Tangria working with PBS’s RoadTrip Nation
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Music

Hi all,

Hurray!

PBS's RoadTrip Nation featured "Freedom Jazz Dance" (from Mebane's Eleven) in a video interview with Rickey Minor, the music supervisor for American Idol. I've enjoyed watching the program on PBS. I hope you'll enjoy hearing our music woven into one of their videos.

I'm so thankful for this chance for our music to reach new people while I am busy teaching for the summer and am unable to devote as much time to booking new shows.

Take care.

Sheryl

11:57 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

new gig plus....
Current mood: anxious
Category: Music

Hi,

Lately, I've been getting my groove back, letting the demands and stresses of leading Tangria's tour slip away and not letting my other projects ramp up into a frenzy (You may have to paste my website's address into your browser to check out my other projects www.geocities.com/sherylmebane). I want to share my thanks for the positive ways that people are still responding to Tangria's live music and our latest CD. Thanks for helping me put my efforts into perspective and to remember that a love of music led me here (I think that's a good thing).

I just added a new show (June 21) and new radio station to our website (www.tangria.net). I hope to have another show to tell supporters about soon. It would be another festival date. Playing at more festivals was a goal I set for Tangria to move toward through our tour. I am thankful for the many venues that have brought us to their stages for the first time and for repeat performances during our national tour, including a festival in SC and hopefully some California festivals this summer.

Take care out there.

Sheryl

2:14 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

hello from Columbia
Current mood: mellow
Category: Music

Hi all,

I'm staying with friends in Columbia after a good show at Mac's on Main on Saturday. I missed playing with Simon (who I still get to play with for shows in Cali), but I enjoyed hearing local talent offer fresh takes on my favorite tunes. Thanks Matt, Zach and Evans, thanks to the folks at Mac's and thanks to all the folks who came out to enjoy the food and the music.

Tomorrow, I will continue to enjoy this relaxed touring pace. After exploring Charleston, I'm looking forward to playing at the North Charleston Arts Fest with people who played at the fest on its opening day.

I've also been thinking about my next major projects with Tangria and in other parts of my life. It will be great to be at home again for a while so I can launch a few other things that I've been dreaming about for months.

Take care,

Sheryl 

6:54 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

new pics
Current mood: sneezy
Category: Music

Hi,

I just posted new photos at www.tangria.net/photos.html. 

I’ll post another blog after I’ve posted recently recorded radio interviews and reviews at www.tangria.net

Peace,

Sheryl

:)

9:38 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

thanks again
Current mood: mellow
Category: Music

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who helped support Tangria during the last few days of our winter touring, when Simon and I traveled up to the San Juan Islands before journeying down through Oregon and back into Cali. Thanks also to Chris Cortez and Afrikahn Davys for sharing our upcoming show in Oakland with their listeners (www.tangria.net/shows.html). 

Despite some timing challenges with rental cars and thanks to last minute discoveries of generous and talented bass players, it was a positive, beautiful and relatively fun way to wrap up the touring for a while. I’m resting for a while, writing again and finalizing the next mini-tour (www.tangria.net/shows.html), when I’ll work with musicians in South Carolina and perhaps in North Carolina.

I’ll post another blog after I’ve posted recently recorded radio interviews, pics and reviews at www.tangria.net

In the meantime, take care of yourselves.

Sheryl "going back out to sit in the sunshine" M.

6:36 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

looking forward, looking back
Current mood: mellow
Category: Music

Hi all,



I hope you’re doing well as mid-March approaches.

I’m back into a healthy routine here in Cali and looking forward to playing a few shows with Simon and Marc Gasway before Simon and I enjoy the last leg of our winter tour next weekend (www.tangria.net/shows.html). This week, I also confirmed the first show after the March tour gigs end, a literary and musical performance in the North Charleston Arts Festival centered around Lady Bird (www.pearlstreetpublishing.com/LadyBird.htm). I’m working on confirming more gigs in May, June and beyond.

I’m still planning to share a few pics from the tour in future blog entries and to post more of the latest reviews, which are quite encouraging, of the Tangria Jazz Group CD (www.tangria.net/cd.html).

One of the benefits of stepping back into my usual flow of projects is that I’ve been able to look back on things like the tour.

I can’t give enough thanks to the folks contributing to the tour in all sorts of ways. I’m so proud of the music Tangria has made, but I’m also delighted by all the folks I have met on the road who have listened to us, bought our CD’s and my book, written about us, sponsored our shows and invited us back for future events. The pace of the tour and the many miles driven have been challenging (thanks for hanging in there Simon) and have made me grateful for a return to a slower, more sustainable touring & gigging pace. Still, this was a dream of mine that so many people helped me usher into the world.

I am so grateful.



Peace,

Sheryl

1:54 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

appearances tomorrow and things to come
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Music

Hi all,

I hope you are doing well and staying healthy in this flu season.

Tonight, I'm finally entering the addresses of folks who joined Tangria's mailing list last month. I'm still planning to post the pictures from our shows last month here and to enjoy catching up on the email correspondences and reconnections that started up thanks to the tour. I hope I'll be caught up on all of that and have lined up some summer shows (centering around Charleston, SC) before Simon and I head out for our last leg of spring tour events that start on March 22.

Before I email Tangria's list, I'm going to post a note about my appearance on KPFA tomorrow at 10am. I'm nervous, but excited to chat with Doug Edwards again.

I also want to thank the folks that have been inspiring, encouraging and supporting me lately. Last Friday, I met some new sources of support and inspiration at the African American Book Festival in Oakland. The ideas from the multigenerational and multiethnic crowd flowed freely that evening around the topic of how to promote peace and justice in a time of war and conflict - an engaging and stimulating topic. I wonder if some of the conversation will connect to the materials that I share in Tangria's upcoming literary and musical celebrations of Women's History Month. Hmmm...

I hope to see you soon!

Sheryl

PS: Tangria's whole tour has been going well - extremely well for our first time traveling nationally. I'm finally settling back into a routine after wrapping up the second leg of the tour over a week ago. We ended that leg on another high note, enjoying playing to friends, family and new friends in a crowd of 75 that came out despite icy weather!

11:25 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

back home
Current mood: satisfied
Category: Music

Hi all,

Here's another big THANKS to all the folks who came to Tangria shows, bought CD's, sponsored the latest week of gigs, hosted us in their homes or hotels, called with their support, spread the word about the events, and generally made this latest leg of the Tangria tour a success, despite some challenging weather.

I'm taking a few days to catch up with life back here in Cali. Next week, I hope to email folks individually who have contacted Tangria or me lately. I'm also planning to email the expanding Tangria email list after I update our media page with new content. In the meantime, I just added another gig for Tangria.

Simon and I will be performing with a bass player on March 5 at Jupiter in Berkeley. We played years ago at Jupiter in Walnut Creek. I'm excited to bring our latest sound to a spot where I've enjoyed hearing other groups play - including a recent show by Simon and some other folks.

Peace,

Sheryl

PS: Thanks for sending pics. I will post some online soon and still welcome more photos from our shows.

I'm also hoping to find some time next week to share a few more tour notes, hopefully sprinkled with those pics from y'all.

8:09 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

woohoo!
Current mood: sick

Hi all,

Tangria is home from tour and heading back out on the road tomorrow (to Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Austin, DC and then Asheboro, NC)!

The first leg of the tour was great (in SC, NC, TN & GA). We had good crowds at all the shows, the music was great and our literary and musical offerings were well-received. Folks have been helping to spread the word about the tour and it is really having an impact.

I enjoyed meeting folks in the audience as well as the folks working at the libraries, clubs and cultural centers that sponsored us. I hope to see y'all again soon! Also, if you took pictures at the shows, please email them to me (shddrum@hotmail.com works best) so I can add them to www.tangria.net and to this blog.

In our scant downtime, I also enjoyed hiking, hanging out with friends and family, seeing Michael Libramento's favorite spots in downtown Asheville and not driving. :) 

Now, I'm healing from a sore throat and handling the final logistics (I enjoyed an interview that ended minutes ago with WICR's Joanna on the "New Music at Noon").

I want to share a huge THANK YOU with the folks who have been supporting Tangria throughout the first leg of our biggest tour. Thanks to the friends and family who hosted us, thanks to the venues that sponsored our performances, and thanks to the fans - new and established - who brought energy to replenish what was expended through travel (over 2500 mi driven around the Southeast).

I'll definitely stay in contact with folks. Since Simon and I will be traveling again starting tomorrow, it may take me longer than usual to respond to your emails.

Thanks again to everyone and much love to Simon, Michael, Lisa, Kari and all the Tangria team!

I look forward to seeing you at a show!

Sheryl

[PS: I also just updated the media and radio pages at www.tangria.net with new reviews and notes on recent radio interviews. More radio interviews are in the works before our next stretch of tour dates (ex. WPFW in DC).]

9:45 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

notes from the road
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Music

Hi all,

I'm making a sleepy and grateful report from the road. Simon, Michael Libramento (bass) and I are resting in Wilkesboro after enjoying a delightful program at the main library in town. We played music and I read selections from Lady Bird (http://www.pearlstreetpublishing.com/LadyBird.htm). Afterwards and during the reading, the crowd showed lots of support, engagement and love.

Thanks to my family, the Tangria team, WSHA's Chella, the Courier-Tribune's Chip Womick, WUSC and to the folks in Sumter, Columbia, Wilmington and Wilkesboro who have made Tangria feel welcome and well supported during the first days of our biggest tour so far. The turnout and feedback for our shows have been so encouraging. I'll definitely email folks who have contacted me in the past few days back once I get back off the road. Your kind words, interest and presence have made this a very special time for me.

Later tonight, I'm going to update the radio and media page with new materials, so feel free to check them out.

Also, thanks to everyone for spreading the word about our past events. We've got many more shows coming up all across the country and really appreciate you helping to introduce more folks to Tangria.

Peace,

Sheryl

7:44 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment