sounding the river

2012-02-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

UpCoMiNg
March 16, 2:30 pm
at Norman Rockwell Museum

"Karaoke Confession"
Using Norman Rockwell's paintings as a launching point, "Karaoke Confession" is a performance by singer songwriter JoAnne Spies that weaves together songs, poems and stories on the theme of forgiveness. Part guided tour and part interactive readings and songs, this program is being created for the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.

Sunday, March 11th 2pm - 6pm

Fundraiser for Mountain Road School
Wonderful array of bands and musicians at The Abode in New Lebanon, New York

2011-12-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

It's an honor to be featured in Our Berkshire Green's
December - March 2012 issue:

see page 10:

Our Berkshire Green

wake up 99 words and music by joAnne spies

2011-11-11T15:32:00.001-08:00

Be the Change

2011-11-06T04:33:00.001-08:00

Occupy the Earth
A link to Jenny Browdy's thoughtful blog

be the change 2012 :

Deep Green Resistance

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
click here:
David Byrne and Thom Yorke interview on the real value of music

2011-10-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

carnival october 2011 j. spies

'motorboat' monotype by j.spies

upcoming gigs

2011-08-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday, December 10th
Private Party
West Cummington, MA

Saturday, December 3rd
Alchemy Initiative Handmade Holiday Festival

12:30 - 3pm

Sunday, November 6

Unitarian Universalist of South Berkshire
Great Barrington, MA

10:30 a.m.

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October 4, 2011 JoAnne Spies, Wintergreen, MCLA bands

3:30PM to 06:00PM
at North Adams City Hall

March and Rally for Jobs,Justice and Workers Rights

Hosted by April 4th Coalition

Meet at 96 Marshall Street (by Social Security Building)

Music and Speeches at City Hall

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Thanks to Melinda and Tom at the Rockwell Museum for a fun gig on the terrace. I'm grateful for the NR posters they donate for the Art Cart, which is a program I run in six Berkshire Healthcare settings for CATA.

Friday, September 23rd

Norman Rockwell Museum

Stockbridge, MA
Performance at 1:00pm

September 17th, 2011 Peace Conference at Hancock Shaker Village
featuring Dennis Kucinich and Paul Winter
Eighteen Presenters on Tools and Explorations of Peace
JoAnne Spies workshop: "Writing Songs of Peace"
2:30 - 3:30pm
Performance
1:30pm Round Barn
register: Peace Conference info and registration

One highlight of this conference was reading the peace poems received from middle school students in the Round Barn at Hancock Shaker Village. Thank you to Herberg Middle School, Craneville Elementary and St. Mark's and all the teachers and students who took time to reflect on what peace means to them. Keep on.

Dennis Kucinich at Peace Conference Hancock Shaker Village September 17

2011-05-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

click photo to enlarge

Dennis Kucinich is the keynote speaker and there will be 18 presenters at this gathering that explores pathways to peace.

Walk the land at Hancock Shaker Village and create your own songs of peace in my workshop, "Writing Songs of Peace" that begins at 2:30pm

Peace Conference information and registration

Rogovoy Report press release

Thursday, May 5th and Saturday , May 7

2011-04-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

Hope to see you on the Sounding Mohican Pathways walk that begins at 5:00pm Thursday, May 5th at the Mission House. We're fortunate to have Shawn Stevens with us!
He will share songs and stories at the Stockbridge Library on Saturday, May 7 at 11 a.m.

Shawn Stevens at Sounding the River 2008 photo: Keith Emerling

Shawn Stevens is a member of the Stockbridge Munsee band of Mohicans, in Wisconsin. Shawn is a Native American flute player, traditional drummer, singer, dancer and culturalist. Shawn believes in leaving a lasting impression upon his listeners not as a show, but as a true teaching of Native wisdom, knowledge and culture.

Sounding Mohican Pathways: Guided Walk with Shawn Stevens & JoAnne Spies

Thursday, May 5, 2011, 5- 6:30pm

Starts from the Mission House, 19 Main Street, Stockbridge, MA

The walk covers approximately 1 mile and includes visits to the Stockbridge Cemetery, the Chime Tower, the Indian Burial Ground, and the Housatonic River. All ages are welcome. FREE. Donations welcome. Hosted by The Trustees of Reservations. For more information, please call 413.298.3239 x3003 or visit www.thetrustees.org

Sounding Mohican Pathways: Flute, Song and Story at the Library with Shawn Stevens & JoAnne Spies

Saturday May 7, 11am-12noon

Stockbridge Library, 46 Main Street, Stockbridge, MA

Shawn Stevens will share Mohican stories and songs for children of all ages. FREE. Donations welcome. For more information, please call 413.298.5501.

"Sounding Mohican Pathways" receives funding from MCC

2011-01-03T17:36:00.000-08:00

link: Massachusetts Cultural Council

"Sounding Mohican Pathways," an educational and cultural exchange program that I created in collaboration with Tammis Coffin, Education Director at the Mission House, has received a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. This grant was awarded through the MCC’s LCC Program and the Stockbridge Cultural Council.

I'm grateful to the MCC and the Stockbridge Cultural Council for the seed money to grow this program that will build bridges between the Stockbridge community here in Massachusetts and the Stockbridge Mohican community in Wisconsin.I will work with contacts at the Mohican reservation and at the Mission House and Indian Museum to organize an interactive music program that incorporates stories, songwriting and history.

Thank you to Tammis Coffin and the Mission House as well as some of the rich resources in Stockbridge, MA for local history.

Mission House
Stockbridge Library Museum and Archives

Here's info on International Women's Day at Bard College at Siomn's Rock on March 5th. I'm honored to be singing some of my original songs at this event.

International Women’s Day Conference: Women Write the World
on Mar 5 2011, 1:00 PM - 5:30 PM at Bard College at Simon’s Rock (84 Alford Rd. Great Barrington)

This year’s 10th Annual International Women’s Day Conference will celebrate the power of women’s words, both locally and globally. Established and emerging women authors will be invited to share their insights on how they have used writing as a tool for “righting” the world—in other words, how writing is used by women as a creative outlet and a vehicle for social justice. See full program at Women Write the World.

The event is co-sponsored by Bard College at Simon's Rock and Berkshire Women for Women Worldwide. The Women's Interfaith Institute in the Berkshires is a long-time collaborator in supporting International Women's Day.
Keynote speaker will be acclaimed ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, whose trailblazing book, Living Downstream, makes a lyrical, personal and scientific case for banning poisons now pervasive in our air, our food, and our bodies.
( http://steingraber.com/ ) Readings and discussion by women include Native American poet Deborah Miranda, Chicana novelist Demetria Martinez, and journalist Christina Asquith, on Iraqi and American women in the Iraq War. There will also be a panel of women writers from Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, and Ghana and a special dance choreographed by Anni Crofut on the stories of Berkshire women. Singer/songwriter JoAnne Spies will share her original music.
Registration: $25 paid in advance; $30 at the door; $10 with student ID; Scholarships available.

The International Women's Day conference will be held in the Daniel Arts Center at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA. Contact: iwd@simons-rock.edu
Parallel events will be held throughout Berkshire County for the entire month. Women's Interfaith Institute in the Berkshires will host poet Jan Hutchinson reading and discussing "Poetry as Soul Rescue' at their March 17th program.

2010-11-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

waterfalls

upcoming

2010-10-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

more accordion music

more Elemental Orchestra

more sing what you play

Makapu'u Point photo by Mary Paik

Gigs :

March 5th, 2011

International Women's Day -

Bard College at Simon's Rock

March 10, 2011

Hosting open mic at the Stockbridge Library

6:30pm - 8pm

March 31, 2011
JoAnne Spies: Songs about Love and Work

Mason Library - Great Barrington, MA 6:30pm

April 23rd, 2011

Honor the Housatonic Benefit and Poetry Slam
Guthrie Church 6pm - 11pm $25.
4 Van Duesenville
Housatonic, MA

April 26, 2011
Hosting Open Mic for National Poetry Month

Lee Library

100 Main Street Lee, MA 5:45 - 7:45pm

May 5, 2011

"Sounding Mohican Pathways"

Mission House 5:00pm - 6:30pm

Stockbridge, MA

May 14 and 15th, 2011
"Going Places"

Founder's Theatre - Shakespeare & Company

CATA's annual fundraiser and performance

community access to the arts

May 21, 2011

Music Improvisation at Norman Rockwell Museum

Let's Get Elemental! 1:00pm

        June 26, 2011
          "The Power of Song" 10:30 am
          U.U. of South Berkshire
           917 S. Main Street
           Great Barrington, MA

September 17, 2011

Peace Conference - Hancock Shaker Village
Center for Peace through Culture

workshop: "Writing Songs of Peace" and performance

International Women's Day photo by Peggy Reeves
Thanks to all for a great conference!

2010-10-29T09:10:00.001-07:00

close-up of carved Mohican walking stick

shows eagle and 'many trails' symbol

JoAnne Spies leading group from Mission House in Stockbridge, MA to Housatonic River in "Sounding Mohican Pathways"

Gary Snyder on "Reinhabitation"

2010-08-16T07:33:00.001-07:00

www.clas.ufl.edu/users/bron/re/Snyder--reinhabitation7%288%2928%28sep87%29.pdf

Thanks to Martin at the Zen Peacemakers Symposium for telling me about Gary Snyder's use of the term "reinhabitation." I found Snyder's 1976 essay online and though I couldn't link it up to this blog, I hope you can read his illuminating thoughts about the merits of staying in one place and how economically we are penalized for doing so.

It was a privilege to hear panelists who are pioneers in their fields and practitioners of kindness at the Zen Peacemakers Symposium.
I want to jot down notes for further exploration while they are fresh in my mind.
~ how does the land lead us to reconciliation?
As I've been leading people on walks to Mohican sites, I see it brings up their feelings of sorrow and desire for forgiveness or reconciliation. Will the simple mindfulness of 'one step at a time' for peace as Thich Nhat Hahn suggests help facilitate this process? I see that the land shares its own history with us when our group walks with a simple awareness of place. My goal for the walks is also to encourage people's connection to the land through the gifts we've been given for conversation with it: rhythm and sound.

I understand melody as a way to remember the power and shape of the sounds we made when first in conversation with the elements.

"Celebrate"

2010-08-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Each line in the song 'Celebrate' comes from thoughts shared with me by elders I visit in CATA workshops in Alzheimer's units, assisted living and elder care facilities.The performance took place at Shakespeare & Company's Founder's Theatre in Lenox, MA as part of CATA's annual gala in early May.

(screen lightens up @ 20 sec.)
Thanks to Mati Kiin of Kiin Media for the video. http://www.kiinmedia.com

Here's the "Red, Red Robin" video I directed for CATA's show last year:
http://www.vimeo.com/5290390

2010-08-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

:Hank Williams singing unvarnished and true

Irish singing

"where is the watershed?"

2010-08-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

This song was written for a Marmalade Productions show called "Watershed Waltz" that tours schools to teach kids how to protect the watershed.
Everywhere we stand is one watershed or another.
Vicki Richards on violin.

Quick Bioregional Quiz!
1.Where is the place that urbanites, suburbanites, and rural residents inhabit together?
2.Where is the place to learn and practice sustainable ways that satisfy basic human needs?
3.Where is the place nearest at hand to restore & maintain ecosystems & wildlife?
4.Where is the place to re-localize & decentralize political, social and economic features?
5.Where is the place to remanufacture products from recycled material?
6.Where is the place for students to learn about ecology?
7.Where is the place to begin both reducing climate change & planning suitable adaptations?
Answer: The watershed in the bioregion where you live.
See planetdrum.org

Dalai Lama Barack Obama

2010-08-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

This song was written after seeing the photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Barack Obama meeting each other with big smiles. The original title was 'Dalai Lama Barack Obama, Smile' and it merged with 'May we all know we're the buddha.'
Vicki Richards improvising on violin.

August 26 at Micro Theatre in Pittsfield

2010-08-09T14:33:00.001-07:00

gregory crewdson photo looking up north street

I'll be in the second annual WordxWord Festival on Thursday, August 26 at the Micro Theatre on North Street in Pittsfield, MA.
Also on the bill: Sanjiban Sellew and Philip Levine

Micro Theatre
311 North Street
Pittsfield, MA
(413) 442-2223

8:00pm

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I'm performing at a terrific FODfest fundraiser in Litchfield Hills, CT. Hope you can come!

August 28
FODfest fodfest.org

watershed people

2010-08-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

by j. spies

Have you read "Understanding Comics"?
Written by Scott McCloud, this page-turner is written in comic book style and re-frames the way you view comics, art, words and pictures.

http://scottmccloud.com/

2010-07-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

Grey Fox Blugrass Festival is a gem of a festival and it was a beautiful crescent moon night to dance under the stars on the hill.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore teaches songwriting for a week each year at Omega in Rhinebeck, NY
and it's been a treat to sit in the song circle on their last night where all are welcome. Heard some great tunes and enjoyed the camaraderie.

2010-07-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

As I Sit Down to Eat
chorus:
Pranayama, kapalabhati, dirgha,
Dear God, let me be a mindful eater
Goddess, let me flow like tumbling water
Fire, burn away what is not needed
As I sit down to eat
May all beings have enough
As we sit down to eat

Through winter into spring I was part of a pilot program at Kripalu about mindful eating that had a focus on pranayama, mindfulness, yoga and Ayurvedic principals. I wrote a song to integrate some of the teachings and to share at our last session.

Thank you to our extraordinary teachers Larissa, Janna and Tosca for their skill and compassion and to all the participants in Yoga and Mindful Eating.

Words and Music by JoAnne Spies
5/06/10
The rest of the song soon to be recorded... stay tuned!
contact: spiesart@aol.com for more info

2010-06-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

photo by Jennifer Reis

Mohican friends Shawn Stevens, Molly and Shannon performed at the new Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY as part of FODfest (Friends of Danny Pearl) fodfest.org

2010-03-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Vicki Richards (vickirichards.net) /JoAnne Spies at Spies' original "Me & Melville" performance atop Mt. Greylock/Bascom Lodge

It was a thrill to perform "Me & Melville" on the highest point in MA where Thoreau, Hawthorne and others have gone before us. I passed out quotes from "Moby Dick" as well as Hawthorne and Thoreau quotes for the audience to read.
A good time was had by all and dinner was delicious too.

Vicki Richards and I will be doing an hour-long cable TV performance for PCTV's "Acoustic Voices" of my original songs and some of her loop-swoopingly beautiful flights on violin March 30.

Looking forward to the debut of my new song "Celebrate," at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA May 1 and 2 at CATA's "Stick & Stones" annual fundraiser:
www.communityaccesstothearts.org

The song was written from thoughts shared with me by elders I visit in CATA workshops in Alzheimer's units, assisted living and elder care facilities.

View the "Red, Red Robin" video I directed for CATA's show last year:
http: //www.vimeo.com/cata

David Darling wins Grammy

2010-02-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

Music for People
photo credit: Julie Weber

Congratulations to master cellist, inspiring teacher and humanitarian David Darling.
As a graduate of his four-year Musicianship and Leadership program at Music for People, I join the family of folks who say thank you, David, for your healing music and leadership. His award-winning CD is called "Prayer for Compassion."

Gigs

2009-11-06T03:28:00.000-08:00

Goddess Loop
Vicki Richards and I have been performing to loops with tabla rhythms
Audience has been playing boomwhackers as Elemental Orchestra

writer and song by j spies

Friday, February 5th at FUEL Coffee Shop
5pm - 7pm
join me with
Electric Violinist Extraordinaire - Vicki Richards
More Elemental Orchestra!

Friday, December 11
FUEL Coffee Shop
Raga-inspired Vicki Richards on fiddle and surprise guests
join me at this acoustically delightful venue.
5pm - 7pm
286 Main ~ Great Barrington, MA
413) 528-5505

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Friday, November 6
Come to FUEL coffee house @5:00 for a few hours of music and song.
The multi-talented Doug Tanner from the Gypsy Wranglers is in town and will be playing fiddle, banjo and chromatic harmonica. I'll be on guitar, accordion and percussion.
Be prepared to multi-task or absolutely do nothing.

5pm - 7pm
FUEL Coffee Shop ~ 286 Main ~ Great Barrington, MA ~ (413) 528-5505
Free Admission

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Shawn Stevens of Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe playing flute at RiverMASS
photo credit: Keith Emerling

This is a special chance to visit beautiful sites honoring the Mohicans right on Main Street. See you there!
Don't forget to visit the historical room on the lower floor of the Stockbridge Library or the small museum at the Mission House that are each full of interesting artifacts from the first people here in the Berkshires.

SOUNDING OUT THE PATHWAYS: Honoring the Mohican Presence with JoAnne Spies

Saturday November 7

10:30am-12noon, rain or shine

The Mission House, 19 Main Street, Stockbridge

413.298.3239 x3000 (weekdays) or www.thetrustees.org

The Trustees of Reservations will host a program to honor the Mohican presence in Stockbridge, led by singer JoAnne Spies and Trustees educator Tammis Coffin. From the Mission House on Main Street, the group will walk former Mohican paths to sites that help tell the tribe’s story: the Housatonic River, burial ground, meeting house, and Friends of our Father’s marker. JoAnne will guide the group on an interactive exploration of these sites with songs, sounds and rhythms to honor the Mohicans, sharing what she has learned as a friend to the tribe. All ages are welcome and the program is free to the public. Afterwards, refreshments will be served.

2009-11-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

It was great to be a part of FODfest in three locations this year ~ Great Barrington, MA at the Mahaiwe; Oak Park, Illinois at the Village Players and Norfolk, CT at Infinity Hall.

Bravo to Todd Mack,the fabulous FODsquad and all performers and audience involved.

2009-10-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

Bascom Lodge ~ Mt. Greylock, highest point in Massachusetts

Wednesday, October 21
Melville, Music and the Mountain as Inspiration
I'll be reading from authors who've been inspired by Mt. Greylock as well as singing songs from "Me & Melville" with Vicki Richards on fiddle
6:00pm performance with dinner to follow
Call 413-743-1591 for reservations
This performance at Bascom Lodge atop Mt. Greylock is dedicated to Danny Pearl as part of World Music Days. His gift for friendship and ease of playing music wherever he went is inspiring to all.

Learn more about World Music Days:
http://danielpearl.org

2009-09-16T05:41:00.000-07:00

It was exciting to join 100 people from all over the world in Princeton, NJ for Remo's HealthRHYTHMS facilitator training. Music therapists, musicians, doctors, nurses, health care workers and others learned a protocol for leading people to wellness that is fun and promotes better communication.

Looking forward to leading my first HealthRHYTHMS session this week!

Link to Remo HealthRHYTHMS: http://www.remo.com/portal/hr/index.html

2009-09-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

songs ~ and painting ~ from new CD

lightning song creature and toe ~ oil and collage by j. spies

Snow in Paradise
after reading Howard Zinn's "People's History of the Unites States"

I came to Lowell three years ago
I left my mother’s farm
The work would be so clean, they said
Weavin, spinnin’ yarn

The wages would be good enough
I could buy some silk
Save my money, I’d have time
I could read a book

There will be snow in paradise shining on the ground
Snow so deep and warm and sweet, I’ll lay my body down

But I get up so early, dragged by a factory bell
I work in a close and noisy room, it’s a manufactory hell
I don’t want to pull these threads through the bobbin’s eye
I don’t want this cotton dust, making me cry

Oh here comes my overseer struttin’ by my loom
I don’t want this dirty work in a dirty spinnin’ room

I am going home, I am going home
$1.25 for my room and board, I am going home
I will not stay here, I will not stay here
I won’t rise to the clang of the bell
I will not stay here

There will be snow in paradise shining on the ground
Snow so deep and warm and sweet, I’ll lay my body down
Lay my body down

Remember My Name
~ written for Danny Pearl

Yes, I am a sailor in a midnight squall
Yes, I am a racehorse in a burning stall
Sometimes I feel my heartbeat like a bird in flight
Then I can feel the shining of the morning light

Sometimes my name is sunny like a day in July
I know my name will carry me like a boat till I die
I cannot know the time or place or wonder why
The truth will always lead me one step at a time

I know my love is endless
Beyond right or wrong
I know I believe in everyone’s song
I know that my tune will carry me along
When you remember my name
When you remember my name

About Crying

I have learned to leave my hands alone
the feelings falling from the bone
not touching others as they cry
let them know their own good-bye

I've seen it happen in a room
before I came to sing a tune
hardening back to the earth
a person goes from heart to hearth
in one breath

seen it like a sail filling
eyes and windows
running, spilling water
I am following a river

anger
both the fire and the fireman
burning out the depths it takes
to love again

felt it as a listening
gratitude in every seam
who’s the player, what’s the chord
happiness is the lord
of crying
I am following a river

c 2009 words and music by JoAnne Spies
from "North Avenue Honey" CD

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates how the Pentatonic Scale is embedded in our DNA

2009-07-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk

listen here: Where the Prairie Begins

2009-07-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

from new CD "North Avenue Honey"

e-mail spieski@gmail.com to order CD

* * * ** * * * *** * * * * ** * * **** ** * * **-
Thanks to All the CD Release Revelers at Club Helsinki!
and special guest
Doug Tanner of the Gypsy Wranglers
on fiddle, chromatic harmonica and banjo

http://clubhelsinkiweb.com/

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North Avenue Beach photo by ginjen

Listen to sound of North Avenue Beach:

http://www.favoritechicagosounds.com/soundmaps.php

musical accessibility

2009-07-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

http://remo.com/portal/hr

2009-06-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

Red, Red Robin
This 9-minute film about my work
is my directorial debut.
Thanks to fabulous crew:
CTSB and Nick Ring,
Steve Borns and Leo Mahoney;
community television at its best.
Rodelinde Albrecht, editor
and videographer;
Erica Spizz, videographer;
Keith Emerling, lighting;
Will Curtiss, sound engineer
at Youth Alive setting;
producers Emily Rechnitz
and John Paladino,
CATA and Chelsea DeSantis
for uploading video to Vimeo.

Upcoming Gigs Summer/ Fall 2009

2009-06-21T05:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 25
The Sandisfield Arts Center
5 Hammertown Road
Sandisfield, MA / 413-258-4100
http://www.sandisfieldartscenter.org/
In Words Out Words Variety Show
8:00pm

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Word x Word Festival
http://www.missionbarandtapas.com/
438 North Street
Pittsfield, MA

Mission Bar is celebrating the power of the word in their newly launched Word X Word Festival August 17 - August 22.

JoAnne Spies Two Different Nights:
at Mission Bar & Tapas: Thursday, August 20, 7pm - Folk Showcase w/ Roger Salloom, Bernice Lewis and Cliff Eberhardt
at Lichtenstein Center, 28 Renne Avenue, Pittsfield, MA, Saturday, August 22, 7pm - spoken word w/ CT Funkhouser, and George Watsky

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Wednesday, October 21 Mt. Greylock: Source of Inspiration
JoAnne Spies at Bascom Lodge with Vicky Richards on fiddle
Melville, Emerson, Ahab Rap and songs about the check-out line
Performance begins at 6:00pm
Dinner @ 7:00pm
Call 413-743-1591 for dinner reservations.
http://bascomlodge.net/
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Wednesday, October 28
Village Players
Oak Park, Illinois
FODfest
http://www.fodfest.org/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOUNDING OUT THE PATHWAYS: Honoring the Mohican Presence with JoAnne Spies

Saturday November 7

10:30am-12noon, rain or shine

The Mission House, 19 Main Street, Stockbridge

413.298.3239 x3000 (weekdays) or www.thetrustees.org

The Trustees of Reservations will host a program to honor the Mohican presence in Stockbridge, led by singer and educator JoAnne Spies and Trustees educator Tammis Coffin. From the Mission House on Main Street, the group will walk former Mohican paths to sites that help tell the tribe’s story: the Housatonic River, burial ground, meeting house, and Friends of our Father’s marker. JoAnne will guide the group on an interactive exploration of these sites with songs, sounds and rhythms to honor the Mohicans, sharing what she has learned as a friend to the tribe. All ages are welcome and the program is free to the public. Afterwards, refreshments will be served.

By Water I Am Led

2009-06-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

A global experiment for harmony and peace utilizing the tremendous power of water and music taking place June 19- 21:

http://www.liveh2o.org/

2009-04-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

438 North Street Pittsfield, MA
missionbarandtapas@gmail

Poetry Slam
It was an honor to win last night's slam and be in the company of so many fine poetic voices.
You can hear a lot of different voices from the community all in one night in a poetry slam. You can hear your own work in a new way as you speed up or slow down the rhythm of the spoken word.
Thank you to Mission Bar and Tapas on North Street in Pittsfield for keeping the word alive.

Thank you to Matt McFadden, poet extraordinaire, for his hosting of the event.

``````````````````````````````
Ahab Rap
After doing my "Me & Melville " show awhile, I taught music improvisation to teachers (How to Make Herman Melville Come Alive in the Classroom.) When I spoke to the then-head of curriculum in Pittsfield, MA about teaching Melville he said:
'He's a dead white male, with a dead white whale." And he liked Melville! So I wrote an Ahab Rap and give credit to Bill Irwin for the first few lines.

Ahab Rap
He's a dead white male, with a dead white whale
Why should I care? Why should I care?
I never saw a whale, I never saw a ship
I never saw a spirit spout, what's so hip
about a guy with a headhunter for a friend
who builds his own coffin for a watery end
what's it to me, if there's a guy named Ahab
He should have been doin' his meds in rehab
Ahab, rehab, Ahab, rehab
It's a guy thing, revenge and such
Get off of it, Ahab, get a new crutch
Get a job at a desk, get a job sellin' blubber
Get off of that ocean, you be a landlubber
You made them die with your crazy obsession
Forget about it, man, learn your lesson
Ishmail, bishmail, tish-mo-ya
Melville and the classics, rah, rah, rah

c 2009 JoAnne Spies

Another song from 'Me & Melville' called 'Check-Out Line' has become a favorite in my work with Alzheimers groups. Originally the song was about what I might say to Herman if I met him in the Big Y supermarket (Le Grande Porque.) Now it's an invitation to make a shopping list for your favorite dinner and then remember what everybody ordered. Using boomwhackers and shakers, we have a lot of fun with this song.

2009-04-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

Mission: Imagination - Annual Performance & Gala

The Founders' Theater, Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

Community Access to the Arts presents “Mission Imagination” at the Founders’ Theatre in Lenox on Saturday, May 2nd at 6pm and Sunday, May 3rd at 1pm. From uproarious improv and cheeky modern dance, to joyful jazz and techno-tap, the show will amaze, inspire and celebrate the creativity of people with disabilities.

The show includes a music video produced by singer, JoAnne Spies featuring residents of six Berkshire Health Systems facilities, Youth Alive, and Berkshire County students, “Perpetual Dialects,” a collaboration between Tap artist, Stefanie Weber, and James Daher using technology to turn a dance floor into a multi-faceted canvas, scenes from Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale” directed by Barby Cardillo and Diane Prusha, and “you who,” a new work by award-winning choreographer, Dawn Lane. Juggler and mime artist, Roger Reed, performs with CATA participant, Pam Tuliebitz, in a duet of improvisational foolery with a cast of props. Singer, Vikki True, collaborates with longtime accompanist, Peter Schneider, and guitarist, Sam Rosen, in a new arrangement of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley’s ‘Pure Imagination.’”

For information, please call CATA at 413-528-5485.

reflections on making the 'red red robin' video:
Video means 'I see' and the medium allowed me to look with new sight at people I've been visiting for years.

By focusing frame by frame, connections between people are re-framed and become larger.

What is going on in any particular moment defies capture.

I learned patience and the malleability of time.

I appreciate more the beauty in a face.

2009-03-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

International Women's Day

Kristin Jones' work with rivers and light and community is large in scope and inspiring:
http://www.tevereterno.it/index2.html

The First Annual Berkshire Festival of Women in the Arts

2009-02-10T03:44:00.000-08:00

The First Annual Berkshire Festival of Women in the Arts http://www.thewomenstimes.com./
which will kick off March 1, 2009 and run throughout the entire month, now boasts more than 60 events at 30-plus venues throughout Berkshire County. Presented by The Women’s Times, the festival will feature exhibits, film, music, performance, talk and more, and will include diverse programming that ranges from historical to contemporary, traditional to radical, political to apolitical. Venues run the spectrum from the Berkshires’ most established cultural organizations to new and improvised locations. There are opportunities for festival-goers to examine the role of women in the arts, celebrate the achievements of women artists or simply enjoy a diverse cross-section of artistic work. Two signature events will mark the Festival: The Power of Women in the Arts, the Eighth Annual International Women’s Day conference will be held on March 6-7 at Bard College at Simon’s Rock College; and She’s Got Moxie!, the First Annual Festival Awards to be presented at a March 13 gala at Shakespeare & Company

The Women's Interfaith Institute in the Berkshires http://wiiberkshires.blogspot.com/

is a co-sponsor of "Power of Women in the Arts" March 6-7 at Bard College at Simon's Rock.

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JoAnne Spies performing at Berkshire Art Kitchen Thursday, March 5, 7:30pm

http://www.thewomenstimes.com/events-detail.php?record=41

JoAnne Spies at Norman Rockwell March 10 at 1:30pm

I'm honored to be a part of the celebration and will be presenting a performance and talk at the Norman Rockwell Museum on Tuesday, March 10 at 1:30pm
http://www.thewomenstimes.com/events-detail.php?record=55

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pictures for upcoming cd "North Avenue Honey"

2009-01-17T05:48:00.001-08:00

"father" collage j. spies

writer and song by j. spies
or song and writer (imagine arrow above heads)

" motorboat" monotype by j. spies

greed mask / Earthdance performance

in Storefront Artists Project window

2008-12-26T14:42:00.000-08:00

Rivermass Song
Twelve thousand years of tears are standing in my throat

A hundred million fears are woven in my coat

Illusion and memory are all the same

Can you tell me, what is my name?

Beyond the mountains I move along

My voice is hidden, then my voice is strong

After so much silence and separation

Will you praise my beauty, my reparation?

Rising, falling, known, unknown

My water blossoms in your bone

I am the heart of tree and bird

I am the river, a holy word

c 2007 words and music by JoAnne Spies

Watershed Waltz

Come on, let’s dance
Can we skip? Can we prance?
I’ll try not to step on your toes
I saw you there with the clouds in your hair
In your shimmering, glimmering clothes
I didn’t know how the steps go
But you showed me every day

When the eagle flies back to her nest
Where the blue heron stands for her rest
When the salmon jump early in spring
Dance with me

In the river where the deer drink
In the middle of the woods by the muddy creek
In the way we listen and the way we speak
Dance with me

Come on, let’s dance
Can we skip? Can we prance?
I’ll try not to step on your toes
I saw you there
With the clouds in your hair
In your shimmering, glimmering clothes

I didn’t know how the steps go
But you showed me every day
When the eagle flies back to her nest
Where the blue heron stands for her rest
When the salmon jump early in spring
Dance with me

We’re doing the watershed waltz

c 2007 words and music by JoAnne Spies

By Water I Am Led

I am standing by the riverside

Lost and rambling in my pride

Never knowing in my heart and my head

That I am water and by water am led

Let the memory of the soft green ground

And the majesty of each simple sound

Hold me when I’m tumbling down

I am water, I am missing and found

Landlocked, full of fear

Sound your torrent that I may hear

Where I am stubborn, let me flow

Where I am ignorant, let me know

Let the spirit of the earth and sky

Keep me when I die

Carry me to the river and sea

I am water and I am free

c 2007 words and music by JoAnne Spies

2008-11-28T12:29:00.000-08:00

Red Red Robin Singalong for CATA

January 30 2:30 pm

where: Crispina ffrench's studio (old Notre Dame church) 40 Melville St. Pittsfield

http://www.crispina.com/crispina_site/about.html

Who: Anyone who'd like to join in singing or humming "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along"

What: "Red, Red Robin" Video Project

Mission: Create a music video of CATA Art Cart participants (who are predominantly elders) singing this song. Residents sing this song with gusto (and their own lyrics!) every time I play it on the guitar. The goal is to videotape a number of participants,including family, staff and other local participants and artists, edit a 5-8 minute video, and premiere it at the May 2/3, 09 CATA GALA weekend.

Here's a link to Doris Day singing "Red, Red, Robin" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ScH-X91qmo

I prefer Steve Goodman's version, but you get the idea how the song goes.

Thank you to Crispina, Youth Alive and Stefanie Weber for making this taping special!

Erica Spizz, Rodelinde Albrecht, Will Curtiss and Keith Emerling: crew extraordinaire!

Sing, Giovanna, Sing!

My Sicilian grandmother from Chicago, Rosaria Dolce, instructed me to sing whenever I could. If I felt blue in the back seat of the car as we headed out on a Sunday drive, Grandma Dolce would boom out: "Sing, Giovanna, sing!" If I was cross at the kitchen table while she cooked pasta and I set the dishes: "Sing, Giovanna, sing!" No matter how rotten things were, "Sing, Giovanna, sing!" was the cure-all.

See the NPR link below for more on the power of song.

Move it, Sound it, Write it!

2008-11-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

This essay on NPR by one of my favorites:

Singing: The Key To A Long Life
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97320958&sc=emaf

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a suggestion from mike doughty:

why not donate $5 or $10 to Doctors Without Borders?

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Evelyn Glennie: How to listen to music with your whole body

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html

Scottish percussionist and composer Evelyn Glennie lost nearly all of her hearing by age 12. Rather than isolating her, it has given her a unique connection to her music. Full bio and more links

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Since October 2008 it's been exciting to tailor my "Move It! Sound It! Write It!" program for teen girls at the Youth Alive! studio in Pittsfield, MA. Funded by Mary Campbell Case's "Claiming Our Voices" organization in Great Barrington, these empowerment workshops for teens are part of a pilot program to encourage girls to speak their truth and 'claim their voices.' Read about it here: (http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_10895169.)
We've been using rhythm with boomwhackers to find songs from our words, movement based on breathwork and rhythm, and writing inspired from drawing. We are all learning from each other as we create new dances, write songs and draw different self-portraits: animal, super-hero and 3-D boxes.
We had a special class with Marla Robertson November 11th teaching the girls how to embody words in their movements. It was great to watch each girl choreograph her own dance with new meaning understood through the movement.
Thank you to Mary Campbell Case, the "fairy godmothers" who support "Claiming Our Voices," Shirley Edgerton and south county teacher Senta Reis.

Celebration on last day of "MoveIt! Sound It! Write It!" JoAnne, Cheyenne and Rachel

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A wonderful organization advocating change through celebrating your own and everyone else's music:

Music for People
http://musicforpeople.org/

http://www.musicforpeople.org/graduates/joanne_spies.html

2008-08-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

some photos of "Sounding the River" by Keith Emerling:

Elfie Six and earth gong

Marafanyi leads procession to the river

procession to the river

Stayena Anada leading a prayer by the river

Shirley Paukulis

Pauline Dongala and Carol Ramsay of Women's Interfaith Institute of the Berkshires

Michael Sellon

Ed Mann

Shawn Stevens

JoAnne Spies

JoAnne Spies and Shawn Stevens with prayers on birch bark

here's the link to many more photos:

http://keithemerlingphotography.lifepics.com/net/Pro/Default.aspx

Click on the event on the home page and follow the instructions on the site.

2008-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Click here: Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center

Sounding the River

Sunday, July 13th

Join us in the morning

10am - 12 noon

Lecture by Mohican scholar Lion Miles

Shawn Stevens, Mohican Drum Leader of Nanapowe will share songs and stories

2pm - 4pm

Sounding the River Performance

A celebration! A procession! A Sound and Rhythm Event!

Celebrate the river at Pumpkin Hollow in a procession of rhythm and song

Follow the river to the beat of drums and the sound of gongs

join with

Shawn Stevens, Nanapowe Drum Leader and Storyteller

Members of KDZ, Kripalu Drummers

Youth Alive Step Line and Drum Team from Pittsfield, MA

Marafanyi Percussion

Shirley Edgerton Trio

Vikki True

Beth Craig

JoAnne Spies

Ed Mann, noted Frank Zappa percussionist and sound artist

and other special guests

as we honor the land and river and celebrate different traditions

At Pumpkin Hollow retreat center the beautiful Taconic stream caterwauls into a waterfall and then heads out toward the Hudson. Sounding the River starts at one end of the river and ends by the waterfall and peace pole area.

Early Registration suggested:

$10.00 - Lecture and storytelling only: 10am - 12 noon

$10.00 - Sounding the River performance only: 2:00 - 4:00

$30.00 includes all activities and lunch 10:00 - 4:00

Bring canned goods for Hillsdale Helping Hands Food Pantry

To register call:

Pumpkin Hollow: 518-325-3583

For information about performance e-mail: spiesart@aol.com

Lesley Beck, then-editor of Berkshires Week, who took part in the first Sounding the River performance as a member of the choir, wrote a glowing review. In its first incarnation the celebration was called RiverMASS: http://joannespies.com/page5.php

Funded in part by the John A. Sellon Charitable Trust and the Women's Interfaith Institute of the Berkshires, donations from Staples in Great Barrington, MA are in place for writing workshops before the event and we look forward to welcoming new art partners and collaborations within Columbia County.

Thank You to Jody Rael of Solaqua in Chatham, NY for providing his solar-powered sound system

TAUKH WNAUKOOTWAUKUN HKEEK TONNEH

To write letters of welcome to Mohicans

e-mail: movesound@gmail.com

Rivermass Song

Twelve thousand years of tears are standing in my throat
A hundred million fears are woven in my coat
Illusion and memory are all the same
Can you tell me, what is my name?

Beyond the mountains I move along
My voice is hidden, then my voice is strong
After so much silence and separation
Will you praise my beauty, my reparation?

Rising, falling, known, unknown
My water blossoms in your bone
I am the heart of tree and bird
I am the river, a holy word

c 2007 words and music by JoAnne Spies

Youth Alive

2008-04-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

Raphael and Jerome of Youth Alive
photo by Keith Emerling c 2005

One of the highlights of the RiverMASS performance at St. Stephen's in 2005 occurred when Raphael drummed a solo on his bucket and the Nanapowe drummers all stood up with smiles on their faces looking to see what grooves he was laying down. That curosity and appreciation helped shape the line-up for Sounding the River. We will all have a chance to sit in a circle together and learn each other's songs and grooves. Debra Winchel will be hand drumming and singing Mohican songs Sunday morning, July 13th, teaching new songs and old.

Hudson River: Looking Upriver from Bear Mountain Bridge

2008-03-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk in Mahican, is a river that runs through the eastern portion of New York State and, along its southern terminus, demarcates the border between the states of New York and New Jersey.

When Henry Hudson first encountered the Mohicans, they referrred to the river as "Mahicannittuck," meaning "the place of the waters which are never still" or "the continually flowing waters." There are variant spellings for these words but, generally speaking, "Muhheconnuk" meant "place of the Mohicans" and "Muhhekaneew" meant "Mohican people."
It was not far south of Schodack Island that the Mohicans first met Henry Hudson as he sailed up the 'Great Tidal River.' Schodack Island was the seat of the Mahican's Council Fire.

In our Sounding the River celebration we will have the opportunity to welcome descendants of the Mohicans who are members of Nanapowe, the Mohican Drum. They will be drumming at Pumpkin Hollow in Craryville, NY by a waterfall and stream that joins the Hudson.
We are inviting schoolchildren and people of every age to write letters of welcome to the Mohicans.

Send letters of welcome here: movesound@gmail.com

Thank you for joining in the celebration! We look forward to seeing you on July 13th when these letters will all be received by Nanapowe during the Sounding the River performance.

Notes from RiverMASS ~ forerunner of Sounding the River

2008-03-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about Housatonic River Summer in the Berkshires I was intrigued by the fact that the east and west branches of the Housatonic join near Pittsfield. This confluence of water is a powerful symbol for the revitalized energy in Pittsfield. The need for a ceremony to honor the river seems natural. Art, spirituality, and activism come together in RiverMASS. The word 'mass' in RiverMASS refers to the state of Massachusetts, to the definition of earth weight as mass, and to the performance that is a celebration of nature by different traditions and people. Perhaps music originated in our innate sounds of reverence and awe as we imitated nature with our voices. When we express our reverence and awe for the world around us in song we can begin a powerful process of change within ourselves and the world around us. Let's make a joyful noise today by singing or shaking a shaker and acknowledge the majesty of the river.

The name RiverMASS surfaced in January 2004. The making of RiverMASS includes freshets here, rivulets there: the story of the Pittsfield man who rafted down the Housatonic as a boy and rolled in the mud by the railroad tracks at Clapp Park is in RiverMASS; the bed-ridden woman at Hillcrest shaped the songs in RiverMASS by her intent listening; the textures and sounds in the voices of the children at Morris School in Lenox who took on the roles of mammals, birds and wind in the river orchestra are in RiverMASS ; each performer and reader today brings their unique rhythm and vision to honor the river. "To put your hands in a river is to feel the chords that bind the earth together" (Barry Lopez).The river is a boundary, a mirror, an indicator of movement. It is a map of early industry, sacred route of the Mohicans and repository of modern manufacture. It invites us to create legends and re-direct its flow, see where it is dead or stagnant and restore its vitality. By sharing stories and studying the history of the river we can understand better where we are now and re-direct our future.

If you get in a canoe off East New Lenox Road in Pittsfield you will be amazed at the thriving life on the river. In a 2 hour ride that was part of the Upper Housatonic River Valley Course for teachers studying the river, I saw two blue heron, turkey vultures, darning dragonflies laying eggs in the water, mayfly larvae, silver maples laying over the water, linden trees and arrowhead bushes. While we struggle to clean the river of poisons and PCB's, the river shares with us its resilience and beauty."A river sings a holy song conveying the mysterious truth that we are a river, and if we are ignorant of this natural law, we are lost" (from Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life). The river holds all our voices. We are once again listening to and learning from the river.

At the invitation of puppeteer Meredyth Babcock http://marmaladeproductions.com/ I wrote six songs for a performance called " The Watershed Waltz" that explores the dynamics of a healthy watershed. "The Watershed Waltz" was written and performed in schools with funding from the Highland Communities Initiative, a program of The Trustees of Reservations and http://www.westfieldriver.org/.

Many groups locally and nationally have devoted themselves to cleaning the river. Resources to continue honoring the river: Housatonic Valley Association, The Housatonic River Museum , Housatonic RiverWalk, Housatonic River Initiative, Hudson River Sloop Restoration, Inc., riverkeeper.org, rivernetwork.org, Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail and many more.

W.E.B. DuBois

2008-03-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

"For this valley, the river must be the center. Certainly it is the physical center; perhaps in a sense, the spiritual center. Perhaps from that very freeing of spirit will come other freedoms and inspirations and aspirations which may be steps toward the diffusion and diversification and enriching of culture throughout this land."

~~~W.E.B. DuBois, "The Housatonic River,"
Delivered to the Annual Meeting of the Alumni of Searles High School, July 21, 1930

Illustrious native son of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, W.E.B. DuBois is the grandfather of the civil rights movement and his visionary statement about the river informs 'Sounding the River.'

Nanapowe, Mohican Drum Group in Stockbridge, MA

2008-02-27T17:09:00.000-08:00

Nanapowe in front of Stockbridge Library

after drumming on front lawn in a performance

funded by the Laurel Hill Association

By Water I Am Led

2008-02-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

We call upon the waters

That rim the earth horizon to horizon

That flow in our rivers and streams

That fall upon our gardens and fields

And we ask that they teach us

And show us the way

~ Chinook Blessing

sounding the river

wake up 99 words and music by joAnne spies

Be the Change

upcoming gigs

Dennis Kucinich at Peace Conference Hancock Shaker Village September 17

Thursday, May 5th and Saturday , May 7

"Sounding Mohican Pathways" receives funding from MCC

International Women’s Day Conference: Women Write the World on Mar 5 2011, 1:00 PM - 5:30 PM at Bard College at Simon’s Rock (84 Alford Rd. Great Barrington)

upcoming

Gary Snyder on "Reinhabitation"

"Celebrate"

"where is the watershed?"

Dalai Lama Barack Obama

August 26 at Micro Theatre in Pittsfield

watershed people

David Darling wins Grammy

Gigs

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates how the Pentatonic Scale is embedded in our DNA

listen here: Where the Prairie Begins

musical accessibility

Upcoming Gigs Summer/ Fall 2009

By Water I Am Led

The First Annual Berkshire Festival of Women in the Arts

pictures for upcoming cd "North Avenue Honey"

Move it, Sound it, Write it!

Youth Alive

Hudson River: Looking Upriver from Bear Mountain Bridge

Notes from RiverMASS ~ forerunner of Sounding the River

W.E.B. DuBois

Nanapowe, Mohican Drum Group in Stockbridge, MA

By Water I Am Led

International Women’s Day Conference: Women Write the World
on Mar 5 2011, 1:00 PM - 5:30 PM at Bard College at Simon’s Rock (84 Alford Rd. Great Barrington)