October 2009

Howdy y'all!

Hope each of you is having a lovely autumn. We have had the most rain I can ever recall.  Wondering what winter will bring.  A couple of weeks ago we did a quickie tour out to Phoenix and Prescott, it was WONDERFUL. Our friend Don Charles from the duo D Squared let us stay with him in his family cabin just outside of Sedona and we went for a 5 hour hike through the red rock canyons. It is one of the most beautiful places we have EVER been.  One of the most amazing things in the world is that if you bury your nose into the bark of a tall Ponderosa Pine it smells like VANILLA.   Yummmy....I couldn't pass a ponderosa without being a total tree hugger (or sniffer).

We also loved Prescott, every 10 miles of driving you can be in totally different terrain.  First in the scrub desert, then in an area with enormous boulders everywhere and then we were in tall evergreen forest... yikes.  It was high 90's during the day and dropped down to low 50's at night.  What contrast!

Now we are home for the holiday season and beginning our school season.  We have lots of projects to keep our lives crazy busy.  SERFA , the South East Regional Folk Alliance is being held here in the Ozarks next week and Kelly has been working on the planning committee non-stop. Should be a BLAST!  Our dear friend Emily Kaitz is having a CD release concert mid-October and Geoff Oelsner is having his CD release in November.  Kelly is playing with both of them on many numbers.  Keeps life interesting.

Our good friends from Germany visited us this month, Monika and Eberhardt Finke from Ulm.  They are highly regarded in the European Bluegrass world. They have been a home away from home for us for years now and we are honored to finally repay the hospitality.  We took them to our Farmers Market and then to the War Eagle Mill .  We did a 'Fall' Concert of our OZARK music at the Hobbs State Park and they were our roadies.  It was fun to share our Autumn magic with them, even though the colors are just getting started.

We got our 'office' all remodeled so that our kitchen table won't be the desk anymore.  We each have our own cool workstation and it is very exciting.  We are actually enjoying the business stuff with our cool new DIGS!

One of the HIGHLIGHTS of our whole year is our bi-yearly music retreat with Jack Williams. We will be hunkering down at Wattle Hollow for a weekend of music making. Many of the folks coming are returnees and we have become FAMILY!  We are counting the days.

Haven't started our flea circus yet... but we do have the suitcase ready and waiting. Will keep you informed as to our progress.

All we are saying, is give FLEAS a chance!

xooxox
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

April 2009

Oh Happy Spring!

We had a HARD winter, the ice storm of 2009 will be taking its toll on the Ozarks for years to come. We survived it fairly well, just got a 4" hole in our new metal roof from a tree branch and a big mess of clean up! We are so grateful for blossoms and leaves. We just finished the twelve Ozark tours that went with our heritage grant. The whole project was an amazing experience. Folks came out of the woodwork and we have so many stories that we could easily do an OZARK 2!!!

We can not thank the folks at Jones TV enough for all their hard work and support on this dream of ours. We have another filming session on the documentary this coming week and hopefully we can have our first viewing come early summer.  If you have not checked out our OZARK project on our site you are in for a treat. Go to stillonthehill.com and click on OZARK. There is a slide show of Ed Stilley with a SOUND TRACK of him playing and singing. AMAZING.

Our webmaster, Kelley will putting up some new photos of our Ball Museum ... the whole collection is SNOW BALLING!!!  Our good friends from Texas, John and Dirje came up last weekend and finally got to see the WISHING BALL all painted. Last year they brought us a 500 lb., 4 foot tall sphere propane tank for our front yard. It is a monumental sculpture, can't miss our house.

Let's see... what else??? OH, yeah... we had a wonderful tour to California , one of the bestest yet. My sister booked our Toucan Jam program all over the Bay Area and we had a blast. Of course we came home with ALL THE TEA IN CHINATOWN. We love that place.

Folk Alliance in Memphis was rewarding. We hosted the OZARK ROOM and shared many evenings with Jack Williams, 3 Penny Acre and the Old 78's. Made lots of new connections and re-visited old ones.

We are looking forward to our bi-annual music making workshop at Wattle Hollow with Jack Williams. This spring we are being joined by our good friend Chuck Brodsky. Very exciting.

Oh...another fun thing we've been doing is collaborating with our good friend Darlene.... we have created a trio called KUMPANIA and have performed several concerts as such. Kumpania is sort of gypsy/folk/other.  Darlene plays electric and acoustic guitar, percussion, didgeridoo and sings like a bird. Kelly sings, plays upright bass, guitar and mandolin and I (Donna) play acoustic and electric fiddle, sing and contact ball juggle! (John and Dirje joined us for a Kumpania show in Eureka Springs last Saturday and wowed everyone with their cello and percussion embellishments).  This Saturday eve is our last one for a spell as we are going to be ships passing in the night with Darlene until October! We are off to Europe for our annual spring tour and Darlene is off to Michigan , Kerrville and other exotic places as well.  Not enough hours in the day to do all the exciting things we wanna do!

Taylor graduates from High School this year and plans on going to the U. of Arkansas and fine-tuning his piano tuning skills. He is growing into such an amazing, beautiful young man. I am in awe and blessed to have such a wonderful son.

I know there is SO much more to tell but I need to get some sleep.  Drop us a line sometime. We LOVE hearing from folks. Bye for now.

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

January 2009

Greetings and Happy New Year with lots of optimism!!!

We are winding up our Ozark Project. It has been magical for us. Folks have come out of the woodwork to share their stories and we could do an Ozark II quite easily. Our Ozark CD was #1 on Folk DJ radio survey for the month of November. We were thrilled and honored to no end! Please visit our website and click on OZARK to learn more about the project and to see an incredible slide show of Ed Stilley from Hogscald Holler and to hear him SINGING!

Now, we are gearing up to do our second ARTSONG Concert and Art Show at Karen Kimrey's here in Fayetteville :  SATURDAY, JANUARY 24th at 7:00 pm.  The show is a little over one hour with social hour following. Last year was an amazing experience for us. For those of you who didn't attend, here is a short synopsis!

For years I (Donna) have been creating collage pieces to go with some of my songs. Usually they are my 'orphan children' songs (very personal ones that don't make it onto the Still on the Hill roster).  It seems that if I make an art piece to go with the song then it is more HOLISTIC. I can understand more fully the thought I am trying to convey, as I am such a visual person.

I LOVE the opportunity to share these unsung songs and the pieces that go with them and then at the same time PASS THEM ON so I have room in my tiny studio to MAKE MORE!!!

Last year we had a SILENT AUCTION for the collages and a concert and all the money donated for the evening went to 7 Hills Homeless Shelter.

This year I want donations from the evening to help a young person with psychosis and addiction... namely my nephew, Marshall .  My little sister and her husband have been struggling for 6 years with his mental illness/drug induced and he is now in a very expensive treatment center and doing well (a 6 month program). They have gone into debt because they couldn't get any 'good' help from the 'system' so this is our way of helping them out. We will donate part of the proceeds to a local mental heath facility that is just starting up as well.

I have a three songs and pieces in the exhibit that are about Marshall's challenge and were therapy for me during the past year and I look forward to 'getting them out'.  One of the pieces about addiction is a large oil painting my father did years ago called REMORSE. We will auction it off as well. My Dad died at 52 and never had an art showing of his own. He would be honored and proud to have his painting go to help his grandson with recovery! I am making handbound Chapbooks with color photos of all the pieces and lyrics to the songs. I will take custom orders and make a copy for anyone who wants to donate to the causes!  I will sell them for a suggested $20 donation that includes shipping. They are 30-page booklets.

Below is an art piece I created for my nephew called A VAMPIRE JUST CAN'T HELP HIMSELF and the lyrics ~ to give you a taste of what is in the book. Also there is a little blurb under each photo of the art piece telling about the creation of it.

If you want one our address is:

Still on the Hill
885 N. Fritz Dr
Fayetteville , AR.72701

Hope you have the best 2009 ever... full of lots of love, music and laughter!

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

A Vampire Just Can't Help Himself
Words & Music Donna Stjerna, April 2008

The first hit…he felt strong as Superman
Flew as high as Icarus, headed for the sun
 2 nd hit.. he could live forever
Turned into a Vampire
 That is why he craved another one
 His shadow…wrapped so tight around him
Like a dark, black coffin, then swallowed him whole
 Now he's done, things that you would never… 
Think of doing…EVER..
But a Vampire just can't help himself – you know
 A Vampire just can't help himself

When he was just a little child,
 He was sweet and mild, the apple of my eye
 But his world, became a dark December
 But I still remember, the little child
 Neath those sunny skies.
 Now you don't…need no silver dagger
To destroy that demon…he'll do it on his own
 Maybe if there's a God in Heaven…
 He'll smile down upon him…
 And lead that little angel boy home…
 Cuz a Vampire just can't help himself
 A Vampire just can't help himself.

October 2008

Greetings everyone!

This year Kelly and I have a project that we are very passionate about. For over a decade, we have been getting back into the Ozark hills and meeting some of the more ‘colorful' characters that live there. We've written dozens of songs honoring these folks. Our friend and photographer Kirk Lanier went on excursions with us to document these folks with his magic camera. Please visit his Tabblo.com site to see more, take a minute to join and post a comment to him! Here's that URL: tabblo.com/studio/person/kbass9

We are excited that we got a grant through Jones Television for an Arkansas Heritage Grant to help preserve the Ozark culture and these unsung heroes by creating a CD/Booklet and documentary. As part of this grant, we will perform 12 FREE concerts around the state in the places these folks hail from. All the proceeds from the CD/booklet raised in Arkansas will go to an organization called PLAY IT AGAIN, ARKANSAS to get banjos, fiddles and guitars for rural, under-served children to use during the school year!

One of the songs on the CD celebrates the late Benson & Fleecy Fox from Leslie , Arkansas . Benson was a writer for The Ozark Mountaineer for decades. On one of our many visits to Leslie, Benson and Fleecy told about their early marriage and living in the ‘weaning house'. The ‘weaning house' was a small dwelling the parents would build for a new couple. They would give them a couple of acres, a bluetick hound and a mule so they could ‘practice' married life before getting out on their own. Still on the Hill wrote a song based on the story they told of the weaning house and sing it in the form of a duet. We were proud to sing it to Benson just before his passing and his response was priceless.

There is a story from Snowball, Arkansas that is changing and growing with each telling, as is the folk tradition. The version that we heard and researched around the town of Snowball became part of this project. Our version tells of a young ex-slave boy named Willie who was found by a confederate soldier on his way home to Snowball. The soldier taught Willie how to be a stone mason and apparently Willie helped to build much of the town of Snowball . When he died he was buried in the Snowball cemetery with an unmarked grave. There is a wonderful twist to the story that you will have buy the CD to learn. Another interesting tidbit about Snowball is that Arkansas ' native son Jimmie Driftwood penned his famous song “The Battle of New Orleans” when he was a teacher in the town of Snowball !

Not too far down the road from Mountain View lives another character from this project, Violet Hensley from Yellville , Arkansas . She was voted an Arkansas Living Treasure a few years back. Violet carves fiddles and always puts a rattlesnake rattle in each one. She said her Ma told her that the fiddle was the Devil's instrument and the rattle would keep him away. Violet plays the fiddle on top of her head, Donna's working on that technique but it may take a while.

This is just a teaser of what you will find on this new project! Please drop us a line and let us know what you think!

The CD is available at CD Baby .

Thanks y'all!
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

June 2008 Newsletter
(including the Story of the Dreaded Cluster Bomblet)

Greetings Family and Friends,

It’s time we play catch-up with everyone. This has been an intense winter. We got the metal roof on the new house, concrete poured, new paint job and my FIRST ever flower and herb garden. I think I’m getting the BUG and it scares me to death… I don’t need ANOTHER project in my life BUT it is so wonderful sticking stuff in the ground!

Our ball collection has SNOWBALLED! Our dear friends from Athens, TX, John and Dirje brought us a 4,500 lb. steel ball on a trailer. (It’s actually a propane tank). It took five of us to roll it off the trailer and onto a stand in the front of our yard. It is amazing. Kelly is going to paint it up like a circus ball. There is a little hole in it and we are going to have it be the WAILING BALL (like the Wailing Wall).

We want to encourage each of you reading this to send us a message of hope for the world, or a grief that you want to let go of… and we will place it in the WAILING BALL. No one could ever look at the messages unless someone cut the steel ball in half! SO your secrets are safe within its magical sphere!

You can either email it to us at still@stillonthehill.com or send it physically to 885 N. Fritz Dr. Fayetteville, AR 72701

The next exciting thing was our CLUSTER BOMBLET. We had a wonderful blue metal ball the size of a tennis ball for over a year. Found it at some flea market on the road. It looked like something out of a Buck Rogers Sci-Fi movie. Had little silver tabs holding it all together. It was one of our FAVORITES.

Anyhow… we were listening to NPR and heard a report about un-exploded Cluster Bomblets and they described one. It sounded like our cute little blue ball… so I googled Cluster Bomblet and there it was….YIKES.

Of course we called the Police to come take it away, they in turn called the Bomb Squad… who wanted to quarantine off 10 city blocks… OH MY… but they decided just to take it away. Come to find out it was loaded and dangerous. Thank God it never went off… we are blessed and BOMB FREE!

So…. we are still taking BALL OFFERINGS… if you have a ball with a story or something unusual… we sure would love to add it to our museum! The only rule we have is that it must be round…no flat bottoms… it can be a little ‘off’ round, that gives it character. The other rule is that it can’t be inflatable…. although we have a few in our collection.

Hope y’all are having a wonderful spring. We are working on our OZARK grant. Creating a CD/Booklet and Documentary. We will also perform 12 FREE concerts around the state… where the characters we’ve written about hail from. All the money raised from this project in Arkansas will go to get fiddles, banjos, guitars… for rural, underserved children. We are so excited that we got a Heritage Grant to do this project. It has been a 10-year dream for us and is finally coming true. Yesterday we went out with Jones TV crew and started filming the documentary. We will keep you informed of the progress!

Have an amazing SUMMER!

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

January 2008

Brrrrrrrrrr....winter is upon us but with the Solstice there is a promise of spring just around the bend. We were invited to a Solstice gathering where everyone was asked to bring a song, poem or art piece about the darkness turning to light. We're suckers for a challenge and wrote our first ever Solstice carol. Here are the lyrics.

November 2007

What an amazing autumn this is. I love it when the time changes and I get up extra early, I get so much more accomplished in the morning. This month has been one of stretching, growing and giving myself 'permission' to expand. As many of our readers know, I (Donna) have been creating collages based on songs and several have been posted on our monthly newsletter (sorry we got behind). Anyhow, our dear friends in Athens, TX...John & Dirje Smith, convinced us to do a SONG ART concert and exhibit. We did and it was a thrilling experience.

We put all 12 art pieces in front of the stage and had a large easel beside us. Our hostess Dirje (dressed as the Buddha Frau) placed each art piece on the easel before we sang the song that went with it. The challenge for me was not only that the songs were my 'orphan children', not tested or tried and true, but rather that it was only the 2nd time in my life that I played guitar in front of an audience!!! Kelly was wonderfully supportive through out this whole challenge. He framed all my pieces and practiced patiently with me on the new songs till I was comfortable with them.

The evening was a success and a week later we did a repeat performance in our home town. It was a house concert and we auctioned off all the pieces of art. We gave ALL the proceeds from the evening to our local homeless shelter. Sold every piece of art and proudly raised $1200!!! It was a lesson in non-attachment and the PROCESS NOT PRODUCT aspect of creating art, which to me is paramount!

Here is the offering for November.

THAT AWFUL GIRL

This piece and song were created after having a conversation with a friend who had just been shunned by a girlfriend. It devastated her. We got to talking about how in primitive tribal societies, banishment was often a DEATH sentence. Then we talked on about different kinds of 'shunning' (passive aggressive behavior) and banishment... especially SELF banishment. Eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia or drug addictions that take one away from themselves, could be thought of as a banishment. They are all forms of self-loathing.

I couldn't help exploring this topic after that stimulating conversation. Here are the lyrics…

That Awful Girl
(She Just Needs Me to Love Her)
Words & Music Donna Stjerna, Dec. 2006

I despise that awful girl, the one with hungry eyes
Who wears her heart upon her sleeve and sometimes
Does not realize, that when she speaks before she thinks
She hurts the one she loves the most
And the shadow that’s attached to me
is her wretched ghost.

Oh I want to banish her...and I want to shun her
But I know deep down under…
She just needs me to love her.

I despise that awful girl… she clings just like a vine
Of honeysuckle wrapped around a heart
One tendril at a time, mistletoe can be a parasite
Or make two strangers kiss, oh to find the beauty
in the beast, that’s my greatest wish.

As always we welcome comments!

Also, I need excuses to make MORE collage/art because it is MY addiction and so I am offering to create one-of-a-kind pieces that are based on peoples’ visions and dreams. All the pieces are heavily 3-D and will be on canvas, ready to hang. I'm calling them DREAMKEYS. There would be a small charge for time, materials and shipping. Probably around $60-$75 per piece, depending on size. If you are interested, email me in DETAIL your dream or vision and let me go to town!

Have a WONDERFUL autumn and we are THANKFUL that you are our friend!

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

July 2007

Happy Summer Friends!

It's gonna be a HOTTIE till we get a new roof on our house, but that is in the WORKS, we hope to make it efficient so we won't need central AC! Hmmmmm.

This summer has been an adventure! We just got home from teaching Birding at Audubon Ecology Camp for 2 weeks....11 and 12 year olds. It was amazing. We got to see a baby Yellow Billed Cuckoo that had just fledged and it was a THRILL for us and the kids! This week we are teaching a Music Camp for teens sponsored by the Kerrville Folk Festival and Boys and Girls Club of Texas. It will be at the Quiet Valley Ranch in Kerrville , Texas ...our consolation prize for having to miss the festival two years in a row. We'll be sharing the week with the infamous songwriter Sarah Hickman and are looking forward to getting to know her better, we have only crossed paths in the past. Also our friends and comrades, Bill Oliver and Frank Meyer will be 'on board'. We can't wait!!!

We are going to spend the entire month of August working in the studio recording a BRAND NEW SOTH CD of Ozark characters that needed their lives turned into SONG! This has been a long time coming and we are very excited about getting after it. Gonna turn off the phone and just say NO to everything else except for being the 'Resident Musicians' once a week at our local 7 Hill's Homeless Shelter, which we do every August! We'll also be lining up judges for the Winfield Walnut Valley Songwriter Showcase and organizing that wonderful event.

SO here is my Outsider Art offering for July. It is called ALL.

I wrote the song last Easter Sunday and then made the piece to go with it inspired by Hindu Mandalas. The images are glued onto foam core so the whole piece is somewhat 3-D and textural, although you may not be able to tell from the photo. It is about 2 and 1/2 x 3 feet....maybe...I didn't measure it. I made a necklace to go with the song as well. Friends from all over the country sent me special symbols from different religions and cultures...ancient goddesses and even a rainbow triangle to represent Gay Pride.

Here are the lyrics:

All

Words & Music Donna Stjerna, Jan 2007

A silver chain hung around my neck, a tiny cross, dangled from it,
 like an amulet.

 I took it off, in church one day
when the preacher said Jesus…was the ONLY way
Then the Buddha with the belly in the Chinese restaurant,
gave me a fortune cookie that said “It's time to open up”
So I read about Allah and the Dali Lama
Great Spirit and shape shifting.
So many paths, so many views...
many ways to choose, they ALL are truths

Now Jesus taught me many things, how to share the wealth
with those in need…and he hated war…an eye for an eye
makes the whole world blind…Gandhi and Jesus… 2 of a kind.
All the great religions share one truth, and that is to follow
the Golden rule…If Jesus were living in our time
he'd be out on the street with a protest sign…
saying STOP THE WAR and LOVE YOUR ENEMY
and BLESSED ARE THE ONES…who make the PEACE

A silver chain, hangs around my neck, a tiny cross, dangles from it... like an amulet.

SPOKEN…There's also a 5 pointed star along with the cross. A Hindu OHM and an Egyptian ANKH. there's a peace symbol and a Viking RUNE. and a little naked goddess…sitting on the moon.

TALKING PART: Here's a story about Woody Guthrie that I once heard. Woody was admitted into the hospital once and he had a bunch of forms to fill out. One of the questions on the form was WHAT RELIGION ARE YOU? Woody simply wrote ALL!

Thanks to all my dear friends who contributed to the ALL necklace and to everyone who reads this monthly offering with an open mind!!!

xooxox

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill/Toucan Jam

June 2007

Hi Ya'll...us weary travelers are back from a whirlwind tour to Europe. It was simply amazing, each year just keeps getting better. We bought a Cuckoo Clock in the Black Forest that is exactly like our friends, Ken and Kali from Italy have. Every time it sings we will think of them and our gigs in Germany!

We had SO many highlights this tour and ate like Kings and Queens!!! Made lots of new friends and re-connected with ones we met in previous years. Our friends in Domodossola, Italy (Natalia and Fabrizzo) introduced us to their brother-in-law (Diego) who has a small gypsy circus that travels around the Mediterranean Sea in the summer performing. We are toying with the idea of "'running away with the CIRCUS" next summer and being their back up musicians for a week. This has been a life-long fantasy for me and now it might actually become a reality. They are really excited about us making it happen... so WHO KNOWS??? (Build it and they will come).

Here is my OUTSIDER ART PIECE for June. It is called THE WEEPING BOWL. A couple of months ago some local high school activists here in Fayetteville showed the film INVISIBLE CHILDREN at the Omni Center's Video Underground series. It is about the children soldiers in Africa. It ripped my heart out. I had a dream that my body was a vessel and I kept crying and filling it with tears and then spilling it out and crying again. I woke up with the words to a song flying around in my head. Then I created the collage to go with it and sang it the next week at our Open Mic for Peace. Please try to rent this important film and show it to friends.

Click to view larger image

Here are the lyrics:

Weeping Bowl

Words & Music Donna Stjerna Jan 2007

My soul is a weeping bowl, made of flesh and bone
every day it fills up with more sorrow
‘Cuz I feel the world's suffering and pain
and though I'm the lucky one, sheltered from the rain…
my soul is a weeping bowl.
How many tears can my vessel hold,
before it flows over the brim
and a flood gate opens, and I can't swim?
The world has gone insane, how can I contain
all the sorrow, in my weeping bowl?

<RAP>

Do you wonder what I'm keeping in my weeping bowl?
Do you wonder what's eating at my soul?
I'll tell you, I'll tell you if you really want to know…
The Sudanese government is waging a war,
killing innocent civilians over in Darfur.
The Janjaweed militia have
maimed, scarred, raped, pillaged
murdered and starved
over 400,000---people displaced
the world's gone to hell in a big ole handbag.
In Uganda children are abducted and taught
to be soldiers and killing machines…
while here in my lovely little white bread world
seems all I can do is weep.

<CHORUS>

Please drop us a line, we love to hear from everyone!

Peace,
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill/Toucan Jam

May 2007

Greetings Friends and Neighbors!

Well, here it is, a photo of my first piece of ‘Outsider Art' to go out into the world. Like I said in my previous letter, these pieces are just collages that I put together to go with my song lyrics to help me process my thoughts better!

BANG BANG

This first one for this month is called BANG BANG.  My son Taylor and his friends were playing with 'airsoft' pellet guns a year ago, to my dismay. (His father and friends were comfortable with this activity).  They were supposed to be wearing goggles and protective garments at all times. WELL, I was out on the road and got a message on my cell that Taylor had been shot with a pellet and it bruised the soft tissue right under his left eye!!!  It could have partially blinded him had it been an inch higher.
Needless to say this FREAKED me out and in the hotel room that evening this song was born.

Kelly then talked to Taylor and his friends and offered to BUY back the guns for what the paid and encouraged them not to play such 'violent' games. The gun in the college is one of the guns that we bought back.

I LOVE to create these pieces and I often simply photograph them and then them throw 'em away or recycle them into something else. They are temporary in nature and truly PROCESS works. I am exited and honored to share them with you.  I would like to have a local exhibit in the future as a fundraiser for the OMNI CENTER for Peace, Justice & Ecology, which we are very involved with and believe in.  It would be a "Make Me An OFFER' exhibit and all proceeds would go to OMNI.  This way I can create as much 'outsider' as I want without feeling guilty about storing pieces and help out a great cause at the same time!  Win-Win!

Unfortunately, the photos don't reflect the 3-D quality of the collages... I like layering images so that some stick out further than others; they are also mixed-media...sculpy, toy soldiers, this and that. I will try to include a different piece each month with an explanation along with the song lyrics. Comments and questions are welcome!

Peace,

Donna
Still on the Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BANG BANG
Words & Music Donna Stjerna 2006

Whoa oh oh oh my sweet son...whatcha doin' with that gun?
Oh oh oh oh my sweet boy...a gun should never be a toy.
Guess it's my fault, I let it escalate, when I let you play
with those toy guns in the yard.

Bang Bang...why'd I let it start?
Bang Bang...shot me through the heart.
Roy Rogers, I remember...a revolver in his holster
I remember John Wayne, his guns all ablaze.

Whoa oh oh oh young soldier, lookin' for an adventure
Do you think it's really fun...starin' down the barrel of a gun?
Did you know that it could escalate...when you sat and played
war video games?

Bang Bang...the soldier cries
Bang Bang...I'm still a child
Got a GI Joe for Christmas...played combat games with it
007 became my hero, I loved his shiny pistol.

Whoa oh oh society, you make is so damn easy
To go out and get a gun...you just gotta want one.
So much violence, everywhere it seems
Why do we allow guns on the streets???

Bang Bang...it's not a child's game
Bang Bang...we are ALL to blame
Bang Bang...another innocent down
Bang Bang...I hate the sound...Bang Bang

oxoxooxx
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

December 2006

Brrrrrrrrrr... winter is upon us here in the Ozarks. We had to
cancel a couple of gigs yesterday due to winter storms. Yikes, hate
it when that happens... missing gigs... but we sure had a nice time
heating up the sauna and having a great sweat then rubbing snow on
our faces. REFRESHING. A snow day now and then is good for the soul.

We can hardly contain ourselves ~ our annual holiday show in
Fayetteville at Mike Shirkey's GoodFolk Productions Series is going
to be a Winter Extravaganza.  We are calling it Cirque Du
Solstice... a folk circus for sure. We have invited our talented
'vaudeville' friends from Athens, Texas to join us thoughout the
evening with their wild antics. There will be skits and costume
changes and all sorts of silliness.  This is quite unlike anything
we have ever done before and we are also unveiling a host of brand
new songs!  WHEW.

The date of the show here in Fayetteville is December 16th and it is already
SOLD OUT... 2 weeks before, so we are thinking about adding a Sunday the 17th
show as well.  We don't want anyone to miss out. Call or email Mike Shirkey at
mike@goodfolk.org or 479-521-1812 for reservations if you can make it.

So, the other exciting new thing in our life is that our 16-year-old
Taylor just got his drivers license and is scooting around town in
the Paisley Peace Mobile, amazing and a bit scary, but he is a good
little driver (it's the other folks on the road that frighten me).

We are gearing up to get back in the studio after the first of the
year.  We have decided to do a CD called Ozark.  It will have songs
we have written about Ozark characters and reflect music of these
mountains we call home.  We are long overdue for a Still on the Hill
offering.  Yippeeee.

Our calendar looks rather empty this winter and that is because for
the most part we are staying close to home and playing lots of
schools... with the exception of a westward tour in early January.

So we wish you all a very merry christmas, warm fuzzy solstice and
the happiest New Year ever. Speaking of New Year... we are playing
First Night in Fayetteville again this year. We are sharing the eve
with Emily Kaitz and Nick Masullo. Toucan Jam will play a handful
of songs and we will be joined on steel guitar by Drew Pierce and a
cameo appearance by Keith Grimwood of Trout Fishing in America is in
the works as well.

Bye for now... drop us a line or two, we LOVE to hear from folks.

oxoxooxx
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

September 2006

Greetings,

Whew, it's been a long hot summer in Arkansas. Most of August was up over 100 degrees and our adorable new house is not insulated very well... a new HIGH PRIORITY for us. We are used to living without AC and want to keep on that path, but we broke down and got a window unit for our office... we needed to do some work and it was unbearable! 

But autumn is on its way, heard the first flock of geese fly overhead and we fired up the sauna last night. It is glorious out and we are happy campers!

Gearing up to start recording a new CD.  Still debating on which theme to dig into... hmmmm. Guess we'll just record a mess of songs and see what comes up.

Kelly and I both are getting our bicycles working. Now that we live in town it's time to use alternative modes of transportation!  The new Al Gore movie rocked our world. If it comes to your town, don't miss it... An Inconvenient Truth .

Taylor is in high school now, complete with dyed black hair and a lip ring and a hot new electric scooter! Unbelievable how fast they grow up.

One last note, our first children's CD, A World of Music, has just been released and is doing exciting things out in the big world.  It is being played on Continental Airlines in the headsets on the kids' channel.  We are also playing on satellite radio on XM Satellite's “XM Kids” station. We have a plug in several children's publications including Nick Jr . and Cookies as well as several regional mags. A national library distributor is carrying the CD as well. Lots of good things happening! Find out all about it on our Toucan Jam Music page! (You can even order a copy of your own, or give one to your grandchildren, neighbor's kids or any friend, it is totally adult friendly.)

Well, enough for now,

Drop us a line, we LOVE to hear from you.

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

May 2006

Our Toucan Jam children's CD A WORLD OF MUSIC is off to the manufacturers and we can't wait to get it in our hands... although our publicist is having us wait ‘til August for the official national release as it takes awhile to set the ground work on these things. We have lots of fun ideas brewing!!!  Once we get this 'in the pocket' we dream of starting a NEW Still on the Hill CD.  We could actually do three different themes... and have to decide on which one. Maybe you could help us with this decision.  One CD would simply be a hodgepodge of songs that we currently perform in our shows that are yet unrecorded.  The other would be an Ozarkish CD.... we have been collecting stories of interesting Ozark characters for years now and have enuff to do a whole CD about them... and finally, another one that we could do would be a social/political CD.... songs like ‘Fear is My Name', etc. would fill that disc.  I wish we could do them all at once.  Give us your VOTE... your opinion matters.

We are getting excited about Halberg Ecology Camp this summer. Kelly and I are teaching TWO WEEKS of bird watching in June this year.  It is an amazing experience being around so many youngsters that are interested in the natural world.

Really proud of Taylor (Donna's son) for getting into the Upward Bound Program at the UofA. He will be staying at the dorm for six weeks this summer STUDYING Latin, biology, algebra and other college prep stuff. Pretty big deal for a 15 year old! 

We are enjoying making MYSPACE friends... you can be our friend too... just send us an "add"!

Have a great spring and we will post when our TOUCAN JAM CD is available.

Yipppeeee,

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill and Toucan Jam

Spring 2006

Spring is springing here in the Ozarks.  We missed our one big snow while we were out in sunny California.  We had the best three-week tour imaginable.

All of our concerts were a blast; we made so many new friends and saw lots of old ones, what could be BETTER? We made this tour into a mini-paid vacation of sorts and made time to visit lots of amazing places. Instead of taking hwy 5 from LA to the Bay Area, we allowed time to go along the coast hwy and were rewarded by having the rare opportunity of watching 800 elephant seals mating on the beach.... WHEW, that was awesome, felt like we were in an episode from "Wild Kingdom"!

Then we explored every inch of Chinatown in San Francisco and found everything we had ever been looking for... strings for Kelly's Japanese instrument the RUAN, a toy accordion to put on our scrub board,  a set of rice bowls and some wonderful green tea with an exotic name like Monkey Pick.

The highlight was on the trip home when we decided to drive through Death Valley ... it was like stepping onto another planet, one of the most desolate and beautiful places in the world!  We tried to finagle a visitation with Marta Beckett at the Armagosa Opera House. We heard she hurt her back and was out of commission for awhile.so we wanted to cheer her up with a song or two. But the manager didn't know us from Adam and didn't think we should. So we took a couple of souvenir photos and headed onward. She is our heroine!  Marta Beckett performed a one-woman vaudeville show for many years at an old opera house in the middle of  the desert. She painted all the walls with people watching so that during the slow times she'd have an audience. I (Donna) want to be just like her when I grow up.

On our way to Prescott, AZ we drove through Las Vegas ... but decided not to stop, didn't want to lose all our hard-earned dough. Crossing over Hoover Dam we saw four Big Horn Sheep right by the side of the road, almost lost control! WOW. We LOVED our stay in Prescott, AZ ... made lots of new friends and found some new birds to add to our bird list. We took the scenic route from Prescott through the red rocks of Sedona.... simply breathtaking, that's all I can say.

We are excited to be part of a 'thing' called MYSPACE MUSIC. Our webgal Kelley set it all up for us and we have lotsa new friends... it's fun. You can be our MySpace friend, too, if you sign up.... piece of cake. Here's a link to our MySpace page: www.myspace.com/stillonthehill

The most exciting thing of all is that we are going to get into our new studio and start recording again. First off we are going to do a  CD of our kids' music as TOUCAN JAM; we have been performing for children all around the globe for 11 years without a CD and it's about time!  Secondly, we are going to work on a long awaited Still on the Hill CD... we are way behind as we are writing more songs than we can keep up with.

SO -- enjoy the spring and drop us a note, we would love to hear from you!

Musically yours,

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

January 2006

Greetings and the happiest of New Year's to one and all!   We are SO EXCITED about our new home. Kelly and I bought a sweet little home in town and have moved in together. We were home all of December and have been playing extensively in schools throughout Arkansas. It is really rewarding, especially the work we get to do in the individual classrooms. For the elementary ages we are teaching 'birding' workshops and for the 9th graders who are studying Arkansas history, we are taking them on an Ozark Journey and teaching them about mountain music and how the instruments came from Europe and the banjo from Africa.

But back to the house, we (with the help of friends) have painted every wall and ceiling, nook and cranny and refinished the floors.  We have the Ozark Ball Museum all displayed in lit glass cases and it is really fun!  Taylor painted his room with red walls and black ceiling and trim, very HOT!  The best feature of all is our Finnish Sauna .... especially since Donna is a Finn and the sauna was the way her family bathed up in Minnesota...it was a way of life.

We have been enjoying our stint at home, the holidaze and preparing our cozy little nest but the gypsy blood is gurgling and we are excited about our upcoming tour out west for most of Feb.  We will be playing in New Mexico, San Diego, LA, Auburn, Tracy,  Emoryville and Prescott, Az....can't wait (see our tour schedule on Musi-Cal for details)

Hope you all are keeping warm and fuzzy this winter and hope to see you on down the road. If you haven't had a chance to hear Kelly's new CD NEVER ENDING CONVERSATION, it is available from CD Baby through our website, just click on CD's and check it out.

P.S.   We are trying to think of a new name for Kelly's studio - now that we are out of Termite Tracs we need a fresh new name. Maybe something that reflects our Ball Fetish?   Or the Ozarks?   Any ideas?   If someone comes up with the winning name we will give them the 'box set' of all Still on the Hill CD's - yipppeeeee.

Bye for now....HAPPY 2006!

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

November 2005

HAPPY AUTUMN!

Howdy family and friends!  We are REALLY enjoying the fall foliage this year. Made ourselves slow down from our crazy pile of paperwork to pack a picnic and go up on top of a mountain and enjoy the colors. Saw a Great Horned Owl on that venture, very exciting.

The exciting news is that Kelly and I just bought a home and will be moving in TOGETHER in December. It is right in the heart of town and suits us to a “T”. We have lots of painting and roofing and stuff to do, but it will be fun. Friends have volunteered to help and we have a sauna out back to help sooooothe sore muscles after all that moving boxes and hefting rollers full of paint!   Taylor (our 15 yr. old) wants to paint his new bedroom BRIGHT RED!  Go for it, I say.

The WHOLE house is going to officially be the OZARK BALL MUSEUM now (check out the Ozark Ball Museum on our website under MORE).  We have over 2,000 balls to date and more all the time.  Special balls and odd balls will each have their own shelf with little write-up's about their history or unique-ness. Can't wait.

August was a wonderful month at home. We got a small grant through our Arts Council and some private donors to be the 'resident musicians' every Thursday at our local homeless shelter. It was the MOST amazing experience. We all got so much out of it.  During our stint, we met a fantastic songwriter who has been homeless his entire adult life. He came here because his daughter who he had not seen in 20 years, found him on the Internet. He made his way out here to meet her and his little grand-daughters.  He came into the shelter when we were playing and asked if he could sing his new song. Kelly handed him a guitar and our jaws dropped. His songs were so REAL and spoke of the challenge of life on the streets.

We befriended him and since he doesn't drive, we picked him up and took him to several musical events ... like our Open Mic for Peace and our songwriters' group. He was a hit everywhere we brought him.  One day we got a call from him saying that he had hocked his guitar to get back to Oregon and to thank us for our friendship. We were headed for North Carolina the next day and needed someone to take care of the cat so we left a message at the shelter for him that if he was available at 8:00 am the next day, he could stay at our cabin all week and when we got home we would make a simple CD of his songs so that he would have a product to sell on the street and some of his wonderful songs would be preserved.  He was there the next morning.

When we returned we made the CD - cover and all. It is called Alcoholic Dancer and it is charming. Then we hosted a house concert/release party and invited 20 or so folks.  We earned enough to get his guitar out of the pawn shop, print up 50 CD's and give him $200 in his pocket to boot!

My son said, "Mom, that was reckless to let a homeless person stay in your home like that, what if he robbed you blind?"  Yes, maybe that is true, but I believe that Kelly and I have learned to be a good judge of character over the years and in this situation we trusted that intuition. We both learned and grew so much from the experience. During that episode, I often thought of the Phil Ochs's song "There But By Fortune" that speaks of a homeless man and says, "Show me a young man with so many reasons WHY, there but by forturne, may go ... you or I."

Thanks so much for visiting our site.

Hope our paths cross again soon.

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

June/July 2005

Whew!  We have had a whirlwind June. Kelly's CD release party was the event of the year!  Packed to the rafters and it was SO EXCITING getting to hear his material performed with such amazing musicians - Darren Novotny, Emily Kaitz and Claire Star ... WOW.  Now we want to figure out how to take this body of work into University Lit classes, a new world for us.

Kerrville was a breeze this summer thanks to the generosity of Bob and Ellen Billig of Flourish, Co. They are tent and canopy makers and they loaned us a huge tent and two shade annexes!  Camp Ozark was one of the most luxurious spots at the Quiet Valley Ranch this year. We LOVED sharing meals and songs with both old and new friends - swimming in the river and jamming till sunrise.

We got home from Kerrville, unloaded, reloaded and headed for a week as teachers at the Audubon Ecology Camp in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Kelly has been the 'bird man' there for the past four summers and this year I (Donna) got to be his assistant. It was a magical experience! We led about 6-7 hours of bird walks every day ... spotted Scarlet Tanagers, Black and White Warblers, Louisiana Water Thrush, Wood Thrush, Orchard Oreole, Eastern Kingbird, Red-Eyed Vireo, Fish Crow and all the usual suspects such as Cardinals, Blue Jays, Chickadees and the list goes on.

There is nothing more exciting in the world than exposing young folks to the joys of Nature or Music! We sure are blessed.

Well, we plan on getting into the studio July and August and doing some recording. Hopefully we can finish a long-waited Toucan Jam recording. It has been on the back burner for 10 years now. We also want to work up a duo version of Kelly's poetry CD with more bells and whistles. I'm going to get my cello out and rosin up the bow.

Well...that is all for now. Keep cool.

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

May 2005

The past few months have been a whirlwind of journeys to exotic new places.  Kelly took a trip to England and Ireland with two dear friends.  He was enthralled with the ancient stone monuments and the crop circles.

Then we went on a vacation to St. John's in the Virgin Islands with two other couples for a whole week and it was pure heaven.  We stayed on the east end of the island and enjoyed a private beach where we could snorkel many times a day!  It was magical.  We saw octopus, squid, fish of every color, sea turtles and a big ole nurse shark!  I (Donna) got to celebrate myt 51st birthday with these special friends and they turned me into a mermaid!  They painted my legs with glittery scales, tied my ankles together and then threw me into the deep blue sea, I emerged a MERMAID!  (I still have a good imagination.)

We woke on Mother's Day to the most PERFECT rainbow over the cove that you could ever imagine. What a gift. It took awhile to get back to reality.

Musically speaking, this is Arkansas Heritage Month and we have been performing for 7th, 8th and 9th grade history classrooms.  It has been a wonderful and enriching experience for us (and hopefully the students as well).  But the BIG NEWS IS that we are rehearsing for Kelly's CD release concert.  The musicians we are playing with for the event are top notch and we are SO excited. Darren Novotny on percussion, an ex-Still on the Hiller, Clare Starr on upright bass, Emily Kaitz on preacher pump organ and of course Kelly and me!   The concert is at Mike Shirkey's Good Folk series on Friday May 27th at 8pm.

The CD is called NEVER ENDING CONVERSATION. This is a body of work that Kelly has been working on for decades and its time has come. It is a collection of poetry set to music and sung by Kelly. It is very different from anything Still on the Hill has done in the past -- BANJO FREE! (See review by Alison Moore).  This CD is finally manufactured and is now available through CD Baby (which you can get to from our main menu under "CD's & Reviews"). You can listen to Kelly's KUAF radio interview with Kyle Kellams online by clicking here!

We are going to spend two full weeks at the Kerrville Folk Festival from June 1st till the 16th.  Can't wait. We will be performing at Threadgill with the Ozarkestra on Monday June 6th, so if you are down that way come hang out with us at Camp Ozark.

Happy Summer!
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill       

April 2005

HAPPY HAPPY SPRING to all!

We are REALLY ready for spring this year. We usually take our trip to the Alps in the spring and this time it was last November so naturally our winter began early... Add to that a tour to Nebraska and Minnesota in JANUARY.... well, you get the picture.

Lots of EXCITING happenings to tell about! First off, Kelly just got home from 9 days in England and Ireland as companion and back-up musician for singer/songwriter/poet, Geoff Oelsner. They had a great time and Kelly is enthralled with 'crop circles' for they spent time in the area of England where they are prevalent.

The next thrilling bit of news is that Kelly and I will be the new HOSTs of the Walnut Valley Festival's New Songs Contest in Winfield, Kansas this September. Crow Johnson has stepped down from that position after over a decade and we are honored to be picking up the torch. So all you songwriters, send in your songs, we'd LOVE to see you there. We will also be performing at the festival in both our Still on the Hill configuration and as Toucan Jam, our children's show.

All things considered, the thing that makes my heart flutter is that Kelly's 'poetry' CD is finally getting to the manufacturers and we will be having a Release Party at Mike Shirkey's GoodFolk Productions on May 27th! This is going to be unlike anything we have EVER done musically. We have recruited Clare Star, bass player extraordinaire and Darren Novotny, the finest drummer in NW Arkansas or the world, and the infamous Emily Kaitz on pump organ!!! It is going to be a challenge and joy. As soon as the CD is in our hot little hands we will get it on CD Baby and you can order it on-line. It is truly beautiful.

Hey, please sign our guestbook if you are reading this. We REALLY love to hear from folks.

Peace through Music,
Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

March 2005

News From The Hill

Greetings y'all! We have been calling this winter the Extreme Tour as we have had every sort of weather condition known to man thrown at us. We spent November in the Alps of Switzerland, then Minnesota and Nebraska (Brr-r-r-r) in January and then down to sunny Florida in February. We've seen it all.

One of the highlights of Florida was when Bill and Sandy Good hoisted us up to the top of his 17' mast and we got to watch the manatees swimming below. (Actually, I, Donna only went up halfway). What a thrill to see manatees in the wild.

Yesterday we took a slew of youngsters to the Gatti Circus. It was an old-fashioned 3-ringer and we had a BLAST! Kelly was picked out of the crowd to be chained to a standing board and have knives thrown at him by a clown. We all held our breath.

Last week we were popping our buttons, my son Taylor (now almost 15 yrs.) has an alternative rock band called New Forum and they had their first paying gig! We got to go to it and hear them do the only four songs they know. I hope we didn't embarrass him too much. He got Kelly up on stage to play a Jimi Hendrix ‘happy birthday' song on the electric guitar for a friend. Kelly was terrified, but he ROCKED!!!

HEY…keep checking our site as it is growing and changing as we speak, we are so excited about our new webmaster, Kelley Martin. She is doing an amazing job with the site.

We love to hear from you, please sign our guest book!

Peace through music

Donna and Kelly
Still on the Hill

January 2005