CD Progress and Local Performances

Alfreda in the House - I'm making progress on several cd projects. Alfreda Gerald was in the studio a few days ago recording tracks for my Christmas cd. We had a blast. It was the first time I'd seen her since the Ethnicity Tour. We had to remind ourselves to stop talking and get a little work done too! Click on my pictures link to the left, then scroll to the bottom of the page to see photos of Alfreda in the studio, as well as shots from other stories in today's journal.

Hymns with Her - I'm also working on a cd of hymns with one of my students, Hannah Pratt. She's going to be a senior music major this fall at Bryan College, and this cd is her senior project. I want it to showcase her talent and hopefully make her a little money as she heads out into the working world. Even though all the tracks on this recording are familiar tunes to us, we are spending a lot of time on new arrangements that feature the hammer dulcimer as the lead instrument accompanied by mountain dulcimer, bowed psaltery, acoustic guitar and bass. I plan to have samples from this cd as well as from my Christmas project, posted by mid-August.

Visions of Nature - Anne Frank wrote in her diary: "The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy, is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature...Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be, amidst the simple beauty of nature.  As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.  And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles."

When circumstances don't allow you to get out and be alone in nature, why not bring nature into your living room? I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was working with video producer/photographer Pat Cory on a nature video set to my music. The finished product is called Visions of Nature and we expect the VHS tapes and DVD's to be in stock later this week. They are $24.95 and can be ordered by emailing me. I should have my "Order CD" page set up for accepting credit card purchases of the new video later today. I'm just waiting on some graphic files.

Fun on the Fourth! - My Pops in the Park concert with the Chattanooga Symphony was a dream come true. The weather was perfect for the largest Independence Day crowd ever at Coolidge Park. I've posted 30 seconds of video from the concert that you can see by clicking the following link. It is 1.2 megabytes so I wouldn't recommend it for those of you using a dial-up connection. Video Clip. There are also photos of the concert accessible on my Pictures Page.

Character Development - I was honored to perform for the Southeast Regional Character Education Conference in Chattanooga. It was great to meet quite a few Yanni fans there who'd seen the Ethnicity show, as well as use Yanni's music often in the classroom.



R&R - My schedule has been hectic but I haven't forgotten to get out and enjoy a little play time as well. I've included a few pictures of a water skiing adventure with friends from last week. There are also some pictures taken from the woods behind my house where a 20 minute hike yields views of beautiful rock formations.

Summer Travels- Angie and I are getting ready to head to Michigan for the Evart Fun Fest. My daughter, Missy, leaves for Germany the same day. She's participating in a sister city exchange program that Chattanooga has with Hamm, Germany. She'll be staying with the family of a girl that lived with us last summer. My son, Jeremy, returns home from his traveling summer job to take care of the house and animals while we're away.

We want to line up some house concerts while we're away so I'll post our tentative travel plans tommorrow. Until then - Dan ¶ 6:39 PM