After a long hiatus, I am back. Katryna has her hands full chasing a now sprinting Amelia (she has Patty to thank for that-- Patty recently taught Amelia the game of "I'm going to catch you!" at which point Amelia shrieks and runs as fast as she can in the other direction.) Nerissa is working hard on her "young adult" novel, This Town Is Wrong, in order to meet her deadline for Scholastic of mid-September. So here I am, once again, penning the newsletter.

You most certainly have wondered where I went. Perhaps daily, you have asked yourself, "Where is that Peter Quince character who always so delightfully informed us of goings on and all things Nields?" Well, I'm back to tell the tale. I was "let go" from my post as Official Boss a few years ago. Something about people skills. Patty relegated me to affixing stamps onto mass mailings, and just to spite me, she made me buy the kind of stamps you have to lick. I then developed a severe allergy to stamp goo and actually became addicted to it. I stole money from the Nields coffers to make my secret runs to the Post Office at five minutes to eight, first thing every morning to buy out as many of the lickable stamp sheets as I could. (Not many people are aware this, but the USPO is actually PHASING OUT lickable stamps.) Thus cognizant, I have been collecting and hoarding my stash. When I was deepest into my "sheets," I was visiting five post offices per day. (The staff in Belchertown were on to me, I think.) One day Lori caught me completely wasted and drooling in a corner of the Bulletproof offices and I was immediately sent to rehab. From there, I took a pilgrimage to Dharamsala and then to a small Amish farm in eastern Ohio where I've spent the last six months being of use testing the rockers on rocking chairs. Now, with my fresh perspective, I am ready and able to be of service to those dear Nields girls I love so well.

Nerissa and Katryna reunited with Dave Chalfant and Dave Hower to perform as Moxy Fruvous in the annual Transperformance in Northampton, covering "River Valley" and "King Of Spain." Except for some initial confusion about the melody, they did a fine job.

The PBS show, Egg the Art Show, featuring Nerissa and Katryna, will air October 18th, 2002 . The show will air at different times in different location. It airs at 10pm in NYC, to check local listings...log onto www.pbs.org/egg

Our kids are doing a bunch of north east shows, most notably, Nerissa & Katryna's first appearance at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, CT on Sept 6, Harvest Moon Folk Festival Warwick Valley Winery & Orchards-Warwick, NY on Sept 14...pick apples while you listen to music! Saturday, Oct 05at the Iron Horse Music Hall-Northampton, MA, always a special show. Sanders Theater in Cambridge, MA, with Tracy Grammer, Christine Lavin and Julie Gold. Many more fabulous shows are listed below in the fall tour schedule.

Other notes:

• Nerissa's written a lot of new songs. She and Katryna will sing them for you.
• Nerissa and Katryna met their heroine, Buffy Sainte-Marie at the Ottawa Folk Festival and almost died from joy. Her record, Coincidences and Likely Stories is one of their all time faves. They fawned all over her. It was embarrassing.
• In order to save water, they may not bathe as often. I apologize for them in advance and advise you to wear nose plugs to their shows.*
• You may notice they are doing some shows with Felix McTeigue. He's a particular favorite of mine. Dave Chalfant also recently produced his CD.

See you at the shows. I'll be the one with the pierced ears and the tee shirt.

Sincerely,
Peter Quince

PS Patty wants you to know she thinks Peter Quince is still on stamp goo.

PPS Patty wants you to know that the joke about them not bathing is funny because they are superstitious freaks about personal hygiene and think it's terrible bad luck to do a show more than 12 hours after their last showers.

© 2002, reproduced with permission