Catherine profile picture

Catherine

Let the beauty we love be what we do. --Rumi

About Me

I am a song-singin' music-makin' booty-shakin' lover of life. I am in a few musical projects I am loving every minute of: Maid*Rite, an all-gal malt-country band (I sing, write songs, sweet talk, and play spoons, guitar, drums and tambo); Forbidden Fruit Snacks, a racy fun folk duet, (lots of vocal harmonies and ukulele). In addition, I am a host the Chippewa Chapel Open Mic Night, which takes place every Thursday at Off Broadway here in St Louis. Friends, especially the ladies, please come out and share your talents. Can't wait to see you!I love to dance to live music. I have studied bellydancing/Middle Eastern dance since 1997.Some kind friends at www.myspace.com/kitchen_music let me record my song Untitled in their kitchen. Yummy fun! Look here http://www.youtube.com/v/NTIZ9EmdzpcPlease come see my bands, dance freely, and do say hello!

My Interests

survival. breathing. spending constructive and relaxing time with my wonderful family and friends of all ages. music. my bands. life in St Louis, Missouri. life everywhere. travel. teaching and learning. helping make the party happen. all kinds of dance, singing and playing guitar, dancing to drums. caring for my young baby-friends. cooking, baking, sharing food with friends. potlucks. wire sculpture. frisbee. photgraphy. water. love, in all its sweet and savory manifestations.

I'd like to meet:

Friends who want to cook and eat good food together, delighting in the joy of the company and the wonderful community breaking bread together brings. Yep. Teachers, students, music-makers, frisbee-players. Bellydancers, doulas, healers. People who love what they do. I want to meet people who know that happiness is a choice, and then choose it. I'd like to meet people who love to dance to live music. Let's go!

Music:

Maid*Rite and Forbidden Fruit Snacks (of course!) *Live music*, especially for dancing. All kinds, good time, old time, music from around the world. Gillian Welch, Europa, Simon and Garfunkel, Hossam Ramzy, Rivermen, The Ditty Bops, Heavy Weather, Indigo Girls, Haley Bonar, Hazel Dickens, Celia, Stacy Earle, Ann Tkatch, Alice Gerard, Be Good Tanyas, Luncinda Williams, the everybodyfields, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Bad Folk, John Denver, Natalie Merchant, Carter Family, Pink Floyd, Willie Nelson, Hamza el Din, Raquy and the Cavemen, Uncle Earl, Clarence and Armolee Green, Bill Monroe, Louvin Brothers, Bad Livers, Hank Williams Sr, Johnny Cash, Folk Uke, anything with vocal harmonies, especially by women. Funk whenever I can get it. Did I mention drums? Drums. Excuse me, I have to dance.

Movies:

Maid*Rite documentary by Kristy Guttmann "You Can Call Me Sweetheart", Brief History of Time, Stretch by Sue Zeilstra, MASH, Fast Cheap and Out of Control, all the Coen brothers' work, the Pather Panchali trilogy, Somewhere in Time, foreign films, documentaries!

Television:

Have lived happily and more productively without one for five years.

Books:

Thesaurus, big dictionaries, atlas. My StL street guide. How to. NYTimes. The Creative Habit, Too Loud a Solitude, The Westing Game, Sula, Ayn Rand, EM Forster, The Awakening, Survival in Auschwitz, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Art of Pilgrimage, George and Martha, A Woman On Paper: letters of Georgia O'Keeffe, Like Water for Chocolate, Tao Te Ching, Rebecca, HP, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, all the Little House books. I used to get in trouble in school for reading all the time instead of doing my homework, but now I just don't get into trouble. Much. Now reading letters of Martha Gellhorn--from StL, journalist, traveller.

Heroes:

everyone who has encouraged my travels, Helen Keller, Anne Frank, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Loretta Lynn, Corrie ten Boom, Margaret Sanger, Frank Zappa, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder, Charles and Ray Eames, Rumi, Ann Haubrich, Ellen Raskin, Martha Gellhorn, Peg Morris, every woman I know making music, my parents Sandra Lee and Greg, and my brothers

My Blog

My Family Tradition: The Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee, last weekend in April

Influenced by the childhood absence of both pagan and Christian holidays, my brothers and I are creating our own family traditions. One of these newly-established family traditions centers a...
Posted by Catherine on Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:50:00 PST

And I keep getting richer and I *finally* got my picture on the cover of...

...the St Louis Public Schools website! www.slps.org It only gets better from here.  Yeah!
Posted by Catherine on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:20:00 PST

Published! in St Louis Sound Magazine, March 2007

Chippewa Chapel: Find Salvation Here!   by Catherine Kustelski     This Thursday, I'm doing what I have done so many Thursdays for the past few yearshanging out with the music fans and...
Posted by Catherine on Sun, 11 Mar 2007 08:49:00 PST

To quote Angelique Kudjo, "I am in heaven."

Heaven, yes it is. Bruk called me tonight to tell me that Maid*Rite is opening for the Ditty Bops at Mad Art Gallery on July 28. To see if I could make the date. (!) The Ditty Bops are *only* the bes...
Posted by Catherine on Wed, 28 Jun 2006 10:27:00 PST

Finally, a place to post all my obscure accolades!

Kindergarten: One of three kids in my class who knew how to read. Gina, Roger and I got to go to the library independently while the other kids had to stay in class.1st grade: Suggested an impromptu F...
Posted by Catherine on Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:19:00 PST