Little Flower Fest

The Little Flowerfest is called "The best micro-music festival ever".  It's 'not a paying gig', but it sure is a fun gig.  I am always amazed at the talent that comes out to play for fun.  The 6th annual Little Flowerfest was held this past weekend.  This is the 3rd time we have played there.  Didn't make it last year because two many of us were on vacation and out of town.  The whole thing is organized by Breezy Brian Greg and Patsy Amico. 

The festival starts on Friday night and goes through to Sunday.  You can camp out over the weekend or come and go as you please.   Saturday starts off with "the Hike to the End of the World Concert".  This year we got led through the forest by a bagpipe and at the end, we were truly entertained by the Sawhorse Symphony.  

After the hike back, the main stage show began.  After the first great four performances, we finally got to do our thing.  Again, we showed up with a few more instruments, but this time we decided to travel light and only bring 1 keyboard, the bouzouki, Brian's bass, my banjo, and 2 six string guitars.   Don and Brian weren't playing guitars at the same time, so they shared Don's.  

Our set list:

• Black Room
• Earnest and Lucy
• Road to Nowhere
• Green Valley Monsters
• Clouds of Alberta

We left out Blueberry Pie, but had it in hand.  We figured we'd be doing good to get in 5 songs considering the set up and sound check within 30 minute time slot,  We did good.  

We had a good set.  First song had a rough spot in the middle, but I don't think anyone noticed but us (nerves maybe).  Next 4 songs went great.  I think we did the best live version of Road to Nowhere that we have ever done.  I thought Green Valley Monsters went almost flawlessly too. 

Now on to Clouds of Alberta.  Cloud really rocks out, but we folk up the rock with the banjo.  Song was going well, but as soon as Don hit into it, he broke a string (again).   His guitar went out of tune when the string snapped, my banjo had one string that was off just a bit, and Brian says one of his bass strings went out.  We think the hot sun was at play.   We kept going anyway.  After such a good set, it was kind of an unfortunate set of circumstances, but interestingly enough, no one seem to notice.  I'm sure the musicians in the crowd noticed. 

After all was said and done, we had several people come and tell us they enjoyed our set. One fellow said our lyrics were 'brilliant'.  I told him that we call our music 'clever'.  He liked that. 

After the set a couple more players got up, then it was time for the pot luck supper - a Little Flowerfest tradition.  Again, this was a treat.  lots of variety and volume.  No one goes hungry here. 

Brian left early.  Wanda, her mom, sister and the kids left early too.  Don and Linda stuck around for a while, I stayed on until about 10 pm.  I would have liked to stick around for the fireside jam,  I could have camped out, but I didn't take my camp stuff because we are having a mosquito state of disaster.  Wasn't as bad out there and it is in the City.  Go figure.

Bayou and gators

Late last night, or more correctly, early this morning, I was watching an obscure music program on PBS.  Can't remember the name of the show, but they had some musicians from Louisiana playing zydeco and Cajun music.  To really play that music, I think you have to live it.  To many of those folks, the music is in their blood.  Same way that Celtic music is in the blood of the Scots and Irish.

So, I was inspired.  I picked up my guitar and started playing around with what I thought is a Cajun type of rhythm beat.  Whether it is or not doesn't matter.  It resulted in a new song, that for now I called "Gator's in the Wadder". 

1st verse
Daddy's got a hound dog
Billy's got a bull frog
Goin fishin when they can
Momma's in the kitchen
cookin' up the fixins
catfish fryin' in the pan

I still have a lot of work to do on presentation of the song.  got to work on the vocals and musicality of the song, but the song is written. 

Another one to add to my list of songs for the year.

Song of 2011

I did a look back through my song list to see where I am at for song written in 2011.  Here's the list:

• Ballad of Billy McNaughtin
• Barely Hangin' On
• Ginger, Ginger, Ginger
• Green Valley Monsters (co-written with Don and Brian)
• Noon Train
• Road to Nowhere
• Two Feet in the Water
• Two Roses
• Walkin' in the City
• Jimmy's Idiom Song
• Standin' at the Airport (Collaboration with Izzy)
• All My Dreams (Collaboration with Rolland)

Collaboration

This is a music only clip for a song that Izzy wrote the lyrics for and I came up with the music.   Somewhere there is a recording of Izzy singing this, and when I get a copy, I will share with you.   The song is called "Standing at the Airport"

1000 Hits - Amazing

Sometime today, my blog should have 1,000 hits since I launched in mid-March of this year.  Amazing.   I figured maybe I'd get 50 a month, which would be about 175 hits so far.  1,000 hits is way beyond what my ego let me imagine. 


I can only thank those people who read my blog and keep coming back.   Your interest in what I am doing is inspiration to keep writing and to meet my goal. 

Hits come from across the globe

- Canada
- United States
-  Denmark
-  France
-  United Kingdom
-  Chile
-  Germany
-  Italy
-  Malaysia
-  Thailand
-  India
-  South Africa
-  Belarus

Walking In the City - A Recording & Video

I got home tonight, intending to work on putting together the music for our show on Saturday.  Instead, I picked up my guitar and started playing around with Walking In the City.  Then I got out the Zoom,  played it several times and here's the result.  It still needs some work on the vocals, but once I do this with Don and Brian, I'm sure it will come together, and probably with a whole new and interesting sound.  Anyway,  you'll get the idea from this. 

Walkin' In the City

Since we have been practicing and playing quite a lot over the past few weeks, and with the prep work for the 'show' at Expressionz Cafe next Saturday, song writing has taken a back seat.   Until this morning. 

I had this piece of music that I've been playing around with for about a month now.  just a little kind of poppy up-beat tempo thing.  I figured if I kept playing around with it something would come out of the air.   Friday night I was playing around with it and a simple phrase came to me  "Walkin' In the City".   That not only became the core thought for the song, but also its' title.  

I was still blank on the rest of the song, so early yesterday morning I got in my car, drove downtown and walked around.  I took my camera and got some great city shots.  My favourite photo from yesterday is a shot I took through a restaurant window.  I called it 8865 - 97th Street. 

 

I then wandered down to the farmers market on 104th street and took in the sights and sounds of the morning.  Among the music and the vendors, it is a great place to people watch, which by the way is one of my favourite passtimes.  

After exhausting myself walking around, I decided to go over to my favourite coffee and gelato shop in Edmonton - the Beuno Vista.  I got a large latte, took a few more photos, then headed home.

All through this Walk in the City,  I wrote down some notes and ideas that I could work into this new song.  When I got home, I wrote down the first verse:

Walkin' in the City, this Saturday morn

The street is gritty, and the concrete is worn

All the lost souls, look sad and alone

Waitin' at the Carot Cafe

For the rest of the day, I went blank.  Had the ideas, but it just wasn't fitting together.   Sunday morning, I got up waaaaaay too early.   For some reason, quiet Sunday mornings seem to be a good time for me to write.  I picked up my guitar, played that first verse,  and a chorus line came to me, sort of like this:

Walkin' in the City  (then second voice comes in)  da da da da   day

Evenutually, I filled in some words for da da da da day.  

I then went to my notebook,  It didn't take long after that to write out the rest of the song.    lines like:

Yuppies on the corner, with a silver spoon

sippin their cup o' lattes

There's a line in the song that came from a chance meeting on the street with Dr. John on some previous walk around town.  

Saw Dr. John, I said how ya doin'. 

Another line in the song came from the notebook.  While walkin' around, I came by this fellow with long flowing hair, and wearing a long black coat with a cross belt buckle.  He mumbled something about salvation as he walked by.   The line is the song

Preacher in his collar, he's prayin' for more

It was a productive morning.  Another song in the song book.   I've lost count, but I think that's about 10 for the year so far.  so it's the 6th month, and I'm half way to my goal.  I'm sure it will get harder.  

Maybe my trip to Nashville in August will get t he creative juices flowing. 

Hey Expressionz Cafe Patrons

Welcome to my blog.  On the 18th of June, the Magpies will be playing our music at Expressionz between noon and 2 pm.  We'll be featuring our own original songs.  We do some cover songs, but not many. 

When we started playing about 4 or 5 years ago (time flies to quickly to remember exactly), we played cover songs with a few original songs.    Since then, we've penned somewhere around 60 original tunes, so our performances are now original songs with a few covers.  

I must admit, out of that 60 or so originals, there a a few tunes that aren't performance ready, and there's the odd one, that aren't Magpie songs.  For example,  we don't do "Two Roses".  Our friend Irene has been doing that song, and has become a bit of a hit where ever she does it.  (That's so cool!).  The first time Irene did the song in public was at Expressionz Cafe at the "Magpies Extravaganza". 

As for the 'Clever' description of our music.  We are quite proud of that description.  To us it meant that our music is a bit hard to put into the standard music categories.  at one time, we described our music as "roots'.   At that time, the instruments we played included acoustic guitars, mandolin, and bass.  If you were one of the fortunate people who caught our performance at the Heart of the City Festival, you would have seen 7 instruments, and a couple were still left at home.  The mix of instruments and the growth in our song writing has certainly taken us in a new and more interesting direction that can best be described as "clever". 

See you all at Expressionz Cafe 9938 70 Ave NW.  Check out Expressions at the link to the right of this page. 

Clever Songs

At the Heart of the City Audition, we were asked about our music style. Some wise man called it "clever".  Certainly Don's songs could be described that way.  I never really thought of my songs being clever, well unless you take into consideration what Don and Brian do with the music.  I wanted to write a song that lived up to that reputation. 

So one day a while back, I was listening to Bubba on CKUA, and he was talking about idioms.  It got me to thinking about writing a song using only idioms in the lyrics.  So I wrote the song.  It took me a lot longer to write it that most songs I do.  That was because I had to read up on idioms and do research.  I found a couple of lists that included several hundreds of idioms.  I knew I had a big task in front of me.  I had to find idioms that not only fit the music I had, but also had some relative meaning, and that would rhyme.  Sounds easy - right!.   OK, then you try it. 

So after a month and a bit, I finished off the song.  I was feeling quite clever, but ------.  I did a quick search on U-tube and there my cleverness was dashed.  The idiom song had been done at least twice before.  What to do? What to do?  I didn't want to waste my efforts, nor give up on the idea. Finally, another clever idea  - I called it "Jimmy's Idiom Song".   (maybe I should search that title - there's lots of Jimmy's out there). 

So here's an early basement recording of the song.  It was late at night and some spirits had been bottled up way too long and had to be let loose.  It is what it is, but you get the idea about how Jimmy's Idiom Song turned out.  This recording is just me and Don. Don is playing the harmonica. 

Magpies Performance

We have worked hard on getting our songs ready to perform at the Heart of the City Festival in Giovani Park (Edmonton).  We weren't able to practice for a couple of weeks because our regular lives sometimes get in the way, but we managed to get together on Friday night.  After a two week period of not playing, the rust had surely found its way in.  at our practice, our first run through the songs was pretty rough, but on the second run through, we got it back.  So on Friday night we were ready. 

Saturday I spent my day at the HOTC Festival volunteering.  It was frightfully cold for June. there were reports of snow on the ground west of the City.  After 8 hours, I went home very chilled. 

Sunday morning was a great warm sunny day in June.  I was jittery all morning.  ran thru the songs on my own, just to make sure my fingers worked.  Got to the HOTC about 2 pm - our set was at 5.   Boogie Patrol - a local blues band - was playing and really rocked the place.  I talked to a few friends that showed up to see us play, then met up with Brian and his daughter Kathryn.  Kathryn was our official photographer and did a superb job capturing the Magpies at the HOTC. 

Seemed as soon as we got up to play, a dark cloud slid over the park, the wind got up, and a bit of rain started to fall.  A few in the crowd started to scatter, but the die hards stayed on to give us a listen.  

At the Heart of the City, there is no time for sound checks, so you cross your fingers and hope the sound guys get it right.  Both previous years we've had issues with the first song. Year 1, the sound guy had the reverb/chorus cranked up so high, and when he finally noticed, he ran as fast as he could to the sound board to fix it.  You can hear that on the 2009 Youtube video that was put out by HOTC. 

Year 2, the sound guy didn't turn on the microphones until half way through the first song.  He must have been asleep because the audience was yelling to turn up the mike. 

I think this year, it was much better.  there were still some sound issues. My guitar apparently had a buzz going on that I didn't hear.  I know I had difficulty hearing my vocals on the monitor.   Over all, I think we did pretty well.  I definitely think it was our best performance of the 3 years.  Some of that has to do with our song writing is getting more interesting and because we are adding in more instruments.   It also has a lot to do with practice, practice, practice.   Can we do better? Absolutely.  You always strive to improve on your last performance.  

Speaking of instruments.  I think the sound guy on the acoustic stage we played got used to setting up one, or maybe two instruments for each performer over the two days.  The 3 of us showed up with a total of 7 instruments (8 if you include Don's shaker).  The look on his face was well worth the effort of hauling all that stuff down there.  (3 guitars, bouzouki, banjo, keyboard, bass guitar, and don played percussion with a shaker on the last song). 

We had instrument changes on every song, which made the sound folks earn their keep because they had to pay attention to the sound balance on every song.  You also have to remember the sound guys don't know our music, and they don't know what instrument should dominate through the song. 

All in all, I think our performance went over well.   I was watching the crowd out front (the ones who aren't our friends and family) and I think their was a positive reaction to what we were doing.  I stuck around after the last performer to help with tear down, and I got some good feed back from the organizers, so I left feeling pretty good. 

The song list (and song writer):

• Sitting Here (Jim)
• Earnest and Lucy (Don)
• Clouds of Alberta (Don)
• Melt Sugar (Don)
• Johnson Brown (Jim)
• Road to Nowhere (Jim et al)
• Green Valley Monsters (Jim, Don, Brian)
• Black Room (Jim)
• Two Feet in the Water (Jim)

Two feet in the water wasn't in the planned set, but for the 3rd year in a row, we were also asked to do another song. this year we were somewhat prepared, except we didn't practice that song on Friday. 

Writing Songs In Saskatoon

This past week, I was in Saskatoon at the SWANA Northern Lights Chapter Annual Conference.   We had started a tradition in my hotel room a few years back when we held the conference in Edmonton.  A few of us bring our guitars and jam.  Our good friends Izzy and Dick now bring their sound system and last year the annual informal jam was a big hit.  This year, several delegates kept asking where the jam was. 

Izzy set up her sound system in their hotel room on Sunday, so that's where we jammed.  Apparently some other guest in the hotel weren't entirely happy and the hotel security shut us down sometime after mid night.  On Monday, they let us play until 11 pm.   On Monday night we had about 4 guitar players and Dave was playing his accordion.  The room was jumping.  At one point I turned at looked around the room.  It was packed shoulder to shoulder.  Someone brought in 2 kegs of beer and the party was on.  a few got to dancing. 

Monday was banquet night and the organizers included us on the evening entertainment schedule.  Played on my own music.  There were a few folks there that wanted us to play top 40 covers.  I'm getting to the point in my music where I don't even know how to play cover songs any more.  Lately, I've only been playing the Magpies music, so that's what I played. 

Now, for the real important part of this story.  Izzy has been working on writing songs and since she doesn't play an instrument - her instrument is her beautiful voice - she hands me her lyrics, and sings a few lines.  Then somehow with her singing and me playing guitar, we work out the music.  Last November she had a song called "Scotch Flavoured Kiss" that we put music to.  On Sunday evening, she showed me a partly written song called "Waiting at the airport".  By the time the evening room party began, we had the music worked out and she finished the lyrics.  It is a great tune, as is Scotch Flavoured Kiss.  Of course, Izzy's great voice makes these tunes a hit with everyone who hears them. 

On the Radio, Playing at the Carrot, and old friends

Today was a great day.  I got a call yesterday from Michael, the music director for the Heart of the City Festival.  He asked us to head down to CJSR radio to talk about music and the HOTC Festival.   So today Brian and I drove down to the University where the CJSR studios are and met up with Michael and David.  David is the same radio host that interviewed us at the Audition.   The session started off with a great honor.  David played one of our songs "Sittin' Here" over the air.  We got a song on the radio.  Very cool!   You can hear our discussion on CJSR below.

The other day an old Friend from Bethune sent me a note on Facebook that he was in town and would like to come hear us play.  Since Brian and I were heading out to the Carrot Cafe, I told him to come see us there.   I haven't seen Tom for probably 25 years, maybe more.   It was nice to catch up on the Reid family.  

Since Don is on some Island off the west coast and probably cursing at the rain, Brian and I decided to do a duet.  Did 3 songs - Sittin' Here,  Green Valley Monsters, and Blueberry Pie.  Brian's been working on the vocals for Blueberry Pie, so it was a first on stage with him doing vocals on it.  It wasn't a busy night at the Carrot, but still a fun night.  Since there was more evening than performers, we got to do a second set.  We played a song we haven't played for a while - My Dream Automobile.   Then we did Johnson  Browne.   

Wanda told when we were leaving that all the ladies at the Carrot were all tapping their feet to our songs.  The other performers were great, but they weren't playing toe tapping songs.  Tonight was our night to entertain.  

All in all,  a great day.  

Recording Our Songs

The other day, I got an email from David, who is the Co-Chair and Publicity Coordinator. He's the fellow who interviewed us for CJSA and now he's asking for some audio clips of our music.  Another reason we have to take our song into a studio, but there's little time for that.  

We have a few audio clips that we have done over past couple of years.  They are kind of like bootleg recordings.  Simply recorded from ambient sound with no mixing.  This is all we can do for now.  I'll spend a good part of this week-end going through the audio clips and pick out the best we have. 

But things like this give us good reason to take recording of our songs more seriously.

The Idiom Song

I've been working on a new song that I call "The Idiom Song".  This was an idea that came to me on the road home from work.  Bubba was on CKUA and somehow the subject of idioms came up and it got my interest.   I knew that this was a song that was going to take a bit of work to pull off.  If fact it might take me several weeks to pull it off.   By the way, "pull it off" is an idiom.  

As a teaser, here's a verse, still in draft. 

Every dog has its day
Have your day in the sun
A bird in hand's worth two in the bush
And baby you're the one

Stay tuned.(another idiom)

Reworked Song

A few weeks ago, I had this verse going through my brain.  "I was standing at the station, by the railway track, waiting for the noon train, to bring my baby back".   I put it together with a 12 bar blues in E, but "I just wasn't satisfied".   

The other day, I was playing around on my Blueridge guitar and started playing a rift with E and B.  I figured it should go somewhere else, so I added in a C#m and an A.  Interesting combination of chords. 

Been playing with the music and the lyrics all day today.  Finished late in the afternoon.  So another song in the book.  

What's that 7 for the year?  I forget already.   so 13 more to work on!  

A Banjo Player?

I bought a banjo about 3 years ago.  Figured that Don and Brian were into playing different instruments, so figured I needed to get with the program.   At first I was looking at a guitar banjo, or as some call it, a six string banjo.  You might have seen Keith Urban or Neil Young play a 'six string banjo'.  Basically, they have a guitar neck and are tuned like a guitar, but they have a banjo body.  They sort of sound like a banjo, but then they really don't have that high G (if in G tuning) that you get playing your thumb of the top string on a banjo.   Of course Keith and Neil can make them sound pretty decent.  

I figured that a guitar banjo would be easy to play if you are a guitar player, so I went down to The Acoustic Music Shop on Whyte Ave.  They had a couple sitting there.  I picked them up.  They were strung and tuned in standard tuning for a guitar.  Easy enough to play, but they still really didn't sound like a true banjo.  Something seemed like it was missing.  

I had an old 'Raven' banjo that my father-in-law had, so I had learned a few things on a banjo.  So I picked up a 5 string banjo and played what little I could on it.  It did sound more like I thought a banjo should sound.    I also figured that if I was going to start playing different instruments, that I should really learn how to play a banjo, not just another guitar.   So I ended up buying the 5 string.   Actually, the other deciding factor was the Acoustic Music Shop had a great deal on a Goldtone - half price.   Certainly was in my budget, while the guitar banjos they had wasn't.  

So I took the banjo home and started to learn.  Took me a while to get my fingers to work, but since I play a little bit of finger picking on guitar, I just applied what I already knew.  I have figured out a few different finger picking styles on the banjo.  Can't get the hang of the 'clawhammer' style though.  Looks easy, but ----.    

So for a while, I played the banjo at home until I heard someone yelling "that's enough'.  Learning a new instrument can be cruel.   Good thing i wasn't trying to learn a fiddle.  I managed to get somewhat adept enough to play a couple of tunes with the Magpies.  We used to do a cover of 'You Ain't Going Nowhere" which is a Bob Dylan song that the Byrds did.  Simple 3-chord song.    Then slowly, I quit playing the banjo. 

A few weeks ago, I picked it up again.  funny how all that I learned before had gone. Started re-learning all over again.   Fingers don't work like they used to either.  no speed.  Frustration set in.   Yet, I kept trying and I'm still trying.  My playing is certainly not going to impress even a reasonably good banjo player.  Hell, I'm not impressed.  

So the other day, I decided I'd try to play a song that Don wrote called "Clouds of Alberta".  Its a rock beat country folk song - or something like that.  We play the song a fair amount, but with two 6-string guitars and a bass.  I picked up the banjo and played around with it.   Last night, we got together to practice to get our songs.  when we came to 'clouds', I picked up the banjo.  Figured I'd surprise Don a bit with a different sound.  he didn't even blink.  All he said was "don't come in off the start - come in on the second verse".   He didn't say put the banjo away.  

This morning, I listed to the recording we did of the Zoom H2 recorder of the song.  other than a few rough spots, the banjo did fit in quite nicely.  There isn't a dazzling banjo musicianship, but it adds a driving beat into the song.  Now I just need to keep working on the banjo with this song and get it right.  Get it so it is second nature without even thinking about what I'm doing.   Got 30 days to do that.  

Song from out of the blue

I was down in my music room playing one of my old guitars that I haven't played for a while.  My son came down and got on drums for a bit.  He left and I was playin' some of my more quiet tunes that I wrote.  Kind of in a relaxed mood I guess. 

After a while, I started playing around with some finger pickin'.  Started playing this thing that I had done before and it sounds a lot like an old familiar folk song - still can't recall what it is though.   That got me to playing Walk Right In.  

After a bit, I started fooling around with a C, Em, F, G, C.   Kind of an interesting chord progression.   It started to sound like something I can work on.  So now I need an idea for some lyrics.  

ELVIS - Baby What Do You Want Me To Do [Great Outtake]

Thought I'd share this with you so you can see Elvis version
ng

A Good Place to Be

My song writing has stalled.  I think I hit a wall (maybe that's a line for a song).  See how desperate I've become.  Actually, the problem I'm having is that musically, I'm looking for something different and as for lyrics, I'm just not having any productive ideas.   But then, part of  the reason for writers block is that rather than thinking about song writing, we've been focusing more on playing and preparing for upcoming music events.  Right now, that's a good place to put our focus.

Last night we were having a debate about what songs to include in a 30 minute showpiece set of all original songs.  Two years ago, that was a fairly easy task and there wasn't much debate.  Last year, it was a bit of a task to pick the songs we liked, but there wasn't a lot of debate.   This year, it is a debate.  I'm not even sure the debate is over.   You see, the problem is that we have about 50 songs to choose from.    Not only is the debate about what songs, but what order should they be played.  All through this debate, we thought about the paying customers, the audience, the fans.

What's the intent? How do we build emotion in the set? What image do we want to present?   Where do the best songs fit?  Where do the soft songs fit, or the uptempo, or the 'rockin' songs.    These are very tough things to figure out.  

Why are we having a debate this year that we haven't had before?   As of late our music has taken on a whole new direction and ranges across several different genre's.    We use a mix of instruments that is presenting a whole new and sometimes unique sound.   AND:  We have somewhere around 50 finished original songs to choose from, and who knows how many unfinished songs.   This is not an bad debate - it is a good debate.   It is a sign that our music is maturing.  

This is really a good place to be.     

Extravaganza Video

I just got some video (amateur) from the Magpies Extravaganza.  This is a song that I like doing to kick a little life into the party.   It's an old Jimmy Reed song called "Doing What You Want Me".   You might know the Elvis version that he did on his comeback special in 1968. 

Auditions and Radio Interviews

 Practice makes perfect.  You all have heard this since you were born.  Hey, it's true.   The hard work that we (Magpies) did over past couple of weeks to prepare for the audition for the Heart of the City Festival paid off.   We did our 3 songs and the panelist said play some more until the other musicians show up.  Guess getting there early helped too. 

This is what we heard today.  "Wow! you guys are playing a different kind of music this year".   "You are playing with a lot more passion."  "I liked you music, I could listen to you guys all day"  We asked them what genre they think we fit into.  Answer: "clever".

Our music has grown over the past year.  Part of that is that we, well more so Don and Brian, are experimenting with more and different instruments.  Songs that we would have played in a more 'roots' style in the past are now taking on a new and even unique sound.  It is truly becoming 'our' sound. 

After our audition we were interviewed by CJSR about our music and the Heart of the City Festival.   That was pretty cool.   Our first media interview.

Ad Sense Cancelled

You may have noticed that there were ads on my blog.  I signed onto Ad Sense.  Seems they are pretty sensitive about clicking on ads on your own blog.  Of course, they do say that when you sign on and agree to the terms.  Well, seems they didn't like the 'possible' improper use of ads on my blog.  So, you will get the benefit of reading my blog and no longer being distracted by advertising.  Guess I won't be able to make that extra $10 a year after all.   Guess I'll have to cut something out of my budget. Guess I'll have to cut down on the guitar picks I buy this year.  I'll just stop losing them instead.  Oh the hardships of being a musician.

Road to Nowhere - Part 2

In a very early post, I included a version of the song "Road to Nowhere" that was recorded with me playing electric guitar along to an electronic drum rhythm.   This is a new version that I play with Don and Brian.  Don is on keyboards (synth) and Brian is playing the bouzouki.  Me, I just play 6-string guitar.   I think you'll like this version. 

I'm Pumped!

We, as in the Magpies, decided that we are going to work on our song and bear down and truly practice.  Practicing is something we don't really do that much.    We get together a lot and we play a lot, but we really don't practice and  analyze our songs and how we play them.  When we do some really amazing things happen.  We find more interesting ways to present the song.   What it comes down to is that it is really about the song.  What's the best way to play it to be interesting to the listener and still be fun to play.  

We got together last night, made some song selections to work on so we will be ready for our upcoming audition for the Heart of the City Festival.   So, songs selected, we got together again tonight to really work out the songs.  How should the vocals be sung? Where do you put the emphasis?  What instruments?  What doesn't belong?  How do we start the song? How do we end it?  Do we need an instrumental break?  how long should it be and how should it be played?   Do we need backing vocals and where?   All of these things are important to give the best presentation of the song.   Again, it is really about the song.   

Well, what happened tonight is we worked out these things on four songs tonight.  We've played them enough before that we've evolved the song close to where we like them, but we were really fine tuning them.   I really enjoy that part of taking a song from the writing, to arrangement, to presentation.   To me it is and exciting process to live through the growth of our music.   Tonight our songs were not just sounding good, but sounding great.   That is what a little practice and hard work can do. 

I think in our case, it is one of the sweet pleasures in life where a song that whoever wrote the song, Don, Brian, Me becomes a "Magpies" song.  It becomes 'our' song and not 'my' song. 

Well, we have these four song worked out and now we just need to keep 'practising' until audition day.   Our goal is to impress the 'judges' enough that they give us a higher billing at the Festival than in past.   I think we are well on the way.  

So what songs did we pick.   One of the great things this year that is a big change from past years - we have a lot of our own songs to choose from.  It is getting to be a bigger challenge for us to choose songs for an audition or a festival performance, but that is a positive thing.    Oh, and the songs we did pick?    I'll keep that to myself until after the audition.

I'm pumped!

Heart of the City Festival

Edmonton is sometimes called "Festival City" because starting in June, there are festivals all summer long. The more famous ones are the Street Performers Festival, Edmonton Folk Festival, Fringe, Heritage Festival, International Blues Festival, and Jazz Festival.   The first festival of the year is the Heart of the City Festival.   The HOTC offers the opportunity for local musicians and artists to show their talents over a two day week-end.  The music ranges all across all genres and must be all original compositions.  Entertainers must work, live, or volunteer in the downtown area of Edmonton.   You can come and listen in to the Festival for free.   All the organizers, entertainers, and artists volunteer their time and it is a great venue to entertain folks who may not have the opportunity to attend the more famous festivals in the City. 

Each year, the organizers hold an audition for musicians.  Just the other day we, the Magpies, were invited to audition.  Hopefully we get accepted to play.  If so, this will be the 3rd consecutive year we play at this festival. 

Over the next two weeks, we'll be working hard to prepare for the audition and then even harder after that to prepare for the Festival.    The Festival takes place on June 4th and 5th in Giovanni Caboto Park, which is located in Little Italy at the corner of 95th St. and 108 Ave

Here's a poor quality sound track with photos from our performance last year.  Song is called Sittin' Here. One that I wrote a couple of years ago and has a bit of a ragtime feel to it. 

Noon Train

I've been playing around with a song about waiting on the noon train and the train is late.  It started out with a kind of, or shall we say, it was a country song.  Wasn't really what I wanted and the song just went nowhere.  Until last night. 

Friday night, I went back out to the Java Express.  Again, not many players there.  When I got there Ernie was playing with 'Bear".  Irene and Deb were there to sing a few songs. The biggest difference this week from last was there was more people to listen in.  The place was actually full.  Nice.   I started off doing my new song "Barely Hangin' On".   I wasn't in great form on Friday and kind of screwed up on the song.  Still, at the end of the night, a few folks came up to me and told me that they liked the song.  Nice to get that feedback.

Yesterday we (as in Don, Brian, George, and myself) went to an open stage at the Crown Pub.  It was our first time there, and since there wasn't a lot of players, the host (Marshall Lawrence) let us play a fairly long set.   It went OK, but it was the second day in a row that I wasn't in great form and it was clear to me we (I) really need to work on Don's songs.   At the end of our set, it was quite gratifying that some of the folks in the bar came up and talked to us about our songs and how they like what we do.  Nice to get that feedback. 

Oh yeah!  Back to the new song.   I must have been inspired by Marshall Lawrence, who is a great blues player in Edmonton.   I came home after and started playing around with some 12 bar blues.  Then I took the lyrics of "noon train', rearranged them to fit the blues, and viola.  New song.    I'm still workin' it out, so not ready to share yet - but it is a new direction for me.

Meanwhile, I can share an old song with you. This one I wrote about 4 years ago when I was sitting an an old garage in Innisfail across from the railway tracks.  I had to wait for a bout 4 hours to get a ride so I pulled out my guitar and wrote this song.  Its called Lonely Train. 

Let The Vocalist Own the Song

In my view, a song writer has to let the singer own the song.   I don't mean that the singer literally owns the song and gets all the royalties.  What I mean is that as a song writer you have to let the singer take your song and sing it like they own it.  Everyone that does a song will put their own personality into the song and will put in their own feelings to the song.  It may or may not reflect how you initially intended the song to sound, but as far as I'm concerned, doing it differently doesn't mean its not right.  Who says you were right anyway.  Let the singer be right.   If the singer does it how you intended it to be, then you were probably right - at least that's how I satisfy my ego. 

This video is from a performance by Irene Kirk at the Magpies Extravaganza on May 24th at the Expressionz Cafe.   The song is called Two Roses.  Its a song I wrote in my car on the way home from a song writing workshop about 3 months ago.  I've been after Irene to do the song for about 2 months.  We got together at Wayne and Irene's house the night before the extravaganza and worked it out that evening.  She ask me 'how do you want it to be sung".   I told her I wanted her to take the song and make it her own.  We had to work on emphasis to fit with the music and in the end Irene actually does the song the way I intended it to be sung.   I've never really be comfortable singing it myself and to get someone else to sing it, it is a great feeling.    

The performance in the video is the first time the song has been played in public.   It is the first time that Irene sang it in public.   We did it again a the Java Express Open Mike a night later.  I think Irene was a bit nervous about doing the song, but each time she does it, it becomes more and more "her" song. 

Anyway, watch the video.  Hope you like the song.   Thanks to Larysa for taking the video and sharing it with us.  In a few months I'll try to get another video of Irene doing the song, and we'll how it sounds then.  

Singing Voice

Hey, I know I don't have a great singing voice, but I have to try to get my songs heard.  When one of my songs is done by someone else that can sing, it makes me feel good. There's a few folks out there that have done my songs and who have made them their own.   That should always be the goal of the singer - take ownership of the song.  To me, it is the greatest tribute to the writer. 

Now, as for my feeble attempts at singing, I've got over the fear (sort of) of performing in front of an audience knowing that they won't be getting a vocal genius. I've learned to accept that.  Even so, I keep learning things about my voice - what my range range is (limited) - what key works best for me.   Since my vocal range is pretty limited, I have to stay within the range that I got.   The key for a song seems to depend on the song. 

In my last post, I included a song called "Barely Hangin' On" which I did in Key of G.  Trouble is, or me G is an unfriendly key and I had to go higher that where my natural voice is.   I didn't like it, but I liked playing the song in G.   

Well, today I decided I'd find a key that is better for my voice. I tried C, because sometimes that works for me.   Then I tried A, because there a few songs I do in key of A.   Neither worked for me - at least I didn't feel comfortable with either key.   So I tried the Key of D.    you can listen to the results in the video clip. 

Still not a great rendition, but I think a better place for my voice than what I was trying before.  

So what lesson did I learn?   Don't be stubborn and stay in a key that doesn't work and probably never will work for you.  Try different keys - even ones you don't think work for you - in my case, even D.  

 I don't see myself as a vocalist, nor do I have any desires to become one.    I do have to try to sing my songs to the best of my abilities so that others can hear them and maybe some day a talented singer will take the song and make it their own.  That's the real goal.  

Barely Hangin' On

No one was home tonight so I decided to try recording this song on a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder.   If you don't have one of these, they are quite handy, as they claim.  The H2 is bigger than a cell phone and looks like a little microphone.  In fact you can mount it on a mike stand with the attachment it comes with.  I use it quite often when I'm playing around with a new piece of music and want to record it so I don't forget what I had going.  

Oh, the song.  It's called 'Barely Hangin' On'.  This is the song I mentioned in the previous post.  My big challenge is that I need to find someone to do the vocals on it.  For me, the song is in the wrong key and I really have to tighten my shorts to get my voice to go that high.  I should transpose to another key - maybe D, but I like the feel of the music in G.   I just need a singer.  Here's the clip with my lame vocals.   Hope you like it

Finally - Another Song Finished

I've got a whole number of song that I've been fooling around with that I wasn't getting anywhere with any of them.   Decided today that I'd focus on one and get it done.  The song about the noon train - see entry "songs from dreams" got partly done and I'm stuck on where to take it to make it interesting.  I've save that one for a rainy day. 

Last night I started playing around on my banjo with a little thing.  that sounded OK, but it didn't lead to anything - yet.   I then started fooling around with a jazzy bluesy thing on guitar that I really like,  and I may come back to that when something inspires me that fits the music. 

So, this morning I was still going nowhere and I picked up my guitar and started noodling around.  This little piece of music started to evolve that finally got me going.  I had fooled around yesterday with some lyrics in an email to Don and Brian and without any thought about where it might go.  Well guess what - those few lyrics and the noodling on the guitar this morning led to a song that I've called "Barely Hangin On" 

1st verse

When I woke up today, in this little dirty town
I looked outside, the sun was going down
As darkness settled down, in this quiet town
And silence, and the street light just came on
and I feel like I'm barely hangin' on. 

Well, the song is now complete.   So for the record, that's number 5 for the year.  15 more to go to reach my goal.