Amish Amos

Let me begin by saying that we rarely have a day off while on the road or have the opportunity to simply be tourists. Today we had one of those rare days. We had an unexpected day off in Pennsylvania, coming from Westfield, NJ heading to York, PA. We decided on stopping in Intercourse, PA. Intercourse is a small village in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country surrounded by beautiful Amish farms. We had a delicious lunch inside a historic home. You could taste the freshness and superior quality of the food ingredients. In the afternoon we enjoyed a buggy ride through the back roads of Amish country. We were guided by Amos and his horses, Tyler and Tim. Lisa sat in the front with Amos and chatted the entire ride. I think we asked every question possible about Amish life.

Amos showed us his chidhood school house and today, 65 years later, it's still functional. Amos told us the only thing he'd really like to do that he hasn't had the opportunity is travel more. At the end of our tour we presented Amos with a Mustang Sally T-shirt. He accepted it even though he isn't allowed to wear it in the outside world. He gave us his phone number (the phone isn't in the house; it's outside in a shanty, he said). He explained that we might make his wife mad if she's the one who answers, but he gave us his number anyway. Someday we'll give Amos a call and see if he remembers our rowdy little tour group. He certainly made an impression on us.

Tracy Jones 1955-2005

Most of you who come to a Mustang Sally show don't often think about the people behind the scenes who make what we do possible. It takes a team of people to manage us, produce us, and book us. They are the people who help us be Mustang Sally.

Tracy Jones was one of them.

Tracy had been working at ACTS Nashville for nearly 15 years and had been the RA (responsible agent) for Mustang Sally since 1997. He is a big reason why we enjoy the kind of success that we do today. He was always there for anything that we needed: cds, phone calls, faxes, an ear to listen, a funny forwarded email, and especially, a lot of bookings.

Tracy died July 15 after a battle with cancer. He is survived by two children, Brittney and Alec, two grandchildren, and his fiance Laureen Manucci, and his best friend, his dog Lacey.

Tracy, we love you and you will be missed. We will never forget what you did for us.

Lisa, Tobi, Lynne, Sarah, Brenda & Amanda



Tracy, Laureen and Lacey at his office (Acts Nashville)

São Paulo vs. Tokyo

Being someone from a really big city, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between São Paulo and Tokyo. Obviously, they are both really big, and consequently crowded and sometimes messy. But, besides that, there is a really interesting connection between the two.

The Japanese arrived in Brazil 97 years ago, motivated by the end of slavery and the need for workers in the country. They were told that it was the 'promised land' and each one of them would have a piece of it, but when they arrived they were sent to the coffee farms to work in poor conditions for almost no money. So, they united and started to work together on their own, implementing their Oriental agriculture knowledge, which wasfurtherr advanced than Brazil's at the time.



The peak of their immigration was in 1929 (after the stocks crashed on Wall Street and everyone was in a recession), and it ended during World War II.

Anybody who goes to São Paulo quickly notices the Japanese influence. It's a part of our food, our beliefs, and a part of our culture. We were introduced to Martial Arts and Ping Pong, and have had many champions in all areas (judo, Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, etc...). All the big telecommunications and electronics companies in Brazil are Japanese. We love origami, ikebana, kimonos, Shodo (japanese caligraphy), Noh, etc... Also, you could easily go to the Liberdade District (the Japanese neighborhood) and have sushi and Japanese or Oriental massage lessons. Karaoke bars are all over the place and they always have signs by the entrance written in Japanese.

On the other hand, the Japanese absolutely love our soccer. For nearly 20 years young Japanese players have been sent to Brazil to play and practice with us. Brazilians are the biggest number of foreign players on the J-league (Japanese soccer league), and Japan's current national team coach is Zico, one of Brazil's best players of all time.

So, for me, walking on the streets of Tokyo in a way felt like walking in the crowded São Paulo, full of people from all over the place. It really made me feel at home. Being a daughter of foreigners (my dad was born in Italy, my mom in Chile), I never paid much attention to the Japanese influence over there, but I've always been open to new cultures. Going to Japan made me realize how close we are and how many contributions they gave to us in the last 97 years.

Arigato and kisses for all;
Amanda

pictures: Shibuya (Tokyo), Tokyo Tower, São Paulo (Ibirapuera)

Sayonara, friends

Since we've returned from our trip to Japan everybody wants to know "How was your trip?" and each time I have enthusiastically replied, "It was so much fun... I can't wait to go back." I think the main reason it was so much fun was because of all the wonderful people we met.

To all our new friends, we wish you the best and we will miss you...
Janelle and Earl
Chief Master Gary
Toshio and Aika
Denny
Andy
Dawn and Terry
Phillip "Red"
Austin
Will
Nathan
The Marine softball team from Fuji--Brent "Gunny", James and Paul
Cowboy Sean "Zac"
Nick from Chicago
Jeremy

Thanks for the memories. Sayonara.

bz

Kenny Stabler Foundation

Kenny Stabler, known from University of Alabama and Oakland Raiders football fame, uses his celebrity to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through his own foundation, the XOXO Stabler Foundation. We were fortunate enough to be the entertainment at his fundraiser this past weekend. The Alabama Celebrity Classic was held in Point Clear, Alabama. Hurricane Dennis and a mandatory evacuation of the hotel by the State tried to spoil our fun, but as long as the audience remained, we kept on playing.

bz

Sightseeing in Japan

Above we are posing with a Japanese school group in front of the Great Buddha of Kamakura. This Buddha is the second largest Buddha statue in Japan located on the grounds of the Kotokuin Temple. It weighs 121 tons and is 13 meters tall.

Making your way around Tokyo can be very overwhelming to a visitor. Luckily, we had 2 natives as our tour guides. Toshio and Aika, friends of Amanda's from Berklee, spent the day with us on Tuesday as we toured Tokyo. I don't know how we would have navigated the train routes and neighborhoods on our own. At right we pose with Aika on a Tokyo street corner.

bz

Impressions of Japan

The trip to Japan was short, intense and amazing!!
The soldiers were great, the shows were fun, the people in Yokosuka extra nice.
But for me, the best part is that I got to see two great friends from
Berklee: Aika and Toshio.
Aika is an amazing saxophone player that I had the opportunity to play
with at Pedro Mills's piano recital. So, after that, we became
friends, played freesbe together, ate Thai food, went to the Japanese
F-1 parties in Boston, where all the Japanese were, and then they
would invite the Brazilians, that would bring the guitar and sing
Brazilian music all night long!!
When I left Boston, she gave me a card saying: "keep playing, keep
laughing, keep dancing and singing".
Toshio was considered one of the best drummers in school. Before I met
him, I had heard about him more than 10 times, his name would always
be mentioned at the Argentina table, in the cafeteria, they would
always say : "Toshio is really good".
Then, one day I was called to make a recording on Kevin Mahogany's
studio in Boston, with a bunch of Italians and Toshio was on drums. I
must say that I don't know why we didn't drive him crazy, because
we stayed a whole afternoon and night only speaking in Italian... and
he was always laughing and looking so cool and relaxed. After that we
would always hang in school.
After that, I moved to Nashville to play with Mustang Sally, and they
graduated, Aika went back to Japan and Toshio is spending some time
there before he goes back to Boston.
So, this week I saw them after two years, and it felt so good.
On Monday, Aika went to the show and played with us, and then on
Tuesday me and the rest of the band went to Tokyo, where we met Aika
and Toshio.
They were our tour guides, spent all day with us, showed us the Tokyo
Tower, Shibuya district, Rippongi district, walk around all over, and at the end they
took us to an authentic sushi restaurant where we had all the
possible coaching - especially for me, they showed me how to hold the
chopsticks, and all the different kinds of sushi -
so, I must say that I had a blast in Tokyo.




One of the greatest things about my job is that I get to travel all
over the country and the world, and that gives me the opportunity to
see old friends and make new ones, therefore, I am really happy that I
got to hang with Aika and Toshio, and keep in contact with them ,
even if I am on the other side of the world.

kisses for all;
Amanda

Yokosuka arrival

We are in the middle of Day 2 of our Japanese trip. It has been great so far. We are all jet-lagged, but we aren't letting that stop us from getting out and exploring. We arrived Friday evening to Yokosuka Navy Base, checked into our rooms, and enjoyed a fabulous dinner on base at the Officer's Club (I had swordfish--yummy!!). After dinner, we promptly crashed. I got very little rest on the 14-hour flight so sleep that night never felt so good.

This morning (Saturday) we toured Kamakura with our delightful on-base host Janelle and tour guide Jumpei. We will upload pictures soon.

More soon...
bz