Witnessing a Birth

Well, that's what it felt like at noon when I received a very interesting e-mail from a Grant Hart fan.

People, we have a release date for "The Argument." I think I will be counting the minutes to July 22nd!

Not only do we have a release date, we have a publicity page.

And if you scroll down past the charming publicity photo and very well written article, you will find Soundcloud links to two (non-downloadable) preview tracks: Is the Sky the Limit, and Letting Me Out.

The latter track rips along at a fantastic pace, sounding a lot like Buddy Holly, but listen to the wry humor in the lyrics. This is the part where Satan is bargaining with Sin and Death to let him out of hell to wreak havoc upon the earth, and thus begin sending along lots of unfortunate souls to keep the two evil ones' appetites satisfied. Heavy subject matter, but a really danceable tune. Whoa!

This brings me to Is the Sky the Limit. Oh. My. God. I listened to it for the first time, via headphones and iPhone, while attempting to eat my lunch in the cafeteria at work. I ended up trying not to weep over my sandwich. I have loved the song since I first started hearing Grant play it live, just himself and his guitar. But this -- the full band arrangement -- finally hearing what Grant intended, completely -- words fail.

I know how hard he has worked. I know how many challenges and roadblocks he had while trying to bring the project to completion. To use a childbirth metaphor, it was probably the longest transition stage on record. Want to push...need to push...but it's not time yet.

Finally, he DID get to push, and hearing Is the Sky the Limit for the first time was like watching a newborn burst forth into the world. Grant did not simply work on a project. No. He grew it, he shaped it, and now, triumphantly, he has BIRTHED it.

Now, to have the patience to wait for the release so I can hear every single bit of it! That's not going to be easy...

On Quaffing the Kool-Aid

OK, for years I resisted getting an iPod and having anything to do with iTunes. I spent those years struggling with Creative Labs products and Rhapsody -- both quite possibly the buggiest and most frustrating media by which to obtain and play mp3s. If I knew then what I know now...

Enter the iPhone, last October. I finally caved in and upgraded my stupid phone to an older model smart phone. I hated it for about a week, and after that -- how did I live without it?

First quaffing of the Kool-Aid.

Then I discovered the phone had a built-in iPod, and decided to give it a whirl, mainly because I could not seem to get ANY new content on to my Creative Zen anymore unless it was a direct burn from a physical CD. I downloaded iTunes, expecting all sorts of trouble with learning curves and buggy programs.

What I could not do at all via Rhapsody and Creative happened in a matter of error-free minutes via iTunes.

Another helping of Kool-Aid, anyone?

I have not looked back, and rather than burn up phone battery, I purchased a reconditioned 16 GB iPod Nano IV. Easy as pie! And iTunes has all my beloved old Beatles albums available, albeit in British format, so I will have to create my own Meet the Beatles, Beatles Second Album, Something New, and Beatles VI playlists. No biggie. I found the original tracklists. Now all I have to do is set down and create the lists on my player.

Having downloaded all this early Beatles material prompted iTunes to offer a list of "you might also like" suggestions. One of these was a band I had nearly forgotten, The Move.

Backtracking a bit, in high school I was a big ELO fan. It's what this classical musician opted for to convince the parental units that I wasn't into ordinary, noisy rock 'n roll. I was into classy stuff. ELO. Prog Rock of various types. The Moody Blues. Renaissance. Emerson, Lake, & Palmer.

Sadly, I failed to convince them. If it was music, and the sound was coming from my room, it was shit, plain and simple. I might just as well have been cranking, say, The Sex Pistols. No matter what, if Paula liked it, it was worthy of derision. Interestingly enough, this also encompassed Glenn Miller, and my father was a fan of that sort of music! I was flabbergasted the day he hollered at me to "turn that Goddamn noise down," and it was a Miller album! I guess no one ever paid attention to exactly what the music was. All it had to do was be faintly melodic and audible through my closed bedroom door.

Also, my mother hated music and had no use for it, but that's another gripe for another day.

I do not understand people who have no use for music. It truly boggles my mind. But I digress.

Back to ELO.

Being the good music geek I always was, I was curious about the band's roots. Where had they begun? And I had that very exciting first ELO album, "No Answer." It was primitive. It was raucous. Roy Wood, God bless him, made a valuable document of how NEVER to play most musical instruments known to man. But I was a bassoonist, and here was a record with bassoon used on a couple of tracks! And oboe! And cello! And the range of musical styles was mind-boggling. I loved it, and it remains one of my favorite albums of all time.

Before this came a band called The Move. I found a greatest hits compilation from their early years at Mr. Lofgren's store in Cranston, RI. Lofgren's was a very cool place, which sadly burned down a number of years back. Mr. Lofgren, who was VERY old at the time, died from smoke inhalation. He really loved music and knew it inside-out. Losing him and the shop was a great tragedy for local music lovers.

Later, the same year I found my Move compilation, my friend Jorie found a newer one called "Split Ends." There were some fascinatingly experimental tracks on that album. "Words of Aaron." "It Wasn't My Idea to Dance." "No Time."

Back to present day -- this very morning, in fact -- iTunes suggested I might like to download The Move's "Message from the Country." The three songs mentioned above were on it, along with a bunch of other stuff, including the original version of ELO's song, "Do Ya."

Twist my arm, iTunes. But they didn't have  to twist very hard, or very long, and this afternoon at work, I played the album twice in a row. What a FUN record, and every bit as exciting as that first ELO album.

Jeff Lynne's "No Time," in particular, proved especially moving. Sad. Poignant. Below is a You Tube link to the audio. No moving images (no pun intended), just a shot of the album cover. But the music is what matters. Check this one out, and see if it resonates with you, too.

I have decided that quaffing the Kool-Aid was not a bad thing at all. Oh, the places I'll go....musically speaking!

Remember Me?

Yes, I've been gone awhile. Not a whole hell of a lot to say, it seems. I'm finally back at work again after a lengthier layoff than anyone anticipated, so "free time" is rather scant.

Today, getting ready for a memorial service in a few days, I started practicing. I'm doing an old folk hymn, accompanying myself on guitar, as a prelude. I'll be playing guitar in public for the first time in years, and I am planning on using my "Crossroads Guitar," aka the Steel Beast. It looks like this, only mine has been "well loved" and is a bit tarnished. I need to get some pictures of me with mine.

I may have started out having a practice session this afternoon, but ended up having a recording session  instead, and Parting Friends is the result of that. At the memorial service, it will be just me and my guitar, but on the recording I have done three vocal lines and two guitar parts. Overall, I'm really pleased with how it came out.

If you decide to have a listen, I hope you enjoy it.

Now I'm exhausted and heading for slumberland!

Soundcloud

So, I opened this Soundcloud account awhile back, mainly so I could follow what my friend, Tim Holehouse, is up to. It never occurred to me until fairly recently that I could post my own stuff and share it. For a long time, I had just one song, Seasons, which is an original song I wrote back in October.

Today, I made up for lost time and recorded a bunch of stuff, covers AND originals, just for a lark.

One of these, The Improbable Medley, would have been the centerpiece of my set at Pizzeria Uno, if it had ever materialized. The guy who invited me to come and play doesn't even work there anymore, so it's doubtful that I will have a public performance any time soon. This does not stop me from wanting to play and sing, and my various Tascam units are ready, willing, and able to assist me in getting my recordings done and out there for friends to enjoy.

I still have a couple of songs to edit and finalize, but I think I've done enough listening to myself for today.

If you decide to listen to any or all of it, thanks, and I hope you dig it.

Fa-la-la-la-BLAH!!!!

In Worry Christmas/Crappy New Year Grand Tradition, my employer's business has ground to a nearly complete standstill, and since it is not going to pick up in MY department before sometime in January, here I am at home again. Laid off. Going 'round the house in circles because I had already gotten accustomed to the rhythm of the work week even though I had been back at it only about a month. I suppose I wouldn't mind taking the time off if it came with a paycheck, but since it doesn't, it's a bummer. Big time.

Well, it's not like there isn't anything to do here at home. I have been dyeing silk to replenish the shop, and just finished and photographed my latest design: Mad Angel Creations Climbing Bamboo Cowl. I proofread the pattern over again, set it up as a PDF file, and uploaded it to my Ravelry store. Hopefully people will find it irresistible and buy many copies before the week is out.

Work peeps who may be reading this -- yes, this is the thing you last saw me knitting in the cafeteria at lunch.  I finished it this morning. Please excuse the fact that I am having not just a bad hair day, but a HIDEOUS hair day. Oh, and I do not, in fact, have one blue eye and one brown eye. Something weird happened with the camera flash, is all I can figure. What a bizarre effect!

Now here's the cowl all by itself.

And a close-up of the utterly fabulous stitch pattern, and my equally fabulous hand spun yarn in a Merino/Seacell blend.

So, I AM finding stuff to do during the down time, but seriously hoping the down time does not go on past mid-January...

Hurricane Relief

From now through Friday, November 30th, Mad Angel Creations will donate 20% of all sales to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief.

The shop is well-stocked, and there are a lot of nice things from which to choose.

So, treat yourself to some lovely yarn and/or fiber, and help someone in need at the same time.

Here's a peek at some new stuff, just listed!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Halloween!

Mad Angel Creations celebrates with a sale!

Use coupon code HAPPYHALLOWEEN

and receive 15 % off your entire order,

now through midnight on Sunday, Nov. 4th!

Thanks for looking!