September 2020 Newsy News!
Hello, friends and fellow music lovers!
My how these days are flying and slogging at the same time. 🙂 I hope you are finding beauty in these waning summer days. I am savoring every moment of sunshine!
These are exciting times around here at BW headquarters. I am so thrilled to announce that my new poetry book, Believe The Bird, is out in the world! I’ll tell you all about it and all the other fun stuff going on, but first…
GRATITUDE…Very special thanks to the Sisters Folk Festival for hosting an outdoor, socially distanced and safe and magical concert. It was so powerful and healing to make music again and to be with real live people singing for real live people! Thanks to David Jacobs-Strain, Haley Johnsen, Jeffrey Martin and Ron Artis II and the Truth for a truly inspiring day of music. Thanks to art teacher Judy Fuentes and all the kids who made our Creativity Camp so incredibly fun! Thanks to Marean Jordan and the UU church of Bend for hosting me as their virtual guest artist. Thanks to Nathan Brown and Ashley Stanberry Brown for making my book the first to be featured in their Stocktank Book Club, and to Roundabout Books in Bend for inviting me to be a part of their local author’s night virtual reading!
THE NEWS…NEW BOOK ALERT! I can’t even describe the giddy feeling of knowing my new book is out in the world! This is my third book of poetry and it is called Believe The Bird. The title comes from a quote by John James Audubon that says, “When the bird and the book disagree, believe the bird.” What if we examine the stories we tell ourselves to see if they resonate with who we are now? What if we allow our inherent wisdom to override messages that no longer serve us? When is a story good and when is it harmful? What if we get to decide what narratives work for us? Believe The Bird is a book full of questions in the form of poems, pointing to the wisdom of the bird in hand. THANK YOU to Nathan Brown, Ashley Stanberry Brown and Mezcalita Press for helping me make this thing real! Yes, you can buy from the big book store in the sky but if you don’t mind waiting a few extra days to get your copy, you can buy directly from me and get it signed to boot! Here’s how to order and support my work most directly!
I just LOVE how the cover of this book turned out! The cover was lovingly designed by Lauren Hill and features a photo of an Anna’s Hummingbird taken by my aunt Sheri Williamson. Sheri is a hummingbird researcher/expert, amazing artist and incredibly brilliant human, and she runs the Southeast Arizona Bird Observatory along with my uncle Tom. Check out some more of her art here on here FB page! And you can read about Sheri and Tom’s work in the world here.
Here is a video I made for a reading of the poem “Flipside Supernova”, a poem in the new book.
And you can watch Nathan and Ashley read some of my poems from their stocktank book club!
And I hope you’ll join us for our virtual new book celebration on Sept 14 with Tom Kimmel and Nathan Brown!
I am excited to partner with Artichoke Music for a virtual workshop series this month. We’ll be exploring dynamics in performance (one of my favorite things!) on Tuesdays this month (after Labor Day). You can sign up for the entire series, or drop in for one class! We’re all just trying to figure out how to stay connected and keep on doing our work, and I am grateful to Artichoke Music for inviting me to share this offering. I hope you’ll join us!
In other exciting news, I released another brand new song this month to my Patreon community. This one is open-tuning, metal-finger-picks, tap-yo-feet, open-yo-mouth fun to sing, and it’s called “Love Keeps the Flame”! Thank you to Brent McGregor for this fiery photo!
We’re on fire now, y’all. That makes five new songs I have released exclusively to my Patreon peeps! I’m up to 93 patrons now and I would LOVE to get to 100. Want to hear my new work and also support my work in an easy, sustainable way? Check it out here!
SEPTEMBER HAPPENINGS…
Sept 8, 15, 22, and 29 – Dynamics in Performance Zoom Workshop Series hosted by Artichoke Music. We will explore together the power of dynamics in expressing emotion, telling a story, and delivering a song. We’ll look at some tips and tricks for providing your performances with variety, movement, and emotional arc. We will address how breathing, awareness, and song-mapping tie in to delivering an engaging performance. Let’s have fun and learn from each other! Tuesdays in September from 7-8:30 pm. In partnership with Portland’s beloved Artichoke Music. $100 for all 4 workshops. $30 for single drop-in. Click here for registration info!
Sept 14 – Joyful Measures: BW’s Virtual New Book Celebration with special guests Tom Kimmel and Nathan Brown! Desperate times call for Joyful Measures! In fact, all times call for joyful measures. The intent of this offering is to create a space for beauty, solace, connection, and celebration through word and song while also getting to hear my friends! BW will be celebrating the release of her third poetry book, Believe The Bird, with a livestream virtual reading and concert along with two of her favorite troubadour-poet-songwriters Tom Kimmel and Nathan Brown! We’ll share music, poems, and talk about what is bringing us joy right now here on BW’s Facebook music page. (You don’t have to have a FB account to watch). It’s free to watch and donations are joyfully accepted. 6 pm Pacific Time/8 pm Central.
Here’s some other random pics y’all…
oh my GAWD it felt good to sing with other humans again! thank you Jay Mather for capturing these moments!
and it felt so good to sit back and drink in some music.
we had SO MUCH FUN at creativity camp! The kids were fun and enthusiastic and open and silly and it felt so good to just hang out and make stuff together!
this is my favorite pic from the whole week…so much fun!
we came up with some very creative song titles.
and we wrote tons of songs together including 2020 Blues, Covid-19 Blues, and Fred’s Head, a song about an unfortunate incident with a goldfish losing his head.
and let’s not forget, every day is National Dog Day around here! 😉
I feel so fortunate to be able to do what I love and to share it with you. THANK YOU for walking alongside me on this path. Thank you for cheering me on and supporting my work. I’m sending a big love-and-gratitude blast your way!
Your fan,
Beth Wood
PO Box 551
Sisters, OR 97759
Holler at me: bethwoodmusic [AT] hotmail.com
Come join me on Patreon!
Here I am with my face on Facebook.
I barely know how to use it but I’m tryin’ on Twitter
Find me on Instagram @bethwoodmusic
Find my dog on Instagram @bailey.pants
For the love of Pete, somebody please help me with Youtube
