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Re: Update Letter from Linford

Since you will be coming to the south, how about a date somewhere in North
Florida??  Also, where is the list that does nothing but send us concert
dates and other dates.  Your old office friend.

Chuck Casson


----- Original Message -----
From: <OTRhine at aol_com>
To: <over-the-rhine-announce at actwin_com>
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2002 9:14 AM
Subject: Update Letter from Linford


> Greetings campers,
>
> It's summertime and I rarely walk out of the house without pausing to pull
a
> small weed or two out of one of the flowerbeds. Jack says a weed is just a
> flower growing in the wrong place, but he's not a gardener, as of yet.
Quack
> grass is not a flower under any circumstances.
>
> It's been an unbelievable year for the tiger lilies. The grape vines have
> really come into their own as well, although the squirrels keep eating the
> green grapes. The squirrel population has exploded in the back yard again,
so
> I need to borrow a live trap from Michael Wilson. You have to drive at
least
> five miles before you drop the squirrels off, or they'll come back. I'm
not
> too worried about the grapes right now, but there is talk of taking a run
at
> a Grey Ghost Merlot one of these summers. Ever since I was a child and my
> mother showed me pictures she took as a young woman traveling around
Europe,
> I've wanted to see a barefooted girl hitch up her skirt and tramp on
> harvested grapes to crush out the juice.
>
> The catalpa trees went to town this year: big heart-shaped leaves,
hundreds
> of flowers fifty feet or more off the ground. If you can't remember which
> tree is a catalpa, look for the big bundles of beans. The tulip trees had
a
> banner year as well. When we were walking Willow in the woods, we kept
trying
> to figure out where all the flower petals and blossoms had come from,
strewn
> along the path.
>
> "Was there a wedding?"
>
> "Probably so." We had visions of rosy-cheeked, golden-curled flower girls
> sprinkling exotic petals out of baskets. My oldest brother Conrad finally
> pointed out it was the tulip trees dropping their blooms. Sure enough, we
> leaned back and spotted the flowers hidden toward the sky in the leafy
> branches.
>
> When Conrad and his wife Kathy visited us this Spring with their five
robust
> country children, a walk in the woods felt completely different. Their
> children, Jonathan, Hannah, Jesse, Rachel and Seth, *engage* with the
earth:
> they get down in the dirt on eager hands and knees. Rachel found a
beautiful
> snake skin that she carried home. Jesse ran ahead and came back with
reports.
> Jonathan caught two snakes with his bare hands, and one of the water
snakes
> bit him and drew a little blood. Conrad warned him that they were further
> South then usual and had to be careful of snakes, but he wasn't too
worried
> because the snake didn't have fangs, just spiky, tiny teeth.
>
> "We'll know something's the matter if you start babbling, if your
sentences
> begin to fall apart," Conrad said.
>
> The children were splashing around in the creek knee deep overturning
rocks,
> reminding me that I should never walk by a creek without keeping my eyes
> peeled for fossils. They had a contest to see who could cross the creek
> walking on a fallen tree, the naked trunk slick with dampness and the
greens
> of tiny mosses and molds.
>
> The children sleep in the attic of the Grey Ghost under eaves of odd
angles.
>
> In other news, we were informed that a horse gave birth earlier this year,
> and the offspring was christened OTR Tribute, OTR for short. They thought
OTR
> was a filly at first, but it turned out to be a colt. He'll be entering
some
> initial competitions this August at the Ohio State Fair and then down in
> Lexington, so keep your fingers crossed. The thought of a Thoroughbred
named
> OTR Tribute makes me very happy somehow.
>
> In other news, we just realized that we're going to be playing our 10th
> Cornerstone Festival this year. Unbelievable. I don't even remember how we
> got hooked up with C-Stone Fest back in the early days of the band, but
it's
> hosted by an inner-city mission based in Chicago run by a wonderfully odd
> assortment of bohemian philanthropists. The festival has grown over the
years
> and now draws about 25,000 people to the middle of nowhere to hear mostly
> underground bands. Surreal, dusty, sweaty, somehow unforgettable. Anyway,
> we've been honored by being invited back repeatedly, and here we go again.
> Our friend Dave Nixon will be looking after our booth for us. Dave
presided
> at our wedding back in 1996 on a fine October day. If you want to
volunteer
> to help Dave out, stop by the booth, and he might sign you up for a shift
so
> that he can take a breather. He's a fine writer, good company, and his
> daughters' band, Brownhouse, will be playing the festival for the first
time
> this year...
>
> Unsung is finally done. My first book. I'll be driving down to Kentucky to
> pick them up this afternoon. If you pre-ordered a copy, and plan on being
at
> Cornerstone, you can pick up your signed and numbered first edition there.
> We'll be mailing out all the others right after we return from the
festival.
> (Make sure we have your latest address if it changed.) I really appreciate
> the patience of those who ordered the book so long ago.
>
> Many people asked us about the possibility of getting a copy of Unsung
after
> the first run sold out in advance, and thanks to the good folks at
Larkspur
> Press, we were able to secure a second edition of an additional 500. So
there
> should be plenty of books to go around for the foreseeable future. We'll
see
> how many people actually write in to pick up a copy, and if they move
> quickly, we might consider a small third edition. But when the letters get
> dumped out of the letterpress forms, there are no more books. (The text of
> the book was set entirely by hand, one letter at a time, with a tweezers,
> backwards. The woodcut illustrations were pressed directly on to the pages
> from the actual woodblocks.)
>
> It's a small book. A first step. They are beautiful. You could say that
I'm
> happy.
>
> We'll get the ordering info up on the website soon.
>
> After Cornerstone, we're going to disappear for awhile to do some
recording.
> In August, we'll be playing some concerts around Europe and visiting Jack
and
> Hazel in Scotland. They bought a house in a small village there. The rest
of
> the European dates will be posted soon. We'll performing in Holland,
Italy,
> England, Ireland, Wales and, hopefully, Belgium.
>
> In September we hope to do a handful of concerts in the South--Texas,
> Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee.
>
> Here are a few recently added links at overtherhine.com to check out:
>
> European Tour dates:
> http://overtherhine.com/when/tourdates/index.html
>
> Malone College interview with Linford:
> http://overtherhine.com/story/pressarchive/2002/06/01.html
>
> Silver Platters (Seattle) review of Grey Ghost Stories by Lisa M. Smith:
> http://overtherhine.com/story/pressarchive/2002/06/02.html
>
> Thanks to Megan Holmes and Ken Carl for concert photos:
> http://overtherhine.com/when/concertphotos/index.html
>
> That's all for now.
>
> Enjoy these days,
>
> Linford Detweiler for Over the Rhine...
>
>
>
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