerKat. We had a fabulous time at our I Wanna Be A Woman Like Me Retreat, during which we wrote, drew, painted, sang folk songs in 3 part harmony, ate delicious food, made collage vision boards and even did a little yoga. On Saturday night, as she was being taken up to bed, three-year-old Lila said, "I want to be a woman like me." William dressed up as John Lennon circa 1966 for Halloween, complete with dark round glasses and a cut out Rickenbacker guitar. Amelia went as Medusa. Johnny is throwing peas at our dog George Harrison who has fleas. (We are dealing with the fleas. It could be worse, people.)

AND! Our family DVD Kick A Hole In The Sky is almost finished! We hope to have copies available in limited supply for Christmas. To see a sample, go here.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks! Don't forget to play Dysfunctional Family Bingo. Eat some good local food, love and forgive your family members, make some homemade music and thank the good earth. We love you.

Nerissa and Katryna

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Review of How to be an Adult

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE
Book Bag

By SUZANNE WILSON Staff Writer

"How To Be An Adult: A Musician's Guide to Navigating Your Twenties"
Nerissa Nields
Illustrated by Katryna Nields

In her introduction, Nerissa Nields writes that this book was originally her younger sister's idea. Katryna, she says, "had just graduated from college and felt clueless ... while trying to figure out things like how to get health insurance and how to pay her taxes on the nonexistent income of a budding folk singer. How are we supposed to know any of this stuff?"

Excellent question. The result is this book, a collaborative work from the sisters who live in this area and have been making music together since 1991. Though the book is written in a breezy, often entertaining, manner, it is in fact packed with practical advice gleaned from interviews the author did with, as she points out, "over 35 actual adults."

The table of contents by itself is worth the price of admission. Among the chapter headings: "How to decide what you want to be when you grow up"; "Failure"; "Organized religion"; "Eight cheap forms of therapy"; "Trash"; "Finding roommates"; "Should you buy or rent"; "Debt"; "Mail clutter"; "Laundry"; "How to fix a broken toilet"; "How to keep in touch with parents."

Jill Stratton, associate dean of students at Washington University in St. Louis, writes that, "As someone who works with college students on a daily basis, I have been waiting for this book to be written. Nields is the big sister and coach we all need when embarking on such an adventure."

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News Of Note

• Nerissa & Katryna participated in National Album Writing Month in February 2008, and recorded 14 new songs in GarageBand. You can hear them all here. Liner notes are in the blog, here.
• Nerissa continues to teach songwriting and writing workshops in Northampton, for both adults and teens. All the info is here.
• A great interview with Nerissa is here.
• Read Nerissa's cover story in the New Haven Advocate here.
• Listen to Nerissa & Katryna on NPR's Here & Now. The broadcast is archived here.
• Listen to Nerissa discuss "When I'm Here" on NPR's All Things Considered. The commentary is archived here.
• Listen to Nerissa & Katryna's appearance on WFUV's Sunday Breakfast, archived here.

now available in bookstores

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