Remember to keep some money in your pocket, to do a little of the work you want more of in the coming year, and Have a handsome man with dark hair be the first-footer on your threshold at midnight. We have all this covered here at chez Dalton.

Joyful, Peaceful, Happy New Year 2013 to all!

Join Jim Dalton & Maggi Smith-Dalton
for our traditional Salem holiday concert !
Saturday, December 15,
Open House 5:30 – 8:30 pm, Concert 7 – 8 pm
Home for the Holidays:
An Open House and Concert

From 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., join Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton for family-friendly holiday carols and parlor games.
Celebrate the holidays at Phillips House. Learn about Christmas traditions in the early twentieth century. Enjoy hot cider in the playroom and take advantage of special sales in the museum shop.

Open house and light refreshments are free. Concert tickets must be purchased in advance. Thank you to the Salem Cultural Council for their support.
Open House: Free.
Concert: $10 adults, $5 children, free to members. Registration required.
Phillips House
34 Chestnut Street
Salem, Massachusetts
For more information or to register,
call 978-744-0440 or visit http://HistoricNewEngland.org

Jim and Maggi's website: http://singingstring.org

So, apparently....it's "CyberMonday"...Ok, ok, then, it's a good day to tell you about this...we are offering a special price on our recordings from now through Dec. 25. If you buy 2 directly from our website, you get the second one 1/2 pri
ce ($15); 3 for $20. We will pay the s&h during this special.


We want to share music with you (and still keep a roof over our heads, grin). PS: If you want to hear samples or download the order form, please go to: http://singingstring.org/JM/The_Store_%28Recordings,_Books,_Media%29.html

Join Maggi this Thursday for illustrated talk and booksigning!

Join me this Thursday at the Boston Public Library's Central Branch!

Author Illustrated Talk/Signing
When: 11/8/2012
Where: Boston Public Library Copley Square, Boston, MA
Never Too Late Group
2:00 p.m. in Rabb Lecture Hall
http://www.bpl.org/news/ntlg.htm

OCTOBER EVENTS! What a Weapon is the Ballot...Book talks and signings....Come and share music and books with us!

Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton http://singingstring.org
Join us at these upcoming events
(All events are free and open to the Public unless otherwise noted):

A Celebration of American Music 4 with Jim and Maggi Dalton
WHEN AND WHERE:
Saturday, October 27, 2012 - 8:00 PM
The Boston Conservatory, 8 The Fenway, Seully Hall, Boston, MA

What a Weapon is the Ballot! Political Campaign Songs from Washington to Nixon
Take a break from the current election campaign by visiting the sounds, issues, scandals and mayhem of campaigns of the past. This non-partisan (they are ALL equally entertaining) program covers 200 years of American political infighting, including both winners and losers of past elections. Jim and Maggi Dalton will be joined by guest musicians from the Conservatory's faculty.
Books and recordings will be available for sale

http://www.bostonconservatory.edu/event/celebration-american-music-4-jim-and-maggi-dalton

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Just published: A History of Spiritualism and the Occult in Salem: The Rise of Witch City
by Maggi Smith-Dalton

Copyright © 2012 by Maggi Smith-Dalton
ISBN 978.1.60949.551.0
Library of Congress CIP data applied for.
Published by The History Press Charleston, SC 29403 www.historypress.net

The story told by Maggi Smith-Dalton in "A History of Spiritualism and the Occult in Salem: The Rise of Witch City," just published by The History Press, is not what you might expect in book about 19th-century Salem, Massachusetts.

Spiritualism was an important element in 19th-century culture, in America and indeed worldwide. Salem provided fertile ground for the growth of this and other religions, yet, because of its link to witchcraft in the infamous trials of 1692 -- a serious and persistent black mark on the town's reputation -- struggled with anything which might give more fuel to the fire of being linked to occult practices.

Smith-Dalton's book examines this struggle and the elements that went into the gradual evolution of Salem towards what we would recognize as the Salem of today. The popularity of Spiritualism and renewed interest in the occult blossomed out of an attempt to find an intellectual and emotional balance between science and religion. Smith-Dalton's book explores the influence of the historical memory of the Salem witch trials on the development of alternative religions in 19th century New England culture.

It also tells a larger story about the way alternative religions such as Spiritualism grew in 19th century America, using Salem, a town that prided itself on its arts, culture, professional class, and love of science, as the connecting thread. In her second book for The History Press, historian Maggi Smith-Dalton delves into Salem’s exotic history, unraveling the beginnings of Spiritualism and the rise of The Witch City.

About the author:

Maggi Smith-Dalton began her singing career in cabarets and nightclubs and has maintained a parallel career as a historian most of her life. With her husband, Jim, she tours nationwide as a concert artist. They are specialists in "19th- & Early 20th-Century Music, History, and Culture From Parlor and Stage" on period & period-appropriate instruments, performed in historically-informed style.

Maggi is also a prizewinning short story writer and has a long history of writing feature articles and columns for magazines and newspapers. Most recently, she wrote a weekly history column for the Boston Globe (boston.com) (2010-12), and continues to freelance for print and online publications.

Maggi holds a master's degree in American Studies, and her current scholarly work focuses on historic civic rituals that incorporate music as a primary element, a subject on which she has presented domestically and abroad.

Maggi is president of the Institute for Music, History and Cultural Traditions, which runs two public programs: the American History and Music Project and the Salem History Society. In 2010, she was elected to the council of the New England American Studies Association.

"A History of Spiritualism" is her second book with The History Press; "Stories and Shadows from Salem's Past" was published in 2010. For more information: Go to Our Website

She loves to garden and usually can be found muttering to herself as she happily rakes, plants, feeds and waters various living things, including herself. The squirrels, it is rumored, are used to her soliloquies by now, although one wonders what the neighbors think.

A History of Spiritualism and the Occult in Salem: The Rise of Witch City
ISBN 978.1.60949.551.0


https://www.historypress.net/search.php?s=Maggi+Smith-Dalton&submit=Search


Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/salemspiritualism

BOOK SIGNINGS AND TALKS:
Visit our website http://singingstring.org for updates

Author signing
When: 9/15/12 1 p.m.
Where: The Spirit of ’76-2 Bookstore
450 Paradise Road Swampscott, MA
Tel: 781-581-7676
 http://www.hugobookstores.com/book/9781609495510



Author talk and signing
When: 10/26/12 7 pm
Where: Artemesia Botanicals
Hawthorne Blvd. Salem, MA
http://www.artemisiabotanicals.com/



Author signing at The Boston Book Festival
When: 10/27/12 Noon to 2 p.m.
Where: Copley Square
At The History Press Booth
http://www.bostonbookfest.org/


Author Illustrated Talk/Signing
When: 10/28/12 2 p.m.
Where: Abbott Public Library
235 Pleasant Street  Marblehead, MA (781) 631-1480
http://www.abbotlibrary.org/pages/mainmenu.html


Author Illustrated Talk/Signing
When: 11/8/2012
Where: Boston Public Library Copley Square, Boston, MA
Never Too Late Group
2:00 p.m. in Rabb Lecture Hall
http://www.bpl.org/news/ntlg.htm

Author signing
When: November or December 2012 Date to be Announced
Where: The Trolley Depot (store), Pedestrian Mall, Salem, MA
possibly also at Salemdipity, Pickering Wharf, Salem, MA

Signed by the author...books are available at the AMAZING Trolley Depot store in downtown Salem!

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If you can't make it to Salem or Boston....



Also available from (more TBA)
B&N
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-history-of-spiritualism-and-the-occult-in-salem-maggi-smith-dalton/1112197755?ean=9781609495510

all books
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/maggi-smith-dalton
Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Maggi+Smith-Dalton
All products
new book
http://www.amazon.com/History-Spiritualism-Occult-Salem-Witch/dp/1609495519/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1347203777&sr=8-5&keywords=Maggi+Smith-Dalton

first book
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Shadows-Salems-Past-Chronicles/dp/1609490177/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347203914&sr=1-1&keywords=Maggi+Smith-Dalton

author page
Maggi Smith-Dalton


Booktopia
http://www.booktopia.com.au/a-history-of-spiritualism-and-the-occult-in-salem/prod9781609495510.html

Please join us in Swampscott at the Spirt of '76 for the first booksigning of Maggi's new book!
http://hugobookstores.com/event/celebrate-year-books-vinnin-square-spirit2



In Salem, the Trolley Depot was the very first to order Maggi's new title...if you're in Salem stop by and say hi to these great folks (they have Maggi's first book there too!)

The book is now released...after two years of saying "I'll do that atbf...(after the book is finished) I can try to catch up on the rest of my life! grin.

What's it about?
Spiritualism was an important element in 19th-century culture, in America and indeed worldwide. Salem provided fertile ground for the growth of this and other religions, yet, because of its link to witchcraft in the infamous trials of 1692--a serious and persistent black mark on the town's reputation-- struggled with anything which might give more fuel to the fire of being linked to occult practices.

My book examines this struggle and the elements that went into the gradual evolution of Salem towards what we would recognize as the Salem of today. And, in so doing, I tell a larger story about the way alternative religions such as Spiritualism grew in 19th century America, using Salem, a town that prided itself on its arts, culture, professional class, and love of science, as the connecting thread.


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I'll be doing some readings, lectures, and booksignings in the Boston area starting in September 2012.

You can obtain the book https://historypress.net/search.php?s=Smith-Dalton&submit=Search

In Salem, the Trolley Depot ordered it right away; you can also get in on Amazon.com and BN.com of course, etc.

Pre-order Maggi Smith-Dalton's new book!

"A History of Spiritualism and the Occult in Salem: The Rise of Witch City"

https://historypress.net/search.php?s=Smith-Dalton&submit=Search

Please join us for one or both concerts!

Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton
Monday, June 18, 2012 5 p.m.
"The Sigh of the Weary: The Civil War at Home"
DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum Hennage Auditorium
Colonial Williamsburg
http://www.history.org/history/museums/dewitt_gallery.cfm
(For ticket information)
A special concert of Civil War Music illuminating the impact of the war on home and hearth.
Our two most recent recordings, including our Civil War CD of the same name, will be available for sale in the Colonial Williamsburg gift shop!




Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton
"100 Years of American Popular Music 1830-1930"
House Concert, "Neil's House of Deco" (in Maryland) Friday, June 22, 2012 8 pm

Recommended donation $20
The address and directions will be sent to anyone attending a few days before the concert; go to
https://www.facebook.com/events/344805048926049/
to be on the contact list
or contact Neil Gladd at: http://www.neilgladd.com/Contact.html
Recordings will be available for sale here too

Maggi Smith-Dalton
http://singingstring.org

New PR pix!
Headshots for new book and beyond...
Credit: Dan St. John, Lightshed Photography, here in Salem Mass.
He does great work.

https://www.facebook.com/lightshedphoto

Good news! Two concerts now confirmed, and our performance trip down south to Williamsburg and D.C. and Maryland etc etc shaping up...plans are afoot! I turn in the new book to the publisher just before we leave....it's a great life, really. Making music and writing books, heaven on earth. Maybe I can even write more of a newsletter entry soon! Meanwhile, work work work work today again...

Just this past weekend, we stood on the beach where the Pilgrims found fresh water after landing in Massachusetts....

Celebration of American Music 3 at Boston Conservatory!

We had a fabulous time and an enthusiastic turnout for our annual BoCo American Music concert Monday night!

More to come...I'll post more on the concert and some more news about upcoming events later! But wanted to get the thanks out there right now....Thanks to our amazing musical colleagues, Steve, Rebecca, and John, to the BoCo marketing team, to our sound and lights and ushers, and most of all thanks to YOU our audience...old and new friends, community members and fellow BoCo-ites, all of us making music to raise the roof!

Joy is simply the condition of life, to paraphrase a fave writer of mine...

A Celebration of American Music 3 with Jim and Maggi Dalton

Faculty Recital: A Celebration of American Music 3 with Jim and Maggi Dalton

Jim and Maggi Dalton with guest musicians from BoCo
Monday, April 23, 2012 - 8:00pm
Seully Hall
Price:
FREE

COME CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF OUR NEW RECORDING! "THE SIGH OF THE WEARY: THE CIVIL WAR AT HOME"

Take a sometimes haunting, sometimes amusing, musical journey through America's past with A Celebration of American Music 3, featuring a performance on voice, guitar, mandolin and banjo, as well as a varied palette of styles, carving a broad path through the American past from 18th-century ballads to 20th-century blues.

This year features a special segment commemorating the Civil War. Jim and Maggi Dalton will be joined by guest musicians from The Boston Conservatory’s faculty.

A scene from the Downton Abbey Withdrawal Clinic at Chez Dalton.

Check this out! (and visit our site or blog http://www.singingstring.org/JM/ for updates...

Carson Cooman (b. 1982; Rochester, New York)
Selected Recital Engagements:

May 24, 2012 at 12:15 pm: First Church (Unitarian Universalist), Boston, Massachusetts; Craig A. Penfield: Concerto in C major (1967); Jim Dalton: Canonic Variations and Fugue on "Free At Last" (2005); Ronald Perera: Full Sun (2011); Denis Bédard: Suite du deuxième ton (2009-10)" http://www.carsoncooman.com/concert-organist/engagements.html

[Newsletter] Jim & Maggi Dalton's SSNO Volume 19 #1 January 2012

Dalton/Singing String Music/IMHCT.ORG
Date:
Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:37:59 -0500

Jim and Maggi Dalton's SSNO Volume 19 #1 2011
Announcements and Updates as of: Thursday, January 19, 2012


Singing String News Online



In this Issue: Did you think we'd gone fishin'? It's been a long time between newsletters! After this email, we're unveiling a new way of sending you news...
a short email with links to our blog just to let you know about upcoming programs open to the public.

We're switching the "full" newsletter to about twice a year.
The blog will provide a way to subscribe for updates if you choose.


An Occasional Newsletter, Published Twice Per Year

Combined newsletter for:
Jim and Maggi Dalton's Singing String Music http://singingstring.org/JM
Understanding History Thru Music ™

The Institute for Music, History, and Cultural Traditions, Inc. http://imhct.org
A 501(c)(3) Cultural, Educational, and Scholarly Nonprofit Organization

including IMHCT's Main Public Programs,
The American History and Music Project ™ and The Salem History Society


TO ACCESS ALL OUR SITES AND ALL OUR NEWS VISIT US AT SINGINGSTRING.ORG




Welcome New Newsletter Subscribers!


WELL! here's a big part of what's been keeping us busy this past year....two NEW recordings! We gave live performances too, of course! but this year, after the semester was over in May, we went into the studio almost full time to produce our two new albums!

"Cold is the Nightwind" is available from ITunes and CD Baby; "The Sigh of the Weary" will be available there too soon! (Just released in January) Go to our Our Store page on our website to keep up to date, or to order! (You can also order directly from us; order form is on our website.)


COMING UP NEXT:

JOIN US!

Our Currently Featured Program
"You're Invited...."




READ OUR WEEKLY BOSTON GLOBE COLUMN!
Since November, 2010, we've had a regular weekly history column on the Boston Globe's online site, boston.com. We'll post links to all the articles on our website, Globe Articles and Around the Web
Visit the site at "Your Town Salem" for new articles every Wednesday.
Section Two: The Rest of the Story....



On The Upswing

Check out our NEWLY redesigned websites for 2012!...
SINGING STRING MUSIC AND Salem History Society

The Institute website will be redesigned, with a new focus, in 2012 as well.

Please visit our sites and keep your eye out for announcements.


COMING UP!!!!! Faculty Recital: A Celebration of American Music 3 with Jim and Maggi Dalton Monday, April 23, 2012 - 8:00pm
Location: Seully Hall, the Boston Conservatory Price: FREE

Take a sometimes haunting, sometimes amusing, musical journey through America's past
with A Celebration of American Music 3,
featuring a performance on voice, guitar, mandolin and banjo,
as well as a varied palette of styles, carving a broad path through the American past
from 18th-century ballads to 20th-century blues.

This year features a special segment commemorating the Civil War.
Jim and Maggi Dalton will be joined by guest musicians from The Boston Conservatory's faculty.






THEMES AND VARIATIONS
Visit our Upcoming Performances page

Facebook and Twitter...

Jim & Maggi Dalton's Singing String Music on Facebook
The American History and Music Project ™ on Facebook
Updates on Twitter
@SingingString

Download a brochure





BACKSTORIES

RECENT PERFORMANCES, COMINGS, GOINGS...

RECENT PERFORMANCES

Thank you to our wonderful audiences
for sharing and making music with us...


and hope to see you all again soon.


Album release signing at our elegant Phillips House Museum, here in Salem, for our brand-new Christmas album, Cold is the Nightwind, during Historic Salem's "Christmas in Salem" celebrations. Thanks to the staff and the director, Julie Arrison, for always-warm and wonderful hospitality. This mansion on Salem's historic Chestnut Street is a MUST-SEE gem in Salem, Mass.


"The Storm Before the Storm: America Heads Toward Civil War"

and

"Cold is the Nightwind: A Victorian Christmas"

Two concert programs this year given at the Shirley-Eustis Mansion, Roxbury, Mass.
An amazing historical house-museum, with a complex and interesting story to tell. Go there! it's truly beautiful.



After giving a special Salem public school group an illustrated and musical lesson,we joined with our colleagues, Seth Austen and Beverly Woods to provide music for their afternoon school program at Hamilton Hall in Salem, where the students participated in a 19th-century dance program.

Maggi not only signed a contract for a second book to be published in 2012, but was elected to a two-year term on the New England American Studies Association Council for 2012-14, her first-ever term for this great regional group.

Jim continues his full-time, sterling career at the Boston Conservatory, and has been in demand as a pit orchestra musician for musicals and operas. He has also served as a guest artist with some of our colleagues, in a variety of gigs, all year long.

Maggi took her first-ever trip to England to deliver a paper, "Music as Ritual Redemption at the Salem Peace Jubilees" at an academic conference at Brighton University. She saw London for ONE day...in the pouring rain, of course!


Maggi also presented a peek at the paper for the New England American Studies Assoc. colloquium at the Massachusetts Historical Society just before she left for the UK.

The History Press
Purchase Stories and Shadows ONLINE...NOW IN EBOOK FORMAT....ALSO AVAILABLE ON ITUNES, KINDLE, NOOK, AND ANDROID!
The History Press
Barnes & Noble
Amazon.com

The Basics

©2009-2012 Jim and Maggi Dalton/Singing String Music
All Rights Reserved.

http://pickeringhouse.org/events.html
Pickering House Website, with directions



Please join us at the Pickering House!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Chowder Brunch At Noon
followed by:

"'The Many Vibrations You Have Made': Exploring the Pickering Family's Cultural Milieux." The Pickering House is Salem, Massachusetts' oldest House "and America's oldest Home" (home to the Pickering family for over 350 years).


The program by the Daltons, a musical illustrated performance/lecture, will illuminate the cultural context successive generations of Pickerings would have experienced from the 1600s to the 1900s. In this beautiful home, over the centuries, music sounded and celebrations of all types wove bright threads in the tapestry of time...


COMING UP!!!


A Celebration of AMERICAN MUSIC III

concert!


Monday, April 23, 2012 - 8:00pm

Location:

Seully Hall, Boston Conservatory



Release of new album:

"The Sigh of the Weary: The Civil War at Home"


Official Release Concert in April at The Boston Conservatory!

Each year, folklore says, what you do on the first day of the year will bring that energy into your life. Thus, you should do a little bit of the work you want to do in the coming year, write down what you wish & visualize for yourself, be careful of your social interactions, and make sure you have a bit of money in your pocket.

Jim & I keep this tradition every year and urge our audiences at concerts to do the same.

So, go, make your list!

New Year's Day 2012...40 degrees...and blooms and BUDS on my fairy roses!