Dear Folks, 
      There is no concert scheduled this week and we're loving the chance to take a little break in our usual hectic cycle of writing a blog, making posters, stapling them around town, etc. However, we do have a full schedule for the rest of August which we have attached. Hope you can print it out and put it on your fridge and, maybe even post it in your favorite coffee shop, bulletin board etc. We are particularly excited about our lead off act for August, Hiroya Tsukamoto, a very talented guitarist and composer who will come down from New York City for a concert on Thursday, August 9, 7-9 p.m.  I have no idea how he heard about our concert series, but when he contacted me and I checked out his site, I was blown away. He is from Kyoto, Japan, studied in the US at the Berklee School of Music, has recorded four critically acclaimed albums, including several with a very diverse group call Interoceanico, has played several times at the Blue Note in New York, tours extensively, and has more recently recorded a solo album employing DADGAD tuning that has opened up a well of new music that weds his influences from Japan, South America, and New York. His concert with us will be a solo performance that I expect will blow the audience away. Please check his website out and put next Thursday, August 9 on your calendar.

      The little break also allows me to address the issue of how I fund the concert series. We will have nearly 25 free concerts this year by the time we wrap the series up at the end of October. Our performers range from up and coming young neighborhood performers to New York professionals who have played at the Blue Note.  When a performer plays at our Mt Airy Train Station Concert series, they get all of the donations that go in the pot. This is how it should work, at least in my mind, and, I would guess, in the minds of the performers. I salt the pot each week with $20 but I can't really afford more than that. I also spend at least 3-4 hours per concert writing a blog, putting press announcements together, making flyers and stapling them up around the neighborhood. A few years back, the musicians and I put together a benefit concert called Walk a Palooza and we raised money to underwrite the expense to us, somewhere between $1000 and $2000 per season, of having this series. We had a second benefit a year ago but I can't see us pulling it off this year for a variety of reasons. So, instead we're instituting the Walk a Palooza Pot. There will be a container in the shop where we hope you will make a donation to keep the Mt. Airy Train Station Concert Series alive and well. We also have a virtual pot, called Paypal where we can receive donations through our account, wacmbook@aol.com. Finally, we believe in the US Postal Service and would be glad to receive checks payable to the Concert Fund. The pot will attend future concerts but will be in the background as we don't want you to be any less generous with performers. We'll keep you informed of the progress of this little fund raising drive. 

      A few more pieces of news. Our website is down for maintenance, (that's why this email is formatted a little differently) but hopefully not for long. On there we have noted that we are accepting books for trade or donation during August.  We start tomorrow. We also noted that we are taking a little shore leave next week. After we close up this Saturday, August 4, we'll head down to Ocean City for the annual Guy family week at the beach. So the shop will be closed Monday- Wednesday of next week and then we'll open on Thursday and host the Hiroya Tsukamoto concert on Thursday night and have the August (as in Caesar August-us) Yard Sale on Saturday August 11. So, after a few days in the sun and surf, we'll dry off and jump right back in the saddle. 

    Hope to see you soon.

Greg and Cynthia