What's In a Name

Another happening:  We've been debating our group name for three years now.  We've been calling ourselves the Magpies since our first appearance at the Heart of the City Festival.  Came about because we hadn't picked a name, and they needed on. Don was watching a Magpie on his lawn and blurted it out when he was asked what our group name was.   The debate started immediately after that. 

Part of the issue, is the name has been used before. Part of the issue is a few people told us we need to add something in front of Magpies or after Magpies.  I think the real issue is that none of us really wanted to be a "Magpie".  Have you ever listened to a magpie?

Since we were now in a studio working on putting together a CD, we figured we better settle this name issue once and for all.  So time to get serious. 

We've thrown out so many names, but it seemed at least one of us 'veto'd'.  Finally, Don tossed out a name on Saturday.   Suggestion:  Big Sky Gliders".   I liked it. Brian liked it.  We got agreement for the first time in 3 years.   Maybe on Monday, we'll shake on it.

Who would have thought picking a name would be so difficult and take so long?

IN THE STUDIO - LAYIN' IT DOWN

Don & Jim @ Backyard Studio

For some time now, we've (Magpies) been talking about recording our songs in a studio and perhaps producing our own CD.   The process started last night.  We are recording at the Backyard Studio owned by Rick Garvin.  We met Rick last week to look at his studio and talk about the process.  It sounded straight forward and with advice from Rick we decided we'd start with one song.  After that we can decide what we want to do next.  Good plan!  We could then focus on one song and not get too far ahead of ourselves. 

We decided, well, actually Don and Brian, decided to record "Sitting Here".  You can find an early version recorded on a Zoom H2 in an earlier posting. 

So we got to the studio with all our stuff and were ready for the evening, or so we thought.  Brian had an idea about what was coming because he's done some recording before.  Me. Not a clue. 

First, we laid down a 'scratch track'  All playing to a metronome, or 'click track".  sounded easy, but the first run through, it didn't work. This was for a song we've done a hundred times.  So, we did it again.  This time reasonably good success and probably as good as we were going to get it that night.  Great,  Step one was done. 



In Isolation



Next.  Lets get Jim in the isolation booth to do the rhythm guitar track.  Sounds good, but the booth is a little room with no windows.  Claustrophobic actually.  So I do a track. Wasn't great.  Did a second one - that was going well until. I messed up a chord and flubbed the ending.   Not to worry.  We'll just play over those two spots and fix the track.  Good, Done, Now I get to get out of the little box

No, now I got to go back in and do the lead vocals.  Just when I thought I'd get a break.  Did two vocal tracks.  Second one was good.  Now I'm done. 

Now it was Brian's turn for backing vocals.  Again, he lays down two tracks.  Second one was good, except I changed the words in my version from the written word.  So Brian had to do another take for that line.  Finally, we had a guitar track, lead vocal track, and the backing vocal track.  3 1/2 hours passed by. 

But we're not done.  We still have to do the mandolin track, bass track, and keyboard track.  That's coming Thursday, but good news is I'm done so I can sit back and relax.  I think.  Maybe I'll take my guitar just in case. 

Also, check out Brian's Blog, In the Clouds - link is on the right

Layin it down.  Good times.

Doing Favours

A couple of years ago, a good friend of ours asked us to play at a playground opening.  For that good freind, we decided to give it a go.  Yvon wasn't around, so my son played drums for us.  It turned out to be a less than desirable venue to play.  First off, it was mostly young parents and a whole lot of kids under 10.  Most were probably under 7.    Because we aren't a cover band, they really couldn't have cared less about our music. 

To top it off, they provided a stage trailer that was really just a big tin box on wheels.  On the stage, it sounded just like the tin box that it was.   They also put the stage right beside the playground basketball court, so while we were playing, a bunch of kids were playing basketball.  So there were basket balls flying around in front of us, and we were worried our stuff getting damaged.   In fact, Don's mandolin did fall over a piece of the head stock broke off. 

When we took a break (around noon), we went out behind the stage and sat at a picnic table away from the crowd.   Don had a flask of scotch, so what the hell. 

Now, for todays story.   Yvon's community league asked us if we'd play at their community league for community league day.  Details were sketchy, but to do Yvon a favour, we said OK.  We had that feeling of dejavu because as details came out, we were told we'd be playing by the basketball court.  As it turned out, we actually played on the basketball court.  

We decided that we needed to do some cover songs mixed with our originals.   We've done the cover songs before, but we hadn't played them for over a year.  In fact, we hadn't played with Yvon for the same length of time, so we knew we'd be rusty on that stuff, and we knew that Yvon probably didn't know our newer songs.  So we practiced.  On Friday night before the event, we went to Yvon's garage and went through our set list.  We did have a lot of fun that night, but we still had some reservations about the actual event. 

When we got there with all our stuff,  5 guitars, banjo, keyboard, drums, bass guitar, bouzouki, sound equipment, mikes, amps, monitors, we got to survey the scene.  The audience was scattered about the park and some chairs were set up in front of where we were going to play.  Yvon set his drums up right in front of the basketball hoop.   We had lots of room to spread out, and we did.    

So when we were ready, we played.  The set went quite well.  No basket balls.  some people were dancing at bit, and Wanda took lots of pictures.   We made a few mistakes, but we are getting so much better at covering those little errors up.   I must say, our vocal arrangements are improving all the time, and other than my vocal limitations, I think it sounded OK.  We ain't going to ever win a singing contest, but at least there's improvement.  

Set list:

• Six Days on the road  (Dave Dudley Cover Song)
• Sitting Here ( a Magpies Original)
• Take another Road (Jimmy Buffett Cover Song)
• Stand by Me (Ben King Cover Song)
• Johnson Browne (a Magpies Original)
• The Letter (Box Tops Cover Song)
• Black Room (a Magpies Original)
• Clouds of Alberta (a Magpies Original)
• Pirate over 40 (Jimmy Buffett Cover Song)
• My Dream Automoblile (A Magpies Original)
• Dead Flowers (a Rolling Stones Cover)
• Ain't Going Nowhere (a Bob Dylan Cover)
• Lonely Train (a Magpies Original)

So we finished playing.  No disasters.  No broken instruments.  People had fun.  We had fun.  It was a good day.  

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. 

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.

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.