Flying to the Moon

Hi everybody!
When I was a little girl in San Antonio, I wanted to fly to the moon. My growing up time in the U.S.A. encouraged this idea. This was around 1960 and the dawn of the era of NASA, when space travel and all its possibilities opened ahead of us like a telescope.A couple of children’s books from these days fanned the flame of my interest. One was a series of books about two boys and a little planet close to the moon. The boys stumble upon a little man, who is from this planet, and he helps them build a spaceship. These books are all about the travels they take to “The Mushroom Planet”. (Ok, so maybe the author got inspiration from spores as well as space travel.)

Another is the all time classic “A Wrinkle In Time” by Madeline L’Engle. This is a more complex story of some kids, who travel through time and space warps in search of their scientist father, who mysteriously disappeared while involved in a secret high security mission exploring space and time travel. The kids are assisted by three radical witches, who used to be stars, and who lead them through all sorts of dangerous and fascinating dimensions, finally reaching their father and having to fight for good over evil.

Although I didn’t end up becoming an astronaut or a scientist, many of my favorite books have been about journeys and adventure, on this planet and off, such as Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove”, and John Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charlie”. And yes, contemplating the mysteries of the universe still interests me: Carl Sagan’s and Stephen Hawking’s musings.

As a child, I also loved to travel. I was enchanted by the train, that ran behind the house I grew up in. The train whistle during the night caused me to imagine exotic towns and cities it might be heading towards. (Although I think it was just heading to Laredo.) I liked it when we were leaving on a family trip. There was always such a bustle of preparation and anticipation, and when we took off at dawn, while it was still dark outside, I imagined the distant places and unknown adventures we would have. (Although I think we were just headed to Laredo.)

Traveling is a fact of my life, and I still love it. I spend a lot of time in cars, planes, and trains. I don’t always love the tedious part of packing and transporting all the tools of my trade all over the place, but as soon as I am settled in my seat, there is something very comforting to me in the sound and feel of the wheels, the rails, or of the jet engines. Maybe it takes me back to going to Laredo.

On current notes, I had a wonderful tour in the U.S. in the spring. Besides a few fun Texas dates, visiting the Southwest is always a pleasure, from the aridness of Arizona to the dense traffic of Los Angeles, where I had a special interview with Roz Larman of Folkscene, that will air in the near future. Another highlight was visiting Joshua Tree National Park. Returning to Germany, I went into the studio in Berlin with my friend, musician and producer extraordinaire Moe Jacksch, again, adding to the work we did in October 2010. A nice record seems to be coming together. This next record will introduce a song written by my son Adam (!) and a Spanish translation of a beautiful Paul McCartney song from one of my favorite CDs of his, “Chaos and Creation In The Back Yard”. I have also discovered two wonderful musicians and songwriters in Hamburg, Marcel Peragine and Roman Lorenz, and we have done some recording and writing together. I hope to finish the new record and also the famously absent DVD project by the end of this year. Plans are in the making for a special coast to coast tour in the U.S. for 2012. You’ll be posted on that, as it develops.

I had announced in my last Tish’s Corner that Marvin Dykhuis and I would be playing some Europe dates together in May 2011. Well, unfortunately Marvin couldn’t come at that time, but I played them solo, and all the shows turned out fine. Thanks to all who attended! Now Marvin is due to play in Europe with me in November 2011! So if you are in Belgium, Holland, or Hamburg, Germany, please check the Mundotish calendar and mark the dates.

I hope you are enjoying autumn, wherever you are!

Love, Tish