Cohousing-L Mailing List: Musical performances

[S. Kashdan (skashdan]

Greetings all,

For cohousers looking for singers/musicians for celebrations and/or
informational events, I would like to recommend Dana Lyons,  a
singer-songwriter living in the northwest US, who did a great concert in the
common house of Jackson Place Cohousing this past March. He is currently
interested in
touring anywhere in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand,
Europe...  or anywhere else in the world he is invited.

In March, Dana put on a very well received house concert here in our
cohousing community, Jackson Place Cohousing, in Seattle.  It was a great
all-ages concert because Dana creates and performs songs that are immensely
enjoyable for both children and adults, and are best described as dynamic,
humorous and rooted in community spirit and dogged optimism.  His songs are
in the modern folk tradition and range from sweet to satirical to silly.

Dana performed for us in the evening, starting at 7 p.m.  The first half of
the performance was
addressed directly to the large number  of children who were there, both
Jackson Place Cohousing kids and their friends...  and to one friendly large
resident dog!    During his performance and also during a break which
followed the first half, he spoke with the children who wanted to ask him
questions and tell him things.  He is very respectful and responsive to
children, toddlers to teens.  After the younger children left for bed, the
second part of the concert
was addressed more directly to the adults who remained, while also being
quite accessible and appropriate for the older kids.  The songs were
somewhat less humorous (although not without humor) and a little more
introspective,  and were very well received.  We all truly appreciated
having him here, and it provided a great opportunity for us to invite
friends and acquaintances who we wanted to tell about cohousing too!

Dana has performed for many progressive and liberal-minded groups dedicated
to a variety of social justice issues, including:  helping to raise money
for a local public alternative school, supporting environmental concerns and 
intentional communities.

Dana is constantly writing new songs, and I bet he would love to write one 
or more about cohousing too!
After the concert, he told me that he really liked the atmosphere in our 
community and is interested in doing more house concerts for cohousing 
groups.

There is also a great book that people might want to look at, WE'RE ALL DEAD
DUCKS by Dana Lyons,  which has children's environmental songs.

If you wish to hear any or all of Dana Lyons' songs, you can by visiting his 
website at

http://www.cowswithguns.com/cgi-bin/home.cgi

If you wish to contact Dana to invite him to perform for your cohousing 
group, you can reach him at

dana [at] cowswithguns.com

For more songs and music!

Sylvie Kashdan
Jackson Place Cohousing
800 Hiawatha Place South
Seattle, WA 98144
www.seattlecohousing.org