West Coast, US: I'm considering making visits to L.A. and Portland in mid-June. Traditional venues are likely booked up by now, so I'm open to suggestions and help regarding 1. Venues where I could host a workshop for approx. fifteen people 2. House concert invitations 3. Cat-free accommodations

Thank you for contacting me with any inspired ideas. It's been far, far too long since I've made it over yonder!

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Last week Eric Harvey released 20 Essential Freak Folk Songs, an article for Stereogum in which I'm proud to have been included. Aside from opinions about which musicians did or didn't wind up on this particular list (some of my personal faves are missing!), Harvey's article is well-researched and well-written--a surprisingly effective portrait of a particular era. Last fall, Jesse Rifkin released his book This Must Be the Place: Music, Community and Vanished Spaces in New York City another thoroughly researched work documenting NYC music scenes over the span of several decades. Several of us from the Sidewalk Cafe scene were quoted in Chapter 9, NYC's Like a Graveyard: The Story of Antifolk. There's something precious to me about these markers of passing time and I'm thankful to the archivists.

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What I'm listening to: I have concert tickets to see two extraordinary artists coming up soon--Saul Williams in D.C. this Friday, and Ganavya in NYC in July. 

What I'm eating: Flowers. Weeds. Spring has me going for wilds, earths, bitters, muds, buds, greens. Supreme tonics for lethargy / thawing from existential anxiousness. This past weekend I made a new batch of "spring things" vinegar--it begins with a walk through my yard, making a bouquet of edible plants, chopping them up salad-style to fill a mason jar, and then giving them a full pour-over of apple cider vinegar. I let the jar rest, lidded with plastic to avoid rust. After a few weeks I'll strain out the plant material and end up with a fantabulously tasty herbal vinegar. For more flowery words and visuals about the provision, privilege, pleasure, and politics of foraging, please see my recent Instagram post.

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This week I was moved to witness Charlottesville's City Council vote to adopt a ceasefire resolution for our small Southern city. At that same Town Hall meeting I was intrigued to learn that April 2nd-8th is International Dark Sky Week. It's a wonderful initiative towards befriending the night in response to the rampant increase of light pollution and the effect it has on us all--humans, animals, birds, plants and their pollinators. We need nighttime. We need its rest. Consider, if you're able to, switching off some outdoor lights and/or swapping bright white bulbs for yellow bug lights. 

All this to say…may you find some time to listen to the stars, and gaze into the heart of darkness.

And thank you for giving some attention to my newsletter. 

My new album continues to progress (slowly / in its own time). We've just received a couple of nice-sounding masters from the mastering engineer, which is a harbinger of more good things to come!

Suns,
Diane

For this Spring Things / Easter vinegar I gathered wild yarrow, plantain, dandelion & violet (leaves & flowers), purple dead-nettle, bugleweed flower, chickweed, yellow dock leaf, wood sorrel, red clover, false strawberry, and from my garden horseradish leaf, thyme, oregano, anise hyssop, spearmint, strawberry leaf & flower, + a hint of garlic. It's sure to be delicious!