March News-in-Brief

March Greetings Everyone! 

Got my second Covid shot yesterday, and I’ve never been so happy to feel chilled and wobbly! I just wish everybody who wants one could immediately get theirs. 

It's all good, but since my brain's not quite firing on all cylinders, I’ll keep it extra-brief this time around. Here we go... 

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CONTENTS of This Newsletter 

1. This month I’ll be playing two (2) streamed shows… 
2. In my studio: oboe project(!), EP progress 
3. TK Poem of the Month: "Haikus for a Short Month" 
4. March Food for Thought: Chuck Close on inspiration 

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1. Live (streamed) Shows in March 

Two weeks from now I’ll be a part of two (2) streaming Folk/Americana “in-the-round” shows. My segment in each show will run about 20-25 minutes, and both are FREE (donation optional). 

The Scoop: 

Sunday, March 14, 2021  6:00pm EST, 5:00pm CST etc. 
—Kid Pan Alley In-the-Round 
…A virtual writers show with Paul Reisler & Cheryl Toth, Georgia Middleman… & Tom Kimmel 
For more info, click HERE 

Tuesday, March 16, 2021 8:00pm EST, 7:00pm CST etc. 
—Music My Mother Would Not Like Showcase Series 
…A streamed concert series (live via Zoom) with Johnsmith, Kitty Donohoe, James Keelahan… & Tom Kimmel 
For more info, click HERE 

NOTE: As these concerts are the same week, I’ll make a point of playing a unique set for each show. 

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2. In the studio: Recording oboist Galit Kaunitz & completing an EP 

a. Galit Kaunitz 

I recently had the privilege of recording a contemporary classical project for Galit Kaunitz, an outstanding oboist and a music professor at the University of Southern Mississippi. Wow! Talk about a completely new field for me—and such a breath of fresh air. 

For more on Galit, click HERE. 

b. I’m completing my EP (tentative title: “The Last Time I Saw Cain.” 

I’m finishing the final track now, then it’ll be time to finalize mixes. Little by little. More on the EP in next month's newsletter. 

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3. TK Poem of the Month: Haiku Challenge 

I was recently challenged to write a haiku-a-day for a month, and it seemed that this past month (with its neat 28 days) would be the perfect time to do it. 

Selections from “Haikus for a Short Month” 

1 
Am I not asleep? 
What’s that on my chest? The cat? 
God, it’s 3 am! 

2 
Pandemic deep dive. 
When it’s over, think we will 
Bob to the surface? 

5 
Dreams and troubled sleep. 
Two o’clock, three, four and five. 
Restless mind syndrome. 

7 
Valentine’s morning. 
My love’s cinnamon oatmeal. 
Slow-cooked and so sweet. 

8 
Español is hard. 
My tongue gets so tangled up. 
¿Tú entiendes? 

10 
Dexter smells better 
Than he did before brushing. 
He still needs a bath. 

11 
Hal David’s lyrics. 
One brief syllable per note 
Burt Bacharach wrote. 

12 
I, white American male 
Dare, quite often, to complain. 
Am I suffering? 

14 
Arctic high pressure. 
Mississippi winter storm. 
No water, no heat. 

16 
A thousand songs, more. 
And what do they add up to? 
Boxes of paper. 

19 
Everywhere I look 
Pop-ups, click bait, eye candy. 
I want my life back. 

20 
Design, what is it? 
Nothing to see here people! 
Oh look, now there is. 

22 
I can hear the birds 
When I wear my hearing aids. 
Without them, silence. 

26 
Sagittarian 
I am, Water Snake, Vata. 
Enneagram: Four. 

27 
I forget to pray 
And then forget prayer exists. 
Will you remind me? 

28 
I’ve come full circle 
And a grand circle it’s been. 
Now the next challenge. 

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4. March Food for Thought 

“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.” 

—Chuck Close (b. 1940), painter, artist, photographer 

Till April, Maximum Peace, Love and Understanding, 
TK

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