Feb. 2012

ANDREW McKNIGHT E-ZINE
What's old is new again. While we sort of enjoyed the experiment with a new format last month, the software came up short for us. We're always looking for ways to make this better, but it really should be a clear improvement so we're still looking:). Meanwhile, my Beyond Borders bandmates and I are joining forces with some good friends to do some good for creative teens this month. And I've got two requests of you this month - help me be like Mitt(!), and please above all other things, fill your ears and your heart with good music. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy all the serious and the tongue in cheek news below.

Concert details, latest news, much more at http://andrewmcknight.net
1. Upcoming Shows
2. I Wanna Be Like Mitt! (well, sort of)
3. Raise Your Voice for the Village
In My Ears: Bill Morrissey The Essential Collection
Essay: "As the Past Slips into Mist"

Help a little or a lot by sharing a song or CD from the website 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.
Fri. Jan 27 * Marshall NC - BridgeBack Movement Studios, 7pm
36 Bridge St. [ZIP 28753]

Sat. Jan 28 * Elizabethton TN - Not One More Mountain Concert, 7pm
With Dana & Susan Robinson, at First Presbyterian Church, 119 West F Street [ZIP 37643]

Sun. Jan 29 * Elizabethton TN - First Presbyterian Church, 11am
As Special Guest Musician, 119 West F Street [ZIP 37643]

Fri. Feb 3 * Martinsburg WV - First Friday Coffeehouse, 7:30pm
Trinity Church Orchard House, 4599 Shepherdstown Rd. [ZIP 25404]

Sat. Feb 4 * Columbia MD - Calvary Community Church, 7:30pm (with Beyond Borders)
Concert for the Impact Society with Tony Denikos Band w/ Jen Smith, 9180 Rumsey Rd #D1 [ZIP 21045]

Sun. Feb 19 * Leesburg VA - Oatlands Plantation, 3pm
20850 Oatlands Plantation Ln. [ZIP 20175]

Fri. Feb 24 * Broadway VA - Plan B, 7:30pm
202 N. Main Street [ZIP 22815]

Sun. Feb 26 * Frederick MD - Sunday Songwriters Songfest, 4pm
Frederick Coffee Company, 100 N. East Street [ZIP 21701]

Sat. Mar 3 * Woodford VA - House Concert, 6:30pm
Hosted by the Neustatters, 15 minutes from Fredericksburg - RSVP  pneustatter@aol.com

Sun. Mar 4 * Fredericksburg VA - Special Music Service, 10am
U.U. Fellowship of Fredericksburg, 5044 Plank Road [ZIP 22407]

ON THE HORIZON
MARCH - western MD, Philly area
APRIL - SC, CT, MA, NY, RI
MAY - NC and southeast

We keep the full confirmed tour calendar details up to date on the website. Do you see an open date when Andrew is within a reasonable drive of your area?

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2. I WANNA BE LIKE MITT!
I'm sure we're all sort of trying to imagine what a day in Mitt Romney's life would be like. (If you missed it, his annual income works out to about $50,000 a day, give or take a few.) I'm not one to begrudge anyone's success, and I suppose we should have a national conversation about how good the tax rules in question are, but I quickly got to thinking about a different perspective. If I had just one "Mitt day" a year, I would pay my bills for the year and maybe even leave a little something for Madeleine's college aspirations and/or my sorely-unfunded retirement account!

So I got a crazy idea - what if over the course of, say a week, I DID have one "Mitt day"? Not sitting back and watching the money roll in like magic, but instead over those seven days booking enough concerts, library programs, school and enrichment workshops, church services, and who-knows-what-else over the next 12 months to add up to $50,000 for doing what I love to do.

So here it is - I welcome any and all help putting that together, pretty much anywhere in the country is fair game, as long as we can "connect the dots" to make it feasible. Next week, from Feb. 1 - 8, if you'd like to help me meet that goal by helping me connect with a concert, school or library in your neighborhood, email us at booking@andrewmcknight.net and let's see what we can do.

To explore our current offerings, check out http://www.andrewmcknight.net/programs. If you seek something in particular, email us with your idea and let's see what we can put together. At the least, it will be a fun way to try to fill my schedule and maybe even free up some time to finish these dozen or more new songs that have been percolating. So thanks for helping me get my mitts on a little of that! (But I'll pass on all the staff, 5 houses, limos and all that thanks - I couldn't begin to keep track of that!)

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3. RAISE YOUR VOICE FOR THE VILLAGE
For the last few years, my friend Mary Sue Twohy has programmed channel 15 "The Village" first on XM Satellite Radio, then after the merger on XM/Sirius, where it became the only fulltime "folk" channel on satellite. Like hundreds of artists, I have earned many hundreds of dollars in royalties from airplay on The Village, and have been heard by many thousands of listeners who might not have otherwise ever heard my my music. XM/Sirius' decision to remove it two weeks ago was sudden, and seemingly arbitrary.

You could lend your voice, and help a LOT of recording artists and songwriters, simply by growing this petition as quickly as possible, at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/restore-a-dedicated-folk-music-program.html It'll take about 20 seconds, and I will be among the many who are mighty grateful. Even if you are not a subscriber but simply like my music, or folk, or Americana music, your voice could help. A few thousand people might just have enough buying power to help reverse this decision.

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"IN MY EARS"
One of my first influences in my current life as a singer/songwriter came over 20 years ago with my first introduction to the finely crafted musical mini-novels of Bill Morrissey. His intimate portraits of whiskey-soaked mill workers scrambling to keep their lives from disintegrating in particular fascinated me, but I also loved the influence in his later works of the legendary Mississippi John Hurt. A New Hampshire native, a highly regarded author, and blessed with a dry wit and thirsty soul, Morrissey passed away unexpectedly last year. I realized in the aftermath that all of my copies of his music were on cassette, so I got The Essential Collection, chock full of Morrissey gems. His elegant "Birches" is probably best known and loved by his fans, but I always found his "Robert Johnson" haunting, and have hit Repeat listening to "Barstow" and "Handsome Molly" many times. Certainly for fans of Tom Waits and perhaps Leonard Cohen too; Morrissey's signature baritone is warm and rough like a familiar gravel road, and it grows on you.
Preview at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Collection-Dig-Bill-Morrissey/dp/B00022XDQE

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ANDREW'S ESSAY: "As the Past Slips into Mist"
Reflections on the dreams of Martin Luther King, and connections with our past.

"Behind my house is a historic and still active African-American Baptist church. I've noticed two times when the church is busy - Sunday mornings and funerals. When I sit on my porch, I often wave to the folks driving up our dirt lane to go there. And I rarely see anyone younger than my parents in the cars passing slowly by.

On the recent Martin Luther King Day holiday, I happened to look out my kitchen window and notice a well-dressed group of people standing in the cemetery, bidding farewell to another of their community. And I realized that I am witness to the passing of a generation right in my back yard. . ."

[Read the rest at http://andrewmcknight.net/essays]

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