(photo by Linda Meris)

The reason I look so happy is that I was spending time with good friends like singer-songwriter-choral director Bev Grant, and Diane Crowe, a folk DJ who has played my music on her radio show several times.  Also, everyone volunteers with event chores, and I got to help cook for over 100 people.  For me, that's heaven!  I also helped out at the CD table, where I made everyone laugh by saying, "We're making change for social music!"  Another fun thing was a song circle of parodies.  About 40 people went around the room, taking turns singing parodies of well-known songs.  I'd love to do that again sometime.  That's a great, old part of the folk music tradition.  Some were serious and political, others were frivolous and fun.  I sang my Passover version of the traditional Irish drinking song, The Jug Of Punch.  (email me at mail @ anniedinerman.com if you want the lyrics.)

The PMN members say it's a mystery as to why so many PMN people snore!  Yipes!  It was impossible for me to sleep but it didn't bother them.  So I dragged my mattress to the kitchen floor where I spent a blissful, quiet night alone with the hum of the refrigerator canceling out the sounds of snoring.  So much for your expensive white noise machines!

Sing Out! was founded by Woodie Guthrie and his friends and colleagues, and later carried on Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of The Weavers, among many others.  To read about the history of Sing Out! Magazine, CLICK HERE. 

Pictured (L-R): Lauren Albert, Lynn Messina, Karen Duda, Annie Dinerman.

Thanks to John, co-owner of Gizzi's, for the photo!  Thanks to Lauren, Lynn and Karen for the cherry strudel and green tea. Yum! Thanks again to Karen for the CD review.

It's smaller and sweeter sounding than the Martin dreadnought, a DC-16GTE, that I used to play.  It was fun having a big guitar for awhile!  I'm only 5 feet 4 inches tall and my hands are small, so this smaller guitar with a narrower neck is a much better fit for me.  And the dreadnought always sounded bright but brassy to me.  This new Aura has a lovely warm sound I am already in love with.  The top is spruce and the back and sides are Indian Rosewood.

It was really hard to wait a year to own this new guitar!  Times being what they are, I felt I had to sell the other guitar before buying the new one. Just when I thought I had a buyer, I discovered the dreadnought had been damaged. I went through the insurance thing and had it repaired.  Within 2 weeks, Dave Talvo bought it, right at the end of January, when I sang in the round robin at the People's Music Network Winter Event.  (READ ABOUT THIS SHOW in Annie's blog at myspace.)  Dave has already played the guitar onstage and says he loves it.  Dave sings with the Clearwater Walkabout Chorus, a vocal group that performs songs about the environment and the Hudson River, and they sing some toe-tappin' stuff, too.

I first learned to play on a vintage Martin New Yorker, a small "parlor" guitar which has pretty much spoiled me totally. Martin isn't making that model now, and I wouldn't install electronics in that guitar, so I had to hunt around and make a new choice. Last September when I sang at Bread and Jam Cafe in Cohoes, NY,  I played a Martin 000C-16RGTE Aura, in Albany and knew I wanted to own one.  And now, I do!  I hope you'll come to hear me play it soon.  It's a sweetie.

(L-R) Edd Plant, Tommy Milsom, Annie, Alex Day

READ ABOUT THIS SHOW in Annie's blog at myspace.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE TWEET.