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May 1, 2008

Hello, everybodeeeeee!!!

Ah, spring has sprung. Even though it's 48 degrees and raining, I have lost my annual fear that spring will never ever arrive. We have tulips, we have lilacs, we have ants. Lila likes to pat them. We are celebrating spring with some major events.

News! How to Be an Adult available for online order shortly and at shows starting this weekend May 3rd!

In 1991, Katryna graduated from college. She was a religion major embarking on a career as a folk singer. She had absolutely no clue how to do anything vaguely grown-up, except drive a car. But she didn't know how to take care of the car, change its registration from Virginia to Connecticut, figure out how to get health insurance, or put together a balanced meal. Naturally, she turned to me, her older sister with whom she lived. Except for the balanced meal part, I wasn't much help to her (and come to think of it, it took me until about 1998 to realize a meal needed to have protein in it to be considered "balanced"). "Can we go to the book store and find a book called How to Be an Adult?" she asked. We could go to the bookstore, and there even was a book by that title (it's by David Richo and it's a handbook for psychological growth––really great, but not what she wanted). So she decided we should write such a book. That meant we would have to do research, and we were busy trying to get famous in our folk-rock band, The Nields.

Fast-forward fifteen years. I'm pregnant and Katryna is the mother of two kids. Neither of us knows how to be an adult, but we've been passing pretty effectively for several years now (at least we fooled her kids). But something about being pregnant lit a fire under me, and I decided the time had come to finally write this book. I figured the research would do me good. And so, folks, two years later, I am pregnant again and the book is coming out on May 1!

Some of the topics we cover:

How to figure out what you want to be when you grow up
How to get a job
How to get along with annoying people
How to take care of yourself, inside and out (nutrition, exercise, mental health, etc.)
How to be a good citizen of the world (and lower your carbon footprint)
How to rent an apartment
How to choose a pet
How to keep your house clean (enough)
How to fix a broken toilet
How to have a swell dinner party
How to cook lots of yummy things
How to budget and save
How to get insurance – health, auto, life
How to take care of your car
How to register to vote
How to date
How to get married
How to get divorced
And some final thoughts on parenthood

The book will be available from our website www.nields.com which will link you to our store at www.bulletproofartists.com and at our shows, as well as from some local bookstores, like Broadside in Northampton where we'll be doing a reading on Wednesday May 21.

May 3rd, we are also celebrating spring with a double header at Passim in Cambridge with our FULL BAND!! Two shows, 7:00pm and 9:30pm. Please come! We will rock the house! (Or the basement, as it were....)

On May 10 (right after my husband Tom graduates from grad school) we are zipping up to Kennebunk, ME to do a show at the Kennebunk Folk Society. I can't wait!! We love Maine, and have such good memories of the last time we were there....in April.

On May 18, a Sunday, we are doing an 11am Children's show at Universal Kids in Northampton. This show is a benefit for Safe Passage, which is a wonderful organization in our town. To read more about what they do, go to http://www.safepass.org.

On May 21, we are doing a reading at Broadside Books in Northampton at 7pm to celebrate the release of How to Be an Adult. There might be some singing too.

Sweet May. Bring it on.

We love you!

Nerissa and Katryna

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April 8, 2008

Hi music fans,

April may be the cruelest month, but after the drubbing we got here in New England this past winter, I say "bring it on!" I just found out that the word "April" is derived from the Greek "Aphrodite," Goddess of Love, who was by turns both charming and aloof. I'm so desperate for spring, I'll take the snow that came today if I still get to keep the crocuses that have been poking up regularly in our gardens for the past few days. I am so grateful for crocuses and tulips and daffodils and forsythia—those hardy power-plants that won't take snow for an answer.

We are so crazy busy this month that it'll be a miracle if a single load of laundry gets done. We're in the middle of recording Rock All Day, Rock All Night, our double family CD. Our father came up from Virginia along with our mother for Easter weekend and we recorded a bunch of songs. After the Easter egg hunt on Sunday, we gathered everyone—including all five grandkids—into the studio and recorded "Bye Bye My Roseanna." It's a long song, and mentions everyone's name in our family. During the very last verse, our nephew fell off his mother's lap and bonked his head on the floor and then, quite reasonably, proceeded to wail. We kept on recording. We figured it would be one of those "I've got blisters on my fingers" moments. And indeed, it was ultimately the thing that got him to stop sobbing; we brought him into the control room and he got to see up on the screen exactly what it looked like acoustically when the "bonk" happened. Dave had to play that part over and over, always to huge gafaws.

We're also finishing up the final touches on our book How to Be an Adult, our complete guide to life and which kitchen utensil goes in what drawer, available May 1, just in time for graduation. (We'll send a super duper mailing in May complete with graphics so you can get a load of it, and also order it.)

And then there are the gigs. April 11 we'll be at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, CT which has been voted Best Place to Hear Music Anywhere for 3 years in a row by the Fairfield weekly paper. We expect to see leaves on the trees.

April 12 we are too cool for school, opening for Dar Williams and Shawn Mullins at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, our home town (our Iron Horse show, which was supposed to be that day, has been postponed until November.)

April 18 we'll be in New Paltz to a venue we've never played. We love playing venues we've never played. If we play somewhere we've never played, and no one who's ever seen us comes, we pretend to be a different band, usually Gandalf Murphy.

April 19 we are back at the Living Room in the East Village with Dave Chalfant!!!! And Ben Demerath opens. The last time we played here was so fun my mind spun for days. This time, we get to perform a longer set. Wheee!

That's all for April. Katryna's going on vacation to Williamsburg and Nerissa (I) is (am) having a writing retreat. (Also I'm having a baby, but not till August.) Then, in May, we're at Kripalu for Powerful Women, Powerful Voices. It's going to be so great. We will ACTUALIZE YOU! (Not really. But you will learn amazing things about music, your own creativity, your own voice and also get to hear the amazing Eliza Gilkyson, the fabulous Gretchen Peters and, oh yes, us. You can also do yoga during your breaks. And the food is THE BEST!)

To find out why I can no longer watch TV, read newspapers or listen to NPR—or even surf the net—read our blog.

Have a great April and don't let the goddess get you down.

Love, Nerissa and Katryna

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March 6, 2008

Dear friends,

Anne-Marie Strohman, our friend and fan from Mountain View CA, wrote me on January 31 to let me know that February was National Album Writing Month. The challenge is to write 14 songs in the month of February. Since we didn't have anything better to do, besides finish the draft of How To Be An Adult and paint the cover, run HooteNanny, raise our kids, shovel snow and play all over upstate New York, we decided to take on the challenge. The result is 14 brand new (sort of) Nields songs which we will record this week and post on our website shortly. The bad news is we will have to send you a SECOND EMAIL this month to give you the link. This is bad because we promised you up and down to only write you once a month, and here we go breaking that promise for a second month in a row. Sorry. I will also post a commentary about the songs on our blog, May Day Cafe, at www.nields.com/blog.

So about these songs: some are good, some are, well, songs we wrote to meet our quota. Some are destined for the soundtrack for The Big Idea; others will appear on our new Family CD (tentatively titled Rock All Day, Rock All Night) and some I will sing to Lila in the car.

Besides recording these songs on Garage Band and posting them as soon as possible, here's what we will be up to in March:

Sat. March 8 we will do a double header: a free family show at the Jones Library in Amherst MA in the morning; and then a drive up to the southwestern tip of the Adirondack Park to play a show at Old Forge, purportedly the coldest spot in the Adirondacks. (We just didn't get enough of Western NY in February). The next weekend, March 15, we'll be joining our friends the Kennedys for a blow out show (which seems to be an annual event) at the Joyful Noise Coffeehouse in Lexington, MA. On Sunday the 16th we'll travel to New Hampshire to play at the famed Stone Church.

Easter weekend, March 22-24 our parents are coming to Massachusetts (or as Lila calls it, "Mackatussess") and our father is going to record some songs with us for Rock All Day, Rock All Night. The reason for the title, by the way, is that this will be a double CD: one CD will make you want to bounce up and down. The other CD is full of lullabies and designed for new parents to stick in a CD player to virtually sing their colicky infant to sleep when it's night night time.

Pregnant Nerissa Speaking of new parents, as I said in the last email, I am pregnant. I am already huge. Here is a picture of pregnant me.

We end March at the Sounding Board in West Hartford, one of our all time favorite gigs. Since March came in like a lion, dumping 8 inches of snow on us, we expect it to go out like a lamb.

In May, we are part of an amazing workshop at Kripalu in Lenox, MA. It's called Powerful Women, Powerful Voices and it's with Eliza Gilkyson, Gretchen Peters and Val Denn. More info is here, but this is an opportunity not to be missed if you are a songwriter or artist of any kind. And Kripalu is perhaps my favorite place on earth.

I just found this from Marv Hiles, writer of a little book called "All the Days of My Life":

"The only way to live spring is to let her sun and shadow pass softly through us. Ultimately, spring teaches us that to fight against what is, is foolishness. When the cherry blossom falls and we realize how few days comprise our lives, we fall with the petal. Life is in the falling, not the staying."

Happy spring! We love you!

Nerissa and Katryna

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February 22

Dear Reader,

I know we've promised you up, down and sideways that we will not send you more than one email a month, but Patty's making me write this special report. And it's not breaking news about illegal campaign contributions or tainted beef either.

I am pregnant.

(It's on purpose. We are very, very, very happy).

And I know the question on everyone's mind is: will you still be at Falcon Ridge this summer?

Answer: if they have us, we will come. My baby is due August 26, so though I will be huge, I will be there, even if they need to airlift me to and fro.

However, that will be the last show we do. Until October. I know, heck of a short maternity leave, but what can you do? I have a tough boss. (Katryna. Also, me.)

Lila is very excited. Every night she says, "I want to see the baby." Then I pull up my shirt and she kisses my stomach. She also says she has a baby in HER stomach, naturally.

So there you have it. Be well, and we will write you again in a week or so to tell you what's doing in March.

Love, Nerissa

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February 6, 2008

Big news, folks!

After seventeen years of scheming and two years of writing and drawing, our book, How To Be An Adult, is finally ready for publication. How To Be An Adult is Katryna's brainchild. As a college graduate living with her clueless older sister, she quickly found herself mired in mysterious mail with initials like "DMV" and "IRS." Was she still being covered by our father's health care? What did a cobra have to do with that, anyway? "Someone should write a book," she declared. And so, when I became an adult (last year), I did.

It'll be out by May, in time for college graduation. You can order it through the Bulletproof store at www.nields.com. More on this to come in future writings, but now — on to the shows!

Katryna and I are heading to western NY a whole lot this month. The powers that be, in their infinite wisdom, know that the best place for intrepid folk singers in February was balmy Buffalo and not, say, Tampa. Actually, we are really psyched to go to western NY--we haven't been there in a long time and we miss the scenery. Also the Buffalo wings. And most of all, our friends and fans who come out to see us. Plus, any chance for me to hang out with my cool sister for hours and hours, stopping to pick up litter and otherwise eco-preach along the way, is bound to be a good time.

I just found out that the economic index that measures how service workers are doing recently plummeted, which is the reason the Dow tanked today. I also just found out that we are service workers. That in a recession (not that I'm saying we're in one!!) service workers are the first to suffer. Think about it--when your budget is tight, do you cut your electricity bill or your monthly massage? So, do a good thing for the economy and support your local service worker by coming to our shows this month! Fight the power!

We are also playing in Rhode Island on Feb. 16 at an amazing theatre.

The weekend after that, Feb. 22 etc. we'll be in Midwestern NY--Utica and Ithaca, towns we know and love well. I plan to visit the Moosewood Restaurant while in Ithaca and pay my respects.

One more thing: our friend Anne-Marie Strohman from California wrote us to say that February is Album Writing Month (www.fawm.org). The challenge is to write 14 songs within the month. So far we have two, but it's Feb. 6 today and I have a date with the muse at 1pm. We'll be playing our assignments at the gigs this month.

Be well, stay healthy, and congrats to the Giants fans, condolences to the Patriots fans, and may the best and most honest, honorable, wonderful, hopeful (and brilliant and visionary) presidential candidate win!

Love, Nerissa

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January 16, 2008

Dear Nields Fans,

I need to warn you at the top of this newsletter that it will not be as witty and clever as usual. Our writers are of course, on strike. Being sympathetic to the writers' demands, I am not going to actually be "writing" this message to you. I am merely typing. Sort of like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Apparently they are not allowed to "write" for their shows. So perhaps they are just typing. Or just saying whatever comes to the tops of their minds while they are taping their respective shows. I, in solidarity with the strikers, am not thinking ahead of time about what I am typing. I am just typing. I imagine you can tell....

We have procrastinated long enough this January, waiting for the writers and producers to come to a compromise. Now we must type. It is time for us to let you know of our upcoming plans! Nerissa and I will be performing our first shows of the year, this Friday, January 18! We are going to an amazing place. It's actually called AMAZING THINGS. It must be amazing. Amazing Things is located in Framingham, MA. We will be setting up camp there. On Friday night we are playing a state-of-the-art Nields show in the classic sense. Meaning: a regular Nields show with songs from all your favorite albums and lots of songs from our latest release- Sister Holler. You will sing, you will dance. You will not regret it. Then the next morning, Saturday, January 19, we will be performing at Amazing Things (slightly different location in Framingham, see website) a show for children and their grown ups. You will dance, you will sing, your children will then sing the songs for weeks on end. You will not regret it. (OK, you might regret it, but only because you'll get sick of the songs.)

Next week, Friday January 25 we will be at THE SPACE in Hamden, CT. That's near New Haven. It is a funky little room. There is plenty of parking, there is a vintage clothing store upstairs and there will be a delightful Nields show downstairs. Again, there will be lots of fabulous Sister Holler fare and also your old favorites. I DO so love this job we have. Come and celebrate this new year with us. Come into the cozy Space, have a cappuccino, sing, dance, you won't regret it.

Then if you need some mind-body centering, some yoga, some escape from the day to day, schedule a weekend retreat at Kripalu in Lenox, MA that first weekend in February. Nerissa and I are playing a show- free if you are staying there, a small fee if you are not. Kripalu shows are always really wonderful. Maybe it's the Berkshires, maybe it's the beautiful, spacious room, maybe it's the comfy backjack chairs, or maybe it's the fact that we play them in our stocking feet. I don't know, but the people are always wonderful and present. I guess it's the yoga.

At the beginning of every year, we are supposed to make resolutions to make a better life in the new year. I believe in that for sure. (To that end I am working on getting a photographic daily blog up. I'll let you know when you can visit it.) But I also think it is important to appreciate everything in the past year that made your life work. All the great stuff that you want to continue. This job--of singing Nerissa's songs for you-- I love it. I am so very grateful for it. I want it to continue. Thank you for being a part of that. Happy New Year!

And here's to the writers' strike being resolved soon!

Katryna Nields

PS. For Nieldsian politics refer to Nerissa's fabulous piece on her blog.

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News Of Note

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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