Gina Forsyth

ST. ANTHONY--FOUND--IN SING OUT!

Gina's song, "St. Anthony" is now published--in the latest issue of that venerable folk song magazine, Sing Out!

It's the second time this year that one of Gina's songs has been transcribed in this publication. Earlier this year, Sing Out! transcribed "Somewhere off the Foot of this Mountain," for their Spring issue (Volume 49, # 1).

It's a tremendous honor to have a song appear in a magazine that has been printing out folk songs for over 50 years. And it is a special honor to have two songs transcribed in one year.

But it's not only an honor: it's fun knowing that, if you check out their website, www.singout.org, you can hear the melodies to any song they publish--in a midi version! It was fun hearing "Somewhere" played on a synthesizer, on the website of--of all things--a folk song magazine.

Of course, you might prefer to hear the record. Speaking of which, "St. Anthony," my prayer of gratitude to my favorite patron saint of the absent-minded, can also be found on the Malvinas' new CD, Love, Hope + Transportation.

posted by gina on December 7, 2005 at 10:14 AM | Comments (1)

MORE PLACES TO HELP DISPLACED MUSICIANS

Here it is, at last--the long-awaited list of foundations that have been set up to help displaced New Orleans musicians--and this is only some of them:

Katrinas Piano Fund: www.katrinaspianofund.org; (888)324-3191. To donate, send check or money order to: 400 Main St., P.O. Box 1537, Greenfield, MA 01302

New Orleans Musician Hurricane Relief Fund: www.nomhrf.org; (888)324-3191

Tipitinas Foundation: www.tipitinasfoundation.org

If you don't see the address here, the addresses to donate to these funds are listed on their websites.

Also, WWOZ (90.7 FM in New Orleans) has a huge list of resources and relief funds, including the Musicians Union. That website is www.wwoz.org

These days, there are so many organizations out there to donate to that you'd have to rob a bank to give to all of them (not that I would ever recommend doing that sort of thing). Seriously, a Google search under "New Orleans Musician Hurricane Relief Fund" will give you over a million hits. Through my google search, I found such sites as www.musicmaker.org and The Jazz Foundation (www.jazzfoundation.org). There's also the aforementioned (from the last News item) MusicCares, which you can find at www.grammys.org.

Here it is at last--sincere apologies for the delay in posting this. And Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

posted by gina on October 12, 2005 at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)

Over the last three weeks, I have heard story after story of New Orleans musicians losing not only gigs to Hurricane Katrina, but valuable gear, instruments, product, and even their homes.

Today, I am happy to announce that there are now relief funds available where you can help musicians replace some of what has been lost. One of the more prominent ones is MusicCares, which is the Grammys' organization to help musicians in need of aid (for more information, call (877) 626-2748, or look for them on the web at www.grammy.com.)

There is now also a new New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund, that is working to directly aid musicians to replace lost instruments and income. For more information, you can call (573) 448-3336 or (573) 281-5769.

The fund has been set up by evacuees with a history of helping New Orleans musicians. I am happy to announce that I am a recipient.

I am now in Lafayette, LA. The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund helped me with critical funds to make up for lost income, and to get down the road back south. If you are a New Orleans musician in need of help, the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund may be able to help you.

In the coming days, I will be sending out more information about this and other musicians relief funds. I understand that the Tipitinas Foundation has also set up a relief fund, and there are one or two organizations here in Lafayette.

Thanks so much to all who have been asking how they can help this now-wandering New Orleans musician...

This is to let you know that I am safe. I am currently staying in Malden, MO. In a few days, I will be leaving here for Lafayette, where I will be playing Festivals Acadiens with Bruce Daigrepont, Saturday September 17; after which time, I'll be going on an extended solo tour, playing dates with Emma's Revolution, Lisa Markley, and others.

In case you may be wondering why the writing here is not, well...more colorful, it's because I'm sharing one telephone line with two other adults, and one of them is a civil rights attorney. I suspect that she won't be hurting for work anytime soon, but that's another story, and that one, I'll save for the rants.

"Somewhere Off the Foot of this Mountain," from my You Are Here CD, will be included in the upcoming Spring issue of Sing Out! (Yes, that's THE Sing Out! The folk song magazine that's been around since the 1940's.) Look for it on the newsstands in mid-February.

For my next missive, I'll have more about the Malvinas' new CD, and the CD release show Thursday, January 6.

The latest is that the Malvinas CD is now finished (look for the new CD to be out at least by January, if not by Christmas); I now have copies of the new Waterbug sampler (I've just finished listening to it, and it's absolutely wonderful, and I'm not just saying that because my song, "Sparrows" is on it)...

...and I'm just back from playing the Congres Mondiale (World Acadian Congress) with Bruce Daigrepont --just in time to play two shows this week, one at the Neutral Ground, on Wednesday, and one at Carrollton Station, in the round with Justin Reuther and friends, this Friday.

The Malvinas: i'm not like this
Louisiana Music Factory
Tower Records
Virgin Records

Gina Forsyth: You Are Here
Waterbug (www.waterbug.com)
Louisiana Music Factory
Tower Records
Virgin Records
Octavia Books
various and sundry sites all over the web!

Dans La Louisiane (new CDs have yet to be reprinted, but there are still CDs left at these stores):
Tower Records
Louisiana Music Factory (I think there might be one copy left)

The Malvinas begin 2004 hard at work on a new CD, to be scheduled for release this summer. There will be more updates to come as the release date gets closer.

I looked at my website the other day and realized that it had been a year since I last updated it.

For those who have been looking for the latest Gina Forsyth news, if you check the upcoming dates page, you know that the upcoming gigs are always up to date.

However, if you only look at the news, without checking the dates, you may not know that in the past year, Gina has had a full slate of gigs, from solo shows at places like the Neutral Ground in New Orleans and SugaCanes in Hammond, to fiddle gigs with Bruce Daigrepont, to Fall, Spring, and now, Summer 2003 tours with the Malvinas.

Since their highly successful 2002 Summer tour, the Malvinas have played guerilla showcases at both the Northeast Regional and National Folk Alliance conventions, did a spring tour in Texas and Louisiana which included the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and are now wrapping up a Summer 2003 tour that included shows in the Midwest, Canada, and New England.

Gina will be escaping the New Orleans heat through August 16, as, at the conclusion of the Malvinas' Summer tour in Vermont, she will be joining Bruce Daigrepont for his Canadian tour in Quebec and New Brunswick.

The Malvinas new CD, i'm not like this, is now available at Louisiana Music Factory and Tower Records. So far, the reviews have been mighty good, too. As Keith Spera writes in the Times-Picayune Lagniappe section, "More folk music should be this invigorated."

The best news of all is that we'll be back at the Neutral Ground August 15 at 9pm. So, if you want to get invigorated for the Dog Days of summer, come to the Neutral Ground August 15 and get a CD!

The world of music lost two giants last Friday, July 19, in Alan Lomax and Dave Carter.

Alan Lomax (along with his father, John Lomax) recorded a gigantic treasure trove of folk music from all over the US and beyond; without him, scores of songs that most of us know would never have been heard by most of us--songs like "Rock Island Line" and "Home on the Range," for example. Perhaps more significantly, he made some of the first recordings of Muddy Waters and Woody Guthrie. The Folk Revival of the 1950s and 60s probably wouldn't have happened without him. You may have heard a couple of his recordings on the O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack; they've also been playing a number of these field recordings on WWOZ in the last few days. May his legacy never be forgotten.

Dave Carter wasn't quite as well-known in many circles, but he was well on his way to being there, and then some. In the past several years, I have come to know a whole slew of brilliant songwriters, but I have to say that Dave Carter was the brightest light of all of them. I mean, he made most of us look like utter fools--not just because he could rhyme "orange" and "door hinge ("The River Where She Sleeps")," but because his songs possessed a tremendous depth way uncommon to most songwriters in our day and age--and I dare say in any era ("When I Go" and "The Mountain," to name two). His three recordings with Tracy Grammer are some of the best of the last four or five years in folk music. I am forever grateful for having known him, for his genuine warmth and generosity, and for his many words of encouragement. I will miss him more than I can ever begin to say. Visit Dave and Tracy's web site.

A dispatch from Gina, on the road...

The best way that I can describe the trio I've been part of, of late, The Malvinas, is from an email that I wrote to a fan in St. Louis (just one of the places we'll be playing this summer):

In June, 2001, You Are Here came out on Waterbug Records, and in the past couple months, it's been getting airplay from folk DJs around the country.

For July and August, 2001, You Are Here hit #20 and #19 on the folk-DJ airplay lists (respectively). That means that they're playing You Are Here alongside Nanci Griffith, Gillian Welch, and Tom Russell (In July, Tom Russell and Gina were both tied for #20 on the list). You can check out the folk DJ lists on the web at: http://www.hootholler.com/charts.html and href="http://www.folkradio.org/" target="_blank">http://www.folkradio.org/.

This summer, I packed all my belongings and moved to a new apartment; put my computer in the shop for about a month (it was being upgraded while I was going through my glacially slow moving process--sincere apologies to those who didn't get a prompt reply from me via email; now you know why); played a few road gigs (Chicago, St. Louis, and The Evening Star Concert Series, with guitar monster Jack Williams, in GA); took in a game at Wrigley Field and saw Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa hit home runs in same game; and hung out at the Kerrville (TX) Wine and Music Festival on Labor Day Weekend.

Special thanks go to Nancy Walker, Sue McClelland, Sue Fink, all my friends in Chicago and St. Louis--along with Rich Warren at WFMT in Chicago and everyone at KDHX in St. Louis--and Don Porterfield at The Evening Star Concert Series, for all they did to make my travels this summer a success, plus a lot of fun!