Items and Whatnottery

Item the First
OK, this was weird:   Mrs. Griffmakesmusic and I visited the Minnesota Renaissance Festival yesterday (Friday, October 1), and it was the first time we've attended on the now semi-traditional last weekend Friday, not knowing that the musical acts wouldn't be there (go figure that in oh-so-arts-friendly America musicians would have to have day jobs, huh?), and were freaked out by the stark oddness engendered by the lack of music on site.  Now, I'm one of the first folks to get in line with people who would like to see a whole lot more actual Renaissance music at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and a fair amount less Potato Famine-era Irish music, and I have to admit that I was positively gobsmacked the day I witnessed one of the groups there performing Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" to a large crowd while I struggled to gather an audience of even two or three people to listen to me play the lute--but no music at all was just...disturbing.  I fully expected to see tumbleweeds rolling across the street to the accompaniment of a lone, spectral harmonica.  Weird.

Item the Second
Yep, the Twin Cities Lute Cooperative is coming back.  Don't know what shape or form it's gonna take, but we're going to make an effort to get some regular lute activity going--and promoted--in the Twin Cities again.  For what it's worth, we now have a Facebook presence (and who doesn't, right?), which you can access at: Twin Cities Lute Cooperative on Facebook.  Expect some news about concerts and other whatnottery (including a reprise of the Lute Summit show!) as soon as we get those duckies in a row. 

Item the Third
With the return of the TCLC will come the return of The Lute Cafe, which I plan to commence as part of the "First Fridays at the Madhatter" series starting in January.  Again, stay tuned and I'll drop the dime on the details as soon as they're available.   

Item the Fourth
The new electronic music CD, more than tentatively titled Sometimes I Draw Robots is almost done.  Just need to "put the eyebrows on" (as Frank Zappa would say), devise some case art and get it duplicated and I'll once again do my part to contribute to the sonic weirdness of the world.  Expect a release soon...

Item the Fifth
Robot Gas.  Say it with me now: Robot Gas!!!  Trust me, this will mean something to you soon...

And that's plenty for now.  Next time: more stuff.

Be excellent to yourselves!

Rick