Inspired by both the tireless generosity of volunteer superhero Polly Nichols and my love of alliteration, I’m launching a new opportunity for my home music studio: Polly’s Pantry Partners. Many of you surely know Polly already, whether from her work helping to found the Coralville Ecumenical Food Pantry, from her joyful and loving presence at New Song… Read More Polly’s Pantry Partners
Update! (see original post below) Our Beggarfans donated a collective 125 pounds of food, including lots of fresh produce from the Iowa City Farmer’s Market, to the Coralville Ecumenical Food Pantry. Thank you so much! Original post: Who doesn’t love the Iowa City Farmers Market? There’s something for everyone. Live music, hand pies, adorable dogs, egg… Read More Food Drive Update
Several months ago, my children and I met some new friends. We had many things in common and so we planned a few outings for the children to get to know one another. After meeting several times, our friends came over to our house for a play date. The children played together. The other mother… Read More Growing Up Together
This is me at my happiest onstage. Collaboration is where it’s at for me. I write these words as I listen to some tracks from a project in the works with my bandmate Keith Reins and our friend, piper Jon Cooper. The final recording session is scheduled for early next year but I can’t keep to myself how proud… Read More Collaboration
We had some fun last night. Oh yes, we did. Thanks for the awesome shots, Amber Capps! Jasmine Michaelson. She is super talented, so beautiful and has excellent taste in naming children. The Fritters (Nic Arp and Jennifer Horn-Frasier). Even more delicious than their name suggests. And finally, the musicians known in some elite circles as… Read More Musication
Music and fair trade coffee with friends. What’s not to love? Join us!
As a studio music teacher, I have the privilege to work with students one-on-one, sometimes year after year, to build a foundation of musical skills designed to serve the musician throughout a lifetime of music making. In the case of my featured musician this month, William Scott, I am lucky enough to have been this young man’s teacher for seven years although… Read More Featured Musician: William Scott
This beautiful Irish landscape was created by my father-in-law Jon Dutcher as a gift for my parents. Regardless of how you feel about green beer or the question of the snake metaphor, today is a day to celebrate the depth of beauty and humanity in Irish culture now and for centuries past. If you’re looking for a… Read More A day to celebrate!
Song of a Man Who Has Come Through by D.H. Lawrence Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me! A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time. If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me! If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a… Read More Hesperides
My cousin Linda posted this article on Facebook this week and I can’t get it out of my mind. It was published sometime in 1983. This is a profile of my paternal great-grandfather, Homer Rayburn. He grew up in Tennessee and raised his family in Niles, Michigan. I didn’t know him well because he died… Read More Lineage
