Sooj

Hi, everyone! I hope to see you on my travels this summer. I’m leaving home today, in fact!

I’ve got just a few events to let you in on, with more to come as things get confirmed, for June and July. Folks in Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state, I’ll be coming through verrrry soon now! My first concert of the summer is THIS FRIDAY in COLORADO SPRINGS!

FRIDAY JUNE 20, 8pm
Sooj Solstice Concert
Unity of the Rockies
1945 Mesa Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
GET TICKETS HERE: http://soojatunity.brownpapertickets.com/

I haven’t had a chance to do a show in Colorado Springs in quite some time, so I’m really looking forward to this. Hang on to something, because I’m bringing with me an electric guitar on this trip! Her name is Stella.
Thanks so much to Dawn and to Jennifer and the rest of the Unity staff and congregation for hosting me!

SATURDAY JUNE 28 – MONDAY JULY 1
various show times at
the International New Age Trade Show, INATS West
http://inats.com/west/index.html
Denver Mart Pavilion
451 East 58th Street
Denver, CO 80216

INATS will be the first trade show I’ve participated in as a wholesale vendor, and I’m going in with my friends at Dryad Tea, Mithros Designs and Underhill Alchemy!
I don’t get to make any direct CD sales at INATS, only take orders, so this will be a new experience. I’m feeling very optimistic about the event, especially since INATS guru Andrew Toplarski has been delightful to work with so far. Andrew has set me up with four performances at INATS: one on Saturday morning, one at the Saturday evening COVR awards banquet, one on Sunday afternoon at 4pm, and one on Monday afternoon at 1pm. INATS is primarily for retailers and store owners to come and shop for new products to carry. Hopefully this will be a great chance for me to get my music carried by more stores. For more info, visit the inats.com website.

After a quick visit to friends in Steamboat Springs, it’s off to New Mexico!

SATURDAY JULY 5, 7:30PM
Sooj shares the stage with Helios
Tortuga Gallery
901 Edith Boulevard Southeast
Albuquerque, NM 87102
GET TICKETS HERE: http://soojandhelios.brownpapertickets.com/

I’m so excited to get back to Albuquerque again! This time I get to throw down with local Drum-and-Didgeridoo duo (brought to you by the letter D!) Helios! I can certainly vouch for their groove. Hope you can come and play with us! Tortuga, I’m told, is a very comfy and artsy space.

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Good news: The Audubon Society is on board to help the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance. Participate in the letter writing campaign here if you like.

For local folks in Arkansas, there’s a kickass float event planned for May 24th to help raise awareness! I’m betting it’ll be a beautiful day to come to the river with your kayak or other chosen transport and visibly join the fight to keep it unpolluted. 🙂

WHAT’S ALL THIS ABOUT, SOOJ? Well, a huge new hog farm is now operating right on top of Big Creek and the Buffalo River in beautiful northern Arkansas. The place is too close to the Creek and the River to be legal and in keeping with National Park regulations, but it’s there and operational anyway. The Buffalo is one of the last remaining National rivers that remains unpolluted. Those of us who don’t have any interest in turning a profit from running a pig prison (and filling the local ecosystem with massive amounts of poop, literally, day by day) want to keep it that way. So the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance is standing up now.

“The BRWA and the other Coalition members met with Cargill representatives (Cargill is the company which is the hog farm’s largest customer) and stated, in the strongest terms possible, that given the proximity of C & H to the Buffalo National River and its location on karst topography, the only solution is the removal of the hog factory from the watershed.”

This is the cause I’m championing on my tour this year, because the River is important to me. It’s gorgeous there, I’ve known people all my life who visit and float that river regularly, and it really is one of the last National rivers standing, where pollution is concerned. It may not make as much tourism cash for the state as a giant hog farm would make for the company that runs it, but I had no trouble deciding which side of that situation I wanted to fight for. You’ll see me post about this a lot. Please join me in supporting the BRWA however you can.

Ryan and I are now entering week three of my spring tour, and all is well!  We’re in Toronto for a few days, preparing for our mini-tour with the Heather Dale Band over Beltane.  🙂

We crossed the border into Canada last Thursday afternoon with all proper documents and passports, and everything was fine.  Our immigrations officer was a music fan, and she was very, very kind.  The uniformed gents in the parking area teased us about being from Arkansas: “where’s your gun?!?”  Heh.  The only correct and true answer:  not in this car, sir!

Speaking of Arkansas, if you’re unaware, a massive tornado swept through the west-central part of the state last weekend.  It was close to my homestead, but not as close as it could have been.  Many people lost everything- homes, pets, cars, literally everything.  Relief efforts are ongoing and local donations of clothing, water, and other essentials are being actively collected by state congressmen as well as regular folks.  I’m blogging this stuff because I’m too far from home to be able to help in person.  With the size of the twister, I’m pretty sure there will still be cleaning up to do and help to be given once I do get home.

On to happier thoughts.  I had a sweet time at FKO over the weekend, singing and sharing with the FilkOntario community.  Thanks to all the organizers and attendees for making me feel welcome, and for helping me make so many new friends.

The Shows That Remain:

May 2: Ottawa, ON

May 3: Dorval, QC

May 4: Hamilton, ON

May 6: Toronto, ON

The above shows I get to share with Heather, Ben and John.  After May 6, I head back to the States.

May 7: Youngstown, OH

May 8: Logan, OH

May 9: Fertile Ground Gathering, Triangle, VA

May 10: Fredericksburg, VA

May 11: Greenbelt, MD (Happy Mother’s Day! Bring your Mum!)

May 17: Asheville, NC (I just completed a remix recording for this concert!  It’s gonna be epic.)

Happy Easter to all! Madison, WI is beautiful this morning. I’m grateful to my hosts, fans and friends in St. Louis, Chicago, and Madison for three fantastic shows over the weekend.  Extra special thanks go to Adrian, Sarah and Belle in St. Louis; to Amy, Steff, Shauna, Bill, Kris, Adam, Ronni and Aidan in Chicago; to James, Holly, Lory, Steve and all the rest of the Pegasus Games crew in Madison; to my wonderful Ryan, and especially to Alec and Kore.  It’s been a delightful tour so far, largely because of the talent, care, and awesomeness of these fine folks!

This week starts the leisurely trek to FKO in Ontario. It’s good to have friends all over the place who like to sing with you. I hate that I’ve said farewell to Alec after only two concerts together, but I’m so excited to get on stage again with Heather, Ben and John in a few days. FKO, I hope you’re ready. I think we’re all gonna have a really great time!

I’m now between shows for a few days.  The plan is to visit friends and family in Chicago and Ann Arbor, and not to stress that my Cultural Exchange paperwork isn’t back in my inbox yet– this is the stuff I must have at the Canadian border, or else they won’t let me in as a working musician.  Think good thoughts, everyone!  I will if you will.

TECH:

Fandom and NorWesCon peeps in particular: I’m boosting the signal on this for my good friend, videographer, graphics guru, and fire buddy. Cuz he’s worth it, and he’s good, and this is a modest goal for a great project. 

Bump up the bandwidth for NorWesCon’s LiveStream Guru!

SHOWS:

Only 8 tickets left at the $10 level for my Youngstown, OH concert on May 7!  Grab the hot seats while you can.

FOOD:

I’m an opportunivore.  This generally means that I will try just about anything.  It makes for a rich life, and it makes those few times when I’m at home and can cook a meal all the more interesting!  Last night I made a righteous skillet of potatoes using an organic, dairy-free cashew cheese spread created by some friends of mine: Mandi and Joe Bussell of Bussellsprouts in Oregon! Check out their website here, and choose your flavor.  I can honestly tell you that I love them all, though the Turkish Spice is my current favorite.

THIS WEEK’S CONCERTS:

Tomorrow I’ll have my first concert in Batesville, Arkansas in well over a decade, on campus at my old college!  I’ve always wanted to go back there to perform.  Thanks to the Convocations Committee, at last I’ll be doing just that. 🙂

This Saturday, I’ll share the stage with some serious luminaries in the Womyn’s community.  I may be a little star struck.  Come and join us if ever you can, at the Amazon Music Festival in northwest Arkansas.  One ticket gets you a show from me, Ginger Doss, Summer Osborne, Holly Near, emma’s revolution, and Big Bad Gina, plus a drum workshop with Wahru Cleveland.

Hi, everybody! I hope this week treats you well. It’s my last week at home before my first serious tour of 2014. It’s been TEN YEARS, folks, and I’m still making music, still singing, still celebrating. Thank you for being part of this wild, wonderful magical dream.

This update is LONG, and I apologize. It’s just that I’ve got so many shows coming up, and so much to tell you!  I’m starting off my schedule this month with two very special concerts in my home state. This coming Thursday, I get to perform at my college for the first time since graduating in 2001, and this Saturday I’m back in the lineup of the Amazon Music Festival! Read on.

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I’ve had a wonderful time these past several weeks getting to know author Christin Keck a little bit at a time as we exchange Facebook messages.  Christin is a hoot of a storyteller, and I’m spending some quality time with her book, The Goddess Loves Your Shoes.  Simply put, Christin’s work reminds me of one of the most important things any Pagan teacher in my life ever taught me:  don’t ever take yourself or your path too seriously.  😀  She does so in her written works with fearless panache and sarcasm, and I LOVE IT.  Mama Dragon would approve.

Example (Pagans, take note):  remember that one ritual?  Yeah, that one.  The one when the potluck had no cups for drinks, everybody had Raven and/or Moon and/or Wolf as part of their magickal names, and somebody’s outfit fell clean off during the ceremony?  Yup.  The horror!  The mirth!!  Been there.  I think we all have.

Christin also has proven herself to be an enthusiastic supporter of all things S. J.  This woman must have a heart of gold.  She’s given me some wonderful leads for future concerts, she’s heaped compliments upon my grateful head, AND she’s a top-dollar sponsor for my Youngstown, OH concert on May 7 of this year.  Not only that, but she’s boosted the concert further by making it a joint effort between us:  not only will I sing my booty off that night, but Christin will also celebrate the release of her newest book, Mini-apple Loss!  Double, double, toil and trouble, baby!  Gonna be as wicked as it gets!

Get tickets for our tag-team event of awesomeness: click here!

Grab a poster or handbill and share with your peeps: click here!

More on Christin’s new book and her awesome self:

Mini-Apple Loss is Christin Keck’s sixth novel, and the fourth in the Cassie Rivers Adventures series.  It’s a tale that involves the Goddess Eris, the Mini-apple of Chaos and Discord (or one of them, anyway) and a small Greek man who can turn into a dog. We also meet an old nemesis from the previous stories, a character from ancient times, and there is also a bit of confusion over Moon-Unit Zappa and some were-Irish Setters. This book introduces Cassie and Jack’s detective agency  which solves rather unusual cases—the Arcane Agency.

Come meet Cassie—she’s smart, funny, capable and sensible, unlike most of the people she meets in her business. Along with her husband Jack, her friends Mirra and Lizzie and her part-time office administrator Susie, she gets herself into all sorts of crazy situations and has to use her brains and some unusual rituals to get herself and her friends out of them! Humor is liberally applied throughout all the Cassie stories, and you never quite know how they might end up; there are surprises around every turn.

Read more…

I got interviewed by crafty, feisty librarians about what libraries mean to me as a creative professional, songwriter and entertainer, and it was fantastic fun.  Read the interview here, courtesy of the Library as Incubator Project.

When I’m home from the road, I live in a spectacularly beautiful land of mountains, rivers, lakes, and forests.  Aaaaand sometimes I find out that somebody is currently filling one of those spectacularly beautiful rivers full of…….well, pig poop.  LOTS of pig poop, in major violation of National Park Service regulations.  Please consider supporting the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance as I have done, and spread the word.  We can do better than this.

Trigger warning for this last set:  the Pagan community, dear to my heart and my spirit, is in a rightful tizzy this week over the arrest of a prominent author and performer, who confessed to possession of child pornography.  I’m sharing three articles I’ve read.  I feel that each of these pieces promote healthy discussion on how we can do better to detect predators in our midst and to help those threatened.  Reading each of these three articles helped me greatly in sorting out my own thoughts and figuring out what I can do best to help my community be better and safer for all from now on.  May these well crafted words feed and support the momentum of healthy discussion and positive action.  Click if you wish.

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Tomorrow will be my very first album‘s tenth birthday. (That’s Nitia Cheveallier’s gorgeous cover art you see there.)  My engineer and my friends and I recorded it over the course of about two weeks at Young Avenue Sound in Memphis. My first big-deal recording studio memories all come from Young Avenue Sound, which was a great place to work and build dreams. Those were two of the most important weeks of my whole life, and the weeks, months, and years since have been nothing short of amazing. The songs keep coming, the shows keep coming, and I keep getting to meet more amazing fans, make more amazing friends, and share in your stories.

Even so, I can hardly believe it’s been a decade.

I know that I’m a different woman now than I was back then.  I’ve had so much bliss, so much heartache, learned so many lessons and had so much fun.  One reason that I’m grateful to have done that first album?  I have a beautiful, audible snapshot of the girl I was when I started this whole thing.  The girl who quit her job and took the leap, who believed in herself hard enough to grab her dream with both hands and TAKE OFF.  And I’m So Proud Of Her.

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I’ll be making my first appearance ever in Youngstown, Ohio on May 7 2014, and I have some really quality people backing me up. 🙂  Today I’m featuring the Silver Grove Society of the Mahoning Valley on my blog.  If you’re in Ohio, look them up!  They have a meet-up scheduled for today (Tuesday) as a matter of fact.  The meet-ups are the 4th Tuesday of every month at Denny’s in Liberty, Ohio, starting at 7pm.  If you’re free in the area tomorrow and you’d like to connect with this group, that’s where they’ll be.

Here the group’s Facebook group page.  It’s a closed group, but you can get a pretty good sense of it from the link, even so.  Here’s their next public event, a May Day rite on May 3rd, 2014.

I believe in people supporting each other, and the SGS is all about that spirit of community.  From their page:

The Silver Grove Society is the community face of the Covenant of the Silver Grove. We host public sabbat rites and monthly social pagan meet-ups and hope to eventually offer classes and workshops on a variety of Witchcraft/Paganism-related topics. Our goal is to foster a sense of community among the area pagans as well as provide an opportunity for fellowship…If you come in peace with an open heart you are welcome.

I’m pleased and proud to have this group’s sponsorship for my Youngstown concert. 🙂