One of the traditions associated with spring cleaning is replacing the storm windows with screens, cleaning the remaining windows, and airing out the house. It’s a great feeling and gives such a fresh, new outlook - all the better to see the forsythia and lilac blossoms. It reminds me of something my mother said to me several years ago about getting to see the lilacs only so many more times. You don’t take the lilacs or the seasons for granted with an attitude like that.

Last year saw the re-release of Adirondack Green on CD, 15 years after its debut as a vinyl recording. In anticipation of spring, I’ve been working with Alan Bartenhagen of Northern Roads Productions on a digital re-mastering of Mountain Air. Well, having heard the results all I can say is that now you can see and hear green sweaters, red bandanas, Harry carrying the mail, and geese over the St. Regis more clearly than ever. The air is cleaner and fresher.

In between those two projects was the release of Folk in Fredonia, a benefit CD for the 1891 Fredonia Opera House. In May 2000, Jim Briggs recorded a concert at the Opera House that included The Newton Street Irregulars, Jenny Berggren, Chris Warner, Bill Smith, Greg Clarke, Mark Murphy, John Kirk and Trish Miller. Check out their website (on our Links page) www.fredopera.org if you’d like to order a copy. It’s good music for a good cause.

Coming soon - an album called Rooted in the Mountains, containing eleven new recordings plus all of the original Sittin’ In Your Kitchen available for the first time on CD. But more about that later. Time to go outside. Rememer, don’t take those lilacs or the season for granted. And a reminder in verse from Gary Lawless:

When the animals come to us,
asking for our help,
will we know what they are saying?

When the planets speak to us
in their delicate, beautiful language,
will we be able to answer them?

When the planet herself
sings to us in our dreams,
will we be able to wake ourselves,
and act?