I am in beautiful Colorado and loving it - the sunshine, the mountains, the clean air, the    S   P   A   C  E  .....

it is heavenly. 

The shows have been great and the people....even better. 

I wanted to let you know that I added another show to the schedule - this Sunday I will be playing the Unity Church of Ft. Collins, CO. 

I love this place and would LOVE seeing you there.  Please check the tour schedule for complete details.

Tour de Fat is this Saturday!!  Can't wait!

Hope you are happy and content exactly where you are - thanks for being here,

Judith

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood - a beautiful day to be neighbors,

Would. You. Be. Mine?  

Hello from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - I hope this finds you feeling mighty fine.  I rushed home from my morning walk to write a little here - I got inspired.

It all started when my friend lent me her iPod.  That's right - we are CONSIDERING buying one and actually transferring our discs over.  It freaks me out - truthfully-but I am listening to less and less music as technology gets more and more advanced. 

I digress.

I've been listening to this iPod or jamming out in our car (which only has a discman to play CD's) and my batteries kept running out yesterday.  So I turned on the radio.  It was late.  We had just went to a  beautiful open mic at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh and our dear friend Laurie just finished taking her Boards exam for medical school - we were celebrating.  I needed to dance.  Frances needed to dance.  Laurie needed to dance.  So inspite of me losing major cool points with the hipsters and folk fans alike - pop music was the ONLY answer.  Yes.  I listened to it.  And I'm not ashamed.  (Anymore)  And this is why:

I'm a lyric snob.  I want the music I listen to- to be so good that I feel like a failure at writing, playing and singing.  I want to literally quit music after each concert I attend - that's how good I like it.  It inspires me and keeps me focused on trying to improve and not just settle for some sappy crap.  It helps me to feel this pain.  Truly. 

I listened to NPR like any self-respecting folkie would.  I do.  BUT...last night I needed more.  I didn't want to connect with the organic farmer in Iowa who is experimenting with a cacti that will improve the taste and quality of his soybeans.  I wanted to shake my booty.  And I did. 

We were driving in South Side and got stuck in a bit of traffic and were dancing like crazy in our car to some pop song that sounded like any other pop song - goofy lyrics and over synthesized vocals- when it happened.  A lovely gentleman was on the street waiting for the bus, saw us dancing and then he started dancing.  The car in front started bopping along and then the car behind us (a lone female with a disability sticker)  started dancing too. 

The light turned green.  We all waved and danced along our own seperate paths. 
I know this happens to other people.  I am not naive enough to believe that this is a first - in any way-  and we've been car dancing for years, but it WAS a good reminder for me.

I've been noticing a touch of cynnicism creeping up.  A judgemental tendency that I don't like.  A little bit of a darkness.  Maybe I have been reading the news too much.  Maybe I'm tired.  Maybe I'm adjusting to a new place and that's my initial response - I don't know.  But dancing with those strangers reminded me of a goodness.  EVEN in something as silly as pop music.  Who am I to judge it?  Why do I do that so much?

Truthfully - when was the last time that NPR got your booty shaking?  I'm not saying that I won't be listening to NPR - I love it and won't stop - but I am saying that I'm going to ease up on the criticisms.  Dancing last night was just the thing I needed to get out of my funk and to celebrate with my sweetie and our friend. 

In the words of Katy Perry:  "It felt so wrong, It felt so right"

and it did.

I Will be in Colorado next week - hope to see you there!

Love,
Judith

Thanks for stopping by.  I am home safe and sound from a successful and beautiful Nettlefest.  A small but mighty crowd, yes, but more importantly...the music was AMAZING.  Mary Gauthier, The Honey Dewdrops, Shaun Cromwell, Larry and Jenny Keel and MORE.  What an amazing day of music.  Makes me so happy to be a musician.

If you've been following this for any amount of time, you will have noticed that I've been focusing on some major changes in my part of the woods.  Moving to a new town, graduation (Frances'), a wedding (yeah!), teaching at High Rocks camp (music production) and organizing Nettlefest.  It has been very important and very fulfilling to work on all of these thngs, but it meant that my music has had to be put on hold a bit.  (My own choice of course.) 

The time has come for me to re-focus on what is next in my life and that is:  making two new records and getting acquainted musically and personally with our new city:  Pittsburgh! 

I'm so excited to figure out how to get these albums made and will fill you in as I know more.  I can't wait to share some of the new material with anyone who is interested and I cannot wait to submerge myself in the beautiful city of Pittsburgh. 

I just added a couple of cool shows to the calendar and hope to see you soon!

See you out there,
Judith

I will write more of an update soon, but wanted to let you know that the community festival I've been organizing in Southern WV is this weekend!!  Nettlefest is THIS Saturday and I am so excited!!!

For the details, you can click on my calendar or visit www.highrocks.org

Are you feeling a little blue and secretly wishing you were somewhere beautiful with an amazing community full of talented and bright young people?  How about a road trip to see us?  It is such an impotant part of our High Rocks year and I am thrilled about the art, music, games and community activities. 

I would love to see you there and am so proud of the job we've done.  See you there everyone and thanks for checking in!!

Love,

Judith

Guess who's coming for dinner?  (metaphoric musical dinner, that is.)  Saturday, July 31st.  I'll be there....will you?

 click here to see! 

I am hard at work on Nettlefest - the music festival that High Rocks for Girls puts on every year.  (July 31st - hint hint.)  I can't BELIEVE the incredible music we have!  I'm stoked. 

People are always asking me about High Rocks and why I love it so much.  I know there are amazing and important non-profits everywhere in this fine country, but this one just seems to hold onto my heart.  I love working with teenagers.  Maybe it is my subconscious learning how to love and work with myself - or maybe it is just so darned beautiful and magical up in those hills that I can't stay away - or maybe it is the amazing women I get to work with every summer.   There is no. one. answer. as to why I love this organization so much. 

Recently, High Rocks asked me to write a small essay about what summer is like at High Rocks.  I thought I would share it with you as well.  A little sneak peak as to why I've missed so many "good-for-my-career" festivals and touring opportunities.  A little look into my heart, I guess. 

I hope you like it and that you also have some place that moves you in any way to give more to this fantastic world we are a part of.  I am eternally grateful for High Rocks and for each one of you. 

Much love,
Judith

P.S.  I'm STILL looking for a hot air balloon adventure for the girls.  Know of anyone?  ; )

Anything is Possible

Come work the summer.  Cook in the kitchen.  Let’s get the girls to love produce.  Ripe, juicy tomatoes and freshly smashed garbanzo beans drizzled in olive oil and lemon.  Here is the meat from our farm.  Put it in the pan at six a.m. and the girls will start to roll in.  They can make the eggs.  They can teach us their family recipes and we will not notice the rock biscuits or the mud gravy.   While you peel the apples, you will hear the pounding of hammer and wood - the sound of the girls making something with their hands - and it will make your food-making feel more important.

Come work the summer.  Teach them art - whatever kind you want.  Sit under the big trees on the porch that the girls built last camp.  Walk amongst strewn girl bodies and teach them the art of relaxation through meditation and focused breathing.  Draw them out of their journeys with assignments of painting the way a color feels.  No, there are no rules.  How does red feel?  How does blue feel?  You will have no answers for them.  They will have to listen to their own.  They will roll their eyes at you.  You will know they will hang their paintings up on their walls later when no one is looking.  They will be sent to look at leaves, rocks, sticks, dirt.  They will see the world’s masterpieces and bring you evidence of their discoveries.  You will need an extra bag when you go home.

Come work the summer.  You can work in Girls Group.  We can’t tell you what to do.  It’s private.  It’s very important.  You can see magic happen.  You will see the beginnings of personal responsibility.  You will see girls change from dragon to slayer to philosopher.  You will see the dreaming happen, the expansion of possibility, the daydream believers.  You will hear yelling and see crying.  You will fall off your chair once, possibly twice, from laughing too hard.  Someone will bring you fresh fruit and you will eat it on the floor with your dirty hands and hear about all of the things that have happened here:  camping in the woods alone, winning the prize in Math, discovering slimy, slithery, slippery things in Science, losing yourself in a cave, finding yourself in the waterfall, poetry to read at campfire, songs written, jokes you will be on the outside of.  You will hear it all.  You will send them on their way to dinner where you will be, for once, the quiet one.  Listen to them say their Gratefuls for over an hour.  Wait for your name…it will come.

Come work the summer.  Sing your songs around the campfire.  Practice Appalachian folk songs with the staff in the bear shed with the humming of the three camp refrigerators and the rain pouring down on the tin roof.  Do not worry, the rain will stop.  The girls will scoop out the sooty water in the bottom of the fire-pit and have a roaring fire going in no time.  We will all sing songs that Susan taught us.  You will see the girls pull out a copy of the lyrics they wrote down, using the i-pod they have been hiding from you as a guide.  They will sing one of your songs and their voices will crack and you will cry next to us.  You will go to tuck-ins with your pants wet from sitting on the wet logs.  You will walk to the girls’ shelters without your flashlight- sometimes -because Sarah will show you how.  The girls will scare themselves and make you laugh.  You will feel young again.  You will tuck them in and they will jump up as soon as you leave and tell ghost stories and read each other poetry from the books you brought. 

Come work for the summer.  You will sit at the edge of the campground in the grass with the staff in the dark and you will be exhausted.  You will tell funny stories with each other about classes and try not to make a sound.  You will get bug bites and big red spiders will climb the leg and shoe mountains en route to their secret destinations.   Sometime later, you will be daydreaming about adventures you can take the girls on next summer.  Wild adventures that flow out your mouths into the heavens.  You will mention hot air balloons.  Why don’t we take the girls out on hot air balloons next year?   There will be a pause in the dark and then someone will whisper with a smile that yes that sounds entirely…possible. 

As you may know, I work and volunteer for a non-profit called High Rocks.  (www.highrocks.org)

Every year they host a music festival at the top of the mountain in our campground.  It is lovely, sweet, beautiful and oh so fun.  This year, yours truly has been working intensely on the music and making sure it is a blast for all those in attendance.  We are just finalizing the lineup and I thought I'd let you know!!  I'm so excited and proud!!! 

If you are looking for a way to spend a lovely weekend away, come on up to Nettle Fest.  Everyone is welcome and we would LOVE to have you!!

3rd Annual Nettle Fest Music Festival

A fundraiser to benefit High Rocks for girls

1.  We. live. three. blocks. from. an. actual. coffee. house. that. serves. vegetarian. food. only. Holy. cow. alternative.

2.  We ate the BEST chinese food I've ever had on our dear friends' floor in the house they just bought.  We laughed and laughed and shared our Moo Shoo while we daydreamed.

3.  We stopped by the sweetest co-op that is only one mile from our new digs.  At first, I was intimidated by all of the cool hair, but soon we got the hang of it and I can't wait to spend more time there! 

4.  I wanted to go to a UU/Unity/or Quaker service on Sunday.  When I punched it in on googlemaps, there were so many choices for me that I could have gone to a new place every week for months and still have new spots to try.  I love the simple life, but to have choices like these, I was pretty darned excited.  Ended up at a great UU - 2 miles from our place- listening to music all morning and a service on the pursuit of beauty.   Sounds like a good pursuit to me.

5.  There is music on every corner here- if you look for it.  Such a change from our last town.  Wow!  Saw so many posters for concerts and folk gatherings, community pot lucks, farmers' markets, etc.  Instead of going, Frances and I sat in our living room - boxes to the ceiling and all- and played guitar and sang together.  If I do say so myself, we sounded pretty darned good. 

I don't know what we did to deserve this sweet little spot on the planet, but I am grateful.  Thank you, dear Universe, for everything.  And I mean that...EVERYTHING.

And thank YOU for stopping by,

Judith

We are in the middle of a big move to our next city- Pittsburgh.  I am sleepy and sore (piano) and so very grateful to our dear friends for helping us. 

Everything is crazy.  Everything is a mess.  Everything needs done.

Me?  I'm just sitting in an empty room near an open window and thinking about good friends and what a good life this is. 

As far as music goes,  I have some secret things cooking.  Writing some very weird stuff and just got back from a concert in Luray, Virginia.  Got to share the stage with some lovely folks. 

A few highlights:

Beaucoup Blue- These two men are really something.  I always find their harmonies interesting and whenever I see them live, I can't seem to take my eyes off of them.  Very captivating and intense.  Plus, they are professional and kind.  Love it.

Chuck E. Costa- What a sweetheart and such a lovely writer. 

Kipyn Martin - Have you heard this girl sing?  Wow.  Never smoke, Kipyn.  Please. 

I know I'm supposed to be packing, but I wanted to drop a quick line here.  I have moved quite a bit in this little life o'mine.  Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, West Virginia and now Pennsylvania.  I don't know what is in store for us in our new spot or what kinds of adventures or writings will come from it,  but I am so thankful that we are safe and sound and filled to the brim with love.  The rest is up to...well....the rest just IS, I guess.  Maybe that's how it works?  Good things and tough things flying at us and us on this side just reaching out and grabbing what we can. 

I hope you are just where you want to be and that you are grabbing as much of the good as you can reach. 

Much scattered and unorganized love to you and yours,

Judith

1. Southwestern U.S. an unbranded calf, cow, or steer, esp. an unbranded calf that is separated from its mother. 2. a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates.

hmm....clearly both apply. 

Happy April 26th everyone!  It is a good day to be alive.  (Aren't they all?)  It has been a good week on the Judith Front.  I've been in southern WV working with the High Rocks girls- helping with an empowerment workshop, recruiting new girls, a big ole river race and playing songs to the girls by the fireplace.  They are amazing and so funny.  I wish you could see them grow!!  Like little zinnia seeds.  At first, you think to yourself, "are you going to sprout?  are you going to bloom?" and then one day you see them in all of their glory and you can't imagine them not being these jewels in the world. 

There were three big music moments this week.

1.  Listening to the High Rocks girls singing and laughing- a great chorus and I loved it.  I played part of a new HR anthem I'm writing - checking for their approval- and they responded beautifully.  They also know the words to my song "all of it" better than I do.  It chokes me up every time.

2.  Sitting in my friend Serah Morningstar's house and listening to her play new songs for me.  Serah is one of my favorite singer/songwriters of ALL TIME.  Frances too.  We are more than a little obsessed with her music and every time I hear it, I feel challenged and inspired to make sure I always reach as far inside as I can when I am writing.  Serah is a to-the-soul writer and she doesn't mess around.  I wish she had a CD or a website you could access- someday.  You might just have to trust me for awhile.  Beautiful.

3.  While leaving Serah's house, (I should mention here that she lives outside of town, so when you leave the house, you are enveloped in blackness and stars and the rolling hills of WV) I was walking to my car and heard music.  Beautiful music, but I couldn't quite place what it was or even where it was coming from.  It sounded like loud music from a car, but there were no cars in sight.  I stood by our trusty Subaru (of course) and waited...and listened...and looked at the sky..and listened.  And then it hit me.  This was a band of a different sort.  This was a huge group of cows.  Singing!  Have you heard this???!!!  I grew up in Kansas surrounded by feedlots and everyone in town worked at the meat packing plant.  Those cows didn't look or sound like these cows.  These cows were roaming over the hills eating lush grass and singing.  I swear to you!!  It was a beautiful chorus of voices- some were singing high and some were singing low.  Some were singing short little notes and some held the notes for a loooonnnng time and it was amazing.  I leaned up against the car and listened for as long as I could.  I wish I could have recorded it for you or better yet- that you could have just been standing along the country road somewhere listening for yourself.  It sounded a heck of a lot better than anything I've written or heard lately, that's for sure. 

And to think, we think we are at the top of the food chain.  Paaallleaaase.  These cows and trees definitely know more than I do or probably ever will.

Started a new song and made it home in one piece.  I am playing a couple of cool shows this week and spending time with my love.  What a blessed life this is.

Hope your hearts are full and your cows are a'singing,

Judith

p.s.  I read a great quote today and thought I'd include it:

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find, in each man's life, sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow