Newsletter 2
| The River
Rat Reading Project #2 Rats on fire! Wow. This issue is a little rushed, so I may have to ask that you excuse more than the usual number of spelling and grammatical errors, and it may be a little short on details, but it is due to the unusual amount of good news to report, and I wanted to get it out to you as quickly as possible. Not the least of this good news is the excitement surrounding the River Rat Rhythm Project steel drum band. They have caught fire! But there is more. So much is happening so fast, and it is a great time to be a Rat. But first… This issue’s salute goes to Kari Robertson. In addition to providing half of the original River Rat Rhythm Project steel drum band (her kids Tracy and Kayla have been pillars from the beginning) she has volunteered an enormous number of hours as unofficial “President” of the New York chapter of the Driftwood Dan Fan Club. She joins Wil Kenny, president of the Texas Chapter, and Debbie Hamil who was just (I mean JUST. Right here in this space.) named president of the Carolinas chapter (Someone should probably tell her and ask if she wants to be it.), as holder of that elite rank. Kari has been burning up the roads as a “taxi” driver, as well as her sewing machine and computer printer in support of various river rat activities. After my lovely wife, she has done more to provide moral and logistical support in these crazy days than anyone, so I am happy to devote this small space to letting her and her husband, Tracy Sr., know how much their time and effort is apprectiated. She recently paid me the highest possible compliment by saying that I was “definitely crazy”. Whew. What a relief to hear that! I had been afraid I was becoming altogether too “mature”. Thank you Kari and Tracy for all of your help. The River Rat Rhythm Project has caught the attention and imagination of Northern New York, and is well on their way to capturing its heart as well. We are fresh off two highly successful performances in Watertown and Clayton, and looking forward to the upcoming Dairyland Festival parade. This event is always well-attended, and will be a very large-scale introduction to the Watertown audience. The Clayton performance resulted in a great deal of interest in the upcoming summer program in Clayton. Every single time we play, we get new inquiries regarding how to join the band and how to secure our services for someone’s event. The current River Rat Rhythm Project summer performance schedule includes the following. Other dates are in the pipeline, so stay tuned! Upcoming performances include: June 3 Dairyland Festival Parade, Watertown, NY July 3 Clayton Opera House, Clayton NY July 9 French Festival Parade, Cape Vincent, NY July 16 Norwood Jazz Festival, Norwood, NY July 21 Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, Wellesley Island, NY July 24 Clayton Parade, Clayton, NY July 25 Antique Boat Museum, Clayton NY And here is some good news: TONY’S BACK! Long time fans will remember Tropical Jello, and later, Island Dan and the Beach Bum Band. The world’s best guitar player, Tony Soluri, was the key player in both of those groups, having been willing to put up with me from the very beginning of my pan playing career. Tony has agreed to play with me on select dates this summer, and I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting this is for me. He is a first rate musician and it is like going back home to be playing with the guy who is at the center of so many of my happiest musical memories. Tony is the heart and soul of much of the music I have made since 1992. Even when we were not together his spirit and influence have been felt every time I played. We will be performing together on Sunday, July 3rd at the Clayton Opera House, and other dates to be announced. Other collaborative partners this year will include percussionist Nicole Bartholomew and marimbist Ed Gudlawski. The exact details of all of these musical partnerships have yet to be worked out, but all the people involved are excited about the opportunity to play together. You should not get the impression, however, that the Barefoot Band is out of commission. Quite the contrary. Our particular brand of island-influenced music continues to find a receptive audience, and there is just the right amount of work for this group to stay in touch, stay sharp, and stay happy with the music we make, all while balancing busy “extra-barefoot” schedules. (Hmmmm. Would that be the “shoe-wearing” schedule? The “shod” schedule? I guess the “Barefoot” schedule sounds more like something I would like to concentrate on.) The month of May found us all busy with a variety of personal projects, but June and July hold opportunities for you to come kick back with us in our palm frond hut. June 17 Private Function June 24 MacLean Wedding, Alexandria Bay, NY July 21 Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, Wellesley Island, NY July 23 Bonnie Castle Resort, Alexandria Bay, NY July 25 Antique Boat Museum, Clayton NY The Kingston Grenadiers are ramping up for a full competitive season. The excitement grows at every rehearsal, the music is great, and people are ready to rock. There are four rehearsals left for us before competition begins, and the pace of work is furious. Rehearsals typically reach 11 hours in length, and they are jam-packed hours filled with activity. The atmosphere is filled with optimism, though, and the occasional exhausted grumbling is placated with a night’s sleep, and everyone shows up the next morning to voluntarily subject themselves to the whole ordeal again. The difficult process of “weeding-out” has also begun, and several of my original group have decided that the intensity is a little much, and so have opted out. I am very glad to have spent this time with all of them, and especially glad that they came to look and see and try it on for size. They are making informed decisions which I respect and I certainly wish them all the best. Those that are sticking it out continue to grow in confidence and pride,and they will have an amazing product to present on the competitive field this summer. For more information about this activity, check out www.dcacorps.org, and www.dci.org. For the musicians in the River Rat family, maybe there is a corps near you, and they are probably looking for people. In my own family, Jonathan recently received and “Outstanding” rating in a solo festival. He is one of two students from his school to receive that rating at the level he played. He is getting to be a regular chop-meister, and learned that solo not only on xylophone, but also on tenor pan, in addition to all the demanding mallet percussion parts he has learned for the Grenadiers, and all since about January. It is especially nice to have the opportunity to play with both him and Tammy, as her involvement with the Grenadiers has led her to discover an interest and ability in music that she didn’t know she had. She originally signed on as a way to keep track of Jonathan and me during the summer, but practices all the time, and has found a previously undiscovered interest in mallet percussion. It is fun to watch her grow in confidence and ability, and I’m looking forward to those marimba/pan duets! If drum corps is good for nothing else, it turned one mfmffm-year-old woman on to music (and initiated a little self-discovery in the process), and that is reason enough to support it, in my eyes. The world would be a better place if more adults could have this same opportunity and experience. As for me I recently received a cool honor, being named “Teacher of the Year” by our local Wal-Mart. (It should probably be explained that I am a public school teacher in my shoes and long pants job.) Now, we could spend a great deal of time and energy discussing what I see as the irony in the situation (Wal-Mart “giving back” to the community, recognizing excellence in education, etc…) but it would be boring, and you’d get mad at me, so I’ll save it. Suffice it to say, they are doing a positive thing (mffmffm…) with their teacher of the year program, and I am pleased that they might see me as an example of “excellence”. It is cool though, because the nominations did come from several students, who took the time outside of school to write about what I do, and being honored by a rural Wal-Mart means I am the only one in quite a large geographical area that includes many schools. The only reason I bring it up is because it has given me reason to reflect on my whole educational philosophy and I have realized that so much of what I think of as important in education, or at least most of the important work I can do as an educator, is covered in these little notes. The steel drum band that brings together kids from different backgrounds and school systems, the students who spend weekend nights at my house so that they can participate in the high-quality experience that the Grenadiers offer, all who hear and enjoy and learn about music that is new to them through various performances and workshops; they all more closely resemble what I hope to accomplish as an educator than what I can do in a classroom surrounded by computers. So while this newsletter was and is intended to be largely and update for those who are interested in the performances and music of the River Rat Rhythm Project family of artists, it is also a catalog of educational activities. I also realized that if I am passionate about teaching, it is because I am first and foremost passionate about learning. When I lose patience, it is mostly with those who lack curiosity, because that is the most difficult personality for me to understand and relate to. I am sort of a professional amateur, a perpetual beginner who is always in a little too deep, and flailing a bit for some kind of traction. I don’t know if I accomplish much, and I don’t expect to really be great at any one particular thing, but if I’m lucky, I’ll learn a little bit along the way. And not least of all, I will learn from those who think they are learning from me. Thanks to all those who have the patience to teach me. Later, all. Keep learning. Dan If you'd rather not hear anymore about this, then simply reply with a (kindly worded) request to be removed from this list, and off you go. Or if you'd rather it be sent to a different address, the staff here at River Rat Central will gladly accommodate. Contact me at dhammond@carthagecsd.org |
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