Fairfax

Thursday was my last summer library program in Oklahoma, in Fairfax. 

I managed to leave the camera at home, but once again the iphone came to my rescue. For some reason I was compelled to take this photo of my shoes: 

Fascinating, don't you think? ;-)

We had a fantastic group for this program. Small, but enthusiastic, and a great bunch of singers!! Here they are:

And here they are again, after the show:

Signing more of those little white cards:

Today my fundraising campaign for the new "Songs From the Science Frontier" CD hit the halfway mark! Only $4500 left to go, or so...

If you haven't checked it out yet, please do!

Duncan

I've been reminding readers to support my "Songs From the Science Frontier" CD by pre-ordering a copy -  Thanks!

On Saturday I performed at the library in Duncan, OK. In the past we've done shows in the little building out back, and it's been packed to over capacity. This year was different - we were inside the library itself. Being on a Saturday, and a darned hot one at that, I think contributed to the small size of the audience. Daycares don't show up on the weekends, after all. It may have been a small group but it was an enthusiastic group! We had a lot of fun!

This was the first show in a while that Evalyn was able to attend with us. She entertained herself in the car and at the library by working on her novel. She has an ambitious story planned out with many girl characters, each with her own pet and her own power. Lisa and I enjoyed reading a new chapter every half hour or so! 

Wichita

On Monday we were in Wichita for two library programs. Here I am in the Central Branch, posing with a piratical giraffe! 

The Central program room:

Check out the carpet! When the room is empty, it'll really bug your eyes out.

This is at the Alford branch:

I did "You're a Dinosaur" for the little ones and had a good time up dancing around.

Tomorrow, Duncan; Thursday, Fairfax.

McAlester

Here are some photos from last Wednesday's visit to the McAlester library. They had decorated the audience half of the room to make it feel like you were under the ocean with a great mural along the back wall (photos Lisa? Oh, well...). Lisa says it was very relaxing to just sit there and take it in. 

The audience for the first show included a large contingency of three and four year olds from one daycare group. They did so well engaging with me! I changed up the last few songs of the program to help keep them focused and we went for almost an hour!

Here we are during the second show...

Anita always sits right in front and does all the crazy stuff. It sure helps when the staff act as examples for the kids!

We are down to three more days out in July - tomorrow I'll be in Wichita, Saturday the 17th in Duncan, and Thursday the 22nd in Fairfax.

In the meantime, I'm working on my Kickstarter campaign, raising the money to record "Songs From the Science Frontier."

Hey, if you're getting this by email, then you're one of my most engaged fans! How about heading over to Kickstarter right now to make a pledge, or to forward a note to a friend? I need to start building some momentum on the pledges right now. Next week I'll be getting word out to total strangers through some podcast interviews and other efforts. I'd like them to see that my project has some traction - I'd like them to see at least $1000 pledged already. I think that will encourage them to join in.

Oh, and I'd love to get your feedback. If there's anything about the campaign you think I should add or change, please let me know.

Thanks!!

Kickstarter Campaign Launches!

Hoo, boy - here we go! I've been putting this together all summer and today I finally launched my kickstarter campaign to raise the money to record my new science CD!

This is an ambitious project. I'm trying to raise $9,000! But I already have $235 in pledges, thanks to some very dear family and friends. If I can raise that much every day, I'll have it made!

I want to apologize in advance for the deluge of information you are about to endure. You may hear from me through facebook, twitter, this blog, other blogs, my email list, and any other way I can think of to get word out and keep people updated. Please bare with me; I'll try not to get too tedious about it!

I do want to ask one favor. If you are a fan who would normally purchase any new Monty Harper CD, please use the kickstarter site to go ahead and pre-order "Songs From the Science Frontier" as soon as you can. As my publicity efforts bring new people to the site over the next couple of weeks, I'd like them to see a campaign that's making good progress. I figure they'll be more likely to join in and contribute that way.

All you need to do is click the link below and follow instructions. You'll just be making a pledge; Your credit card won't be charged at all unless and until the fundraising goal is actually met. Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks so much for your support!!

Stillwater

We always love our day at home performing at the Stillwater Library! Here's our big stage in the program room:

We had three good-sized crowds today.

"Silly Song"

Here I'm walking around the room during "Library Bookaneers." See the killer whale? That's been around in the Stillwater Library since I first started doing library programs, 20 years back!

This is our niece, Laura. She's visiting from Georgia this week. She won't let us take a photo of her. Looks like Lisa captured one from a distance! I'm posting it here for your enjoyment and her annoyance.

Here I am after the first show posing with some of my youngest fans.

Were you at one of the Stillwater shows today? Send us your photos and we'll post em!

Ft. Gibson and Checotah

Thanks to everyone who sent feedback about the artwork. The poll seemed to be having some technical trouble, but it looks like option D won out, which was Lisa's favorite. When am I going to learn to just do what she says? She's always right.

Tomorrow I perform at the library here in Stillwater, Wednesday we'll be in McAlester, then Thursday I launch the Kickstarter campaign. I've been working hard on the pitch video. Getting excited about it!

Last Tuesday we were in Ft. Gibson and Checotah. Lisa took some great photos in Ft. Gibson, taking advantage of their fishy decor...

This little one really wanted to be on stage with me!

Checotah's program room was over the top - er, rather - under the water. Check out the yellow submarine. The kids are trying to submerge it by reading enough books by end of summer to weigh it down.

It's a stampede!

Check out our free song of the week, "Rock n Roll, Read All About It" on the Calendar Songs page.
Stay tuned and stay cool!

Can You Help Me Choose? (Poll is to the right)

Lisa and Evalyn have been helping me come up with the "cover art" for my upcoming campaign to raise the money to record my new science CD. (Coming July 8!)

The CD is called "Songs From the Science Frontier."

Again, this is not cover art for the CD, necessarily, but just something to represent the project to potential supporters on Kickstarter.com. (You can visit Kickstarter to see what other projects look like.)

Here's my original concept. I thought the text on the crate looked pretty cool.

Option A

Evalyn and Lisa didn't like it because they thought it wasn't science-y enough so I found some science looking items and put them around my head as if I were lost in the world of science.

Option B

They didn't like that either - unsupported objects flying around? They don't get me. Anyhow, Lisa suggested using the objects to make a border.

Option C

Finally, out of frustration, Lisa took the helm and came up with this one:

Option D

Then I thought, well maybe since my own photo will be available in the profile, that I didn't need to be in the picture, so I did this last one. Lisa and Evalyn haven't seen it yet. I'm afraid to show it to them.

Option E

Could you do us a favor, and vote for your favorite in the survey to the right? There is an option if you don't like any of them. Also, your specific comments and suggestions are more than welcome. Please post a comment here on my blog, or on Facebook, or send me an email.

Thanks!