Spring is here along with a life-changing pandemic, so Lisa (me) is back posting, continuing to document the life of this kid rock band and occasionally musing on all sorts of things.

It’s been a while since my last post (4 years!!), and it’s also true that time seems to be passing too quickly. Maybe it’s part of the getting older thing, I don’t know. Milkshake has been together as a musical force for 18 years, and sometimes we look at ourselves and shake our heads at the wonder that this band is. We’ve had so many great adventures – some of them documented in this blog – and created great music for kids. Needless to say, the band taken a few years off from creating new music, but we are excited to work on new music and record in the coming months.

Right now, it’s a strange and dangerous time for everyone. The Covid 19 pandemic is not only scaring us, but it’s keeping us and our little ones out of school and away from friends. The Milkshake band is staying apart from one another – no rehearsals, no shows. We text a lot and think about the Christmas album we were/are planning on doing. I also miss the classes I was working with through Wolf Trap and Young Audiences of Maryland. But even though this is a trying time, if we look at it in a different light and as long as we stay home and stay well – it can be a time of creative coming together and reaching out (virtually).

Many of my teaching artist friends are experimenting with making virtual lesson plans through Padlet, Jumprope or other online creative platform. I myself have tried to create something teachers and caregivers might enjoy – a “Bluebird Tutorial” showing how to do the gestures for our song “Bluebird.”

It’s amazing how creative humans can be when there is time – time we don’t normally have. We are so busy doing this and that and taking care of all kinds of things that now suddenly don’t need taking care of. Time. Time to spend with family and loved ones we inhabit the same space with. Time to spend with our selves to read or write that book, paint that wall or canvas, try that new recipe or tend to that growing garden.

I have always taken the adage “Time is Money” to heart. Many of us have lost work and we’re all worried about having enough money to get by. But one thing we all have is time. I am basking in it. I have updated the Milkshakekids youtube channel that has been neglected for years. Now, most videos you click on will be clear and in HD. Please visit www.youtube.com/milkshakekids and subscribe if you haven’t done so already. We will be posting new videos as we make them, along with some old ones I’ve found.

I’ve also reworked our very old website, and it looks a lot different now! But it’s much easier to update and add to, and features working links to everything Milkshake. It was especially gratifying gathering pictures for a gallery page, and adding all the music from our five award-wining CDs for kids.

It was poignant saying goodbye to our site of 14 years, featuring our younger selves jumping in glee. Initially, our images on the home page actually moved in an old program called Flash, but that soon fell away as most web browsers stopped using that. Thanks to the folks at Mission Media for capturing the Milkshake joy so well.

The new site is full of photos, videos, music and information, with a easy-to-use Shows page, and downloadable photo album. We’ve also added a Schools and Libraries page for the work that Lisa and Mikel do as a duo, and Lisa does as a teaching artist.

I think the new site reflects the band as we are now, and hints at the albums to come. Look for a Christmas album in time for the holidays, which hopefully will be Covid 19-free. And as long as we can get into a studio together as a band, there’ll also be a new album release in 2021.

It’s okay to be apart for a while, as long as we know we can come together again in coming months. We hope you stay safe and well, and we see everyone again on the other side of this.

Hugs,

Lisa and the Milkshake band