New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
-Green Acres Theme Song, by the late great Vic Mazzy

What a hoot! We wanted to quote Green Acres because it starred the fabulous Eva Gabor and The Dust of Suns wrote a piece of music inspired by her for the Sisters Volume. Very funny and beautiful like Eva Gabor.
Just a couple things to share this week, first of all Chris was showing his friend Todd C. our most recent volume and Todd said “you know I think you would really love the puppet museum in Mason City Iowa.” I think we really do! And the next time Chris is in the Mason City Iowa, he will for sure be visiting in person.

Also, for an artist introduction, we are going to talk about the Dust of Suns, who did the music. Chris tried to get the answers for our usual questions from his mates because he gets to bang on about himself here as often as he likes!

We love you, and have a lovely Sunday. Sorry the whole world is falling apart. Also sorry this missive is a bit of mess I’m writing it way to late at night :)

xoHannah (and Chris)

This week’s artist introduction is The Dust of Suns!

For the “Sisters” themed volume we kept the music close to home: it’s Chris’s group The Dust of Suns! Chris had written a trio of songs for the Gabor sisters, Ava, Zsa Zsa, and Magda, so it seemed like a natural fit to record them and cut a record for this theme. We also love the idea of sharing these amazing musicians with you. Chris loves the people he plays with in this group and feels privileged to play with them. Here’s a bit more info about the group and some desert island music picks from each of them. We hope you love the music!

The Dust of Suns are a Twin Cities based musical group who perform and record all original instrumental music. Much of this music was inspired by french cafe music that Chris learned about while studying the accordion. Other influences are film scores and late 19th century salon music.

The Dust of Suns have released three 10 inch vinyl records each with beautiful artwork by Hannah Lynch. And all their music is available on the various streaming services

After some shifting lineups, the current, amazing ensemble is:
Erica Burton-viola

Chris Lynch-piano
John Munson-bass
Phala Tracy-Harp
Jacqueline Ultan-Cello
These music makers and educators accomplishments are so deep all we can do is have you google them or click the links we attached to each of their names!

Thanks Dust of Suns your songs for the Sisters Volume are beautiful and perfect!

We asked The Dust of Suns our usual short round of questions, and here’s what they had to say:

1. At what age did you decide, “I want to make art!” and what person, work or experience initially inspired you to pursue this course?

Erica: My mom is a pianist, and so I grew up never NOT knowing how to play piano, at least a little bit at first. She was and always will be my biggest inspiration to make music. She faithfully and with dogged persistence brought us all to our various instrumental lessons week after week, until I realized that the love she had for music had grown in me and had blossomed into a passion of my own. I no longer had to be coerced into practicing viola, but could hardly be stopped. There have obviously been numerous other musical influences along the way, but she's the nexus of it all.

2. What is/are your current favorite collaborations/mediums/styles to work in, and what are you working on currently?

Jacqueline: I love pretty much all my collaborations. But most recently, what I did at MIA stands out. Me improvising solo, inputting my signal into IOSIS’ space ship of wires and lights and sound manipulations to create an unearthly vibration of sound to express our anger, sadness, love and beauty. It was very special and very cathartic. I felt vulnerable yet fully supported. My most valuable collaborations are those where I feel like I’m doing something new that challenges me to find something new on my cello and within creatively. And where I feel vulnerable and supported enough to take the risk

3. What are 3 albums or songs you would need to have with you on your desert island (to play on your coconut-powered portable record player)? 

*note: they are not your ONLY 3, that would be too hard to decide! 

Phala:
1) Joni Mitchell - Blue. Best album ever! 

2)  Dar Williams - I'll Meet You Here
I love hearing how Dar Williams has evolved as an artist and as a songwriter.  A couple of these songs make me cry every time.

 3) Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion
It makes me dance.  I like to dance!

4) As you have been thinking about submitting work for this theme, what has “Sisters" come to mean for you?

Chris: I love this theme! I have 4 brilliant and beautiful sisters: Debbie, Teresa, Catherine and Amy. They have always been there for me! They have each played a part in creating the person I am. I love them.

But I have to say our musical contribution for this Dada Duende volume came about in a much more comical way. I wrote a piece that I titled “Zsa Zsa” because there was something about it that reminded me of Zsa Zsa Gabor. I showed it off on solo piano and a friend of mine suggested I make it a trilogy of pieces; Zsa Zsa, Eva and Magda. One for each of the Gabor sisters. I thought that this was a hilarious idea because Eva and Zsa Zsa were such familiar campy personalities from late night television when I was a kid. I thought they were fabulously beautiful and very funny, with there accents and personas, and jokes about having been married a million times. Magda I had to look up, and decided the piece I would write for her would be beautiful and understated. She didn’t have all the glamour of her sisters, so I wanted that piece to be the most thoughtful and beautiful. I still laugh to myself when I think of these pieces. :)

Sisters as a theme in general though makes me immediately think of the Bronte sisters and other sister groupings that I find haunting or interesting. One of my recent musical discoveries is Lhasa de Sela and I read somewhere that she had 6 sisters and that she followed 2 of them, who had joined the circus to montreal. This sounded very artistically romantic to me. Also, Jacqueline Ultan, who is one of the Dust of Suns is one of 4 sisters. She showed me a picture of her with her sisters as children performing as a string quartet. It was a beautiful picture :)

5) Who is a current working artist who you would like to share with us because you think we would dig them? This can be a visual, musical, or literary artist and does not have to be someone you know. :-) 

John: I am a big fan of Chris Larson. He's a sculptor who lives in St Paul and teaches at U of MN. Guggenheim Fellow. He makes art and then films it. Sometimes. He inspires me.

THANK YOU Dust of Suns!
You are a super group!

xoH&C

Hey Duendes…what are you listening to right now?

TELL US WHAT YOU ARE LISTENING TO and/or READING RIGHT NOW,
you can reply to this email and we’ll add it to the playlist and our unmanageable books-to-read list!

The DDRC playlist of songs that our contributing artists would take to a desert island with them and whatever songs we Duendes happen to be listening to. It’s weird and eclectic…like us!
follow it if you like—it will continue to grow!

Ye Olde DDRC cinnamon shop!

That’s all for now, friends! Have a great week!