Nancy Louise Freeman: News

Fates willing, I will be making it to Consonance this year for the first time in a while... it's been too long since I've been out in the Bay area and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again!

I've decided to extend the sale on my CDs at CDBaby, and also Stardust County Swag at Club Fandango on Cafepress.  Check out the lower prices!  (As always I encourage everyone to patronize their local filk dealer, and if you don't see my albums on their table - ask!  They won't order from me unless they know there's demand!)

 Finally, I'm going to be shuttering NanSongs by the end of the year.  Building my own song lyrics database from scratch seemed like a good idea at the time, but I've since discovered why people get paid good money to build & maintain these things.  Watch this space - I will be moving some stuff over here - in the meantime head on over to NanSongs if there's a song you desperately need the lyrics for!

FYI, if you're interested in performing at the Prescott Folk festival this year (Oct 2&3), applications are now available here.  Their forms are v. nice and IMO a big improvement over last year. 

The Flagstaff Folk Festival's schedule is now online for your perusing pleasure.  Looks like a great group of acts again!  I'm only sorry that I'll be missing out on the Mexican Beaded Lizard Band due to scheduling.  I'm scheduled for Sunday 11:40 on the "Pioneer Stage", which if I recall correctly from last year is the shed near the food stands that opens up into an outdoor stage.

Also, I'd like to draw your attention to the Northland Hospice Run for Life, happening Saturday morning the same weekend.  It benefits a worthy cause and is being billed as a "run/walk", so even if you're not an athlete you can take part, so please consider if you're coming up to Flagstaff for the festival and will be there early Saturday morning.  I'll be gasping my way through the 5K course.

A quick reminder that I'll be playing at the Glendale Folk Festival, battling the peacocks at Sahuaro Ranch Park this weekend. For those of you who remember the old Phoenix Folk Traditions festivals in Encanto Park, this is their spiritual successor. Come on by, it's just south of the Glendale Library, and what better way a spend a sunny Arizona spring weekend? I'll be playing the Fruit Packing Shed stage at 11:00 Sunday morning.

On a less-musical note, I'd like to invite you all to come see me make a fool of myself at my first "race", Pat's Run in Tempe on Saturday April 17th. As part of the event I'm raising funds for the Pat Tillman foundation here - no guarantees on finishing time, but I pledge that if I raise $500 and don't finish I will eat a bug.

I've added a new button to NanSongs - now you can list songs by topic!  For example, hit the "List by Topic" button and all my Star Trek songs will appear under that heading.  Nifty, eh?  Want to know whether I've written any songs based on books by H.G. Wells?  Select "List by Author of Topic".

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

FilkContinental was great fun - the warmth of the German filkers was just overwhelming!  I really enjoy these cozy little cons; you really get to meet people when you're not rushing from one event to the other.  Much music & I picked up some CDs not available yet on this side of the Pond.  Check out new photos in the Gallery!

And if you're into photography, and on Facebook, check out Craven Angel Photography, Joseph Formichella's pro site.  Joe did the photography for my second album, Logick.

Finally, a reminder that applications for the Glendale Folk Festival in March have to be in by December 15.  Scroll down to the "Folk & Heritage Festival" heading.  GFF took over from the defunct Phoenix Folk Traditions Festival last year.  (I'm not associated with either Festival, this is just a friendly reminder.) 

I had a blast at the first NADWC, and from the sound of it so did everyone else!  Discworld fans are the nicest people, and of course I enjoyed the hell out of seeing The Man himself.

Don't forget the Prescott Folk Festival, coming up in just 3 short weeks!  Pal Andy Hurlbut and I will be heading up the "Computer Geek Songs" circle at 10:00 Sunday in the Transportation Building.  (Not quite the title I suggested.)  We've been throwing around ideas and we have some fun stuff in the works.

Meanwhile, I've been hard at work over on NanSongs.  Amongst other things I've added some videos, and I've uploaded the lyrics for a bunch of songs.  Check it out!

Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal, was a blast! For those of you who asked, here is the link to the Heebie Jeebie's page - they're the a capella group who sang the Use the Force track used at the Found Filk concert.

Also, a new addition to my calendar - I've been asked to provide half-time entertainment for the Maskerade costume show at the first North American Discworld Convention. come see if I can remember the words to the Hedgehog Song!

Finally, a favor: if you need to contact me, please, please use the email address on the "Contacts" tab on this page, and not someone that we both know but who probably doesn't see me nearly as often as you think they do, and who has other things on their mind. You message will get to me faster and we'll both be happier!

Phase One of my summer project is now up and running; by popular request I am gathering all my song lyrics in one spot, http://NanSongs.com. This is definitely a work in progress, so check back often and let me know what you think!

Someone has been sending spam messages lately from faked stardustcounty.com addresses. This is no different from someone putting a phony return address on an envelope, and there's nothing I can do about it. I won't put you on any mailing list without your asking, and I certainly don't want to sell you Viagra.

Wow, AXXIdental was a trip and Nepal was a trip and a half! Now that I'm back in sunny Mesa for awhile, expect to see some changes on this site. First up - two fan videos added to the "Music" tab. Check them out - they're fun!

My big project this summer is getting a database of my song lyrics online. Check back here for progress reports....

Monday Night Melodies in Peoria was fun - a warm, appreciative audience that put up with all our goofing around! As always it was a good time having Forrest & Jennifer for backup.

Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year!

Hey, another update on the Glendale Folk Festival - if you want a scheduled set or to run a workshop, you need to fill out a performer's application, available online here. Unfortunately I was a little slow posting this and the deadline was Dec. 15, but it's possible you could email the organizers and still find a place to squeeze in. The Glendale Folk Festival is the successor to the old Phoenix Folk Festival in Encanto Park and this is the first year they've used online registration. I'm bowing out this year due to other committments (I'll be in Nepal), but I hope to hear from everyone who goes about the new digs!

The Phoenix Folk Traditions Festival is no more, but folk guru (& Stardust County narrator) Lon Austin has resurrected it as the Glendale Folk and Heritage Festival, the inagural event to be held next March 21 & 22, 2009 at the Sahuaro Ranch Park Historic Area in Glendale, AZ. Visit the Sahuaro Ranch website for more info as the date draws nearer: http://www.glendaleaz.com/SRPHA/

Hi all,

It was kind of a quiet spring on the folk scene; as you may have heard the Annual Phoenix Folk Traditions Festival came to an end after 19 years, due to Phoenix Parks and Rec’s new policy of no events in the parks. However, word has it organizer Lon Austin has been in touch with the city of Glendale, and it looks good for the festival to be re-born next spring with a new location and a new name.

I won’t be at the Flagstaff Folk Festival June 28-29 – this year I’m going to Pondfilk in beautiful Victoria, BC! Good music, good times, and I plan to get some alpine hiking in as well. If cool British Columbia is outside your budget this year, then I really encourage you to drive up to cool Flagstaff.

Pondfilk: http://pondfilk.mccorison.com/
Flagstaff Folk Festival: http://www.ffotm.net/folkfest/
Nominations for the Pegasus, the annual awards for excellence in filk music, have opened and will be open through the end of July. Unlike the Oscars, anyone can vote, and you can nominate songs from any year, not just the past one. You can visit the brainstorming page on the site for ideas, but again you can nominate anyone or anything. It's one big filky free-for all! Represent! The nominating ballot is located here: http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/2008nomballot.html
For my own part, I would like to submit my songs for your consideration:

Two Worlds
Dawson's Mitzvah (with Janice Tuerff)
Leather Pants of Evil
As always, you can keep up with my schedule on my home page http://stardustcounty.com, and view my natterings on my livejournal http://nimuejohn.livejournal.com
Cheers!

-Nan

Low-lifes are now targeting independant musicians with a variation on an old scam. Here's how it works:
1. Someone contacts you via email to play a major gig, generally a wedding.
2. They "accidentally" send you a check for a much larger amount than the agreed-upon deposit.
3. They tell you to send them the difference, usually via money order or wire, before their check clears*. OR, they say the event was cancelled and demand a full refund.
4. You send the refund, their check bounces, and they disappear.

People are getting stung bad by this scam, so seriously, keep your eyes open. If something arouses your suspicions, contact the venue where the event is supposed to take place and check up on it. Use a trusted directory service to get the venue's contact info; email can be forged and it's even easier to fake a web page.

*Some banks show checks as having cleared when they really haven't yet, so don't count on that.

Hi again, and a big shout out to everyone who's going to the Ohio Valley Filk Festival! After an absence of ten years I'm really looking forward to being at "the worldcon of filk" again.

For those staying in Phoenix, I'm appearing the following Saturday, Nov. 3, at Fiddler's Dream - check out my schedule page for details.

The photo gallery has been updated to display a bunch of photos from the Stardust County sessions that didn't make it onto Disk 2. I've also started a new section for photos from out-n-about.

ConNotations, the newletter of the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society, has published a terrific review of Stardust County. Click on "Musical Notes" in the "Featured Inside" box. (Requires Acrobat Reader.)

The AMAZ Store has recently updated their webpage so my first three albums are available in their on-line catalog. Check them out - they carry a bunch of great Arizona acoustic musicians.

It's official - Stardust County, the album, is now available on CD Baby - see the Products page for the link. I just approved digital distribution, so the songs should be winging their way to iTunes and other fine purveyors of mp3s soon.

...has posted its draft schedule here: http://www.ffotm.net/folkfest/sched2007.htm .
I'll be playing the Art Barn Saturday afternoon.

Pre-Orders for the Stardust County CD set will close this Friday, June 1. This is your last chance to receive the pre-order bonus track, Pat Connors' "Santa Clara Line"! This site will still be taking orders after the 1st, but they won't qualify for the bonus track.

Mixes are done.
Jacket & CD dseign are done.
Larry is hard at work on the material for the "enhanced" disk.
We should have everything shipped off to the duplicator by the end of the week... stay tuned!

Just added two new clips to the previews for Stardust County - click on the "Music" tab.

These may not be the final mixes, but they're very close.

We've finished the last of the recording with time to spare! Dave Clement recorded his vocals right after Consonance, and last weekend I flew out to Mystic Fig with Forrest & Jannifer Ashely to record her vocals and flute work. Jeff's mixing as you read this, Larry's hard at work on the interactive material for the enhanced CD, and me - I'm pulling together stuff for the liner notes and planning the premiere party! Well, first I'm going to collapse for a bit.

Check out the Calendar for new dates!