June, 2003
Why, hello there!
Dave Chalfant, Katryna and I, Nerissa, are having the loveliest time making
the soundtrack for This Town Is Wrong, a young adult novel based on a song with
a similar title, due out sometime next year. This record, like all previous
Nields records, with the exception of Gotta Get Over Greta, is being made by
our own hands and throats at Sackamusic Studio, with Monsieur Chalfant at the
wheel. Zoë/Rounder is putting it out, perhaps a bit earlier than the novel
will come out, just because we're impatient sorts and cannot WAIT. So here's
kind of what's going on: the girls in the novel, Randi and Gellie (AKA "Angela")
are 13 year old songwriters in a band called Plastic Angel. Gellie's mom is
bossy as heck. Gellie has a career as a bizarro child model, which wreaks
havoc upon her social life. Randi is the daughter of a traveling singer
songwriter named Guy Rankin. (He is frustrated because he has no record deal and
lots of orphaned songs which Randi, like a good codependent-to-be, wants to
rescue, but that's beyond the scope of a young adult novel, so you'll just have
to think of that as subtext.) This record that we are making is a window into
their world, their imaginations, their fantasies of what could be, given a
genius producer like, for instance, Dave Chalfant.
Confused? Art does have a tendency to mirror reality, but in this case,
it's like going into one of those changing rooms in a clothing store where the
mirrors face each other and you see reflection upon reflection upon reflection.
But you know what? You don't even need to know anything about the novel
This Town Is Wrong, let alone read it. If you're a Nerissa & Katryna
Nields/Nields fan, I can pretty much promise you you'll dig what we're doing, 'cause it
kind of sounds like, well, us.
As fun as it is making a record, we miss touring.
Hello Katryna here... We are having a super blast of a time making this
record, but we are escaping THIS WEEKEND to see you all. Amelia and Dave are
planning on having a hoedown without us. So we start the summer off right with a
return to The Minstrel Coffeehouse in Morristown, NJ. We haven't been
here since Moby days. Should be quite fun. Then we're off to our first
festival of the season in Frederick, MD. We are especially hoping that our parents
make the drive north from their abode deep inside the beltway of our nation's
capital. It's the closest we'll be to dc til the fall.
Then the weekend of June 20th we will be returning to the New Jersey
turnpike. It should be noted that we FINALLY (thanks to Abigail) have e-z pass so I
am sort of looking forward to traffic at the tolls. We'll be at the Turning
Point-the classiest club with a ceiling Nerissa can touch without standing on a
chair. Then off to festival #2! Bridgeton Folk Festival.
For some reason we never seem to get to Boston in the summer but this year is
different. On June 25 we will be at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We
promise not to babble on about the art. I must note that Amelia and I were in a
store today and she said "ooo, pretty" I looked up to realize that she was
referring to a beaded rendition of the mona lisa. So maybe we'll have her give
a little talk before the show. She can be a docent.
So that's June. The rest of the summer is chock full of fun- Festival of the
Eno, New Bedford, Falcon Ridge, Philly, Folks Fest, and fingers crossed for a
singalong in Northampton on Woody Guthrie's birthday!
See you in the sun,
Nerissa and Katryna
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