Thursday, December 23, 2010

Winter break!

Well, we've all gone back to our respective homes for the holidays, at least temporarily.

 


JEFF and CHRISTOPHER V will have a little while off (almost two weeks! Yowza!) before they return to the world of public music education. They'll also probably be meeting up to work on some new tunes.

 



GREG and MATT will spend time at their homes before they return to begin STUDENT TEACHING. They are both in their final semesters in their Hartt School music education paths and will spend the next semester at two separate placements each, verifying that teaching music is, definitely, what they want to do with their lives.



DAVID will be home for a little while before taking off to JAMAICA with some students from SUNY Potsdam. For ten days, David will be teaching music to children - mostly the folk songs of their country and heritage. David practiced guitar before leaving and now knows how to play a C without the 9th, so he's probably ready. We all hope he returns with dreadlocks.


CHRIS J will be traveling to ABHEYPUR, INDIA with the University of Hartford's Engineers Without Borders. One of their projects over the past few years has been increasing clean drinking water access to this village. They have been working on connecting water storage tanks to these villages for residents who don't have private wells as well as restoring function to non-working public hand pumps.

And then we'll reconvene! We have a few songs we'll be looking to add to our rep, including (but certainly not limited to):
  • Johnson's Motor Car
  • The Next Market Day
  • Courting in the Kitchen
  • White, Orange, and Green
  • Black Velvet Band
  • The Frog's Wedding
  • Beer, Beer, Beer
Until then, we'll be enjoying the holiday break. And we hope you do the same! Get in touch with us if you're interested in a copy of "Sunshine and Shadow" - we're still working towards setting up online sales, so for now, we can do what we can to work out a transaction with you...or come see us at a future gig!

Happy holidays!

- G

Friday, December 17, 2010

"Sunshine and Shadow" has arrived!

Yeah...the CDs look really great. Thanks so much, Mike! We'll be setting up online orders and downloads soon, but until then, come see us at a gig for a copy! See you in Long Island on Sunday!


- G

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Molly Malone



A sneak preview of something that will definitely not be on the record. But it's an alternate arrangement of one of our favorite songs. Enjoy! See you at the Hessian Lion in Avon at 10 tonight!

- G

Friday, December 10, 2010

The record is coming soon! December 19th!





It's true! Our good friend Mike Powers has finished the artwork and is duplicating the records over the course of the next few days. We'll get them and start selling them before Christmas! We're beyond excited to get this record to people. Unfortunately, we don't have many gigs coming up between when we'll have the CDs and Christmas, and it's not likely that they'll be available for download in time. I'm sure your friends and family would love an "I.O.U. 1 Sunshine and Shadow" for Christmas just the same.

We'll be setting up an online order form so you can order from us directly, and you'll receive a package delivered directly from us with a little note from one of the members of the band (I'm gonna make Chris Jasinski do all of the note writing). We'll also be going the online route so people can download our music...ideally that would be for those who don't know us and find our music online or on the radio. We hope you'll come see us at our shows and pick up a hard copy of the CD above all else. Or at least I do, I guess I can't speak for the band.

This has been a really neat project to undertake and I'm really glad I got to be a part of it. I can't wait to give someone a copy of an actual CD and say, "I'm on this! It's wrapped in plastic!" Although I might not say those exact words.

We'll be in Avon on Saturday (Hessian Lion Bar on E Main St. at 10), Plainville on Sunday (Plainville United Methodist Church at 7), and then WICN's holiday show the next Thursday!

- G

Thursday, December 2, 2010

December plans for the Beggars

Hey folks! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Update on the CD publication - the album artwork has been passed off to Mike Powers, a good friend of the band's, and he will also be duplicating the CDs for us in the very near future. We still don't have a release date, but it will most certainly be printed by Christmastime. We'll work out how to get the album to people over the season. We will get it up on cdbaby, itunes, etc. so people can download it, and hopefully we'll be able to work out an online order form.

We have a busy couple of weeks coming up before the holidays...here's what we'll be up to.

Saturday, Dec. 11 - Hessian Lion Bar in Avon, CT - 10 PM - 1 AM. A rare opportunity to hear us play past 11 PM! If that sort of thing interests you!
Sunday, Dec. 12 - Hartt School MENC Benefit Concert - Plainville United Methodist Church in Plainville, CT - 7 PM. The Hartt School chapter of the National Association for Music Educators puts on an annual holiday concert to benefit the Plainville Food Pantry. We'll be playing a few songs at the concert, so you should come hear us and some other amazing musical talent and benefit a great cause!
Thursday, Dec. 16 - Folk Revival Holiday Show on WICN 90.5 Worcester - 7-11 PM. Our good friend, Nick Noble, has invited us back to play on his folk music radio show's holiday show, featuring us, the Maple Street Project, Sarah Huber, Brendan Hogan, and Mary Casiello. We'll be playing some of our regular tunes and some Christmas songs as well!
Sunday, Dec. 19 - Some barn on Long Island. David still hasn't gotten me the information about this gig, but there's a barn on Long Island that's having us play there on the 19th! Stay tuned for actual information!

Then we'll head to our respective homes for the holidays. But as you sit by the fire on those chilly winter nights, you can put on our record and listen to us sing about drinking, people dying, and smashing harps so people you hate can't play them.

See you soon!

- G