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Letter from Linford, 1/2002

Hello,

Happy January. This is Linford taking a moment to send a few quick words your 
way. I hope your year has been a good one so far. Karin and I have spent 
quite a few days in Barnesville, Ohio, where she grew up, packing up her 
mother's belongings, getting the house ready to sell. Sometimes it would 
snow, and then Willow and I would take a break and walk through the woods 
around the lake. 

Many of you continue to ask how Karin's mother is doing. Barbara Bergquist 
lives in Cincinnati now and is still receiving therapy. Initially, the 
doctors didn't think she would survive her stroke, so as Karin says, we make 
the best now of these hard won days. Barbara is now able to stand for a few 
minutes at a time and is able to communicate fairly well using short 
sentences and phrases. The brain is a mysterious place that doctors know 
relatively little about. We've learned alot about health care culture and 
continue to take it a moment at a time. Thanks again on behalf of Karin and 
Barbara for your thoughts, concerns, prayers and notes of encouragement.

Do we know how cats purr? Seems to me that's a mystery as well, come to think 
of it.

Moving on to Over the Rhine news, we were moved and humbled by a 
recently-completed two CD set of cover versions of our songs that fans of the 
band recorded and collected on a compilation called, What It Takes To Please 
You. Our jaws dropped open collectively on various occasions, and we smiled 
alot and even wiped away a few tears. (What more can you ask for in a 
record?) 

What It Takes To Please You is an all-over-the-map collection that hangs 
together surprisingly well. Drew Vogel and Bruce Lachey coordinated the 
project and brought it to completion with very few laws broken along the 
way--a commendable achievement. (Obviously Bruce isn't yet tuned into the 
legal nuances of a derivative work, but the liberties he took with Karin's 
lyrics have as of yet remained undiscovered by GMMI Music International and 
Sony Tunes, the publishers of the song. And hey, he was baring his soul, so 
we ain't sayin' nothin'. And our former label mates on IRS, Ozric Tentacles, 
would undoubtedly raise an eyebrow or two if they discovered their music 
accompanying a computer-generated version of Jack's Valentine, but frankly, 
they're probably way too stoned to care.)

Anyway, we're very grateful to those of you that took the time to let us see 
our songs in a different light. It certainly provided us with some enjoyable 
and stimulating listening as we drove back and forth across Ohio. We felt 
loved. And Drew and I were just talking yesterday: it means a lot that such a 
wide variety of people--professional musicians, people who had never recorded 
before, garage bands, or a few friends with a microphone set up on a church 
balcony--all wanted to be involved. Our hats are off to all of you.

To those of you who would like to order a copy, you can go to Drew's website: 
DrewVogel.com. All the proceeds go to Cincinnati Shares, a charity based in 
Cincinnati that does a lot of good for many diverse folks in our community. 
Well done.

In other news, Jack Henderson, who has been playing guitar with us now for 
over five years, has put out a fine new solo album called Cheap Tattoo. You 
can check out the monthly special at overtherhine.com if you'd like a copy, 
or go directly to Jack's website: bulldogfarmmusic.com. Jack has been doing 
some producing with other songwriters (with exceptional results). You can 
also contact Jack at his website if you're interested in recording at his 
studio.

Earlier this year, I met with the folks at Larkspur who will be printing the 
limited edition of my first book, Unsung, and I was strangely moved as I 
drove off Sawdridge Road just South of Monterey, Kentucky, and onto the lane 
and across the creek that runs through the 60 acre farm where the presses are 
located. This will be a small book printed a page at a time with every letter 
of every word set by hand. They take their time down there! And I don't 
believe I've mentioned this, but Jay Bolotin, a favorite artist of ours, is 
contributing two woodcuts to the project which will be printed directly into 
the book from the woodblocks. This makes me, for one, very happy when I think 
about it. Again, it will be a simple, handmade affair, and we're not sure 
when it will be done. Everytime we talk, Gray Zeitz reminds me, We don't work 
with deadlines. 

We'll keep you posted, and get them signed, numbered and mailed out as soon 
as we receive them. I'm guessing we're still talking about (at least) a few 
months down the road before we see anything. Larkspur's involvement, although 
a coup, was not part of the initial plan for the book. If you'd like to get 
your money back because of the waiting involved, please just drop us a note, 
and we'll be happy to send you a refund. Thanks for your patience.

Eric pulled several MP3's out of the archive this month. Free downloads 
abound at overtherhine.com. Help yourself.

And finally, the shape of our year is beginning to emerge. We'll be doing 
some touring this Spring on the East Coast, the West Coast and a few points 
in between. Scattered festivals are planned for this summer, including 
another trip to Europe in August. (You can see some of the confirmed tour 
dates already at overtherhine.com.) We'll be starting work on some new 
recordings a few months from now. We'll press *Record* and find out what the 
music wants to sound like. 

This weekend, we're starting off the New Year right at Canal Street Tavern in 
Dayton, Ohio, one of our favorite listening rooms. Jack and Karin and I will 
play a couple of living room concerts and throw the door open to see what 
walks in. Join us Friday or Saturday if you can. We often start off the year 
at Canal Street--these will be the first shows of 2002. We'll look for you... 
(More info available at overtherhine.com.)

By the way, we'd like to find two people who would be willing to look after 
our CD table each night in Dayton this wknd. Each volunteer would receive two 
tickets and a free cd from our catalog. Please e-mail Blair Woods if you'd 
like to help out:

BigWalkUp at aol_com.

Hope to see you soon.

Linford Detweiler for Over the Rhine

 
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