A Month of Music started in Kansas!

WOW!  Where has the month gone.  Since I last wrote to you, I’ve performed in Kansas, Colorado and Mexico and all the airports in between!   I’ve been testing out some new recording studios to try and get my most recent project nailed down.  Gustavo, between Hotchkiss and Paonia is a pleasant and positive fellow.  He hasn’t had a lot of experience with the clean and precise sound of simple acoustic-classical guitar.  But, he’s willing to work at it and get the sound right.  I spent one day, last week, puttering in his studio comparing microphones and spacial set-ups.  I think we’ll find a sound that we love and it will be nice to have something close by to depend on.

On November 4th, Nikaila and I took Mom back to Kansas to celebrate life with the community that she spent more than 50 years in.  I’ve told Mom that I will take her back every year that she is capable.  I’d much rather do this than do something later when she isn’t around.  We notified everyone on Facebook through MY friends and through the Chase County site.  It’s a small place, so that worked great!  I was invited to join the Emma Chase’s community  monthly jam session at the old community center and I played with some really great players.  They were all gracious and joined in on my music, too.  Anne Wilson, the center character of The Tall Grass Express band traded CDs with me and I’ve been loving the memories that her heart-felt music about the Flint Hills in Kansas(where I spent my childhood) has triggered in me.  Musical memory of her flavor of music makes me smile.  My career of playing began with that warm bluegrass feel.  But, HER music has expanded on the old standard songs creating something that is truly hers, alone.  I loved meeting her and playing music with her.  To see her website and hear some of the music, just click  http://www.tallgrassexpress.com/music.html

The time was just too short and stuck such a memorable chord.  I can’t believe how much crying I did over the weekend.  But, I couldn’t let Mother or Nikaila see and did most of it in the bathroom or at night once everyone was asleep.

A funny thing that happened was a the Mill Stream Inn, a lovely place on the banks of the Cottonwood River, right next to the falls that ran the mill so many years ago.  When the heat would come on in the night the pipes would snap and thump and each time, Mother would yell out, “Come in!”  If I hadn’t needed the rest so badly, it would have been simply hilarious!  And even with the need for the sleep, I chose to focus on the humor of it all.

The following mid-day, we spent sitting at the Emma Chase Cafe, downtown in Cottonwood Falls as people came and went and spent time visiting with Mom.  I took my guitar and walked from table to table and entertained people.  Friends and family who made it, wrote in my mother’s journal, sharing memories of the Kleinsorge family.  Niki took pictures of everyone and we’ll attach them to their journal pages.   Glenda Robertson, my cousin from McPherson made it over.  Jerry and Barb Kleinsorge from the KC area made it down.  Larry and Carole Kennison surprised Mom and we saw Jerry and Edie Wright in El Dorado as we went through.  Then there were all of the wonderful old friends from Chase County, Betty Fetrow and her daughter, Betty Pinkston(who was our neighbor, when we lived there and who let Niki and I walk down and spend a few minutes at the waterfall that I spent so many hours at when I was Niki’s age), Louise Scott, Ginni and Gary Peterson, Sue Scott-Smith and so many more.

I also sang at the Bazaar Bazaar, in at the Bazaar Schoolhouse in Bazaar, Kansas and gave them a couple of CDs to auction off.  It was emotional and heart-warming to see the old familiar faces.  I spent 3 years as a teenager serving these people in the local truck stop.  So, even those that I didn’t know names of were warm and familiar.   The stitch-work was lovely as ever and there were pies and candies that I would have loved to have bid on.  I twas a little sad to know that Mother was so often a high-bidder at this annual auction.  This year, that couldn’t be and the only thing she bid on was an adult bib that she didn’t get…  Tears filled my throat as I watched from across the room.  We had to leave before the auction was over because we were leaving out of Wichita the next day.

Nikaila did  a great photo essay of our trip.  You can download it by clicking on the link.