Summer with Juana Ghani - newsletter

Hello everybody!

Maybe it's the extended spring and all the rain we've been receiving here in our part of the world, but the creative seeds we planted less than a year ago have all begun to take root and are growing and blossoming with excitement.  We have grown from a solid core group of 4 to an amazing kumpania of 11 fabulously talented musicians and have a stunning array of beautiful dancers and fire artists that accompany us to most of our shows, much to the delight of our audiences.  We've played dives, cabarets, festivals and private parties.  And the summer continues to be filled with these wonderful experiences!

Tuesday, July 5 we will be at Burt's Tiki Lounge located at 726 S. State Street in Salt Lake City opening up for The Inheritance, an amazing eastern European influenced band out of Austin, Texas.  Tickets are $6 at the door.  Must be 21 years or older to attend. 

July 9th will find us playing at a private party.  If you're on that guest list, you're lucky.  There will be fire and belly dancing and all sorts of Juana Ghani fun!

Saturday, July 16th we are heading back to The Sugar Space (616 Wilmington in SLC) for another Night at the Casbah!  This one is an all ages event, so bring the family for a bellydancing extravaganza ... and Juana Ghani, of course.  Tickets are $10 in advance ( http://thesugarspace.com ) or $12 at the door.

Wrapping up the month of July is the Acoustic All-Stars Music Festival, held at The Downstairs in Park City the weekend of July 29-31.  This is a 3-day music festival featuring some the best acoustic musicians and bands from around the country.  And, yes, Juana Ghani is proud and honored to be a part of it.  We will be playing Saturday, July 30th, but really do encourage everybody to enjoy all 3 days of this event.  Again, it's for the over 21 crowd.  Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10 for a 1-day pass or $20 for a 3-day pass.  You can also get your tickets from any member of the band or order them online from our blog (for a discount) at http://juanaghani.blogspot.com/p/2011-acoustic-all-stars-music-festival.html

 

Other exciting events include The Brown Bag Concert Series - Juana Ghani will be playing August 17 from 12:15-1:00pm at City Creek Park - and a couple fundraisers in September.  There's even another Underground Cabaret in the works for this fall! 

Yes, all in all it's been a very exciting spring and summer is looking to be just as much fun! 

 

Budmo!

Juana Ghani

P.S.   Check the July 7th issue of City Weekly for a nice little JG surprise!

Spring Festival Time Has Begun! (newsletter - 4-15-11)

Hiya!

Ah, spring!  That beautiful bi-polar time of year is in full swing here, with each day dancing between drenching rains, blinding bright sunshine and yes, even winter’s last grasping snows.  To be perfectly honest, this is my favorite time of year.

Just as the wheel of the year turns, ushering in changes and new beginnings, so spins the world of Juana Ghani.  We had so much fun playing the last few shows with Filthy McWhiskey that he has brought along his banjo and joined our family full time.  He brings so much creativity and texture to our performances and we are beyond happy to have him.  Unfortunately, due to some circumstances beyond everybody’s control, our fabulous bari-sax man, Travis, has had to step down.  We are going to miss having him with us, but we are all confident that there will be times he’ll still join us on stage as a very special guest performer.  While Travis can never be replaced in our hearts, we are looking at bringing in someone new to fill out our low end.  We have been in talks with some very talented people and hope to make an announcement about a new family member soon.  Keep watching our facebook pages and our blog for more on that.

And finally Festival Season is upon us!  The dates are coming in and there will many opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to see Juana Ghani play this summer.   We are thrilled to be invited to play at The Meeting of the Tribes on April 23 at the Salt Lake Masonic Temple.  The show will begin at 1:00pm, tickets are $7.

The next week, April 30, will find us playing on the Earth Stage for Earth Jam at Salt Lake City’s Liberty Park.  We will play from 1:30-2:15pm and admission is free for everybody.

May 19^th we will be headlining at The Woodshed located at 60 East 800 South in Salt Lake.  Joining us for the evening will be our special guests N.I.N.A. (No Irish Need Apply).  Cover is $5 at the door, must be at least 21-years old to attend.

You’ll find us at Bar Deluxe (666 South State St in SLC) on June 3, along with our good friends La Decollatage.  This will be a night of dancing and mayhem as only Salt Lake’s alt-Gypsy underground can bring.

That same weekend we’ll be playing on the International Stage at the Utah Pride Festival.  Come out Sunday, June 5 and help us celebrate!  Our set begins at 4:00pm.  

This is shaping up to be a very busy summer as more dates continue to come in.  Still in the wings we have Utah Arts Festival, Night at the Casbah and Autism Awareness fundraiser, Park Silly Sunday Market and more!  Keep watching our Events page to stay up to date with where we’ll be next!

And now, a few recommendations:

• Strawberry Risotto – Perfect with a salad of mixed spring greens and tall glass of honey sweetened iced herbal tea!
• Walking – Nothing clears the mind and calms the spirit like a long, leisurely walk in the spring sunshine.
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• Daffodils – Seriously.  How can anybody look at daffodils and not feel like smiling?

Oh!  I almost forgot!  JUANA GHANI shot glasses!  These 2 fluid ounce frosted glass beauties will be available for purchase at our shows for $5 a piece.  

Have a beautiful day!  Budmo!

Juana Ghani

It's almost Spring!

Hello, Lovely People!

As the seasons begin to change and we here in the Northern Hemisphere inch our way closer to Spring and the land begins to awaken the new life that has been lying dormant all winter long, we, too, are beginning to awaken to so many wonderful adventures.

On Saturday, February 19 we will be performing at the Utah Arts Alliance located at 2191 South 300 West in Salt Lake City. 

This is for the event “Sending Love: A Benefit for Mike Sheffield”  – This is a fundraising benefit for a local musician diagnosed with male breast cancer.  Entertainment includes performances by Juana Ghani, La Décolletage, belly dancers, pole dancers, burlesque, henna artists, tarot, & more.    The event begins at 9pm.  Admission is $15 at the door.

On March 10 we will be playing at The Urban Lounge, 241 South 500 East in Salt Lake City as part of the Underground Cabaret , an exciting night of alt-gypsy music and dancing.

 

Juana Ghani, La Décolletage & Tabla Arabia will be playing with some the area’s most beautiful and entrancing belly dancers.   Doors open at 9pm.  Admission is $5 at the door.

Then on April 23 we will be playing at the 2011 Meeting of the Tribes at the Salt Lake City Masonic Temple, located at 650 East South Temple.  The details are still coming together, but we are very excited to be a part of it this year.  We’ll be sure to pass the details along as the date gets closer.

We’ve also been confirmed to play at the Earth Jam celebration this year.  The organizers are still working out the final line-up, but we’ll pass that information along, too.

We have recently finished up two new songs that are now posted on our website – http://juanaghani.com - and are available for download .   “Breathing” and “Whispers in the Woods” share our nightmarish carnival atmosphere with disturbing lyrics and haunting music that will follow you throughout your days and nights.   Enjoy!

 “Breathing” was played on Amazing Radio’s Amazing Folk Roots show this past Sunday.  If you missed the original broadcast, you can always find it in the Rewind at http://www.amazingtunes.com/users/amazingrewind/tunes/47129 .  (By the way, you get can a FREE download of “Breathing” in exchange for a tweet or facebook post by going here:  http://www.tweetforatrack.com/juanaghani )

We just learned yesterday that “The Incredible Sadness of Sonia” has been placed in regular rotation on the Women’s Radio program Global Vision - http://bit.ly/wr-music-channel - airing from 8PM – 12AM PST (11PM – 3AM EST - time zone converter here:  http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc ).

 

All this brings us to our recommendations for the month.  Are you ready?  Of course, you are!

Ouzo of Plomari - http://www.ouzoplomari.gr/site_en/index.php - Most of our music was created with the inspiration of this heavenly elixir.  Opa!

La Maddalena, Sardegna - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Maddalena - Leisl lived on this small island as a child and it is one of her favorite places on the planet.  It is home to the best arancini in the world, too.

Hubble photos - http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire - Sure, it’s a little (lot) geeky, but oh, so beautiful!  The power of creation, the energy of destruction, the unending possibilities of eternity – it’s all there!

So, in the words Sir Bedivere to King Arthur (from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Passing of Arthur”), “Arise, go forth and conquer as of old!”  That is what we intend to do.  So, look out world – Juana Ghani is coming at you!

Budmo!

Juana Ghani