Hello everyone. I trust everyone has made it through winter (except for our friends "down-under" of course) and is getting ready for Spring. We have a lot of exciting things coming up for Spring and Summer! We have grown by leaps and bounds this winter. If you know of anyone that does not receive this newsletter and would like to, please contact me with their email addresses.
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New England News:
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Our April meeting is finally planned. The gathering will be on Sunday, April 26 from 1-6pm at Miriam's house in Acton, MA. Miriam will provide refreshments, and I think we should all pitch in to help with the cost when we get there. Please RSVP to Michael at pushard@telplus.net in order to get directions (and so that we can give Miriam a head count to see how many of us will descend on her!). If you would like to bring your own refreshments, please inform Michael of this as well. Just remember, this is a family event - no alcoholic beverages please. There will be plenty of socializing and music. Michael has also agreed to coordinate music. Feel free to bring any instruments, songbooks, etc. Also, if you can, please try to bring folding chairs, etc. as seating may be limited if we have a big group. Thanks to Michael and Miriam for all their efforts to get this rolling!!! It was no easy task.
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Boston Harbor Islands Clean Up. This is something that we discussed at our December meeting as being something that we would like to do this year. The Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands has chosen Sat. April 18 as the date this year. The boat ride is free and leaves from Long Wharf in Boston at 9:00am and returns at 3:30pm. It is necessary to sign up in advance by contacting State Park Headquarters at 617-727-7676. There is also an information number: 617-727-5290. All participants are asked to bring a lunch, warm clothing, work gloves, and comfortable shoes. If you are interested in participating, please contact me (morswell@earthlink.net) as well as calling to sign up so that I can get an idea of how many are interested. We should make sure that we have IAT name tags or something to be able to recognize each other. A great big thanks goes to Anne Buckley for her work coordinating this with Nancy Martin of the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands.
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Benefit Concert for Windstar: We are having difficulties locating an outdoor place that has electricity, a stage, and doesn't cost a fortune to book. Any ideas? I think we may need to start to look for an indoor location to make our lives easier. If you live in southern New Hampshire or central Massachusetts and know of a location, such as your church hall, a school auditorium, etc. that would be available for us to use and won't cost too much to book for sometime in June, please let me know ASAP so we can get a location picked. I would like to plan a meeting for anyone interested in being involved in any capacity sometime in late April, early May. So far the performers that are definite are Michael Pushard, Paul Swanton, and Brian Taylor. This promises to be a great event! For those of you too far to make it to the concert, I have been thinking of making an audio tape of the event that can be purchased for a nominal fee that will also go to Windstar. Ever little bit helps!
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General News:
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The Cyber Cookbook is now complete and all orders have been taken. It has been distributed to all those who have sent in the checks. We are still awaiting the remainder of the checks and will send you the cookbook once they are received. Please try to get those in as soon as possible. To date, I have received maybe half of the orders and have already collected $220. Great work folks! Thanks a million to Sandy for all her HARD work and LONG hours on this project. It certainly was worth it. Start thinking of recipes for the 1999 version (unless Sandy runs away screaming!!!).
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Arbor Day is quickly approaching. Let's see if we can all do something in our own areas for it. After all, the biggest thing that John asked of us was to "plant a tree". Please take a few minutes to visit the National Arbor Day Foundations web site http://www.arborday.org - each state has a different date for celebrating Arbor Day (for example, MA is 4/28 - 5/5. It also lists what each states state tree is, as well as suggestions for celebrating Arbor Day. If any individuals would like to plan group IAT activities, please feel free. Those of you in MA can contact either Sandy or myself to plan something for our area. Area reps should keep this in mind as well.
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Earth Day is also almost here. I have had many suggestions that we do something, but nothing concrete yet. Anyone wishing to take this and go with it, you are more than welcome. Please just keep up informed of any plans.
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Brian Taylor sent a letter, Saturday 3/14, to the President of the American Farm Bureau Federation, with copies to President Bill Clinton; Vice-President Al Gore; the National Wildlife Federation; indicating that Brian would be performing concerts this summer and fall featuring John Denver's "Yellowstone (Coming Home)" and encouraging support for the Wolves Reintroduction Project initiative, which the AFB staunchly opposes. It's About Time is committed to stand behind Brian is this matter. This is an issue that would be near and dear to John's heart. Here is a copy of the letter Brian issued:
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It's About Time Quote of the Month: (I would like to start this as a regular feature. Send any suggestions to me at any time.) Susan, our Rep from PA stated: "Great JD minds think alike" I can't think of a more appropriate statement. Being involved in the World Family, you find SO many people that are of like mind. It's an amazing and wonderful legacy from John to us.
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Be sure to check out this web site for news regarding the new JD screen saver that is available: http://members.aol.com/jdsaver - I've heard nothing but rave reviews for this and the profits will benefit Plant-It 2000.
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Here's a message from Pete Huttlinger (for those who don't know, Pete as well as Chris Nole were members of John's band):
*Note from Marcelle: I have the song list if anyone is interested in knowing what is on the CD.
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Plans for both Aspen trips (Aug and Oct.) are underway. See last months newsletter (available on the web page) for details. One new development for Oct. is that there will be concerts on both Sat and Sun night by members of the Hard Travelers and I believe others as well that will be similar to the WFMA tribute this past fall in the DC area.
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I am also kicking around the idea of planning an It's About Time sponsored event in Aspen on the evening of 10/12 that would be outdoors and free of charge. Anyone planning on being there at that time, please contact me with any ideas, suggestions, etc.
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Well, I think that about does it for this month. If I have left out anything critical, please let me know asap so we can add it to the web page as well as distribute it to all.
Peace my friends, Marcelle
"It's about time we start to live it, the family of man..." -John Denver