Saturday, December 6, 2008, 1pm -ONE SHOW ONLY
Takoma Park Middle School
7611 Piney Branch Rd    Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tickets: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Advance tickets are available at:
House of Musical Traditions
7010 Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park, 301-270-9090

ORDER TICKETS ONLINE OR BY PHONE HERE.

Watch Cathy & Chris jam at the Birchmere on banjo & beatbox.

CLICK HERE to check out MARCY’S UKULELE SOCIAL CLUB network, full of videos, pictures, tutorials.

Play along!

Visit here for the latest CATHY & MARCY VIDEO PODCAST, BANJOLAND http://songshoppodcast.cathymarcy.com/

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR THE SONG

THANK YOU

THANK YOU
© Cathy Fink, 2 Spoons Music, ASCAP

I’m so busy all day long sometimes I do not take the time to stop and think about the things that I am grateful for
So when I climb in bed at night and mama’s turning out the light I think the day is finished but I know there’s one thing more

Thank you for flowers
Thank you for trees
Thank you for Mama and
Thank you for me
And my little brother who drives me insane
I guess I should thank you for him just the same

Thank you for colors in my crayon box
Thanks for my pockets that I fill with rocks
Thanks for my table and my reading nook
Thank you for someone to read me a book

Thank you for promises kept in the wind
Thank you for bicycles and for my friends
Thank you for ice cream and for chocolate cake
I can not believe how many pieces I ate

Thank you for birds that are chased by my cat
Mom says I shouldn’t be thankful for that]
Thank you for snowballs and sledding and ice
The world looks so beautiful all dressed in white

Thank you for Papa and Grandma and Gramps
Then there’s our puppy that we all call Champ
Thanks for the baby they brought home last week
Dad says she’ll grow up and be just like me

Mom thinks this song might go on all night long
Thank you for having her teach me this song
I forgot some but she turned out the light
I think that my thank you’s are over, good night.

CONTEST-CONTEST: Send your own poem in to info@cathymarcy.com. We’ll publish the BEST ones on this blog on November 1st.

Trick or treat trick or treat
Give me something really neat
May I sneeze one hundred sneezes
If I do forget my pleases
By Marcy Marxer

Roses  are red,
marshmallows are white
If you eat too many
Your pants will get tight!
By Jesse Hicks Silverberg

Thanks you for your candy
Thank you for your kindness
I’ll be back next Halloween
So thank you your highness
By Spencer Perkins

Howdy, Howdy, Halloween
I’m in disguise I can’t be seen
My eyes are blue, my tongue is green
And every color in between
Anonymous

Click for photo Conjurer Meets Pumpkin

  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!

Join our online community as we post journals from the road, fun notes from kids & families, great stories about music, songs, musicians, people we meet. If we hear a great CD or a wonderful book, we’ll tell you about it. When we come back from the Django Reinhardt Festival in France, we’ll show some pictures and trip highlights. ANYTHING GOES – join us, comment, exchange, tell us about cool music, events, instruments, or just say hi.

When we post new VIDEO PODCASTS, we’ll publish the lyrics and chords to the songs so you can try playing along. Chords & Lyrics to BETTER WHEN WE SING IT TOGETHER, our first video podcast, are:We’re headed off to France for 10 days, including a trip to the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois Sur Seine. It’ll be 4 days of amazing Gypsy Jazz music, jam sessions and awe inspiring concerts. OK, we’ll stay in a castle or 2, see some other major Parisian sites, and above all, nous allons parlez francais, to the best of our abilities.

Tune in soon for the French trip report and more summer fun.

Spread the word and enjoy summer, one day at a time.

]]> http://blog.cathymarcy.com/2007/10/deborah-tannen-performs-w-cathy-marcy/feed/ http://blog.cathymarcy.com/2007/07/unplugged-play-book-review/ http://blog.cathymarcy.com/2007/07/unplugged-play-book-review/#comments Sat, 28 Jul 2007 10:04:35 +0000 admin http://blog.cathymarcy.com/?p=18

Bobbi Conner, host of public radio’s “The Parent’s Journal”, has put together an accessible masterpiece for kid and family fun. “Unplugged Play” offers 710 Games and Activities for kids aged 12 months to 10 years, and their families. Some are as easy as can be, requiring not much more than imagination and a smile. Others require the fun of gathering, collecting, recycling, organizing, making a mess and cleaning it up. None are expensive. They are old, new and made up. Some were submitted by friends, fans and others researched by teams of players (kids & parents).

The subtitle, “No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun.” grabbed us. Play is SO plugged in these days, but it doesn’t have to be. The unplugged play world triggers imagination, creative thinking, problem solving, independence (sometimes), resourcefulness, teamwork (often) and much satisfaction. The book is full of clever parenting tips including “What to do When Your Child Loses” the “10-Minute Cleanup Rule” and how to turn “NO” into “YES”. Bring back childhood and bring back creative play. Get your own copy of this book! And, http://www.parentsjournal.com is a cool website.

We, the folks who make our own hula hoops (click here), make our own pirate ships from milk cartons and a straw (click here) and encourage kids to make their own instruments (click here), wholeheartedly endorse “Unplugged Play”. The book belongs in everyone’s home, open to a new page each day. It belongs in day cares, elementary schools, camps, scouts and everywhere that play should be.