Sandy Andina

Been away from the site for awhile, but might not return for a few more weeks. Obviously, the gig Calendar is moot (gee thanks, pandemic!). But I am suddenly facing a new (non-COVID) health challenge, about which you can read about on my CaringBridge.org page. 

Meanwhile, we haven't escaped the virus totally unscathed: my primary care doc died of it last month after 7 weeks on a ventilator.. 

The 2020 Bar Show is still on--only it will be online, Teaser sketches till the election--then the writers will go…

Well, I’m done with surgery & radiation for breast cancer, and have overcome some pesky little challenges to get back in the saddle (or insert cliche of choice) again. Between next week and Christmas, at least eight gigs coming up--in the Chicago, Madison, & Milwaukee areas as well as in NC (Montreat--near Asheville, and Hickory--near Charlotte). House concerts, showcases, coffeehouses, benefit, outdoor markets--for details, check my Calendar page. Will be putting out a new Sandygram tomorrow (my eyes are…

Some of you may know by now through Facebook, e-mail and CaringBridge that I have been diagnosed within the past two weeks with Grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast, stage TBD. I go in for lumpectomy Wed. 9/23 and will know more about what’s ahead after Mon. 9/28.  I will reserve the “News/Journal” section for news of the few shows I’ll be able to do post-op and during treatment (including switching over to the creative side of the Bar Show this year--writing, cuing, crafting as my health &amp…

So much has happened between March 2014 and now I’ll have to give you the Readers’ Digest version to fill you in.

2014:

Apr--Went to Paris and Normandy for a CBA CLE trip

May--got a new car (Subaru Outback) and gave Bob my Fusion Hybrid. Did L1K at Highlander & SERFA, visited Linda Mitchell in Asheville, drove VA’s Crooked Road, had breakfast with my sister Rona & niece Marissa, played the Abington Sr. Center in Clarks Summit, PA and Barking Spider in Cleveland.

Summer--Played monthly at Edgewater…

No, not the NCAA kind. March meteorological madness. We had two days this week of temps hovering between 55-60F....but with shovelable snow in between. Snowing again tonight despite this aft. having been open-jacket weather. Then two days of sub-freezing (thank goodness, not sub-zero) temps and back up to 50 again by Tuesday.  Of course, this has created a new category among "Official Chicago" things (you know, stuff like Song, Bird*, Tree*, Sandwich, etc,): Official Geographical Feature.......and the…

Good grief, anyone else here as sick of winter 2014--a/k/a The Thing That Wouldn't Leave--as I am??? There's no escaping it, though I'm trying this weekend--at Folk Alliance in Kansas City, where it's 20 degrees warmer and there's no snow...at least not till Sunday, when I fly home to Chiberia. The 3-4 feet of snow on the ground has melted to a large degree, is flooding the sewers, and will probably freeze over again tonight or tomorrow. And the Polar Vortex returns on Wed. They're predicting a low of…

Started out on Sun. Dec. 8, fresh from a triumphant closing Bar Show matinee, en route on the Eisenhower Expy. (the Ike) to the College of DuPage campus to be the finale of WDCB's Holiday Hoot.  Earlier in the day, though, I found out that I'd be playing solo, as Stephen Lee Rich was stuck in Madison--due to a shortage of plows & salt he was stuck in his cul-de-sac unable even to take the uncleared arterials to the expressway.  Then, after a protracted stop-and-go slog along the Ike, I got as far as the…

Sorry, it was a cheap rhyme for the taking, and somebody had to take it.  So much has happened since last I wrote:  we wrapped production on the third Andina & Rich CD "Chasing Lightning" (waiting for the other half of the copyright on one cover tune to clear before we master, do graphics and press).  Have a matched set of bionic knees that work a helluva lot better than the old ones did (I can stand for much longer and walk much further than before). And there's 55 lbs. less of me! (Yes, it was…

Well, the calendar says it's May but hear near the lakefront (except for two teasingly hot days last week), the mercury says early March, or even February. I hear that with moisture and a projected low of 38 Sat. night the forecasters are muttering, sotto voce, the dreaded "s" word (the fact that they've added the qualifier "flurries" does not help my mood).  Had a new deck put on my house (when the old one literally was rotting away and a hole opened up), and got it stained just in time for the temps to…

"As the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen"--Anonymous.

I wanna find Anonymous and beat him senseless with a snow shovel and jug of ice-melt. Or maybe smother him with my insulated winter coat, or choke him with my muffler.  I know that axiom is meant to reassure us as we freeze that we're increasing the amount of sunshine, but I find it cold (dis)comfort.

First, I woke up Christmas morning to discover I was in the throes of the mother-in-law of all colds (caught no doubt while…