Wandering Gypsy- Holiday Greetings & Update & Wishes for Joy/Peace/Love

For those of you who don't get my mailing... Here's my Wandering Gypsy Occasional... If you 'd like to sign up for the list, you can go to http://www.anniewenz.com/home.html and fill in your email address at the bottom where it says "join Annies mailing list." I Promise, I send it quite infrequently... maybe 6x per year (I know- I'm BAD) Hello Very Shiny Beautiful People from Near & Far! I write this as I Celebrate & Give Thanks for another year of Life & Family & Friendship & Art & the Many Paths of Our Wandering Journeys. It's been a year bursting with Roller Coaster Emotion! I've learned to Honor it All... As I've learned that for as much as the cup filled with Joy & Light Gifts us with certain lessons, so does the path filled with pain & imperfection. We are all part of a huge intertwined Circle, an ebb & flow. As my dear soul sister/friend playwrite/actor Julie Portman breathes her last breaths, we her friends & community are watching this circle of life & death & soul in all of its fullness & grace. It makes me reflect on how Simple everything really is in the end... and that makes me adjust my life accordingly. What's Really Important??? And that always seems to boil down to moments with family & friends & community. Simply finding those moments of Joy. "Living in my Boots" as I say... Not wishing for any moments other than those at my feet and searching for the bits of good in those moments... Sure, sometimes it's incredibly difficult...but I'm learning that struggles are part of the Journey and each struggle seems to leave me with Something that makes me able to pass some torch which needed to be passed to me... to Others... As to the World & Peace, I am receiving calls & letters about Hope for the future from my friends in the US as well as my dear friends in India & Pakistan. There are many more of us alike than not, and there are many more of us working towards Peace than not. I Believe. I Believe. Please let us All keep walking together... & speaking of that... My friend & musical brother Salman Ahmad (some of you remember Salman performing with me at Philly folk Fest) was part of this AMAZING Peace celebration with Melissa Etheridge & Deepak Chopra today... http://ringthebells.ning.com/ Just another of the many ways we can get involved! I know we can all find ways to Pass the Torch of Peace! My dear friend Dr Batool Kazim & I are working towards finding grants to bring us back to Pakistan & India to share our music & wellness inspired educational programs... If any of you know of any special grants... we'd love to hear about it! (Batool is the psychiatrist who brought me to Pakistan after the earthquake. She's part of Harvard's Multicultural Task force & is a fireball of ideas & energy! She has family in both India & Pakistan) So My Friends... Thank You for another Year of Love, Support & Inspiration. I know I am not alone and that I am Incredibly Blessed! And now on with the scoop 1- CONCERTS 2- RECORDINGS 3- GIVING 4- TATA'S & THANKS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1- CONCERTS: TUESDAY DECEMBER 23- 6- 9:30pm TARPON LODGE Celebrate the end of 2008 13771 Waterfront Drive Pineland FL 239 283 3999 (Please call for reservations if you to have some of their luscious food!) In these economic hard times, I'm REALLY trying hard to drum up a crowd for this last show of the year. The wonderful folks/servers who work at the Tarpon would SURE APPRECIATE & SURE DESERVE IT! So Please do what you can to help fill the place for them... They have light pub fare as well as a luscious full blown 4 star dinner. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday, December 27th LA TAVERNA - Santa Elena/Monteverde , Costa Rica YAAAAY! I'll be sitting in with my buddies "Chanchos de Monte" at this very hip Costa Rican venue! (We promise to shake the walls!) ~~~~~~~~~~ Wednesday, December 31st BROMELIAS AMPHETHEATRE 3RD ANNUAL New Years Concert / BASH-A-RAMA/Beatles Tribute! Santa Elena/Monteverde - Costa Rica It is my SUPREME HONOR to join up as guest artist with THE Best Band in Costa Rica ~ Los Chanchos de Monte! (Led by our fearless & incredibly Talented whip cracker Robert Dean. The entire local community PLUS travelers/visitors turn out for the celebration! Last year we had an entire string section as well as a full blown rock band! Standing room only. It was BLISS! If you know anyone spending the holidays in Costa Rica, make sure they're aware of this show in the cloud forest region- Monteverde/Santa Elena. (FYI- Robert isn't just known for his band "Japan" & for his work with Sineaid O'Connor, he's also the artist/painter behind the acclaimed "Bird Book of Costa Rica"- Cornell Press!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JANUARY- I AM ALSO ATTEMPTING TO RETURN (With Robert) TO THE VERY FUNKY "MOON SHIVA" in early Jan. & will post that date to my website as soon as I get word, so stay tuned. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WEDNESDAY JAN. 21- 6-9:30PM TARPON LODGE- 13771 Waterfront Drive Pineland FL 239 283 3999 (Please call for dinner reservations) If you miss this Tuesday's show... Hey- You can come in January. YAAAAY! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUNDAY JANUARY 25TH- 10AM- 12 NOON WILDCHILD GALLERY- 4625 Pine Island Road, Matlacha FL 239 283 6006 NATIVE AMERICAN/WOODERN FLUTE WORKSHOP! Price: Workshop $45/ Workshop & Flute $95 (PLEASE TRY TO RESERVE A SPACE IN ADVANCE... GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE AT THE GALLERY) THIS WORKSHOP HAD BEEN SO SUCCESSFUL , WE'RE DOING IT AGAIN! Learn simple techniques and secrets to playing beautifully & caring for a Bamboo or Wooden or Native American Flute. Bring your own Flute or consider purchasing a flute by our Artist Ray Wood. Maybe you have one & never played it, or you've always wanted to learn. Give yourself or someone you love the gift of peaceful music. ~~~~~~~~~~ SUNDAY FEB. 8- 10AM- 12 NOON WILDCHILD GALLERY- 4625 Pine Island Road, Matlacha FL 239 283 6006 Percussion/Hand Drumming Workshop! THIS WAS ALSO SO SUCCESSFUL, WE'RE OFFERING IT AGAIN! Workshop $45! For anyone who'd like to learn more about the art of drumming & percussion ... from simple individual rhythms & drumming/percussion techniques to playing in a group and creating you own poly rhythms. I will lead a hands (& feet) on workshop using shakers, claves, brushes, drums, & found objects... (just like "Stomp!") Bring your own "whatever" or use something from my bag of tricks. For adults or mature young people... Also GREAT for teachers! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2- RECORDINGS: Folks ALWAYS love the gift of music... We the artists ALWAYS appreciate it when you share our Art & enable us to keep doing what we do... CD Baby, my online distribution gurus have a HUGE assortment of music of all types. Please check them out! http://cdbaby.com/ As always, my 3 CD's can be purchased: * Via my website : http://www.anniewenz.com/products.html where there are links to CD Baby for purchase of the actual CD *or for INSTANT GRATIFICATION! It's SO EASY! (I even tried it myself) Digital Download via iTunes- Quick/easy/cheap~ http://www.anniewenz.com/products.html OR If you live in SW Florida, you can purchase the CDs at: *WildChild Gallery on Pine Island Road, Matlacha, FL *Pine Island Variety & Gift Store on Stringfellow Rd, St James City, FL *At Ada's Natural & Organic Foods~ S. Cleveland Ave. Ft Myers, FL A brief info-a-rama about the CD's... "Winds of the World"~ All instrumental w/ Indigenous/Native flutes on each song, 60 min long peaceful journey to nirvana type recording. Folks are saying they love using it for massage, yoga, dinner, romance;) "Poets Dance"~ "A Magical Musical Travelogue" songs about life, love, travel to far off places like Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Bali & Saskatoon Skies". I call this my "Story CD". "Time is Magic" ~ Full on band production, produced by Grammy winning producer Norman Blain. With Annie Burns, Brooks Williams, Duke Levine, Glen Velez! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3- GIVING: There are SO MANY ways to Give... - SHOP LOCAL! (if you can- where it makes sense) We in SW Florida are feeling a HUGE crunch... & I know each & every one of You all has also been affected by the world economy... so I ask that all of us be mindful of your local artists & business owners... Shopping local saves gas/energy and connects us with our communities. - CHARITIES There are SO MANY in need organizations. Think about donating a gift or service to your local shelter for the holidays. You can even do it in someone else's name! - KINDNESS- Promise a day of unconditional Kindness to someone you love, or to those you don't know! - MUSIC FESTIVALS!- There are SO MANY wonderful music events & festivals out there... think about giving the gift of festival! http://www.magmusic.com http://www.kerrville-music.com/ http://www.bluegrass.com/ http://www.falconridgefolk.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4- TATA's Well... It's that time... Once again... I Wish You All Joy & Love & Peace In Every One of it's Many Colors & Shapes With Much Gratitude... Peace, Pura Vida, Oneh, Namaste, Assalam-O- Alaikum,Nasdorovia, Annie

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