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In this newsletter: The always becoming seasonal transmorgrification brings a return to travel and activity for me and I never met a morphosis I couldn't change with. Wind blows through and rearranges it all like office furniture everywhere. Something's getting way stronger clearer and that to me feels like big open refreshing and manifesting through breathing music and connection, possibility and unlimited being. No time for endless obfuscation and distraction; Sancronasta knows how many beans is five and what "two eggs side by each with a pair of toast" is even if he isn't in Minnesota listening to Diana the mighty Hunter singing elegiac dreamthemes. A) In a couple
of weeks and coming up fast, I am making a return to the east
coast area to play the 7th annual Susquehanna Music Festival
and that is a chance to say howdy and sing for many I have not
seen for far too long. The festival is Mother's Day weekend,
May 9 - 12 and that is coming up like streaming audio. Besides
my own sets on Saturday and Sunday, festival friends like Anne
Feeney, Chris Chandler, Sonia & disappear fear, Dreamsicles
and many others will all be doing sets of their own. There are
in-the-round sets too with several performer writers sharing
the stage. Visit the festival website to see the list of fabulous
performers participating at www.smaf.info. Here's a special mailing
list ticket deal too for you from SMAF: B) I will be in Texas for about a week before SMAF doing a local show or two (If you want a schedule sent and you're not on the Texas list, let me know.) and then it is time for the 37th Kerrville Folk Festival. I have been going there since its 8th year YOW. Those festival dates are from May 22 through June 8 and that is enough time to get to know lots of new songs and friends. Come and stay for the whole thing and get Kerrvillized. I am hosting the staff concert the last weekend this year and will be there for the duration. Let's do some picking aat the Crow's Nest late at night and at all of the other great camps too. For ticket info and the line up of performances go to kerrvillefolkfestival.com. C) Now you can download and/or listen to a half hour music interview with me on Portland's KBOO community radio from back in February that was a fun croaky show after a night of too much singing. Some new tunes there and talk with Jade, the host of Movin' On. Listen to it at www.kboo.fm/node/5914. Time to get those starts in the ground and water and weed again. Gardens are where we put our intention for the year. Amazing things do come up and delicious ones too. Every four years we have a Leap Year (even if you're not into ballet), the Olympics and a presidential (s)election. Perhaps they're really all the same thing... I can imagine us all being Olympic judges holding up numbered cards after each election debate and speech...lotsa twos and ones probably...and all that leaping about... Thanks to all of you for your support above and beyond, feedback, silliness and direct communitarian communication. Thanks to for signing up to receive this quarterly newletter. If it ends up in your spam box, add my address to your safelist. That's it for now. Bulletins as they occur. I can't remember where I read it recently but three tips that have helped are: reflective self awareness in relation to the whole, be open to receive--feelings too, and use and appreciate ambiguity (am I being ambiguous...I dunno...maybe...er..not really...well nearly...) Pass the biscuits
and whatever wronged Miranda rights you have left.
A. Winter solstice is already running up the ramp to greet us. A time to be inside more, in all ways. A season of short days, long nights and a chance to be still. It has been a bluster of a year with the travels and hairpin turns, abrupt departures and unexpected plot twists (peppermint and chubbychexsnaxmix). Twenty Oh! 8 looks like a pivotal year for many and coming soon to a theatre near us. I find myself home again in these trees and listening to rain and perhaps the sound of snow. After being gone lots again, I wonder who I am this time, what to bring forth and what new ways I can learn to stretch and become. It's been a year of daunting unexpected weather everywhere I looked and went. Rain for more than a month everyday in usually smoldering Texas summer. Chilly evenings in the Northwest summer. Autumn way late in the Midwest. Towns running out of water. Earthquakes. mirthquakes, ground shakes, waters breakin, babies wakin, birthday cakes, toothaches, goodness sakes and sleepers wake (about time too). What was it we came here to do?... So we now return you to your favourite program which is already in pro-gress (if pro is the opposite of con, isn't it better than being in con-gress?). A funny word is chagrin. Torpor too, and there is no lack of either, but if a man with one watch always knows what time it is, is a man with two watches ever certain? A new car commercial I saw recently has the announcer bragging "...featuring an energy efficient 28 miles per gallon..." and I couldn't believe my ears. My 1993 Toyota gets 28 mpg and it's 15 years old! One would think, after all these years, mileage standards would've improved lots more by now. Another episodawater in the continuum saga of a Swiftly Unraveling Planet. Tune in next week and collect 'em all... And that brings me to: B. I am grateful
to all those who help get this musicheart out into the world.
All the ones who come hear, tell their friends about it, play
the songs on their radio shows and host concerts in their homes
and venues, who write about it in the papers and on the web,
buy CDs and cards, and bring thoughtful ideagift presence too.
You who provide guest rooms and couches and homes to sleep in,
all of this a huge giving: the essence of community action. I
could not have done this without you for the last 25 years. This
time of year when the road slows and my bounces are much smaller,
I look back at you and see how much gets accomplished; a seemingly
impossible lifepath made more possible. C. QTNews: According to BMI, "Darkness Comes" has been getting lots of airplay this year in England of all places. In May, I get to play Maryland's sweet happening Susquehannah Folk Festival just before Kerrville kerrn-venes again. I haven't been to the east coast for 10+ years. A recording of guitar music may yet see the light of day before the close of 2008 along with another batch of worded songs to sing along with in the car or wherever you drive. A book project or two perhaps as well. Any underwriters out there? D. For those who have asked, a live version of that crazy oft-requested evolving word piece "Three Little Letters" is posted on myspace.com/brianqtn; a fun recording from last June's Waterloo Ice House gig in Austin with the one and only Robert Vignaud on his monster elephant electric upright bass shaking this whole hunkjahunkja Ear-th. E. www.QTNRG.org is where all the lyrics are, links and CDs. Hearthearthearth, Parakeetfishhead and Lubricating the Species are orderable (adorable?) online. The winter website sale of all QTN CDs is 3 for $40 postage paid. Complete your collection and share them as gifts. Bite-sized Mantra cards are in a cool new nestbox and appreciated wherever they go. Great for that card person you know. (Know a store who'll sell 'em? Send info here.) If you are not into online ordering, write me here and you can mail for any of this. CD soundclips are at CDbaby.com/qtn. Alas, the winter sale is not through CDbaby. F. "Food" is still in the upper 300 of Neil Young's Living With War list of protest songs at www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html. 2200 songs are linked there to check out. Programmers have contacted me doing radio shows with the listed songs. Use "Find" to locate "brianQTN" on the page and click on "Food". G. Lastly, a CD tribute to Joules Graves' songs, For Joules, came out this spring getting airplay all over the place. When you order a copy, all the dough goes to Joules who has MS. Others who sing on the disc: Joanne Rand, Jim Page, Casey Neill, Lewi Longmire, Francine Allen, Tina Malia, Darryl Cherney and many other great West Coast talents. CDs are $17 via mail. No wonder
these missives only make it out a few times a year... Your corn
forest spondent, There's all kinds of news and handily organized by sections too: A. QTN continuumusing A. Welcome to all the new names gleaned from this last year of travel. Thanks for thoughtful letters, lifestories poetry and other creative writings. When heart speaks to heart, words are only sounds to describe wave. It has been a time of music and much travel, meeting bright ones and playing in all kinds of venues as well as major life changes and passings of many dear ones recently gone to the beyondosphere never to be seen in form again. When multiple friendsouls leave around the same time, the feeling becomes a continuous process and opening. Sage to burn, connected breathing, a big ahhhhhhhhhh... Touring in the Midwest in October, I was eating at a Thai restaurant before singing at the Living Room across the street in Pontiac, Michigan. The Simpsons were on loud and huge on a wall-sized teevee for atmosphere bringing an abrupt juxtaposition to my day of driving across the state among colourful trees and cloudy swirling skies. Startlingly, was the most unbelieveable juxtaposition which I could never make up: On the teevee was a commercial for joining the CIA during The Simpsons! That just about explains everything about how it all seems to work on many social levels. Here's a "company" looking for "employees" trying to find serious professional folks who want to spend their lives investigating minutiae and clandestinely making everyone's privacies a whole lot more public (criminal even) and the "company" that's hiring is targeting the audience of The Simpsons for their prime prospects. That's even more amazing than looking for true love in a bar... Of course, right after that was a hemorrhoid commercial... Welcome to the celebration! In just a few short weeks, days will get longer again. And if you act now, you can receive, absolutely free, a pair of ears just like mine. Also if you act now in a movie, you will still be eligible (or is it dirigible) for the 2007 Academy Awards. After you act now, you can re-act now. And just think, someday, you will be able to re-enact as well. Yes, the endibilities are posstless! On to the next topic ... B. Here's a pre-solstice package deal on product for sale through my website only until 2007 (coming soon to a theatre near you). Order three of any combination for $30. Mix CDs and Bite-sized Mantra decks for the same low price. $2 will be added for First Class postage anywhere in the US. (At this time, Hearthearthearth is out of stock and due to be reprinted after the first of the year. It is still available through CDbaby.com/qtn for now..). Also, Mantra cards have new packaging: a little box to keep them in and a colour tinted card on the top--same amazing cards inside. If there is a store in your area that would like to carry them, send contact information here to me. You can order QTN stuff securely through the QTNRG.org website or you can mail checks and money orders directly. (Note: When website links are listed, cut and paste the addresses into your browser. ) C. My 1999 CD, Parakeetfishhead, is available again after several years out of print thanks to a generous and thoughtful supporter's help. There is now a page with sound clips as well as a place for you to post your own review of it. Tell the world what you think. Go to cdbaby.com/qtn3. D. The "Food" song I recorded 5 years ago with Adam East and Kris Deelane has just been posted up on Neil Young's Living With War website. On the far right column, there is a link that says '"Food" by brian QTN'. Click on that and it takes you to the page where you can listen. Visiting the site repeatedly makes the song go up in the chart of nearly 1000 songs posted there. Many singing friends have posted great songs there too, so check out others'. Go to neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html. E. And speaking of that tune: I just found a short stack of "Food" /"The Mess Age" two song CD/45s. I thought they all had long ago been sold. Since being posted on Neil's LWW site, I am receiving letters from folks looking for copies, so these will go quick. When they gone, they gone. While you're at it, visit the QTN myspace page for some unreleased songs posted and a current itinerary. It's at: myspace.com/brianQTN F(inally...) The new Lord Buckley 100th birthday tribute song "Hipsomantic Centennial", is available for free download with the most zingingest and gone-est verbiage and popped wide open picture on Lord Buckley's Official Website. Go to lordbuckley.com/LBC/LBC_Misc_Pages/LBC.html and click on the "Riffs" button on the far left side. Look through the boxes and click on "The Pounce". This recording features the anthropomorphic bass work of Austin's Robert Vignaud and is from our Father's Day concert at Austin's Ruta Maya. Download it into your computer and enjoy it wherever you go! May the turn of the year be peaceful and bountiful for you and yours and may you remember to step out of all the hoopla regularly and find some good artist time to listen to the woodpecker or the moon or a candle or whatever it is you listen to in peace. It is the perfect antidote to non-stop holiday madness. We just have to remember to remove the "non". Thank you for sharing this digital 001010100011101010011010100100010101 community with me. It comes through these fingers so it must be digital. However you celebrate the end of another year and the solstice season, may you and your dear ones be full of good music, good health, good cheer and communication, good being and doing, dreaming and dancing. abundance and laughter wherever toys are us. Your corn
forest spondent in the rain, Beepbeepbeep Brian Cutean coming through loud and clear on the wire beepbeepbeep bringing you news of coming soon to a theatre or outdoor festival near you soon so come aboard with or without training wheels. The first gig is a short notice one and I'm still looking for a house concert or two to plug while I am there. Here is the latest. Note esepcially the Grovefest show this Sunday. Talk about short notice... If you are into myspace, go to myspace.com/brianqtn and listen to some unreleased QTN recordings. There is also a posted itinerary for when you are not near yr email. I reluctantly dip the toe into an online showcase. Feedback appreciated. Suggestions for tunes to post? The website is another fun place. QTNRG.org. Parakeetfishhead is available again too. I'll have some at all the gigs. Bite-sized Mantra Cards too. Bring your
dear ones and let's celebrate the great a bun dance of the harvest. Brian QTN Gigs to Print and Post 10/01/2006
10:30 AM - Grovefest @ The Grove 10/15/2006
09:30 PM - The Charleston Two long sets
with guests in the old home bar of the Dysfunctionelles. 10/20/2006
08:00 PM - Live! From the Living Room/The Blue Note Cafe 10/21/2006
08:00 PM - Saugatuck Center for the Arts 10/28/2006
07:30 PM - 20th Anniversary of Lubricating the Species @ Carpenter's
Hall 1. Fiery Thoughts 1. As we move out of the frying pan in to the proverbial and literal fire of August time of year, the fiery dog days of the Sun, the unrelenting grip of heat upon the whole of this country and civilization, forests aflame, the world aflame in one way or another.,the weather map says "I'm all red and brown except for along the left edge coast." Certainly somewhere Mars in its fiery way holds sway, both increasing aggression and imparting energy to accomplish many positive things too. In a personal way, fire burns with change, creation and communication, with follow through and attention, being active so unlike winter's passive, performing like an actor with a swelled head about to burst with the pride of the fierce leo lion and of course implies a giving birth of sorts too as the pride swells.... Hot tea anyone? Time to plant intention for the fall crop of what will be. The arc of another year is half past somehow and I do better see what my part in it all is. There are so many worthwhile projects, (which to dig into next?), so I do simultaneous work in many ways to bring them all forth. Communications on a personal level with many others is a good place to work. A language of clarity and non-inflictive, non-combatitive communication is a splendid way to dig in and see what there is to see (as if we didn't have enough to do already)... 2. New for this newsletter is the e-address it is being emailed from. Please change your address list to include BrianQTNews@efn.org as friendly mail so it doesn't end up in your spam folder. I was advised by some who weren't getting my newsletters that spam filters often snag addresses with no vowels in the address. And since my other address is definitely not vowel-oriented, future newsletters will come from this new address beginning now. 3. Lord Richard Buckley was a performance artist throughout his life who told stories in the jazz language in the 50's and his recordings have been hard to find until recent digital releases all worth hearing. He is still an amazing American treasure. Last April, I had the pleasure of performing at Lord Buckley's 100th Birthday Celebration Hiparama in Portland and premiered a new song called The Hipsomantic Centennial. It was so enthusiastically received, I have been including it in recent sets too. Suddenly it is an MP3, recorded live at Ruta Maya Hdq in Austin on Father's Day 2006, and accompanied by the one and only Robert Vignaud on elctric upright bass. It is posted for you all to listen to in wonderful headphone stereo at http://lordbuckley.com/LBC/Riffs/RiffsFrame.html. Go to the "Riffs" section and click on the picture of me called "The Pounce". The site is maintained by Michael Monteleone who has been working on the definitive Buckley documentary for years already. He has written some very thoughtful and beautiful words about the tune too. Drop him a line after you visit the site. Pictures from the Hiparama are posted on the Birthday Celebration page accessible from the home page. DIG INFINTY! 4. Midwest Autumn Tour--This October and early November I will be in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and perhaps other states in the area. I am booking dates now if you know of a good venue or house concert in your area and want me to come play. Send info so we can set it up. If your local radio station doesn't have QTN CDs, let me know who they are and I will send them discs. 5. Parakeetfishhead, the CD is uncaged and available again at last. It has been out of print for a long time. In celebration of its reappearance (and before it goes up on CDBaby, I am having a Dog Days special on it and the finally CD'd, Lubricating the Species. For August, they are 2 for $20 postpaid in response to this mailing and though the www.QTNRG.org website only. Checks and money orders are fine too for those who don't do online sales. Just hit reply for direct mailing information. I have been told that QTN CDs make good gifts for those in need. 6. Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen have released their version of "Darkness Comes" on a new CD titled Being There and it is fun to hear. Quite the delicious honour it was for me to sing it live with them and Jack Williams sitting in on guitar during their mainstage set at Kerrville this year too. Visit their website for more information at www.compassrosemusic.com. Welcome to the new folks on this list and thanks for continuing to support independent music. These days, I have 5 other QTN albums and a couple more books in my heartmind I am hoping to push out one of these days and by then of course, there'll be more. New tunes have been emerging as well as some older ones I forgot about and digging again. Here we are on the precipice of some sort of surgemerging forth. Who will you be next? What is alive in you right now? What does a chameleon see when it looks in a mirror? Another mirror of course... Your corn
forest spondent, It must be time to get on the road to Texas again. It figures. Just when the rains let up and azaleas unexpectedly psychedelicize the scenery everywhere, even before the appletree where I live even has tiny buds to blossom and leaves only just beginning to emerge in urgent see, the wanderlust of my wooded gypsy awakens to look at maps and dates and adventures and projects. i come to realize how, leaving for a destination, I change along the way. By the time I get "there", I am different and so is the destination. It is so in a drive across town too, yet more pronounced in places passed through, other lands and tribes to savour and learn about. It must be time to get on the road to Texas again. Some QTNews: • Welcome to new names on the list who signed up at show somewhere along the way to get sporadic email news from me. • Inspired by the changing light and profusion of blossoming green all around and very suddenly needing to replace the clutch in my truck on the eve of my departure to Texas and the southland, a sale on all things QTN for this time of Spring and Beltane is well underway. Here's how it goes: Order by mail or through the QTNRG.org website during the month of May and CDs are 2 for $25 (postage paid for US addresses). Mantra Cards are two sets for $16 (postage included). It is a way of saying thank you and to encourage everyone to gift a friend. • After a few years disappeared, Parakeetfishhead is finally out again thanks to the generous heartsoul who bestowed the gift of remanufacturing to this out-of-print recording from the ancient days of 1999. Check out the Parakeetfishhead Fieldtrip story in the website's Recordings section. Many of you try to order copies even still and have been very patient with how long these things can sometime take. Parakeetfishhead will be available through CDbaby.com soon too. Hearthearthearth and Lubricating the Species each have CDbaby pages where you can hear soundclips, order for next day shipping and post your review of either CD if you are so moved. Go to: www.CDbaby.com/qtn and www.CDbaby.com/qtn2. • Bite-sized Mantra Cards are showing up in the funniest and best places. There is a Certified Love Oracle who distributes them at gatherings in the Northwest and a deck became a part of a glorious Perccussmas Tree over the holidays in. I know families who pick cards together for group reading and therapists who buy them to pass on to patients. There are so many uses for them. • Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen have just released their version of "Darkness Comes" on their brand new CD, Sense of Place. It is available through their website www.compassrosemusic.com. Besides, their own originals and "Darkness", Steve and Cindy also cover Trevor Mills' song "The Kid with the Comic Book" It's an honour to hear songwriters I have long admired sing something I sing. • If anyone wants to know my current Texas itinerary and are not on the Texas list, please drop me a note and I will email the schedule to you. If you live in Texas, another QTN email is forthcoming. Thanks for all the incredible letters, thoughtful wishes and be whole dance. i wish you all wherewithal, sagacity, pulchritude, a quiet place to just sit and ironic hilarity as if there wasn't too much already. I remain your
corn forest spondent, It must be time to get on the road to Texas again. It figures. Just when the rains let up and azaleas unexpectedly psychedelicize the scenery everywhere, even before the appletree where I live even has tiny buds to blossom and leaves only just beginning to emerge in urgent see, the wanderlust of my wooded gypsy awakens to look at maps and dates and adventures and projects. i come to realize how, leaving for a destination, I change along the way. By the time I get "there", I am different and so is the destination. It is so in a drive across town too, yet more pronounced in places passed through, other lands and tribes to savour and learn about. It must be time to get on the road to Texas again. Some QTNews: • Welcome to new names on the list who signed up at show somewhere along the way to get sporadic email news from me. • Inspired by the changing light and profusion of blossoming green all around and very suddenly needing to replace the clutch in my truck on the eve of my departure to Texas and the southland, a sale on all things QTN for this time of Spring and Beltane is well underway. Here's how it goes: Order by mail or through the QTNRG.org website during the month of May and CDs are 2 for $25 (postage paid for US addresses). Mantra Cards are two sets for $16 (postage included). It is a way of saying thank you and to encourage everyone to gift a friend. • After a few years disappeared, Parakeetfishhead is finally out again thanks to the generous heartsoul who bestowed the gift of remanufacturing to this out-of-print recording from the ancient days of 1999. Check out the Parakeetfishhead Fieldtrip story in the website's Recordings section. Many of you try to order copies even still and have been very patient with how long these things can sometime take. Parakeetfishhead will be available through CDbaby.com soon too. Hearthearthearth and Lubricating the Species each have CDbaby pages where you can hear soundclips, order for next day shipping and post your review of either CD if you are so moved. Go to: www.CDbaby.com/qtn and www.CDbaby.com/qtn2. • Bite-sized Mantra Cards are showing up in the funniest and best places. There is a Certified Love Oracle who distributes them at gatherings in the Northwest and a deck became a part of a glorious Perccussmas Tree over the holidays in. I know families who pick cards together for group reading and therapists who buy them to pass on to patients. There are so many uses for them. • Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen have just released their version of "Darkness Comes" on their brand new CD, Sense of Place. It is available through their website www.compassrosemusic.com. Besides, their own originals and "Darkness", Steve and Cindy also cover Trevor Mills' song "The Kid with the Comic Book" It's an honour to hear songwriters I have long admired sing something I sing. • If anyone wants to know my current Texas itinerary and are not on the Texas list, please drop me a note and I will email the schedule to you. If you live in Texas, another QTN email is forthcoming. Thanks for all the incredible letters, thoughtful wishes and be whole dance. i wish you all wherewithal, sagacity, pulchritude, a quiet place to just sit and ironic hilarity as if there wasn't too much already. I remain your
corn forest spondent, It's been another Uh-Oh year filled with zaniness, hairpin turns, massive diasporas of people moving across the planet en masse, political ineptitude, doublespeak, beauty, grieving, chaos, miracles and every experience in-between. It is no small feat to come to the end of another year intact, not in these shoes anyway. I have enjoyed many opportunities this year to play music with talented others in performance and while relaxing under the sky in beautiful places all over this country. No sense getting blissed off at an abundance of showering grace... whew! If you are new to this QTN newsletter, welcome! Thanks for signing the mailing lisp at a show or through the website. Wild it is indeed to write thousands of people all in one swell foop since communication is vital. Life stories exchanged are fuel and medicine to this peripatetic soul. Hearty thanks for extending couches, meals, laughter, communication, interest in this music-life and however our lives interface with each other. Thanks for staying in touch and writing, for coming to shows and for buying CDs for yourself and your friends. All these things make this sometimes seemingly impossible road possible. The CDs, Hearthearthearth, Lubricating the Species and Food in My Belly (the 2-song disc), are available through QTNRG.org, my fun junk-drawer website. It is rumoured that out-of-print Parakeetfishhead will be available again in 2006 too. Song lyrics, stories and other fun features are there too. Order CDs securely there and through CDbaby as well or send checks/money orders here. I am happy to include personalized gift cards to your special friends too. Then write your own review of either of these CDs for the whole world to read on the CDbaby pages too. Click on "Write a Review" at the bottom of each page at (www.)cdbaby.com/qtn and cdbaby.com/qtn2. New Bite-sized Mantra card decks are available at QTNRG.org too. I hear from folks who don't even know I play music and found Mantra cards somewhere or were given a deck as a gift. See this page for card samples and have a peek for yourself by going to: QTNRG.org/BITE.html. Local radio shows in your area not have QTN recordings when you request them? Send names of host and radio mailing address or website info here. May your families be healthy and prosperous and hilarious and preposterous. May you remember to laugh inappropriately and to walk in nature's bounty often and may you know there's always a heart that beats inside your own. All we are
is music, three chords and an attitude... If this is
your first Brian QTN newsletter, welcome. Ahh...the Turn...the splendid fool moon brings us into the balancing of Libra, the turning of the wheel and the October moon of changing season right where'ere ye be. Thar she blows. Northers return. Maple trees here suddenly breaking into flame completely different than even two days ago. This as another powerful hurricane roars into landfall and I wonder how my people are there tonight... Must be time to hit the road again... And so I will be spending October and some November in the midwest states of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and perhaps Indiana, land of my Hoosier beginnings. If you live in those places, you will hear about QTN dates and places soon. If you live in another area but will be leafpeeping in the midwest or visiting thereabouts, drop me an ee, ask for the itinerary and it shall be sent to you. Ohhh, the angle of the moon...and so surprised I was by Orion the other night in the stark trees... ~~~ We had a benefit in Eugene last Friday for Hurricane Katrina Relief and raised $$$ to send to Veterans for Peace (vfproadtrips.org) and Mercy Corps (mercycorps.org). These are two groups working direct with the devastation there and money they collect really goes to the people. They (along with others like AFSC (afsc.org), NAACP (naacp.org) and others too many to mention) have been bringing help to folks that still haven't heard from "official" agencies. They not only distribute food and clothing, but family paks, toiletries, medicine and medical help. They also plan child activities and help locals navigate the internet labyrinth so folks can sign up for help. If you have not given something yet, these are groups with good track records. Check out their websites for more info. Throughout
the rest of 2005, I will donating 20% of all CD and card sales
to these organizations because the work will need to be done
for a long time and that is another way we can do our part too. The QTNRG.org website is morphing and changing. New there are Bite-sized Mantra cards combining my wordthought with Kimmm Still's pics (think tree poster). Pick a card, any card. There are fifty-two in the deck and they are beautiful, make thoughtful gifts and are worth passing around. See QTNRG.org/BITE.html for card samples. Hot off the press is that psychedelic relic, Lubricating the Species, previously available in real vinyl and finally remastered for CD by the original engineer, Stew Urbach. So many of you have been asking for this to be out on CD. Well here you jolly well are then and with the current technology, I am glad we didn't remaster it before now. It sounds great. Hear soundclips at CDbaby.com/qtn2. Hearthearthearth also has soundclips up at CDbaby.com/qtn and you can write a review for either of these albums for all the world to see at the bottom of each CDbaby page. Order CDs or cards through QTNRG.org or CDbaby.com--CDbaby offers one day shipping which is better than I can do when I am on the road. If you are not comfortable ordering online, send checks made payable to me (with my last name spelled out - cutean) to: 821 Laurel Hearthearthearth-y thanks for all the ways you include me in your communities. I have gotten amazing letters lately (a great fringe benefit of this lifetravel) and things happening now are way more incredible than anything we could make up even though we already are... All best.
All for now. QTN Newsletter highlights: A. Hot July musings I am told these musings provoke and somehow satisfy ones it goes to and that is heartening: to be able to write to many souls at once, to have others be interested in what comes from this life and to respond in affirmation and curiosity no matter what form surgemerges through, no matter how skewed the burgeoning babble of civilization smashes its being into the pink floydian wall like the crash-test dummies Rex and Clyde. Thanks to all who reply with such stimulating content and conversation. Heartalk makes musiclife flow between such full ideas and perceptive perspective like a sweet cool rambling river. B. Order Lubricating the Species
on CD! And, to brighten these August Dog Days, purchase copies of Hearthearthearth and Lubricating the Species together by mail through me only both for $28 postage paid. You save $$$ and I get to find homes for these wonderful recordings. C. New Bite-Sized Mantra Cards D. QTN on River City Folk
radio show available It is never easy to stay out of preconceived notions and belief systems. It is very rewarding (however it is pronounced or nuanced) to hold a field of possibilities open to unexpected grace and last minute in-sync-segue like live radio in front of everyone adventurous and transformational. A most amazing road it is, this life I find myself in. Thank you for being a part of it all and for all the many ways we continue to face to face, interface, outer face and all about face which is possible no matter how many kilometres apart our proximity may appear to be. Communication these days is spontenacious, instantaneous, simultaneous and even subcutaneous, email or not. So there (here)... This newsletter includes the
following newsy bits to ponder: A. I am pleased to let you know that I recently recorded an hour long interview with the one and only Tom May on his River City Folk radio show. This show has been on for over 20 years and is currently syndicated to over 200 stations nationwide, streaming on many of them and also streaming on the WFMT satellite network, beaming directly to your computer the week of April 10, 2005 (that's next week folks). It is an interview and live music show which you can listen to and hear and even record if your computer does that sort of thing. Here is a list of stations that stream the show and the times and days they air it. You can go to any of these links at the indicated time of the week of April 10th and (i think) hear the show. Live Streaming Broadcasts
of River City Folk B. Even after all these many years, folks still ask me how to obtain the whimsical QTN ditty called "The Little Package" which appeared on Fast Folk Musical Magazine way back in 1986. The Fast Folk series was recently acquired by the Smithsonian Institution of Washington DC so somehow, QTN is in the Smithsonian now! Within the last month, the Smithsonian website is up and running and making available its huge and amazing recorded catalogue for your downloading pleasure. If you are interested in obtaining
your very own recording of the saga of that magic lizard and"The
Little Package" (and who wouldn't be?) go directly to www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/containerdetail.asp?itemid=69
(just paste the address in your web browser) and click on "The
Little Package". Each download costs 99 cents which can
be charged to your credit card. The whole Fast Folk series is
available this way and the issue I was on also featured luminaries
like Steve Gillette and a wild haired Texan named Lyle Lovett.
You can order the whole album or just the tracks you want. "The
Little Package" was a bit of a hit in Canada when this album
came out and C. My first ancient vinyl LP, "Lubricating the Species" is being readied for CD release at long last. We are hoping that it will be released in time for this Kerrville. It will be available through my website QTNRG.org as soon as it is manufactured and eventually it will be listed on CDbaby.com as well. Many folks have been asking for this one as well and at last you won't have long to wait. Check in often with the website for the latest. D. The Peter Wilde Tribute
CD "Hold Me Up to the Light" is finally available through
CDbaby as well. On it, I sing Pete's gorgeous tune "Around
Again" and there are 28 other amazing songs on two discs
featuring the likes of Adam + Kris, Myshkin, Libby Kirkpatrick,
Still on the Hill, Ky Hote, Laura Kemp, The Sugar Beets and many
many You can also hear soundclips from my newest CD Hearthearthearth at CDbaby.com/qtn and order several copies for yourselves and for ones you love. You can even write your own review there at the bottom of the page and I encourage you to do so. This is a fun and interactive way to let others know what you like about Hearthearthearth. All my CDs are always available through direct mail for those who are uncomfortable with online credit card transactions. Checks or money orders are fine. Make checks payable to me, spell the last name out, Cutean, and mail them to 821 Laurel, Junction City, OR 97448 and I will send out CDs as soon as I can. All the best to you and yours in this surgemerging spring gushing forth in froth. Hope to see you at the Kerrville Folk Festival in May in Texas or the Oregon Country Fair in July or somewhere else on the road. bq First though, a moment to
thank you all for letters, cards, thoughtfulnesses and so many
brave wishes. Too, many thanks for ordering and enthusiastically
enjoying the projects I bring forth. It is a powerful and humbling
blessing to realize that the work means so much to so many. Once
again, into another year we go spinning on a tabula rasa At last and already, days are lengthening again and so many old layers drop away into the comicosmic recycle bin. I recognize this dance and hibernation transformation over many winters now in virtual ritual like firedance, becoming still apart from various social velocities, and yet still a part of this whirly identity who spins across the gyroscopic globular sphere whirl with big bounces only sometimes getting smaller. And I listen to the ever changing charade parade beyond news and type and headlines, heartlines, lifelines and bylines, swimming in deep night reaching toward sounds I will never hear, hearing sounds I never knew there were. Sooner or later I lie down to sleep and the vacuum continuum dreaming picks up right where waking day left off where fantastic evolutions and wry astute commentary on my wakenings and discernments are projected like movies on the inside back of my skull until I wake up smelling popcorn. AND WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH QTN MUSIC you may be thinking? I only know this is part of how the work gets done. I find myself a centrifugal mandala turning circumfrence with the spirit of expression. Still I must learn to do more to be more consistently sustainable though the way does indeed provide for the wayfarer and is always mysterious and miraculous to me. But what does it bring forth? Well, the newest CD, Hearthearthearth, is out getting reviews and airplay at many stations across the states, even in places like Australia, Germany and Canada. The CDbaby QTN website (go to CDbaby.com/qtn) is up and running and I have heard from so many folks, even ones from years ago who listen to the song clips, send me an email and order right from there. CDbaby has secure ordering online and will mail your order on the same day you place it. If you haven't visited there yet, please do and if you have and are enjoying the CD, take a moment to go back and write your own review of Hearthearthearth for others to find on the lower left part of the page. Tell the world what you think! Other big news is: it looks
like that old QTN psychedelic relic vinyl album Lubricating the
Species is finally being made into a CD as well. It was recently
remastered by the original session engineer, Stew Urbach, and
is due to be out sometime before spring. For the many of you
who have been requesting it, it finally is coming true. One of If there is a radio station in your area that plays acoustic imaginative music and you are not hearing Hearthearthearth, send me their call letters and the name of the show you like and I will make sure they have a copy. Radio programmers are inundated these days with CD releases, so try requesting QTN sometime too. They may already have a copy in the library and are waiting for you to ask for it! Thanks for your never ending patience if you've made it this far. Visit my junkdrawer website QTNRG.org for too many stories and fun. If all this wasn't enough for you, here is a couple elastic thoughts from friends with something to say to get us on our way. All the graces and much melodious
song to you in 05,
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver "Hope is an orientation
of the spirit. It is not the conviction that things will turn
out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless
of how it turns out." The newsletter contains: All the abun-dance of the changing cornucopia of a burgeoning autumn to you! This is a time of the whirl where the bottom falls out and we're stuck to the sides just like on that ride at Throwupland USA. It's like being one or more of the plates that guy spins on long tall sally sticks on the Ed Sullivan show way before colour was invented. Occasionally, some of them plates fell off and splattered on the stage......just like today. It has been a summer swift on moccasinned Indian feet and already the chevron geese are honkies without a hanky leaving me with that unmistakeable in-sync-ing feeling. It has been a blur and a blink and a blustery road with lots of concerts, playing, summer hikes, life in the fest lane and pingpongpinball travel. i am already ready for long days home, filled with the sound of rain on a cool tin roof as naked trees shiver under mettalic oceanskies, but that will have to wait. Of course another month or so of sun and light and heat around here would be a wonderful thing... Who was it said: "Without
music, life would be a mistake."? I do know I would be very
different if'n I didn't sing and play music. (Course I would
be very different if I'd-a kep eatin all the white paste I often
snacked on through first and second grade. Maybe that's why I've
stuck to it all these many wilderthanteevee years now...my, how
I Anyway, HEARTHEARTHEARTH is
a new QTN-ergetic aperture twisty oceanic carnival ride CD packed
with fun house mirrors, boogabooga, eleven songs and lotsa real
fun playing. It's finally available, getting radio airplay and
ready to be shot like an arrow to you wherever on this worldsphere
you may be. And, it comes with a free cool tree poster too. See
the tree poster by going to the kaleidoscopic evre expanding
Brian Cutean website at QTNRG.org/hhh.html. The website is getting
to be like an interactive museum. Come have a field trip and
play. HEARTHEARTHEARTH is the sound
of real wood instruments played by Brian QTN and the amazing
Bruce Harvie and special guests, all singing with wordthoughts
together. It is a collection of synchronous and anachronous songs
very much in touch with now. Hear soundclips of the whole album
right now at the premier website for independent music, CDbaby
(CDbaby.com/cd/qtn). Order one, two or twelve copies while you're You can even write a review of HEARTHEARTHEARTH and it will be posted for the world to read on CDbaby's site. Of course,if you would prefer
to order directly from me, write to: A huge note of thanks once again to those who preordered HHH. The preordering made the transfers, mix and mastering possible. I am headed to the midwest for October and will have some release concerts there. Send info about your favourite radio station that has acoustic, folk and songwriter shows near you and, by all means, call in and request QTN music on the shows you listen to. Thank you all again for listening to this music, for coming to the shows and for letting me know in so many ways that it matters to you. If your eeaddress changes, keep me posted (just don't put the thumbtack through my nose) and remember: the only thing there is to atmosphere is sphere itself. Many thanks and music, sweet
music and infinite possibility to you and yours,
March 2003 QTN greets to you one and all this wide whirrld over and under! This is a long overdue massive missive of news, observations and mirth for those of you who have been wondering and inquiring as to my whereabouts and projects. As the last of the palindrome dwindles out of 2002, here in the winter of world discontent, communities are coming together, centering and assisting one another and moving toward deeper balance, more resilient stance and openness so necessary in times like these. Yes there is con but there also is fusion nonetheless (and nonetheless is all the more after all). I find myself returned to these trees and ready for the next batch of projects. Last year was a long year and a fast year and a very wild year with lots of travel and work done in many ways in cooperation with many others and many kindnesses. 2002 was to be a year of me
staying put more and digging in here; a time for reflection and
extended time in not-travel mode. Of course, that is not what
actually happened. The mantra that keeps asserting itself, reminding
me and keeping it all flowing is "Things are as they are,
not as I would have them be." I learn again to remember
to never mistake incidents for disasters and to treat disasters
as adventures. I find a suppleism and All of this shows me once again how the simple ways have the biggest blessinglessons and the least complicated way is always best by far. I find myself encouraged to just BE without all the ephemera that can clutter and stress. After an extended travel, a time of deep rest and simplicity is the best way to come back together and heal weary bones, sinews and brain. Having said that, there are
many projects in the works for this 2003. In February/March,
I am recording more of a new album of the latest tunes, as well
as a long-awaited wordless instrumental collection. Too, we are
hoping to print a second edition of Logodaidalia (the book of
bedtime stories for when you get up), this time with a real ISBN
number to help it get reviewed and accepted into the official
archives of book publishing and with an QTNRG.org is linked to many other sites and now has downloadable QTN tunes with more to come soon. Thanks to webmaestro Brootz and all those who have contributed photos and suggestions. All the lyrics are there, crazy photos, promo and a secure online ordering system for all the CDs (and recently unearthed unopened vinyl copies of "Lubricating the Species") through the Thirdstone Gallery online store. 2002 also brought many good
backwards and forewards nods and musical completions. I have
TWO cowrites on albums other than my own that are both out and
full of great writing and song. The first is an intrumental titled
"Buddy and Carol's Waltz" that appears on Steve Gillette
and Cindy Mangsen's latest CD, A Sense of Place on Redwing Records.
It was written by Steve and I with help from Donna Henschell
and Kelly Mulhollan of Still on The other, more recent release
is on Willy Porter's new album simply titled Willy Porter (Six
Degrees Records). This one is a tune called "Unconditional"
Willy, Billy Jonas and I finished up at 2001 Kerrville and it
is getting LOTS of airplay on those AA stations in major cities
all over the country like KINK, WXRT and KGSR and the world at
large too. To order Call and request either of these fine tunes on your local radio stations so you and others can hear them too! Steve Gillette and I also put our hearts together and finished Turning Toward Home, the Fun Raiser CD for Nancylee Kennedy's new house. Released during Big Folk 2002, it features tunes recorded live in the festival campground by Ed Florida, John Ims, Chuck Brodsky, Melissa Javors, Still on the Hill, Anne Feeney, Mike Williams, Steve Gillette, QTN and many others in rare not-available-anywhere-else unforgettable performances. The song I contribute is called "Chapel Chimes", a tune I wrote with the Chapel Hill chimes many years ago even before the Ballad Tree was struck by lightning (in the ninth year after I grounded out my own being struck-by-lightning under the limb that got blasted off!). It's recorded live on Chapel Hill with voice, guitar and chimes and, it is true: THE CHIMES PLAY THEMSELVES WITH NO HUMAN INTERVENTION. Originally, Turning Toward Home was going to be a limited edition of 100 copies but Planetmedia Services intervened (see their website at www.planetmediaservices.com) and helped us press 1000 copies to raise funds with. It is available through the mail by sending $20 (postage paid) to THE NANCYLEE BUILDING FUND C/O CHERYL GREEN 9006 Glenn Lane, Austin, Texas 78753. All proceeds go to Nancylee's housebuilding. A new house is badly needed as she is having her knees replaced one at a time and cannot even get a walker or wheelchair into her old two room cabin. Need more info? Email Cheryl Green at leegreen@texas.net and tell her QTN sent you! Another cosmic return this year is the posting on the web of the long lost out of print story "In the Valley" by Katherine M. Yates, one of the inspirations for the first song on Parakeetfishhead. It is a story I have made xeroxed copies for years for anyone who wanted one. A different story of hers ("On the Way There") was posted on a Christian Science website as she has been long known in that community. I contacted them and asked if they would post "In the Valley" alongside the other story. They said if I typed it up, they would post it. Now anyone and everyone can download the story for themselves from this link: www.christianscience.org/kyinvalley.html. I highly recommend this most enjoyable and timeless story featuring Marjorie and The Dream. Yes I know I am going on and
on here. Please know I do indeed give many unlimited thanks to
all those who appreciate, encourage and support this music and
my peripatetic ways and all who help keep projects coming out,
those who buy the records, listen to them play them on their
radio shows and turn others on to them, those who come out to
the concerts, the dear ones who come along with the couches I
sleep upon, those who write to me and tell me the most amazing
stories, those who do their work, the keeper of the QTN website
(who unknowingly has brought me news from many long-out-of-touch
ones), and especially to those in the closest touch for their
patience and understanding of this one who is always gone one
way or another even when I am ostensibly right there in front
of them. I do my best to be simultaneous and it sure does involve
many souls from sea to Good music, plenty of fresh organic greens and nourishing food, heart to heart, silence, mindfulness and laughter to you all. Your loquacious corn forest
spondent (with pink eloquence on parade), Hello all you wondrous souls here and there to and fro and fore and aft! Summer simmers and I have returned to the pacific northwest for another round of road tripping, concerts and some breaktime in this delicious wooded bliss. The year has been full and the spring travels to midwest and southwest nutritious and heartfulfilling. Touring always brings me face to face with so many of your beings and it is plenty good medicine affirming our connection and this work that lifts me on wings to soar. Kerrville was another amazing passage (a 'kerr-tharsis" if you will) and many campground writers were represented on the mainstage this year including Al Grierson (by Ray Wiley Hubbard), Anne Feeney (by Peter Paul and Mary), Peter Wilde (by Still on the Hill) and, yes, QTN too (by none other than Willy Porter--Willy was way cool in sharing his second encore with me to sing "Food"-the Who Can Budge-it Blues-in a stirring acapella rendition with three part vocalizing including johnsmith and me). Some of you even got to see the streamfeed one day delayed on the Kerrville website. I've even heard there were CDs burned of Willy's incredible set and us singing by some enterprising souls...one highlight after another for me these days...
I realized that my first vinyl album ("Lubricating the Species") came out when I was 33 1/3, ironically signalling the death of vinyl. After realizing this many years after the fact, I figured I couldn't very well let my 45th year pass without naturally releasing a "45" single just like the old days.Now just pressed and released is the much rumoured long-awaited two song "45" single I recorded recently with that stompin' portland duo, Adam + Kris. The CD features the aforementioned "Food" and is accompanied on the "B side" by the wild psychedelicacy of "The Mess Age". It is now primed and ready for shipping. I have been singing "Food" for a long time, although it has never been recorded to my satisfaction. This year when Willy and me were singing it on the mainstage of the Kerrville Folk Festival for the festival's 30th anniversary year and broadcasting live on the world wide web, it just happened to coincide with the release of the recording. Willy Porter has been performing "Food" for the last five years in his own concerts all over the world and opening for the likes of Tori Amos, Paul Simon, Sting and the Cranberries among others. Check his website at: http://www.willyporter.com. The song remains a much-requested favourite for him and for me. Even though the recording is a two song"45", they are pressed in a CD format and you'll have to see 'em to believe 'em (not to mention hear 'em). If you'd like to order a copy for you and your CD player or for your loved ones and their CD players, the time is now. Send a mere $6 (checks payable to brian cutean)to: QTN 45, 821 laurel, junction city, OR 97448 and we'll put one in the mail to you sooner than you can say "emerge urgency". Those of you with computers are getting this message way before I get around to doing a snailmail announcement (and if you still do get mail from me with postage, please take a moment and email me your eee-dress and we'll save paper and lotsa moola.
Your corn forest spondent, brian QTN PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF BRIAN'S NEWS ARE BELOW IN THE NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE: JANUARY 2001 an open can-of-wormwords to all from that Brian QTN fellow... Welcome to the first fledgling
moments of this new world odor-in-the coat brought to you by
the 21st century which is more than just an idea at this stage
in the game. It is good to take a few moments (and the oftener
the better) to think about where we are, what we intend and where
we are undoubtedly heading despite our every precaution. It is
a wild ride, this For my part, I am grateful
alive to be here and in tact (tact being the unsaid part of what
we think and its opposite the unthunk part of what we say) and
still making music and still on this amazing road i know and
love and still visiting the wildmindtribe with you all from sea
to shining G7th everywhere i go and play. Too, I am only getting
now to envision what
Some folks have been inquiring lately about QTN projects, musical activity and all those forms of PROcess turned PREsentation and even sometimes PROduct so herewith are some things in the air and on this plate which is sometimes not unlike the plates the guy on the Ed Sullivan show would spin three or four at a time simultaneously atop sticks: The year 2000 saw the release of a QTN book of bedtime stories (for when you get up in the morning) called LOGODAIDALIA. The first print runs were short runs of 200 copies and as such they flew away quickly as the response has been phenomenal. I am planning another print run with a real offset print cover (instead of the electric-coloured xerox one, pretty as it was) and a real ISBN number too sometime this year of 2001. The newest record, PARAKEETFISHHEAD, has been selling great and is nearly ready for a second pressing. It has gotten repeat airplay all over these Newnited Snakes West, East, Midwest and Southwest as well as in Portugal, Germany, England and Belgium. Another project for the new
year is a single (like we used to have in the old days). Last
fall, I recorded two tunes with my favourite Portland duo Adam
+ Kris and had a great time. We pulled out the stops and knocked
it out of the ballpark on this one folks. I really wanted to
press it as a vinyl 45 but it looks like it will be a single
from the "CD" side of town instead, seeing as how not
many of you have record players anymore. I realized after the
fact that my first vinyl, LUBRICATING THE
SPECIES came out when I was 33 1/3 years old so it only stands
to reason (as if reason has anything to do with it) that I would
have a 45 out for my 45th year. (As a creative amazing aside,
a year or so ago, we found a box of 50 Undoubtedly, many of you will
be interested in knowing that Cathair Houseconcerts of Seattle
has released its annual compilation CD of highlights from their
year 2000 houseconcert series. This year's compilation is a joy
to hear and a wonder to behold with a hilarious cover picture
from the WTO demonstrations last year in Seattle. The CD features Anotheramazing compilation due out soon is the benefit CD for Breitenbush Hotsprings. They had a 4 day summer music fest last year and the CD features not only more QTN (and with Joseph Seigel on violin), but Joanne Rand, Adam + Kris, Laura Kemp, Abakadubi, Caroline Aiken, Freedom Tribe and a whole bunch of others. I'll be sending out word when that is available for ordering too or you can write directly to joey@breitenbush.com. To have some time for stillness and contemplation is what winter is made for and is such a necessary balance to all the craziness that goes with living in a truck the rest of the year. Last week, my transmission died as if to tell me to stay put for a good while and ouch! that hurt the doughflow. I have been trying to figure out what my trance-mission is now and how to pay for it and then of course today, when reading questions to and answers from Huang Po (from the fourth century), I read: "Q. If Mind is used for transmission, why do you say that Mind too does not exist? To which Huang Po answers: A. Obtaining no Dharma whatever is called Mind Transmission. The understanding of this mind implies no Mind and no Dharma." and of course if you have a tepid squalour layercake brain like mine, it makes perfectly good sense and put my Mind/no Mind at such ease. Thanks to all of you brave
communitarians who are on this mailinglisp for whatever reason,
for sending creative encouraging and challenging thoughts and
wishes this way, for coming to the performances, for asking for
recordings and then buying them, for programming this music on
your radio shows, writing about it in your newpapers and magazines,
for laughing Carrots and peace and whirly twirly pearly swirlies to you and may all your selves be prosperous in this coming century and in the ways that really matter. The great a-bun-dance to us all in fifty words or less wherever toys are sold. Your corn forest spondent, |
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