Ukulele Festival September 11-12

Don't miss a chance to see James Hill and the lovely Victoria Vox at the Ukulele Festival in St. Helena in a couple of weeks...

Allie is signed up for some workshops with Victoria Vox on Saturday.

Here's a little taste of my DD and friends from a year ago. Mine is on the left.

Patron of the Arts

Have you always wanted to be a patron of the arts? Have you imagined being able to support someone like Michaelangelo? But you say you are not made of money and there's no way?

I say, there is a way!

I have posted about musician and singer Victoria Vox before, but this time, you can be a part of her future, and a part of music history.

We first discovered Victoria at the Wine Country Uke Fest this fall. We were treated to her lovely, lovely voice and ukulele and a whole day of top names in the ukulele field for FREE!

We did buy one of her CD's while we were there (Victoria Vox and Her Jumping Flea), and we loved it so much I downloaded her other CD Chameleon from iTunes. It's in the car, and we listen to it on the way to school every day. Allie really loves a couple of the songs and is even thinking about performing one at her next school talent show. How's that for inspiring the youth of America?

As I stopped by her website yesterday, I saw that she was looking for sponsors to help her produce her next album. What a great idea! There are several levels of sponsorship, from just $15 (you'll get a download of the CD before it's released) to $1500 (or more) for a house concert (and a bunch of other goodies). What really sold me was the $100 level--a signed CD, a t-shirt, a postcard from the road, and the best part I think, is a listing in the "Thank You" section of the CD liner notes! Wow, that just really caught my attention! It's like the Beatles listing you on one of their albums!

So, I decided to become a sponsor and have Allie's name listed in the liner notes for posterity.

Isn't that a great idea? You could do that for a loved one for a birthday present or Christmas! (She even has a special EP Christmas album/mailable card you can buy!)

So, I want you to go right now to Victoria's website, listen to her latest album, (buy them all!), and become a patron of the arts by helping to sponsor the production of her next CD!

www.victoriavox.com

And here's a YouTube of "Beautiful Home" a new song that will be on that album. And check out her "mouth trumpet!"

Noses, gallbladders and ukuleles, oh my!

I've just finished my 10 days of Augmentin, and things are OK. I still get that smell in my nose very now and then, so I'm not convinced it's really gone away. I'll see how I fare this weekend and e-mail the doc on Monday if it comes back. I love being "special" but not in this way! I would much rather have something common and easily diagnosed! The intestinal blues have calmed down, thank goodness.

Russ came out of his gallbladder surgery just fine on Wednesday, and is recovering nicely. Lots of resting, sleeping, TV and testing what kinds of foods are OK right now. The surgeon wasn't convinced there was anything wrong with his gallbladder since it looked so healthy (as he removed it). This may or may not alleviate his symptoms....

We had a great time at the Ukulele Festival last weekend in St. Helena. We got to see/hear/meet the infamous (in uke circles) James Hill and the lovely Victoria Vox. I'll include a couple YouTube videos here. They are not mine and not from that day. But these are wonderful young talents.

Enjoy! (and buy some of their CDs!)