yeah, it's cold now in the city

Ah, fall! What better time to reclaim our frozen lethargy, reconnect with those depressing 5 p.m. sunsets, track down our parkas and ski leggings and constantly misplaced woolen hats and even more constantly misplaced gloves, and curl up in a fetal position in inconsolable mourning for the lost promise of summer while awaiting, for what feels like a futile eternity, the return of warmth and the sun.

OK, not too much fun. So here's a better idea -- let's say we take the L train out to Brooklyn instead, swing by the Union Pool and feast our ears upon the musical wonderments wrought by beloved Caulfield Sister Kristin Mueller.

That's right -- she's playing at 8 p.m. tonight in a release show for her new album "Deserts & Long Trails," a long-awaited follow-up to her splendid, haunting 2006 offering "Port of Call." She'll be there with compatriots C.Gibbs and Common Prayer (a\k\a Jay Russo), who've also got new solo stuff out. So it's a triple celebration, and who can resist that?

Speaking of the inestimable Ms. Mueller, she's awash in more musical projects than I've got space to name here -- not just her classic work for Cynthia Hopkins (which I finally got to witness first-hand earlier this year in "This Clement World"; her drumming, even behind gauzy black curtains, has an overpowering presence in person that's hard to appreciate even from the recordings) and Lucinda Black Bear, but also her audio engineering for the likes of WQXR, her musical composition for the gem-like truck-stop-runaway film "What Alice Found," her Saudi Arabian travels with Mary McBride's band and her performances on musical felts crafted by Tel Aviv-raised artist Naama Tsabar. Her own website has much, much more.

take your ear above the ground

Sad news for anyone who was hoping to spend Memorial Day weekend in the Mid-Hudson for Hopewell/Clementines/Caulfieldspalooza — apparently the Sisters have had to cancel. (Saturday's show is still on, but The Fasads have taken their place in the lineup, if not in our hearts.)

Whatever the reason for this change, I hope all is well with them.

you killed the loneliness that day

Ah, spring! What better time to leave behind our frozen lethargy, forget those depressing 5 p.m. sunsets, deposit the parkas and ski leggings and constantly misplaced woolen hats in a moldering heap in the mudroom, and take a lazy car ride up the Hudson River -- out past Wappingers Falls and Poughkeepsie, say, crossing the river from Rhinecliff, arriving finally in the former New York State capital of Kingston, where one will find a nifty arts/entertainment complex anchored by a tiny gem called the BSP Lounge.

But I can hear you asking -- "Hold up there, Roscoe! Doesn't that sound like a whole second helping of trouble?"

Not when the Caulfield Sisters are playing. And not to drop too many hints, but: They are.

It all goes down May 25, in what folks far and wide are hailing as an "evening of centripetal forces and feats of gravitation." The Sisters are due on stage at 9:45 p.m., but you'll want to show up at 9 for Artie Fisk: Ukelele Man and then stick around for New Paltz's own Sweet Clementines and longtime Caulfield allies Hopewell. 

Looks like tickets might eventually show up for sale here. They're not yet, but keep watching that space, 'cause they won't last long. Or you could go to tonight's Duke McVinnie show, claim a barstool, and wait there a month just to be safe.

Oh, and looks like Kingston was originally called Esopus, so there's even a tangential link between this show and one of the finer moments in Caulfield Sisters history. It's all enough to make someone believe in rebirth.