So far, our summertime fun has included lots of travel, music, friends, biking, photos, books and recording. We’ve spent some musical time with musical heroes and friends including Peggy Seeger, Mike Seeger, Bill Harley and Ysaye Barnwell. We went to France to hear the Django Reinhardt music festival live and in person. We took hula hoops over to Riderwood Senior Center and watched the fun of childhood return to some folks in their 70’s-90’s.  At the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival, we played music with folks as young as 5 and as old as our great-grandparents!

Enough about us, what about you? What’s your summertime fun been? Send us a photo, or short paragraph to talk about your favorite summer event or activity-we’ll publish a few in a future blog. Email info@cathymarcy.com, attach your photo & give us permission to use any of it. Make sure we have full name & contact info.

There’s still some summer left-let’s get out and enjoy.

AND, if you’ve missed any of our video podcasts, make sure to subscribe (to this blog & to the podcast). All done easily at www.cathymarcy.com. There are 2 songs to sing along with AND a music video to MArcy’s Hula Hoop song, complete with tutorial on how to make your own hoop.

New Podcasts coming up soon- A tour of the Columbus Washboard Company and Washboard rhythm lesson, Cathy & Marcy in Banjo Land!

SPREAD THE WORD TO FAMILY & FRIENDS. And here, we’ll spread the word about new summer favorites.

Highly Recommended: “Beethoven’s Wig 4″, Dance Along Symphonies:http://www.beethovenswig.com/

“Dirty Joe the Pirate”, by Bill Harley: http://www.billharley.com

Homemade Hoops Happen!

Hoopin’s Here! As many of you know, Marcy’s Big Band “Hula Hoop” song on the Grammy winning CD, “Bon Appétit!” inspired us to get hooping. We make our own hoops and think it’s a way funstyle of exercise. It’s also fun to make and decorate your own hoop. We hoop to that song and lots of other great musical choices.We often have hooping contests at our family shows.

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August 8, 2008 is WORLD HOOP DAY. Check it out at http://www.worldhoopday.com. The event spreads the word that hoping is fun and encourages folks to get hoops in the hands (and hips) of needy kids. Events happen worldwide, so you can see if there’s one in your neighborhood.

For our new video podcast, we had a hooping party that was FABULOUS. We made hoops, lots of friends hooped. Some never tried before and found out how fun it is. We took a batch of hoops to a seniors’ center and they had a blast! Marcy’s mom is in that part of the video. We also teach YOU how to make a hoop. AND, Cathy hoops on video for over 10 hours (we edited it down to 2 minutes so your computer won’t freeze).

Send us your hooping stories and pictures to info@cathymarcy.com.
Tell your friends about WORLD HOOP DAY and about this podcast. The more people who see it, the more we can aim for peace through hooping!

Check out the video podcast at www.cathymarcy.com

Listen to the song here 08-hula-hoopmp3

IT’S A SHAME! ZIPPER SONG SING-ALONG and introducing THE BANJO PUPPETS
Download & subscribe to the video podcast at www.cathymarcy.com

We’re happy to release our 2nd video podcast with the song, “It’s A Shame”. Let the silliness begin. After 30+ years of family concerts, we know a few hundred songs. So, how do we choose which ones to sing in our video podcasts? One of the main criteria on this round is to choose songs that everyone can sing, and in many cases, make their own. Zipper songs make it easy to make up your own verses to a song.

The term, “Zipper Song” was first used by Lee Hays of the folk group, The Weavers. It refers to a song that has a line or word that will easily zip out and let you zip in a new line or word to create a new verse. An obvious example is “Old MacDonald Had A Farm”. With each verse you zip OUT an animal and it’s sound and you zip IN a new animal and it’s sound. “It’s a Shame” is a great zipper song, making it one of those tunes that can take you all the way from Washington to California with fresh verses along the way. It’s fun to make fun of things we don’t like to do, and to create wordplay nonsense, like Marcy’s “It’s A Shame to put a pickle on a Sunday”.

Sing-along, strum along, make your own verses. Send us a picture from the song (podcasts@cathymarcy.com) and send the link to ALL your friends. We plan to help you keep singing all summer long!.

Below are the words we used, and the chords. You only need 2 chords!

We are also VERY happy to introduce you to the Banjo Puppets in the podcast. They’ve provided us with hours of silliness. They’ll be back many times.

In harmony,

Cathy & Marcy

IT’S A SHAME
Traditional, © Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, 2 Spoons Music, ASCAP
On the CD “When the Rain Comes Down”, Rounder 8013

Buy 3, get one free:

Go to THE STORE at www.cathymarcy.com and buy any 3 CD’s or $15 items. Place the name of your FREE item in the “Special Instructions” box of the online order form and it will be included in your order. Great deal!