MoJa Blog

Hey MoJa Friends!

Have you all been staying cool?  This heat wave across the country has been crazy, but hopefully everyone has been safe and staying hydrated…

THIS THURSDAY, July 28th on THE PORCH STAGE at 9:30PM we’ll be returning to one of our favorite festivals, FLOYDFEST in Floyd, VA.  This is the 10th Anniversary of the festival and we are honored to be back to celebrate how far they’ve come.  FloydFest also holds a special place in our hearts, not only because of its wide range of music and beautiful setting, but it was the very first music festival to embrace our music with open arms.  We’ve come a very long way since we first played there in 2006 and we’re very excited to be back again this year.  We will be playing ONLY 1 SET this year, so come early! Other great performers throughout the weekend include Robert Randolph, Peter Rowan, Toubab Krewe, Yonder Mountain String Band, and many others! Check out their website for full details at www.floydfest.com

We just got a quick tip that WTJU in the Charlottesville, VA area is giving away 7 pairs of Weekend Passes to FloydFest this weekend starting at 12 Noon today.  Tune your dials in to 91.1FM if you are in the area or worldwide on their website (www.wtju.net) for your chance to win!

New Live videos & upcoming tour dates below!!

• *New Live Videos!  
  We’d definitely appreciate a few clicks to boost the # of hits AND as many “likes” as you can! :)
   
  “This Is Who We Are” - Short Documentary on our music & who we are
  
  “Atip Ouypron” - June 18th, Dream Guitars in Weaverville, NC (near Asheville)
  
  
  
• Upcoming Tour Dates!
  
   August 5th, Rives Theater, Martinsville, VA
  August 6th, Elsyian Fields Music Festival, Boyce, VA “MoJa Quartet” (Time TBA)
  Other performers include Keller Williams, Larry Keel, DJ Williams Projekt, & Many more!
  September 30th, Monkey House Concerts, Blacksburg, VA (Time TBA)
  October 8th, The Festy, Roseland (Nelson Co.), VA - ”MoJa Quartet” (Time TBA)
  Other performers include Infamous Stringdusters, Brett Dennen, Toubab Krewe, & Many more!
  November 11th, Ashland Coffee & Tea, Ashland, VA
  November 12th, Laurel Mountain Coffeehouse, Kingwood, WV
  
  
  
•  Remember, if you’ are socially connected find us at the following…

• Official Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• iTunes
• YouTube
• ReverbNation
• Sonicbids

Fun Quote to our friends in Toubab Krewe…
“Where’s your lead singer?”

Thank you all for the wonderful support!With MUCH respect,
Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun


“If we played anything but what we loved, we’d be dishonest”

Hey MoJa Friends!

Are y’all settling into summer yet?  It’s been really nice the past few days in Charlottesville, VA where we reside but a few weeks ago our heat index was definitely in the triple digits!  We are busy working on our next studio recording, but we’re definitely excited to play a couple of cool festivals this summer (take a look below!). 

THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 18th we’ll be playing a great concert series just outside of Asheville, NC in the town of Weaverville at Dream Guitars (an awesome guitar shop for all your guitar buffs ;) 
Please email Paul (paul@dreamguitars.com) for tickets & directions, $15 / 7PM

Also in this email we have a wrap up of our recent visit to Ocracoke for our first OcraFolk Festival, a new Podcast from our Alma Mater (Berklee College of Music), and some of newest tour dates. 

Also, would you like to see us on a certain festival?  Hear us on NPR or Mountain Stage?  Read below to find out how you can help!!!

• Ocrafolk Festival, Ocracoke Island, NC
  
  We had a BLAST at our first “Ocrafolk Festival” on Ocracoke Island, NC.  Start planning for next year as we think we may have to go again!  A GORGEOUS Island with many friendly people.  We were also very happy to see our friends, Beleza, The Honey Dewdrops, and The Steel Wheels.  Check out some photos from that weekend…
  
  
  Click photo or here to see the full album!
  
  
  
• Berklee College of Music Podcast
  We were recently featured on Berklee’s Alumni Podcast where they talk a little about our music & they also featured our tune “One Moore Farewell,” with fellow graduate & friend, Rashawn Ross
  Read more here and/or listen here
  
  
• We have seen the great power of our fans (our fans are indeed THE BEST!). That being said, we receive a LOT of suggestions as to where we should play, what radio programs we should be on, etc.  If you feel strongly that we should be on a certain program or festival, please contact the coordinators to find us!  We’d LOVE to play ALL of the places out there, but we need your help to get there.  Here’s a list of a few suggestions people have thrown our way (feel free to email or “tweet” them, write on their Facebook page, etc.)
  
  NPR - Facebook |Twitter | Email
  Merlefest - Facebook |  Twitter | Email
  Mountain Stage - Facebook | Twitter | Email
  Daytrotter - Facebook | Twitter | Email
  Newport JAZZ Festival - Facebook | Email
  Telluride Bluegrass Festival - Facebook | Twitter | Email
  ETOWN - Facebook | Twitter | Email
  Dave Matthews Band Caravan Festival - Facebook | Twitter | Email
  
  These are ONLY a few suggestions, if you have any others please let us know!!! THANK YOU!!!
  
  
  
• Upcoming Tour Dates!
  
  June 18th, Dream Guitars, Asheville, NC
  email paul@dreamguitars.com for tix
  July 28th, FloydFest, Floyd, VA (Only 1 set this year, Thurs. night at 9:30PM on the Porch stage!)
  Other performers include Old Crow Medicine Show, Toubab Krewe, Xavier Rudd, & Many More! tickets
  August 5th, Rives Theater, Martinsville, VA
  August 6th, Elsyian Fields Music Festival, Boyce, VA “MoJa Quartet” (Time TBA)
  Other performers include Keller Williams, Larry Keel, DJ Williams Projekt, & Many more!
  October 8th, The Festy, Roseland (Nelson Co.), VA - ”MoJa Quartet” (Time TBA)
  Other performers include Infamous Stringdusters, Brett Dennen, Toubab Krewe, & Many more!
  November 11th, Ashland Coffee & Tea, Ashland, VA
  November 12th, Laurel Mountain Coffeehouse, Kingwood, WV
  
  
  
• New Live Videos!  We posted these in our last email, but check’em out if you haven’t already! 
  We’d definitely appreciate a few clicks to boost the # of hits AND as many “likes” as you can! :)
  
  Chioggia Beat - May 3rd, The Falcon in Marlboro, NY
  
  JALD (Just a little ditty) - May 3rd, The Falcon in Marlboro, NY
  
  Sheba’s Tea - May 4th, Club Passim in Cambridge, MA
  
  
  
• Remember, if you’ are socially connected find us at the following…

• Official Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• iTunes
• YouTube
• ReverbNation
• Sonicbids

‎Fun Quote:
“Singing is a trick to get people to listen to music for longer than they would normally.” David Byrne

Thank you all for the wonderful support!
With MUCH respect,
Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun

“If we played anything but what we loved, we’d be dishonest”

Hey MoJa Friends!

What are you all listening to lately?  We’ve been really enjoying the new Paul Simon, Adele, and Julian Lage Group CDs, all of which you should check out.  

• Our New England Tour Wrap Up
  
  We had a BLAST on this past New England tour, where we got to catch up with some old friends, meet new friends, and of course play some great places.  We started our string of shows opening up for an old friend of Morwenna’s, Julian Lage & his awesome group at a beautiful venue in Marlboro, NY called The Falcon.  Julian is an amazing guitarist blending Jazz & Classical to make a sound that is truly his own.  All of the members in his group were such great musicians and people too.  His percussionist, Tupac Mantilla was a definitely a new sound to our ears.  He had his whole drum set with pieces of different types of percussion instruments from all over the world.  Definitely check out the group if they come near you. 
  
  
  Tupac’s “Drum set”
  
  The next day we trekked our way from Marlboro, NY to the Boston area in some heavy rain.  It seems as though there’s always some kind of crazy weather when we visit our old stomping grounds!  That didn’t stop our excitement for being back to play atClub Passim in Harvard Sq. though.  Passim is one of our favorite places to play and it has been around for over 50 years.  It reminds us of the Prism Coffeehouse in Charlottesville, VA that is sadly no longer.
                
  
  On Thursday, May 5th we woke up and were ecstatic to get some great food in Boston’s Chinatown, talk about amazing Dim Sum & Pho!!!  Soon after our brunch we headed “out west” to play at Gypsy Joynt in Great Barrington, our first show in Western MA.  This place was really cool and had some amazing food as well.  The owner, Jordan even gave us some of Arlo Guthrie’s personal dried hot peppers!  If you’re every out that way definitely drop in, what a cool spot!!!
  
    
  
  Friday, May 6th we drove up to Brunswick, ME for our last show of this tour at The Frontier Cafe, one of our most favorite places in Maine to play AND eat!  The staff there is so kind and they host a variety of events (music, movies, dance).  It also over looks the raging Androscoggin River.  This time around we had a special opening act, Chis Wall from the U.K. band Soft Bullets.  Chris played solo and reminded us of a cross between Radiohead & Coldplay and we had a great time having him share the stage with us.  Another perk for us playing in Maine is that we always get to have Morwenna’s dad, “Pops” (Thomas) join us during our set on accordion.  It only happens a couple of times a year, so it is such a treat to be able to jam with him! 
  
  
• New Live Videos!
  
  Chioggia Beat - May 3rd, The Falcon in Marlboro, NY
  
  JALD (Just a little ditty) - May 3rd, The Falcon in Marlboro, NY
  
  Sheba’s Tea - May 4th, Club Passim in Cambridge, MA
  
  
  
•  Upcoming Tour Dates!
  
  June 3rd - 5th, Ocrafolk Music Festival, Ocracoke, NC
  June 18th, Dream Guitars, Asheville, NC
  July 28th, FloydFest, Floyd, VA
  August 5th, Rives Theater, Martinsville, VA
  August 6th, Elsyian Fields Music Festival, Boyce, VA
  
  
• We’re hard at work on something new, so keep a look out!  
  
  
•  Remember, if you’ are socially connected find us at the following…

• Official Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• iTunes
• YouTube
• ReverbNation
• Sonicbids