Greetings!

Good news for Honeysuckle Rose fans. Michael Valentiner is recovering from his
carpal
tunnell surgery, and should be joining Rose, Dean, and I at Mapps this Friday,
June 4.
The Friday after that, they will have to do it without me, because I have a
Monkey
Chant rehearsal. More on that in a few paragraphs.

The showing of the silent film classic, "Grass" with live Turkish and Persian
music was a
big success. Anne and the other volunteers had to put up extra chairs as the
long lines
of eager film/music fans delayed the starting time. As he viewed the teeming
throngs,
Bill Kubeczko's wheels were spinning in his head with other possible film/music
teamings. Keep your eyes on the Cedar.

As I was listening to the news yesterday I was surprised and delighted to hear
the
sound of my violin accompanying the voice of local African music legend Yawo
Attivor in
a story about his music and his commitment to peaceful political revolution in
his native
Togo. You can read and hear the story at
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/05/28_feidta_yawo/

You can hear the tune, Via de los Tesoros at: http://www.yawo.com/music.shtml

On Sunday, June 6, when we would normally be doing our Moon/Sun Gesture or
first-sunday-of-the-month-jam, we are postponing that a week because my daughter
Ella
is performing with the Youth Ensemble of the IPAAM Gamelan at Ella's Gamelan
concert
Sunday June 6 3pm at the Como Park Pavilion at 1360 Lexington Parkway N. in St.
Paul.

More info at http://www.ipaam.org/performances.html

Later that night, from 7-10 pm my group Honeysuckle Rose will be performing at
the
Dunn Brothers coffeehouse at Grand @ Snelling in St. Paul.

If you, like like I, have always had a secret desire to do the Balinese Monkey
Chant,
now's your chance (if you're male and over 15). Ragamala is looking for men to
perform
the Cecak in the Walker Sculpture garden next September 11 and 12 as part of
their
multicultural presentation inspired by the Ramayana. I attended the training
sessions in
May, and find it to be a stimulating and satisfying experience. It puts you into
the
middle of a syncopated chatter, and when everybody is in locking in correctly,
it's
exhilarating. There will be 3 pick-up rehearsals for newcomers:
Friday, June 11, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Sunday, June 27, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Wednesday, August 4, 7:00 - 9:00

More info: http://www.ragamala.net/sethuchorus.html

David