You may have noticed I took a break from live shows to focus on making my final album - Why? I'm losing my hearing.
Don't worry! I have hearing aids so I can still hear pretty good. Thank you, Webmaster Jim Infantino -- you are ahead of schedule -- I've already sold one of the albums and it isn't even out yet -- I know you all should be the first to have a crack at it, but you should also have a chance to get all the video for free (I made 13 videos over the past eight months, many with captions, too) -- so some of you who are hard of hearing like I am can 'get' what the songs are about.
DRUM SCHOOL DROPOUT is being released on Friday, but as I sing in "Grumpy Grampy Santa," I'm the president, delivery person, intern, cleaning lady, and secretary of my record label, so I can start mailing them out tomorrow if you start ordering them right now. Just click on the store button. This new album is listed 6th, so just click on it and we're off to the races.
And look! I made videos for EVERY song, so you really don't even have to order it to hear and see what's going on. Yes, you can get the entire album on video for free! But keep that to yourself. One of the perks of being on this list.
13 VIDEOS COMPLETED FOR ‘DRUM SCHOOL DROPOUT’ by Lavin
1. “The Best Summer” featuring Anil Melwani on cello (4:00)
https://www.vimeo.com/828663825
2. “Sins” featuring Jeff Daniels, Julie Gold, and Christine Pedi (3:12)
3. “Drum School Dropout” featuring Maddy & Zakk Bauers(4:37)
4. “A Soldier & His Princess” (4:51) (spoken word)
5. "Marble Hill" - sung by David M. Lutken - (5:22)
https://www.vimeo.com/1092306478
6. “Another New York Afternoon” featuring Cainer, Melwani & Doyle (4:24)
7. “Ervin & Edith” by Christine Lavin & John Forster (6:33)
8. "A Smack Of Jellyfish by Christine Lavin (2:48)
9. "Grumpy Grampy Santa" by Christine Lavin (4:54)
https://vimeo.com/1099182472
10. "Life Happens Fast On West 20th Street” (7:49)
https://vimeo.com/1098881227
11. "A Songwriter Named Bob” featuring Daniel Cainer (6:01)
https://vimeo.com/1098068546
12. “Mercury & Mars” featuring Robin Batteau on violin 5:46
13. NERFA 2016 “Don’t Take Anyone” LIVE with Mara Levine, the trio “Gathering Time,” (Stuart Markus, Gerry McKeveny, Hillary Foxsong), Jackie Damsky on violin, and Phil Klum joining us on bass (6:03) "Don't Take Anyone” includes sheet music in two different keys, G and E, in case you want to play it. The shooting in NYC on Monday has been heartbreaking. I wrote this song NINE years ago, about this particular kind of shooting. We have got to do better. It's incredibly sad that I have to appeal to potential shooters with this song, but as I guessed in 2016 -- our gun laws haven't changed much:
"DON'T TAKE ANYONE"
Entire NERFA 2016 keynote speech by C.Lavin 29:15:
(lots of great advice from Paxton, Odetta, Van Ronk, Liv Taylor, and others via Lavin)
Album produced by Brian Bauers, mastered by Phillip E. Klum
AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT -- there are 127 pages of crucial liner notes that are FREE on the home page of this website -- in the small leather suitcase on the upper right hand side of my home page -- just click on the title, then click on the album cover (where I'm tentatively playing the bodhran). Don't skip the "easter egg" of a story at the very very end. Click below:
www.Drum-School-Dropout-Liner-Notes.PDF
Though if this link above doesn't work, go back to the home page, www.christinelavin.com, and just do it there. (Sorry 'bout that. I'm self-taught.)
BTW, I dedicate my performance of "Drum School Dropout" (the single) to Darlene Edwards. If that name doesn't ring a bell, google her and -- surprise! I'm a fan!
But I dedicate the entire album to Ervin & Edith Drake. I'm 73 now and anyone who thinks their life is over, listen to the song, "Ervin & Edith," and you'll see it's not.
Ciao!
Christine
p.s. "Marble Hill" (track 5) is sung solo by David M. Lutken, with Brian Bauers and Ashley Madison Bauers singing harmony. I thought of adding my voice to the harmonies -- but it was gilding the lily. I thought of adding my name surrepticiously to the credits, but that's not the folk music way. The song didn't need my voice, though the words were adapted from the letter written by my dad, Thomas F. Lavin, on May 6, 1945. My Dad graduated from Fordham in 1937, died in 1985, and is making his debut as a songwriter in 2025.
David M. Lutken is starring in "The Porch On Windy Hill" from September 12, 2025 - October 11, 2025 at Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street, four blocks south of Penn Station in Manhattan. I've already seen it three times. Sherry Stregack Lutken, David's wife, has written and directed this "new play with old music" -- visit urbanstages.org to learn how you get discount tickets. I'll be ushering for many performances, so maybe I will see -- and seat -- you there!