Good morning,

The coffee from the Kaffeeklatsch is lovely this morning. It’s Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Yemen mixed together. My backdoor is open and the cool weather drifts in through the kitchen, while I write. I am gardening today. Soon enough the rare laziness that I am enjoying will dissipate and turn into a jumble of bug spray, shovels, soil and plants. I will lay to rest or grow the ferns, columbines and hens and chicks that will soon take over the garden. I can plant things now that my “put a bird on it” commission is finished. It was a 4′x4′ stained glass and tile beast made for a local green and organic restaurant.

Now I can show you the cacti that Guadalupe Robinson gave me. I planted the big one in the pot I bought from her. The little one is planted in the pitcher that Ben gave me for Christmas. Aren’t they lovely?

I have been drawing a little more too. Here is a pic of a Matryoshka I did last week.

I think she’s lovely.

Anyhow, I have to go. But I thought I would at least put something on my page, since I am taking a break from performing in order to write more songs and find new inspiration.

Take care to take care,

Rita

Good morning,

I am drinking the most incredible cup of coffee. Tanzanian Peaberry. This is the rare day I have off and of course there is an endless list of things to accomplish. However one of the things I have found recently is this Old Soul Print Shop. He has really amazing art. I love his bearded men.

I am also playing a show on March 14th at the Flying Monkey Arts Centre in the Squeaking tribe puppet theatre. Jaeme Case and Martin Schneider are also playing. Great musicians. I hope you can make it.

Gotta run,

Sincerely, Rita

Silly Geese with Clowns!

Today was very busy! I had pecan pie for breakfast with coffee from the Kaffeeklatsch I spent the morning cutting the curd (cheese curd) and heating it so I could make cheese. I ended up with 1/2 a pound of smoked paprika and dill spread that I ate on crackers with roasted peppers in sesame oil. Heavenly! I made the cheese and was gifted poblanos and cowhorns by my friend Marion. She has chickens in the city, which makes her even more endearing. After the cheese I sewed on a cowardly lion costume, a pirate jacket and a biblical robe, then started thinking about the afternoon. My friend Marcie dropped in and gave me new tennis shoes. I am giving her cheese for them. we had a lovely talk and shared soup that my housemate made from our Turkey leftovers. He boiled the whole darned thing for hours with celery and added bow tie pasta. Lunch was delicious.

Then a dash to the library to buy my antique books on hold. Next to Guadalupe Lanning Robinson’s studio to pick up coffee mugs to sell at work. She is so kind and amazing and sweet and talented! She is a transplant from Mexico City. Her pottery is incredible and you must stop by and visit. She also has a fabulous cactus collection. Gush! After that I delivered more show flyers for Thursday’s show at the Flying Monkey Theatre for Gallery Tour. Next I met my sister and daughters at Bandito Burrito for dinner. It’s a Huntsville staple and it doesn’t matter how gassy you are after eating there. It’s somehow worth it.  Finally I schlepped the girls over to Enchanted Masquerade to drop off the costumes I had repaired and we went home.

I know this is a boring list of daily stuff we all deal with. Bu it’s where I am right now and I am just going with it. Thanks for reading. Hope you find something you like in the links. It’s nice to keep it local when I can.

Love, HKU

My Dear friend Marcie was the saddest clown of all. You have to see it to believe it!

Her benefit show for Jelly Boy was cancelled.

This post is about my good friend The Impossible girl. She has spent the last five years inspiring and challenging me as a musician while gently holding my feet to the fire. She encourages me to keep it real with a healthy dose of magic. Not magic in the hippie “whoa I get to sleep on this couch for free” way.  But in that life is not all about the rules! I can make up some of my own instead of just heading the Roman way! So, I promised her long ago that if she asked me to meet her anywhere in the universe, I would make it happen. So far I have kept my promise. First a New York to Alabama tour. Then a southeast tour, then Berlin and New Orleans! ow she is asking me to meet her in new Orleans again, again for an Octobre 27th show! I really want to play this show and I adore her and New Orleans! Plus it is the weekend before Halloween and I can wear my new costume! So, she has a kickstarter page to pre-fund the tour in each city she has been asked to play in. If you want to hear her and Helen Keller’s Ukulele in NOLA or you just want to support it, please check it out here on Kickstarter or her webpage The Impossible Girl

 KICKSTARTER VIDEO FOR NOLA!

Kim Boekbinder Redefines The Rock Tour

Iconoclastic New York musician, Kim Boekbinder, has set the internet abuzz with her passionate rant about the state of the music industry and how she’s decided to circumvent the broken system by using her vibrant social media presence to pre-sell her shows BEFORE they are even booked. Kim’s first test run of the idea was launched on Kickstarter and she got her funding for a show in New York City in under 24 hours. Now she’s doing a 10 date US tour: http://kck.st/pIcXeH

Ms. Boekbinder’s “Impossible Tour” idea has been featured on CCN Money, BBC Radio’s World Service, and BoingBoing. http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/14/crowdfunding-the-tou.html#comments.  The attention generated from the story has her email inbox flooded with thank you messages from fans, musicians, and venues; as well as offers from internet startups trying to address the very issues that she is dealing with.

Kim Boekbinder is The Impossible Girl; a performer, composer, musician, and visual artist who defies genre. She has travelled the world, stealing hearts and changing paradigms with her indelible live performance and her excitingly original and unforgettable music. http://www.kimboekbinder.com/about/

RED! I fill m space with it at home, my clothes are led by it. The trellis for my blackberries, my raised beds for blueberries and tomatoes, my car, my fucking mailbox! It’s all red. It is like my Chinese diner,  pop-psychology impetus to call myself to action! It is also a reflection of the frustration I feel creatively. I feel stuck in a hurry up and wait scenario that spins round on itself like that crazy snake eating his own tail. What was it thinking? What am I thinking? When I see my friends from out of town as they travel through to play shows with me or house shows or just to stop in and visit I am reminded that I miss them and traveling and performing. But I also remember how hard it was to earn the money the money I needed to pay bills and take care of children. Because, I do have children and they need me most. So music and art have to fit into the spaces left by them for me. I promised them stability. And I will keep that promise as much as I can. And if having children makes me less of a rockstar then so be it, for now. I will just have to be an older, saggier, wiser, less cute rockstar!In the meantime I am going to search out as much cool stuff and as many great people as i can find in the purgatory that holds me (otherwise known as Alabama). Hide your babies, here I come!

What has been going on in Huntsville? Well, I went to my friend David Reyes’ art opening last night. He is awesome and works at the Museum of Art here. Plus he is an artist. His show was called “Conflict Resolution” and there were several giant toy like installations that are kinetic when in use. Sadly we had to just look at them lastnight. But on the 20th of August he will do a live demonstration that I will film. I am very excited about this. Tanks firing projectiles, Cowboys bursting one another’s balloons and the tortoise and the hare racing in duelling tanks! Great stuff. Here are some snapshots of lastnight. They aren’t the best pics but you get the idea!

            So definitely go see the demos on Aug. 20th. More info at Lowe Mill Arts Center or Huntsville Museum of Art or David Reyes

Also, I had two great shows this past weekend in Huntsville and decatur with Chris Darby from Chicago. we stopped in to visit Excalibur Vintage and Vinyl owned by John Verchot. I took a little look around to share with you and a short hey what’s up with John! Here’s a commercial he made too! He is such a kook! Love that kid! I met him several years ago when I had the “Burning Nun Library” He always had some wild ideas and now he’s gone and done it and become an enterpreneur! Go John!

I am in Goshen, Indiana. I was supposed to leave Friday morning and spend Saturday at the County Fair with my father. But this did not happen the way I had planned it. I had to work and nearly missed my oil change. Then Saturday my girls and I discovered a water leak in my outside spigot pipe. Luckily Ben fixed it for me and sent us on our way. We drove a 12 hour drive in Ten hours and made it to my father’s around midnight. We woke up Sunday and eventually headed over to the fair, but it was free admission day and there was just no way to get in. So I called in to work for an extra day. We drove to the Electric Brew where I had played a show back in March and had coffee. I dropped off a ton of Helen Keller’s Stickers. Goshen is a very quiet little Mennonite town with a very large geriatric populatio. So it seemed only right that we go visit my 96 year old aunt. She still reads, drives, lives alone. She is amazing and I want to be like her when I get old. She was a reminder that nothing is permanent and my life can change. So I will worry less about the fact that I have a tie down job right now and cannot tour all of the time. I will tour when I can and spend time writing and recording at home while enjoying my daughters and friend. I realize this is all a very boring rant. But it is what is going on at the moment…

I am often very disgruntled with Dullsville and the lack of good theatre, cafes and conversation. I miss my friends in the rest of the world. Knoxville, New Orleans, New York, Berlin, Chicago.  I miss making music with Sasha! I miss cafe’s in Berlin and Nola that you can have a lovely coffee and people watch undisturbed. I miss anything I cannot have right now.

BUT! I wrote a new song. And that is something! And my friend Michael Arthur from New York put my Shangri-La instrumental song to one of his animations! It’s very nice! So why am I whining?

I am sitting in a dealership waiting for the oil change to be completed on my car. I just clocked out of work, I am tired..! I have to drive 12 hours to see my father in Goshen, Indiana.so while I think of all the things I need to pack I am stuck here. They have internet at least. So I can reach out and touch someone. The kid on my right has the remote. This is a nightmare. After spending 15 minutes flipping through channels he has landed on Nickelodeon! he has a perfect blue ring around his mouth from a popsicle and his shoes are on the couch! I am about to get all mother on him!  Oh lucky me, the oil change is done. Just when i was catching up.

Toodles, HKU!

Please look at the show queue for this month. I have three shows coming up and they are very exciting. Local independent musicians from Huntsville and decatur area are playing this friday and at the end of the month Chris Darby is coming through on his newest tour. He is not to be missed. Hope to see you there!

Love, HKU