NEWSLETTER 2002

Tours, Concerts and Other
Golden Bough News - 2002
January ~ February ~ March ~ April ~ May ~ June ~ July ~ August ~ October ~ November ~ December

January ~ We started off 2002 with a weekend of Celtic rock and a tribute to Robert Burns and the infamous haggis! Our annual Celtic folk meets Celtic rock with Tempest was another lively, raucous and energy filled show. This year's Burns birthday concert was once again filled with the lovely music of Robert Burns and the unique aroma of the haggis. At the end of the month we battled the weather to make our way Northward through Oregon and Washington to begin our Northwest tour in Trail, BC.

February was a tremendous month, despite the cold weather, as we performed 7 concerts and 11 school programs in 3 weeks all over Oregon and Washington. For those of you who fantasize about the romantic life on the road, we put 4,500 miles on our van during that time!

In March we toured California and Nevada, with several St. Patrick's Day theme school programs as well as concerts filled with fans of all ages anxious to enjoy Celtic music. For as many years as we have been touring and performing, we still get a thrill from the audiences and their willingness to have a good time with us! Thanks to all of you who have continued to support our music!

One of the highlights of the month of March was The Calaveras Celtic Festival, where we were honored with our own performance area, appropriately called The Golden Bough Stage. The room was packed for every performance and we had a terrific time interacting with the crowd. We also invited guest musicians (including Lief Sorbye and Sue Drahem from Tempest) to perform with us, adding to the lively atmosphere. A splendid time was had by all!

Also in March, Margie was featured in a half hour long documentary on The Home & Garden channel. The program is entitled "Going Home" and it followed Margie back to San Diego to visit her childhood home (which she hadn't seen since she was a wee lass) and to perform at The San Diego Highland Games with the band. The program was very well produced. They edited down some 20 hours of video to make a 23 minute show!!

April and May found us performing for our favorite fans, the kids!! There is no finer audience than several hundred elementary school kids captivated by the sounds of our instruments and enthralled by our stories! We performed 40 school and children's programs all over Northern California throughout the months of April and May, including two performances at Morrison Theater in The Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We recommend this amazing museum, an experience for the whole family!

In June we hit the road again and headed for Utah. We performed in one of the most majestic places in the country, Zion National Park!! Our outdoor concert, under the colorful rock cliffs, was one to remember! Several other concerts in the beautiful state of Utah (sponsored in part by a grant from The Utah Arts Council) completed a 2 week tour before heading back home.

July ~ We were home just long enough to catch our breaths before heading north once again, this time for Oregon. For our Fourth of July concert and the weekend following, we performed several pieces from our double CD of American Folk Songs. These shows included evening concerts in Vancouver, Washington and Medford , Oregon, in lovely outdoor settings in, completely covered with enthusiastic music fans. The hills were truly alive with the sound of voices joining in on some well-known American classics!

In the second have of the month we played at the British Isles Festival in Ohio. There were some great Celtic acts, including The Glengarry Boys with whom we shared a tree covered stage. And it's always fun to have an opportunity to put on the kilts!! From there we went to Louisville where we were the headline act at The Kentucky Music Weekend, as well as performing on the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour in Lexington. The Kentucky Music Weekend also included well known singer-songwriters Bill Staines, Tom Chapin and Steve Gillette, who between them presented a songwriter workshop that was not to be beat. And beyond all that we were treated to some typical Kentucky weather and that wonderful Southern hospitality.

In August we traveled the length and breadth of The Golden State. Starting off with a weekend at the Long Beach Celtic Festival, held in the Events Park at The Queen Mary. We stayed on the ship for the weekend and enjoyed the beauty of that behemoth. We also had a great time sharing the stage with The Browne Sisters and George Cavanaugh, Craicmore and The Black Irish. We went straight from there to Tahoe for a performance at The Valhalla Boathouse Theater, which overlooks Lake Tahoe - what a sight!

Up to Calaveras the next day and then off to Weaverville in Trinity County kept us moving at a less than leisurely pace. From Weaverville to Davis was the following days itinerary, where we performed that evening at the Palms Playhouse. It was our farewell concert to The Palms, as is closing and moving to a new site, The Winters Opera House. It was quite an emotional evening for us, as we had first performed at The Palms way back in 1978!! (That's pre-Golden Bough, for those of you keeping track.)

We turned around and headed back up Highway 5 for a concert at the alarmingly named "Mosquito Serenade". We were lucky - no mosquitoes, but plenty of folks out for an evening of fun and music. From Anderson we headed to Cedarville in Modoc County and that's about as far as you can go up into the northeast corner of California. Calling itself the "Last Frontier", we performed for 3 days at the fair and introduced a lot of folks to Celtic music. We also spent our evenings sitting in with The Jeff Palmer Country Band for the big dances on Friday and Saturday night. Watch for Jeff to make a big splash in the country music scene! And don't be too surprised - country music is not that far removed from Celtic and folk. After all that's country's roots!!

We ended the month of August in Newport, Rhode Island at the The Newport Irish Festival, where we appeared on the main stage. We met some wonderful musician's, picked up some new musical ideas and generally enjoyed the festive location on the waterfront.

September began with a quick visit to Switzerland where we performed for sold out crowds in towns around Zurich and in Chur, in the Alps. The response was so wonderful that we can't wait to return. Two of the concerts were held in acoustic settings where we needed no sound system. The lovely wood and stone architecture made it possible to project easily and the sound was magnificent! besides the concerts, we also enjoyed a couple of days hiking in the Alps. It is unbelievable how quickly you can get there once you are in Switzerland and the word "breathtaking" truly does describe them!

We spent the rest of September and most of October working on our new CD, Songs of Scotland, which was released on December 1st, 2002. A collection of all Scottish songs (one Irish) it is a magnificent tribute to that culture. We invited The Wicked Tinkers to play pipes and drums on a few tracks and The Browne Sisters to sing harmonies on two of the songs. Their contributions to this recording are very powerful.

Our main concert of October was a Celtic New Year Show, which featured songs and stories about how our holiday of Halloween was heavily influenced by the Celts. This is a fun show that we also present in shortened form in the schools.

In November we continued performing at schools and began preparing for the Holiday Season with a performances at the Auburn and Sonora Christmas Crafts and Music Festival, as well as a Celtic New Year Show at The Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. With all of the Holiday festivities gearing up and lots of music to prepare, November is quite an energized month for us!

December was jam packed with schools and concerts. Our Celtic Christmas program has become one of the most, if not the most, popular show of the year! This year we traveled all over Northern California and braved Donner Pass under rather wild conditions to bring our show to Carson City. Just imagine us in slush up to our ankles, delicate musician's fingers freezing, as we put chains on our van to get through the pass. Isn't it a romantic life?!? Hawaii anyone?

With some of the most memorable Christmas concerts to date, we ended the year at Monterey First Night, performing for three different full houses at The State Theatre there!! They were a wild and enthusiastic bunch. The perfect ending to a great year. See our photos page for photos from 2002 tours!

We are looking forward to more wonderful shows in 2003 and seeing many new and familiar faces as we head into our 24th year of performing as Golden Bough.

Keep an eye on our website Calendar for updates on future showings, or get on our email list by emailing us at goldenbough@compuserve.com. You can also check our calendar archive for a look at where we've been.

Japan News and pictures from our trip to Spain.

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