Tish's Corner
October 2009
Hi everyone!
I hope you are doing well.
Autumn always seems to come with feelings that I can't quite put a finger on - adventure, nostalgia, beauty, hope, longing. This is the time of year that I make plans for the future and that I also love to look at old photos and reflect on times gone by. Some sad events have occurred lately, and loss and nostalgia are leaning heavier than all the usual autumn feelings.
Two prominent events are the sudden and unexpected deaths of two wonderful Austin musicians who I have known, loved, and worked with. Bass player Keith Carper, who played in my band and on my recordings 1989 thru 1992, and beautiful Amy Farris. Amy was a wonderful violinist and violin teacher with a creative mind and a big friendly soul. She played on my CD "Cada Niño" and on "Festival of Flowers", my contribution to the 1997 Pete Seeger tribute CD. In 2003 she released a solo CD in LA where she was last living. I know I share a great loss with the many musicians and fans who knew both of these two admirable, talented and kind-hearted friends. I don't know what happens after this life, but I do know that losses like these remind us how precious living and loving here and now is. To appreciate the time we get to spend with our friends and family is a thought that is really brought home.
It has been a long time since a Tish's Corner Note. I actually wrote one in the summer, but was to busy to get it posted. We will attach it to this one. I will try to not repeat much in this update, other than to say that spring and summer were well traveled and busy. I toured in Switzerland, Holland, Texas and New Mexico. I had some nice gigs and saw lots of friends and family too. Luckily, all went well. Late in the summer I played two music festivals, one in Silkeborg, Denmark and one in Kiel, Germany. These performances were really fun, especially with my wonderful German/European back-up band.
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| Playing the Americana Treasures Tour with Peter Rowan in Eindhoven, Netherlands, May 2009
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I don't have many dates on the road through the end of this year or through the winter. I am mostly laying low and figuring out what my next artistic move should be. There are only a few, but important gigs coming up that I hope you will attend. I will be part of a cool event in my home town, San Antonio, Texas, on November 7th, with Marvin and a great band (it's free!). December 29 through Jan 3, I will take part in a wonderful holiday show being put on by Charles Duggan at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas. And January 9th in Denver, Colorado, I have a show at Swallow Hill. This is always very special. Check the Tour section here on Mundostish for details on these shows!
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| At the Country Festival in Silkeborg, Denmark, August 2009
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Another piece of news is that Marvin Dykhuis has finally released a solo CD! It is called "My House". Marvin wrote or co-wrote many of the songs and also does a beautiful rendition of Michael Smith's "The Dutchman". For Marvin's fans, this has been a long awaited treat. The CD is available through the website CD Baby.
I will be doing some work on the musician gallery section (MVPs - Most Valuable Players) of the website. I have been pretty delinquent about keeping that page current. I am looking forward to updating it. I feel really lucky to work with many really incredible musicians, who happen to be great people as well. I think it will be interesting for you to see some of the faces behind the music, and a little background on some of the musicians you see me with on the road. These should be up pretty soon.
Enjoy the season, be safe, and I hope to see you down the road!
Tish
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| Embracing Paul McCartney at the Hamburg Beatles Memorial
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And here's my Tish's Corner that should have been posted summer 2009:
Hola amigos,
I was hoping to write in the spring, but preparing for my April-May-June touring seems to have taken up lots of time, then the traveling and playing itself took up the rest! I am glad to be off the road for a little while. It will be nice to stay local for a bit. I've aired up my bicycle tires and have run around the neighborhood some. Everything is green and lushy, flowers are blooming wild, and chairs and tables are set up outside on every available piece of garden and side walk, making even the tagged and grafittied building walls look cheerful. This is summer in Hamburg!
I did lots of touring this spring and early summer from April in Switzerland to May in Holland with my long time friend and most admired musician/singer/songwriter Peter Rowan, to several dates on my own and accompanied by some fine musicians and friends from south Texas to northern New Mexico in late May and through June. The shows all went well. There were lots of memorable moments with my San Antonio family and with lots of Austin friends. A couple of highlights were celebrating my son's 25th birthday by having a picnic on the Blanco River with my son and daughter and our family's visiting London friends. Another was spent on a whitewater river trip in northern New Mexico with my daughter, one of my sisters, and some friends on the Rio Grande. We went with my old friend Cisco Guevara from Taos, NM, who runs a river rafting outfit called "Los Rios River Runners". Although it had been many years since I had made a trip like this, it quickly came back to me how beautiful, majestic, and powerful these canyons are. My travels required lots of car miles too. It was a great time for reflecting and catching up on lots of conversation with the people I love.
My new CD "Our Little Planet" is now released in the U.S. We had a really nice record release in-store celebration at Austin's beloved record store, Waterloo Records. I would like to remind you that the CD and a few other new merchandise items such as posters and T-Shirts are also available through Tiendita Tish here on the website, where we are also now offering package CD sets for a special price. We are continually working on having all the titles available. We are also working on improving other elements of the website. I get many requests for chords and music to songs. Many of the lyrics are on the Lyrics section (I'm still working on improving that ...), but offering the music is a more challenging request. There are some technical, legal, and financial bridges to cross in order to be able to offer this. It is on the to-do list, so hopefully it will happen reasonably soon. (I know, I know! - the DVD is coming soon too!!) In the meantime, if you are wondering about working up one of my songs and already play a little music, you may have to do it the old fashioned way: ear to the speaker and guitar and capo (or your instrument of choice) at hand, till it sounds right. Or ask a friend who plays music by ear to help you. I apologize for not being able to offer more, but hopefully soon I will have a solution to this.
As you can see, there are many things that need attention around here, so I better say goodbye and get back to work!
Thanks always for your care and support!
Greetings
Tish
