November 23, 2013.  Welcome to the blog.

What’s up right now?  It’s the wild and wooly holiday season.  I am lucky this year.  Craziness the past few weeks, with a little lull right now….aaahhhh…..then a little more crazy until mid-December.  After that, I get to relax and coast into the new year with normal work and teaching schedule.  Spruce Tree gets a little extra busy with ukulele sales and musical gift shoppers.  I always enjoy the extra action in the shop.  Nothing yet tops the Black Friday black flying-v ukulele that I got to restring on my first Spruce Tree Black Friday.

The Madison Symphony Holiday concert takes place Dec. 6, 7 and 8.

Tuesday December 10, Milkhouse Radio will be playing The High Noon Saloon with Daylight in the Swamp.  Milkhouse hits at 7:30, then hangs around to join Daylight in the Swamp after their set.

Wednesday December 11 will be Milkhouse Radio’s final Mason Lounge show (416 S. Park) with the heart and soul of the band, Russ Cannon.  Come on out to hear our last official show before Russ leaves town.  (I am in denial of this fact, and will be bitterly disappointed by his apparent refusal to show up for rehearsals and performances after the first of the year.)  We start around 8:30.  There will be AT LEAST one Christmas on the Isthmus played….and a few more brand new originals.  Our studio session may be ready for some kind of dispersal as well, I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve got some holiday parties to play with Quartessence string quartet before I get to settle in to my regular teaching and work schedule for the rest of December.  Somewhere in there we will be editing and mixing some new Milkhouse tracks from our sessions at Trailing Edge Studios in October/November.  There are some sweet new Russ Cannon originals along with a studio version of Christmas on the Isthmus complete with sleigh bells and reindeer hooves.

My students and I are working on a Winter Songbook.  We are composing in lessons and compiling artwork and written content, too.  I can’t wait to put it together over the holiday break.  We don’t get many chances for group lessons, so this is our way of getting to know each other.  The tunes I’ve gotten so far are fantastic.

Huggs and I are preparing some holiday music for both of our families.  We haven’t gotten any formal requests for our Leonard Cohen Halleluja with guitar/ukulele/ottomatone, but we know they all want more.  We are also planning an extra day in the Quad Cities so we can bowl at the hotel; eat Rudy’s tacos; Fat Boy’s, Harris AND Happy Joe’s pizza, along with hopefully catching up with some of our old Bev bandmates.

Then it’s on to 2014, which includes a Wrack CD release and Midwest mini-tour along with a few more shows with Ken Vandermark’s Midwest School Ensemble, as well as a Sound Ensemble Wisconsin concert that seems to be featuring 20th century chamber works with 2 violas….yes!  There may be a different theme on the program and posters.  More on all that as it approaches.