|
|
|
|
Pray for peace
Love unconditionally...
|
|
|
|
|
Here's the latest and the not so latest too!
|
|
Have I got a deal for you!
I read this morning that we are entering into the second highest gift giving time of the year. Along with the usual birthdays and anniversaries, May and June bring Mother's Day, Father's Day, and plenty of weddings, baby showers, and graduations. With this in mind, I'd like to offer a special deal on my CDs through the month of May. This will give you an opportunity to replenish your supply of CDs and take care of an abundance of gift giving. It can even save on gas! No need to drive to a store. The CDs will be delivered right to your door, or the door of your loved ones, your choice.
So here's the deal, from now through the month of May, with every CD purchase I will give you a 20% rebate, refunded directly through paypal (unless you plan to send a check, in which case, deduct the amount of the rebate before you write your check.) The rebate will be a percentage of the total cost of the CDs BEFORE adding postage (We can't include postage in this deal. We cut that pretty close already and the Post Office will be raising their rates again in May.) The more you buy, the more you save! As a matter of fact, for orders over $100, I'll give you a 25% rebate. This offer is ONLY GOOD THROUGH THE MONTH OF MAY. Come June first, it's back to business as usual. If you have any questions, just drop us an email. (If you just can't wait to take advantage of this amazing offer, click here! ;-))
I've had some wonderful gigs lately. Earlier this month I had 600 pre-school through 1st graders at the YMCA in Warren, PA. This was one amazing group of kids! I was so impressed with their long attention span. We had so much fun! Later that night I performed a special concert for their caregivers. After meeting these folks I can easily understand why the kids were exceptional.
The first of the month, I performed at the Blue Ridge Performing Arts Center. It's a sweet, intimate venue in downtown Hendersonville, NC. I believe they're on their way to greatness. If you're in the area, don't pass up the opportunity to experience a concert where every seat is truly the best seat in the house.
About the Kanuga Watercolor Workshop... It was wonderful, inspiring, challenging, amazing, and all things good! I wrote about my experience in a couple of blogs. (Check them out at myspace.) You can also see some of my paintings here. Since I am now offering my artwork for sale, let me know if there is one you're interested in. (Some are already sold or spoken for.) Another thing still on my 'to do' list is to update that page (and the BBHpaints website!) with the paintings (old and new!) that are available and their prices.
The redbuds and dogwoods are having their say, the hostas are bursting forth, and the hummingbirds have returned! I'm loving it. There was one glorious bright yellow tulip that sprouted in a place I don't recall having planted anything. Christo brought it to me in my studio and I painted it. Daily, as it opened and closed, I found it lovely at every stage. Honestly, my favorite was after the "prime" of it's bloom time, when the petals had started to wither. It was so much more interesting to look at and actually more beautiful to paint at this stage. I hope that's a metaphor for my life! Sounds good to me.
Please check my tour schedule to see where I'll be performing in the months ahead. As always, I hope I'm coming to a town near you. If not, let me know of a venue in your area and we'll see what we can do to book it!
I wish you joy,
All the best,
News of the recent past....
The Arts in Education benefit concert in February was a wonderful success! Mark Mehaffey, my painting guru, has a scholarship fund designed to assist students who wish to further their art education. Mark and I joined with the Lansing Art Gallery and the Performing Arts Department at Lansing Community College to present a benefit concert at Dart Auditorium in Lansing. Josh White Jr. (my music guru) showed up with Cliff Gracey and Jack Hamilton, all gifted musician friends. I lured them up on stage and the four of us sang a couple songs together. It was very unrehearsed and a lot of fun. I think we show great potential! (grin)
The Lansing Art Gallery displayed some of my paintings throughout the week and held an afterglow reception following the concert. It too was a delightful success. We gave away a couple hundred of my Portrait CDs to the good folks who attended the afterglow. (All the paintings I had on display at the gallery were portraits! "Heads" are what I most love to paint!)
To all of you who participated in this event, thank you so much!!! Hopefully, this will be the first of many. Considering all the cuts made in our public schools, (art and music are the first to go!), this is a very worthy cause that needs our complete and continued support.
Although we long to return to Thailand, this year we changed our schedule a bit to participate in a humanitarian trip to Central America. We travelled to Nicaragua with about 18 folks organized by Gene Cotton to rehab a school in Managua. Since we've returned home from this life changing experience, our host family there, Corina, Fernando, and 4 year old Mateo, have called us every week, sometimes several times, to keep in touch and say hello. Mateo has decided to learn to speak English so he can talk with us. Last night they called so Mateo could show us what he is learning. He can now count to ten, "One...Two...Three...Four...", and the last thing he said was "I loaf you foravar! One... two... three... ADIOS!!!" He fills my heart to overflowing. There are a few blogs about our adventure posted at myspace, along with assorted photo albums of the experience. (Those of you who have not yet signed up for myspace, what are you waiting for?!)
Ancient History... (Read on, if this is your first time here or you haven't been here in a very long while....)
Thanks to the generosity of our family, friends, and fans who bought CDs, Holiday Cards, and simply donated their hard earned money, we were in Thailand, for the month of January, participating in The Give-Live-Ride Thailand Charity Motorcycle Ride 2007. We were also there to work on the latest construction project, completing a dormitory, at the Children's Garden orphanage following the ride. If you'd like to read a little about our adventure, check out my blog at myspace.com. I've uploaded a few photos there also and promise more as the days progress. You can also still see our pics from our 2005 trip (below and in the archives). I will say, the children have grown since then and there have been some wonderful improvements at the orphanage.
Thailand is a beautiful country, the scenery and the people. There's a reason it's known as "The Land Of Smiles". We've only been home for a couple of days and yet we miss being with our friends in Chiangmai, playing with Abu at Children's Garden, going to the market to buy pomelo and mangosteen, the brilliant sunsets that reflect in the freshly planted rice fields, the glittering Buddhas, the monks in their saffron robes, the water buffalo, the elephants!! We're already planning our return.
Please tell your friends, if they're thankful for the blessings and abundance in their lives, and are looking for a way to "give back", we can offer them a wonderful way to give and live throughout the year! There are a couple ways you can help us raise additional funds to help the wonderful kids at Children's Garden!
An autographed BBH CD makes a lovely gift! We also have the perfect CDs for brand new babies and their siblings. I have different "package deals" available to save you on cost. If you want a large quantity of one particular CD, contact me by email and we'll work out a discount for you. Be sure to tell me if you do want the CDs autographed and for whom.
Another way to help is to simply make a tax deductible donation. The money will go directly to the cause and not be devoured by administrative costs.
So my friends, I humbly invite you to assist in our endeavor to raise funds for our efforts in Thailand by donation, and/or by purchasing BBH CDs for your family, friends, neighbors, business associates, cohorts, and anyone else you can think of. Share the gift of music, art, life, and love all year long. Celebrate giving and living!
There is so much need in the world and we all have our special causes. You won't see kids from the Children's Garden orphanage on CNN, but their needs are many, and a little goes a long way over there. Thanks again to all of you who have already given so much for this cause of ours.
I wish you all joy and happiness. Take care of each other and of strangers that cross your life path. If you know someone's story, you will love them.
Peace...
In 2005, we participated in a series of Give and Live Benefit concerts with Scott Jones. The concerts raised some much needed funding for food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and school supplies for orphans in rural Thailand. Scott created Give and Live, the non-profit organization that drew us to Thailand in the first place. As many of you already know, that experience changed our lives.
While in Thailand, we visited the schools of some of these kids, many of whom have been orphaned by AIDS. Their needs are great, and every little bit we give goes a very long way over there. If you were unable to attend one of the benefits, donations are still gratefully accepted and ALL the money will go to help the kids. Go to the Give and Live website, GiveandLive.org, and you will find the information to help you make your donation. Be sure to check out some of the pics of our trip farther down this page and on the photo archive page. (There are photos of the children there too.)
There is enough to go around in this wide world and we are all in this together. No one can do it all, but we all must do what we can. Thank you for keeping your heart open to the possibility of continuing to provide assistance to our global family, even those who are not included in the nightly news.
|
I received this wonderful picture of my old friend,
the Martin D-35 I sold to help finance our first trip to Thailand for the Give and Live benefit concert in Chiang Mai.
The caretaker, Grant Peyton is an awesome guitar player.
I'm happy to know my old girl is in good hands!
|
 |
|
My sweet Abu
|
We returned from The Land of Smiles enriched, inspired, and in awe. As we anticipated, it was a life changing experience and a breathtaking adventure. Here are a few photos. Click here for more. When we visited two of the schools, Children's Garden and a Hmong school at the top of Doi Sutep, we were greeted by smiling wonderful children and their caregivers.
These kids don't have much, but they welcomed us, included us in their games of tag and dodge ball, shared their dinner of rice and vegetables, and let us "help" them with their homework! (I think we were more of a distraction than a help!) We wanted to bring all of them home with us, especially one little girl whose name is "Oh".
|
Dinner at Children's Garden |
Chris & Abu |
|
Hmong students on Doi Sutep |
Thanks to the generosity of our friends, family, BBH fans, and Edgehill United Methodist Church, we were able to present Give & Live.org and FERC (Foundation for the Education of Rural Children) with a donation that totaled nearly 20 percent of what the benefit raised. The funds will go right to the children, most of whom have been orphaned by AIDS.
 |
While in Thailand, we rode a train for 14 hours from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and back again. We toured the north on a motorcycle, visiting a multitude of places including two of our favorites, Pai, and Mae Hong Son. We rode elephants, and saw magnificent mountains, hot springs, an endless array of exotic flora - orchids, papaya, mango, and banana trees, palms of every size and shape. We ate fruits and vegetables whose names I'm learning to pronounce, and slept in one room bungalows made of woven bamboo with thatched roofs.
We saw herds of goats and cows wandering free along the road, the tinkling bells around their necks making a joyful noise with each step. The ubiquitous roosters that crow ANY hour of the day or night. Dogs sleep in the middle of the road. Cats curl up on the rainbows of displayed wares in the many markets along the way.
|
There's so much more to tell. And then there are the 3,000 pictures we took! (I wish I could post them all! I will post more on the archive page soon.) Check out Scott's web site for some funny insight on this grand land. Sawatdee! enjoy....
|
|
PHOTO ARCHIVE
|
©2005 Dakota Records ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
|
|
|
|
