After Christmas, we had about six weeks off. We organized the house, Haley studied a lot for school, and we enjoyed some relaxing weekends. We eased back into our crazy life with six days in Kansas City, MO where Haley and Dylan had an official showcase at The Folk Alliance International Conference.
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| Haley and Dylan doing a private showcase in the wee hours of the morning. |
The conference was definitely an experience. I got sick on Day 1, so it wasn't as fun for me as it might have been but the kids had a blast! They performed a great official showcase and four private showcases, saw old friends and met new friends, watched/listened to lots of music, played lots of music session-style, and barely slept...some private showcases were at 2am. The entire hotel was taken up by music. There were three floors with private showcases in each room and walls covered in poster advertisements of where people were performing. There were so many conference rooms for official showcases of every type of folk music available to listen to.
March Madness began with the yearly gig at Cumberland County College where Haley, Dylan, and Corey performed. The following weekend Haley and I headed to NYC for a show on Broadway at Symphony Space with Mick Moloney and friends for A Celtic Appalachian Celebration. Haley spent the entire day working with the other musicians to put the show together then they performed that evening, receiving two standing ovations! The show received wonderful reviews and was fabulous! The next day we were back at Sacred Heart Church in Camden with Mick, Athena, Liz, and Billy for a fundraising concert.
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| Haley with 2016 NEA National Heritage Fellow, Billy McComisky |
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| Here's what putting a show together looks like... |
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| The view from backstage at Symphony Space. |
Last weekend, Haley had two shows...one at the Philadelphia Art Museum on St. Patrick's Day and the other at Cathedral Basilica in Newark, NJ.
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| St. Patrick's Day at the Philadelphia Art Museum (*photo credit to Ray Banas) |
This weekend we are slowing down a bit for a performance at a nursing home on Saturday and a packing event for Feed My Starving Children on Sunday.
Besides the many gigs of March, we have been busy...
-We are firming up plans for a three week "tour" in South Carolina and Florida next month.
-The charity CD for the Mercy Centre Music for Mercy was released two weeks ago and Haley finished getting it up on CDBaby this week... check it out here. The CD is wonderful and I am so proud of all the work Haley and her friend, Patrick Finley, did on the project.
-Haley and I (as her chaperone) were invited by Mick and Father Joe to visit the Mercy Centre in June. Mick has performances planned with Haley at the Irish Embassy and university in Bangkok and she and I will be able to get to know the children who live at the Mercy Centre. We are very excited!!
-We have our summer camp schedule set and registrations are all finished.
-Haley has been working hard on her school courses and learning new classical pieces, happily practicing hours each day.
-I have been fighting a cough since the conference in February.
