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February 7, 2006: Not to make a totally different sort of "blog" out of this page or anything like that, but a couple of things have been bothering us around here. Every time gasoline prices spike, we still get all those emails sent out to large numbers of people by well meaning people which get copied and sent on to more, larger numbers of people by more well meaning people, saying that what we should do to get back at the oil companies for charging us so much for gasoline and making such obscene profits is to boycott them for one day, usually with a suggested date given. Huh? The suggestion is NOT to refrain from driving for that one day, mind you, but simply to avoid going to the gas station and buying gasoline. Now, we don't pretend to know everything, but if everyone whose tank was almost empty were to refrain from buying gas on Thursday, doesn't it follow that all those people would need to buy the same amount of gas or more on Friday? So where's the big hurt to the oil companies? Where are the savings? No one's using less fuel, just buying it on a different day – and the price probably went up in the meantime. We think that it would make more sense to drive 55 or 60 MPH instead of 75 or 80. Now if everyone did that, THAT would make a difference that the oil companies would feel. Not to mention the planet. Try leaving a little earlier and driving at more reasonable speeds. You might get to like it. You see more of the scenery, it's less stressful, there's time to listen to a few more tunes, and there's this great feeling of satisfaction that you're really doing something positive for the planet, not to mention your wallet!

The other thing is these "phishing" emails that come in all the time trying to get us to go to some fake bank or store website and enter our personal information so they can steal our identities and/or empty our bank accounts. Of course we all know by now that the supposed right thing to do is to just delete these messages and feel superior for knowing that we are not the sucker-phish that these "phishers" are "phishing" for. But is that really the best thing to do? What if we all clicked on the phony links and went to those phony web sites and entered a bunch of phony but plausible sounding information? Now if everyone did that, THAT might cause a few of these  #&*@%s ("jerks") so much grief that they might have to go try to find honest work. That's it - send 'em on so many wild-goose-chases that it's not worth the trouble for them to keep trying to find the real suckers anymore. Hee hee heeeee... 

Well, that's enough ranting and raving for one day. Thanks for letting us get it off our chests. Now go forth and save the universe! Become Phishers of Phishers! Take some music along. Until next time, have fun, live well, take chances.

February 6, 2006: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans," as the line goes, or something like that. Thank you, John Lennon. While Ed was trying to find musicians for his "Cheeque" project, he came across a group of musicians who were already busy putting together something similar, and decided to try out for their band. The result is now a new band called "The Tribs" consisting of some of the finest Rock and Funk musicians in the RI area, doing various covers and originals, carrying the torch of classic Rock, Blues, Funk, and Soul to a venue near you very soon. Guitarist Tom "TC" Carley, founder of "Soundbox Studios" (another very exciting project! Click on the link and check it out.) is lending his singing and playing as well as writing talents, along with bassist Michael DiPippo, drummer Dave Mastrifino, and percussionist/singer Rob Theroux, now keyboardist/singer Ed Rashed, and maybe, just maybe, a very talented singer from Texas by the name of River. This will eventually be a much larger band, with a horn section and backup singers; but for now the core group is in place and starting to put together some fine arrangements. Everyone around here is very excited that these diverse talents have come together for this project, and we think you will agree when you hear the results!

December 21, 2005: Greetings of the Holiday Season from us here in chilly Southern New England to all, everywhere, on this too cold, too short, bright Solstice day. At least from now on the light will be increasing, the days longer if not warmer just yet – Brr. The Patriots are headed to the playoffs, Johnny Damon is headed for the Yankees and a haircut– blowing his own horn very loudly all the way, and Big Treehouse Records is headed towards a new experimental strategy for some upcoming releases. Hey, we can blow our own horn, too. While we are still looking into coordinating one sweeping uniform drop in the prices of the remaining CDs on the various web sites, we are also looking into releasing the next album of Ed Rashed tunes (and a few cover songs) as a Digital Only collection. Download the songs and artwork to your computer and iPod, eliminate the "middle man" (the physical CD) and burn your own disc if you want one. Links, previews, artwork, and lyrics will be published here at BigTreehouse.com/EdRashed.com. What do you think? There are so many not-quite-cooked-yet songs here in the Big Treehouse vaults, just waiting for a reason to get finished, polished, and uploaded to CD Baby, iTunes, and other sites for digital distribution, including "Nina, I'm On My Knees," "The Storm," "Shady Back Streets," "She Shakes And She Rattles, But She Rolls," and "Listen To The Roses." There is also a collection of Ed's more "serious" piano, orchestra, and chamber works like "Fanfare – For The Age Of Discovery," "Butterfly Encore," "Waltz Of The Three Legged Cat," and many others. Stay tuned! Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, and a peaceful, healthy and happy New Year to all.

Quick update: Prices at CDBaby.com and other vendors should now be listed as $9.95 per CD, and don't forget CDBaby's 20% discount on the sale of 2 or more of the same title. Not bad. Consider that when you buy the CD, you are getting uncompressed audio, plus all the lyrics, credits, artist commentary, and artwork that come with the package. It's still the best deal.

August 27, 2005: Many thanks to Veenix Software, the Funky Monkey Lounge, and their Music Thing widget, for their listing of Big Treehouse web site with a very nice mention on their Music News. If you are a music fan, and are running version 10.4 of OS X, a.k.a. "Tiger," be sure to go to their site, check out their software offerings, and download their free Music Thing widget for keeping up with all kinds of mainstream and off-the-beaten-path music news, including links to tiny little independents like us! Oh, and if you live in New York City, or are planning a visit there, you should also check out their Only New York widget. Great stuff.

July 7, 2005: This is a special invitation to check out the "Independent Artists" page if you haven't lately. There are some interesting new links there. Special mention should be made of the link to the Tim Ware Group. It is just amazing that this band has not gotten more attention than it has. Wonderful fusion of Classical and Jazz, played on string instruments. Even more amazing is that the music is now being given away - free Mp3 files. Almost every cut from the groups two early 80s releases is offered, and you can even download PDFs of the sheet music. Find the link to the newer material too. Bottom line is that this is excellent music. Go ahead, enjoy some yummy freebies. 

June 22, 2005: As CD sales have come grinding to a crawl this year, online sales at iTunes Music Store and other digital distributors have picked up some of the slack. You can get a whole CD for 10 bucks there, after all, or just a few favorite tunes for 99 cents each. Oh well, what will we do with all these CDs? Almost half of the last printing is still in stock, and we already have enough coasters. Sure, sure, we've been threatening a price reduction for a while, and we promise to do that soon, but now we're thinking something much more drastic than what was originally planned - we have to beat iTunes, after all. What do you think? Half price? $5 per CD? Free? Alright, don't get carried away. Let us think about it. But not for too long, we promise.

August 17, 2004: Well, we've finally gotten fully digitized! See our notice here. Sorry, the freebies had to go, but the new digital audio files at places like iTunes and Napster are so much better, and so reasonable, too. Check it out!
 

June 5, 2004: There is a new review published of Wrong Side Of The Door and it has mostly good things to say. Written by CDReviews.com critic Joel Dunham. We have added a snippet and a couple of links from the Reviews page, or you can click directly to it  here. Thanks Joel, for "getting it!" Not sure how long this will last, but it is the first CD on the main page for now. Gosh.
 

March 31, 2004: Today we signed up for digital distribution of all our songs with the help of our favorite CD vendor, CDBaby.com. We are hoping to have all our tunes available at several World Wide Web locations including iTunes and the new Napster. We will tell you more and make all the new links available as we learn the details. It's safe to say that the full song downloads will only be available here at no cost for a little while longer. The good news is that every song will soon be available for download. The cost to download should be around a dollar per song. Welcome to the digital age.

Along with this change, we are planning to cut the prices of the CDs themselves. So, for less than that dollar per song, you will be able to get the full package with the much higher resolution CD audio, plus the graphics, lyrics booklet, and all that good stuff the comes with the physical CD.

Sad to say we have found it necessary to remove the shopping cart links to CDStreet.com, but we have replaced them with an on-site shopping cart which now links to CDBaby. It is unfortunate that CDStreet has not found the time to fix a very simple problem for us, namely that their database does not seem to accurately reflect the actual physical inventory of Big Treehouse Records CDs that our records indicate they should have. Frankly, we have gotten better service at the local Wendy's than we have been getting from CDStreet. All of this comes after a change of ownership there last year. Seems the original owners forgot to tell the new owners that bit about the customers being the patrons and the employees being the liabilities of any business...

Our condolences go out to the family of Tony Colonna, son of our long time friend and co-writer Bob Colonna. Tony died suddenly this past Saturday after being taken ill at his home in California. Our hearts go out to his two children, Michael and Sydney, his brother Joe, and especially to our friend Bob. Just a week before, Bob was burned out of his apartment here in Providence.
 

March 30, 2004:  Ah, can you feel what the March wind has blown in? Changes, always changes. One era in Ed's musical career is coming to an end, and a new era is beginning. After three and a half years, Ed is leaving the band Wayz & Means, doing just a few final gigs in April, then bidding farewell to an excellent, fun band, and some friends for life made there.

And what's this? A new band is in the making, and a unique one it will be. The plans are already in motion for Ed's new band, to be called Cheeque (pronounced "cheek"). Cheeque's repertoire will consist of  "One of a kind Novelties, Stupid Songs, and One Hit Wonders done with all due respect! Stupid songs from the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, Stupid songs from the 60s,70s, 80s and 90s, One Stupid Song after Another." You get the picture? Cheeque is going to be a lot of fun for the band and for the audience. Lots of smiles on the dance floor. Look for Cheeque, coming soon to a club or party near you (if you live in Southern New England.)

If it gets warm enough to open the windows soon, maybe you'll be able to hear them rehearsing: "Wooly Bully-y-y-y...Wooly Bully. Watch it now, watch it now, here he comes..."
 

March 15, 2004:  Spring is almost here, and a busy time of year it promises to be. Ed has ordered new digital audio software and a new soundcard for his Mac, which will make it easier to make better demos, something that is long overdue. After being a pioneer with MIDI back in the 80s, Ed pretty much decided that the old set-up would serve just fine until something really radically better came along. Famous last words. Better late than never, there is going to be some serious woodshedding around here for a few months while we get used to working with a state-of-the-art Digital Audio Workstation. Happy Spring.
 

February 14, 2004:  Greetings, and love to you all on this chilly Valentine's Day. The witch hazel bushes will be in bloom soon, just to tease us with a taste of Spring.

There seems to be something amiss with the new owners of CDStreet.com. They just don't do business with the same care and personal touch as the original owners. Too bad. Without going into much detail about it, let's just say that once our current inventory of Big Treehouse CDs has been sold from CDStreet, we will probably not renew our contract with them. CDs will still be available at the other listed outlets.

Coming soon, CD specials, CD giveaway contests, perhaps even a permanent price cut of colossal proportions on Big Book Of Love and Wrong Side Of The Door. We plan on doing all we can to clear out the remaining CD stock to make room for (Fanfare, Please!) a future release. Check back here for details in a few weeks to see if we have gotten the details worked out yet.

Keep in touch!
 

December 12, 2003:  Check out these new illustrations for Ed's children's book The Tickle Trees. They were done by Virginia artist  Christina Rodriguez. See more of her work at her web site here.

Some notes about the business of domain names - We have quietly re-acquired our original domain name,  www.EdRashed.com. And no, we did not pay the pirates who stole it one cent. They ate it, the curs, after so kindly offering to shake us down for just $800 (and politely turning down our counter-offer of $8.) The only price we paid was being without it for a little over a year and having to ask all our kind friends around the web to redirect their links to  www.BigTreehouse.com and  www.EdRashed.net. Most of them did so without delay, and those few (Thanks a lot, Mikey) who never got around to it, well, you can just leave it the way it is now, and the old link will work. All of the above addresses bring you right here to the same web site. By the way, according to the latest count, over 180 web sites now link to us here.

We have also acquired the new domain name www.Rashed.us, and for the present time, that domain name will also point to this site. In the future, however, there may be other ideas to consider for a new web site using that domain name. We're thinking about it.
 

November 17, 2003:  One of the things that makes having a personal website worth all the work and the expense is the visibility it provides. This month we have heard from three old friends who found us by searching on the internet and then emailing. Makes it all worthwhile, even the amount of "spam" we get as a result of having an email address published on the WWW.

So we say again: keep in touch. We love hearing from you! And we will write back.

A couple of revisions have been made to the Independent Artists page, and soon will be made to the Links, Audio, and Bio pages. Things change. Evolution marches on.

Speaking of change, Mp3.com has been bought out and their pages will be gone in early December, including Ed Rashed's page. The three songs available there are also available at IUMA.com, so we're not going to lose much sleep over it. Mergers, buyouts, acquisitions, - things change!  Who are we to stand in the way of progress?

Well, the Home page is going to be a little shorter - no more Featured Artist box. But the Artist pages are still there - all the musicians, tech people, and graphic artists. The list is on the Site Map and Contact pages, and all the Artist pages link to one another in a series, so check out all the good people who worked on Ed's CDs. Each of their roles was indispensable to the overall project, and that's why they are featured. Ed is considered an Independent artist, but "independent" is a relative term.

September 23, 2003:  On this first day of fall, we greet you all, hoping that you are well. People in the Middle-Atlantic states are cleaning up after a hit from Hurricane Isabel. We in the Ocean State only got a brushing of wind, rain, and heavy surf. But Ed was out there with his camera, trying to get some good shots of the high surf at Beavertail Point and at Point Judith. The biggest problem, he says, was keeping the salt mist off the lens of his camera. Well, the photos are back from the lab and there are some that may someday make it to a CD cover, who knows?

Can you tell it's been a slow summer for news?

On a more verbal front, Ed is working on a couple of new children's books, and trying to get some agents and publishers interested. On the music front, some new songs are being tweaked and honed, getting geared up for some new recording sessions - as soon as we feel that we have enough to fill a new CD.

For the present, we are keeping the Graphics Team up as the "Featured Artists." Dana and Rick deserve it! After another month or so, we'll be bidding the feature a fond farewell, having featured almost all of the good people who worked on the CDs.

The web site is approaching the number 25,000 on the home page counter. It's hard to say exactly what that translates into, in terms of the actual number of people who have seen the site. The counter counts multiple hits from the same visitor, every time he or she goes back to the home page - it's a simple counter, after all. We know one thing, though: A lot of people have been here, more than we ever could have hoped for in our little musical enterprise, and we hope to see you all back on a regular basis to see and hear what's new!

Keep in touch. We love hearing from you.
 
 

August 21, 2003:  The Summer of 2003 has turned out to be a hot and humid one in the Northeastern USA, and Mars is the brightest feature in the sky after the sun and moon. Since Mars was the god of war, do you think that this closest approach of the "war planet" in 20,000 years has anything to do with all the violence that has broken out in the world lately? What about the violent weather some areas are experiencing? Well, we don't know. But we know that the world could probably use less of all that, and more music! We'll get to work on that.

Speaking of getting to work, Ed advertised for an illustrator for his first Children's book "The Tickle Trees" and has gotten an incredible response from a number of excellent illustrators. Big Treehouse Publishing may be the next big project around here. We'll keep you posted.

Keep cool.
 

July 10, 2003:  Summer has arrived. No complaints about the heat, now!

Here's your chance to check out the team of artists who put together the excellent packages for Ed's CDs. The photos were taken from Ed Rashed's own archives, the portrait of Ed was taken by Dana Gumley, who also did those wonderful drawings on the lyric pages, and it was all put together by Rick Couto - see and learn more on the Artists Series - Graphics Team page. Kudos and thanks again to Dana and Rick for their wonderful work.

The Origen And Friends compilation CD Conquest Of Paradise is now out and copies are available by clicking on the Origen link. Although the CD has been released in Russia and Ukraine, it is available through some North American distributors. The two Ed Rashed ballads on this collection are a nice contrast to the mostly up-tempo dance-y and trance-y selections on the CD. And there is also that wonderful, rich sounding chorus, the "Chamber Choir 'Kyiv'" singing on the title track. Quite a mix. Congratulations to Alexsey Zakharenko of "Origen" for putting it all together, and thanks for including two of Ed's songs.

Best wishes from Ed and Big Treehouse Records. We hope you are having a great summer. Take some time off! We will be doing so. And we hope to have the Big Treehouse Band back together for some rehearsals and brush-up sessions soon, getting ready for some local showcases by the end of Summer. New songs on the list are: "Nina, I'm On My Knees," "Listen To The Roses," "Shady Back Streets," "The Storm," "Misunderestimate," and some other new arrivals! Cheers.
 

May 24, 2003:  An unrelenting winter persists in refusing to relent as we enter Memorial Day weekend with temps in the 40s and 50s. Where's Global Warming when we need it? Just kidding. Today we change over to Mike Sartini as our current "Featured Artist" - Mike is a talented musician and contributed much to Ed's sessions with his solid percussion work. Patrons of Rhode Island's renowned Theater By The Sea will get a chance to see and hear Mike in action - IF SUMMER EVER GETS HERE! More about Mike - click here.

The Origen And Friends compilation CD Conquest Of Paradise is close to release in Russia and Ukraine, and will include Ed's "Song Of Love" and "Few That Know Me Well" (aka "Waltz Of The Lost Partner." We expect our copies here within a week or two and will let you know how you can get yours.
 

April 18, 2003:  As this long winter grinds on into the spring, we look forward to coming out of hibernation! One guy who loves the warmer weather and sunshine is our latest "Featured Artist" - Jack Ezikovich. Jack may win the prize as the guy who played on more tracks than anyone else (except Ed, that is.) He's a great drummer and we look forward to having him on stage with The Big Treehouse Band soon for some local nights out. Read a little bit about Jack here.

There's a musician from Egypt, currently living in California, named Rashed Elyas. He sings in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and who knows what other languages. Anyway, we came across him on an internet search and thought we should get in touch to see if he and Ed are cousins. Actually, they're not, but it's spooky because Ed Rashed's father's name was Elias. Son of Elias Rashed, meet Rashed Elyas. Check out his music here.
 
 

March 18, 2003: Our "Featured Artist" for the next month or so will be Joe Potenza. Joe's excellent and varied contributions to Ed's recording project simply cannot be measured. He played bass on most of the tunes, and also had some great ideas that helped influence the way all of the musicians played. Listen to the bass line on "Love In Action," for example, and you'll get an idea of the kinds of things Joe comes up with. We should also mention that the instrument on some of the jazz flavored tunes, like "A Taste Of Your Love" and "She Walks In Three Four Time" is not a stand up bass, even though it sounds like one. All of Joe's bass tracks were recorded using his extensive collection of electric basses. If you want to know more, visit his page here and send him an e-mail. He'll be glad to tell you all about it.

News of more airplay for Ed's tunes on the Ragwagon project keeps rolling in, thanks to Red Riley's tireless efforts. The latest was a spin of Ed, Gilby, and Bobby Burk's great tune "Swingin' On A Hula Moon," from DJ Dale R. Gowin at WXXE in Syracuse. Great station. Here's a link to the web site where you can hear a live stream from anywhere!

Today, more than ever, we hope, pray, and proclaim for Peace in the world.
 

February 25, 2003: Tonight we will be enjoying a bit of airplay from the great state of Pennsylvania. Otto Bost will be hosting his show "Acoustic Eclectic" from 7-9 PM on 88.1 and 93.9, WDIY-FM out of Allentown. Tune in if you are in the area, and if you're not, you can hear it streaming from the web by pointing your browser to WDIY.org and clicking on "Listen." Thanks, Otto! Here's his e-mail so you can thank him yourself, or request more.
 

February 22, 2003: The news of the deadly fire at The Station in West Warwick, RI arrives here, and like everyone else, we are shocked, bewildered, and saddened by the news of all this terrible loss. Ed has received calls and e-mails from friends and family who wanted to make sure he was safe and sound, because many of them knew that he had played on that very stage. When Ed first joined Wayz & Means, The Station was one of the first gigs on the schedule, and until quite recently, the Wayz & Means web site had a banner link to The Station's web site. In addition, many friends, family and musicians we know frequented the club. Rhode Island is a small state in more ways than one, and almost everyone here is bound to know, directly or indirectly, someone who was there on the fateful night of February 20, 2003. As our hearts go out to the victims, survivors, and families, please allow us to offer these lines from Ed's song "Helping Hand" -

We are all connected in so many different ways together . . .

And if at once we saw the ties that bind us all the sight would blind us

      Everybody needs a helping hand - Everybody needs a friend
      Everybody needs to be the one with a helping hand to lend
      Sometimes you need a helping hand - sometimes you need a friend
      Sometimes you can be the one, you see, with a helping hand to lend.
 
 

February 10, 2003: The latest "Featured Artist" is guitarist Dave Tanury, who worked on the great majority of songs on Big Book and Wrong Side. Close your eyes and point to any song title, and chances are Dave will be right in there, doing what he's been doing for so many years - writing the book on how to make an electric guitar sing, and a musical phrase soar. Wow. We could go on and on about how much Dave's personal stamp helped bring so many of these songs to life, and it still wouldn't be enough. Just listen! Thanks, Dave.

The shopping cart and "Buy" buttons are all set up for a direct line to our CDStreet shopping cart. This is a trade off, but we think it's worth it. It does favor one vendor over all the others, but it also eliminates 4 or 5 steps in the process, making it that much more painless to buy a CD or two. Try it out. Buy a set for a friend. It's ok - we'll make more! Those who wish to choose a vendor other than CDStreet can still shop around, and that's ok with us, too.
 

January 29, 2003: Ed Rashed's CDs  Big Book Of Love and Wrong Side Of The Door have been available on-line at CDStreet.com, CDBaby.com, earBuzz.com, and Amazon.com since early in 2002. A little less than a year later, and now we can add BORDERS.COM, CDNOW.COM, TARGET.COM, VIRGINMEGA.COM, and WALDENBOOKS.COM to the list. That about covers the globe! Through on-line distribution like this, Ed Rashed songs have been heard on every continent of Planet Earth except for Antarctica, and we are working on that! Not bad for an independent label with nothing but a couple of frayed pockets for resources!

Changes are afoot - we are planning to add new "Shopping Cart" style buttons and page soon, where you can purchase CDs securely through CDStreet with just a couple of clicks, eliminating any cumbersome surfing in between.

A new page with links to lots of other independent artists is ready, the "Independent Artist Links" page. We will be exchanging links and banners with some very interesting artists from around the world, and we hope you take advantage of the opportunity to get to know a few of them through here.

The "Lyrics" page now has complete lyrics to every song on the first two CDs, even "Dog Tune" - check it out. This is the only place where you can get the true, authentic, uncensored lyrics to "Dog Tune."

Contracts have arrived from Ukraine to license 2 Ed Rashed songs for distribution on a compilation CD for distribution mostly in Ukraine and Russia. The songs are "Song Of Love" and "Few That Know Me Well." Wow! We could be huge in Ukraine! And Russia! Fantastic. The new CD will be offered through this site, too. It will be titled "Origen & Friends - Conquest of Paradise - 2003" (Also see update below for November 25, 2002.)

Ed is learning how to sign his name in Russian.
 

January 21, 2003: "Fan mail" is not exactly an everyday thing here at such a small indie label as Big Treehouse Records, but we do love it when we get some, and answer it very faithfully! A friend from Iowa City, Iowa, has written an e-mail to ask why we have not printed the lyrics to some of the works-in-progress that have been mentioned. She is intrigued by a couple of the titles. The best answer is that the lyrics are never completely set until the recordings are made, and we are not even sure which songs will ever make it to the next CD - so we hesitate to print them prematurely... but we'll think about it. A sincere thanks, Evelyn, for your interest. Watch for additions on the "Lyrics" page, and perhaps a new page with works-in-progress.
 

January 14, 2003: The new Artist of the Month is Bob Colonna , who co-wrote "Ukulele Ragtime Blues" with Red Riley and Ed. The Ragwagon version of this song (which is not the same as Ed's mix of the same song, even though it was Ragwagon playing on the recording) was recently aired on Boston's WGBH 89.7 by Dick Pleasants on his Saturday afternoon "Folk Heritage" program. Then, in the course of Mr Pleasants' glowing commentary on the new Ragwagon CD, the song "Sticky Boiled Beans" was also mentioned. Of course, Bob Colonna was responsible for that song too, albeit in a slightly less direct way. Get to know more by reading his page on the Artists Series right here, and in Red's liner notes for "Sticky Boiled Beans" at the Ragwagon website, or on the Ragwagon CD itself. Oh, and don't forget to listen to the songs, as long as you're there! They're a hoot!
 

December 19, 2002: This is a simple, quiet acknowledgement of the One Year Anniversary of the "Music By Ed Rashed" Big Treehouse Records Official Website. December 15th, 2001 was the actual launch date, and December 19th was the day we started counting "hits" on the Home Page (getting very close to 10,000 as we roll into the new year!) After a rough start, and a lot of work to get things working smoothly, we think we have come a long way with our site, and we hope you enjoy each and every visit here. We certainly love to see you! Must be the new hair.

Big News - you heard it here! The Ragwagon Band's long awaited, breathlessly anticipated debut CD is out at last! Raise The Flags, Make Straight The Paths, Light The Bonfires, and Loose The Hounds. Excellent, fun stuff, featuring the work of (who else?) The Ragwagon Band, which is Red Riley, Gilby Hager, Amy Anderson, Dave Anderson, and Ed Rashed, as well as others whose work you may be familiar with from their work on Ed's own CDs. Turn that spotlight on! This CD is well worth the LEGENDARY wait - a waiting period of practically geological dimensions, a waiting period during which the name of the label was actually changed to "Eventual Records." Hey, do these guys have a sense of humor or what! See it, hear it, get your very own copy at the Ragwagon Store - HERE.
 

December 10, 2002: The Oasis Country Sampler, Volume 3 has been released, with the song "Do Me In Again" from Wrong Side Of The Door. "Do Me In Again" is one of our favorites around here, with many thanks due to David Tanury's hot guitar work on the tune. We hope you give it a listen soon, whether it's for the first time or for a refresher. David will be our featured artist in a few months, but starting today . . .

Our latest featured artist is Amy Anderson, vocalist, artist, actress, writer, photographer, magician, healer, alchemist, wife, mother, homemaker, philosopher, inspiration, lifelong participant in and promoter of the arts, and of course, nuclear physicist and volunteer firefighter in her spare time. Just kidding. Amy's newly polished "Artist" page went up today, linked from the Home page, Contact page, and this page, all just in time for Amy's talented daughter, Sophia's 13th birthday. So, happy birthday, Sophia, and congratulations, Amy. If one wants to know exactly what Amy did on Ed's CDs, just pick one up, go to the song list, close your eyes and point; chances are better than good that Amy either sang on that song, or was involved in some other way. Thanks, Amy, for all the excellent work. Amy will take us through the rest of this year, and then next month, husband Dave Anderson will be featured. Talented household!
 

November 25, 2002: Something is brewing in the Ukraine: a new compilation CD is in the works for distribution in Ukraine and Russia. Mr Alexsey Zakharenko, from Kiev, Ukraine, has contacted Big Treehouse Records for permission to use Ed's "Song Of Love" and perhaps other tunes on this proposed CD, and we are working out the details now. In the meantime, he has posted photos and links on his website (In English) and you can get a preview by clicking HERE.
 

November 18, 2002: Dana's Drawings - Now on display - a gallery of some of the drawings by Dana Gumley that were used to illustrate the inside pages of the CDs Big Book Of Love and Wrong Side Of The Door. Here's a direct link there - CLICK.

November 10, 2002: The featured artist at BigTreehouse.com for the next month or so is Gilby Hager. Visit his page in the "Artists" series, and get to know a little about one of this planet's true poets. Influenced by Dylan, Fariña, and Leonard Cohen, among other lyric masters, Gilby is perhaps not as well known as others in his genre. Those who have heard his songs can't help feeling that this is merely a temporary oversight on the part of our culture, which sometimes does take it's time recognizing genious! Big Treehouse Records is proud to present several Ed Rashed/Gilby Hager collaborations, including "Dreaming Out Loud" and "Blue Lightning."  (click the titles to read the lyrics.) You can hear "Blue Lightning" on the CD Big Book Of Love, and "Dreaming Out Loud" on the CD Wrong Side Of The Door. There is also an Mp3 file of "Blue Lightning" at Ed's pages on IUMA. Enjoy!
 

October 31, 2002: Hope you like the new Home Page. Yes, those are Ed's feet. That photo was taken some years ago at a dye-house in West Warwick, RI, back in the bad-old-days when Ed was working 9 - 5. The idea is "come into the song factory, put your feet up and have a listen," or something like that. A bit of a stretch? We'll be trying out various photos there until we find the perfect, impeccable one, which is to say, that spot will be showing lots of photos from Ed's amateur photo archives.

Check out the new and improved Wayz & Means web site. They are still working on the links and schedule pages, but the home page is pretty slick! Check it out.
 

October 25, 2002: Twelve pages are up in the "Artists" series now, and more are on the way. All of the songwriters now have pages, and almost all of the most prominent musicians. As soon as we receive photos we are waiting for, the last few pages will go up. We hope you are enjoying seeing and reading about all these fine creative people as much as we are enjoying building these new pages to honor them. It's really been fun!

We have registered the domain name "EdRashed.net" and you can get to this site now by typing that address (perhaps easier to remember for some of you - as long as you remember that it's DOT-NET, and not DOT-COM!) or "BigTreehouse.com" -either address will deliver you right here.
 

October 10, 2002: BigTreehouse.com has a new feature - it's a series of pages honoring and thanking some of the artists who worked on the CDs Big Book Of Love and Wrong Side Of The Door. It's called the "Artists" Series, and it starts on the Contact Page, with one Featured Artist in the series linked from the Home page.  Start from any artist's page and you can go through the whole rotation of artists using the "Back" and "Next" buttons on the top of the pages. Check it out. The first Featured artists will be my co-writers, starting with Red Riley, who co-wrote "Syncopated City" and others.

September 21, 2002: CDs have just been mailed out to the Land Down Under,  requested by Lilitu Babalon, DJ on ArtSound FM 92.7 in Canberra, Australia, and we are hoping for some airplay on his show called "Journeys: Cultures and Styles." Here is a link to the station's web site.

We have recently applied for and been nominated for several web awards, and you can see our shameless display of these trophies on the new Awards page. It's nice to get a few pats on the back for all our hard work, and we also like the new links from all these awards sites bringing a little more traffic our way. Recovery from the recent act of piracy (see entry below) continues, and most sites that link to us are now updated. The search engines will take a little longer to catch up, but it seems to be going well.
 

September 4-6, 2002: PIRATES HAVE EATEN OUR DOMAIN NAME! We are very sorry (and pretty angry, too!) to announce that through an unfortunate series of events, the domain name EdRashed.com has been pirated by, well, a pirate, in China, whose name seems to be Zhang Tian. Anyone who tries to access the URL "www.edrashed.com" is now directed to this person's commercial search site. Apparently, this is perfectly legal for him to do, stealing a few internet "hits," plus the extortion he probably plans to attempt in trying to sell the name back. Well, it's not going to happen that way, since we are only poor starving artists here. ("Jim" finally did get around to offering to sell us back our domain name for $800; our counter-offer to him was $8, final offer. He has not accepted it yet, but we are very patient. Fun fun fun.)

So, from now on, the address for this web site, "Music by Ed Rashed" is http://www.BigTreehouse.com/ and the e-mail address for Ed is Ed@BigTreehouse.com. Please update your links, bookmarks, favorites, and address books. Thanks. Sorry for any inconvenience.
 

August 23, 2002: More airplay in Europe? Ja. Add Austria to the list. Hans Mair has requested CDs for his radio show called "Go West, Go Country" which is on every Saturday and Sunday at 1 PM on Radio Osttirol. Here's the Station's Web Site.
 

August 3, 2002: The Oasis Jazz Sampler, Volume 6, has been released. Each Oasis Sampler goes out to tightly targeted list of Radio Stations and industry insiders. This volume happens to have Ed's tune "She Walks In Three-Four Time" on it. In case you haven't heard this fun tune, it's a unique, quirky set of lyrics over a crisp 6/4 variant of Rhythm changes, played and sung by Ed on electric piano, with Joe Potenza on bass, Jack Ezikovich on drums, Dave Tanury on guitar and Kirk Feather on alto sax. Give it a listen - the Audio page has links to a 2 minute sample, as well as to the earBuzz.com page where the whole tune can be downloaded in Mp3 format.

July 27, 2002: Add Spain to the list of countries where Big Book Of Loveand Wrong Side Of The Door are getting airplay. Spanish disk jockey Jose Luis Bueno has contacted us for promotional copies and writes: "Thank you very much...You sound great! Both are excellent albums that fit perfect for the program." J.L. has been doing his program called "La Otra Musica", for 14 years, broadcasting songwriters, smooth jazz, new instrumental, alternative country, americana, folk, light jazz, etc. from Cadiz. Perfect!  "La Otra Musica" is on FM800 in Cadiz, Spain, Mondays from 8-10 PM. Thank you, J.L., and keep in touch! E-mail J.L. by clicking on his name above.

DJs anywhere in the world, your interest is most welcome, so have a listen to the samples, and if it works for your show, please contact Big Treehouse Records for your promo copies any time.
 

July 14, 2002: Happy Independence Day! Happy Bastille Day! Long Live Freedom! Including freedom to make copies of the music we buy to play for our own use, freedom to share music with friends, freedom to make tapes and CDs of our favorite tunes, freedom to hear a few samples before buying a CD; all these things that are under attack by the recording industry today. Make no mistake, if enough consumers remain silent on this issue, the powers-that-be will have their way and, waving the false flag of "protecting the artist" they will take away many of the freedoms that we have come to take for granted, and there will be little or no benefits to any artists anywhere, trust me! This is not an attempt to protect anything but greedy recording industry executives' profits, and some say it won't even accomplish that!. Do artists lose money when music is distributed for free? An excellent summation of the small artist's point of view has been written by one of our favorite singer/songwriters, one-of-a-kind recording artist Janis Ian, and we have linked to the article here. - Thank you, Janis (once again!) for your music and your wisdom! - Enjoy the article, pass it along, and pass along copies of any Ed Rashed tunes to as many friends as you like. All we ask is that you include the copyright notices for the songs and jot down the album info and web site address on the copies to tell them how to find the CDs and this web site. That way, we might enjoy a sale or two from the ones who want to hear more. Our CDs will never carry copy protection, and copies of selected tunes will always be available for free download. Free distribution of music and the exposure that this gives to artists is not a bad thing, but a good thing, for independent artists as well as most major label artists. Don't be misled by these spokespeople of the recording industry - learn something - Read Janis's article! Thanks!

June 12, 2002: Summer means a little more time for fun, as well as taking care of some business. Funk band Wayz & Means, with Ed Rashed on keys and vocals, is taking most of June off to rebuild, renew, revamp, redo, revive, and rebound. You will hardly recognize the Wayz & Means from days past in the hot new line-up. Included in the plans are live versions of some Ed Rashed tunes, including a smoking rendition of  "The Rules Have Changed." This week, Wayz & Means drummer Robbie Degnan is celebrating his wedding with lovely Severine, and Ed's "Song Of Love," which was dedicated to Rob and Sev, will be performed in the ceremony.

In the meantime, Ragwagon, the band that hails simultaneously from Honolulu, Manhattan, Providence, Newburyport and sometimes Old Orchard Beach, is getting closer every day to releasing its debut CD, more than 4 years in the making, with 5 Ed Rashed songs, one of them ("Swingin' On A Hula Moon," a collaboration with Gilby Hager) never before released. Also included will be Red Riley and Ragwagon's all new alternate version of "Ukulele Ragtime Blues."  Well worth waiting for!

"Sticky Boiled Beans" has been entered into the 2002 USA Songwriting Competition in the novelty category. One friend has proposed that this tune has made history already by becoming only the second song in a totally unique category of novelty songs that since the 1930s has been inhabited by only one song: "One Meatball."

Violinist and vocalist Diane Orson, who can be heard on "Sticky Boiled Beans" and other songs, has a band with not one, not two, but three female vocalists in front. The band, from the New Haven area, is called Moxie. They are planning to add a version of Ed's "She Walks In Three-Four Time" to their repertoire. We can't wait to hear this!

Meetings are being planned with people in the music industry to negotiate publishing contracts for Ed's songs. That's all we can say at this point, except that this will involve some travel, and maybe even a tiny little bit of time off. What a concept!

Keep in touch. Get your copies of  Big Book Of Love and Wrong Side Of The Door  if you haven't already. Great Summer listening. Take them to the beach! Turn it up! Tell your friends!
 

April 18, 2002: News is here that Oasis CD is getting their latest compilation CDs ready for printing and two Ed Rashed songs are going to be on: "She Walks In Three-Four Time" will be on a Jazz compilation and "Do Me In Again" will be sent out with the Country set. These two songs will be going out to more than 500 radio stations in the US and worldwide, and these are all stations that have a history of playing tunes by indie artists. If you would like to know if one of these stations is near you, get in touch and we'll look it up so you can call the station and put in your request.  Thanks!  Click here to e-mail Ed.

March 15, 2002: Just in time for the Ides Of March - The "Press" page is here. We will reprint reviews and articles there in their entirety as they come to our
attention, and link to the new page from the snippets quoted on this page.

Incredibly, the Home page counter tells us that we are approaching 2000 visits, quite a lot for such a young and small web site! It doesn't hurt that there are now almost 40 distinct websites (that we know of) linking to us here.
 

March 7, 2002: Joe Kernan has written a very nice feature on Ed and his tunes called "Takin' it to 'the street' " for the Lifebeats section of today's Cranston Herald and Warwick Beacon. Pick up your copy at the newsstand. Thanks for the kind words, Joe. Read it here.

February 27, 2002: Our First Award! Today the International Association of Web Masters and Designers  presented this site with the 2002 - 2003 Golden Web Award, "presented to those sites whose web design, originality and content have achieved levels of excellence deserving of recognition." We're all choked up! You can visit the IAWMD and see what it's all about, even enter your own website for an award.

Rick Couto writes that Orange Dot Design, who did the design and layout for both CDs here, has been awarded a gold medal in Neenah Paper's Paperworks Letterhead Design Contest. Congratulations to Rick. We knew we made a good call there.
 

February 24, 2002:  Yahoo! Search under "Ed Rashed" at Yahoo and find the Ed Rashed website? - Seems like a fairly straightforward thing, but it took some doing. Yahoo is a human built and managed directory and it can take months to get listed there, if one gets listed at all. This only took weeks. Check it out!

Projo.com has added "Feeling Red White And Blue" to their list of "Songs For These Times." You can download it there if you have a little bit of time on your hands (seems like a slow server to me, even with a fast internet connection,) and you can vote for it, too (that just takes a second!) Thanks.

The "Links" page has been updated and simplified somewhat. All the links in the "Listed At" section have been made into text links to shorten the loading time of the page, which was getting a bit long because of all the graphics. The navigation of this rather large but very useful page has also been simplified by the addition of a new navigation bar under the main site navigation buttons at the top of the page.

At this moment, there have been over 1,500 visits to this site recorded by the counter on the Home page. Thanks to each and every visitor for coming! We know that the new CDs are being played in Japan, France, Great Britian, and The Netherlands, among other places!  For songwriters and performers, this is what it's all about!

A short review of both CDs by Don Fowler in the Cranston Herald and Warwick Beacon "Lifestyles" section on February 14 said, among other complimentary things, "Rashed is more than a lyricist. He is a poet. The first song on the first CD had me hooked." Thank you, Mr. Fowler! Read it here.

February 2, 2002:  Update for 02-02-02 - six more weeks of winter in the Northeastern USA?  Plenty of time to relax by the fire with some good music! There are some new song files to listen to, including 2 complete songs at projo.com, and the 3 complete songs at Mp3.com, which are hovering near the top of the Providence area download list for the past week. Give a listen - the new "Audio" page has the complete list of audio file links.

Some new stores are stocking the CDs, including Sunset Records in Somerset, Massachusetts, for all you folks in Fall River and suburbs. If you know of any independent stores that we have missed, especially in that area, please let us know. Here's the updated list of stores. Many of these stores offer discounts off the list price for local artists' CDs.

This week we surpassed 1000 "hits" at this website! Much of this "traffic" is due to the links we have made with other sites locally and around the world. If you have a website and would like to trade links, send an e-mail and we'll set it up.

Thanks to all the old friends and new who have gotten in touch. It's always a kick to hear from you. All of your comments are appreciated very much.

The review that we were anticipating in Titan magazine has been pushed back to the March issue. Look for reviews and mentions in the Providence Journal, Providence Phoenix, Cranston Herald, Cranston Monthly, Warwick Beacon, Kent County Times, East Side Monthly, Providence Monthly, Pawtucket Times, Narragansett Daily Times, South County Chronicle, and others. And PLEASE, if you see a mention, please let us know so we don't miss it! Thanks.

A website called smallgoodthing.org  - an online showcase for media artists - is planning a feature on the photos(!) at this website. This is a rather unexpected development, but very welcome! More later.

January 20, 2002:  Try out the new search form on the Links pages. Search for anything on this web site, courtesy of Atomz.com.

Congratulations to the winners in the "Find The Links" contest. The answer is printed below in italics. Karen, Len, Thom, Jessica, and Ian, your CDs are on the way.
 

January 17, 2002: There is a new gallery of photos. It contains thumbnails to 20 new photos including more from the "Prism" series, by request. There are also some shots of the singing dogs, and others. This page can only be reached through the navigation bars on the top and bottom of the Gallery page.
 

January 16, 2002: The "Influences" page has been added. It's a fairly exhaustive list of my favorite listening. See how it matches up with your own.

The list of area stores carrying the CDs keeps growing, and some of these places offer nice discounts. Click here for the list.

There is a page at Mp3.com featuring streaming audio of 3 complete songs - "Feeling Red White And Blue," "Loves Me, Loves Me Not," and "Getting Nothing But Old." Have a listen. It's free.
 

January 13, 2002:  Today was the day for our first local airplay of 2002. Rick "Swing Daddy" Orcutt played four tracks tonight on Newport's WADK "Swing FM" 99.3. The tunes were "She Walks In Three-Four Time" and "The Rules Have Changed," then "Good Time Tonight" and "Loves Me, Loves Me Not." Add these to the list with "Sticky Boiled Beans" which got a bit of airplay here and abroad from Ragwagon's preview CD a few years back. Hope you got a chance to tune in.  Catch "Swing Daddy" every Sunday on his WADK show "Sunday Swing Party" from 5 to 8 PM, and at area Swing Dance events, including Wednesdays at The Call in Providence. Email him here.

January 7, 2002:  If you are in the neighborhood, you can find the CDs in select Rhode Island area stores as of today. See the list here, at the bottom of the "Get The CDs" page. Keep in touch and watch the list grow.

I am told that there will be a review in the February issue of Titan magazine. More on that when it becomes a reality!If it's a good one, it will be reprinted here, too, you betcha! If it's bad, just watch this paragraph disappear!

The Real Audio files are up, just under the mp3 clips on the Big Book Page and the Wrong Side Page. The sound quality is not nearly as nice as the mp3s, but it's a much quicker way to hear what the songs are all about, especially if you connect to the internet via a modem. For the same reasons, the Gallery and Extras pages now contain thumbnail graphics that link to the larger files.
 

January 4, 2002:  There has been some talk about a live show to showcase the tunes, not to mention the band. Sometime, somewhere. Would that interest you? Please drop a line with your thoughts.

The Runner-up:  CDBaby.com is now offering the CDs online. CDBaby offers 20% off on orders of more than one CD, same title. You and a friend can use the buddy system.

Starting today, there are shorter Mp3 clips, but more of them - revisit the CD pages - four samples from each album! For those with modem internet connections who find the downloads too large, there are Real Audio samples of the same tunes at CDBaby.com that will be linked to from here soon.

Coming Soon: A page at Mp3.com. When that page is ready, there will be full length Mp3s of "Loves Me, Loves Me Not," "Getting Nothing But Old" and "Feeling Red White And Blue" available there, and an announcement about it here. These may be downloads or they may be streaming files, not sure yet.
 

January 2, 2002:  CDStreet.com wins the race to become the first Internet vendor to offer the CDs online through a secure server. There is now a CDStreet Big Treehouse Records page you can visit.

HOT NEWS: You can also call CDStreet toll free to order CDs. 1-877-692-7999.

Still waiting for earBuzz.com and Amazon.com - Stay tuned.
 

Happy 2002 - Special Thanks: To everyone who has bought CDs, offered encouragement, and offered ideas for promotion, etc., it's all been appreciated more than you can know! Keep those emails coming!
 

End Of Year 2001 Web Site News: A new "Discography" page has been added.  All of the larger recording projects listed by year.

Several sites will be carrying the CDs, and if you know of any other potential sites, tell us and we will look into it.  Arrangements are being made now for earBuzz.com, CDBaby.com, CDStreet.com and Amazon.com. In a few days, there will be several ways to order the CDs on line. There are links to all these sites already up on the Links page. Our preference, of course, is for earBuzz.com because, as it says on their banners, they really do support indie artists 100%.  Every other vendor takes a bigger slice, and Amazon.com is the least generous of all, but we know there are many who are already set up there and feel comfortable and secure shopping there, so we will try it and see what happens.

Visit the new "Extras" page and hear a great performance of "Helping Hand" by 18 year old Marchelle Jacques, and see some of the graphics that never made it to the CD covers. Also here, a link to Ragwagon's Real Audio file of "Sticky Boiled Beans."

Here is a link to the new "Lyrics" page.
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Background image: "Prism Pots 1" Detail from the back cover of the CD Big Book Of Love ©2001 Edward Rashed