Eclectic I and II should now both be available for download on CDBaby, both as albums and individual tracks.

ETA: Eclectic II is also up on iTunes. Ecelctic I was just approved today, so it'll probably be another few weeks.

I discovered that if you search for Sassafrass, a song called "She Need Me" shows up. Apparently there's a ska and reggae group called Sassafrass (who even use the same spelling we do), although they don't appear to exist on iTunes other than on a mix CD. That may end up confusing some people. We do not do reggae. They probably do not do a-cappella.

Thrud informs me that several people have requested the lyrics to My Brother, My Enemy -- you can now download a pdf here.

Back from Concertino -- we had a lot of fun. But this is not a con report.

After our concert, Thrud and I had to head to the dealers room to talk to one of the dealers and apparently missed a song about the death of Baldur in the Two-by-Eights. Can anyone tell us who sang it, and if they don't follow this LJ, point them in our direction? We'd love to hear it next time we're at the same convention, and also to get the lyrics.

Only two of our members were able to make Balticon this year, but angstnokami has a report here, and seishonagon has a report here.

Thanks to everyone who made it such a wonderful weekend for both of us. We hope to see you all around, at more cons, and of course at next year's Balticon.

Special thanks to Gary, who did a tremendous job running the filk programming at the con.

Miss our concert at Club Passim? Saw it and want to see it again, with more and different songs?

Then come to

Sassafrass's Second Spring Concert

(Sunday in the Park with Norse!)

Sunday, May 31st
2pm-4pm
Cambridge Common Park (Garden Street and Massachusetts Avenue)

OK, so this Sunday-- that's May 17th-- is Sassafrass at Club Passim in Harvard Square (47 Palmer St., pretty much behind the Coop; you can get to it most easily from Church St.). 4:30 PM.

Tickets are $13 for the general public and $11 for club members. And hey, there are tables and you'll be able to buy beverages and things. And we will have copies of our CDs to sell.

This is going to be a really awesome set list, too.

So come, and make me, Thrud, gaudior, weirdquark, faerieboots, lignota, occultatio, tiamat360, and aurelia_star very happy.

The Balticon concert is officially canceled.

We will still be at the con for filk circles and such, and we look forward to seeing you all there.

It's official: Sassafrass will be performing at Balticon 2009, over Memorial Day weekend. More information to come as the time draws closer.

Many thanks to all those who offered help and advice for making this happen.

We had an awesome time.

We don't have video of the entire concert, but here are links to the new Norse pieces that we did at Boskone. (If anyone else was taking video or pictures, we'd love to get links to those too.)

Sundown

My Brother, My Enemy

Concert pictures

Happy New Year!

Last fall was pretty low key for us. We didn't go to any conventions, but we spent a lot of time rehearsing with some new members, and we had two Christmas concerts. One Christmas concert was for the local Big Sisters group where we caroled at their Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. Ada also finished up a piece for our upcoming Norse CD and we're all looking forward to learning it.

The majority of our members live in the Boston area, so we're taking advantage of the many Boston area cons coming up, and we're looking forward to getting back into performing.

Boskone, February 13-15, 2009:

We have a half hour concert slot on Saturday at 12:30. We're hoping some of the new songs will be ready to perform here.

FilKONtario, April 3-5:

We still don't have enough people who can go to this, which means it's probably not going to happen, and this makes us sad. It's not completely impossible though, so we'll see.

Balticon, May 22-24:

Some of us will be at Anime Boston this weekend, but we do have enough people who can go to Balticon to be able to sing there. That'll mark a year since Sassafrass starting performing again. Yay!

ConCertino, June 19-21:

We haven't managed to talk to people in charge of programming here either, but we'll be around.

Worldcon, August 6-10:

We're looking forward to Worldcon. We'll hopefully have a concert slot, but if not, we'll still be there.

Music update!

CDBaby has released Solitary Dancer and Firebrand to various places that let you download music. The ability to actually do so seems to not be complete everywhere (and I haven't checked all of the places yet) but you can now download both CDs from iTunes for their usual $0.99 a song, or $9.99 for the entire CD. Amazon's digital download section seems to not have Firebrand, but does have Solitary Dancer.

We're now able to sell CDs on CDBaby! Our page is here, and they have CDs in stock. They still need to approve the CDs for digital download, but the sample clips are up. I'll post again once I notice digital download is ready; if anyone else happens to notice before I do, let me know.

Updates about Firebrand on our website are still in progress, but I wanted to point people at a couple of pages because a) the cover art is awesome and I want to share it, b) we have two additional tracks that we were able to add at the last minute, and c) someone requested lyrics to Fall.

So here's the page for Firebrand, which shows the cover art and new track list, and here is the page for Fall, which doesn't have links to sound clips or the concert video yet, but does have lyrics.

Updates for Firebrand will continue, so expect new pages and changes to current ones over the next few days.

Firebrand, Sassafrass's second album, is now available for pre-order!

The CD officially premieres at Confluence 2008 (July 25th-27th), where there will also be a Sassafrass concert, and where Ada Palmer, a member of the group, will be giving a talk on Osamu Tezuka. We will start filling orders immediately after the con.

Firebrand is available for $15, as is the re-release of our first album, Solitary Dancer. Order both and get the pair for $25; if you already have Solitary Dancer, Firebrand will be available for $10 for a limited time only. (This is because there are several tracks on Firebrand that are re-recordings of tracks from Solitary Dancer.) Shipping for up to two CDs will be $3 for those in the continental U.S.; persons from other regions should ask about shipping in the order request.

To order, email sassafrassmusic at gmail dot com, and let us know which CDs you want and in what numbers.

Recap: any one CD, $15. The pair, $25. Firebrand if you have Solitary Dancer, $10. Shipping, $3.

Yay!

The following is the preliminary track list and release information for the upcoming Sassafrass CD, Firebrand. The booklet inside the CD will also include a list of performers, some notes about composition and original performances of some of the pieces, original booklet art by angstnokami, and cover art by Laura Higgins Palmer, who also painted the cover art for Solitary Dancer, which can be seen on our website.

There are two songs which are not currently included on this list, which may or may not be completed in time for inclusion on this CD. If they are not on this CD, they will definitely be on a future album.

Current track list:
1. Fall
Three parts, Four voices
2. Darling Eliza
Two parts, Two voices
3. Folksong: Caravan
Three parts, Three voices
4. Wild Angel
Three parts, Five voices
5. Folksong: Final Ride
Three parts, Three voices
6. Where I Come From
Two parts, Two voices
7. A Proper Mermaid Tail
Two main lines, Five voices on chorus
8. Daughter of Apocalypse
Four parts, Five voices
9. Threadbare Dragon
Two voices and guitar
10. Fall with instrumental
Voice and guitar
11. Group Improvisation: Tumbling Away
Six voices
12. Group Improvisation: Daughter of Apocalypse
Three voices
13. Preview Track: The Futhark Song
Two voices

“The Futhark Song” is a preview of our next project, a Norse mythology-themed CD.

Due to the inclusion of a few older tracks which we have re-recorded for this CD, we currently plan to release Firebrand (hopefully at Confluence) for $15. Copies of Solitary Dancer will also be available for $15, or the pair will be available for $25. If you already have Solitary Dancer and would like to purchase Firebrand, it will be available to you for $10 for a limited time.

We look forward to seeing people at Confluence!

Sassafrass will perform at Confluence in Pittsburgh, July 25-27. Five members will attend, two of whom have not performed with us at cons yet this year. We will be giving a workshop on composing harmonies. Ada will also be giving a talk on Osamu Tezuka.

Firebrand is still in progress, but we're hoping to finish everything in time to have copies printed for Confluence.

Hi, everyone! Selections of Sassafrass' Contata 2008 concert are now on YouTube:


All the Time in the World
Fall
Final Ride Against Leshamen
Sapphire, Ruby, and Gold

Sassafrass has re-scattered to our various locations after a very successful Contata. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us by attending our concert and singing with us at circles and buying our CD. A wonderful time was had by all of us, and we hope to see many of you again at other conventions!

angstnokami and seishonagon have also posted Contata reports on their LJ accounts. Other Sassafrass members, please let me know if you post your own reports, so I can link to them here.

Also at Contata, Sassafrass began in earnest the process of recording our new CD, Firebrand. Recording isn't finished yet, but it it most certainly well in progress. If we're lucky, it will be ready in time for Confluence.