CD Review: Ozark - Still on the Hill Donna Stjerna and Kelly Mulhollan  Reviewed by Lezlie Kinyon. http://lezlie1.wordpress.com/ Coreopsis; A Journal of Myth and Theatre https://sites.google.com/site/mythandtheatre/ Home Page: http://www.stillonthehill.com/  On CD Baby: http://cdbaby.com/cd/stillonthehill5 I haven't been able to stop listening to this CD since I bought at a house concert with "Still on the Hill" last fall. Ozark represents the culmination of a project that began in 1977, when Arkansas folk duo Donna Stjerna and Kelly Mulhollan, collectively known as "Still on the Hill", began writing and recording songs about their neighbors in the Ozark mountains. Funded by an Arkansas Heritage Grant and Jones Television, the resulting CD and accompanying booklet, is a true gem of a recording to add to any collection of folk. "Still on the Hill's" tightly controlled vocal harmonies, with Donna's spirited and occasionally haunting fiddle, Kelly's lyrical and passionate delivery, and the stories each song presents make for an unforgettable performance. From the tale of Seven Pies to the romance of the late Benson & Fleecy Fox I highly recommend that you run, not walk to the nearest folk music outlet, or better yet, go to the Ozark Project website at: http://www.stillonthehill.com/ozarkCD/project.html and get your own copy of Ozark. Kelly Mulhollan, one half of this talents duo, also has a critically acclaimed release called, Never Ending Conversation: Poems Set to Music. Ranging from Wallace Stephens and William Blake to traditional works from the Pygmies of Gabon and the Book of Jeremiah, this offering is haunting, lyrical, and passionate. Donna Stjerna is a multi-talented musician and songwriter, who "paid her dues" playing country crossover tunes on the "honky-tonk circuit. Together, Kelly and Donna form one of the most delightful to witness, folk duos to see in concert. Consummate storytellers, they paint a musical picture in Ozark, of the disappearing culture on the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas - The CD is liberally peppered with songs of peace, of creating community, and Kelly's haunting and powerful interpretations of Romantic and modern poetry.
Accordion, n. An instrument in harmony with the
sentiments of an assassin.
Acquaintance, n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. | Book Review: Star Trek Cookbook  Simon and Shuster, January 1999 Trade Paperback, 336 pages ISBN-10: 0671000225 ISBN-13: 9780671000226 Reviewed by Esther M. Palmer From Enterprise through Deep Space 9 and Voyager this is a fun read. Whereas the actual recipes and ingredients are fairly common, a truly clearer presentation was required to make such things as Klingon or Ferengi dishes like tube grubs (they move) or condor snake (it writhes) or slug livers from snails, eels, and octopus. I particularly enjoyed the Spider Apple Pudding: a Telax remedy for the Garolian flu, the Klingon dish Gagh, living squirming worms, served on a bed of fladst must have been a bit of a challenge. I give kudos to the imagination of the culinary artist responsible for these many and varied gastric delights needed to maintain the health and good will of exotic beings from known and unknown galaxies and universes. __________________________________________ Esther M.Palmer is an herbalist living on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula. She is also TSCP's intrepid book keeper. To contact Esther concerning her summer and fall "herbal and wildflower" treks into the Olympic Mountains, please contact her at esmaurine_at_yahoo.com Alone, adj. In bad company. Conservative, n.: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. Coward, n. One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs. Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent. Dog, n. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world's worship. Erudition, n. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull. Impiety, n. Your irreverence toward my deity. Litigant, n. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones. Mouth, n. In man, the gateway to the soul; in woman, the outlet of the heart. Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessed unworthy. All from Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1881-1906 |
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