Kathleen Gibson: Chit Chat

Well, I've been so danged busy, I completely forgot to write in this journal. The summer was full of wonderful concerts, seeing old (and young) friends and fans everywhere I went. I spent two weeks in the front range of Colorado, and sang "Swan Song" concerts at libraries all over the Chicago area. Next summer, we are moving, so I can still come sing in Chicago, but it will take a plane ticket and advance planning!

The big change is that we are moving to Florida, not Colorado, so I'm sending comforting hugs to friends and fans in Colorado. I'll still come out to sing most every summer, and you can come visit me! We'll be living a mere mile from the beautiful Emerald Coast, Fort Walton Beach, in the western panhandle. The water is lovely and warm, the beaches are soft and white, and the people are as loving and welcoming as can be. My daughter will be attending college there, and I even have a job already at that same college teaching math. You didn't know I teach math...surprise! I found my spiritual home there, so with all that happening, we decided to point the moving van south. I promise to post pictures when we get there, so you can see how wonderful it is.

Meanwhile, I'm really busy with Artist In Residencies here, one last round. I do hope to share music this way with the children in Florida.

I hope your fall and winter are warm (in your hearts and homes) and happy. I'd love to hear from you!

In hope and harmony,

Kathleen

ps: Here's my "new math" for music

1 purpose + 100's of songs + 1000's of concerts = infinite Love!!!!!

Afer two months of uploading my weekly podcast to both www.kathleengibson.com http://web.mac.com/kathleen_gibson, I am happy to announce that soon my Pure Light podcast will be available on iTunes. You can already download my songs there, get Kathleen Ring Tones, and more...stay "iTuned" and I'll let you know when it's final!

You can now subscribe to my updates on this page! You can subscribe to this feed! Click the button below to subscribe.


I've just started a weekly podcast, too, which you can listen to on the by clicking the "Music & Lyrics" button on the left and selecting "Pure LIght Podcasts".

You can subcribe to the podcast at http://web.mac.com/kathleen_gibson.

So, go listen...you'll be surprised in a very wonderful way!!

Many blessings, much joy, and innumerable reasons for gratitude to you and your family in this new year!

Thank you for the great and perfect abundance...

You can subscribe using a free rss feed at http://web.mac.com/kathleen_gibson to recieve these podcasts automatically, or check back as often as you like ono my music page and listen whenever your heart desires. I'll post new Pure Light podcasts each week.

Dear Ones,

In distant times, (and not so distant) Winter Solstice was celebrated as a holiday. Since this is the shortest day and the longest night of the year, people of many cultures throughout time, from the neolithic forward have honored this day and given thanks for the light that sustains us, both the sun and the Divine. If you are curious about the many, many celebrations throughout history, there's a fine article at wikipedica, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice.

Today, I am celebrating, too. I've been a full time family entertainer, singer/songwriter for 18 years now, but few people know that my very first two solo albums, Serenity and Inner Light, were very different from their younger "siblings", Anna Banana, Zibber Bibber, Rocking Chair Love, Good Night My Angel, Free The Trees, Jungle Bungalow, and Why Can't I Be Normal??. These first two outpourings of my creative heart were lovely, meditative reflections of the inner fire. I will be re-releasing these soon, as a compliation album, music that brings peace, quiet, harmony, and a sense of being centered and grounded in these times of turmoil. In the meantime...

My gift to each of you today is to invite you to visit my newly created podcast and listen. Pure Light, offers universal prayers of gratitude, a few moments of quiet respite in which you are invited to connect with your heart and find the peace that reminds you of who you truly are and the many blessings for which you can be deeply grateful. It's just four short minutes from your busy day, and it is my intention that those four short minutes help you feel calmer, happier, and more grateful for the rest of your day. I'll release a new podcast once a week, so feel free to subscribe, knowing you won't be overwhelmed with loads of material. The first podcast is here, on my music page,
http://www.kathleengibson.com/music.html or you can listen (and subscribe for free) at
http://web.mac.com/kathleen_gibson/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html.

Please take a few minutes and let me know what you think.

In hope and harmony,

Kathleen Gibson
www.kathleengibson.com Passionately committed to helping make the world a better place for all children, young and old.

ps. If you are curious about where I got the name Pure Light, it's from my mom and dad (thank you!!). Kathleen means "Pure Light of God." The photo for the podcast was taken by my daughter Natasha, on our last day in Boulder, Colorado, last summer, as I contemplated the many, many blessings in my life at that moment, watching the light dance on the lovely, clear mountain water.

Ok, I just realized that I haven't updated this page in WAY too long, but such is life when one is fully engaged in LIVING every wonderous moment.

Here's the big news folks. I just got back from a trip to Colorado, and one of the heartfelt dreams of my life is soon to come true. My family is now planning to relocate to the Boulder area in the summer of 2010. So, if you'd like to me perform for your school, library, park district, birthday party or other event, let's do it soon, so you don't end up having to buy me a plane ticket to come back to the Chicago area!

So somehow it's already freezing cold winter, and I haven't written here much. HOWEVER, I have made a face page. I hope you go add yourself to my friend list! It's a really fun way to stay in touch, I think. If you want to see and little bit of the page without joining facebook, you can use this link.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Kathleen_Gibson/660776966

Hi there,

Well, I can't believe it. Fall is here, and the grass is still green! I've already begun scheduling lots of Artist In Residencies on all sorts of fun topics including song writing, character traits, and even the Ravinia One Score, One Chicago material, which focuses on lots of Water Music. All of these are created with the Illinois Educational Goals in mind and FUN LEARNING in the forefront. What could I do for your school??? Assembly? In school field trips? Family Night? Make PTA a BLAST? Create a spectacular and unforgettable residency?
Let me know...

If you haven't downloaded August's Song Of The Month, check it out. It's "Why Can't I Be Normal??" on the cd of that name, in honor of my son, who just today started college at Illinois State University in NORMAL, Illinois. It's a very fun, partly true, definitely corny song, but I think you'll love it!

I hope you find joy in whatever you do today!

The song of the month is "I Will Never Leave You" which I recorded with my precious daughter Natasha for the album Why Can't I Be Normal?? You can listen or download it for free at www.kathleengibson.com/music.html! This song literally came to me in a dream, about 3 am one morning. I heard the whole thing, arrangements, vocals, harmonies, everything, in a dream, so I suppose Jitterbug was helping me write this one! I picked up my guitar and started playing along with this incredibly beautiful melody, then realized very quickly that even if I had been fully awake, there were several chords that I did not know. Fortunately, in my half conscious state, my fingers found their ways to the right places, and I jotted down the tablature. The chorus of this song is a heart touching round of a quatrain that every parent lives every moment

I will never leave you,
My heart rests in your hand.
Through the years and for all time,
Love is all that lasts.

This song, which I dedicated to and recorded with my daughter, offers unconditional loving reassurance from mother to child, heart to heart, that I will be there for her, for all ways and always. I'm sure it will touch your heart too. So, in honor Natasha's 17th birthday and of our 9th year anniversary of Natasha's adoption, the year in which she is now longer a daughter than she was an orphan, we share our love, our voices, and this song with your families. You can read more about our journey together at www.adoptionmidwife.com, on the Our Story page.

Driving to Orion for their family concert in the park last night, the car got "rather" hard to handle. Being a seasoned "Road Warrior" I thought the lashing rains, howling winds, semi trucks and water standing on the pavement were probably collectively to blame. So, I wrestled the car on down the highway, another 70 miles or so, to the prettiest little bandshell I ever saw. As I was preparing to go onstage, I saw what looked like chewing gum wrapping ALL the way around my driver's side front tire. I reached to pull the unsightly mess off, only to start shredding my poor thumb on little steel spikes, sticking out from the tire, where it had SPLIT! YIKES!

Quickly I told my wonderful hostess Teresa Pierce of the Western District Public Library of my problem, hoping she could help me locate some road service place that would change the tire after the concert. She turned to her husband John with a glowing smile. He asked me to move my car to a nice, flat spot, and set about to change that nasty tire for the little spare, but there was this problem with the lug nuts... Friend after friend came to help John, and in the end, after an hour of hard work and an endless array of tools, these wonderful men changed that sad, broken tire, rescued this damsel in distress and sent me safely homeward bound.

My HEARTFELT THANKS to John Pierce, Robert "Yogi" McHugh, Paul Lange, Rob Manning, Sandy Crayne, and Henry Murphy for their hard work, good tools, fine spirits, and true chivalry!

By the time I got home, I discovered that a second tire had split in exacty the same way, so grateful thanks to the Good Lord kept me safe!

I now have four brand new tires and a smile in my heart for the good hearted folks in Orion, Illinois...and for the guardian angel who keeps watch over me.

~•~

Coming soon...I'm working on TWO new albums for you! Watch this space for more details.

Also, if you know of any wonderful artists out there, young or more experienced, I'm looking for cover art for one of these albums. Songs include:
My Doggies Do The Dishes,
Pajama Samba (the never before recorded story!!)
Zoe The Zebra (black'n'white blues), and others.
Email me if you have ideas for the great cover for this super silly album!

~•~

How about it? Let me hear what you think of the new site, and what sorts of things you'd like me to add?

~•~