ETHEL's TruckStop™: Mundial @ Club Paradox.  Photo © Gert Gering.

We had a GREAT time in Holland.
Check out the latest pics in our Mundial photo album. 

It was such a pleasure to perform and create SO MUCH music...

by Carlo Mombelli: Bass Spirits, Wisdom Door, Trance by Chance, Theory,
     Mr. Batiss, Zambesi
by Simone Soul: Mulher que come terra
by Oleg Fateev: Tuesday Morning, Polegnala a Toedora
by Rutger Hoedemaekers: Joralemon Street, Let Bygones Be You, Tough Cookie
by John King: What Blues, Slow Smoke, Shuffle
by Evan Ziporyn: Be-In
by Mary & Neil: The Girl From Tilburg
by Ralph: Broken Buddha

We also performed some Light favorites (Lighthouse & Requiem)

AND the Dutch anthem ;)  on Brabant Journal News (click on "Journaal zaterdag")

One of the nights at Paradox, we were joined by local flamenco guitarist Maurice
Leenaarts, with whom we performed Pati, El Calor, and Rumba Alzapua.

It has been an incredible few weeks.  Special thanks to all of who helped
make ETHEL's TruckStop™: Mundial possible!

xo,
ETHEL

[Reposted from Neil's Blog:  Urban Modes]

Did we explain who Muzieklab is?  This wonderful group, who have brought us to
Holland and set us up in such style to do our favorite thing in the whole, wide world -
make music with brilliant, inspiring colleagues - is an old hand at doing pretty much
the same thing we have designed TruckStop™ to do.  They scout out and contact
musicians, at home and abroad, out of the blue, and invite them to participate in
collaborations with other musicians from different genres and communities, either
very spontaneously, for an afternoon or so, or in a true residency, like ours, lasting
a couple of weeks or more.  Their goal is to inspire, refresh, inform us (and thereby
our audiences) through such stimulus, and also potentially occasion some really
great art.

Our experience here, in their hands, will yield all of the above, I am quite confident. 
The rehearsals are transporting.  We are all stunned and energized.  ETHEL is as
happy as I have ever seen it and is seeing with clearer eyes.  This is such a gift
to us.  Such a privilege to be called on this way.  And it is clear that our collaborators
have found in us a medium they admire and delight in exploring.

We learned today that the presenters can put us all in the recording studio next week
several days before they had said initially.  We will be able to work in the studio most
of the week, so we hope to have a more representative selection of tracks from these
sessions to bring home and make available - maybe here, maybe through our new
licensing library.  It is beautiful stuff, never to be forgotten, but it is also "Time Based
Art".  Catching it, holding it and sharing it are an essential trick, another relationship,
and an art of its own.

xo,

Dorothy

We met Simone Soul today. Strong, gorgeous woman, about my height. Dreads and tattoo. Smart, resourceful, vibrant artist building her own career in Brazil - massively excited about this collaboration. She just completed a huge concert she produced herself in Sao Paolo involving 25 artists, and flew here via the UK, where she performed with her trio in London, Brighton, Leister and Birmingham. She did not bring a satchel full of compositions for us to share, but rather a stunning array of beautiful instruments and the most generous attitude about working with all the music we devise together. When she plays, she/s awe-inspiring. The music is growing so fast!! And there are 2 more collaborators coming on Sunday! Thank goodness a recording session has also been built into the schedule by the festival - the sound will be a-b-s-o-l- u-t-e-l-y indescribable. The combination of lengthy rehearsal time with multiple performances is perfect. The sound and the relationships will be well developed. Our ambition of creating a central, virtual ETHEL's TruckStop™ home is a timely one - a place to keep up the conversations, to share experiences and contacts, to bring artists and presenters together, to spread the news and facilitate the reach of music, ideas and resources. Many of our activities have parallels in these other worlds. Immersing ourselves in each others' communities allows us to identify common issues and goals much more clearly. We can be so helpful to each other!! This and our desire to create a recording/licensing library of these works may be among our most important and wonderful contributions. xo, Dorothy P.S. CLICK HERE to check out a slideshow of photos from June 6 taken by our host Gert Gering.

The travel day was surreal. I got up at 4 am to finish all the arrangements I need to make when
I travel (home life continuity, and all), got the family to our 6 yr.-old's birthday party by 11, took
presents home and rushed off to Lincoln Center for a 3 pm concert with the American Symphony
(which ran an hour longer than predicted), raced home again to pick up bags and meet ride to the
airport at 6:30. Picked up Ralph, was whisked through checkin at JFK by some sympathetic souls
at Delta, and made it to the gate an hour before flight time, just in time for the announcement that
the flight would be delayed by 4 hours. Finally boarded at 1 am. Arrived in Schipol at 2 pm the
next afternoon (around the same time as Neil's flight from Dublin), was met by our host Theo
Andriessen of Muzieklab, informed that Neil was not aboard scheduled flight. Waited for next
arrival from Dublin and drank coffee for 2 hours. Drove 1 1/2 hours through rush hour traffic to
Tilburg. Mary already seated, smiling, in sidewalk café in front of hotel. Shower, dinner, pass out....

Then, ETHEL's TruckStop™: Mundial, the first day....

We're off to a FABULOUS start!!!!! Gert Gering (also of Muzieklab) met us in front of our hotel,
the Mercure, at 10 am with our collaborator, South African bass player Carlo Mombelli and walked
us to our rehearsal space. We got right to work reading a handful of the 75 (!) charts Carlo brought
to choose from: "Zambesi", "Bass Spirit", "Theory" and one about an eccentric local man in
Johannesburg who used to drive around in a car which he'd half-filled with sand so he could
grow a palm tree which projected through the back window - each more delicious than the last.
We offered him parts to "Be-In" by Evan Ziporyn and "What Blues" by John King. When Theo
showed up and took us to morning coffee, we already felt we were floating in amazing material
and might really have trouble finding the chance to use enough of it.

Listening and learning and looking for his own space to contribute was our Dutch collaborator,
electronica artist/songwriter Rutger Hoedemakers, aka About. He began sampling the live sounds
of the rehearsal and discussing where it might be effective to add layers, loops, intros, transitions...
After lunch, which Gert brought in for us (such a great idea!), we charted out 2 of Rutger's songs,
"Joralemon Street" and "Let Bygones be You". He invited us to fully ETHELize them, and we
began by trying out different string colors. We also felt that "Let Bygones be You" particularly
invited treatment by our accordion artist from Moldavia, Oleg Fateev, who will join us on the
weekend. These resources, these creative individuals - the bass player, the electronica artist,
the accordion player and the Brazilian percussionist, Simone Soul, who will join us tomorrow evening,
blended with the string quartet make a vivid, breathtaking palette. This 2 week immersion will be
explosively, beautifully productive!!!

It really is going great....

All my love,
Dorothy

This afternoon we are doing a school concert at the Las Vegas Academy, and then tonight?

ETHEL plays Vegas!



We've spent the last few days here working with entertainer Clint Holmes and the students of Las Vegas Academy as part of our TruckStop™ tour. It's been great, and we look forward to tonight's show!

Tix & info here.

[Reposted from Neil's Blog: Urban Modes

[Reposted from Neil's Blog: Urban Modes]

[Reposted from Neil's Blog:  Urban Modes]

 Sunday is Dean's Birthday. ETHEL bought him a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon
(Basil Hayden's). He seems pleased...

[Reposted from Neil's Blog:  Urban Modes]

ETHEL FAIR 2008...was a blast.

Here's a picture of John King and me hanging out after the show:



It was a really fun evening, full of laughter and wonderful music
making from our many talented guests: Howard Levy, Dean Osborne,
Jill Sobule, Gutbucket, and the amazing poetry of Rives.

We also premiered Mark Stewart's new piece, On the Origin
of the Species.

Terrence McKnight joined us as MC of the evening. He was fantastic -
what a magnetic personality! In case you don't know his name yet, he
is WNYC's new host of Evening Music. He's only been in NYC for a
few weeks, and last night was his first live event. We were honored
to have him at our show - New York is lucky to have him.

Thanks to all who were there!

This morning we started rehearsals with Vijay Iyer. We'll be performing
his piece Mutations at the Kitchen on April 16 and 17.

Right now we're in the studio with Dean Osborne - hoping to capture
his Kentucky vibe for all time.

Thanks to our myspace friend  m!!! for these lovely pics from our show at
Kauai Performing Arts Center with Jeff Peterson, centenarian Ukelele master
Bill Tapia and the beautiful Hawaiian vocalist Mihana Souza.





In other news...we like the words "rocker 'tude" where talk of us is concerned.
Click here to see these words in use.

...off to Indiana today for our concert at Leighton Concert Hall
on Saturday, then back to NYC for our beloved ETHEL FAIR.

Hope to see you soon!

xo,
ETHEL

[Reposted from Neil's Blog: Urban Modes]

I forgot to mention this last time - the "slack key violin" tuning that we came
up with was (from the lowest string) G,D,G,D. It sounds really nice with the slack
key guitar for a number of reasons -

1. Many of the songs we played were in the key of G, and the tuning gave us a
very nice high open string on the fifth of the chord.

2. Having "matching octave" strings makes the instrument resonate in a way
similar to the sound of the slack key guitar.

3. Less tension on the upper two strings creates a mellower sound (also similar
to the sound of slack key guitar).

Of course, alternate tunings are very common in most fiddling traditions - this is
nothing new. But it was fun to experiment and find one that matched Jeff's playing.

That said, we only used it for one tune. But this is only the beginning of ETHEL's
Hawaiian odyssey...

[Reposted from Neil's Blog:  Urban Modes]



Day 5:

We rehearsed all morning, then performed a concert with Jeff Peterson at The
Church of the Pacific. The audience was extremely enthusiastic. Todd Rundgren
joined us for a quick Gilbert and Sullivan number (of course...it's a Hawaiian music
concert...?). After the show the Rundgrens hosted a really perfect reception at
their amazingly beautiful house.

Day 6:

We recorded all day with Jeff. Here is a picture of Ralph exploring one of the
many Hawaiian aspects of his viola style.



Day 7:

We participated in a concert at Kauai Performing Arts Center with centenarian
Ukelele master Bill Tapia and the beautiful Hawaiian vocalist Mihana Souza.
Here we are right before the show.



Day 8:

We spent the morning at Kipu Falls. I wanted to dive off the cliff there, but I am
still recovering from a bruised rib (I tripped on the beach). In the afternoon we
recorded some more. Among other things, we created a new version of Lighthouse
with Jeff. All in all we have nine pieces recorded. Steelgrass has been a perfect
setting for this leg of TruckStop. We're sad to leave, but I personally can't wait
to see Amy and Leah.

Jeff really embodies Aloha!  He's warm, patient, generous and fun.  He's creative
and expert, and willing to lend it all to support a beautiful shared moment.  He seems
to be enjoying the unusual connections here, himself, and helps us to appreciate the
privileges extended to us more fully.  And we were all amazed to find ourselves in the
presence of the 3 monks from Bhutan, at the gathering of ukes and nose flutes!  Their
prayers for the well-being of "all sentient beings" widened the circle of community beyond
all distinctions of place or culture.  In our own way, ETHEL's slowly going there......

xo,
Dorothy