Hey!
Next week we’ll be in lovely sunny Florida (can’t wait- it just started snowing here) for the Strawberry Festival. This is our first time at the festival and we’re so excited.
Our shows will be at 11, 3 and 7 everyday from March 3rd-7th.
Have a look at the poster for the shows:
See you soon if you are in Florida!
Greta
Posted in Uncategorized
We had a lovely Valentine’s day, thank you to everyone who wished us a happy holiday. Although we spent all of “actual” Valentine’s day practicing (sounds really bad but it was actually really fun), we had a great concert on Sunday that was a perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s day.
We performed in Astoria, which is a beautiful little town in the Northwestern tip of Oregon that we have driven through but never really gotten to stick around in for very long. We didn’t get to do much sightseeing but we DID drive up to see the Astoria tower:
Later on, we played the main event, a concert with Kim Angelis, the gypsy violinist who gave us so many hours of joyful dancing in the living room as kids to her recordings. It was actually the first time we’d ever met her in person, and she is such a lovely person! The audience was also wonderful – thank you so much for your warm welcome to Astoria!! We had a great time.
Here are some pictures of before and after the show, as well as some video of Greta and Kim playing a duet:
Us with Kim Angelis after the concert
Us with a beautiful little girl who danced all the way through the concert! She’s homeschooling, too! 
Willow trying out a bouzouki after the show… hmmm more instruments already?? lol
Now we’re home and working hard at “Gothard Sisters Band Camp” where we are coming up with new numbers and doing all kinds of cool hard work stuff. There will be more on that later.
See ya ’till then!
Greta
Posted in Uncategorized
So last weekend we took a long drive out to Montana (30 hours roundtrip) to perform for 12 minutes at the Montana Performing Arts Consortium. Basically, it is a chance to meet the people who run events and concert series in MT so we can possibly come out there and perform in the future!
So we did our 12 minute showcase (complete with a counter/timer sitting on the front of the stage, counting the minutes and seconds to make sure we didn’t go a second over 12 minutes – yikes!) and then went to the Artists’ Jam that evening. All the performers got together and played music or tried to collaborate and it was quite fun. In between the big blues jams we got up and did this little number:
The other interesting thing about the trip was the hotel we stayed at. It was in the middle of Great Falls and the lounge was called the “Sip n’ Dip.” The whole attraction of the place was based on the fact that this lounge had MERMAIDS. Real mermaids. Heehee! Basically, the lounge was set up so there was a giant window behind the bar, looking into the bottom of the hotel pool. Then at 9:00 every night the mermaids would appear and swim around outside the window.
Only thing was, it didn’t really make me want to go swimming in the hotel pool if people were going to be watching from the lounge. lol.
Anyway, we packed up and headed out on Sunday morning to try and get out of MT and back home to the coast before the giant storm hit, but before we left we noticed that our picture was on the cover of the arts section in the Great Falls tribune, check it out:
All in all a great weekend- the whole year is shaping up to be quite the adventure.
Posted in Uncategorized
We’ll be celebrating Valentine’s day this year with a childhood hero of ours, gypsy violinist Kim Angelis. We listened to her music when we were little and danced around the living room endlessly to it.
Now we’re opening for her and her husband at their CD release party in Astoria Oregon. Here’s the show poster, you can download if you would like at this link.
Posted in Uncategorized
Here is a little of an acoustic show we did last week. The clip is of a set including the famous Irish washerwoman jig and another Slip Jig that we used to dance to at class, but I can’t remember the tune for the life of me… if anyone knows, be sure to leave the name in the comments. It’s a beautiful slip jig though.
Enjoy!
Posted in Uncategorized
Just got back from a couple long flights and a trip to the state of NY for the first time ever. We headed out to Rochester for a fairs and events showcase for NY state and a showcase that we got accepted for.
Rochester was very snowy and cold, but I regret not being able to go around and sight-see. We spent all day at the trade show, handing out flyers and DVDs to fair buyers and then had to sound check so we couldn’t go try to find the “Dinosaur bar” that all the other bands kept talking about… bummer!
A few new pictures from our trip for your enjoyment:
Our booth at the trade show – lots of flyers and pictures!
Sound checking in the room for the showcasing dinner.
Some people we met at the convention:
Our friend Flora, who was so nice and welcoming!!
The Beadle Brothers, who also showcased
Two girls who we met and were so beautiful! They were also very graceful dancers. 
And…. what you do when you are bored at the airport. Play canasta!
More updates later! We’re headed to Montana next.
Posted in Uncategorized
Lessons learned on the road (from Tour 2009)
#1 – You can’t please everyone.
#2 – If your hotel has a free breakfast, don’t sleep through it.
#3 – Check the hotel closet before you leave because your costumes might still be in there.
#4 – If something important breaks, pat yourself on the back because you brought a spare. RIGHT?!
#5 – If you are scheduled to perform at the same time as the fireworks, try to re-schedule (or change your program to include fife, drum and revolutionary war re-enactments.)
#6 – If you travel by train, bring a blanket or you will freeze.
#7 – Don’t get locked in the bathroom on the train.
#8 – Panera Bread and Walmart are your friends.
#9 – If your shows are over at 10:45, the only thing open is McDonalds. And they are usually too tired to find you the stuffed animal you want in your happy meal.
#10 – Don’t accidentally drive your car into the Demolition Derby on the way out of the fairgrounds. (thanks Alex and Dave!)
#11 – If a bee lands on your fingers while you’re playing fiddle, play even faster!
Posted in Uncategorized
