(edited from the KNTR webpost)

Last month, Kids Need to Read (KNTR), one of our favorite (and now local!) charities, asked you for donations of gently used books, and many of you were generous enough to send them a bunch.  This Saturday, February 6th, you can come by Sequoia Charter School’s gym in Mesa, Arizona to find some new, previously loved treasures.  (They won’t be in the gym proper, but in a room within the gym.)  KNTR is selling used books for all ages and genres, calendars, and buttons, so you will be sure to find something you’ll love!

The address for the school is:

1460 S. Horne Street
Mesa, AZ
85204

The sale will run from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  The school is having a sporting event that day in the gym, so please respect their event.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Kids Need To Read has published a Thank You Blog to the Arizona Browncoats for our calendar sponsorship. They have some kind words to say about us and browncoats in general. Go check it out and leave a comment letting them know you stopped by.

The Marian Call concert was a blast and I was excited to see so many folks show. It was a great atmosphere and Marian and her guitarist, Scott Barkan were very friendly and gracious. With our 10 people alone we brought in $200 for the Wildhorse Ranch, not counting what we spent on drinks (total I think they brought in at the very least twice that). The Wildhorse Ranch Rescue spends over $4000 a month to take care of the abused and abandoned horses in their care, so every penny is valuable to them. They're wonderful people and I hope we can do some work with them again in the future. Make sure to visit their website and find out a little more about what the local organization does.

On May 2, a fantastic singer and fellow Browncoat is coming to Arizona for the first time ever, and we're hoping to give her a grand welcome. Why should you muster up the $20 to go? Here's why in the countdown style that the kids today seem to like...
5) It's for charity!
The Marian Call concert is an "Open Bowl" charity for the Wildhorse Ranch Rescue, a horse rescue association created to "To save equines from abuse, neglect, slaughter and premature death and provide a safe place for them to live for the remainder of their lives." If that's not a great charity worthy of space western fans, I don't know what is. Also, for the $20 you get a handmade artist bowl, a chili or soup dinner, a signed copy of her CD Vanilla, AND Concert admission.

4) It's NOT FILK!
"Filk" is essentially a form of "geek folk" that formed out of scifi and fantasy conventions. CopperCon is a great place to see it in action, when casual singers and musicians get together and share their musical artwork. Michelle Dockrey is deeply rooted in the Filk community, and in my opinion the pinnacle of the art form. The Bedlam Bards can be considered "Firefilk"ers, though you will rarely hear them say it themselves. There's plenty to like about Filk, especially that in essence it captures the true spirit of traditional folk music. However, that deep traditional folk style turns a lot of people off. All too often, Filk winds up anyone with a guitar and the ability to rhyme "cthulu" to a ballad tune fancies themselves a musician. Fun at a gathering, but you wouldn't pay $20 for a concert.
Marian Call is NOT a Filker. She is a genuine, modern, mainstream, indie musician. She has an agent and is trying to get a record label deal. She's toured across North America, and usually plays in coffee houses and bars. She's a geek though, and a lot of her content revolves around subjects relevant to our interests. She has two albums out. One was contracted by Quantum Mechanix to focus on Firefly and Battlestar Galactica, though unless you're listening for it I defy you to spot the references. Her other album, Vanilla, is a pretty straight pop/jazz/blues-ish (that's modern indie music for you, impossible to classify) but she still manages to slip in "gorram" and a song inspired by Firefly's River.