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• | June 2006 |
• | July 2006 |
• | June 2007 |
• | August 2007 |
• | November 2007 |



• | June 2008 |
• | September 2008|

• Read of the latest exciting, whirlwind adventures of the SCRB in Ted's
  Tales From The Trail.


• Gil's guest writers tell of experiencing great southwestern folk music from the other side of the mic in his
  Musician's Corner


• Steve Braun to compete in an Olympic-standard event in honor of Arthur Miscione, and fans cris-cross the globe to see the SCRB in Tucson! See photo proof, along with other interesting photos, in
  The Web Page


• Read about a community The Band visited recently, which is in recovery after natural disaster, in a Special Interest Spotlight


• all of this, plus:
  See what's cooking in La Cocina,(and who is reciting poetry there, too?!?!??), learn more great Welsh folklore, check out the new music reviews, and read more great letters sent in by you, good friends!

Tales From The Trail

Ted Ramirez

Hello Good friends, Welcome to Tales from the Trail.

We have been all over the country since my last report, and most notably a 6-week tour of the Midwest.

We played many wonderful towns and the experience was enriching both for the mind and spirit, but it was ka-cold!!!

Being from the Southwest, I am accustomed to certain types of extreme weather - powerful thunderstorms, droughts, flash floods, record heat etc. But, a wind chill of 50 below was a very new experience! Luckily for me - it was a “dry cold”!

I learned quickly about wearing layers of clothing, I wore a pair of sheepskin-lined boots, and for the most part coped with the cold weather rather well. On the few days it was around 30 degrees (daytime temperature) - I complained- it’s too hot!

Beginning on February 1st and ending March 8th we toured 12 states, over 30 cities in “Bessie” our tough-as-nails 76 GMC motor-home/tour bus. From time-to-time she had her problems. She lost a wheel on a snowy North/South Dakota border and we had numerous minor and sometimes major mechanical problems.

It was a real miracle, but we did not miss a single performance. We dealt with the mechanical failures, bad weather and a nasty flu without skipping a beat.

We arrived at each venue on time and gave 100% each concert. Our audiences responded with appreciation and support. We received standing ovations and encores at many of our concerts. Making new fans was very encouraging and helped us to do our best.

We owe so much to the many wonderful people who helped us on this tour. Many gave feely of their expertise and time helping us to solve the many mechanical problems. There were many more that offered encouragement, prayers and kind words – all this kept us going. In Belle Fourche, South Dakota we were treated to homemade tamales and home made tortillas – wow – what a neat treat! It is not easy to do what we do, but it would be impossible without the support of our many friends and fans.

Thanks to all our new friends and fans in the Mid-West!
TR

The Musician’s Corner

Gilbert Brown

This month, Gil brings us the experience of music in general, and The Band in particular, from the receiving side of the music.

Here is the perspective of The Band's hosts for an April, 2008 performance in Aberdeen, North Carolina: Matt, Ashley, Sarah and Shirley of the Inn at the Bryant House.

The Web Page

Michael J. Ronstadt

A new web page makeover

We launched a new web page design in March, 2008! One of the goals of the new design is to provide more interactive features (video and music) for our friends and fans to enjoy, as well as for promoters and venues to sample. We kept the same content otherwise, but have rearranged it somewhat.

Another goal of the redesign is to make it as easy as possible to find the information you need. If you have difficulties navigating the website, or can't find what you are looking for, please contact us! (You will find our email addresses at the bottom of the newsletter)

Competing in honor of Arthur

Arthur Miscione

Steve Braun (Arthur's brother-in-law) will be competing in the Deuces Wild Triathlon in Show Low, Az on June 1st, to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. With just a little over a week before the event, he is also racing to meet his fundraising goal of $3200. If you would like to support Steve in honor of Arthur Miscione, or in honor of someone close to you affected by cancer, please visit his website at steveintraining.com .

Arthur Miscione was the SCRB's bass player, and a remarkable human being. He died of cancer in April, 2006.

SCRB Friends Travel Worldwide To See Their Band Perform In Tucson!

Yes, that's right! Several friends came to Tucson for a visit in April and May, 2008, and attended SCRB performances. It seems The Band is intriguing their friends with the music and culture and stories of the Southwest enough to bring them to Tucson! How wonderful!

Hover over each photo with your mouse in the Web Page Section to see them larger!

Dave and Becky Rubin with Michael, Gil and Ted
at the April 26th performance at the 17th Street Guitars and
World Music

Longtime friends Dave and Becky Rubin from Ohio regularly visit Tucson and Southeastern Arizona. They attended several concerts on this visit, including concerts at 17th Street Guitars and World Music, and at the Arizona Folklore Preserve near Sierra Vista, Az. How great it is to meet up with old friends, and make new ones!

North Wales friends meet Arizona friends!
Sharon Heikkinen from Arizona chats
with Lynn Seiler from North Wales. Look closely to see
Michael Seiler sneakily peeking at the camera, too.

SCRB friends Michael and Lynn Seiler from North Wales traveled all the way to Tucson, Arizona to see the beautiful Southwest, and to visit with the The Band in May! Lynn sported an Arizona tan to take back with her to Wales, and both shared stories, experiences, and love abound! Thank you Friends, for such a special visit! We hope it is a visit to fondly remember for a good, long time!

SCRB's Live Music Inspires Creativity From Audience Artists

We are always pleased and honored that our music can inspire another's creativity! We are touched by the stories of musicians who find new avenues to explore, and artists of all crafts who feel moved to create while listening. We have examples and accounts of this artistic work throughout the website- Please check the photo gallery, Band reviews pages, and previous newsletters for stories and photos!

We have two photos of new art work to feature in this edition of the newsletter....

A beautiful return serenade was sketched by a audience member last February at a concert in International Falls, Minnesota.

The Santa Cruz River Bunnies!
Young SCRB friends Alan and Summer Hom created Ted, Gil, Mike, and Arthur (without his bass- the concert ended too soon!) with Model Magic modeling clay, in the spirit of Wallace and Gromit claymation. The set was created during a concert at the Arizona Folklore Preserve on May 4, 2008.

Thank you Everyone, for reaching out and sharing a bit of yourselves with The Band, and all of us here who enjoy the SCRB! It seems that when folks reach out like this, a community of sorts is formed. It's a worldwide SCRB community in the making. What an amazing thing!

A Special Interest Spotlight

Kristy Hom
website design

A Community In Recovery

Coffeyville, a community in Southeastern Kansas, was one of many communities that sustained flood damage during severe weather in July, 2007. It is situated along the Verdigris River, and is home to about 11,000 residents, and to Amazon.com's largest distrubution center.

The flood occurred when the Verdigris River reached record heights well above flood stage, and topped over the protective levees, submerging about 1/3 of the town. The situation was complicated by damage sustained to the local oil refinery and nitrogen fertilizer plants, calling need for immediate repair and protection of water resources and wildlife along the Verdigris River and surrounding area.

Months later, in late February, 2008, the Santa Cruz River Band held a concert in Coffeyville, as the town continued to recover from the flood. Among the residents who attended, The Band spoke with Alec Hendryx, who began serving his term as a city commissioner just weeks before the flood. What follows is his account to Ted, of the ordeal of the flood, and how the community of Coffeyviille pulled together to help one another, save what they could, and then rebuild their town. Photos (and their captions) are also provided by Alec. (hover your mouse over the photos to see them larger)

I am a design engineer working at the local John Deere transmission and drivetrain factory.  I am also a city commissioner.  I was elected in April for a four-year term.

Coffeeville Flood, 2007

The flood occurred on the night of June 30th and into the morning of July 1st.  When daylight came, it was a sight no one wanted to see.  Most of the east side of town was flooded.  I spent a full week down at city hall after that just doing what I could and whatever was needed.  City staff did most of the work along with an emergency incident command team that came down from K.C.

The sandbagging effort at the Youth Activities center

Approximately 2500 people were displaced with friends, relatives and in shelters throughout town.  At the time, we were the center of attention in the national news.  The national Red Cross team came in and helped tremendously along with other charitable organizations.  After 10 days, people were slowly allowed to go back to their homes to salvage what they could.  Rebuilding their lives seemed to officially begin.

As for the long term aftermath to deal with.... we are dealing with the repairs of  Walter Johnson Park so we can be fully ready for the 100th Inter-State Fair and Rodeo which did not occur last year due to the flood.  Our City Recreation building was in the flood and they lost all their equipment.  Fortunately, Dick's Sporting Goods from K.C. donated many pallets of equipment so the kids could get back to playing.  It was a tremendous blessing that brought people to tears.  There were so many from all over the country that sent donations.  And many didn't even have ties to Coffeyville. What a great country, huh?

Not Ground Zero, but pretty close. We found a flag and had to raise it.

Our biggest issue now as a city commission is housing and lost business.   We lost significant tax revenue since so many businesses and hotels were not operating for up to 3 months.  We lost 5 out of 6 hotels in flood.  Only one of those 5 is back up and running.  FEMA and the state doesn't pay for everthing, so there is still a portion that will come from the city.  So, with lost tax revenues and property (equals lost property tax), we will be financially constrained until we get some more businesses and housing.  Two brand new hotels are planned to be built near downtown, which we are excited about.  We also need some apartments and new residential neighborhoods.  That's where the tough decisions will have to be made that may not please everyone, but we'll make it work.

In conclusion, Coffeyville is in a rebuilding phase that was forced upon us, but we hope we will be grateful for in the end.  It's going to take hard work and wisdom.  I just hope and pray that I and the other commissioners make the right decisions in the next 3 years since they will have decades of good or bad ramifications.

I'm really glad you guys came and I wish I could play and sing like you. Take care and God Bless you guys. Alec

More photos of the Flood and Coffeyville's recovery can be found at Alec's online photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/kstatealec/CoffeyvilleFlood2007

We are happy to report that the 100th Inter-State Fair and Rodeo, (held in Coffeyville) which was cancelled because of of the Flood of 2007, is scheduled to proceed in August, 2008.

New Articles and Reviews

Here are two reviews The Band received while on tour this past Fall through Spring:

ArborWeb (Ann Arbor's home on the web)

Santa Cruz River Band: Crossing and obscuring the border

The Santa Cruz River Band comes from Tucson, one of the cities in the southern tier of states where deep connections with Mexico long predate the current immigration controversy. It's been said that the city's economy stretches 1,000 miles into Mexico, and so does its music. Linda Ronstadt is the most famous representative of Tucson's Mexican-American musical culture, and her family, past and present, includes several musical tradition bearers. Among them is her brother Michael J. Ronstadt, one of the trio that make up the Santa Cruz River Band.

In concert and on the first two of its three albums, the group has mixed songs from both sides of the border easily enough that you temporarily forget it's there. The three musicians sing in English, Spanish, and, on occasion, Arizona's Native American languages. Their original songs and covers are sometimes set in the borderlands: they perform, for example, David Olney's chilling "Women across the River," in which a narrator looks across the border at farm workers who "are as gentle as the dew upon the ground" but "can kill you with their eyes." But they effortlessly weave in songs from other traditions, like John Prine's "Paradise." Their prime criterion seems to be the presence of a good story with resonances beyond itself.

The new Santa Cruz River Band release is The Mexican Album. It's entirely in Spanish, and the material consists mostly of Mexican traditional songs. But in the feel of its straightforward vocals and trio harmonies, elegantly emotional and never over the top, it's not a major departure from the trio's earlier releases. Several of the songs ("La Golondrina," "El Sinaloense") are ones that you may have heard in the background in Mexican restaurants, and it's a joy to hear them without the stylized exaggeration with which they've been overlaid both in Mexican pop traditions and in the American imagination — the band members say that they just recalled songs they heard at campfires and family gatherings when they were younger, and they sing them naturally. The meanings of the words should yield easily to some high school Spanish or a bit of explanation — they contain a lot of repetition, and their themes of love and of exile go straight to the heart.

The Santa Cruz River Band comes to the Ark — among the few clubs in the state, aside from Latin dance halls, that regularly present the music of Latin America — on Wednesday, October 31.

—James M. Manheim
Review published October 2007

The SCRB visiting with staff from Northern Michagan University at the time of this performance, October, 2007

Folklore - Myth - History - Truth

Jan Hedgecock
Editor

by Jan Hedgecock, Editor

This tale is one of two stories of a similar theme attached to Cardigan Bay in Gwynedd. This story is the later one of the two and explains how a realm was lost to the sea through debauchery and drunkenness. There are traces of walls and roadways under the sea at Carmarthen Bay, they can be seen at low tide and may have given rise to the legend of the 'Lost Lowland Hundred'.

Many centuries ago in the area where the river Dyfi (Dovey) meets the Atlantic Ocean, a great kingdom stood far out in the low lying land. The kingdom was called Cantref y Gwaelod and its many towns, farms and gleaming cities were protected from the sea by a series of sluices and dams. The area was ruled over by a Prince called Gwyddno, who had ruled well for many years. In fact he had been so successful that the kingdom enjoyed a great period of prosperity, and the Prince and his subjects were wont to overindulge in the more pleasurable aspects of life. As time went on the drinking, parties and wanton debauchery were the talk of the whole of Wales.

During this time the man in charge of up-keeping the solid defences against the sea was called Seithenyn. He was a Prince of Dyfed, and a man of high status in keeping with the importance of his task. At first he was diligent in all aspects of his role, but as time wore on he became addicted to the pleasures of the Court, in a state of drunken stupor most nights as well as much of the day, he began to neglect his duties. In time the dams became weather beaten and crumbling, and the sluices began to stiffen with rust. Many parts of the defences became leaky and with every pounding tide of the winter the dam became weaker. One man began to notice the decay and the danger from the ever-encroaching sea. His name was Teithryn, and he was in charge of the Northern stretches of the dyke. While his vigilance in tending the Northern dams ensured they were sound his fears were ignored by courtiers, too busy with the nights entertainment to worry about the grumbling of a dam keeper.

Seithenyn also ignored his fears, he was by now a hopeless drunkard and in no fit state to be in charge of such a weighty responsibility. One day in the depths of winter during the highest tides of the season, Teithynin, who was well versed in weather lore, saw the warning signs of a gigantic storm brewing. That night during the inevitable feasting, Teithryn drank very little and for the last time tried to warn the people of the approaching disaster. They laughed at him and told him to enjoy himself and stop worrying about something that could never happen When he knew there was little time left, he went to the safety of high ground, and left the courtiers in their drunken stupor. When the storm came it was the most furious in living memory, it brought before it a huge storm surge which swept over the dam as one great wave. Seithenyn cursing and shouting at the waves ran at the water with his drawn sword in an attempt to send back the waves, he was drowned instantly by a mighty weight of water. The whole of the kingdom vanished beneath the waves that night, out of the thousands of people only a few escaped. As well as Teithryn the vigilant Northern keeper, Gwyddno and a few of his subjects managed to drag themselves to shore, they lived in poverty for the rest of their lives lamenting their selfish ways. Some of the ancient roadways and part of the dam system, is said to be still visible out in the bay during the lowest tides of the year.

La Cocina Con Poemas

We have decided to have a slight re focus on our recipe article in the newsletter! We are asking you to send in a recipe/poem from your Country or State and unless you can get yours to us first, Lady Floppy Ears will write a poem about it… Have you an anecdote about the Santa Cruz River Band? We will be delighted to hear it!

In this issue:

We travel to Canada, for a rousing poem by Lady Floppy Ears, in celebration of The Band's travels and tour there in the Summer of 2007:

Lady Floppy Ears' Travels In Canada!

I’ve been through the mountains!
I’ve been through the trees!
I’ve fought with the grizzlies
I’ve been stung by some bees!
I like the rocky rockies and the Niagara Falls
But most of all I like ... their Maple Syrup balls!

Mounties! Mounties! Mounties! Hurray!
Mounties! Mounties! Mounties! Hurray!

Chorus:

The Maple Leaf is yellow
The colour of silky sand
In Victoria, Oh Canada!
I’m the Leader of the Band!

Mascot! Mascot! Mascot! ME!
Mascot! Mascot! Mascot! MEEEE!

...and since Summertime is approaching again, here's a cool, refreshing recipe dedicated to the people of Canada. Enjoy!

The SCRB Pony Express

Mail's here! Mail's in! How we love your emails and guestbook entries!

"So, until we meet again......."

Thank you Everyone, for spending a little time with us here in the June, 2008 issue of the newsletter! We want this place to be one of sharing experiences among us: our ever-growing family all around the world! So if you have stories, anecdotes, recipes, photos, or experiences to share, please contact us! (see the contact section immediately below) We would love to include them in a future issue of the newsletter.

~High Lonesome Thoughts~

We would like to sign off with a few ordinary words which convey extraordinary meaning...

So from all of us here at the SCRB Newsletter: Ted, Gil, Michael, Jan, Kristy, and Lady Floppy Ears.....

Adios!

Contact information:

Newsletter Editor:
Jan Hedgecock: jan@santacruzriverband.com

Website and Newsletter Design:
Kristy Hom: kristy@santacruzriverband.com

Information and Spanish Language Contact:
Loraine Ramirez: loraine@santacruzriverband.com

Band Contacts:
Michael Ronstadt: mike@santacruzriverband.com
Ted Ramirez: ted@santacruzriverband.com

Snail Mail:

Santa Cruz River Band
P.O. Box 19023
Tucson, AZ 85730

For booking and Information: info@santacruzriverband.com

Band Website: santacruzriverband.com

Band Myspace site: myspace.com/ronstadtramirez

The Santa Cruz River Band Newsletter, June, 2007

• | June 2006 |
• | July 2006 |
• | June 2007 |
• | August 2007 |
• | November 2007 |



• | June 2008 |
• | September 2008|