I think of myself as pretty up to date – I have designed not only my own website, but also a few others (including the new Celtic Moon website – more on that later!)
But one thing I’m starting to realize is that just like 45s,
just like 8-track tapes and cassette tapes, fewer and fewer people own CD
players, and I still have boxes and boxes of my 12 CDs waiting to be sold to
future fans. Hmm… it looks like no one will have anything to play them on. So, I
decided to join the march into the future and make all of my music available as
digital downloads.
Yes, a lot of my music is already on iTunes and Spotify and
even Pandora, but if you want to have the full album, in its carefully planned
out tune order, plus liner notes, and the cover art, you can now purchase them
on my website instead of the physical CDs (yay!) You can check them out at: https://verlene.com/recordings.html.
But hey, this wasn’t going to just be an advertisement
about my product. I wanted to talk about obsolescence and new tech.
As we are reorganizing where our “stuff” is going with the
new sunroom (photos to follow), I started moving our records to a cabinet closer
to the record player (yes, we still have one) and had to move books to other
locations to make room. I realized that not only do we never play a record, or
a CD, but I also never read these physical books anymore! I opened up one of
my favorite Ursula LeGuin books and was dismayed that I really can’t read that
print without upping my reading prescription. Thankfully, with my increasingly
bad eyesight, I can increase the font size on the kindle app on my iPad, and even
increase the brightness if needed.
So, I now have several boxes of CDs and several boxes of
books that are going to try to find a new home. The record albums we will keep
for posterity or because they’re not available online. (A lot of obscure ones in
the collection.) We’re just not ready to let them go!
Another great use for the iPad is putting my sheet music on
it so I can carry one slim iPad instead of a heavy binder. And it would be one
single item for all the types of performances I do instead of a bookshelf full
of binders. But I’m still getting used to using the foot switch for page
changes. The cool thing about using the iPad is that it’s back lit, so that means
we can leave our music stand lights home as well. And one unknown is whether I
can see the screen on an outdoor gig. Lynda (my Celtic Moon bandmate) is also
working toward upgrading to music on the iPad, but once we’re ready to try them
out on a gig, we’ll still bring our big binders for “just in case.”
More new tech: In Celtic Moon, we started playing with my
drum machine and Lynda’s looper and are looking forward to being able to add to
our sonic palette with this new tech. We will sacrifice some spontaneity with
mechanical rhythm devices, so we won’t overuse them! This is less an “out with
the old” and more “in with the new.”
In other Celtic Moon news, we’ve added to our videos several
tunes from our three recent performances at Wheelhouse of Willow Glen, and they
can be seen on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@CelticMoonDuo)
or on our website: https://www.celticmoonduo.com/videos.html.
We’ve added a number of new tunes to our repertoire that are great fun!
And while you’re on our website, you’ll see our new logo designed
by our wonderful artist friend, Deb Knodel. Here it is if don’t want to take
the time now to visit the website:
Lynda has sent an email to our fan list and wrote up a
lovely description of the significance of each element of the logo:
Red
for passion,
Silver
for innovation and grace,
a Moon
for feminine energy and mystery,
a Wolf
for wisdom and communication,
a
Shooting Star for imagination,
a
Celtic knot for interconnection!
The logo is proudly displayed on every page of our website,
and we hope to make it available on a few fun products soon as well. What
products do you think we should offer?
Here are some ideas:
T-shirts
Coffee mugs
Tote bags
Pins
Hats
If you can think of other products that would be fun to put
this logo on, please let me know! (email info@verlene.com).
Oh, yes, I promised a few photos of the Sunroom progress
for those who have followed the recent blog posts. Flooring is in, and we’ve
move some of our furniture into it, and I’ve purchased cabinets for my book
publishing, sewing, and art supplies. The cats are loving the new space and the
rug that will most likely hide any evidence of kitty barf…
Still to come, sofa and chairs, more cabinetry and in the spring, new landscaping with native plants, a walkway, and maybe a water feature!
