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July 8th, 2009
08:03 pm - My newest hat: Celtic Arts & Culture Examiner!
I am now the official National Celtic Arts & Culture Examiner on Examiner.com! Come visit my site and find out what's happening in the world of Celtic entertainment:
Celtic Arts & Culture on Examiner.com
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June 5th, 2009
08:13 am - "Home"
Please watch this tonight. It's the only home we have, and we need to know what we're doing to it:
For more information, click HERE.
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March 21st, 2009
March 7th, 2009
10:17 pm - Asking trees their names
Found this last night in a book I'm currently reading, Vanishing Voices: the Extinction of the World's Languages by Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine. The concept of a language that's designed to grow with the ecosystem in which it is spoken just blew my mind. Made me think of something Tolkien's elves would have done:
"In the Native American language, Micmac, trees are named for the sound the wind makes when it blows through them during the autumn, about an hour after sunset when the wind always comes from a certain direction. Moreover, these names are not fixed but change as the sound changes. If an elder remembers, for example, that a certain stand of trees used to be called by a particular name 75 years ago but is now called by another, these terms can be seen as scientific markers for the effects of acid rain over that time period."
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March 2nd, 2009
04:19 pm - Youtube Symphony update-- GREAT news!!! :)
Hi everybody,
I want to sincerely thank everyone who voted, sent words of encouragement, or even just watched my entry videos. Today, I am thrilled to announce that......
I WON A SPOT IN THE YOUTUBE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND AM GOING TO CARNEGIE HALL IN APRIL!!!! YAY!!
You can see the various winners here: http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony?blend=1&ob=0
and learn more about this brilliant and innovative project here: http://in.sys-con.com/node/860361
Anybody who lives in the general east-coast area and is interested in seeing the live performance, tickets are available via the Carnegie Hall box office at:
http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt_13015.html?selecteddate=04152009
I really wish I could get you guys comp tickets, but this being Carnegie, it seems they are pretty strict about that sort of thing. :(
Anyway, thanks again!! I'm incredibly excited about this, and I couldn't have done it without YOU!
All the best,
Sam
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/dwaggins/bouncy.gif) excited
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February 14th, 2009
11:56 am - Youtube Symphony contest- please vote for me!
Dear LJ friends,
I hope you are all enjoying your Valentine's Day, and the lovely 3-day weekend ahead of us! I'm writing to ask a small favor which I hope you will also find interesting:
Youtube has come up with an amazing new project, called the Youtube Symphony Orchestra. Tan Dun, the composer who scored the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", has written a new symphony called (surprise!) "Youtube Symphony No. 1". The contest has encouraged musicians from all over the world to submit videos of themselves playing their own instrument's part of the symphony, as well as videos of other classical repertoire to show off their skills. Ultimately, the winners will be featured in an electronic "mash-up" video, which will fit all the parts together forming the world's first international online collaborative orchestra! BUT, even cooler, about 80 to 100 winners from across the globe will be selected to meet each other in person at Carnegie Hall to give a live performance of the symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas!!!! A judging panel from the London Symphony has been reviewing the entries so far, and I've made it to the second round! That's where YOU come in.... I need you to please take a moment to vote for me. :)
You will only be able to vote if you are a registered user of Youtube. (If you are not registered, I do not want you to feel obligated to register just for this if you aren't comfortable doing so. But if you do want to register, it's quite easy: http://www.youtube.com/signup
Here's how to vote for me:
1. Go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/symphony?blend=1
2. Click the "Vote" tab at the top of the page.
3. Type my name as SamanthaGillogly (all one word) in the "search" box just above all the little thumbnail videos, and hit "Go" to find me.
4. You will see a video thumbnail with my picture, entitled "Youtube Symphony: Mozart & Beethoven Excerpts". Click on that and it should start playing.
5. Please vote for me by clicking on the green "thumbs-up" symbol. Remember, you can only vote for me once per day! More votes than that will be disqualified. Youtube defines a day as "a series of 24-hour periods beginning on February 14, 2009 at 12:00:01 AM ET and ending at 11:59:59 PM ET on February 22, 2009".
The public voting part is very important, and after this week, Michael Tilson Thomas himself is supposed to do a final review of the top-voted videos to select who will make the final cut. I would sooo appreciate your support in this!!
Many many thanks,
Sam
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/dwaggins/up.gif) hopeful
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January 20th, 2009
05:34 pm - "Our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness."
Students and faculty crowd around the television at the Berklee College of Music student union to witness President Obama's inauguration:
Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill perform a John Williams arrangement of "Air and Simple Gifts". I cried as I watched this:
Just to reiterate a comment I posted elsewhere, which I later realized best sums up what this day meant to me:
Today I got to stand in a room full of artists of every imaginable ethnicity and nationality, as we watched poetry and music being used to celebrate the ideals that regard all citizens of the earth with fairness and compassion. This gave me tremendous hope that it's still not too late for us to create a more beautiful world.
Current Mood: hopeful
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January 11th, 2009
10:00 pm - Taking the airwaves by storm! (part IV)
Most recent web radio network to add me to their playlist:
You can hear my music on their "Celtic Moon" station.
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January 9th, 2009
07:07 pm - "New" Tolkien book to be published this spring
YES!!! (*manic glint of nerdiness*)
HarperCollins is to publish a new book by the late Lord of the Rings author J R R Tolkien. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, edited and introduced by Tolkien’s son Christopher, will be published in hardback in May 2009.
The previously unpublished work was written while Tolkien was professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University during the 1920s and '30s, before he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The publication will make available for the first time Tolkien’s extensive retelling in English narrative verse of the epic Norse tales of Sigurd the Völsung and the Fall of the Niflungs.
Christopher Tolkien edited Tolkien's most recent title The Children of Húrin in 2007.
Further details about the contents of the book will be revealed closer to publication.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/dwaggins/hyper.gif) giddy
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January 5th, 2009
06:01 pm - At long last... TOUR PHOTOS ARE ALL UP!!
Told you I'd get around to it eventually!
You can see them all here: viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm
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January 3rd, 2009
09:52 pm - Meep!
I almost forgot...
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!
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09:23 pm - Celtic Myth Podshow Episode SP07
Gary and Ruthie of the fabulous Celtic Myth Podshow were kind enough to include me on their special music episode today.
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Gary made a very nice page for me on the Contributors section of their website.
In other radio-ish news, "To Drive the Cold Winter Away" was given a reprise play on WDVR's A Celtic Sunday Brunch. Thank you very much to Walt for including me in this special 2008 year-in-review episode.
And lest I forget... today is J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday!! Happy eleventy-seventh birthday, professor! :)
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December 21st, 2008
06:00 pm - The Longest Night
Greetings from a very cramped dressing room at Carnegie Hall! :)
The following website streams live webcams from inside Maeshowe, a 5,000-year-old stone chamber in Orkney, built to capture the early rays of dawn on the first days of winter:
www.maeshowe.co.uk/index.html
You can watch this miracle of Neolithic engineering online until early February. The cameras operate between 9:00am and 4:00pm GMT, so if the image is all dark, it's either a) night-time, or b) just your typical dreary Scottish winter day.
Happy solstice to all, and to all a good night!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/dwaggins/think.gif) thoughtful
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December 18th, 2008
07:40 pm - My fan base
According to Youtube Insight, my video channel is most popular in "an autonomous, demilitarized, monolingually Swedish-speaking administrative province, region, and historical province of Finland" known as the Åland Islands. The United States comes second, followed by Canada, Belgium, Norway, UK, Algeria, Finland, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Apparently, the Åland Islands have an approximate population of 27,210, of which 94.8% are Evangelical Lutheran; of the territory's total area, 89% of it is water; and it is mentioned in H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come as the site where the character Hooper Hamilton commits suicide.
This lead me to think up a t-shirt I could start selling at my gigs...
So, how about it? Can I start taking any pre-orders? :)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/dwaggins/smile.gif) amused
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December 17th, 2008
03:39 pm - Hear me on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #60- Holiday Edition
"Da Day Dawn" featured on Marc Gunn's popular podcast. Thank you, Marc! :)
Download it from iTunes, or listen here: The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #60
If you enjoy my piece, please vote for me on Marc's Celtic Top Five! The tune with the most votes will get a special reprise play at the end of the next episode.
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03:11 pm - Because it's Wednesday...
Michelangelo, forgive me.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/dwaggins/devious.gif) mischievous
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December 16th, 2008
07:10 pm - Wine and winter woolly things
Today ended up being my day for Christmas present-ing: wrapping gifts, making cards, packing envelopes, etc. Wrapped up two bottles of wine for our neighborhood postal carrier, Annie (one for "before Christmas" and one for "after Christmas"... goodness knows she'll need it! ;) Also sent out a couple hard copies of holiday EP to some friends who requested it.
And then there's the pile o' scarves I made this fall. Below you'll find me modeling several of said knitted creations: Gryffindor- and Slytherin-patterned scarves for my friends Beth and Megan respectively; a black one for my pianist friend Mike (to match his clothes); and a pink one for his girlfriend Kat (to match her hair). My brother insisted I give him his neon red scarf back around Thanksgiving, so no need to wrap that now. :P I still have three more to go: a rose-pink scarf for Tim Janis' neighbor, who was kind enough to let me stay at her house several times this summer while I was up in Maine doing gigs; and two for my parents, probably burgundy for my mom and black for my dad.
8 more days till Xmas... I must needs get busy!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/dwaggins/idea.gif) creative
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11:40 am - Taking the airwaves by storm! (Part III)
The latest internet radio station to add my music to their playlist:
Dryad Radio is a mix of New Age, Celtic, World Folk, Faerie, and Medieval/Renaissance music guaranteed to soothe even the most disgruntled troll.
If you know of a "real" radio station, internet station, or podcast that might find my music suitable for their shows, do let me know! :)
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December 15th, 2008
03:38 pm - White Christmas in West Brookfield 2008
Last Sunday, Dec. 7th, was the annual White Christmas in West Brookfield festival. After the tree-lighting ceremony on the common, there is always a choral concert at the town hall. This year the Quaboag Chorus was joined by the Brookfield Brass Ensemble, pianist Virginia Bailey, my student Johanna, and myself. Johanna played two carol duets with me. It was her first big live performance outside of school, and I was SO proud of her! I've volunteered in this show for the past few years and it is always such a special seasonal landmark for me. Someone said, "If there were central casting for traditional New England towns of the Norman Rockwell variety, West Brookfield would be chosen every time." I second that.
Dig our Father Christmas' sweet robe:
 
Photo courtesy of Richard Murphy
Photo courtesy of Paula Slade
My version of "O Holy Night" from that show is now up on Youtube:
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02:05 pm - Taking the airwaves by storm! (Part II)
You can now hear me on WINTERSCAPES, an online station streaming New Age, Instrumental, World, Celtic and Ambient music that celebrates the winter season.
Current Mood: accomplished
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