Sittin' Here

We've been doing this song for about 3 years now, and it's the song we got some airplay on CJSR in advance of the Hearth of the City Festival.  In an earlier posting, I included a live version that we did at the HOTC Festival in 2010.  That recording was a bit noisy as it was done on my Zoom H2 that we set up in front of the stage, so there's a lot of outside noise.  

We did another recording of this song a while back when Yvon was drumming for us and doing backing vocals on a few of our tunes.  So on this version I've included here, you'll hear Yvon on drums and backing voices - Brian on a short-scale Fender bass,   Don in playing the mandolin, and I'm playing my Tachimine and doing lead vocals. This is the version that got the air play on CJSR.  

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. 

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.  

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.