Hey Folks!
Our brand new CD was just officially released on Jan. 17, 2012! We are already receiving stellar reviews and airplay from around the world. Check it out on our NEW website-www.therefugeesmusic.com.
While you are on our site, check out our upcoming tour dates! With many more to come for 2012! Peace and all the best for the New Year!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Getting in gear!
Hi Folks!
It's an exciting time! The Refugees will meet up in Memphis this week at Folk Alliance Conference with first track from the new CD "THREE" in hand! We have been quiet for the last few months we know, but we're heating up now. We are very excited about this new album! We will release it later this Spring. Meanwhile, we are booking shows for this year and are looking forward to getting back out on the road with these new songs. We will also be releasing a performance DVD this year-we think you'll enjoy it!
We will be offering pre-release CD orders very soon, so keep checking in on our website.
We want to thank everyone for your support over the past four years!
We can't wait to see you along the way!
Take care and all the best!
Cindy, Wendy, and Deborah
It's an exciting time! The Refugees will meet up in Memphis this week at Folk Alliance Conference with first track from the new CD "THREE" in hand! We have been quiet for the last few months we know, but we're heating up now. We are very excited about this new album! We will release it later this Spring. Meanwhile, we are booking shows for this year and are looking forward to getting back out on the road with these new songs. We will also be releasing a performance DVD this year-we think you'll enjoy it!
We will be offering pre-release CD orders very soon, so keep checking in on our website.
We want to thank everyone for your support over the past four years!
We can't wait to see you along the way!
Take care and all the best!
Cindy, Wendy, and Deborah
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Seasons Greetings and more...
December 10, 2009
Seasons Greetings!
Cindy arrived in Los Angeles to rain and below average temperatures (“freezing!” to LA natives). The Refugees started recording our 2nd CD this week! We cut four new tracks with fabulous drummer, Scott Babcock and we are extremely excited about it! It will be very different from the first but obviously still featuring our vocals and harmonies. We have written five new songs together so far for this album, with one or two more on the horizon. As with the first record, we also will have a couple each of our own songs we’ve “Refugized”.
We’re finishing up a year of a lot of road work, touring all over the country and Canada, truly solidifying The Refugees as a band. 2009 was an odyssey of sorts, we learned a great deal about ourselves and about us as a band. Along the way, we met some wonderful people and played some kick-ass shows. We go into this new phase now, recording a new CD and booking for 2010 with assurance, confidence and optimism about our future.
Going back a week or two, here is an example of the glory of “the road” (other than the performance itself) --The Refugees met in Calgary, Alberta for one concert, Thanksgiving weekend. Now for Wendy and Deborah, the travel consisted of getting on a plane Friday late afternoon in Los Angeles and flying non-stop to Calgary, arriving three hours later. For Cindy, flying from Maine was a completely different story. Long, tedious story short (cancelled flights etc)--it took her almost 22 hours to get to Calgary on that Friday. Now the concert itself on Saturday night, and the folks at Bow Valley Music Club were awesome! We were well taken care of and had a great time! We love Calgary! (And they seem to like us—we’ve been there three times in the last year or so and go back in January!) Only hours after arriving it seemed, Cindy, Deb and Wendy got to the airport on Sunday at 6:30am to fly home and discovered that through an error of United’s making—Cindy didn’t actually have a ticket! She DID have a ticket according to her itinerary and receipt—but not according to the airline. So… let us just thank the good folks at DELTA—who finally after an hour and a half of them being on the phone with United not being able to get it fixed—actually fudged a bag tag and a ticket, walked Cindy through immigration and security and put her on the plane! During this time Wendy and Deborah had a nice breakfast and some coffee at the new and lovely Calgary Airport. (Why, you might ask, would you fly to Calgary, Alberta, Canada for only ONE gig? And you would have a very good point! We’ll just say that we are learning from our experience.)
We look forward to seeing many of you along our path in the coming year. We will be playing sparsely for the first few months of 2010, we are doing our first dates in Europe in April. But hopefully we will be bounding across the country in the summer and fall months with our new CD in hand.
We wish you all peace, love and joy this Holiday—and all that in the New Year too!
With much love and appreciation,
Cindy, Deborah and Wendy
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Spring is here!
March 24, 2009
Scary landings
Greetings from Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the Refugees 3 flew in on 3 different planes, all landing within minutes of each other, and all with fairly harrowing tales of the descent through the thunderstorms over Little Rock.
The grand prize went to Deborah, whose plane actually touched down on the runway and then lifted off again in the storm, because, as the pilot explained, the windshield wipers weren't working fast enough to keep the window clear, and they couldn't see...the...runway... OK, so my flight with the 1000 foot drop in the clouds was nothing compared to that...nor to the second prize winner, Cindy, whose entire suitcase and all contents are completely soaked through. In her corner tonight, all of her clothes are hanging everywhere to dry.
Miles and miles of shows
At this point in 2009, we've already done more shows than we did in all of 2008, and that seemed like a lot. Check the website for the latest tally of interviews, reviews, radio stations, tv, internet, and live shows that we've done, and what's coming up. Balancing this road life with our private lives is a real challenge, as Cindy mentioned in the December blog--fear not, the challenge continues, at times dwarfing last years' obstacles--but it seems that with a fairly developed sense of humor and a basic sense of purpose, we keep mushing on, with our wonderful families in our corners.
We started the new year in Manhattan, playing at APAP, the conference for performing arts presenters--you get to play for 20 minutes and you'd better rock..
i think we did. Then it seems like I remember a lot of driving around the northeast, in snow, and rain--and being in Memphis at Folk Alliance, in Nashville at the Bluebird, in lovely central California: Monterey, Newman--Steinbeck country, and magnificent at that. of course, I'd been in Poland in early February between tours with the Refugees, so the best I an say is that I seem to remember these landscapes, and these moments on stage.
Speaking of moments on stage, we've all got little video cameras now, and we're trying to capture as much of this experience as we can--some of it, alas, can never be shown to the public, but some of it just may appear in some form or another--stay tuned...
The Inauguration
Cindy and I went to the inauguration courtesy of the great state of Maine..I knew it was good for something besides LLBean and Cindy Bullens...:) and we were among the famous "purple ticket holders," who shared the common disappointment and bonding of those who held tickets but were unable to get inside the grounds to see the ceremonies. However, there was a moment when we found ourselves in a circle of people, all kinds of folks, gathered together, where one man was holding a portable radio, as Obama gave his inaugural address. One woman was crying, we were all in awe, and we still are. It was magic.
Next
Coming up: big doings! We've got the Getty Center series in Los Angeles May 30, Falcon Ridge in July, the Canmore festival in Alberta, Canada, a webcast from Kulaks woodshed April 22 with our special guest, Mietek, the Polish superstar singer with whom I've been working, and now the Refugees as well, our video taping from Woodsongs Radio airs this month on PBS stations, we go to Alaska in the fall, you name it, we're out there doing it.
In the meantime
Our families are great, our children seem to be driving each of us crazy simultaneously, Deborah is still teaching and juggling plates, I'm writing, producing, and juggling plates, and Cindy is the master plate juggler, between her personal appearances, the Refugees administration, and another grandkid on the way...
hmmm...well, at least we have each other.
I played hookey and planted a garden--I did it in a day, of course....
This week in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and then next week in Chicago and Iowa.
Happy spring to everyone
Wendy Waldman
for
The Refugees
Scary landings
Greetings from Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the Refugees 3 flew in on 3 different planes, all landing within minutes of each other, and all with fairly harrowing tales of the descent through the thunderstorms over Little Rock.
The grand prize went to Deborah, whose plane actually touched down on the runway and then lifted off again in the storm, because, as the pilot explained, the windshield wipers weren't working fast enough to keep the window clear, and they couldn't see...the...runway... OK, so my flight with the 1000 foot drop in the clouds was nothing compared to that...nor to the second prize winner, Cindy, whose entire suitcase and all contents are completely soaked through. In her corner tonight, all of her clothes are hanging everywhere to dry.
Miles and miles of shows
At this point in 2009, we've already done more shows than we did in all of 2008, and that seemed like a lot. Check the website for the latest tally of interviews, reviews, radio stations, tv, internet, and live shows that we've done, and what's coming up. Balancing this road life with our private lives is a real challenge, as Cindy mentioned in the December blog--fear not, the challenge continues, at times dwarfing last years' obstacles--but it seems that with a fairly developed sense of humor and a basic sense of purpose, we keep mushing on, with our wonderful families in our corners.
We started the new year in Manhattan, playing at APAP, the conference for performing arts presenters--you get to play for 20 minutes and you'd better rock..
i think we did. Then it seems like I remember a lot of driving around the northeast, in snow, and rain--and being in Memphis at Folk Alliance, in Nashville at the Bluebird, in lovely central California: Monterey, Newman--Steinbeck country, and magnificent at that. of course, I'd been in Poland in early February between tours with the Refugees, so the best I an say is that I seem to remember these landscapes, and these moments on stage.
Speaking of moments on stage, we've all got little video cameras now, and we're trying to capture as much of this experience as we can--some of it, alas, can never be shown to the public, but some of it just may appear in some form or another--stay tuned...
The Inauguration
Cindy and I went to the inauguration courtesy of the great state of Maine..I knew it was good for something besides LLBean and Cindy Bullens...:) and we were among the famous "purple ticket holders," who shared the common disappointment and bonding of those who held tickets but were unable to get inside the grounds to see the ceremonies. However, there was a moment when we found ourselves in a circle of people, all kinds of folks, gathered together, where one man was holding a portable radio, as Obama gave his inaugural address. One woman was crying, we were all in awe, and we still are. It was magic.
Next
Coming up: big doings! We've got the Getty Center series in Los Angeles May 30, Falcon Ridge in July, the Canmore festival in Alberta, Canada, a webcast from Kulaks woodshed April 22 with our special guest, Mietek, the Polish superstar singer with whom I've been working, and now the Refugees as well, our video taping from Woodsongs Radio airs this month on PBS stations, we go to Alaska in the fall, you name it, we're out there doing it.
In the meantime
Our families are great, our children seem to be driving each of us crazy simultaneously, Deborah is still teaching and juggling plates, I'm writing, producing, and juggling plates, and Cindy is the master plate juggler, between her personal appearances, the Refugees administration, and another grandkid on the way...
hmmm...well, at least we have each other.
I played hookey and planted a garden--I did it in a day, of course....
This week in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and then next week in Chicago and Iowa.
Happy spring to everyone
Wendy Waldman
for
The Refugees
Monday, December 22, 2008
Happy Holidays and Beyond!
It's Monday night December 15, 2008 and I am delayed at Newark airport on my way home to Maine from Los Angeles. The Refugees just spent eight great days rehearsing and writing new material for our show. We are extremely happy that we have five songs to add to our repertoire! Three are selections from our individual catalogues and two are brand new-written by the three of us. I'll tell you, it feels almost criminal to have this much fun and feel so good about what we do! Are we allowed? Apparently so!
OK so catching you up since last time—Wendy arrived safely (I'd like to say "soundly" but well, you have to know Wendy…) back from her sojourns to Australia and Israel. She barely got off the plane when Deb and I picked her up in Los Angeles (I flew out the day before) and whisked her off to Phoenix, by car, for the Far West Regional Folk Alliance Conference. We arrived at the Conference, sang a few songs and hung out with friends, expanding our reach (we hope). On the backside of the weekend, we played a small house concert with Kenny Edwards (who just seems to get better and better). All in all-- a good time. And we'd like to thank our friend Renee Bodie for her relentless and ongoing endorsements of the Refugees.
After a few badly needed weeks at home, the Refugees met in Lexington, Kentucky for an appearance on the venerable "Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour" with host Michael Jonathan at the Kentucky Theatre. Originally, it was a double bill with Todd Snider, but Todd got ill right before the taping, so it was "An Evening with The Refugees". Fortunately for us, this particular performance was not only being taped for syndicated radio, but also for the PBS TV series of Woodsongs. So, with due respect to Todd, we lucked out! Michael and the folks (all volunteers) at Woodsongs were just as nice and accommodating as they could be and we had a really great time! I believe the radio portion is going to air in February and the TV show some time in the spring. Check www.woodsongs.com for more info.
Home again for a couple of weeks—where we all took advantage of the time in various ways. Of course, Deb is inundated with the demands of her two young, active and growing sons the minute she walks back in through the door. Her ever-supportive husband, Ken, after all, can only do so much! (Boy, and I will repeat this often—what a cook!) Not to mention that Deb is a full-time professor. Wendy has a 19 year-old son, Abe (who is super smart and wildly talented musically) but is well, 19. He presents her with various circumstances to ponder and consider at all times. Along with mothering, Wendy is never not doing, writing, producing, editing, and/or thinking about music. Me, I come home to Jack, my dog and my "little red school" house in Maine. The first thing I do (after hugging on my dog and opening any interesting mail) is find the first opportunity to see my granddaughter Tobey. Luckily (at least so far), I live across the street so at the drop of a hat—I'm there! I try to spend a little time each day with her—though that's not always possible. Believe it or not I do work-whether it's catching up on Refugees biz, or working on some facet of my own music. ANYWAY! Time goes by fast for the three of us and suddenly we find ourselves somewhere together! This last time, I flew out to Los Angeles for a weeklong put aside to rehearse and write new material for the Refugees. Which we did! So exciting! We also performed two small concerts—one in Tehachapi, California, about 90 minutes north and east of LA. We didn't know what to expect—we knew Tehachapi was a small town-- once noted for its women's prison. When we arrived, it was exactly five o'clock in the afternoon on a Friday night and every place of business was already closed! Except—Mama Hillybean's—where we were to play. Mama Hillybean's is a warm, cute, inviting coffeehouse/restaurant/music venue. We were welcomed immediately with smiles, helping hands and hot cider. Recording our performance was Peter Cutler (who originally asked us to do a show here) for a future Folkscene radio show and we were honored to have Roz Larman come all the way from Los Angeles to see us. Roz is Folkscene originator -along with her beloved late husband Howard. The place filled up nicely and the audience was wonderfully appreciative and supportive. And personally, I want to point out that the food was terrific! We hope to return to Tehachapi this summer! Next night—last Saturday—we made a second stop to Kulak's Woodshed in North Hollywood for a live webcast and video shoot. We played two hours non-stop to a small but passionate in-house audience. We appreciate Paul Kulak's commitment to bringing musicians to his small venue and offering musicians a place to shoot a three-camera (all volunteer) video –and getting it to take home that night.
Now we have the Holidays to be with our families and catch up once again with our personal lives. We'll be meeting in January, this time in New York City for some shows in New York, Philly, NJ, Maine plus radio and TV stops across the northeast. (Wendy and Deborah better bring some very warm clothes!) And this just in: We will be appearing on West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Mountain Stage (with Larry Groce) on Sunday January 18. We co-bill with the great Leo Kottke and The Duhks--www.mountainstage.org Go to our website for details on all upcoming shows. January is going to be a very exciting month—our CD "UNBOUND" is being released to retail on January 20! We are very excited!
Finally, we wish you all a Holiday Season full of love and laughter!
And may 2009 be a year of peace and prosperity for us all!
Take good care and as always—thank you!
Love,
Cindy, Deborah and Wendy
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Refugees on the move
Hello Friends! Cindy Bullens, here. This is the very first Refugees blog! I am excited about keeping you up to date on all our doings--the road, the writing, the folks along the way, the new album, any and all developments as we go merrily along. If you are just tuning in-the Refugees are: Cindy Bullens, Deborah Holland and Wendy Waldman. You have to know, first of all, that we all are having a blast being The Refugees! We have been together now, for a year and a half--and we are really starting to roll. Our first CD "Unbound" --only available online and at our concerts--is getting some good airplay on Folk Radio around the country (and Europe, Canada and Australia) and we have sold over 1000 CDs since our "soft" release in July. We have been getting some wonderful support from our peers and from others around the music scene--including Bob Lefsetz (of the Lefsetz Letter blog), who came to see us a couple of weeks ago at the Renee Bodie sponsored concert series at Thousand Oaks Library near Los Angeles. We performed our first international show last week in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, at the Calgary Folk Club. Packed house and a great audience! And wonderful folks who brought us there. And those Canadian Rockies ain't bad either! We are thrilled to be going back in August 2009 for the Canmore Folk Festival. Of course that was just our latest adventure! In our year and a half together The Refugees have performed in eighteen states across the country (many of them 2 or 3 times)--with more added before the end of the year. We've performed for 7 people in Cleveland to 8,000 at the Wheatland Music Festival in Michigan. We opened two dates for our friend Bonnie Raitt in Maine and New Hampshire--wow! that was so exciting! So from small house concerts to the main stage --since May 2007, we've done it all. And we appreciate every single venue and audience-large and small! By the end of 2008, we will have performed 70 concerts! We are booking now into the fall of 2009 and it's looks like next year is going to be even busier!
Of course, the three Refugees have their very seperate lives when "off the field" (ok, I am a sports nut--very unlike my co-horts)--and when I have permission (ha!)--I will share some of those adventures too. Just a taste--Wendy, our dear Wendy--went from Calgary (with us) to Brisbane, Australia (for a four day songwriters retreat) to Tel Aviv, Israel (where she is meeting the folks for whom she is scoring an animated film-and Mietek, the Polish artist she's producing)--in one fell swoop!
She's in Israel now-hopefully alive. Deborah, meantime--went home from Calgary, as she always does, to her family of husband Ken (thank God for Ken) and two sons, 14 and 7 and her full time professorship at Cal State University-Los Angeles. Me, I come home to Maine--yes friends--the "great state" of Maine to the changing colors, my dog Jack, my little red 1805 schoolhouse, and my daughter, son-in-law, and 18 month old granddaughter across the street. Next week we are all headed to Phoenix (another state crossed off) for the Far-West Folk Alliance conference and a house concert (Wendy arrives back in LA from Tel Aviv the day before we head to Phoenix)--then all back to LA for new publicity photos. Things are definitely heating up for The Refugees--and we are loving it!
Check out our website www.therefugeesmusic.com--we will be adding a few features soon: The Refugees Recommends-our recommendations of restaurants etc from our travels, and The Refugees Radio Hour (maybe 10 minutes)-our little live broadcasts from around the country with one special guest per show. Our "Unbound" CD is available on our website, and on CDBaby. We thank you all for your enthusiasm and support! We hope to meet you along the road!
Of course, the three Refugees have their very seperate lives when "off the field" (ok, I am a sports nut--very unlike my co-horts)--and when I have permission (ha!)--I will share some of those adventures too. Just a taste--Wendy, our dear Wendy--went from Calgary (with us) to Brisbane, Australia (for a four day songwriters retreat) to Tel Aviv, Israel (where she is meeting the folks for whom she is scoring an animated film-and Mietek, the Polish artist she's producing)--in one fell swoop!
She's in Israel now-hopefully alive. Deborah, meantime--went home from Calgary, as she always does, to her family of husband Ken (thank God for Ken) and two sons, 14 and 7 and her full time professorship at Cal State University-Los Angeles. Me, I come home to Maine--yes friends--the "great state" of Maine to the changing colors, my dog Jack, my little red 1805 schoolhouse, and my daughter, son-in-law, and 18 month old granddaughter across the street. Next week we are all headed to Phoenix (another state crossed off) for the Far-West Folk Alliance conference and a house concert (Wendy arrives back in LA from Tel Aviv the day before we head to Phoenix)--then all back to LA for new publicity photos. Things are definitely heating up for The Refugees--and we are loving it!
Check out our website www.therefugeesmusic.com--we will be adding a few features soon: The Refugees Recommends-our recommendations of restaurants etc from our travels, and The Refugees Radio Hour (maybe 10 minutes)-our little live broadcasts from around the country with one special guest per show. Our "Unbound" CD is available on our website, and on CDBaby. We thank you all for your enthusiasm and support! We hope to meet you along the road!
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