January 6, 2006
A Word from Nerissa
Dear Nields friends and fans,
After the first big snow of the season, on Thanksgiving day, Tom and I had a bet about whether the snow would melt and we'd see the ground again before new years. We both won; the ground got kind of patchy last week,
but now we once again have a bona fide snow cover, and my guess is we won't see ground till late March. Today, I don't mind at all; the snow was so gorgeous as I drove up to Katryna's and Dave's in Conway to record our
new CD. All the trees were covered with thick, wet snow which looked like some sugar coated vision from a gingerbread scene. Life is good today. We recorded four basic guitar tracks out of the thirteen songs we have
written; we did demos of all the others to share with the band; Katryna and Dave and I co-wrote our first song (!!!) and the baby kicked a whole bunch in my tummy, as Amelia would say. Plus, William marched all around
the kitchen with a toy suitcase, looking exactly like he was about to go to work, but just kept forgetting something so had to turn around again.
Please come see us at the Sounding Board in West Hartford CT on Jan 21, that is, if you live anywhere nearby. Why? Because it's the gig we most coveted when we were first starting out as a folk trio, only they wouldn't
book us because we weren't folky enough. Apparently we are now. We have a whole new CD's worth of songs to prove it!!! We'll play bunches of them for you, and we also promise to rock the house too, but shhh!! Don't tell.
A Word from Katryna
So there were many things to grieve this year. But you know all that. I want to talk about the top ten things I am excited for in this coming year.
TOP TEN REASONS TO BE EXCITED ABOUT 2006
in no particular order
10. Nerissa and I are finally going to play at the fantastic Sounding Board. January 21, 2006! It was the most coveted of gigs back when we lived in Connecticut and we have been wanting to play it for years. Come and folk it up with us.
9. The new record that we are making right now, SISTER HOLLER. It is a song cycle that is particularly close to my heart. It reminds me a little of Love and China- not in subject matter, but the songs are all musically linked. They are all inspired by the Canon that is OUR folk music. There's a little Irish, a little Beatles and a little lefty protest thrown in. I LOVE these songs. We are playing many of them out these days, but there is nothing like recording them to show us where else they can go. Thanks, Dave!
8. Amelia painted a series of three watercolors today. Then she taped them to a piece of cardboard with colored tape that she had gotten in her stocking. We hung it on the wall. It is beautiful. Amelia calls it, "Love and Consider." I get to see what else is going to come out of her mind this year.
7. The OTHER new record that we are making. ALTOGETHER SINGING IN THE KITCHEN is going to be a family album. It is about halfway done. We recorded a bunch of songs with our father over Thanksgiving. All of the songs recorded thus far were songs that we all used to sing together when we were kids. They are practically part of our DNA. I play it for my kids in the car and they now ask for Grandaddy singing the Unicorn Song. Ah....
6. William is a scamp. He is going to start telling us what he is thinking this year! I cannot believe it.
5. Mid term elections.
4. I am starting a new enterprise this year called SCHOOLHOUSE TROUBADOUR. I will travel to schools and do concerts to enhance curriculum. I did my first one in late November- a little musical pastiche of the Middle Ages for grades k-5 at the Bement School. I am hooked. I guess being the daughter of a teacher was a bigger influence than I realized. If you have a class that you want me to come to, just let me know!
3. Dave's mom, Kathleen Chalfant is going to be in a cool new show called BOOK OF DANIEL. It is going to be on NBC on Friday nights. This Friday, January 6th is the first show. She plays Aidan Quinn's mother. You should watch it. AND if you like it, you should write to NBC and tell them :-).
2. I can sing again.
1. Nerissa is going to have a baby.
We cannot wait to see you all this year. Happy 2006!
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