We're playing tonight at Cafe Paradiso, Fairfield, Iowa, 8:15.
We have some new material which we are exccited to share.
Jimmy Moore interviewed us yesterday for KRUU, 90.1FM, and it aired today at 2PM. Thank you, Jimmy for a great interview.

 We were going to play tonight! But three weeks ago when we tried to access our pro tools files, we couldn't get to them. We tried everything. I'm so glad we hadn't started advertising yet. Travis will send us a new copy of our files from Catamount, and we'll re-edit them. Oh well... I'm making a great art nouveau poster at least. 

The AMC Channel held a talent cattle call here in Fairfield last Tuesday for a reality contest show they will be producing. We performed "New Energy" for them, and apparently they liked it because they came to our house yesterday and interviewed us for two hours. They said it will be up to their producers, but that our band has about a 50% chance of being a contestant. How about that!
"New Energy" is a jazz shuffle inspired by a new age workshop ad which appeared on the back page of the Fairfield Weekly Reader. It includes a couple of sung parts inspired by 50's sci fi theramin music. We figured that would stand out from the crowd.
We had to clean the house before they came. That was a major event.
We'll find out one of these days who they choose from Fairfield. I think it's supposed to air in February.

We killed last night!  We were great!
The bad news is that only 15 people came. The good news is that we blew each one of them clean away.  Many of our local musician friends, our most feared and respected critics, were in attendance, and they were all, each one of them, knocked out.  So we consider this gig a great success.  Next time we'll make it a bigger production and advertise the hell out of it.  And maybe we'll even double our arttendance!

We have a date for our CD release party! It will be September 29 at 8:15 at Cafe Paradiso in Fairfield, Iowa. We are putting the final touches on our Pro Tools settings, and will be performing the CD, as well as three additional songs. We will have videos of the show on you tube.

We spent the day last Monday up at Catamount, where Tom and Travis figured out all of our technical performance issues. They've been just great. They are part of the team, and we couldn't have done any of this without them.
Now, for our 3 new songs, we need to record drums into pro tools - since we still don't have a drummer. We'll put my keyboards in, too, since the consensus is that I sing better when I don't have to think about playing. Then Yes!, we'll go out.  -- Later, Dorothy

Although we haven't yet been playing out, Richard, Ted, and I have been practicing at least 3-4 nights a week for all these months. We have completed three new songs, which bring our live set to about an hour in length.

We have been acquiring the necessary equipment to sound great when we play out live. And Tom Tatman at Catamount, with his refined ear and long experience, has offered to set all the levels for each song, so that the show's sound will be as clear, full, and powerful as possible.  I've been waiting frustratedly a long time for this, and I'm relieved and excited to say that we have a date set with Tom for the end of this month. (Of course, now our truck has just blown up, but we'll figure out some way to get up there.)

Once we get this all done, finally, we'll have a CD release party at Cafe Paradiso in Fairfield. I hope that everyone in the entire world can come.

My apologies for not writing sooner. I cite the day job excuse.
A little while ago we sent some CD's to Shree Maa and Swamiji. They emailed back sending all their love and blessings.
All day long I was feeling a bit overwhelmed experiencing what seemed to be Maa's grace pouring into me.

I'm back from seeing Amma in the Midwest. I always try to sit as close as I can for as long as I can. The experience bypasses the intellect; I felt my physiology surrendering in awe to whatever it is that Amma radiates.

More later,
Dorothy

Thank you for visiting us, from Dorothy!
I'm so happy to be able to share this music with you.
We have been working on this for years. It just takes as long as it takes.
I am very grateful to have been able to work with these two guys who know all the chords. No one of us by ourselves could have come close to creating anything like this.
And we are all grateful to have been able to work with such a like minded and knowledgable producer, Tom Tatman. 

Richard, Ted, and I all met here in Fairfield, Iowa, where we came to do the TM thing. Richard was actually able to survive here for years by playing in clubs, teaching guitar, doing occasional construction, and driving people to the airport. I had been to jewelry school and worked as a hand engraver before coming here, so I was usually able to find work with start up jewelers and other small object makers. Ted, after some adventures, ran Maharishi University's audio/video department. I wanted to learn how to sing, and had decided that I wanted to marry a musician. So I learned how to sing from my dear late classically trained voice teacher friend Cindy Fisher, and I married Richard.

I became involved in a local bhajan singing group. (A bhajan is a Vedic call/response devotional song.) I just knew that some of these would make great rock songs, but I knew I needed help. Richard tried some of them with me, and we found a few that worked. We played for Amma, with me playing eighth notes on the bass while singing. We did ok, but I wanted to be able to get into the singing without having to hold down and drive the time. Then one Devi Bhava night in Chicago, a band (it was Goddess Jams) with an excellent bass player (who wasn't trying to also sing) played for her. I just sat on the floor next to them facing the stage and said, "Oh Amma, please, we can do something great, please, won't you just hook us up with a great bass player!" Well. Richard and Clancy had been playing on and off together for years. They decided to put themselves through Steely Dan school, with a transcription book. I looked at the keyboard parts in the book and said, "Wait a minute, I can do that." So I learned the parts, and whined around to get them to let me play with them, and I nailed it. Then I was in their study group. Then I started whining around to try to get Clancy to try Tucchi Ko, and he liked it! Then he and Richard started coming up with all these hilarious and interesting arrangements. Clancy is really good at arranging. Then we just did more. 

We recorded stuff in our living room on an ADAT machine, but we just couldn't get the quality that we were striving for. So we decided to bite the bullet and go to a real studio. Tom is really good at what he does; what a blessing. He got the best out of us, and produced it beautifully. He completed the project, and then a while later called and begged us to let him mix it again, using new techniques he had learned. So he did it again and made it even better. You can hear the results.