Sandy Andina: News

Yup, www.sandyandina/swimsuit/nakedandalive.com is here! Catch pix of me in my string-theory bikini--not atoll inappropriate. Still working on the 3-D and see-through website versions; the HTML code for that is a real bare--er, bear.

Oh, and check today's date!!!!!

After a few teaser "shorts-and-T-shirt" days, winter decided to evict spring and move back in here. Came home in the pouring rain Sat. night and awoke yet again to a winter wonderland....that is, I wonder why it's still winter in this land. We had three inches of wet snow; but an hour later it began to freeze and then melt. I was greeted by what sounded like an army of crazed sports-fan-hooligan squirrels throwing teeny little beer bottles off the roof on to my deck--turned out not to be beer bottles, of course, but really ice chunks. Can't be sure that it wasn't the squirrels throwing 'em, though. We are facing some more "wintry mix" this Thurs. night and then--oh, joy!--possibly accumulating snow next Sunday. Just in time for the benefit for Mick Scott--a Chicago music legend fallen on medical and fiscal hard times--at the Heartland Cafe 4/5 from 4-8 pm. I'm doing a song or two with Andina & Rich and am also in the pre-show rock band. Please don't let the weather keep you from helping Mick and hearing some of the greats from Chicago's folk scene from the 1970s onward!
(Wish I could say this weather forecast was an April Fool's prank, but it was on TV tonight, still in March).

Re my last journal: So I lied--I didn't blog before New Year's or Kwanzaa. But I had a good reason. A few days after the terrific time I had playing at WDCB on Christmas Eve-Eve, I awoke to discover my "trigger thumb" (stenosing tenosynovitis) from three years ago had returned with a vengeance. I could not move my left thumb at all, and it hurt like a motherf......no, that's an insult to motherf*s..... Couldn't get a surgeon's appt. till after New Year (and had a devil of a time trying to type!) and this time there wasn't enough time between then and leaving for my Coffeyville-to-Memphis odyssey to rehab from surgery. Had to settle for one more cortisone shot, which was to tide me through the gigs and then get flushed out during the tendon release surgery I wished I'd had originally.

Meanwhile, while I didn't get to make it down to Washington, DC for the Inauguration (even if my sis had room for me, it'd have been a looooooong cold walk from the Metro to as close as I could get to the Mall), I was able to do the next best thing: Broadway Cellars in my neighborhood had an incredible inaugural brunch bash--my son Gordy, my "right hand" Carrie and I joined a restaurant packed with our neighbors and bedecked with HDTVs to chow down on Eggs Benedict, wash down copious amounts of Graham Beck (Stellenbosch AOC) Champagne--the Obamas' favorite bubbly--and see Pres. Obama drop the "-Elect" from his title. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we sang and we chanted as Mr. Potter (er, Dick Cheney) and the chopper bearing our former Nightmare In Chief left for lives of leisure. (Won't tell you what we chanted, but if you are Sox or Cubs fans who have witnessed home team four-baggers, you can guess). We're facing even tougher times than we expected in January, but let's let our President have the latitude (and our patience) to bring our nation back up out of an eight-year hole. Two months is barely enough to put out the competitive bid specs for the pulley, rope and harness, much less put them to use.

So the new cortisone shot took (could have seen how long it'd hold up, but that might have dissolved the tendon!) and Steve and I did the Coffeyville Humanities Project--17 shows in 5 days. As it was when I did it solo in 2003, it was exhausting but exhilarating. It was also heartbreaking, as massive floods had leveled much of the east side of town two years ago and severely damaged much of the rest of it. Whatever the flood and a continuing exodus did not take away, this horrid economy exacerbated. Venues I'd played and places I'd eaten and shopped no longer existed--not just gone out of business but physically destroyed. Lives were damaged...and lost. I had written "Carry You" for the victims of the Katrina flood, but I truly personally felt every word and note of it and sang it to the good folks of Coffeyville with tears in my eyes. But Steve and I also had the joy of being able to sing "Orange and Pink Prairie Sky" to the folks who and in the place which inspired it!

After finishing our sets, developing nasty blisters on my fingers, and taking several tasty detours to King's Coffee in Dearing, KS (still the home of terrific espresso drinks and pies to die for....and now killer quiches) and Dink's Pit BBQ in Bartlesville, OK (the real deal), we headed off to Memphis, delightfully playing tourist all the way. Visited the Tom Mix Museum in Tyler, OK (wish we'd had time for the WIll Rogers Museum); on the way out of Broken Arrow our trusty GPS, Chatty Cathy, began to have a nervous breakdown. She suggested "better routes" that seemed to exist only in a parallel universe, told us we were on different roads than what the signs said, sent us in circles (literally) at the OK/AR border--endlessly repeating "recalculating," and finally cried, "Insufficient memory available to calculate route!"

So I had to fire her and replace her the next day in Fayetteville with a more competent model (which set me back an arm and a leg and somebody else's arm and leg). All was well, we made (and ate--BBQ, catfish, fried green tomatoes, sweet tea, Arkansas wines--BURP!) our way east to the Delta. We visited the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, AR, where we saw some wonderful exhibits on the roots of blues, soul, rockabilly, and gospel and even saw the actual King Biscuit Flour Hour radio studio.

Then across the mighty Mississippi to the epicenter of Delta blues: Clarksdale, MS, site of the legendary Crossroads where Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the Devil for his talent. We eagerly drove into town, crossing below the underpass brightly emblazoned tagger-style with "Clarksdale--Home of the Blues," remembering the countless images of a lonely crossroads, at the center of which stood a solitary man holding a simple guitar and waiting for the demon whom he believed could ensure his genius would endure for the ages.

What we saw instead was a busy street corner bearing a pole, atop which were a crossed pair of garishly painted stylized fake guitars, bearing the legend "Crossroads" and signs for US 49 and 61. On three corners were gas stations and a strip mall; on the fourth, a Church's Fried Chicken. Were Johnson to have encountered the Crossroads today, he'd probably have shaken his head, gone to Best Buy up the road and bought a copy of Guitar Hero. (But he's no dummy---he'd have stopped at Church's first. Good chicken. Used to have one in my neighborhood. Makes KFC and Popeye's taste like dog food). One more piece of advice, though--when visiting the birthplace of the Delta Blues, renowned for its juke joints and smoky bars and exhaustive museum, do NOT do so in broad daylight on a Monday which happens to be a national holiday. You will be bitterly disappointed. We hightailed it out of town and caught some great 'cue at a truck stop just east of the river.

On to Memphis--Folk Alliance was terrific! This year I cut way back on performing (four showcases compared to last year's thirteen!) but had to, since as the President of the Board of FARM and the new Midwest Rep. on the Board of AFM Local 1000 (those of you who are traveling musicians and not yet members, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?) I had a slew of meetings to attend and chair. And I was flabbergasted to find myself given--along with my antecedent FARM Board Presidents and those of the other FA regionals--Folk Alliance's Spirit of Folk Award, at a ceremony broadcast live on XM Satellite Ch. 15, The Village. My husband Bob called me excitedly from the side of the road between hospitals when he heard my name mentioned on the radio. But these are the names unjustly missing from that plaque: fellow "Boardies" Chris Gaylord, Joan Hellmann, Tom Gorman, Roger Little, Annie Capps; and FARM pioneers and mentors Margaret Nelson, Walt Campbell, Dave Humphreys, Diane Ippel, Art Lang, and many more. We should circulate that plaque among us all year, much like the Stanley Cup among the players of the winning NHL team.

At Folk Alliance I got to hear wonderful performances from Roger McGuinn (and throw in harmony from the front rows!), Kathy Mattea, Rosalie Sorrels, John Sebastian (and even meet some of them), and share songs and enjoy the warmth and solidarity of my brothers and sisters of Local 1000: John McCutcheon, Steve Eulberg, Tret Fure, John O'Connor, Ken Whitely, Deb Cowan, Amy Fix and Paul Reisler; and have my songs adorned with tasty fiddle licks from Gina Forsyth of the Malvinas. (Gina, when it's time to record "Quarter Rat," we have to talk!).

Of course, there was wonderful food galore, including the dry rub ribs (that must be served in Heaven despite not being Kosher) from the Rendezvous---Bon Appetit and the Food Network agree; the soul food brunch and mimosas at Alcenia's and Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken; and a delightful visit to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, where I was transported back to my teen years--transistor radio under my pillow, Top 40 lists meticulously kept in my looseleaf. Saw Isaac Hayes' incredible solid-gold-and-ermine-trimmed Cadillac, Tina Turner's dress, James Brown's cape: and Steve Cropper's Strat, Duck Dunn's P-Bass and Booker T's Hammond (encased in plexiglass in such a way that I could pretend to be playing it!). Walked out grinning from ear to ear. It was worth tearing my left hamstring getting into and out of the van that got me there and back. Missed the trip to Rev. Al Green's church (it was opposite the Stax tour). Turns out I wouldn't have been the only Jew there. (As Marc Cohn put it in his marvelous song "Walking in Memphis," when a rousing gospel singer asked him, "Boy, are you a Christian?" he replied, "Ma'am, I am tonight." I'm sure my rabbi would understand...I hope).

My voice held out just long enough--days of singing and endless hours of meetings and schmoozing and catching up with friends old and new in the corridors and hallways, as well as a ubiquitous late winter cold virus, took their toll and gave me laryngitis to keep my aching hamstring company. Both healed within a week.

Good thing, because two days after I got back home I was under the knife to fix my trigger thumb. Dr. Schlenker's surgical skill and copious amounts of painkillers, ice (cans of soda make great icepacks) and physical therapy have brought my thumb--and playing--back up to speed (as did rest, chicken soup, and my voice teacher Randy Buescher for my voice).

Got to test my newly healed hand and pipes at Madison Songwriters' Group's (the only MSG that's good for you) Songwriters in the Round showcase this past Tues. at the Brink Lounge with Steve and the marvelous "Biblegum pop" duo Stereo Sinai (newlyweds Alan Sufrin and Miriam Brousseau, who honeymooned at SXSW!); and Sat/ night at the Chicago Songwriters' Collective's showcase at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse (inside Living Hope Lutheran) in Frankfort, IL with fellow members Donna Adler, Steve Brasel, Ron Hayden and John Ludwig.

See you this Sun. afternoon at the Heartland, singing for Mick; and next week (Apr. 11) at the monthly Saturday concert series at Skokie's Ethical Humanist Society (great room and terrific acoustics, plenty of free parking), doing double duty as half of Andina & Rich and 1/3 of the SASS! Trio.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Maggie (tonight!) and especially Rona (the 10th!!!!!)

December 17--not even winter yet--and I'm digging out of several inches of snow, hacking away at an inch of ice below that, and bracing for a good ol' fashioned ice storm tomorrow (and hoping I have enough cardboard boxes and scrap firewood to burn in case the power goes out and so does the pilot light). Ah, Chicago. (Tell me again why I left Seattle 30 years ago.....). But there is really no refuge from the cold other than S. Florida (which has gotten down below freezing a couple of times when I visited). It's even snowing--and sticking--in Las Vegas and New Orleans. Thank goodness for eBay, Amazon, Peapod, etc.--on the one hand, you miss out on the festive experience of Yule-bedecked department stores, pungent bayberry potpourri, lines of little kids waiting to pose for overpriced pictures with Santa, and Christmas Muzak wafting through the malls. On the other hand, you are spared the festive experience of Yule-bedecked department stores......
Moreover, there's no fighting over nonexistent parking spaces in icy slushy lots; yet your loved ones still get their presents in time (provided you remember to wrap them).

Which leads me to present my Things I Don't Want for Christmas or Hanukkah List:
1. Fruitcake. Don't get me wrong, I like the stuff. But I'm still working on the one from 2004.
2. Cashmere socks. My sock drawer is the Bermuda Triangle for hosiery--and if I am going to lose various mates of socks, they might as well be cheap ones.
3. Cheese. See Fruitcake above (trust me, it's impossible to go through two pounds of cheddar before the mold sets in).
4. Cookbooks. I already have dozens I read and then whose recipes I ignore.
5. Handkerchiefs. I really relish the experience of sneezing into something and then having to wash, dry and iron it....NOT.
6. Perfume. It will only make me sneeze, and then I will have to reach for a handkerchief....
7. Barack Obama's Senate seat. Trust me, you can't afford it. Rod Blagojevich told me so.

Finally, I am going through severe Bar Show withdrawal. This year I had the biggest role I've had to date, the most fun playing it, made the most new friends, and watched it pass faster than it ever seemed before. Not performing any time in the near future except next Tuesday on the WDCB Folk Festival Christmas show on 90.9 FM (January is reserved for either recording, a knee replacement, or cataract surgery...and I'd vastly prefer recording; February will be spent performing and convening in and traveling to and from Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Memphis).

So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, a brilliant light in the Solstice, and a joyous Festivus for the Restivus. (As to Kwanzaa and New Year, I'll blog again before then).

Tonight was day 2 of "Jury Boys," the Chicago Bar Show's, 5-night run. The bad news is that this year I do not get to play guitar onstage.

But the good news is, mirabile dictu (are Jews allowed to use Latin?), I HAVE A MAJOR SOLO! Yup, I get to strut my stuff, belting out a big Broadway blues number as a rapacious investment banker. More than that I cannot reveal lest I blow the plot. It is an incredibly fun scene to do--I get to mug shamelessly as well! I am in awe of my immensely talented castmates--besides the gifted veterans, we have some new people with incredible voices. Needless to say, our director Mary and musical director Corey are first-rate, bringing out our best to give you one heck of an evening (and who says you have to limit yourself to ONE evening?)

And joining us, among others, are Barack and Michelle Obama, T. Boone Pickens, John Mc Cain, Sarah Palin, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, George and Laura Bush, Joe Lieberman and of course "Radioactive" Rod "Third Rail" Blagojevich.......or ultra-reasonable facsimiles thereof.

The Merle Reskin is a wonderful theater with state of the art production facilities and terrific sightlines and acoustics anywhere in the house. You're gonna have a great time.

And so far, my voice AND knees are holding up!

....well, not exactly. You know the old wisecrack, quoting Shakespeare out of context: "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers;" and the inevitable rejoinder: "Next time your kid gets busted, call Shakespeare?" Well, there is another service we lawyers can perform--at least Chicago-area lawyers for five evenings in December: make you laugh.

Yes, it's that time of year again: Dec. 8-13, Tues-Sat, the Chicago Bar Association presents its annual Christmas Spirits revue (a tradition spanning over 80 years). This year's show is called "Jury Boys;" as in all years it is a fast-paced couple of hours of wickedly funny parodies of popular and Broadway songs--with professional-caliber acting, singing (including an 8-part-harmony chorus!) and even dancing. In fact, Roger Ebert once paid us as high a compliment as anyone could ever hope: he said Richard Gere's tap dancing in the film "Chicago" was as good as the dancing in the Chicago Bar Association show!

Why am I pushing this? Because, dear readers, I am outing myself as a "recovering" (far trendier, more youthful and less depressing than saying "semi-retired") lawyer. The "recovery" was taking rather nicely until I hit a snag last week--I inadvertently completed and reported having completed the mandatory continuing legal education requirement and thus must keep my license (okay, not so inadvertently--but what if one of my friends gets busted, needs a will or--and I know this is a stretch in today's economy--buys or sells a home? Gotta be able to lend a hand, you know). And--you guessed it--for the seventh year in a row, I'm in the cast.

Yes, for a mere sixty bucks (get your boss to ante up, since part of it is tax-deductible as a charitable donation and the rest can be "expensed") you can get to see me sing, act, and commit attempted dancing. You might even get to see me whip out a guitar and play--hey, that happened a couple of times!

Seriously, it's for a good cause: ALL the proceeds go to the Chicago Bar Charities, which help feed and clothe the poor, shore up some needy public schools, and provide shelter to the homeless and abused. This year we are offering theater tickets only--no need to pony up for a dinner package, so you can eat wherever you want. We're selling briskly for Saturday night (closing night) but excellent seats are still available the rest of the week.

Sponsorship packages are also available (see www.chicagobar.org and click on Christmas Spirits)--help us keep this wonderful tradition alive; and depending on at what level you choose to sponsor the show, you or your boss will get free tickets, an ad in the program, "brand placement" in the script or even the scenery, or even a walk-on part!

Details:
CBA Christmas Spirits presents
"JURY BOYS"
A Gridiron Musical of Bench and Bar
Tues. Dec. 8-Sat. Dec. 13, 2008
7:30 p.m.
MERLE RESKIN (formerly Blackstone) THEATER
60 E. Balbo, Chicago
Admission $60 (cheaper than the other musicals in the Loop!)

Make me happy. Watch me sing, act and try to dance (think of the pratfall possibilities!). Keep a tradition alive. Help a poor kid get free books, toys and school supplies. Most importantly, help keep 65 lawyers out of trouble, out of the courtroom and out of your hair for a week!

Wednesday night, having returned (somewhat) to earth after the election, I knew I needed to express the hope and excitement I felt in a song. I recalled a phrase from Obama's victory speech--"we must call upon our better angels;" I knew then that would be the song's title and recurring lyrical theme, but the song itself did not come together until the wee hours of Friday morning. Stephen Lee Rich and I practiced it and sang it at Two Way Street Coffeehouse that night. In the audience was WDCB-FM's Lilli Kuzma, who was kind enough to have me record it in the studio on Sunday. (Also there were February Sky--Phil Cooper and Susan Urban--who recorded some songs and interviews from and about their new eponymous CD, which I highly recommend). I promised I would post the lyrics. but I don't have a copy of the recording yet.

But you can hear it (and Lilli's interview with me) Tues. night Nov. 18 on Lilli's "Folk Festival" show fron 7-9pm on WDCB 90.9 FM and streaming at www.wdcb.org. I could not get the text editor to properly display the chords as I typed them (but I can send them to you on request). Here are the lyrics:

OUR BETTER ANGELS
©2008 by S. Andina

1.Our better angels--Will come through after all
We're a people divided But we're tearing down that wall.
Our better angels--When we called them they came
And this nation will never be the same.

2.Our better angels--Help us make our choice
They will bring us together And we're singing with one voice.
Our better angels--Hold the demons at bay
Take us by the heart and show us all the way.

CH: We stand at the bottom But we'll climb up that hill.
Yes we can, yes we did, and yes we will.

3.Our better angels--Help us do what is right
We invoked them together On that warm November night
Our better angels--We were summoned to bring
And through them we can do anything. CH

BR: Was it only four years Since we first saw the man
Who challenged our assumptions And told us "yes we can?
To ignore our fears. But there's still work to do
Let's dare to make our grandest dreams come true.

1.Our better angels--Are they up to the task?
They will do freedom's bidding Oh, If only we will ask
Our better angels--Bring us into the light
The top of the mountain is in sight. CH, then CODA:

We'll aim for the summit Of compassion and trust.
Yes we can, yes we will, and yes we must
Yes we can, yes we will, and yes we must.

If we as a nation lost our innocence on Nov. 22, 1963 when JFK was assassinated; if we regained our pure childlike wonder on that July 1969 night when people first walked on the moon; then last night, on Nov. 4, 2008 we finally attained our maturity.
I looked at my 24-year-old son and realized that Barack Obama will also be the bridge between my generation and his.
We live in interesting times, but now they are also extraordinary times. May they become exemplary times as well!

Whoo-ee!

President-Elect Obama......the only thing that would sound better than that would be President Obama.......76 days till that happens!

Got back from Grant Park and I am still not down off Cloud Nine yet. For the first time in my life, my uncompromised choice of Presidential candidate made it! And the feeling of being one with 125,000 people--diverse in age, race, gender, occupation, yet united in joy and purpose--all together on one fenced-in piece of land in the presence of possibly the most transformational figure of our time? Simply indescribable!
I have hope for America: social equality, fiscal responsibility, the end of unrestrained and unregulated greed, pride across all demographic groups, health care for all, accountability, transparency, honesty and mutual respect on the world stage. And I have hope for emerging governments--if we can transcend our racial differences (and, for VP, religious difference), surely other nations can rethink and shatter tribal-rivalry-driven politics.

Yes we did, and yes we will continue to do!

There seems to be a disease that cropped up yesterday: electionitis. The symptoms mimic those of a gastrointestinal bug, both "north" and "south." Log on to most political blogs and you will read post after post describing politics addicts' digestive symptoms in dreadful detail. One campaign worker who, when answering a reporter's query as to how he was feeling replied "cautiously optimistic," was countered by his colleague declaring "cautiously nauseous."

It's hit my family for certain. All of us are on liquid diets, unable to tear ourselves away from the CNN or MSNBC screen, like morbidly fascinated gapers passing a massive highway pileup. We realize we shouldn't look but we do anyway. (I should mention my father-in-law got a real GI bug and is getting IV rehydration in the hospital as we speak--except for a brief foray into the voting booth last weekend, he resolved to spend his TV viewing time on prime-time dramas, old sitcoms, and DVDs of "The Tudors." Unfortunately, his hospital roomie has had FOX News on all evening; hope this does not exacerbate Dad's dyspepsia).

It's 2 a.m., I've had 3 hrs. of sleep and about 150 calories all day, and still I type, surf back to the NY Times Op-Eds and Politics articles, and have "Hardball" on in the background after watching the SNL Monday Night Pre-Election Bash. (Yes, sadly, I am so glued to the tube that I have the L.A. network feeds on satellite). I wince at every Jeremiah Wright smear ad and notice that coverage of McCain/Palin rallies and strategies outweighs Obama/Biden by at least 3:2 (with even MSNBC trying in the last few days to load up on GOP pundits: scrappy-underdog stories get the most press attention. Payback, it seems, for Obama's remarkable journey.

Alas, part of the rally-coverage disparity is doubtless due to the heart-wrenching death early yesterday of Obama's grandmother Madeleine Dunham, who quietly lost a long battle with cancer. The Republican ticket has been hitting every battleground state today and a few more tomorrow; Obama gave a poignant speech in Charlotte, saluting his "tutu" for leaving this world the better for her having lived in it and shaped his and his sister's lives and ambitions. I only hope that she got her wings as soon as she arrived in Heaven, and is pulling strings as best she can. Tonight he is sleeping in his own home, perhaps for the last time with "Senator" his sole official title. Kinahurrah, of course.

I voted last week. If you haven't, please do so today. No matter how long you may have to wait in line, think of Barack traversing the country today despite his grief. Think of his mother awakening him at 4 am to supervise his homework. Think of his "tutu" raising him despite having to go to work every day as a bank vice-president. Think of how your vote may well change the country and the world, restoring openness, mutual respect, cooperation and accountability to government at home and abroad. Think of restoring our civil liberties, and assuring the next generation of kids that whatever their circumstances of birth they too can grow up to become President. That ought to make you think a little less about your feet, knees and back--or at least it should.

Tomorrow night at this time I should be heading home from a night in Grant Park. May it have been a celebration.

(Okay, so Halloween ended a few hours ago, but I was too busy handing out 25 lbs. of candy to the neighborhood kids and watching MSNBC and CNN and screaming at the TV set to write this in time. Indulge me).

Kinna-WHA??? Is that anything like a kinescope, or some town in Ireland? Nope. Ever watch a baseball game, and as soon as the play-by-play announcer mentions the pitcher has a no-hitter going, some batter knocks one out of the park? Well, as any Jewish grandma would tell you, that infamous jinx could have been proactively negated by muttering "kinahurra" (a far more evocative version of the plain-vanilla "knock wood," though not as graphic--or as messy--as the Italian "Scutta malocchio" followed by spitting through one's fingers).

Why am I being so paranoid (I prefer to call it "cautious")? After all, Obama is way up in the national polls--as much as 11 points in some of them--as well as ahead in all the battleground states (and on the verge of turning some more red states into tossups). Well, Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "To be Irish is to know that the world will break your heart." I submit that the Irish have no corner on that; as a Democrat, I have twice in the past eight years put on my prom dress waiting for the doorbell that never rang. McCain/Palin is slinging ridiculous mud about "socialism" and "palling around with terrorists," and using "liberal" as an epithet akin to "leper." Unfortunately, it's beginning to work--there are enough undecided voters out there who are too honest to lie to pollsters but who can't bring themselves to vote for a black person (or at least a non-right-wing black person) and are looking for the flimsiest of pretexts to justify voting against him while denying race had anything to do with it. Add to that the youth vote who have registered in record numbers, but whose names haven't shown up on the rolls (suspiciously high numbers of Rock the Vote applications have been getting "lost" and "delayed" in election offices) or who couldn't cut class to stand in line for five hours. Then there's the dirty-tricks voter-suppression machine, already in high gear: bogus threats of arrest for voters with outstanding tickets, forged notices (some on stolen official state letterhead) instructing new Democratic voters in heavily minority areas to vote on Wednesday "due to unprecedentedly high numbers of new registrations," electronic voting machines flipping Obama votes to McCain. etc.

Michael Moore warned last night against doing the happy dance and spiking the ball on the five-yard line. I am so conflicted--I wince every time I hear MSNBC's and some NY TImes columnists verbal comfort-food-for-liberals, and am actually afraid to contact the Obama office to ask what happened to the e-mail I was supposed to get with a printable ticket for the Grant Park hoo-hah on Election Night.......jinx, jinx, jinx, kinahurra....I'm not even going to stick the bottle of champagne in the ice bucket, much less slip it into my purse and head down to Grant Park with it, until I see Obama ofiicially top 270 electoral votes. But I also long to hear that poll margins are widening again, without some smart aleck GOP think tank crowing they're dead even. I want some solid comfort--and I'm not going to get it.

I've seen this movie twice before (even more if you count 1968 and 1956). I only hope this time they show the Director's Cut with the alternate ending!

(Note--in coming days, per requests, I'll be posting archived pieces from my previous website. I'll label them clearly as oldies but goodies. And I'm working on the song clips as fast as I can).

I finally made the trek to a new web host, and welcome you to the new www.sandyandina.com. Still under construction, but everything you loved about the old site (including archives of my op-eds and tech tips and photos), plus streaming audio (and a monthly download) and video clips and Hot Links (mustard optional--sorry, no Frosty Malts since they'd short out the server).

Since I last had my own site (other than MySpace), I've firmed up my partnership in two bands--Andina & Rich and SASS!/The SASS! Trio, begun my seventh (!!!) Chicago Bar Assn. Christmas Spirits Show, co-released "Because We Can" (Travenia Records) by Andina & Rich and "SASS! Album One" (BWC Records); appeared on compilation CDs by the Old Town School of Folk Music, Sheheshe Music Services, and Dr. Demento (Basement Tapes #13). Am currently recording my second solo CD (my first, "Ghosts and Angels," is nearly sold out on CDBaby.com and my own stock, but available at iTunes and other download stores) and the first SASS! Trio CD; and Stephen Lee Rich and I will be heading down to The Gordons' excellent s. IL studio in January to record the second Andina & Rich CD. And I've lent my pipes and electric bass chops to a variety of others' CDs as well.

I''m now President of Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM), so you'll find me at Folk Alliance in Memphis again this year (Feb. 18-22); I'm also up for Midwest Rep. of the Board of Local 1000 of the American Federation of Musicians, so you might catch me prowling the halls of NERFA in three weeks if I can sneak out of Chicago for the weekend (not showcasing, just jamming and meeting my fellow musicians). I am Media Relations Director of the Chicago Songwriters' Collective and as ever, a proud member of: The Recording Academy, ASCAP, JustPlainFolks, GoGirls Music.com and Indiegrrl.com/Music For Life.

Watch this space for more news; meanwhile, check out the calendar! (And look me up on MySpace and YouTube--haven't figured out the musician end of Facebook, so I'm just a regular person there)