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. 

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.

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.

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. 

Old Grey Stone

This is a song I wrote about 3 years ago and performed at the Heart of the City Festival with the Magpies.  This version was recorded in a hotel room in Calgary last June with our good friend Izzy.   The version played at the Heart of the City Festival was played with an Irish Bouzouki that gives it an Irish ballad feel.   On this version, you'll only hear a guitar played in a finger picking style.  I wanted to share this version so you can hear the emotion and feeling that Izzy gives the song as it is intended to have.