This is part one of a two-part story. I danced at New Aladdin’s restaurant in Lansing last Friday with another Habibi Dancer. My friend April came to the show and brought toddler Isabel, for whom I invented the Chippy Socks knitting pattern.

Isabel has one set of six Chippy Socks (each one unique but in the same 3 colors) in purple/ fuschia/ turquoise. These were the first ones I made and are a little small for her but very stretchy. She also has a pair (merely two rather than a full set of 6) in yellow/ green/ turquoise. These are made of a slightly larger yarn so they are a little bigger than the first set. This pair is not a true pair, again, because they are made of the same 3 yarns but patterns and colors do not match.

So Isabel dresses herself whenever possible… and she spent some time picking out her socks this day. She picked one from set 1 and one from set 2. What is fascinating to me is that she chose the ones which match in patterning… both have a 2 stitch by 2 row checkerboard size, and a 2 row evenly spaced foot stripe. The toes/heels happen to also both be turquoise (though slightly different, being very different yarns).

I was just as pleased as punch to see Isabel, no matter what she wore on her feet. But wearing these socks? Sigh… no wonder I’m so crazy about this spectacular child. She’s as in love with color as I am.

I have had a few people ask me about our Fabulous Heftones music gig this weekend. Here are details:

First, on Friday morning, AM talk radio 1320 at 8:30am we will be playing maybe 2-3 numbers spread out between other news. Whatever they want!

We have to show up at 8:30 (WILS AM, we’re very grateful for airplay). It’s a show called amLansing. I’m usually asleep at that time of day, but I’m all about singing any time I can! Thanks to Mike Skory who does the music/entertainment update on that show, for inviting us.

Then about the show:

Old Town’s
JazzFest Lansing
5p-6:15p Saturday August 2
The Fabulous Heftones
River Stage (near fish ladder, in parking lot where Turner Street dead ends into Grand River, just east of bridge).

It’s a big deal, at least to me! Some shows (other stages) get an hour, we get an hour and 15 minutes. Lots of the acts are not from Lansing. We get dinner hour on Saturday, perfect for bringing kids. There are also street vendors for food if you want to skip cooking.

If you have not heard us before, we mostly do the romantic and novelty tunes from 1900-1930. Brian plays ukulele, I play bass, we both sing and whistle, and Brian does a little vocalizing as if he’s a trumpet (this is called eefin’ and was common in the 20s).

Want to hear? here are some Youtube videos recorded with visiting ukulele friends, all of whom played at least one New York Ukefest (first one recorded early this year, 2nd was September ‘07):

Row Row Row, with Bosko and Honey

Shake that Thing, with Lil’ Rev

For a few songs without video, our MySpace Page:
The Fabulous Heftones, on MySpace (will play without an MP3 player on your computer)

or our own web page (click the MP3 link below song title):
http://heftone.com/fabulous

I sure hope some of you can come. I totally understand if you can’t… but you sure couldn’t come if you didn’t know about it in the first place!!!

On Saturday around noon, I danced with the Habibi Dancers at Hunter Park in Lansing. This park is on the East Side, between Foster Center/Rae’s Yarn Boutique and my home, maybe 2 miles from my front step. These are “my stomping grounds,” as Brian would say.

The event was sponsored by the Lansing City Parks and Recreation department. These are the same folks who manage the Foster Community Center where we rehearse (and where I teach kids to knit during the school year).

We were in the area which was both entertainment and exercise. We gave a dance show/concert and then we invited the crowd to join us. It was much fun.

Of course, I took these photos which means I am not in any of them. I put together a Flickr photo set with more shots, if anyone would like a peek.

(Added later: Another dancer’s mother took a big collection of photos that day which include me dancing in the group numbers. No surprise, I’m the one wearing the most bright colors in one costume! Turquoise beaded dress, magenta hip wrap, etc.)

In a small town named Evart, Michigan, USA every year, acoustic music lovers descend upon the Otsego county fairgrounds for over a week. There is an official event which happens from Thursday through Sunday, but people come the weekend before and stay through early the next week because they have so much fun.

Neither Brian nor I play either type of dulcimer (this festival started because of hammered dulcimer enthusiasts). However, Brian has been teaching basic ukulele workshops for the festival for maybe a half dozen years now. I’ve helped out for 3 years, but he did it alone before that. Also our friend, Bruce Evans, always shows up at Brian’s workshops. He helps us out without even being asked.

We were in Evart this year the longest time yet. I used to come up for one day, then one overnight. This year I dove in and went up from Wednesday night to Saturday noon. We went to a family gathering on Saturday or we would have stayed in Evart through Sunday.

It is getting to be a wonderful reunion to go up there now. I know enough people that it feels like “old home week” in many ways. Ukulele is starting to really take off all over the western world right now, and it is starting to show at this festival. Instrument vendors often sell out of ukuleles and the unofficial Friday night ukulele jam session gets bigger each year.

This year we signed up to play on the main stage on Thursday night. It was rainy and hot, and we had a tuxedo and gown in the car just trying to wrinkle and get messed up, so we just dove in and played right away. We knew we were leaving Saturday and there are so many acts hoping to play on Friday nights that we did Thursday… and had a wonderful time.

The crowd at Dulcimer Fest is so appreciative of our music! Not only do they like the general genre (Tin Pan Alley, mostly love songs and novelty numbers from the 1920s) but they listen to what we are doing in a focused way. Three times during our 20 minute set we had the audience clapping in the middle of the song. That touches me in a soft spot in my heart, it is so wonderful to be that appreciated.

When off stage, we connect with friends, jam with them, jam as a duo, and eat pie. Well, Brian eats pie anyway. The Lions club of Evart has the best homemade pies ever. You have choice after choice and all of them are good. Brian likes pie for breakfast sometimes, and a few snacks over the course of the week as well.

He loves a good crust and I do not make crust. Because of food allergies, I have to make a lot of foods from scratch to just get foods that nurture me and fill me. I am not fond of any cooking, though baking I like a little better.

But the mess that making crust requires is just not acceptable to me, and so I either buy frozen spelt crusts at the health food store or I make crumbles with oatmeal. (I like oatmeal better than crust, anyway.) So the pies at Evart are a special feature of the week. We enjoy the folks working the booth, as well, and I get much iced tea when I’m there as well.

I guess I could say that they also have home cooked dinners such as meatloaf. For us, fruit pie overshadows mere dinner, I guess. (Well, I can’t eat the pie but it does make me very happy that it’s there.)

I made sure to get to Karol Evans’ workshop on pronouncing Hawaiian words. With all the interest in ukulele (which is a Hawaiian instrument though used for many music types, not just Hawaiian music), there was a nice crowd at their event. At the end, Karol did a hula for us with Bruce playing ukulele and singing “Lovely Hula Hands.” She looked beautiful as ever.

Friday night once more we attended a uke jam session hosted by our friends in the Uke ‘n Sing ukulele club from the southeast corner of Michigan. A big highlight of this event for me each year, is hearing Gil Ogawa perform the Hawaiian War Chant (which was based on a late 1800’s love song, but had English words added in 1936). Gil is not just a musician, he is fully a performer and a delight to watch and hear. I loved that! (He is so expressive when singing it is hard to get a photo… this was just after he finished one or another of his songs.)

Photos: 1-3) stage acts including The Fabulous Heftones (me and Brian), Uke ‘n Sing, and a trio who met at the festival… middle guy on banjo is Sam, my knitter A’s big brother. 4-5) the first workshop in the poultry barn (it’s a fairgrounds) which was more than a bit crowded but the acoustics were good with all those big metal boxes somehow. 6) later Friday afternoon workshop in open-walled pavilion, which was followed by a ukulele jam session where we numbered over 90 participants. 7) Two views of the Lions’ booth where spectacular pie can be found. 8 ) Bruce and Karol Evans at the end of the Hawaiian pronounciation workshop.9) Gil Ogawa with guest singer Nancy Penny (thank you, Bruce Evans, for reminding me of her name), at Friday night uke jam.

My mom made the front page of the Local section of the Lansing State Journal today. Thanks to Priscilla for spotting it right away. They do not mention her name but the photo says it all. Dance is very big in Mom and Fred’s social schedule. They get out quite often.

You can read the article online (time to again mention how much I appreciate the LSJ.com website). It’s about a “senior prom” which raises funds for senior programs (supported by a team of police agencies in the area).

Mom and Fred are dancing front and left, you can recognize mom by her beautiful long white/silver hair and her bright blue dress. I still say she has the prettiest hair I know.

And I wonder where I get my ColorJoy gene from? Hmmm…

Brian and I sang for a private luncheon a few weeks ago. We dressed up and forgot to ask anyone to photograph us. So we sat down and held the camera and took a photo of ourselves. It was a giggly sort of fun. Here we are.

For the record, I’m wearing the white alpaca circular Peace Shawl that Alison Hyde knit for me as a gift. The pattern is available in her book, Wrapped in Comfort.

We had such a great time at Blissfest near Cross Village in northern lower Michigan a few weekends back. We knew a lot of the musicians, many had Lansing connections and are in our circle of acquaintances. It was wonderful to hear them play.

I took a zillion photos. If I were to write all details about the event, I’d never finish writing. I can touch on a few photos, anyway.

It’s a pretty intense weekend. There’s a sort of anti-dress-code way of dressing, lots of tie dye and batik, lots of color. The event is a weekend full of sensory overload… colors, sounds, foods, people. Intense in all the good ways, I’d say.

The first photo above was Rachael Davis and Dominic John (Shout Sister Shout) on Saturday. These two have a lovely baby almost a year old, and are really great people to hang around with, when they have time to hang out.

There is also a full-group shot of Shout Sister Shout on Sunday, with guest guitarist Ray Kamalay (2nd to right). Ray was SO into this piece, he has been a pro musician for decades and he’s still so excited to play one more song, it’s invigorating. His favorite music overlaps the repertoire of this band, he was a perfect guest. I loved being in the audience!

Next, Detour (bluegrass). The banjo player is Kevin. Brian has known Kevin for a long time.

This is Rusty Blaides. I know Joe Wilson (also from Steppin’ in It) on pedal steel guitar center-left, and Tamineh Gueramy (also in a zillion bands… once in a fave of mine, The Weepers), center-right on fiddle. These guys really kick out the danceable tunes, I was sorry we got there (to the festival itself) just in time for their last 2 songs.

Next, some dancers just outside this small stage. Lots of dancing is part of Blissfest, and I always hope for great photos. This isn’t great but they do look like they are dancing, anyway.

This band’s name I don’t recall. at left here is Joel Mabus, and another member of the band is Ray Kamalay. These guys have been professional musicians about forever it seems… they were already old pros in Lansing before I ever hit the scene. Talented guys, who just really enjoy playing music. Together, they are unbeatable. The guy in the black shirt, center, was a guest (he’s from the band Detour, above).

A view of some camping in the wooded area on Sunday. Some folks had already packed and gone home by this time. This is a lovely area and we camped to the left of the photo.

A stick construction/gate which opens up to the artist/craft booth area. There are a number of stick gates around the festival but I’m thinking this is the grandest of them all.

A magnificent salad made just for me, with ingredients just picked that morning. This food vendor is incredible, mostly or entirely organic, and more than accommodating. I found several things to eat there over the weekend, a true miracle with the number of food restrictions I have. This salad was WONDERFUL.

Susan Fawcett of Fox on a Hill. She is a dynamo, a wonderful talent who lives in Petoskey. The instrument she’s holding has a small drum-like item at the bottom of a single string which is bowed like a fiddle. She was singing in Spanish with it, I think it’s from somewhere in Latin America but I did not catch the details. It sounded like a woodwind instrument, it was beautiful to hear. We just chanced on her demo and I’m so glad we did.

A night concert at the smaller stage, with Earthwork Music musicians (including Susan above) and the guy at front in the hat is Seth Bernard, the strong but gentle leader of the whole “clan.”

I only wish I could have bottled the energy and the music for you all. This crew is full of hot young musicians from northern lower michigan, incredible talents.

Seth and “Daisy” May Erlewine won 4th place in a national young songwriter/performer contest that Garrison Keillor had a year or two back.Just the two of them. The three bands before them were bands, not duets, I’m told.

They are that good. And their friends are equally talented and entertaining. Prime music. I was so happy to be there. The next day Brian and I both woke up singing music from this concert. Incredible.

Also notice the intent crowd members. Brian took the photos of the backstage and of the crowd.

It was SO much fun. I’d say it was worth sleeping in a tent.

When Brian and I were at Blissfest music festival two weekends ago, they had a kids “parade” one day. They had hired a talent who made balloon hats, and the kids got their faces painted, and they went for a festive walk.

It was just adorable… how little can make kids so happy! As for me, the colors were certainly joyful!

Enjoy the photos.

On Saturday last week we found ourselves accidentally smack dab in the middle of the National Cherry Festival. We got there as the parade was starting. I was a bit distracted by a deadline (we went to the city to use the post office) but it was easy to get a bunch of photos showing the festive atmosphere and fun parade acts.

I had much fun on the 4th of July! It started in Downtown Lansing (Michigan) with a parade. I danced with Habibi Dancers. Mom came out, all by her self with a little US flag and waved it and called to me when I passed. I stopped the parade to hug her, of course.

In the middle of the day I went home. I had to change personas from Eudora (my dance name) to “Lynn Heftone” (my singing alias). So I got a nice bath, and did my sort of Clark Kent transformation. I baked a rhubarb crisp dessert and took it over to Rae’s Yarn Boutique. I could not stay for the barbecue but at least I was there in spirit, and in dessert!

I do love costuming as an artform and as a joyful part of my life. Those who know me, know I have almost nothing in my closet either red or white, and maybe a small handful of blue items.

Therefore, I went to Goodwill on Thursday and found myself a blue skirt to dance in, and a blue gown to sing in (topped with a red sequined tunic I already had in the closet). I made it work out quite well.

It’s a good thing I did not yet dye the baby alpaca circular Peace Shawl that Alison Hyde knit for me. She suggested I dye it and I’ve intended to do so, but have not done it yet. Last night I wore it white for my holiday singing engagement. It was beautiful, AND it was a protection against a few mosquitos as well.

I was done with mosquitos when we finished singing at 10pm, and it was very dark. We headed back to the car and I watched the fireworks from there. Much better!

Luckily my camera has a setting for fireworks. If you can hold the camera steady, it works well. In the car I could lean against the frame, and that did the trick. I’m going to give you six photos that I am happy with.

It was really cool, driving to a good vantage point in the car just before the fireworks started. This town turned out in force! You can see the fireworks from the parking lots of a whole lot of stores, including the Meridian Mall, Central Park Place shopping area, Wal-Mart, Meijer (huge Michigan discount store/grocery), and many places between.

Everywhere you looked, people had set up their folding chairs on the sidewalks or front yards, just everywhere. They had policemen on bicycles patrolling, and it all looked quite civilized, but the amount of people I saw all at once? I haven’t seen that on the streets since I was in Africa.

Only at concerts or sporting events do you see this sort of density around my corner of the world. It was quite the scene. It made me remember the two years I was in Boston and the one I was in Chicago, several when I was a child… just the whole gathering-together thing that happens on this holiday. It’s a lovely thing, really, the coming together… whether there are fireworks or not, no matter what your political ideals might be.

Boom! Happy 4th to those in the US. How nice it gave us a 3 day weekend this time!

(Photos: 1) Me as Eudora. 2,3,4) The Fabulous Heftones at Meridian Historical Village… thanks to Sharon’s SO, Lynn, for taking photos yet again. I owe him many favors back! 5-10) Meridian Township fireworks, taken from Meijer parking lot.)

I have three things going on for the 4th. If you are in the Lansing, Michigan area, maybe you will want to join me for some of the fun.

1. First, the City of Lansing 4th of July Parade. I’ll be dancing with the Habibi Dancers (photos are of 2006, dancers before the 4th parade, I’m third from left in front with cane, in the 2nd photo). There is a press release page with details on the parade on the City web page. This is the text that matters most:

Sponsored by the City of Lansing (Parks and Recreation Department) this family friendly parade will take place in downtown Lansing on Friday, July 4, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. - Parade will step off at the State Parking Lots on Allegan Street and travel east on Allegan Street to Capitol Avenue, north on Capitol Avenue to Ottawa Street then travel west on Ottawa Street to return to the State Parking Lot.

2. Rae’s Yarn Boutique is having a potluck, barbecue (she provides chicken and hot dogs) and the first day of her 3-day summer clearance sale. (I’ll be there for some of the knit in but probably not the barbecue) She sent out a notice and wrote it up on her blog, Extravayarnza. Basically, this is the important part:

Join us at Rae’s Yarn Boutique July 4th!
Knit-in All Day
Grill starts up at 5pm
Bring a dish to pass or a small donation towards the main dish
Remember your knitting & a folding chair.
We’ll head down to the riverfront for Fireworks in the evening!

3. Brian and I/The Fabulous Heftones will sing at Meridian Historical Village from 7:30 to 10pm (fireworks start at 10:15). The address I have finally figured out, it’s Central Park in Okemos, 5151 Marsh Road. That should help fans of online driving instructions/maps.

We are not the only thing going at this large gala… Meridian Township issued a press release/fact sheet (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format) if you want all details. Here is an excerpt:

• Children’s Area with giant inflatable games
• Live Music by the “Fruitflies” near Central Park Pavilion and the “Fabulous Heftones” in the Historical Village
• U.S Marine Corp Color Guard Flag Ceremony (dusk)
• Mascots from local businesses
• Food from Little Caesar’s Pizza, Ice Cream from Melting Moments, Tony’s Hot Dogs, Culver’s Frozen Custard, and Subs from Guido’s
• Meridian Historical Village Tours
• Fire and Police Department Demonstration Area
• FIREWORKS AT 10:15 PM

Pardon me while I post a local announcement… to my Lansing-Area readers:

It’s official: Brian and I will perform as The Fabulous Heftones for the Meridian Township Fourth of July celebration. We start at 7:30pm on Friday and sing till 10pm, about when the fireworks will start.

It was in the Towne Courier paper Monday, according to my mother who watches these things carefully. No doubt it will be in the What’s On section on Thursday’s Lansing State Journal and perhaps the City Pulse and the NOISE as well.

The location will be at the border of Okemos/Haslett Michigan, behind the Meridian Township hall on Marsh Road (between Haslett Rd. and Grand River Ave.) at the street called Central Park Drive. It is just behind the Meridian Mall, in the Friends of Historic Meridian section of Central Park.

If you park behind the Township Hall, there is a covered area where they have a farm market. A different band will be playing behind that structure, but if you instead cross the footbridge to the right, you will walk a bit past a few historic buildings and will see the barn at left.

We will sing in front of the barn. If you want to sit down, bring your own chair or a blanket.

If you have not heard us before, we do the retro hits of the 1920’s… April Showers, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Paper Moon, Shine on Harvest Moon, For Me and My Gal, Jada, and more. It’s uplifting music, mostly love songs and a few novelty tunes thrown in there. For many of us, it creates a lovely trip down memory lane, but te young folks seem to enjoy the music on its own merits. Click the links on the songs to hear our version, if your computer is set up to play MP3 music (most are).

This is a totally family-friendly community event, bring the kids and their friends and let them dance while we sing. We love the kids. Little boys seem to be fascinated with Brian’s tiny instrument, especially when he plays it really fast. It’s wonderful to watch their little faces!

We are very excited about this concert. I grew up in this area, before it was developed (it was all fields and the Pilgrim House Furniture store was a real barn with animals in it). I will know some of the folks who come, and they will not expect to know me. Also my Mom is being her usual publicity chairperson self and has invited a list of her friends. Some of my computer students (the classes are a few blocks from the park) will be coming as well.

It is always exciting to play in a new place. Actually, we have played twice in their Wednesday night Historical society series, once as The Fabulous Heftones and once as members of Abbott Brothers’ band. But this was the first time we have been headliners. Having a 2 hour concert to ourselves? This is the most fun anyone can have on a 4th of July, perhaps!!!

Photos: Fab Heftones at RicStar Music Camp Benefit, VanAtta Greenhouse in Haslett; New York Ukefest 2006; Chicagoland Ukulele Jam Festival.

We were invited to an impromptu bonfire party Monday night and we dropped everything to go. There were many musicians there and we enjoyed playing together, and listening to each other play.

Here is a photo of three guys from The Flatbellys, with Spencer borrowing my Heftone Bass. These guys are really good people, just love ‘em.

I am SO glad it is finally summer. It seems I can’t shake memories of snow, even when the weather is hot and muggy. That last winter really did me in. I’m still thawing!

Sunday the Habibi Dancers took about a dozen women to dance at the Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan. It was wonderful to spend a day together. We danced, we watched friends dance, we ate Lebanese food. That’s as perfect a day as one can have, if you ask me.

Here the Habibi dancers are, doing a Saudi women’s party dance. I’m in the hot pink dress at front.

Here are four of our dancers in a crowd-pleasing number (they clapped and sang along with us here):

Here is the Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble of the greater-Detroit area doing a scarf dance:

We had 22 of us at dinner between the two groups, friends and family. The restaurant had a good attitude about it at the end of what must have been a very busy weekend. And the food! There is such good mideastern food in Dearborn! Ahhh…

This is my favorite place to dance all year. I had to miss it the last 2 years and was just delighted to join in again. It was wonderful.