//  A note from the next list manager, Lucinda, Jerry Jeff, the upcoming
//  UK concerts, and Maggie "Mary Margaret" Heenie's operation.  - MF

From: Bill Page (bpage@scctel.com>                                
Subject: Re: Passing the Torch                                       

Mark E Ferguson wrote:
> Bill Page  has graciously volunteered to be
> the new NanciNet manager, administrator, and sponsor.  I have accepted his
> offer with much gratitude.

What? I did what? Was I drunk?

Seriously, I am excited (and terrified) about this new adventure.
Obviously moderating a 1,000-member list is a little more challenging
than is doing the same for a 50-person group, and I may find myself over
my head.

So why am I doing it?

Primarily, because being part of the NanciNet has had a great impact on
my life. I would literally not be where I am, married to whom I am,
listening to what I am, and happy as I am, had I not joined the NanciNet
those many years ago. I have had the privilege of meeting many
NanciNetters through the years (married one of them), and today can
truthfully say that many of my bestest friends are folks I met through
this list.

So be nice to me, at least for the first couple of months. And we'll see
how much fun we can continue to have!

Bill "help!" Page

 
_________________________________________________________________
 
From: Poetmuse@aol.com                                            
Subject: Am I here?                                                  

(Is anyone recieving these meager words? Anyone at all? Are there ears on
which they may fall? Or has the world gone deaf- caught up with each little
life, each little struggle that gets in the way of other things. Does anyone
care about anyone anymore? Do we smile and nod, yet still pass each other on
the way to bigger and better things?>

The thing I like most about Nanci is she slows me down. Makes me sit up and
take notice. Think about the things I may have forgotten; the laugh of a lost
love, the common everyday grace of living, the feeling of my heart as it falls
from it's perch so high up, that no one, not even myself, could have reached
it. She brings sense to a sometimes senseless world. Her music and words
inspire in me a strength that I am always amazed to be reminded of. There have
been times she has become a reason to breathe, and continue on.

(Do these words seem cliche? Do I make  sense anymore or has my heart overrun
my head once again? Can I be standing here alone, not really connected to
anything or anyone, lost in the sound of my own loneliness?
Is there anyone out there who feels the same about Nanci as I do? Anyone at
all?>

The thing I like most about the Nanci Net is it's sense of community. It's
sense, sometimes, of all against the outside world. It's love of good music,
good people, and good (beer>(hah). It's the midnight ramblings of the lonely
heart, the nonsense chuckles of goodhearted souls, the love of music and the
power in which it enriches our lives. It's the letters that keep the mailbox
full, the people that become the life-long friends. The place where hearts and
minds are mixed. Not always in a good way, mind you. But always honest. Always
human. Even in this technological wonder called the internet. That's the real
force behind NanciNet. It's human-ness. It keeps me grounded. It keeps us all
joined together.
May it never cease to be a place where questions are answered and questions
are asked. Where love and patience and a good sense of humor are fine
qualities that are the norm, and not the rarity.

Farewell to Mark and God Bless Bill Page.

Long Live the Nanci-net. May *we* never go out of style. :)


Christina "who is here, to be still" Myers

_________________________________________________________________
 
From: MreenParr@aol.com                                           
Subject: Re: she's coming your way                                   

In a message dated 11/10/98 18:53:44 BST,Gary writes:

(( I can't wait for the reviews from all you across the great pond on Nanci's
 upcoming shows. >>

Here in London, we're gearing up for the big occasion, practising singing in
the shower in case we're allowed to sing-along-with-Nanci, and having great
fun organising a really mega-super-jumbo-hyper day out.  There are a couple of
dozen of us getting together from 6 countries (I think that's correct - I know
I had to take off the second sock to count up).  The day includes a guided
walk round the City of London from a renowned global expert on London and its
history (oh, all right, it's me, we couldn't get anyone else), a couple of
coffee points, a meal, pre-performance drinks - oh, goodness, the list of
activities just goes on and on.....

If there is anyone else coming to the London concerts at the end of November
who isn't yet included in these plans (and who would like to be), please get
in touch with me and you, also, shall go to the ball.

We're talking Sunday 29th November here.  There is another concert on the
Monday.  It won't be such a big Nancinet event but there are several people
who will be getting together during the day and for the concert so, again, if
this interests you, let me know and I'll ask the relevant people to get in
touch.

And, Gary, there will definitely be a review for the list.  We shall think of
a way to nominate someone to write this (the one who arrives last?  the one
who turns up without a Nanci tee-shirt? the one who refuses to consume Hans'
Dutch herrings?  [In joke])  Who knows?  Watch this space.

Maureen Parr
London
 
_________________________________________________________________
 
From: Codiscout@aol.com                                           
Subject: Lucinda list?                                               

Does anyone know of a website or mailing list similar to the NNetters for
Lucinda Williams?  I can't seem to get enough of the new disc....

Thanks in advance for any info.

SR

_________________________________________________________________
 
From: Bell/Wrightson (onemansmusic@mindspring.com>                
Subject: Re: Lucinda list?                                           

I don't believe there is a list like this one but there is a very active
news center.     If you go to Marq's Texas Music Kitchen (everyone
should take a look there by the way) and scout around you will find it.

http://www.lonestarwebstation.com/txmusdex.html

Sarah W.

_________________________________________________________________
 
From: RonHennesy@aol.com                                          
Subject: Canadian Whiskey as a round                                 

It occurred to me that "Canadian Whiskey"--Tom Russell's beautiful song from
Nanci's "Other Voices, Too" album--might make a good round (or canon).

Not having anyone else around to sing with me, but having the Finale music
program on my computer, I typed in the notes for an 8-part round.

If you think of the song being in 3/4 time, with a new entrance every 2
measures, I think it sounds great!  Some interesting diatonic 7th and 9th
chords are generated, with the only glaring dissonances coming at the very
end.  I think it works because (until the end) the harmonies seem to swing
back and forth between 2 general harmonic bases, changing with each measure.

It might be fun to try singing, with other fans of Nanci.

(So tell me I don't have a life, spending time on such a project!)

_________________________________________________________________
 
From: Moustafa and Catherine (family_taha@bluewin.ch>             
Subject: What a pleasant surprise!                                   

This evening my husband and I were watching TV and at the end of a nice
little movie from 1994 ("The Surprise", I think it was called in
English, we watched it dubbed in French), Nanci sang THIS HEART as the
credits rolled by.

What a pleasant way to end the evening!

Catherine
Geneva, Switzerland


//  The movie was titled "Milk Money" in the US.  - MF 
_________________________________________________________________
 
From: Annah21@aol.com                                             
Subject: The Nanci Network                                           

Hi, NNers.  I went to see Jerry Jeff walker perform at the Heart O' Texas Fair
last Wednesday night, and, of course, I wore my Nanci shirt (Blue Roses tour -
Nanci with stratocaster).  Well, I got to stand right on the front row, and
when Jerry Jeff glanced in my direction, he noticed my shirt.  He smiled at me
and nodded as if to say, "Aha!  A True Believer!"  I could tell he was pleased
to have a Nanci fan in the audience.  (The rest of the crowd couldn't have
known what a Nanci Griffith was....)  Anyway, there really is a Nanci Network
out there, and I love it when I come in touch with it in person!

Here's to all the dreamers,

Anna Henderson

P.S.  Best wishes to Bill Page in his term as NN list manager.

_________________________________________________________________
 
From: John Alvord (jalvo@cloud9.net>                              
Subject: Light beyond these woods                                    

Mary Margret (Maggie Heenie) was flown to San Diego last night (10/13/98)
where doner lungs were ready and *may* be suitable for her lung
transplant. Please everyone say a few prayers for her.

Sometimes the call to come to the transplant center has to be repeated
several times. At this moment there is no news except for the initial
report from her husband Fred Heenie.

John (hoping) Alvord

_________________________________________________________________
 
From: "Deb Thornton" (68coyotes@onms.com>                         
Subject: The light that dwells beyond the woods                      

All,

Fred writes the words i got up early to wait for, "Surgery was a success!
The new lung is reported to be a very good one and working well. Maggie
tolerated the procedure well and the Doctor may be able to remove the vent
later today. Fred"

Last night Maggie wrote the short message that said her call had come, and
that she hoped it wasn't a false alarm. I stayed up with the email on,
waiting for any news, and I was so excited when i went to bed with the blue
candle Maggie gave me burning in its coyote base. I had been saving it for
just that moment and now it was burning, and the candle in my own heart has
ignited. Feels like a stick of dynamite.

My own soul blazed with the paradox that only the coyote can hold together,
kindled in the alchemical knowledge that Maggie might be getting a new life
just as someone else was returning to dust and ash, but in that crucible of
a moment, a transfer was possible that would forever change Maggie's life.
The commingling of an instant, of souls. And everyone who knows and is
touched, from whatever distance, also knows that moment of transfiguration,
the burning for life that typifies all human kind.

The moments that define the human being must surely be the ones in which we
rejoice and mourn simultaneously, in equal measures; Maggie will embody
that balance for the rest of her life, knowing that every breath she draws
will go into the receptacle that belonged to someone she will never meet,
knowing that because a nameless someone died she will live. Imagine
embodying such faith in every breath.

I wrote an impassioned post about a year and a half ago, when the news came
that Lee Satterfield had given a kidney to her mother, saying that the
NanciNet transcends itself because "collectively, we taste love and death
on a daily basis, whether we write about it here or keep it to ourselves.
In short, the NanciNet is not just about music; i wonder, was it ever? We
have 'create[d] out of the materials of the human spirit something which
did not exist before,' as Faulkner said all artists must do."

I don't have that kind of prose in me this morning. No allusions, just a
hollowness and a burning hope that all well be well, and all will be well,
and all will be well. My whole body comes from people who are complete
strangers to me; i honor them in silence, by trying to live a life worthy
of their sacrifice. Human beings choose to make extraordinary offerings to
one another, but how often does the death of one mean life to another?
Humans do indeed offer grace to one another through their very flesh, and
merely by touching the hem of the transformation with our consciousnesses,
we are changed forever.

How fortunate we are that we have links that not only provide instant
information, but also link hearts, hands, and souls. Across time. Across
space. Across all divides.

May our creator bless us in all our transitions, in every breath, healing
our bodies and our souls,

deb thornton

_________________________________________________________________
 
From: John Alvord (jalvo@cloud9.net>                              
Subject: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                     

>From Fred Heenie, Maggie's husband

Surgery was a success! The new lung is reported to be a very good one and
working well. Maggie tolerated the proceedur well and the Doctor may be
able to remove the vent later today. Fred

john (starting to breath again) alvord

_________________________________________________________________
Questions about NanciNet?  Send e-mail to ferg@world.std.com