Sing Thing Blog

Sing Thing Top Ten Parties

sandi — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:22:30 +0000

If you have ever been a member of Sing Thing Family Singing in Oakland, Albany, El Cerrito, San Francisco, you are invited to join the current members of Sing Thing in Albany and Oakland as they hold their Top Ten parties for the 37th year. Only current members can vote, but all alumni are invited to sing with us each year. Just bring a goody or drink to share. You can attend either party, but not both.

Wednesday’s party will be held May 9th, 2012 at 824 Curtis St. in Albany just off Solano at the Safeway.
Thursday’s party will be held May 24th, 2012 at 3461 Laguna Ave., Oakland at MacArthur Blvd.
Both parties will start at 7:30 sharp. We will sing and then share our goodies and socialize after the singing is completed. If you want to attend and are an alumni of this group, call Sandi at 510 482-1833 or email singthing@sandimorey.com

Summer Sing has 4 places left for 2012

sandi — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:15:44 +0000

Summer Sing for Grownups is filling up. There are 4 more spaces left. If you have a desire to sing
traditional music from the world’s peoples that is not too difficult for us Westerners to fathom, Summer Sing is for you. We are a group of neighbors who enjoy singing from many cultures. We include kids ten and older who enjoy singing harmony and who can last till 9 or 9:30pm. We do use word sheets & we sing Balkan, Jewish, American Indian, African, Polynesian, French & Spanish and even some good old American traditional tunes. We sing sea shanteys and rounds. Call Sandi at 510 482-1833 or email singthing@sandimorey.com. No pressure. A group purely for fun and relaxation. No skills needed.

Happy Birthday, Barbara Dane

sandi — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:08:08 +0000

Barbara will celebrate her 85th birthday with a concert at Freight and Salvage Coffee House on May 13, 2011 at 8pm. She is a dynamo and has been singing most of her life. We wish her another 85 years. She is a community treasure.

Congratulations to Shane Bauer & Sarah Shourd

sandi — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:04:58 +0000

Two of the 3 young people who were held so long in Iran for having crossed the Iran/Iraq border were married this weekend in Northern California. Their best man was the third hiker, Josh Fattal. Sarah was released after 14 months in captivity and Josh and Shane were released much later. These young progressives continue to oppose bombing of Iran and the wars in Afganistan and Iraq. They support the Occupy movements and continue to work for peace and justice. We wish Sarah and Shane all the best as they start their married life. For more information about them go to DemocracyNow.com. Amy attended their wedding and has a small commentary about it and a photo. It’s a great story. Mazeltov.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE SEEGER

sandi — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:00:55 +0000

May 3rd Pete Seeger celebrates his 93rd birthday. Tonight at Sing Thing Family Singing we will honor him with our songs. Everyone should open their throats and sing something they love in his honor. Pete has always been a presence in my life from my earliest memories of going to union meetings and Almanac singer/Weavers concerts with my parents in the 1940’s. He inspired my becoming a singer of traditional folksongs and my desire to pass down that music to the younger generations. He inspired my starting Sing Thing 37 years ago. I watched his techniques of audience participation and I learned to use them in my own performing and teaching. His values have inspired people all over the world. He walks his talk. I am happy that I lived, sang and taught at a time when he was in the world. Happy birthday, Pete. I, along with lots and lots of others, love you and thank you.

Summer Sing for Grownups - 32nd Year

sandi — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:58:11 +0000

Summer Sing grew out of Sing Thing when the grownups wanted a group that would go through the summer. It meets for 6 weeks each summer and has grown to include older children who are interested in singing and can stay up till 9:30. Usually ten is a good age. Summer Sing will run from June 28th through August 2nd. $55 for 6 weeks.

We sing songs from all over the world, some with harmony and descants. I do use song sheets for this group, where I do not for Sing Thing. No one is required to read music and all levels of experience are welcome. This is a fun way to meet some of the great songs from other cultures as well as learn some of the beautiful and fun songs from our own American folk traditions. We sing Hawaiian, Scots, sea shanties, lots of rounds, Jewish, African, French, German, Tahitian and more. We meet in my living room in Oakland’s Dimond district. Please contact me for more information and to register. singthing@sandimorey.com

A Challenging Project

sandi — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:41:04 +0000

There is a most interesting opportunity to be a part of a historical project. I was contacted by Awaiaulu in Honolulu to help translating the thousands of pages of Hawaiian newspapers that lasted from the time the Missionaries created a Hawaiian alphabet and put the bible into written language. The Hawaiian people became literate 100% in a very short time and Hawaiian language newspapers proliferated. They lasted into the 20th century. Now there is a project to take these pages one at a time and simply type what you see on the page (you’ll have to zoom). From there volunteers will be translating them into English.
This project began in November, 2011 and is scheduled to finish in July, 2012. You can work on it a little at a time and you can dedicate your page to someone. You can also indicate an affiliation with Sing Thing Family Singing or any other group. The website has instructions and videos to help you get started. I downloaded my page this morning. Go to www.awaiaulu.org to get started.

sandi — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:35:29 +0000

1968 was a pivotal year. The Tet Offensive escalated the war in Vietnam (with every family affected by the draft), Dr King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, the Democratic Convention in Chicago drew thousands of people and led to the famous trial of the Chicago 8, the leaders of various factions of the activist community, who were working for change. The Poor People’s March on Washington was scheduled for late April. Dr King was killed April 4th. In Paris student uprisings almost threw out the French government. In Germany and Mexico there were uprisings as well. South Africa under Aparteid exploded, South America as well. Cesar Chavez and the UFW upheld the principles of Non Violent direct action and organized the grape boycott. In 1968 Dr. Spock was put on trial. He was blamed for raising this “rebellious” generation. Coincidentally, his son has organized this exhibit. If you were old enough to have consciously lived through this period you know. If you were too little or not born yet, take a look. It’s an exciting exhibit as was the year, itself.

Oakland Independent Film Festival this weekend

sandi — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:12:28 +0000

The Oakland Independent Film Festival is happening April 6-8, 2012 at the Oakland Museum. There are some wonderful films, long and short ones on the program. You can get info and purchase tickets at www.oiff.org. For example: Sankofa which was in general release 19 years ago and is a hard look at slavery. Also, The Spook Who Sat By The Door which was pulled from showing by the FBI 20 years ago. Take a look at the schedule. There’s a film about Oakland’s Firestorm, too.

OIGC & Vocolat upcoming concert

sandi — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:27:26 +0000

The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choirs, under the direction of Terrance Kelly, present:
“Faiths In Harmony” an annual free Spring musical. To be held Saturday, April 14th 2012 - 7:30pm
at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern CA, 1433 Madison Street, Oakland CA 94612.

Sing Thing Family Singing has had many alumni in the OIGC over the years. We continue to sing
“Roots and Wings” and “Circle Chant” composed by Linda Hirschhorn of Vocolat Jewish Music Ensemble.
This should be an inspiring and very fun event. Definitely family friendly. And, best of all, it’s free.