Crabious has turned his attention to a novel he’s been mulling over these last few years. It’s about the Shakers, and much else besides. When I’m away from the computer keyboard, chances are I’m at a keyboard of a different sort, or more recently breaking-in a guitar I’ve lately acquired to keep things down to a dull roar. 

It’s a thing of beauty, easy to get carried away with, which is just the ticket after a long day typing. I’ll be returning to performing live at local venues soon, and recording some personal projects once I get set-up in a new space.

In the meantime I’ll be channeling Wallace Stevens’ “The Man with the Blue Guitar.” Stay tuned!

Crabious

The summer has passed in a blur. The Crab family made it out to visit their freshwater cousins in New Hampshire & Maine a couple of times, but mostly we’ve been busy here in Vermont:

• 6+ humongous pine trees taken down & given to Jeremiah, our friendly neighborhood contractor, for his wood boiler
• 3 cords of firewood stacked
• 2 chimneys & wood stoves cleaned
• 5 gallons of hard cider fermenting (going for 10 gallons this year)
• 2 exterior doors replaced
• 1 horrible hallway stripped & painted
• 1 roll of insulation added in the attic
• 1 deck stairway repaired

Enough to make this hermit crab long for the days when he carried his house on his back! Fortunately, there were a few moments of R&R in the mix:

Soccer season will blend into ski season before we know it. Got a few story ideas to work on over the winter. Hoping for fall colors, kind powder snow, and a sweet maple sugaring season!

Crabious

Vacation at the Children’s Museum of NH–

Marty shows the graphic evolution of crabs--Exhibit A. Legless stage of Seniorificus Bathingcrabbia.

We'd like to think the museum staff painted the room especially for us...

The crab family looks for a seaside resort...

Brian & Marty met for the first time Saturday.

An octopus and friend were spotted near the yellow submarine.

Take a walk on the crabby side!

“]

Crabs--unleashed! [Photo courtesy of Debra Wentworth

That purple guitar was brutal to play. Things didn’t improve much when I got a Les Paul copy from Montgomery Wards. It was a treasure straight out of the Christmas Dreams book. It smelled like varnish, sounded lo-fi anemic, and my parents were saints to buy it. Playing it demanded that I beat my hands on my nightstand until they didn’t hurt anymore, and I still couldn’t get the sounds in my head out into the world.

My hands got bigger and stronger, and better instruments got more affordable, but there’s still that matter of hand vs. steel & tangled-up fingers. Not every kid will grasp how a minor chord touches a nerve, but they should all have the chance to encounter music one-on-one, to discover how far sound can go, but without the pain. For example, one might use a keyboard rather than something with frets.

Back in the dim mists of time, keyboards all sounded like piano-sorts of things. Strings were hammered or plucked, or there might be a reed or a spinning wheel involved & you could call it an organ. Such contraptions were treated as furniture and priced in gold bullion. And then there were synthesizers, explosions of machinery which resembled things Dr. Strangelove might use to launch missiles in three-part harmony from cornfields in Kansas. Not quite as painful as a guitar, but alternately limited and amorphous. Until you get to something like Kontakt, from Native Instruments.

Kontakt is a computer application used to sample sound, part of a program suite called Komplete 8. It can be used to create any sound you can imagine, but it comes loaded with its own palette of sounds both familiar & exotic. Click, and it’s a grand piano. Another click and it’s a string quartet. Click, and it’s neither–or both. With it you can blithely recreate chords which once frightened churchmen, or tones which would tickle Elmo. It makes crystalline sounds which would reduce Bach & Mozart to tears. It makes angry sounds like a slot machine with indigestion. It has just the right number of buttons & knobs. It’s precision, power, and beauty, but here’s the thing–it’s also perfect for kids.

At the Christian Science mother church in Boston, there’s an organ which is a shrine unto itself. Last time I was there it was surrounded by missionaries & had a direct connection to the music of the spheres. With Kontakt, a six year-old can hold that sound in his or her lap, and layer it with armpit farts if that’s what the occasion calls for. Less velvet rope, more Velvet Underground. This is what we’re playing with at the Rock ‘n Hole Roadshow these days, and the means by which we’re hoping to bring sea sounds to life.

Be vewy, vewy quiet–I’m hunting crab-bits.

Crabious

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

207.846.3344 books@islandportpress.com

Take a Crustacean Vacation at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire. Book release party set for June 2.

DOVER, NH (April, 2012)—Feeling a bit crabby? Then be a little shellfish and join author Brian Benoit and illustrator Marty Kelley to celebrate the release of their new picture book, Crustacean Vacation, on Saturday, June 2, 2 to 4 p.m. at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, 6 Washington Street in Dover. Special programs, at 2:00 and 2:45, will include a reading of Crustacean Vacation by the author, art activities led by the illustrator, a question and answer period, book signing, and more. There will even be a chance to take a photograph of yourself as an octopus lifeguard, one of the characters from the book. Admission to the museum is $9, free for members.

In addition, a “Crab Walk to a Cure” event will take place at 1 p.m. at the Henry Law Park, in front of the museum. Participants are invited to make a pledge and do a 100-yard crab walk. All proceeds benefit the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Crab walkers will receive $1 off the museum admission price.

In Crustacean Vacation, a curious family of crabs venture on land to picnic on the beach, play games in a boardwalk arcade, and slide in a water park. This is no ordinary boardwalk. Here, a seagull runs the candy store, a shark manages the tattoo parlor, a seahorse hawks prizes, and yes, the lifeguard is
an octopus. Young readers will delight in the clever rhyming verses paired with wacky and wonderful illustrations from the imagination of acclaimed New Hampshire artist Marty Kelley.

Kelley is the author and illustrator of several children’s books, including Fall Is Not Easy, The Rules, Winter Woes, Summer Stinks, Spring Goes Squish, The Messiest Desk, and Twelve Terrible Things. He has been a second grade teacher, a baker, a cartoonist, a newspaper art director, a drummer in a heavy metal band, a balloon delivery guy, and an animator. Now he visits lots of schools to show students how he creates his books.

Originally from Somersworth, New Hampshire, author Brian Benoit now listens for the roar of the surf deep in the woods of Cavendish, Vermont. His sea creatures were originally conjured up to entertain his brother during family trips on the Maine coast, but have since proven popular with his own children. He shares his life with his wife, Jennifer; daughter, Emery; and son, Liam. Crustacean Vacation is his first children’s book.

The not-for-profit Children’s Museum of New Hampshire is located in the center of Dover and offers two floors of hands-on, interactive exhibits for children from newborn to age 12. Visitors can explore a wide range of interests, from dinosaurs, music and aeronautics to world cultures, art and natural history. Open year-round, the Silver LEED-certified museum specializes in creating memorable family learning experiences and works closely with schools, social service agencies and educators. The museum also
hosts a variety of live performances, workshops, classes and special events. For more information, please visit www.childrens-museum.org.

Islandport Press is a dynamic, award-winning publisher dedicated to stories rooted in the essence and sensibilities of New England. For more information about the book, please call 207-846-3344, visit
www.islandportpress.com or e-mail books@islandportpress.com.