Little Owl - New Schedule

Little Owl Music & Arts Festival Schedule of Events
Bios for several of the Porch Stage performers follow
1:00-2:00 Dance demonstration from “Emerald Hips Belly Dance Instruction” teacher Suzanne Rambo. She will also do hooping.

1-2p Chattanooga Kirtan Band in the field including the following instruments: Native American flute, Vocal, Sitar, Harmonium, Tabla and Jymbe drums,and other percussion.)

1:00-2:00 Raptors arrive and set up
2:00-2:45 Birds of Prey Raptor show by SOAR

Orchard Stage
NOON Opening song by Gilbert Sewell & welcome by Bill Fisher
12:10 Bob Carty, Announcements/giveaways
1:00 Hara Paper
1:30 Frank Eaton
1:40 Announce the raptor show
2:00 Raptor Show
2:30 Uncle Lightning
3:00 Jack Pine Savages String Band w/ Gilbert Sewell/poster contest winner announced
3:30 Troy Underwood
4:00 Jerre Haskew
5:00-6:00 Dalton Roberts
6PM –over--

Porch Stage
12:00 Robin Burk 
12:30 Jim Pfitzer
1:00 Grant Fetters
1:30 Michael Gray 
2:00 Raptor Show
3:00 Finn Bille
3:15 ` Christyna Jensen
3:30 Marcus Patrick Ellsworth 
4:00 Janie Dempsey Watts
4:20 Dr. Susan Hickman
4:40 Ray Zimmerman 
5:00 Ginnie Strickland Sams
5:30 Peggy Douglas

Ray Zimmerman – Master of Ceremonies
Ray Zimmerman's performance poems, including “Sign” (AKA “Mercury”), “No Hair,””Madness,””A Special Place” and “Ham and Rye” have delighted audiences and won prizes in poetry slams. He is the executive editor of Southern Light: Twelve Contemporary Poets. He is also a former president of the Chattanooga Writers Guild and won Second Place in the 2007 Poetry Contest of the Tennessee Writers Alliance. Ten days after undergoing coronary bypass surgery, he read his winning poem, “Glen Falls Trail,” at the awards ceremony of the Southern Festival of Books at Legislative Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee. Jeff Biggers, Associate Editor of the Bloomsbury Review, favorably reviewed Ray’s Chapbook, Searching for Cranes, in his end of year roundup article. He organizes poetry readings at Chattanooga venues. Ray was the subject of a feature article in the September 2008 issue of Blush magazine.

12:00 Robin Burk – wooden flutes and hand pan drum
Robin Burk is a multi-instrumentalist from Chattanooga, TN. She enjoys playing the Native American Style Flute, Ethno-Fusion flutes, Handpan, Steel Tongue Drums, and various melody and rhythm instruments. Robin is a member of the Smoky Mountain Flute Circle and the newly formed Chattanooga Flute Circle. She has played onstage at Track 29, Camp House, New Dischord music festival, Musical Echoes music festival (Ft Walton, FL), as well as other locations, including churches and festivals throughout the Southeast. Robin was awarded first place in Allied Art’s 2011 PARK(ing) Day completion. For more information:

12:30 Jim Pfitzer
Jim is a storyteller and writer who has performed and taught workshops from coast to coast. His personal stories cover topic ranging from too-close-for-comfort black bear encounters, to the significance of sweet tea in southern society, to explorations of the mad artist within. Pfitzer says "he would rather paddle a canoe than drive a car and prefers watching birds to watching television." When he isn’t telling stories, Pfitzer keeps bees, grows mushrooms, and carves wooden spoons. He is currently working on a one man show exploring the life and work of conservationist and ecologist Aldo Leopold. For more information or to read Pfitzer’s blog visit www.jimpfitzer.com.

1:00 Grant Fetters
A reoccurring dream kept Grant awake for several nights until he recounted this dream to his wife. The dream was about a Grasshopper that wanted Grant to tell his story. With the encouragement of his wife, Grant started to write about “Horace the Hopper.” This story is about a small green Grasshopper that wants to see the world and what he experiences on his journey.
Grant is an accomplished speaker in Toastmasters, he uses his speaking skills to give programs and book readings to children in the area. He belongs to several writing groups from Knoxville and Chattanooga, and in his spare time, Grant is a Design Engineer in the automotive industry and lives in Madisonville with his wife Sharon and their four cats.

1:30 Michael Gray
Michael Gray an author, story teller, musician and accomplished liar has performed at Memphis in May, The Dogwood Arts Festival, Mountain Fest, Wide Open Floor, Wordfest (producer/director) and on WUTC. His short stories published in Trout Unlimited; Land of Waterfalls; Chattanooga Parent; and Religion and Spirituality are taken from experiences growing up in a small East Tennessee town and on a family farm (as well as an imagination that is at times far too active). His book Life: Through a Child’s Eyes was published in 2005.

2:00 Break for Birds of Prey Show

3:00 Finn Bille

3:15 Chrystina Jensen

3:30 Marcus Patrick Ellsworth – Spoken word artist, slam and performance poet, author of When the World was Round

4:00 Janie Watts Spartaro

4:20 Dr. Susan Hickman

4:40 Ray Zimmerman – Biography Above

5:00 Ginnie Strickland SamsGinnie Sams is a writer, a poet, a storyteller, and a lover of the arts. Personal family history provides Ginnie with material for her unique adventure stories and mid-life fairy tales. She has performed before audiences as far ranging as Zimbabwe and Costa Rica, and within the United States in Chattanooga TN, Atlanta GA, and Los Gatos CA.
Ginnie is well known in Trenton, GA as one of the original Trenton Beatnik poets. She reads her themed poems at a variety of Chattanooga poetry and music venues, including St Elmo’s Living Room, the now extinct Rockpoint Books, the Chattanooga Writers Guild, and the Audubon Bird Sancuary.
Ginnie lives in Rising Fawn with her calico cat Wootchie, but don’t you dare call her the cat lady.

5:30 Peggy Douglas
Peggy Douglas is a poet and performance artist, autoharp player, and Appalachian clogger. Her poems have appeared in Kakalak Anthology of Carolina Poets; Bleeding Heart Anthology of the Knoxville Writer's Guild; the University of Maine’s Binnacle Poetry Journal; Maypop: the Tennessee Writers Alliance Journal; Glass: A Journal of Poetry; The Light of Ordinary Things Anthology by Fearless Books; Chantarelle’s Notebook; Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine; and Still: Literature of the Mountain South. Her chapbook, Twisted Roots, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2011 and she was a recent poetry finalist for the Still: Literature of the Mountain South literary contest.
Tom Brown, who plays banjo and harmonica will accompany her. Tom has played banjo and harmonica with several bluegrass groups over the years. He has injected a healthy dose of traditional bluegrass songs to the group's repertoire as well as his original compositions which he refers to as "slightly bent." He was selected in 2003, 2004, 2006 and again in 2007 for the ASCAP Sponsored Songwriter Showcase at the International Bluegrass Music Association's World of Bluegrass trade show. His songs have been recorded by Jeanette Williams, the Barker Brothers, Earl Brackin, and by the award winning Canadian bluegrass artist Janet McGarry.

Reading in Knoxville

Reading at a Senior Citizen center next Tuesday. Half of the audience will be younger than I am.

Our reading at Humana will take place this coming Tuesday, March 6 at 10 AM. Their community center is located at 4438 Western Avenue, 640 Plaza, Knoxville, TN 37921. The number for the center is 865-329-8892.

Little Owl Music and Arts

Press Release: February 15, 2012 - Chattanooga
Event: Little Owl Music & Arts Festival, March 31, 2012, 12 - 6 PM
Place: Audubon Acres, 900 N Sanctuary Rd, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Admission: $5 per person, or $10 per carload
Celebrate Audubon Acre's historic past & visionary future
at the March 31 Little Owl Music & Arts Festival from 12-6 p.m.
Join us for a fun field day for the entire family, including a flying show with raptors by SOAR (Save Our American Raptors) with owls, hawks, an eagle, vulture and other birds of prey for festival guests in the big field. We'll also feature some of the most treasured performing and visual artists in Chattanooga, such as Jerre Haskew of Cumberland Trio, Uncle Lightning, Ray Zimmerman, Marcus Ellsworth, Troy Underwood, Hara Paper and Jeff Pfitzer. We'll eat fun foods, witness a contest for songwriters, enjoy the work of local artists, go on nature walks, paint faces and decide a city-wide schools' poster contest, all cradled in the beauty of natural and historical surroundings. We want to share Audubon's unique role in the future, preserving our natural resources, history, and native plant and animal life.
History: Audubon has an established role in history as one of the oldest settlements in North America. The property is located on the Trail of Tears. It became one of the first land trusts in the State of Tennessee, called the Cherokee Arboretum where The Trail was developed to interpret the forest in the context of native American culture and regional history. Audubon's 130 acres gives visitors a glimpse into the life of the people who once lived, hunted, and gathered in the forests, meadows, and along the banks of South Chickamauga Creek.
Little Owl Village, our festival's namesake, is believed to be the location of the first contact between local Native Americans and Spanish explorers, consistent with the journal accounts of members of the Tristan de Luna expedition.
Mission: The Chattanooga Audubon Society was established to educate and promote an understanding of the responsibility borne by all individuals to preserve and protect our environmental, cultural, and historical resources. We're getting back to our roots in music, in the arts, in education, in becoming the hub of the East Brainerd community, inspiring the new generations to inspire us! Join us!
Celebrate Audubon Acres; it's your nature!
For more information, contact Audubon Society President Bill Fisher at 423-892-1499 or bfisher@chaas.org
Keep up with our performance event & featured artists and vendors on Facebook and Audubon's official website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Owl-Music-Arts-Festival-March-31-2012-Audubon-Acres/216298885129188?sk=wall&filter=1 & http://www.chattanoogaaudubon.org/

Little Owl Art and Music Festival

Tentative line up of performers for the porch stage.

March 31 12:00 Noon to 6:00 PM

Information about the various performances will be forthcoming.

NOON  Robin Burk
12:30 Jim Pfitzer (Awaiting confirmation on this)  
1pm Daryl Sutton and Melanie Sutton  
1:30 Michael Gray  
2PM Grant Fetters Horace the Hopper and Other Children's Stories  
2:30 Ginnie Strickland Sams  
3PM Bruce Majors -
3:30 Marcus Patrick Ellsworth
4PM Jack Pine Savage Stringband w/ Gilbert Sewell
4:30 Ray Zimmermaqn
5PM Bob Carty
5:30 Peggy Douglas

Romance at the Writers Guild

For Immediate Release
January 26, 2011

Romance writer gives hot tips – on the Craft of Writing - at the February meeting of the Chattanooga Writers Guild
February.14, 2012
7:00 PM
The Public Library, Downtown branch

This year, our regularly scheduled meeting falls on Valentine's day, so we just had to present a romance writer, but one who has published numerous titles and been a presenter a writers workshops across the nation. Elysa Hendricks. will speak on use of craft to create a compelling genre novel, including:
Plot basics (how to use "GMC" and "Scene and Sequel);
Characterization (back story, dialogue and point-of-view);
Mechanics and grammar;
the all-important concept of Voice.

Elysa's Bio:
After trying her hand at a variety of careers: retail sales, insurance underwriter, video store owner, home day care provider, and motherhood, Elysa Hendricks, a longtime reader of romance, sat down to write a short contemporary romance. When her heroine turned out to be a winged, telepathic alien, Elysa decided she enjoyed writing stories set in different places and times. Fortunately for the reading public, that first book remains hidden under her bed along with the evil killer dust bunnies.

While living in Illinois Elysa helped found the Windy City Chapter and the Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal Chapters of Romance Writers of America as well as taught workshops on writing at writer’s conferences and at local community colleges. Recently relocated to central Ohio, she’s happy to be part of the Central Ohio Fiction Writer family.

After spending some time (longer than she cares to remember or tell) learning how to write, she penned a series of fantasy romances set in an alternate universe. GEMINI MOON, CRYSTAL MOON, SHADOW MOON and FORBIDDEN MOON are available from ImaJinn Books.

THE BABY RACE, her first eBook, is a short contemporary love story set in the real world of small town America.- Race Reed doesn’t want a wife, but to save his ranch he needs a baby. To gain custody of her stepsister, Claire Jensen needs a husband, but she wants love. Wants and needs are bound to clash when they run THE BABY RACE.

THIS HEART FOR HIRE is the first of two western historical romances soon to be released. The companion book, previously published with Hard Shell Word Factory will be re-released in early 2012 under the title HER WILD TEXAS HEART.

Someday she dreams of sitting on a tropical beach, writing on a laptop, while handsome, bare chested cabana boys bring her fruity, alcoholic drinks.

The Word on the Bird

Ascension Lutheran Church
720 S Germantown Rd
Thursday, January 12, 2011
5:30 PM Executive Board Meeting
7:00 PM Monthly Meeting:

PROGRAM
Adventures with Audubon

Spend an hour in the studio of one of America’s greatest naturalists and wildlife artist. Listen to tales of his adventures as he finishes something no one had every accomplished before: drawing every bird in North America. Audubon will enchant you with stories of his travels and travails in the wildest places on the planet. He will celebrate the natural history of the North America as he saw it in the early 1800s. Audubon will bring to life bird behavior, focusing on the birds you are most likely to see as you go bird watching in your area. With lessons on field ecology, the scientific method, art history, and bird migration, the audience is invited to imitate birds and discuss the life histories of their favorite feathered friends.

Storyteller Brian “Fox” Ellis portrays Audubon in these entertaining and meticulously researched monologues drawing from Audubon’s journals, essays, and letters to his friends and colleagues. This program was developed with a grant from the USFWS as part of their celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Fox has performed as Audubon in museums, nature centers, birding festivals, schools and libraries across the United States, including Audubon’s home in Henderson, Kentucky.

Finn Bille's Fire Poems

Chattanooga Poet survives home fire, publishes Fire Poems book, and donates a portion of the proceeds to American Red Cross.

Out of the flames of his house fire Finn Bille created poetry and collected aid for other fire victims.

Bille’s recently published collection, Fire Poems, deals with the fire that destroyed his house at 504 Fort Wood Place in Chattanooga on March 18, 2003. He and his wife, Jeanne, had lived in the Fort Wood Historic District for 25 years.

A few of these poems were also published in 2011 in the anthology, Southern Light: Twelve Contemporary Southern Poets, Executive Editor, Ray Zimmerman.

The Red Cross assisted the Billes with necessary personal items, while the neighbors united to help them with housing, clothes, and support.

Bille’s advice: Do not leave oily rags where they can start a fire. Enclose them in airtight metal containers.

When you buy a copy of Fire Poems at Winder Binder Gallery and Book Store on Frazier Avenue in Chattanooga, two dollars will be donated to the Red Cross for aid to fire victims.