Feb. 2011

FEBRUARY 2011 E-ZINE
Happy Valentine's Day, and a special welcome to the several dozen Texans and Tennesseans who signed aboard last month.

Concert details, latest news, much more at http://andrewmcknight.net
1. Upcoming Shows
2. Coffee Mugs and Car Magnets
3. News: Mother Earth News on USA Radio, WAMMIE Nomination, Bye-Bye iPhone App
4. Website Redesign - Your Thoughts and Ideas Welcome
5. "Wind Whispers" Choral Music
Song for the Month: "Alchemy"
Essay: "End of an Odyssey"

Help a little or a lot by sharing the music via email or Facebook, hosting a house concert or something in between: http://andrewmcknight.net/help
Thanks most of all for reading this!
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1. UPCOMING SHOWS More details and links at website.
TH 2/17 * MOORESVILLE NC - FolkGrass Songwriter Showcase, 8:30pm
Feature performance at Open Mic, The Bathtub Gin, 166 N. Main St. [ZIP 28115]

FR 2/18 * CHARLOTTE NC - Concert at Kilgo UMC, 7pm
In the heart of Plaza Midwood, 2101 Belvedere Ave. [ZIP 28205]

SA 2/19 * NEW BERN NC - Concert at U.U. Fellowship, 7pm
308 Meadows Street [ZIP 28560]

SU 2/20 * NEW BERN NC - "Tilling Our Common Ground" Music Service, 10:30am
All are welcome. At the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of New Bern, 308 Meadows Street [ZIP 28560] 

SA 2/26 * HAGERSTOWN MD - Summit Avenue Coffee House, 7pm
Split bill with Beyond Borders bandmate Lisa Taylor. At Emmanuel United Methodist Church, 802 Summit Ave. [ZIP 21740]

ON THE HORIZON:
SA 3/12 * KINGWOOD WV - Laurel Mountain Coffeehouse, 8pm
SU 3/13 * PITTSBURGH PA - Special Music Services, 9 and 11:15am
SA 3/19 * PURCELLVILLE VA - Franklin Park Arts Center (with Beyond Borders), 8pm
FR 3/25 * EWING NJ - Benefit Concert to fight Huntington's Disease, 7:30pm

Ways to Help? Host a concert or a "Songs in the Parlor" night, recommend a venue, talk a local organization into hosting a show - any and all of it would be a huge help and greatly appreciated. Please drop us a line.

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2. COFFEE MUGS AND CAR MAGNETS
The coffee mugs are in: $8 for 1, $25 for a set of 4 (plus shipping). Get a 4x6 inch oval car magnet for $3 or front & back bumpers for $5. High-fidelity song downloads are $1, CD downloads are $9, and the CD plus the immediate download is just $14. Pictures and unlimited free listening as well as direct-from-us online ordering is at http://andrewmcknight.net/buy. If buy you do, then our sincere thanks to you, as it all helps keep the music going and growing.

But there are always free goodies there for the taking too - CD-quality songs at http://andrewmcknight.net/downloads, including a live performance of "Dancing in the Rain", the CD-version of "Times We're Living In", and the full version of "Made by Hand" including Chance McCoy's fiddle tag not heard on the Still Moving Mountains CD. We're happy to share - it's our humble thank you for letting us stay in touch.

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3. NEWS: MOTHER EARTH NEWS ON USA RADIO, WAMMIE NOMINATION, BYE-BYE iPHONE APP
More details at website - headlines are on the home page left.

• Andrew's music has been filling the airwaves these past few weeks on the Mother Earth News Radio, broadcast nationwide on the USA Radio Network. Host Andrea Ridout caught up with Andrew backstage at his recent concert in Dallas for an interview that aired on the Jan. 26th show.
• Andrew has again been nominated for Best Male Vocalist in the Contemporary folk category of the Washington Area Music Awards.
• iLike is pulling the plug on all of their artist iPhone apps starting March 1st. Since it seems that mobile users are not shy about web browsing, and designing new apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc would get expensive, we'll probably focus our efforts on the next big project, which is....

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4. WEBSITE REDESIGN - YOUR INPUT WELCOME
While the production continues full throttle on the Andrew McKnight & Beyond Borders live CD and DVD, we are getting a lot of things ready. Thanks to Laura Solomon at Design for the Little Guy, Andrew's website is going to get a welcome overhaul behind the scenes as well as a facelift. We've got a long wishlist of things that we are hoping to incorporate, improve and/or simplify, but we'd love to know about your experiences with the website. What would you like to see more of? Have you visited the website on an iPhone, iPad or other mobile device and had a good or bad experience? Would you like to download a concert date into your calendar manager? Please feel free to share your feedback.

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5. "WIND WHISPERS" CHORAL MUSIC
Thanks to Andrew's good friend, occasional touring partner and conservatory-schooled musician Sean Kelly, we will soon make available "Wind Whispers Your Name" as free downloadable sheet music for small choral ensembles. This version is in the original key (Eb) and for three vocal parts, as originally recorded. If you haven't heard this moving a cappella elegy for a fallen soldier from Something Worth Standing For, you can hear it at http://andrewmcknight.bandcamp.com/track/wind-whispers-your-name

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SONG FOR THE MONTH
"Alchemy" from Beyond Borders; a love song written by one choosing to overlook the facts and foundations of modern chemistry.
http://andrewmcknight.bandcamp.com/track/alchemy
You can listen to the whole song, read lyrics, and share with friends via Facebook, email, blog and more.

Bandcamp.com is our preferred site for selling Andrew's CDs and downloads - they take a minimal percentage, it's easy to use, offers the best audio quality downloads, and allows us to personally ship your CDs.

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ANDREW'S ESSAY: "End of an Odyssey"
Hard goodbyes, turning pages, and faith in the soul of a machine.

"It's over. Not the Super Bowl. Not the winter of our great discontent, which seems to have socked much of the south and east with the fury it unleashed on us in the mid-Atlantic states last winter. It is the end of a long and beautiful relationship that is on my mind.

I've signed the papers. Essentially said my goodbyes. My faithful Honda Odyssey, all 249,000 miles of road work behind it, is retiring. Most people who drive as much as I do will tell you that their relationship with a vehicle runs deep. One gets to trusting (or not) this mechanical steed probably in a similar way that a person might bond with his horse 150 years ago. For me, that bond runs through the heart.. . ."

[Read the rest at http://andrewmcknight.net/end-odyssey-feb-2011]

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