Bill's Letter

In the days at home, I've put together beehives, painted them, and prepared for the arrival of 40,000 or so bees. They come next week. I am only mildly freaked out. You can see my preparation in the accompanying picture. Like anything else, once you start paying attention, I've discovered that beekeeping is a world of its own – everybody is willing to help, and everybody has their own opinion! The best advice I've gotten so far is not to look like a bear when you go near the hives – “Bees do not like things that are brown and furry”. Words for life!

Songbook

As I mentioned in the last newsletter, Hal Leonard has released my songbook Do It Together. It's absolutely beautiful and has thirty-one songs I've written, with words, melody, and chords. Many of my songs are fairly simple – a handful of chords is all you need. I am VERY pleased with what the talented folks at Hal Leonard have done, and hope you find it useful, too. A special thanks to my friend, the wonderful jazz piano player Willie Myette, for transcribing the songs – a job I promise to do from now on. You can order the book from us by clicking on the hotlink above!

Flyboy News  

I've finished the editing on the printed edition of “Flyboy”, which will be published this fall by Peachtree. The new title for this version is The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher, and I am really happy with it. More news when it's out.

Sneak Peek  

While I haven't recorded it, I thought I would include the words to a song I wrote for a performance I did for the American Camping Association. It's in response to a comment from Michael Brandwein, who works with ACA, that camps spend a lot of time with issues related to electronic paraphernalia. The intro has a different melody, but mostly it's that song “I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills, I love the etc... boom de ah da boom de ah da etc” – you know. Here are the words:  The tune you know begins with:  I like my ipod....

My mom Fedexed me a package

I love all the stuff that she sent

The cookies are great, the cards mean a lot

But that's not what's excellent

I guess that camp has been all right

Surviving just more or less

But now that I've got my essentials

I love the wilderness

I like my ipod playing tunes in my ear

I love my cell phone now that the signal's clear

I love my dvd's, I've got them here with me

Boom de ah da, boom de ah da, etc.

I've got a laptop hidden beneath my bunk

I keep peripherals hooked up inside my trunk

Throw on another log while I write another blog

Boom de ah da, boom de ah da, etc.

I like the campfire's flickering flame

While I am playing my favorite video game

When all the lights are low I like the screen's warm glow

I love the soda pop in my refrigerator

I keep it running with my new generator

You take the birds and bees but give me technology

Boom de ah da, boom de ah da, etc.

This camp's got policies that I don't understand

They think the stone age must have been really grand

I like the fire less

When I'm not wireless

Boom de ah da, boom de ah da, etc.

I like the campfire's flickering flame

While I am playing my favorite video game

When all the lights are low

I like the screen's warm glow

Now that it's getting late, I guess I gotta go

The campfire's burning down, my batteries running low

Good night pals, fond adieu

I'll instant message you

Boom de ah da, boom de ah da, etc.

©2006 by Bill Harley

Books

At Debbie's insistence, I read Jhumpa Lahiri's book The Namesake. It is absolutely beautiful. Highly recommended. We've also been enjoying “The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency” series by Alexander McCall Smith. Mma Ramotswe is a great character, and so is her mechanic boyfriend. Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz (Tim Wilkinson, translator) is a really moving book that puts a new twist on the Holocaust – a great and challenging ending. David Shipler's book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America is a great piece of work that gave me a new understanding and compassion for those people who are working hard to make ends meet, and are largely ignored in this country. It's really thought provoking. And a friend of mine handed me E.B. White's book of essays One Man's Meat, which is a reminder that White, in addition to being a great children's writer, was one of the twentieth–century's great writers in the American language. Right now I'm enjoying Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt.

Debbie recommends A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel (a wonderful memoir about living in a simpler time), The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas (a great book that was a bit hard to get into but well worth it for the extraordinary ending - a must read for quilters...), Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller and The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (who wrote The Secret Life of Bees, which she also loved, this one is also powerful.)

Kids-wise, I recently read most of the “Time Warp Trio” series by Jon Scieszka. I've been working on a book for fourth grade boys, and those books capture the wonder, energy and lunacy that happens to nine and ten year olds. Kids read them, too, which counts for a lot.

Let me know what you're reading. It's good to know!

About Songs and Libraries
This June, I’ll be performing at the American Library Association (ALA) conference in New Orleans, and am very happy to be going there – because I love libraries, and am glad it’s in New Orleans. I’ve written a song for the ALA for the new campaign “@ Your Library” and I’ll be singing it there, along with telling some stories. See you librarians there!  

Thanks reading. Thanks for listening. Thanks for coming to see me if I'm close.

Yours,

From the Office

News, Updates and Goings on:

As most of you have probably heard, Bill's book Sarah's Story is now available in paperback. It's one of Bill's most popular books and we're excited that it is available. Click here to learn more.

As a small independent label, we have difficulty in getting major corporate stores and companies to take notice, but we're making progress. Barnes and Noble stores have Bill's songs on their listening stations (you have to look up Bill in the computer) and now itunes is carrying some of Bill's recordings. While this may not seem like news because Bill's recordings have been in listed as audiobooks on itunes for sometime, but it is big news because "Down in the Backpack", "Play It Again" and "There's a Pea on My Plate" are now in the Children's music section, which means you can download individual songs or the entire album. In addition to itunes, we've submitted Bill's stuff to various other music download sites, such as Yahoo!Music, AOL Music Now, and Emusic.com. Tell everyone you know that Bill Harley has joined the digital age!

Where's Bill?

Visit Bill's online calendar to find out where he's going to be and when.

A new sales special:

Buy a collection of early Bill Harley recordings: "Monsters in the Bathroom", "50 Ways to Fool Your Mother" and "Dinosaurs Never Say Please". Get all three CDs for 40$ or all three cassettes for $25, either way a $5 savinings. Click here to purchase.