NEWS LETTER 2005

January ~ The highlight of the month was our 25th Anniversary Concerts. Brining back several ex-GB members was exciting and fun.
    The music was fresh and lively and we had sold-out houses every night. We were joined by Lief Sorbye, Florie Brown, Margot Duxler,
    Sue Draheim and Richard Ferry - it was big-band time! John Sierra (Kathy's husband) videotaped the shows and there is a DVD in the
    works. We hope to have clips from the past (some very unique early footage) as well as much of the 25th Anniversary show. We also
    plan to include interviews with band members and fans. It should be a lot of fun! We might even get a live CD out of it. Watch the
    website for details.

February ~ February was spent working on a new CD (almost finished!) and other individual interests. There was a lot to do, even though
    we weren't on the road. Margie worked with her many harp students. Much of our time was spent on writing, arranging and recording
    of the new CD and everyone had their own personal and family business to attend to. It was a satisfying month creatively and we did get
    to relax a bit!

March ~ We headed into our final months of performing for awhile with a "St. Patrick’s Day Celebration Benefit for Eureka Fire Fighters"
    concert in (obviously) Eureka, CA. We really had no time to take that all in, as we took off first thing the next morning for Southern
    California. With a day's travel time, we felt we were in good shape. Low and behold, the Southern California rains of 2005 had a little
    surprise for us. The freeway was buckled for a mere quarter of a mile just past Grapevine, and we spent a rollicking 4 hours creeping
    along at a snail's pace. Talk about hitting bottom; we were actually reading jokes from Reader's Digest out loud!! We eventually
    reached Glendale, before midnight, and got up the next morning to head over for a matinee concert. With a day in-between shows, we
    drove down to San Diego to visit family. The next evening found us in Laguna Woods. At both the Glendale and Laguna Woods shows
    we were joined by The Larson Academy of Irish Dance, which added visual spark to the jigs and reels!

   The next stop (with a day in-between for travel) found us back North of San Francisco in Ukiah. We turned right around the next
    morning, returned to The Bay Area and performed a St. Patrick's day Celebration in San Leandro. A late night drive after the concert
    brought us to Angels Camp, where we performed for the annual Calaveras Celtic Festival on Saturday and Sunday. We performed on
    the traditional "Golden Bough" stage to packed crowds. It's a good thing they moved us to a bigger room! St. Patrick's Day itself was
    spent performing at The Palmdale Playhouse, an intimate and magical setting. Being that March 17 was a Thursday, we had a whole
    weekend of "St. Patrick's Day" concerts, with the first in Brea (southeast of Los Angeles) and the following in Napa (north of San
    Francisco). Does anybody really wonder why we're talking a break from the road?

April ~ Starting off with one of our annual concerts at The Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks (near Sacramento), we jumped into April
    with a tour to a new area. We traveled from Cheyenne, WY to Alliance, NE, where we saw the one and only Carhenge. Yes, it's an
    exact replica of Stonehenge, made out of cars!! We only had four concerts during this time, but we covered a lot of miles, going next to
    Valentine, NE. From there we went to Ida Grove, Iowa. Never heard of it? Neither had we, until Kathy informed us that it was where
    her dad had grown up!! So we visited his hometown. Stopping in a cafe for lunch, we asked if anyone knew the family name. Turns out
    Kathy's dad's best friend growing up was sitting right down the counter from us. Talk about your proverbial small world!! We ended off
    with a show at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa before flying back home.

    Back home we had a few more concerts and a solitary performance in Mesquite, NV (more flying, more driving!). Our last couple of
    performances were fabulous weekends at The Sacramento Valley Scottish Games & Gathering in Woodland , CA and The Livermore
    Highland Games in Livermore, CA in May. Joining us at both games were The Wicked Tinkers, with whom we ripped it up for some
    rollicking sets. In Livermore, we shared the stage with The Browne Sisters and had them sing with us, while we sat in on their sets also.
    Switching gears from a song with the pristine harmonies of The Browne Sisters to rip-roaring set with pipe and drums of The Tinkers was
    quite a feat. We also had some great moments when Lief and Michael from Tempest sat in with us. And to top it all off, we were
    awarded The Perpetual BlairOliphant International Friendship Trophy. All in all it was quite a final show!!

We have moved Golden Bough's location to Sheridan, OR (where Paul & Margie now reside) so we have a new mailing address and
phone/fax number: PO Box 458, Sheridan, OR - (503) 843-2152.

"Sun & Shadow" Okay, so it's been awhile, but it's worth the wait! The new CD, based on the works of Mercedes Lackey, is in it's final
    stages and should be available soon - we'll keep you posted. Once that project is completed, we'll begin work on a new recording of
    original songs, with a new Golden Bough CD following after. There are a lot of musical projects floating around in our heads, so now we
    hope to have time to get to all of them!!

Our plan is to do limited performances in the summer of 2006, so keep an eye on our website Calendar for updates, or get on our email
list by emailing us at goldenbough@compuserve.com.