Summer is here and other than short trips to Alabama, Virginia, and Colorado, I have been home, doing local shows and enjoying my back yard and neighborhood. We live on a street off the main thoroughfare for our town, and it is a well-traveled road by bikers (I mean bicycles). On a Saturday or Sunday morning, hundreds of them go by. I’ve been getting on my bike and going on ten to twenty mile bike rides from my door, appreciating the world close by us. We’re about six miles from Providence, and Debbie regularly puts panniers on the back of her bike and rides into town for that night’s dinner. It’s a very human pace – a lot different from driving down to the corner in a Hummer. My mind works fast enough – my body needs to slow down. On the bike, I find myself musing about what would happen if we used bikes more –how it would change the relationship with our neighbors and the world.

The other mode of transportation that’s been getting a lot of use this summer is the kayak. I bought two of them last summer without consulting anyone in the family. In this case, impulsive shopping was a great idea – we have found lakes, ponds, bays and rivers close by us that we never knew about, and have left the kayaks on top of the car, ready to go at a moment’s notice. They are graceful instruments, and make me appreciate the world I live in – like the bike, changing my pace and attitude. You come around the bend of a river and discover a heron looking for fish, or a muskrat, or a huge snapping turtle. These are my neighbors, but I’m usually so busy, fast, and loud that I don’t notice them. It’s a kind of traveling I want to do more of.

And then there’s the traveling that brings me to you. Provided I don’t do too much, it’s a blessing. I’ll be in Seattle, Missoula, and around my region later this summer. See you there. I hope you’re having a great summer.

Bill

Calendar

Check my online website calendar to find out if there’s a family concert scheduled in your area. Cut and paste or click on the link below: http://www.billharley.com/calendar.asp

Summertime challenge

While you’re vacationing, lounging at the beach, driving 4 hours to Aunt Gertie’s, or simply sitting around the dinner table gibbering about the heat, I challenge you to think of an original title for an entirely new Bill Harley song. Something fresh, something fun, something ridiculous. Ok, now e-mail us the title you created along with your family name and the city and state where you live to Valerie@billharley.com. At the end of the summer, I will look over the entries and choose a winner and then I will write a whole song using the winning title! Winner(s) will also receive a demo CD featuring the song they named and a certificate of merit signed by yours truly along with a free copy of any future recording that includes the song and its winning title. How do you like THAT? Submit your entries by August 31, 2003. Good luck to all!

The Bill Harley Store

We’ll contact you as soon as my newest recording becomes available, but summer is also a great time to get acquainted with my older (ahem) songs and stories. You can purchase all my recordings and books online at the Bill Harley Store at http://www.billharley.com/store.asp. If you want, write me a review and I’ll post it on my website!