We are co-hosting a conference called  "Gathering At The Unhewn Stone" from October 16th-18th.  Ched Myers will be leading most of the lectures but a number of others will too...and they are all great.  Ched is awesome.  Psalters will be playing a full set as a full band, as will Theillalogicalspoon, Lesser Beggars, Aimee Wilson...and we will all join forces to lead worship and liturgical activities throughout the weekend.  Think of this a little bit like a mini-PAPA fest, but perhaps with deeper and more radical explorations into the Biblical critique of civilization, and instead of camping you will all sleep on the floor in our building here in Philly(you're gonna love it!...no honestly i think you will).  For more information and to register just click
here.  

also:
Our training center, the Croatan Studio, continues to expand with new classes and bigger ideas.  In particular we have added Brazilian batucada(samba) drum classes.  The teacher, Mike Stevens, just got back from Brazil and he is amazing.  I am taking the class myself.  It is really unbelievably fun....so if you are interested and live in or near Philly come on out.  West African percussion and dance classes are also available.  Check out our website here.
-cap.nap

what happens when you mix a few psalters and a few mewithoutYou's with a particularly Illalogical Spoon?  We are about to find out....and so is Damien Jurado cuz he is coming too.  Yep, Chancellor Prancellor and Captain Napkins will be joining Edwin Ransom and Princess Blackneck for a unique set of both psalters and Theillalogical Spoon songs.  Then we will be performing with Aaron and Mike of mewithoutYou along with a horn and string ensemble as we collectively try to pull off a rendition of their new album.  Damien Jurado gets the precarious task of performing inbetween this tomfoolery.   Anyway it should be interesting.  Go to our myspace for the tour schedule (which starts this sunday!)

to all appalled i am sorry we cancelled the europe tour and most of the U.S. tour...including Cornerstone.  Partly due to spiritual health, and partly due to scheduling, we just didn't think we could do our job as well as we think we should...so we decided to pull back until faithfulness and strength returns.  I'd like to write more on that later.
Right now i want to invite you to what we are still doing:
For those who live in Philly, or who want to travel there, we are performing our own original musical score for a new play that runs from May 21st to June 7th.  It is a site specific performance being held at a soup kitchen type place and some of the homeless folks who regularly go there, and some of the volunteers who make the food, are both in the play. There are professional actors and production stuff too.  It's a fun play...and our music is prevalent throughout.  See our tour listing for details, tickets, times etc.
Check out this photo collage thing of the final rehearsal...it is pretty neat and gives a little taste of what the cast and production is like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlDN8hjf_Io
Croatan, our training center, continues to have west african drum ensemble classes.  In the next two months we will be adding some dance classes, aswell as Brazilian batucada classes.  In the fall we plan to host a lecture series and gathering on biblical primitivism.
write: jay@psalters.org for questions regarding Croatan.
 In june we will play a couple shows in Kentucky (see the tour schedule).  In august we plan to attend the Jesus Radicals conference and perhaps have a small tour. 

My hope is to spend the summer continuing to write and record and begin performing regularly again starting this fall.....but we will see what God's plans are!

i miss you all

-cap.kin

Soon and very soon i hope to give you all a full update on the latest...for there is a whole lot.  Today, however, i want to tell you about just one of the major things we are up to.  We have always hoped for psalters to be a holisitic approach to worship...and for it to help carve out bases for the development of true warrior poets in the Church.  A psalter should ever be a deadly siren wailing the curved note of our Lord's ancient Song....a well, torn from the heart and fired from the lung, pouring Truth adorned in the dress of woven passion.
Such a warrior needs some training...we certainly do...and our tattered Church could use a seminar or two aswell.  To that end we have reached the doorstep of a long hoped for reality:  to open a training center that provides a place for the development of psalters.  In about a month we will open the doors to the "Croatan Studio".  We have already been teaching several classes and also teaching local youth in philly schools about west african rhythms.
Count Tabu has taken the lead on all of this, and it has been primarily his project.  Below is his initial draft describing his ideas for the space to our friends at our home church, "circle of hope".  It is a good window into what we are planning.  More info and a website will be posted soon.  I would add to the description below that we hope to work a great deal with the local refugee population here in Philly....particularly the recent swell of Iraqi refugees being relocated in our area.  Our hope is for Croatan to be a place for them to teach about their culture and music....and hopefully earn some income, awareness, and friends in the process.
-cap.nap








The Name:

       We were taught in elementary school about the first English

settlement in the "new world"---what became  known as the "lost

colony." Many blamed this on attacks by the natives or a lack of

ability to survive in the new surroundings.  But the colonists had

supplies and provisions and had started to build a fort. A few years

later, Sir Walter Raleigh returns from England and finds it abandoned.

Not destroyed or everyone killed, just left behind.

       The first settlements in Roanoke failed; the colonists disappeared,

leaving behind them only the cryptic message "Gone To Croatan." Later

reports of "grey-eyed Indians" were dismissed as legend. What really

happened, the textbook implied, was that the Indians massacred the

defenseless settlers. However, "Croatan" was not some Eldorado; it was

the name of a neighboring tribe of friendly Indians. Apparently the

people simply moved back from the coast into the Great Dismal Swamp

and absorbed into the tribe.

       So--the very first colony in the New World chose to renounce its

contract with (Dee/Raleigh/Empire) and go over to the Wild Men with

Caliban. They dropped out. They became "Indians," "went native," opted

for chaos and the traditional lifeways of relationship and

sustainability over the appalling miseries of serfing for the

plutocrats and intellectuals of London.

As America came into being where once there had been "Turtle Island,"

Croatan remained embedded in its collective psyche. Out beyond the

frontier, the state of Nature (i.e. no State) still prevailed--and

within the consciousness of the settlers the option of wildness always

lurked, the temptation to give up on slave work for the rulers, fort

building, taxes-- all the burdens of civilization--and "go to Croatan"

in some way or another.

       So, we hope to call on this namesake--to develop a space in the midst

of the city that can retrain our thoughts and actions towards how we

create and how we listen and learn. To hear the wisdom of the

traditional ways, especially when they resonate with the same call

Christ gives us in the Gospel--to birth new artists skilled and

trained to prophetically lead us toward justice and peace.





What's the big idea?

       There are lots of ideas and ways we hope for this space to be

utilized. The following is a rough outline of what we hope to go on

through the use of the space. Being connected to Circle of Hope in a

real way through the realtionships of the people involved and in a

structural way--by having the space in the same building has so many

opportunities and benefits for many skilled, passionate people who

want to share what they know and for those wanting to learn both in

the church body and the neighborhoods.





1.Traditional music and dance Classes



These will be primarily group based learning times. We hope to have a

variety of teachers from different traditions and ethnicities

partnering with us eventually from the surrounding community, but we

already have many talented artists who can teach among us. I have been

in communication with some of my teachers and other local ethnic

drummers and most have shown high interest in being involved. On the

drawing board already is:



--West African drumming class---



--Kids drumming--



--Arabic drumming class--



--Brazilian samba drumming---



--Afro-Cuban drumming--



--Ghanaian drumming--



--Balafon/gyil/west african xylophone--



--Indian tabla--



--West African Dance--



--belly dance--



--urban dance--







2. Private Lessons



For one on one teacher student development.  Right now we have teachers for private instruction offered on a variety of

instruments including:

-djembe, doumbek, congas,-



--guitar/bass guitar--



--drum set--



hopefully others!!





3.Education



We desire for the studio space to be just that ---a studio--where we study.

There is going to be a library of resources available at the space

with a focus on theological issues of justice and reconciliation seen

through the primary role of the prophetic artist.



We are building a library of books with categories such as:

--psalm study

--the role of the artist/musician in society and in the life of the church

--biblical justice, resistance and peacemaking

--indigenous theology

--liberation theology

--refugee struggles

--indigenous struggles

--urban poor struggles

--cross-cultural music and art

--sociology

--folklore and mythology

--music theory from any tradition

--instructional and reference books on traditional skills and arts and crafts.

--critique of civilization and empire



Also a cd and dvd library for film showings and listening.



--(donations towards this library in any category are appreciated)



We are planning on doing different series of classes through this

library in conjunction with underground seminary and other topics that

have formed through the cells.  Some of these will be lecture series

taught by one teacher while others will be group discussions or group

book studies.



We also hope for the studio to sponsor classes and bring in teachers

from elsewhere for a weekend of learning.


4. Workshops



We hope to sponsor a series of workshops that may run from a day to a

full weekend or even on a weekly or monthly schedule in many different

arts and crafts.



On the drawing board are ideas such as:



Loom weaving

Song writing

Mask Making

Story telling

Poetry

Drum building and other instrument making concepts

i.e.--Urban Junk recycled to prophetic instruments





5. Kids Stuff



We all know how important it is to be training our children in the

right ways --so we are trying to come up with events and classes that

will get them thinking creatively as well as engaging them with

crosscultural concepts. Hopefully this will be a big meeting point for

families in the neighborhood.



Some ideas:



-kids drumming.



-parent/child drumming



-after school or Saturday kids arts collaborative--using

multi-media--drawing/painting/..music/dance/story-telling towards

respecting diversity and developing the artist.--(led by Meg Lemieur)



6. Recording Studio and Rehearsal Space



While we don't have the gear or the space to be a full fledged

recording studio--we do have hopes to be able to do some in house,

good quality, and way cheaper recordings for the great artists already

involved with our community , as well as using the gear for

instructional cds and dvds or worship team uses.



And of course it will be a great rehearsal space for psalters and some

other projects hopefully as well.





7. Special Events



We hope that through the contacts and the promotion that the studio

will have, we will be able to sponsor some great events in conjunction

with Circle's mission teams and Philadelphia area cultural

organizations.



Some concepts that are already in the works:



--Once a month "communion celebration"--extended worship time similar

to Even Song--(led by Aimee Wilson)



--"Solidarity Hours"--in conjunction with the Refugee team.  Special

events highlighting local refugees stories or music or arts. Awareness

raisers or small fund-raisers.



--"Master classes"--the studio would sponsor and host world renowned

artists and theologians for weekend super sessions.



--Seasonal "Bardic Circles"---four times a year--a circle gathering

where everyone in the circle shares songs, poetry or readings.



--performances/recitals/..gallery showings--etc. that the studio would

sponsor in conjunction with Circle of Hope--in the big space.



--The studio hopes to organize short term cross-cultural trips

overseas to engage in social justice work or music education.





8. Outsourcing and Service to the community



--through the teachers and eventual student base generated at the

studio we hope to be able to give back to the surrounding community in

many ways and raise awareness through the arts to social problems in

various ways such as:



--after school arts programs for schools who have lost their arts funding

--cultural education assemblies in schools, libraries, and community centers

--lending musical support to protests and rallies for peace and justice issues

hey yall...the Jesus For President tour has been real wonderful so far.  Come out if you can....we play a lot of different stuff throughout....it's not a full psalters show...but we play a lot....and shane and chris have put together a real good speech around the issues of Church and state
we caught the eye of quite a bit of media so far.....which is mostly fun....sometimes bad....always awkward.   Sorry to all my fellow grease hunters.  I just made our lives harder.......i tried to emphasize on camera that hunting for grease sucks these days to hopefully lessen the impact.
here is a link to the article...and/or video.:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/29/evangelical.campaign/index.html

 Check out the video if you can....and then come out and see us please!  
-cap.nap

 we are on tour now.  Just got done with Ichthus in Kentucky.  I posted some pictures that a great friend Colin gave us from our show at the fest in the album section.  We are now at our own fest (PAPA) building the stage, setting everything up with all the other communities.  Registration reached 1000 (our capacity this year) over a month ago so unfortunately if you didn't register you can't camp on the grounds.  I think you can still come during the day though.  Go to papafestival.org for info on that.  Then we begin the "Jesus for President" book tour and i am pretty excited about it.  Count Tabu and i play about 12 or 15 short songs during the presentation by Shane and Chris.  I posted one example on the profile page.  It is our version of the "Magnificat" which is the song Mary sang when she was told she was pregnant with Jesus.  We updated the tour schedule with exact locations and times and other details.  Come say hi...but don't make fun of the bus! (we will be repainting it as soon as the JFP tour is over)

We are hoping to earn enough from tour to pay for travel expenses for me and Count Tabu to make it to Israel and Palestine.   Every year we like to try and spend some time learning from a refugee population.  In the past we have spent time with bedouins in Iraq, homeless youth in Philadelphia, and kurdish villagers in southeastern Turkey.
In Jerusalem we hope to spend a week at the "World Christian Gathering on Indigenous Peoples"
Then we hope to spend the rest of our time at the Deisha refugee camp on the outskirts of Bethlehem.
We are still trying to discern if we should go and a big factor in that discernment is if we can afford it financially.  Right now we don't think we will earn enough from tour to go.  Also we will play some small shows and street performances there...but we don't expect to earn much or even charge at all in the first place.   So if some of you out there are loaded and think very strongly that this is a trip we should do then i guess give us a bunch of money!  Otherwise we won't be going. 
Not going to Israel and Palestine in the next few months might be just fine...but we are drawn to it at the moment...and the opportunity is there...and we think God would like us there...but we aren't sure...so we thought including you all in the discernment process would be a good idea.
okay back to work....see you soon
-captain napkins

i would like to fill you all in on a lot and with detail and depth....but well among other things i have some music to learn how to play in these next few days. 
So to be brief:
Europe was truly amazing....every show packed...every place kind ....everywhere it felt we were used well.....everywhere we hope to come back.
After returning to the states several full time psalters wanted to do other things and are now only involved part time when they can.  Count Tabu and i are the only full timers so this year we have decided to not tour so much and work on writing and moving this work to the next step on the dirt and stone.
-but we are playing several shows with the full crew....and the first one is at Greenville College in southern Illinois on april 11th.  
-we are also playing several festivals including our own called PAPA.  It is donation and volunteer based but no more than a thousand can come to that so you have to register in advance.  Registration starts April 15th at papafestival.org.
-These four or five shows will likely be the last time to see psalters anything like what you have gotten used to these last few years.  After this summer you probably won’t have a chance to see us again until next spring at the earliest....and it will sound and look and be quite a bit different.
-Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw wrote a book that Publishers Weekly just called, "the must read book on politics for Christians in this election year" .  We are doing their book tour with them....playing songs interwoven into their speeches...it will be a great event to go to...it is free....but psalters is only playing a handful of tunes....and what’s more....our bus is going to be painted the color of their book for the tour (which is less than black....please pray for her)....
--there is some photos and video posted of europe and also easier ways to donate here and on our site "psalters.org" and tour updates etc.
so there you go....i think when we return from illinois i hope to put up some different songs and also fill you in on what the other folks are up to and new ideas and changes and...i miss you all...............
in His Fire ...through His Flood
love
-captain napkins

here's a little update on our trip to europe. we are currently in norway with the troxels. tonight we got to play in the street in Kristiansaand with some amazing gypsy accordion players. here's some pictures. we'll try to keep updating this while we're here.







i'm sure better pictures will come in the future.
please keep us in your prayers.

our friends in philly need some serious help right now. Please pray and if you can send them some love and support.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

..>..>

Official Fire Update This morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors' homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this developing tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm's way.   This fire will forever change the fabric of our community. Eight families are currently homeless, and in many cases have lost their vehicles as well as their homes. One of our neighbors, the Mahaias Family, lost their three cars as well as the equipment one family member uses for her massage therapy business. Teenager Brian Mahaias is devastated not because he has lost his belongings, but because he fears that this fire will force him to move away from this neighborhood that is his family as well as his home.   The Simple Way has lost a community center that was home to our Yes! And… afterschool program, community arts center, and Cottage Printworks t-shirt micro-business as well as to two of our community members. Community members Shane Claiborne and Jesce Walz have lost all of their belongings, Yes!And…'s after school studio and library were ruined, and community member Justin Donner's Cottage Printworks equipment and t-shirts were destroyed.   We are thankful that we are able to help each other during this time of need, and we will continue to keep your informed about today's events.   We have established funds to support the families who have lost their homes, the Yes! And… afterschool program, and the Simple Way community.   A fund to support the families has been established through a partner organization, EAPE. Tax-deductible donations can be made at https://www.tonycampolo.org/donate.php#ssl. Please make sure to put "Kensington Families Fund" in the memo section.   Donations to the Rebuilding Fund can be made via PayPal to contribute@awip.us.  -The Simple Way Community

We are finally back home....the road. If you live in the states our may and june dates will be the only time this year you can come see us....and we want to tell you about Turkey and play some new songs for you and breathe and spin fire and other such things so please do your best to make it out. If you live in Europe, well we are finally coming to visit! In july and august we'll be playing festivals and clubs in Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands.....Germany, Belgium and Ireland are in the works. Some days are still open, so if you want us to play in your favorite country find us a venue and we'll try to make it happen.

Two new psalters are joining us for the summer....i don't know their traveling names just yet (and wouldn't dare give their true identities out) so for now they will remain ominously nameless. One of these alleged cohorts plays various percussion, a mean bass, and fixes things. The other plays pretty much most wind and keyed instruments, including a friendly oboe, bassoon, and raucous zurna, and draws things. Give em a hug and a high five when you see them but don't tell them about how dangerous we are...they don't know yet. shhh.

Finally no psalters corporate memo would be complete without us asking favors. We're askers...always have been. Today we need a trailer pretty badly. It is severely overloaded and mostly broken, with holes and no suspension or brakes. We are starting to feel guilty about endangering the lives of those around us by driving with it. So needless to say if you know of a trailer someone is trying to sell or would be willing to sell let us know. We can't really afford what we need so that is where the favor part comes in.....but we do have some money for one. We can make different sizes and configurations work but here is a list of ideal specs...and the trailer we find would need to be relativley close to these:
7'x10'
4500lb gvwr (total weight capacity) or greater
single or dual axle
some type of shocks or spring suspension
brakes

all right...thus concludes our meeting
we'll see you out there.
-captain napkins