Updated Saturday May 10, 2008

Hello from Rick and Jane:  2008 is turning into a very interesting year!  We're busy with plans for our new CD, and the new material is feeding into the need for the total revamping of our stage show.  Jane and I are writing and rehearsing for recording sessions this summer/fall, with plans to wrap the project by years end.  In the meantime, we've decided that performing will be on hold until Spring 2009, in favor of continuing the hard work to re-tool our shows with new material.  Plans are just starting to come into vision for a number of dates in May-Summer 2009, so please stay tuned for announcements as things progress. In all our years of playing shows together, we've never taken an entire year off from performance...but this time we're building something that will take loads of rehearsal, and since I'm still the default stage manager and roadie-and-chief, I'll be needing time to plan out the stage plot and to get our set-up and tear-down moves down.  Logistically, this is a challenge, especially with the bigger load to truck down the road. For some shows we will be hiring sound, especially outdoor concerts....and being in the rehearsed "habit" of setting up quickly and routing plug-ins etc is important.

We will be adding to the number of instruments we carry for shows; Jane will be adding keyboard to her otherwise full plate of flutes, pennywhistle, harmonium, and dulcimer...and yours truly will bring drums back into the fold...its been years since I played drums in a professional setting (although I've recorded my own playing on the last two CD's), but the addition of keyboard (Yamaha MO6) and drums will give us a little more tonal color to play around with...a bit more of an edge, if you will. We'll still feature many songs that are just guitar, with flute in the softer mode...but we're fixin' to push the duet format to the next stage...(did it sound like I'm having a blast?...well, I am!!)

Plus, the obvious advantage of having drums and keyboards on stage will allow us to occasionally feature other members of our greater Sytek and Davies family for some shows...speaking here of Bruce Dauser on violin, and Bob Hiddema on bass...both who promise to assist us with this new project.  We're going to have some material provided by modern composer John Webber HERE as well...assuming, of course, that he doesn't use too many flats for yours truly! ...not to worry though...luckily, Jane can decipher anything with stems and dots.

So, lets keep in touch with this new adventure!...and if, perchance, you are a venue checking in with us, lets talk about doing something in Spring 2009!  

You may want to surf over to our piano page, for a peak at an article that Encore Magazine did on Jane and me this past month, relating to our restoration of fine antique pianos.

Until the next time, Love, Hugs, and All Good Things, Rick and Jane

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