Writings, Essays, Lyrics, Musings, Commentary . . .
Article #12: News To Share
Fall, 2001 - by Gaye Adegbalola
FRANCE
I have performed at many festivals. And I have often performed solo. BUT. . . I had never performed solo while at a major festival until this past July. It was at the Cognac Blues Passions Festival -- France's largest blues festival in Cognac, France. In many ways, this was a grand success!! Voulez-vous aller avec moi a scene du fest??? Just click on the gallery page below for revealing photos. C'est tres bon!
NEW SAFFIRE CD
For sure we "AIN'T GONNA HUSH!" Saffire's new CD takes its title from a song covered here. In the 50's, Big Joe Turner's greatest hit was called "Honey Hush." In that song, he tells his woman to shut up. There was an "answer" song by Cordella de Milo and. . . that's the song we covered. It is so appropriate because that's what uppity women do. . . never shut up! Aside from the typical Saffire fare, the listener will find an unusual feature: this CD contains many love songs. Also, one of the songs, Blues for Sharon Bottoms was written up in Article # 9 -- a topical folk blues about a lesbian who loses custody of her child to her mother.
CHARTED IN BILLBOARD
Week before last, the aforementioned "Ain't Gonna Hush!" charted at #15 on Billboard's Blues charts. We would like to keep the momentum going. Charting means more publicity. More publicity usually translates into more sales. So, if you plan to buy this CD for yourself or if you plan to buy this CD for holiday gifts, we urge you to do so now. Every sale at a soundscan site will be a help. If you can't get to a record store, purchases through the Saffire site will also register. The Saffire site is Saffire, the Uppity Blues Women.
LADY SIX STRING
UPDATE: This web site is no longer functioning.
There's a wonderful website called Lady Six String and, in case you haven't guessed from the title, it only contains info on women guitar players -- classical to folk to blues -- every genre is covered. Yours truly is proud to be featured there. I was also asked to write a brief article encouraging other women to play. This is found at Gaye Adegbalola @ Lady Six String.
Access to the site in general can be found at Lady Six String.
Here you can find info about all the lady players including such big names as Bonnie Raitt, Wynonna Judd, Joan Armatrading, Dolly Parton, Ani
di Franco, Sinead O'Connor, and Courtney Love, and little names such as myself.
A GOOD IDEA
Oh yeah, we all get lots of spam (unsolicited garbage email), but every so often, we get a winner. . . something too good not to pass along.
Well. . . here goes:
When you get those pre-approved letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and junk like that, most of them come with postage paid return envelopes, right? Well, why not send that junk mail right back to the sender? Just make sure your name isn't on anything you send back to them. Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting all their crap back in the mail. Let's let them know what it's like to get junk mail, and best of all...THEY'RE paying for it! Twice! Let's help keep our postal service busy since they say e-mail is cutting into their business, and that's why they need to increase postage again! Send this to a friend or two or three...or fifty....
SAVE MONEY NOW
Pretty soon, it will be illegal to use a cell phone while driving unless you have a "hands free" adapter. Circuit City wants $50 for a headset with a boom microphone for the cell phone. There are now new kits available for $1. They work on Erickson, Motorola, Nokia and most phones. Please forward to anyone who might need one.
