Fl!p on Vimeo

The Firehouse Performing Arts Studio gave me a huge birthday present! They professionally video recorded and edited my concert. Zeke and I went down and played in their lovely auditorium while they ran 4 cameras, plus lights and separate sound with it’s own dedicated technician. The quality is lovely!

With performances shut down for the pandemic, they have been working to reinvent themselves as a support for all kinds of artists to record performances for high quality streaming.

I’d love for you to take a look, and maybe even share with friends. Just click on the link below and scroll down from there.

Love/Fl!p

FireHouse Studio

 

Fl!p’s 70th Birthday Concert


Thursday August 27, 2020 7:00 – 8:30 PM PST

I will be playing an online concert tonight in celebration of having survived 70 years on this sweet and astonishing planet.  Here’s the link. Click  on it and then scroll down till you see me, at 7 PM. The link won’t be live till then.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/298533994557015/

Fairhaven College Music Festival Streaming Series –
On the date and time of the the show please come to the page below to watch the Artists performance. Thank You Don Schluter, Fairhaven College Alumni/Music Festival Coordinator.

I was invited by Fairhaven College to play an online concert in lieu of the alumni homecoming celebration that usually happens this time of year. And it wound up to be easy to have it on my birthday!

I earned my self-designed bachelor’s degree in Listening As A Tool For Social Change, between 1971 and 1990. It took a while! But I’ve actually used what I learned in my life, daily.

I have received such amazing support for this event that my heart is broken wide open. First the invitation to play, and then our local community radio station asked if they could both run it on air and on their website. And then the Firehouse Arts and Events Center offered their professional videography as a birthday gift! They have shifted to offering excellent quality recording services to musicians, storytellers, poets, dancers and theatre folks. Zeke and I will pack up and actually go into a building besides our own home for the second time since March 11. The Firehouse team will both record and edit.

I invited friends on Facebook to request songs (can’t promise to play them all, sorry!) and am interviewing a few of those friends on Zoom so they can introduce their choice. (It’s not too late to contact me with a request.) We’re going to try to splice the little introductions into the concert. Fingers crossed!

So far, we have a mix of songs and instrumentals planned. There will be some songs I’ve written, some instrumentals, plus songs & tunes by Peter & Lou Berryman, Libba Cotten, Catherine Madson, Dorothy Attneave, and of course Zeke Hoskin. Zeke wrote a really beautiful new song about rainbows, with a physicist’s eye and a romantic’s heart.

If you’re planning to attend, I would love to hear from you, especially if you can let me know by Monday, when we are actually taping. That way I can hold your face in my mind and sing to you as I record.

Love/Fl!p

Lullabies For Activists

A couple friends and I played and sang lullabies last week to help young activists rest. A new setting for a most ancient human activity. We enjoyed it enough we plan to do more. If you’d like to come to one, RSVP and I’ll add you to my contact list so you hear about them. This is not a jam, and not a concert either. A small group of professional musicians who are particularly skilled at lullabies will do our best to actually help you fall asleep for an hour or so. Bring a sleeping bag, pillow and mat. Activists could use a bit of reassuring rest!

I have always loved lullabies. Here are a few with me playing that have been recorded over the years:

Flatworld
With long-time Puget Sound Guitar Workshop collaborators Richard Scholtz on autoharp, Janet Peterson on cello, and Laura Smith on banjo. I love the way the four of us have figured out how to slow time down with and for each other. Banjo is not often thought of as a lullaby instrument, but in Laura’s hands, it can do anything. Written by Andy Cutting, an accordion player from England.  Andy plays it very fast, but I have taken liberties.

Sweet And Low
A cradle song written by Alfred Lord Tennyson in the 1860s and set to music by Joseph Barnaby. My mom used to sing us to sleep with it. My brother introduced me to Aimee Ringle the night before. In course of staying up all night playing music, we discovered that both our moms sang it. So in the morning we went over and sang it to my mom, Maryann Breskin, who joined in a bit. My brother Joe Breskin recorded us.

Burning Of The Piper’s Hut
With my friend Richard Scholtz, who also played on FlatWorld. He and I have been playing together for almost half a century. Traditional Scottish pipe tune. No video. Just sound.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
This last was recorded by an audience member with a cell phone. Mostly what you hear is the audience singing. This was not a children’s concert. I loved how people found their own early memories of these songs. My husband Zeke Hoskin joined in on his mandolin from the front row towards the end.

 

Zeke Birthday Concert

Monday November 25th, 8:00 PM

Greene’s Corner, 2208 James Street, (south of Trader Joe’s).

Zeke & Fl!p will be celebrating Zeke’s 73rd birthday at Irish & Folk Mondays. Here’s a rare chance to hear Zeke’s quirky satiric songs and cheerful mandolin tunes at a local venue. Zeke can be funny even when he’s playing instrumentals! He’ll also have at least his alto horn, and who knows? Maybe more. Fl!p will accompany him and egg him on. She might even sing a few. If you’ve got requests you would particularly like to hear, contact us in advance so we can dig through the archives.

(Photo by Carol Baker)

Lopez Island Concert

7pm Thursday Oct 10, Center Church on Lopez Island

Suggested $20 donation

Reserve [email protected]  301 257-3081 or 301 257-2981

Old favorites, hand-made songs, old songs given new meanings by a changing world. Fancy mandolin and sweet guitar instrumentals. Alto clarinet leads on Swing, blues, and the occasional outrageous song parody. Hold your breath as Zeke creates new verses on the spot, in real time, based on audience suggestions. Zeke tap dances one-legged on a metaphorical musical high wire while Fl!p is deeply grounded in her music, enfolding listening hearts in calm compassion.

The concert will feature appearances by the Celebrated Twangoleum (pictured above when it was new in the late 1890s). Yes, it’s as odd as it looks, but sounds awfully sweet. You might even get to try playing it…

Sing along with your neighbors, under the protection of Fl!p, an experienced complaint department for shy singers. Back in the 1960s, no one ever had to audition to sing along with We Shall Overcome. It’s time to bring those days back!