What an exhilarating year 2011 was!

I spent the first couple months on the road performing music and also vacationing in Texas and Arizona with Hana.  By the end of March I'd begun a busy year of driving for Goodall Trucking.  By April, Hana and I were living like rustic homesteaders in my grandparents' old cabin on Killdeer Mountain.

In May we conceived a child.  In June, we had a public North Dakota wedding reception to celebrate our private 10/22/10 marriage.

I played several shows and festivals throughout the summer, and the Roll Out, Cowboy documentary screened internationally.

A sneak preview!

In mid-August, Hana moved to Montana to start a nest for our future toddler.  I hung behind and kept working with Goodall.  Around Thanksgiving I moved to Missoula to be with Hana.

Since then, both Hana's and my maternal grandmothers passed away as did Hana's Uncle Mark.  We miss them dearly.

On a hopeful note, our baby is healthy and growing bigger every day.  S/he is expected to hatch in four weeks!

Happy New Year, everyone!!  I have a feeling 2012 is gonna be weird and good.

Yours truly,
Chris Sand

Farewell, old boy.

For my 41st birthday breakfast Hana made banana pancakes (pictured above).  And one egg.

Our kitchen faces Mount Jumbo, and on the hillside we saw a herd of elk.  

Good omens.

Fresh Christmas . . . Yes y'all!!

A friendly game of Cut Throat Pinochle with my downstairs friend, Evie, and her son, Randy.  Randy won.

Hana's sister Tala arrived three days ago for a visit / med-school vacation.  She brought along her Chorkie puppy, Bailey, so that Gilda could have a playmate this week.

Hello from Olympia, WA, where Hana and I have been visiting a multitude of friends.  I spent three days in the studio with Bob Schwenkler finishing up Horse Graveyard.  It has been fun adding pedal steel, vocal harmonies, and a touch of cello to the songs.  It's going to be a great record!

In a couple hours we drive back to Missoula.

"Don't You Cut Off Your Dreadlocks"

I've loved this song since I first heard it in 1976.

It's been a fun few days in Sand Land.  Hana's father, Walid, and one of her favorite cousins, Hussam, visited us.  Hussam is from Saudi Arabia, and between him, Walid, and Hana, there has been much Arabic spoken this week.  I'm starting to pick up some words.  The picture below captures the moment I learned how to say "cheese" in Arabic: جبنة (jibdnay).

We drove to Hot Springs, MT, Friday night and stayed in the Symes Hot Springs Hotel for two nights. Last night, while still in Hot Springs, we were invited to a potluck / benefit show at the Rainbow Zen Organic Cafe.  The benefit was for Jillian Recchi who recently came out of a coma after being hit by a car in New York City.  The performers were Jillian's children, Sanjaya and Shyamali Malakar, both former American Idol contestants.  It's worth watching this link of their A.I. audition if you have the time--they're both sweet people with excellent voices.  

As the party wound down, some of the Hot Springs locals requested some songs from me, and I submitted.  Don't think I've ever "shared a stage" with someone as famous as Sanjaya . . . until now.  

Kelly Clarkson--you're next.

Download individual Chris Sand / Sandman the Rappin' Cowboy songs here.

Last thoughts on Grandma Vi.

She worked hard at her job and on the farm--her pinkies were gnarled from the milking she did.  She raised nine children with her loving husband Nick.  She was named Lake County Woman of the Year in 1965.  She met and was acquainted with Presidents and Popes.  She was a caring grandmother of many.  She annually rocked Vegas bingo parlors.  She was the first woman to head up a state ASCS, the program that oversaw and implemented federal farm programs in each state.  She gardened, canned, cooked, and served.  She was always on the go, and yet still somehow the center of my Montana universe.  Her heart was HUGE.

Grandma Vi didn't settle for being one thing or another.  She gave it her all.

This, I think, must be her biggest legacy.  

Grandma Vi Herak's obituary.  Her funeral was yesterday.  Hana's grandmother Joyce's funeral was Friday, and here's her obituary.  We miss them already.  May they both rest in peace, and may Hana and my baby inherit all of their loveliest qualities.  

Here's an article about my good friend Jeff Morrow and his saddle-making business that just came out in The Missoulian:  Niarada Man Creates Art that Cowboys, Horses Wear.

Here's one about Dunn Center, ND, where I recently lived and still own a house in (as featured prominently in the doc Roll Out, Cowboy): Dunn Center Growing.

My sweet Grandma Vi passed away peacefully this morning in Ronan, MT.  She was a mother-of-nine, farm gal who raised cattle and wheat with my Grandpa Herak (who died in 1987). She was a tough Irish-Catholic Democrat who got to meet John and Jackie Kennedy in '62.  She was kind, generous, and fun to be around.  Gratefully, I saw her four days ago when I was in Montana with Hana.  I lifted her hand up to touch Hana's pregnant belly and, being ever modest, Grandma giggled at the intimacy of it all.  I'll miss her so.

Julia Viola Sullivan Herak, 1920-2011. Rest in peace, sweet Grandma.

One last trip to North Dakota for a final fish haul and then I'll be a Missoula, MT, resident.  This happens every twenty-or-so years, Missoula is my city of fresh transitions.  I lived here from 1971-1973 as a toddler and again from 1989-1992 during my first years of college.

Here's a list of things I love about Hana's and my apartment.

1. Clawfoot bathtub.  Perfect for warming up one's bones on winter days.
2. Spaciousness--our biggest home yet.  Hana especially likes the kitchen and multiple closets.
3. Funky features:  plaster walls, 1940s linoleum floors, arched bedroom windows.
4. Proximity to things we like: Mount Jumbo trailhead (2 blocks), Greenough Park (2.5 blocks), Albertsons Market (3 blocks), U of M campus (4 blocks), USPS for Hana's daily shipping of Etsy items (5 blocks), City Library (6 blocks), downtown Missoula (7 blocks)!
5. Easy directions.  For instance, if you're leaving Boston just hop on the I-90, drive west 2,600 miles to Missoula, Exit 105, right onto Van Buren Street, first right (Poplar Street), 5th house on left, walk up stairs.  It's just as easy from Seattle.
6. Our mailing address has the musical words "Pop" and "Soul" secretly encoded within it: 930 Poplar / Missoula, MT 59802.
7. Big deck off back with beautiful view of surrounding mountains.
8. I love the sound of a freight train.  Tracks are a block away.
9. Evie, our 80-year-old downstairs neighbor, is rad.  She keeps the yard tidy.  She lets me watch football games on her big screen TV.  And she takes care of our pup Gilda.  In fact, Gilda begs to visit Evie and her dachshund Jazzy at least once a day.
10. Deb, our lovely landlord and friend. Her rent fee is cut-rate, PLUS she keeps us stocked with bread, apples, and eggs from her free-range chickens.  She's Evie's daughter.

Just got the week off with Goodall, so I boogied straight to Missoula to be with Hana for a few days. Her/our pregnancy is coming along swimmingly. She just entered her third trimester. Baby's kickin' a-way.

She told me that her inny will soon be an outy. Tomorrow, by the way, is Hana's baby shower, which my cousin Rebekah will host at her house.

Missoula has been opening its doors to me since I arrived two days ago. The weather has been great; Hana and I saw a spirited Day of the Dead parade yesterday; we've been to two lectures at U of M on Middle Eastern issues; I'm about to attend a First Friday; and tomorrow I might drive to Jerry Johnson's Hot Springs in Idaho for a soak.

My already busy trucking schedule has become even more busy of late. I've been home only two full days this month, and I may get only three more full days here between now and Thanksgiving. That's when I'll be moving to Missoula to join my pumpkin pie bride and butterball bambino.

Today is Hana and my first wedding anniversary! I so wish we were together on this beautiful autumn evening. Godspeed ye, dark days of late November.

'Westron wynde, when wilt thou blow,

The small raine down can raine.

Cryst, if my love were in my armes

And I in my bedde again!'

-Anonymous 16th Cent. (?)

Congrats to all the cherubs being born of late: Milo, Boppy, Josiah, Zaia Mae, Maggie Rose, Lyric, Wolfie, and my newest cousin--Carley!!!

Left to right: Bailey, Dustin, Mandi with baby Carley, and Sydney Elkins

Speakin' of babies, Hana reports that she's been feeling baby hiccups lately. She says our little one is quite a mover and shaker. I have the week off from trucking, so I'm heading to Missoula for a visit.

While digging a trench near the horse corral today, I found a perfectly knapped flint knife. I've found several scrapers this year, and a couple broken arrowheads, but this is my first knife in years.

Hello from the Skyline Motel in Alexandria, MN. I'm returning from the utopic Boats & Bluegrass Festival in Winona. Friday's gig was fantastically fun. At one point there were seven or eight people on stage with me (mandolin, fiddle, beatbox, cowbells, stand-up bass, and Jes and Kendl from The Blackberry Bushes singing harmonies)!

I rejoined The Blackberry Bushes on the main stage last night and rapped over their doowop/bluegrass hoedown, "Cotton Skies." Lovely bunch, they are. I might tour with them in Europe someday.

BBC interview for Scotland screenings of Roll Out, Cowboy: "A film that gets under the skin of life . . ."

Just back from two long drives to Toronto. Tomorrow it's back in the fish tank again! I could use more than a full day off. The steady flow of income keeps me from complaining too loud, though.

Whilst away my poor garden froze. Dozens of precious tomatoes, beans, and squash bit the dust. The root vegetables are fine. Not sure how the pumpkins will fare.

Here are two pre-frost pics:

The frost was good for the buffaloberries. They're sweet now.

I made it to church this morning with Grandma, Uncle Ken, and Aunt Christi.

What else?

1. I'm enjoying using the wood stove again in the cabin.

2. Awoke up this morning to two dozen wild turkeys outside my door.

3. I'll be performing at the Boats & Bluegrass Festival in Winona, MN, next weekend!

Here are the Scotland dates when Roll Out, Cowboy will be screening.

Tonight and tomorrow it will show on Orkney Island!

This might be the richest summer of my life. Hana is five months pregnant. Our garden is producing king-sized beets, carrots, tomatoes, onions, and pumpkins. My trucking schedule has been heavy (off again to Toronto tonight). Hana and I had the first of two wedding receptions (next summer we'll have the second one in western Montana). I flew to Chicago and St. Louis to perform after theatrical screenings of Roll Out, Cowboy. (The ROC doc, in fact, has taken on a life of its own--in the last few months it has screened in France, Croatia, New York City, and Los Angeles, and next week it goes on a nine-city tour of Scotland!)

Things I DIDN'T get done:

1) Finish the new CD I started last December

2) Complete the new website I began two Decembers ago

3) Blog as much as I've wanted to

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In the spirit of blogging regularly again, here's more . . .

Dr. Chainsaw has been my pal for the last three days--we've been clearing brush for the parents. I now have a poison ivy rash for the second time this summer.

Yesterday I took Grandma to the Dunn County Historical Museum's Annual Cream Can Supper. 'Twas a rockin', down-home affair with country music and tasty food.

BIG news: Hana moved to Missoula, MT, last week! She's setting up a nest there to have the baby. I'll continue trucking until around Thanksgiving and then join her. I grew up fifty miles north of Missoula, and my first two years of college were at UM-Missoula. So, in a way, moving to Missoula is like moving home.

Screenings:

Tonight ROC will be screening in New York City at the 92YTribeca Screening Room!

And next weekend it will screen for three days in St. Louis at Webster University. I'll be there for the Friday and Saturday screenings.

Shows:

Tonight in Minot, ND, @ Blue Rider Bar as part of the Why Not Minot?! Festival. 7 p.m.

Tomorrow in Watford City, ND, at the Ribfest-o-Rama. 2 p.m.

Review:

By Film Monthly: http://www.filmmonthly.com/now_playing/roll_out_cowboy_1.html

Wedding Reception in North Dakota, June '11!
Note: we plan to have another reception next summer for our Montana relatives and Olympia friends!


The day before, walking with dog Gilda . . .


Practicing dance moves, cousins Kelly and Jo clapping . . .


The day of. Cake!


Hana's kin, right to left: Aunt Joan, Uncle Will, cousins Abbey & Ashley.


Singing "Love Me Tender" to Hana. That's Uncle Josh on guitar, Cousin Brad on mandolin, & Aunt Christi.


Waltz across Dakota . . .


About to throw the bouquet!


Taking off the garter . . .


P.S. This is Michael (who caught the tell-tale garter) and my lovely cousin Jenny (who took all of these fine pictures)! They make a perfect pair, Hana and I think.

Here's a snap-shot I've been meaning to share . . .


Indio Saravanja took this two months ago during his brief visit from Canada. It captures the moment when Hana and I told my parents and grandma that we were pregnant.

Just got back from an epic time in Chicago where Roll Out, Cowboy screened eight times over the weekend at Facets Multimedia. Now Hana and I are on our way to Wells, BC, for the 8th Annual ArtsWell Festival of All Things Art. Life could not be more FULL....!

Greetings from Chicago. Roll Out, Cowboy begins its theatrical release tonight, and lot's of press is coming in.

Chicago Tribune gave it 3/4 stars and this review.

NPR (WBEZ locally) did this super-pro edit job: http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-07-21/roll-out-cowboy-roams-and-raps-across-midwest-89464

NEWS FROM SANDLAND:

1) encountered 3' rattle snake five minutes ago


2) plucked first beets, chard, lettuce and carrots from garden

3) married my one true love and soon-to-be mother of my children whom I adore with the hotness of twenty billion suns - Miss Hana Kasm!!

I will post wedding pics when I get organized.