Northfield Harvest Stomp!

Just days away from the start of our new season on Friday, October 26 from 7 to 10:30 p.m. at the Northfield Armory, 519 Division Street in downtown Northfield. Details here.

So far the weather looks promising (we don't want to make snow storms a regular part of our visits to the Armory) and our anticipation is building. Can we still play? Do we remember any tunes? Which mandolin will John bring?

Erik and I played our local dance here in Decorah last night with our Western Home String Band friends and seemed to be able to manage a few tunes OK. In fact a lot of the playing was pretty darn good. Rob, Mike, David and young Ben all did a great job of keeping the train on the track despite our best efforts to confuse them.

Hope some of you can make it to the dance on Friday. Otherwise we'll hope to see you at Tapestry during the winter, or maybe out East in April. Here's the full schedule in case you haven't memorized it yet:

2007/2008 Season: When & Where

October 26, 2007
Contra dance in Northfield, MN (details to follow)

January 12, 2008
Contra dance (7:30-11:30) at Tapestry Folkdance Center, Minneapolis, MN

February 22, 2008
Contra dance in Northfield, MN (details to follow)

February 23, 2008
Contra dance (7:30-11:30) at Tapestry Folkdance Center, Minneapolis, MN

March 15, 2008
Contra dance (7:30-11:30) at Tapestry Folkdance Center, Minneapolis, MN

April 3-6, 2008
Mid-Atlantic Tour 2008 (w/Ted Hodapp): Glenside, PA (3rd); Glen Echo, MD (4th); Shepherdstown, WV (5th);
Glen Echo, MD (6th, afternoon waltz & evening contra)

April 19, 2008
Contra dance (7:30-11:30) at Tapestry Folkdance Center, Minneapolis, MN

May 3, 2008
Contra dance at the Highlandville Schoolhouse, north of Decorah, IA

May 17, 2008
Contra dance (7:30-11:30) at Tapestry Folkdance Center, Minneapolis, MN

CD Baby Gets It Right

Our good friends at CD Baby are now in the business of selling mp3 downloads of our (and thousands of other) CDs. They have already been making our music available for download from most of the major vendors (iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, etc.) for a few years but now they are offering full CD downloads direct from the CD Baby site.

Why buy direct from CD Baby? Let me count the ways. First, we get to set the price. So for now we are asking $9 each for Smitten and Hands Four and only $6 for Ballroom Echoes. Since CD Baby only keeps 9% of the sale price most of the money goes directly to us to pay for things like strings, instrument repair and shoes for the kids. Not for the Mercedes or shopping sprees in Paris. OK, sometimes we buy chocolate or maybe a pizza.

More important than price is the quality of what CD Baby is selling. You can go here to read the details but, basically, you will receive high-quality DRM-free mp3s, a JPG of the CD cover and a text file with info about the recording.

CD Baby is only selling complete CDs and not individual tracks so you will still need to visit our friends at iTunes, etc. if you really want to download a single set of tunes or a waltz.

By the way, we love it when our listeners buy our recordings in any format and I personally think that DRM is a bad, bad idea. You will definitely never be sued by us for enjoying our music!