Strange days indeed.

Wooden Ship

As Hunter S. Thompson suggested, “When the going gets weird, the weird go pro”. While this is playing out LARGE in the political arena we are left to sort out our own lives in the best way we can. While my spirit is crying out to gather and experience the joy we have come to share together at festivals, concert halls and coffee houses, my family and I have tried to make the best of a slower social schedule.

A few notes from the Artfarm:

Bridget (11) decided she wants to be a doctor so we got a surgical kit and she is dissecting all the vermin caught in traps.

Rowan (13) is interested in blacksmithing so we built a forge from an old lawnmower a disc brake and a hair dryer all from scrap. He is mostly making weapons, being in the Dungeons and Dragons phase of boyhood.

I stopped buying sweets so the kids have taken to making desserts, cakes, ice cream…

I built most of a horse barn from a pile of lumber in my neighbor’s yard and put up siding after we got a horse. She is very sweet, from a kill pen and has some issues with her hooves but she is recuperating nicely.

I spend a good amount of time with my canine buddy, and our communication has become so subtle I am sure a video of us would make me look like a crazy person.

This may be the first time in human history we are all thinking about the same thing at the same time, and in my irrational propensity towards joy I believe this current social challenge will push us along the unstoppable path towards human freedom and dignity.

Can we get back to work yet?????

Calan to perform with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales on St David’s Day (March 1st)

Wooden Ship

As if there sound wasn’t big enough, Welsh folk group Calan join BBC NOW to mark St David’s Day with a UK premiere of Cân Cnawd y Pridd – a suite of five compositions inspired by collections of traditional Welsh songs and tunes at the National Library of Wales. The suite, dedicated to the memory of Meredydd Evans – one of the most important song collectors of the 20th Century – is a joint commission between BBC NOW and Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne. 

Unfortunately it won’t be broadcast, but we hope to be able to share the recording in the future. Here is a montage over audio of their performance with Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne last year, love the timpani!