Words cannot describe the blessing New Bern has received in the name of our friend, businessman, and fellow musician Ed Ruiz. Only a caring community can pull off what happened here in New Ben yesterday!

Please read this article from the New Bern Sun Journal:

http://www.newbernsj.com/news/ruiz_44014___article.html/people_new.html

I am thrilled that Silver Spire was featured in the online article!! Pride aside….

At the preliminary count in theatre the bands and volunteers had raised $13,000 for Ed and his family, not counting 60, not yet turned in, ticket sales. My guess is @ $13,400 in the end. We had $824.00 for the 50/50 raffle, imagine getting the $412.00! Somewhere around $900.00 for a silent auction (a Fender Nashville Tele was donated for auction!), and we had a sold out crowd that caused us, unfortunately, to have to turn away people at the door. The theatre was PACKED…. It was nice to have a back stage pass!

I was not able to catch WCTI-12 yet, if they have run a story, they had reporters on scene as well. If anyone gets that footage let me know.
I believe Dale (http://www.datgeek.net/ ) was recording, as well as Patrick on Edirol multi-track. Hopefully we will be seeing a CD for sale soon!! Our great friend James ( http://www.myspace.com/jlg4880 ) was also on site with his trusty cameras. ....

Thanks to everyone who put forth good thoughts and prayers on this event….. it was a huge success!!

Buzz....

Silver Spire had a great night at the Church Street Pub this eve. We, unfortunately, had to play with out the Zachman on drums but Erin, Ali, and I had a good time dealing the tunes out together. There were  a lot of smooth moments tonight. The crowd was thick all night!! It is amazing to me that such a small pub always yields the most tips!! Go figure, Swansboro loves them some Trad music!!
Our next stop is  Trent River Coffee Company on June 20! See you all there.

Okay, cool story time.
Buzz has lived in NC for over 20 years, met Zach @ 3ish yrs ago. Buzz approached Zach about playing percuss ions in Silver Spire after hearing him play quite a bit around New Bern. Thankfully Zach was totally into it. Along the way we ran into Erin, @ 1 yr ago, and there is a story there too but another time. So..... Ali, Buzz, Erin, and Zach go to playing together and decided it was time to capture some of the music on disc as we really do not know where this is all headed. So.... the recording is done and it is time to do cover art. Zach says he has a picture he took while skiing in Vermont, it was snapped at a place called Wilson Castle. Well Zach had gotten lost in Vermont, again that is another really awesome story, and he ended up going by this Castle. Z spots this cool Castle and drudges through the snow to take a picture. The picture is on the backside of the jewel case of Epiphany, see our photos. OKAY, the cool part is that when Buzz was growing up in Vermont he took guitar lessons from a guy a couple towns over from where he grew up. Every week he would drive by Wilson Castle on the way to guitar lessons. Now, 32 years later, the percussionist in our band gets lost and a marker from Buzz's musical past is on our CD cover.... cool.

Good news!! Silver Spire has completed the final tracks for our yet to be mastered, pressed, and titled cd!! We know we are still a ways from getting it "on the shelves" but we just couldn't contain it much longer.
Big thanks to Ghost Music Services and the awesome 16 track mobile recording lab. Mark and Drew are truly pros.
We will have tracks and photos up soon!!
Thanks guys,
Silver Spire

Another big thanks to all of you Silver Spire fans and Ed of Trent River Coffee Company in the historic district of New Bern. 
This was a particularly nervous night for Silver Spire. For this show we were attempting to add a few more "sing songs". After a lot of planning, a practice to order the set list and set percussions, and a planned "polish" practice things did not go well. Before the much needed polish practice Buzz got called away to Quantico Va. for work and Ali had Spirit Week at school. As you know Ali does nothing halfway... she went all out for spirit week and this gave rise to concerns for her voice. As well Erin was working hard doing some last minute verifying and arranging on a couple of tunes. Of course Zach is always working on one thing or another..... we were hoping for the best.
We shared the evening with Tuppence, our great friends Simon and Sarah Spalding. After a great hour of hearing them play we were facing a pretty much packed house. Silver Spire was sweating it out as it was our turn.
Well, we did our best. A few stressful spots where Ali's wireless would not quit popping (it never seems to like TRCC's RF footprint), Buzz keyed a song completely wrong, and we were having to hunt all over the scales to get Ali's stressed voice to settle in, we finally finished an hour of music.
Judging from the reaction of the audience and the comments after the show... you all did not seem to notice or care that we had some obvious bumps. And yes, Silver Spire did have fun after all.
Thanks for being great fans!!
Silver Spire
Ali + Erin + Zach + Buzz

Hey Silver Spire fans,
We had a great summer with a lot of gigs. To top it of so to speak, we played the Tir Na Nog in Raleigh. This was truly a great opportunity and gig. Cool thing is we have an open invitation to return and participate in a "Tir Na Nog" live Celtic recording. We shall see where that goes.

For the fall we have a gig planned for Oriental on Sept 22 in the park. We will be sharing the stage with the Thistledown Tinkers for a fun Celtic program.
In October come join us as we return with Tuppence at the Trent River Coffee Company. Throw back a pint with us....... of java that is!!
In inside note on the TRCC, the best iced drink in the house is the "Gritty Kitty", ask Ed and he will whip one up.

Keep your eye on the Silver Spire calendar for up coming events and thanks for supporting us.
Ali, Erin, Zach, and Buzz

What a great night we had this past Saturday! If you are familiar you know that the Church Street is a SMALL venue. This past weekend Silver Spire managed to expand the walls. SS started out with Ali, Erin, and Buzz with the intention of swapping Zach and Erin in and out to mix it up and have some fun with our music. To everyones surprise and enjoyment we managed to squeeze Zach in on sets 2 and 3 giving Silver Spire the great full sound the music deserves!
SS is looking forward to seeing everyone of our friends by the summers end, stop my and check play dates at our MySpace.
Ali, Buzz, Erin, and Zach
Silver Spire

Summer Set '07

Set 1
Whiskey before Breakfast/ Eighth of January
Mrs. McLeod's Reel
Dark Island
Green Fields of America (Instrumental)
Ashokan Farewell
No Irish Need Apply
Morrison's Jig
Connaughtman's Rambles
Moscow Nights

Set 2
Johnny Jump Up
Irish Washerwoman
Irishman's Heart to the Ladies
Skibereen
Dimeless Houston Buddy
Star of the County Down
Titanic Blues
Green Fields of America (Sing)
Boys of Blue Hill/ Harvest Home
Arran Boat

Set 3
Cliffs of Moher / Swallowtail Jig / Kesh Jig
Top of Cork Road
Untitled Air
The Fox Song / The Foxhunter's Jig
Pretty Saro (Alt: Peg and Awl)
Ships are Sailing / Star of Munster / Mason's Apron
Whiskey in the Jar