Carolynn Black: Home

I know, I know, it's been a looooong while since I've written anything. I have a good excuse though - I'm chasing around a two-year old, I'm the buyer/co-owner of Happy Bambino, AND I'm preggers with boy #2! Yup, I'm due in November, just before Thanksgiving. Feels like I've been pregnant all year, and now d-day is only three months away, yikes! Zeke turned two a few weeks ago, and I can hardly believe it. He's turning into quite a little ham, and he's even starting to sing along with me. Last week he had a jam session with daddy - Tom on the guitar, and Zeke on the drums, keys and microphone. He's a jack of all trades! Not to mention, he can count to six in spanish (I guess Dora the Explorer isn't that awful after all!). I know I should stop gushing, but as any mom knows, no, I can't! He starts preschool next week (two mornings a week), and I don't know who's more nervous - yes I do, I am! so as you see, life around my houe has been a bit crazy, as usual.

I've been playing a few gigs here and there, but will be slowing down even more as my due date approaches. Vibe Syndicate is playing at the Middleton Good Neighbor festival at Fireman's Park on Sunday Aug 30th at 5pm. It'll be our last gig til after the baby comes. We're going to try to get into the studio to lay down some tracks in the meantime. We've got a lot of good stuff to immortalize on tape (or hard drive as it were) before we forget it all. So if you want to catch me with VS, ya better do it this Sunday. I might do a gig or two with The Jimmys, but I'll pretty much be out of commission for awhile. I need a break!

Don't be shy, come say hello at The Happy Bambino of you're over on the east side of Madison.

Peace love & Music,
Carolynn

Vibe Syndicate's been hard at work breaking in a new keyboard player, rehearsing old tunes, and writing new ones, so we're really looing forward to the pay off - a gig! I love it when I can walk to a gig, and that's just what I'm gonna do this Saturday (only if isn't freeeezing!) We'll be at The Crystal Corner Bar on March 7th. We're playing the opening set for our good buddies Root's Collective, so get there early if you want to catch us.

Also, I know Memorial Day weekend seems like a looong way away, but if you're planning on staying in town have I got the show for you. Vibe Syndicate just got the word that we'll be playing at BRAT FEST, the Midwest's largest single item barbecue! How cool is that? You can chow down on yummy Johnsonville Brats and boogie your buns off to our funky brand of r&b. Check the gig calendar for more info.

We'll also be playing at The Nau-Ti-Gal a couple of Thursdays this summer out on the pier. You can get your R&B and Fish & Chips all in one place!

Oh, and I'll be sitting in w/Old School again on May 2nd (possibly on April 11th too). Join Cliff Frederiksen and me at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Greenway Station in Middleton for a free-form evening of whatever we feel like playing. You can expect to hear some blues, country, soul, jazz, and some things in between.

Okay, that's what's in the hopper. See ya soon!
Carolynn

First let me say we lost a great entertainer and an incredible human being in Eartha Kitt. I look forward every December to my 1 or 2 chances to sing "Santa Baby," and I want to thank her for that. Who knew Santa was the original sugar daddy?

So yeah, I know it's been waaay too long since I've had a gig and I promise tp try not to let that happen again. To make it up to you, my adoring public, I've got two, that's right 2 shows this week. Friday, Jan 16th I'll be at Alchemy with Vibe Syndicate, and Saturday, Jan 17th I'll be headlining the Madison Blues Society's Wild Women Sing The Blues benefit show at The Harmony Bar. I'm especially psyched to play The Harmony with Cliff Frederiksen on stage with me.

In other news, I've been working part-time at Happy Bambino for a few months now. In case you don't know, HB is located on Madison's near east side and is a place for "babies, bellies, and breastfeeding." Basically, we try to provide everything a new (and not-so-new) mother might need to bring her little monkey up in the world safe and sound. We've got lots of organic and natural bath and body products for mommy and baby, toys (nothing that requires batteries) and clothes for ages 0-3, a huge selection of nursing bras and tanks, and all the cloth diapering supplies you could ever need. We also have a website so it you don't live around here you can still check us out, and PLEASE DO!!!
http://www.happybambino.com
I'm the new buyer, so I get to shop for stuff - how cool is that? Okay. so there's more to it than that, but I do get to take home cataogs for "work." Oh, and if you think of anything that you think we should carry, please let me know.

What else, Zeke is AMAZING! I swear he is a genius. I was making dinner, meatloaf to be exact, and he's marching around the kitchen saying "why, why, why" and I'm replying, "I don't know" and this goes on for a minute or so and then I see he's got a letter "Y" in his hand. We have a set of magnet letters that he plays with (thank you Mom) and he's learning them one by one. He can iidentify the sound of S, K, H, P, B,, and T and say M, O, D, and now Y. Is it just me or is that insane for a 17 month old? He also just learned to say "cool," "elmo," and "Harold" as in Harold and the Purple Crayon, one of my favorites, though it come out "harrow" Can you stand it? Okay, enough bragging. I gotta go to bed. That genius kid of mine is gonna be up in a few hours.

C