News items posted to this page are usually edited versions of Member Mailings.
Four Winds News: 20 April 2000 (Updated 4/28)
NOTICE!
On the morning of Wednesday, April 12th, Choral Director Kurt Talking Stone’s Home was nearly destroyed by a severe fire. Kurt and his family are all OK, even though they were just about wiped out. Chorus operations WILL continue and we will keep on preparing to be at Magic Mountian Music Festival! We absolutely plan to be there! (See NOTE below...)Despite rainy nasty weather, we persevered and supported the Annual Enchantments Grove Bardic Ritual and a good time was had by all. Kurt and Heather came up for air and to solicit help. They also turned up with a portable canopy and made it possible to rescue the event! A number of folks turned out the following day to assist in cleanup and salvage at the ruined house. Many thanks to you all!
However the serious downside is that most of our modest gear, records, songbooks, instruments, signage, ritual material and computer files were destroyed. Also about 300 CD's, and a lot of the tapes were incinerated along with Kurt's Studio, another 500 were stored in the basement and flooded. We looking into seeing about getting them cleaned up and the inserts reprinted. We now have a limited stock at the local shops and a few at Kurt's Office.So If you have a Four Winds disc or tape, you are now the proud owner of a rare collectors item!
We are still booked for Magic Mountian Music, we're really excited about the road trip and are preparing and planning. We still hope to be there and are rehearsing and planning accordingly! Stay tuned!
Kenny Klein had to pull out the event for whatever reason, and 2 Shillinfgs Short has been hired to replace them on the lineup. Of course this has resulted in a schedule rearrangement. So we are now leading off Friday night and not doing the workshop.
Note from the Director
Friday Morning, April 14, 2000
Greetings to each and every one of you,
This is a very difficult message to write but it is necessary that you hear this from us before the rumor mill may bring this to you.
For openers, all of us are all right and none of us was hurt or injured in any way except for some residual smoke inhalation that Heather received getting everyone out of the house. However the bad news is that in a heart-wrenching series of two fires our home in Seagate was seventy-five percent destroyed in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday April 12.
We are not certain of the cause, and in a very real sense it is not all that important, the damage is done. At about 12:30am, Heather notices flames outside our second floor den window. She wasted no time in getting My elderly mother Antoinette, our two children Alexander and Nicholas and our downstairs tenants out of there, and somewhere in there managed to call 911.
I arrived from Tuesday night's Chorus rehearsal to find the house surrounded by fire trucks, battling a two- alarm blaze on the northeast corner of the house. By abut 3:00am things were deemed under control and we inspected the damage. Our kitchen and the downstairs kitchen were destroyed and parts of the connecting halls and living rooms in both the first and second floor apartments were severely damaged. But we assessed were we were and determined that we we're OK, most of our important stuff seemed to have survived, our bedrooms, my studio and Heather craft room , the kids room, the computers and records had made it OK. We retrieved some of my mother's medications and stuff, and our medicine bundles. We set up a sump pump to pump out the basement in the morning. We shut of the power, secured the house and went to my aunt's house where we crashed my mother and the boys.
In less than an hour, we heard fire engines pass by. With sinking hearts we rushed back to the scene to find the entire north side of the second floor engulfed, parts of the roof and third floor aflame. It took three hours for the fire department to get the new fire under control. Sometime after dawn it was over. Fire seemed to have smoldered in the walls and/or eaves of the house. Our second and third floor apartments were completely destroyed with all of their contents. My mother's side, while not aflame, is incredibly water damaged. There was over two FEET of water in the basement. It is a huge loss.
We do feel ourselves blessed that we are all safe and well. And our decision to leave Tuesday morning instead of staying to watch the house probably saved our lives. Heather and I could have easily been trapped, exhausted on the third floor or unaware working in the basement when the fire broke through the second floor.
A lot of my Mother's stuff has survived, but Heather and I and the Boys are essentially wiped out. Clothes, books, music, sacred stuff, Studio, artwork, computers, records, the works. We have our work cut out for us to rebuild our lives from square one. We are currently at my Aunt's house and I'm writing this using her computer. I hope to get online and get this to you in a little while. Don't try to get to us via email for a while, as we have to keep this line free and so are only doing this ONE outbound message for the near future. My Mother will probably be staying here while Heather and I are arranging for an apartment near the house which we hope to be in a few days.
We hope to get out regular number back up soon at the new apartment. (Note: restored 4/20/2000)
The future looks uncompromisingly vague, the questions of repair, rebuild or relocate are still in flux. The future of the Chorus and my career are also unanswered questions. First things first. We are pretty much just dealing with the Long List O' Hassle pretty much in order of appearance and nastiness. It's real Day to day, folks. Folks asking what we need? Well, pretty much everything. But the most stinging losses are those things which are irreplaceable, our history and creative works.
But we are coping and will keep at it as long as we're in the game!
Pilamaye. Mitaquye Oyasin. Blessed Be.Ashe.
Kurt Griffith/Talking Stone
Heather GS Griffith
(No proper e-mail at this time )That's pretty much the story. The next few months will be interesting. But they say that "If you get dropped from high enough, you have a better chance to land on your feet!"(Klingon proverb) - Kurt
Disaster Update: 4/28/2000
Click Image to find out a little more...We are now settled in in a new apartment across the street where we can keep an eye on things and continue salvage work. Our phone number is now working again for those of you who have it. The engineeers have looked at the place and a lot of work is coming our way if we decide to repair, rebuild or remodel. the picture above pretty much says it all... Wotta mess.
Our Way Big Thanks to everyone who has been offering their prayers, energy, support and helping out.
Kurt & Heather
Magic Mountain Music
Road Trip! June 2-4
Festival Performance and Workshops
MAGIC MOUNTAIN MUSIC 2000
FRIDAY JUNE 3-SUNDAY JUNE 4, 2000 , Four Quarters Farm
Festival Performance and Workshops
Church of Four Quarters, RR1, Box 62C, Artemis, PA. 17211 Info: 814 784-3075 www.4qf.orgFour Winds in Concert, Friday evening
Four Winds in Interactive Ritual Chant, Saturday AfternoonFour Winds has been invited to perform and provde workshops at this just plain amazing and well regraded pagan music festival weekend in a very special setting. An entire weekend devoted to a celebration of our own music. We have always wanted to do this event!
(Note 4/28/200) We have a minor rearrangement of our schedule due to losing Kenny Klein for the event and the adddition of Two Shillings Short. Never Boring!
Complete information at the Four Quarters Farm website. www.4qf.org
The logistics look something like this so farŠ We expect to drive out to the farm on Thursday Evening June 1st with whatever Member vehicles and probably one rented van or minivan for gear. (what the travel allowance is for...) We expect return late on Sunday night or on Monday... to be decided in Council. The site is natural, so we will be sleeping in tents and living outdoors. MMM is a RAIN or Shine event... just letting ya know.. prepare. The site is quite marvelous and to learn more abut Four Quarters Farm and the Church of Four Quarters, contact Landskeeper Orren Whiddon at 814 784-3075 or surf : www.4qf.org
We are going to try and field a team of about eight well prepared singers and drummers for this event. A stage show and two workshops is NOT trivial. We hope to have our final lineup and playlists in place by May 1. People who haven't been coming and turn up on May 15th expecting to go on stage will be asked to attend the event and support us as "civilians".
Attendance Requirement Revision
So, as of the 2/19 rehearsal, we are made a change in our qualification requirements for Performing Member Status. The bar for automatic inclusion as Performing Members is now 75%, or three out of every four meetings. Those Active or Semiactive Members who do not meet this requirement must be approved by a CONSENSUS DECISION OF THE CURRENT PERFORMING MEMBERS to be included in upcoming Performance Events.Yes, I am giving up some of my authority in this matter, but I feel it is appropriate. Inactive members must become Active to be considered. In general, Active is coming routinely. Semiactive, is coming occasionally, but you turn up regularly. Inactive is "we ain't seen ya in a while..."
To read the full commentary, please see the March 3, 2000 News Page.
Other Possibles
Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival,
Sat-SUN June 17-18, 2000,
As most of you know, despite some difficulties we performed well enough at last years Clearwater Revival event to earn a return invitation to their Circle of Song tent. As usual, the event falls across the weekend nearest Summer Solstice. That means that it overlaps Free Spirit Gathering, http://www.fsa.org an event that several members may be planing on attending, myself included. In fact, I may have a commitment to pour Stone Peoples' Lodges there for the gathering. (May have to skip this due to the emergency...)So we will have to decide in Council how were are going to approach this possible event and whether we should do it at all... It is only two weeks after this next event which we have been talking about for a while...
Mitaquye Oyasin * Blessed Be * Ashe * Shalom * A Salaam * Amen
