Yet Another Review!

Posted on June 25, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

This just in… one movie reviewers lone, lost and late look at Winter’s Bone. Enjoy the read!

“Until last week or so, I’d heard absolutely nothing about this movie, no trailers, no articles, no nothing. Then I caught wind of some utterly glowing reviews that made me feel like a jackass for being so out of the loop and finding out that it won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance a mere four months after the fact. See, this is why some kind gent out there needs to start paying me to do this before I end up stuck in Killers for all I know. It’s just no good the way things are now.” click here to read the rest.

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More on New York

Posted on June 24, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

More on New York. I’m now convinced that the best way by far to see the city as it really is, is to arrive by air. It might not be true every day. But the day I arrived, with the sun shining through white puffy clouds that cast enormous shadows on the perfect geometry of the structures, was a feast of information as well as sensory pleasure. It’s not just a maze of concrete and steel. It is the great hive, the largest gathering of human occupation in the U.S. And we find evidence that we can do it well, because it  endures. The high-rise in which I stayed, the guest of Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik and executive producer Jonathan Scheuer, although outfitted in a kind of revival Bauhaus, began its life as a 12-story, steel-girdered clothing factory, in 1907. Located between East and West Village just off Union Square, it was the beating heart of the city. The view out the big back window, past other like buildings with their antique water tanks still providing gravity fed water pressure to the inhabitants below, was of the Empire State Building.

Around one corner, a pharmacy, grocery and a Bag Store, where I found the perfect Bagannini bandolier-style messenger bag. At the other end of the block, perfect breakfast and lunch, and The Strand Bookstore with its 18 miles of books. Bibliophile that he is, I don’t see how Jonathan gets anything done. But he does. I suspect it has to do with how fast he walks. The week was over too soon. I think I’ll have to go back until I get it all seen, yes?

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Chop Wood, Carry Water

Posted on June 23, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

I’m still picking up after myself today. Taking a whole truckload of trash to the dump, getting prescriptions filled, getting my car situation sorted out. I got a free Toyota from Kathe Wolfe, put in a fuel pump and bought new tires, then it died on me. While talking to Scott, to whom I gave my Lumina for salvage, I discovered he’d FFFfixed it! It was a fuel problem all along. No wonder the mechanics couldn’t find the faulty part!! Anyway, I’m trading him the Toyota for the Lumina and now have to get it registered, etc.

Anyway, that’s my day today, celebrity status or no. It’s like that Zen saying: Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water”

Did I say Woohoo?

Now I’m off to carry more water and empty the trash at the dump. Later.

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Back to Earth

Posted on June 22, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

Back to earth and the Ozarks on Monday, when I hit the ground running organizing and attending rehearsals for Davis Creek Rounders and Blackberry Winter bands, because both of them were to perform on Friday (June 18) at the Old Time Music Ozark Heritage Festival in West Plains, my home town. Dennis and I are from West Plains, Linda lives in Dora and Van in Willow Springs. Billy Ward and Tedi May live near Branson, and Bo Brown lives outside Springfield. So for our Thursday first performance outside the studio, at the Campbell 16 Cinema in Springfield, the four of us from east drove to Springfield and convened at my friend Steva’s house. Steva and her cat, it must be mentioned, are remarkably good sports, for we filled every corner of the place with sounds good and bad until we arrived at a consensus. It made for a good rehearsal for the next day, when we all met in West Plains for the festival. The 2 p.m. set with the Rounders was technically good but personally miserable. The sign at the Civic Center read 102° when we stepped off the stage. Temps had moderated to the mid-90s by 6 p.m., when Blackberry Winter began its set. We’re something short of perfect, but not half bad for just two days practice with all of us together. I have high hopes for the future, and you would too if you’d heard us.

It was a hot hot day and much of the crowd took shelter under the shade of big trees.

Now it’s a brand new week, and NATF is in town. That’s National Audio Theater Festival to you non-audio theater types, and its members hold their week-long national workshop in West Plains each year in the last week of June.Wicked good fun, and a great learning experience. The superb voice actress Barbara Rosenblatt is with us again this year, along with NPR’s Renee Pringle and renowned Missouri storyteller Gladys Cogswell. I can hardly wait. Workshops, classes and rehearsals begin tomorrow.

An excerpt from Ozarks Public Radio;  Hello! I’m Marideth Sisco for These Ozarks Hills. I know many people think of the Ozarks as a laid back place to settle down. But for people who work in radio, for at least one week out of the year, West Plains is a real hot spot. It’s not just the temperature, although it does happen at the end of June. For that’s when West Plains plays host to the National Audio Theatre Festival… continue reading at Ozarks Public Radio

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Performing at the Old Time Music Festival, West Plains

Posted on June 21, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

It’s not every year a performer gets to be on stage with two groups at a music festival. But this 16th annual Old Time Music Festival saw me perform with the local long time favorite The Davis Creek Rounders then later with the headliner Blackberry Winter. Talk about a full day.

Jonathan Scheuer, producer of Winter's Bone, Tedi May, Blackberry Winter's bass player and Billy Ward were in attendance at the festival all day Friday.

The Davis Creek Rounders; L to R; Van Colbert, Linda Stoffel, me (Marideth Sisco), Ken Wagoner, Rick Cochran and Dennis Crider.

The rounders played City Kicks, written by myself, Bury Me Beneath the Willow with Linda Stoffel on vocals, and Happy Home in Arkansas by Ken Wagoner, On A Hill Lone And Gray (the Carter Family version) with Van Colbert, to name a few.

Blackberry Winter; L to R; Van Colbert, Bo Brown, Linda Stoffel, Tedi May, me, Dennis Crider and Billy Ward.

Early evening found me on stage again, this time as lead singer with Blackberry Winter. The crowd had grown along with the available shade for people to sit and dance.

Among the songs performed by Blackberry Winter were, Ballad Of Jessup Dolly from the movie Winter’s Bone, Bury Me Beneath The Willow, a way different version and in a minor key, High On A Mountain from the movie, Man On The Run by Billy Ward, and Farther Along and Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies both from the movie.

Couldn’t have asked for a better day unless it would have been cooler temperatures. Saturday morning brought a freak wind storm that brought down all the canopies and some of them half way across the county. By nine a.m. the fire department had everything ship shape.

I you didn’t make this festival get out to the 17th annual Old Time Music Festival next year!

more photos here

photos courtesy of Moonmooring

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An Interview with Marideth About Winter’s Bone

Posted on June 20, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

…”She said she had only one day of rehearsal before she had to film a performance scene for the movie, but that things went smoothly. “We all play music down there,” Sisco said…

read the article from Speakeasy

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New York, Here I Am!

Posted on June 20, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

Sorry I haven’t been posting regularly of late — I was kind of stumbling over my schedule and lost track for a bit. I’ll try to be good from now on (translation: don’t hold your breath, cause the stumbling part ain’t over).

Did I tell you about New York? I was there for a week of movie promotion (Winter’s Bone), Q&As all over town, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they cheered us, and cheered the credits, because they knew so many of the cast and crew. But boy, is it hectic for a poor hillbilly two-bit musician.

New York is way fun, and beautiful, and the exact slam-dunk middle of American Culture. The true melting pot. Delicious in every way. That said, I now understand the real meaning of a New York Minute. Those people were kind, generous, thoughtful — and they walked my legs off every day. Down the street for this. Up the street for that. Just a couple blocks, Marideth. Or was that three? Up and down (and up) subway stairs, needing the assistance of railings that had been touched by innumerable human hands. And I came home without even a sniffle. Please understand that my way was eased at every turn by Debra and Jonathan, who were superb hosts. But even by myself it would have been wonderful. You really gotta go.

Later: the Jazz Museum of Harlem

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