It's an honor to be featured in Our Berkshire Green's
December - March 2012 issue:

see page 10:

Our Berkshire Green

wake up 99 words and music by joAnne spies

Be the Change

 Occupy the Earth
 A link to Jenny Browdy's thoughtful blog

be the change 2012 :

Deep Green Resistance 

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 click here:
David Byrne and Thom Yorke interview on the real value of music 

                                                        carnival october 2011       j. spies

                                                      'motorboat'  monotype by j.spies

upcoming gigs

Saturday, December 10th 
Private Party 
West Cummington, MA 

Saturday, December 3rd
Alchemy Initiative Handmade Holiday Festival

  12:30 - 3pm

 Sunday, November 6

Unitarian Universalist of South Berkshire
Great Barrington, MA

10:30 a.m.

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   October 4, 2011     JoAnne Spies, Wintergreen, MCLA bands

   3:30PM to 06:00PM
      at North Adams City Hall

 

                  March and Rally for Jobs,Justice and Workers Rights

Hosted by April 4th Coalition

Meet at 96 Marshall Street (by Social Security Building) 

Music and Speeches at City Hall

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Thanks to Melinda and Tom at the Rockwell Museum for a fun gig on the terrace. I'm grateful for the NR posters they donate for the Art Cart, which is a program I run in six Berkshire Healthcare settings for CATA.

                                                   

Friday, September 23rd

Norman Rockwell Museum

Stockbridge, MA
Performance at 1:00pm







   September 17th, 2011 Peace Conference at Hancock Shaker Village
featuring Dennis Kucinich and Paul Winter
Eighteen Presenters on Tools and Explorations of Peace
JoAnne Spies workshop: "Writing Songs of Peace"
2:30 - 3:30pm
Performance
1:30pm  Round Barn
register:  Peace Conference info and registration

One highlight of this conference was reading the peace poems received from middle school students in the Round Barn at Hancock Shaker Village. Thank you to Herberg Middle School, Craneville Elementary and St. Mark's and all the teachers and students who took time to reflect on what peace means to them.  Keep on.

                                                   

Dennis Kucinich at Peace Conference Hancock Shaker Village September 17

click photo to enlarge

Dennis Kucinich is the keynote speaker and there will be 18 presenters at this gathering that explores pathways to peace.

Walk the land at Hancock Shaker Village and create your own songs of peace in my workshop, "Writing Songs of Peace" that begins at 2:30pm

Peace Conference information and registration

Rogovoy Report press release 

Thursday, May 5th and Saturday , May 7

 Hope to see you on the Sounding Mohican Pathways walk that begins at 5:00pm Thursday, May 5th at the Mission House. We're fortunate to have Shawn Stevens with us!
 He will share songs and stories at the Stockbridge Library on Saturday, May 7 at 11 a.m.

Shawn Stevens at Sounding the River 2008 photo: Keith Emerling

Shawn Stevens is a member of the Stockbridge Munsee band of Mohicans, in Wisconsin.  Shawn is a Native American flute player, traditional drummer, singer, dancer and culturalist. Shawn believes in leaving a lasting impression upon his listeners not as a show, but as a true teaching of Native wisdom, knowledge and culture.

Sounding Mohican Pathways: Guided Walk with Shawn Stevens & JoAnne Spies

Thursday, May 5, 2011, 5- 6:30pm

Starts from the Mission House, 19 Main Street, Stockbridge, MA

The walk covers approximately 1 mile and includes visits to the Stockbridge Cemetery, the Chime Tower, the Indian Burial Ground, and the Housatonic River. All ages are welcome. FREE. Donations welcome. Hosted by The Trustees of Reservations. For more information, please call 413.298.3239 x3003 or visit www.thetrustees.org

Sounding Mohican Pathways: Flute, Song and Story at the Library with Shawn Stevens & JoAnne Spies

Saturday May 7, 11am-12noon

Stockbridge Library, 46 Main Street, Stockbridge, MA

Shawn Stevens will share Mohican stories and songs for children of all ages. FREE. Donations welcome. For more information, please call 413.298.5501.

"Sounding Mohican Pathways" receives funding from MCC

        

link: Massachusetts Cultural Council

"Sounding Mohican Pathways,"  an educational and cultural exchange program that I created in collaboration with Tammis Coffin, Education Director at the Mission House, has received a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. This grant was awarded through the MCC’s LCC Program and the Stockbridge Cultural Council.

I'm grateful to the MCC and the Stockbridge Cultural Council for the seed money to grow this program that will build bridges between the Stockbridge community here in Massachusetts and the Stockbridge Mohican community in Wisconsin.I will work with contacts at the Mohican reservation and at the Mission House and Indian Museum to organize an interactive music program that incorporates stories, songwriting and history.

Thank you to Tammis Coffin and the Mission House as well as some of the rich resources in Stockbridge, MA for local history.

Mission House
Stockbridge Library Museum and Archives 

Here's info on International Women's Day at Bard College at Siomn's Rock on March 5th. I'm honored to be singing some of my original songs at this event.

International Women’s Day Conference: Women Write the World
on Mar 5 2011, 1:00 PM - 5:30 PM at Bard College at Simon’s Rock (84 Alford Rd. Great Barrington)

This year’s 10th Annual International Women’s Day Conference will celebrate the power of women’s words, both locally and globally. Established and emerging women authors will be invited to share their insights on how they have used writing as a tool for “righting” the world—in other words, how writing is used by women as a creative outlet and a vehicle for social justice. See full program at Women Write the World.

The event is co-sponsored by Bard College at Simon's Rock and Berkshire Women for Women Worldwide. The Women's Interfaith Institute in the Berkshires is a long-time collaborator in supporting International Women's Day.
Keynote speaker will be acclaimed ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, whose trailblazing book, Living Downstream, makes a lyrical, personal and scientific case for banning poisons now pervasive in our air, our food, and our bodies.
( http://steingraber.com/ ) Readings and discussion by women include Native American poet Deborah Miranda, Chicana novelist Demetria Martinez, and journalist Christina Asquith, on Iraqi and American women in the Iraq War. There will also be a panel of women writers from Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, and Ghana and a special dance choreographed by Anni Crofut on the stories of Berkshire women. Singer/songwriter JoAnne Spies will share her original music.
Registration:  $25 paid in advance; $30 at the door; $10 with student ID; Scholarships available.

The International Women's Day conference will be held in the Daniel Arts Center at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA. Contact: iwd@simons-rock.edu
Parallel events will be held throughout Berkshire County for the entire month. Women's Interfaith Institute in the Berkshires will host poet Jan Hutchinson reading and discussing "Poetry as Soul Rescue' at their March 17th program.

                                                

Int'l Women's Day "Call Down Mumbet" song

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photo by Peggy Reeves