Grant -- dun!

I just submitted an application for the Jack Straw Artist Support Program, for Dunava. If we get selected, we'll use the Jack Straw studio to record a second, more professional-level CD. (We love our first CD, but it was recorded in a home studio, and it shows... or rather, is audible.)

This is the first time I've applied for *anything* for Dunava, and it feels like such a milestone. Being accepted would be exciting just for the validation or vote of confidence from a group that is not our immediate fan club. We love our fan club -- all the Balkan music and dance people in and around Seattle -- but we want to be interesting and compelling to people new to the musical genre as well. That seems more like a worthwhile "mission:" to make Balkan songs beautiful and enjoyable to a wide spectrum of people, without compromising its character.

This is also getting me to finally think outside the box for the choir. The box = the local gig circuit we've been doing, including Folklife and the occasional little concert here and there. (We're at Empty Sea on November 13.) What else could we do? Could we do other folk festivals, like the one in Vancouver BC? Could we draw a crowd in Portland and Eugene?

Could we travel the world? Could we rehearse twice a week? Maybe let's dream in small increments...