VOL. 3 ... No. 90. January 15, 2025.
Howdy Humpers,
As my dear Granny would say, “How’s your hammer hanging?”
She said this to both men and women, so I was never quite sure what she meant. But, I think it translates to “How’s life treating you? Are you well?” with just a touch of bawdy humor. She was like that.
Hope you’re all doing well.
As many of you know, my husband Stu and I are musicians. We have performed together for most of the years we’ve been married, and over time, our act has evolved into a musical/comedy/spoken word show.
In 2010, we wanted to travel out west. In particular, I wanted to show Stu some of my favorite haunts from my time of living in San Francisco. So, we decided to create a tour of house concerts. It was kind of like an old Mickey Rooney movie where the kids say, “Let’s Do A Show!” and then proceed to create the show and the venue. At that time, we called ourselves “Left Of Center” and the name of our tour was “The Provoca-tour.”
Some years after the Provoca-tour, we came up with our favorite tour name, “The Funk-Shway Tour” — changing the vibes in a living room near you.
Performing at house concerts on that tour in 2010 turned out to be one of the best experiences of our lives! Several dear friends with large living rooms agreed to host us. We sold tickets online to people we knew, or that the hosts knew, and we traveled around for two months visiting friends we hadn’t seen in years and spending time in national parks. We kicked off our show in Asheville and performed in San Diego, Sacramento, Ann Arbor, and Detroit.
House concerts are our favorite venues, and really the only way we want to perform these days. We rent chairs, push the furniture aside, set up our PA system, and create an intimate space for the performers and audience to enjoy each other’s company. It’s a truly special experience. If you’ve never been to a house concert, I highly recommend you attend one.
Or, better yet, host one for your favorite musicians! (Hint. Hint.)
We’ve decided it’s time to do an Eastern tour. We are in rehearsal mode and will kick off with our first performance on May 10th in New York. We’ll be traveling for about six weeks, and after New York, will be playing in Boston (tentative) Cleveland, Detroit, and Ann Arbor.
As we were thinking of a name for this tour, everything sounded like we were either retiring or dying — Stu and Janna Zonder are on their Final Act, Third Act, the Drugstore Readers Tour, the Last Tango Tour, the Early Bird Special, the Last Schmaltz . . .
You get the drift. But, we came up with the perfect name — The Carpe Diem Tour!
In the months to come, I’ll be writing more about our next musical adventure, and I plan to post from the road. Here’s one of our original songs, Jewish Booty, that we’ll be performing.
(Belly Roll not included)
No matter how old you are, my friends, Carpe Diem.
Seize the day while your hammer is still hanging.
Until next time . . . Laugh, Love, and Get outside. Dance to the rhythm of your extraordinary life.
Janna
Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter. — Satchel Paige
What a video. Too funny!!
Jewish Booty is hilarious!
Wish there was some way you could add Dayton/Beavercreek/Yellow Springs to your tour list.