music maker relief foundation

cora fluker - photo courtesy of music maker foundation

the music maker relief foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support aging southern roots musicians.  all of the musicians are at least 55 years old and earn less than $18,000 a year.  the music maker foundation provides career support while tending to the daily needs of the artists.

i became familiar with this organization when my husband was recruited to play bass with cool john ferguson, a self-taught blues guitarist with a peculiar style. i tagged along to one of the gigs and was blown away and mesmerized by captain luke, a smooth 84-year-old blues singer!

cool john and captain luke - rainy night in georgia

and, singing lessons with captain luke...

get involved or donate here.

cassette tape love!

i have recently had nostalgic feelings for the ol' cassette tape because it is how i got my start listening to music.  i have enjoyed asking friends about their first purchase (my first was "working class dog" by rick springfield) and sharing that bit of music culture and history.  and what about the sweet mix tape with it's hand-drawn art and time devotion? to actually make a mix tape for a friend was such an incredible gift in comparison to the current ease of putting together an mp3 playlist.

so, my dears what was your first cassette tape? please share!

 

  

 i made you a mix tape hand cut 8x10 silhouette by jessica alpern's shop in austin, texas.

 

in my search for cassette tapes i ran across raleigh, nc, label diggup tapes who make cassette tapes for a handful of bands which are certainly worth a listen (oulipo and naps caught my attention.)

egg mania

hundreds of children, hundreds of eggs.  

happy day to you all!  we have a picnic in our near future.

love.  juli + tula mirth.

a poem

photo by hugh morton

my friend anna blaedel shared this poem via facebook and i thought it quite appropriate for easter and the spring season...

so, friends, every day do something 

that won't compute.  love the world.

take all that you have and be poor.

love someone who does not deserve it.

ask the questions that have no answers.

invest in the millennium.  plant sequoias.

hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

laugh.  laughter is immeasurable.

go with your love to the fields.

be like the fox who makes more tracks

than necessary, some in the wrong directions.

practice resurrection.

-wendell berry

time for strawberries

tula mirth and i await strawberry season each year and we have now arrived in north carolina.  we made our first annual strawberry picking trip this week (tula wore her strawberry shorts in honor of the event) and we easily filled a flat with our excitement.  of course i need some new strawberry recipes now and i ran across this raw almond cookie and strawberry mousse recipe which is at the top of my list at the moment.

we've been able to gift many of the berries since there is no way the two of us can polish them off in the small window of time necessary to consume them.  there is something so very nice about arriving on the doorsteps of surprised friends with the first strawberries of the season.  

all photos by juli

outsider artist renaldo kuhler

renaldo in his apartment, by juli courtesy of newsobserver.com

part of what is so great about my job is meeting people.  one of my favorite raleigh people is outsider artist, renaldo kuhler, who has created a beautiful body of work over his years as a scientific illustrator.  renaldo started creating a make believe world called rocaterrania as a boy and has continued to create illustrations based in that world.  the pieces are brilliantly colored and are unique to renaldo's style.  a few years back, brett ingram made a great documentary about renaldo and his work.

rocaterrania, courtesy of renaldo kuhler

studio on fire

i just came across studio on fire via cmybacon.  lovely, lovely letterpress printing...

you cannot prevent the birds of sadness from passing over your head, but you can prevent their making a nest in your hair

golden rule.  hand-drawn by koen, age 6

mixtape wedding.  love it!