A Single Note...

wise words still whisper in the dark
of mystic feelings that light the sky
scattered like stars
to greet the twilight dawn of new memories
where sunrise stories lift the soul anew
and fresh breezes blow the spirit home to rest

I break away from my hibernation (aka not posting on here at all) to make an announcement for a few flisters...

OH MY BOB!

Great Big Sea is coming to Bayfield Wisconsin on August 1, 2009...it's a tent show to boot, with Lake Superior in the background. Totally already bought my ticket and totally am planning a week long retreat up north!

tickets are on sale atm at the their site: GBS tickets. The venue itself isn't listing the show yet.

This is footage of a meteorite hitting last night in Canada...



Yeah. I'm alive. But I find it ironic that two days before I'm heading to Canada for a GBS concert, this happens.

Love ya world.

LOL

A fellow friend and musician shared these words of wisdom from his grandma:


"If you want to create community, you must learn to share food and music."

Grandma Zollie Craft

I first met Ned at a school board meeting. I videotape them for the school district. I knew nothing of him other than he was newly elected.

However, I came to know Ned through music and performing. He was a regular at the Shooter's open mic and beheld my very first performance in front of a live audience of strangers. The performance was less than memorable, but Ned had the right words of encouragement that helped me come back the next week rather than slink away in shame, never to perform again. He came out to support me for my first paid gig. He offered the pro's and con's of taking on the duties of hosting an open mic myself as well as the confidence that I was both ready and well-suited to do so. And he was my steadfast regular--there every Wednesday, flexible about when he performed, but firm about sharing critiques and perspectives that helped me improve the open mic and turn it into a successful weekly event.

Between all that, he was a constant source of smiles and humor. He could spin a tale with the best of bards, enthrall you with his words, and then sneak in the punch line that left you changed, but laughing about it. I called him a consumate politician because he truly could walk between the two sides of anything and somehow bring both together. He embodied the concept of "Irish diplomacy" (the skill of telling somone to go to hell in such a manner that they actually look forward to the trip).

I can safely say I would not be the musician I am today, were it not for the luck and honor of having Ned enter my life, even if it was only for a short time and I feel his loss keenly.

I know in my heart there is "something beautiful" waiting for Ned as he crosses over. Our open mic tonight was dedicated to him and through music and song we were held together in the spirit of his memory. Some have more grief and healing to process than others, but we started that journey as a community tonight. He will be missed, but never forgotten.

So I shared my lovely story about the "Minnesota Nice" cop and how I flew the bird at him for his agressive/poor driving (didn't know he was a cop at the time I did it).

And the universe just has to help me get some sort of laugh out of the adventure because I get this as an email today from a yahoo group I'm on...

The History of the Middle Finger Well, now. here's something I never knew
before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to send it on to my more
intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified. Isn't history more fun when you know something about it? Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as 'plucking the yew' (or 'pluck yew'). Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew! Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals fricative F', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as 'giving the bird.'

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

Ya know what? I don't even care if this is historically factual or not. I just laughed at how wonderful it was to read this today after what had happened to me so recently. Thanks universe! That's priceless!

Yeah...it's that time again. The b'ys are getting geared up for the "Fortune's Favor" tour... And this is my ( groupie stalker list of the shows I'm attending )

A while back, Eye of Horus in Minneapolis sponsored Wendy Rule in concert. Now Magick TV is sharing the concert on youtube. Currently there is an interview with the Eye of Horus's owners:

this was sent on to me via email. Ticklec me enough that I save it here

In a small Texas town, a new tavern business started constructing a
building in which to open up a bar. The local Baptist church began a
campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. Work
progressed, however right up until the week before opening, when lightning
struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The church folks were rather
smug in their outlook until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds
that the church was ultimately responsible for the destruction of his
building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church
vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's
demise in its reply to the court. As the case made its way into court, the
judge looked over the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, 'I don't
know how I'm going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that
we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire
church congregation that doesn't.

( Initiation )

More to follow, but here's a video of me singing a cover of "the Scotsman"

A new poem for you all...Ironically, I had started writing this one way back before Christmas, but never finished it. Just clarifying in case anyone thinks recent events I vented about inspired it. ;)


"I fell, inevitable"

Once I thought I knew where I stood.
I could see the world with the
glorified clarity
of one who is god of his realm.
Then, like the tower of Babylon,
I fell
and every rule of life came crashing
down around me.
No one is invincible.
Nothing is a guarantee.
Except that chaos is change
and change is
inevitable.

I spent part of today playing around with making promo posters for gig shots. I have no clue what I'm doing really, so I don't even know if these will work. I would love anyone with a good eye for graphic design to peek at them and give me some pointers or ideas.

BTW--I am pondering dropping the "wailin" part of "Wailin Ailinn". So the poll has a question about that as well. Any constructive thoughts are welcome.

Behind the cut are three samples. Vote for the one you like better. Leave any feedback (things that need fixing, doesn't work, is hard to read, might not look good in just black and white etc) in comments.

BTW--I am pondering dropping the "wailin" part of "Wailin Ailinn" so the poll also asks you what you think about that...and that is also why only one of the pictures has "Wailin Ailinn" on it.
( Posters ahoy! )

Poll #1226872 Ailinn Gig posters
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which poster do you like the best?

Should I get rid of "wailin" in "Wailin Ailinn"?

"Fortune’s Favour represents what music should be about, lyrics cut from the very fabric of life, shared by good storytellers and supported by very good melodies and bass lines."

Because GBS is love and I need a little bit of love tonight. *aww*

Taking my time savoring the new Great Big Sea album. They weren't kidding when they said it was going in a different direction than previous albums...There is a distinct GBS flavor to all the music, but you can hear where they were challenging their boundaries, indulging their personal/group musical imaginations and otherwise not sticking with "just traditional" stuff. Overall I like the album so far, but I'm biased...they could put out an album of Church songs and I'd still find things to like about it.

The song stuck in my head right now though is "Company of Fools"

Many a truest word has been spoken by the jester
Standing against the tide is the noblest of gestures
It's the little pearls of wisdom that tumble from the light
That makes us laugh until we cry because we know that they are right
Within the strangest people, truth can find the strangest home
So meet me in the village where all we idiots go

Bring on the clowns, the jokers, and the buffoons
I've had the time of my life and the life of my times
in the company of fools

Today nothing can go wrong.

The new Great Big Sea CD arrived in the mail.

That is all.

Open mics, by their nature, are an everchanging, unpredictable event. For the variety of talented performers and their various arts--music, poetry, storytelling, comedic routines, etc, it is a treat to be a hostess. As such, it's a treat because I meet a variety of people. I pick of tips, tricks and hints from musicians who have been around the block several more times than myself. I get to network. Most rewarding of all, I get to build a community of people who come for the music and stay for the friendships.

But the other aspect of an unpredictable event is that every so often, just when you think you have "order established", chaos has to rear it's head and remind you that not everything runs according to routine. I am a fairly open minded person--it's usually all good in my book...My life as a teacher has helped me to be friendly and accepting of most anyone who graces my stage during the evening--all talents, all ages, all genres. I may not get your gig, but open mic is open mic and I support that concept fully. It takes a lot of courage and gumption to put yourself out there on stage, especially if it's your own music and your own thing. but just like American idol has it's featured clips of "people who really don't have a clue how horrible they sound", open mics occasionally get their "people who really don't have a clue how horrible they sound" too.

*cue ominous music*

Tonight, I was thrilled and excited that my guitar teacher, Justin Bell offered to come out with his family to check out my open mic night and even play a few songs with me. Way cool of him to do so and aside from practicing the three songs so obsessively even Clancy got sick of hearing them, all I asked the universe for was for the night not to be dead slow so it would be a fun time for them.

I opened with a handful of songs--they went well. Justin and I played our three songs--they went well. I played a few more and then we had our first open mic'r show up, so I turned the stage over to him. He set up and started to play and ye gods, it was all I could do to keep a blank poker face on. He described his music as rhythmic sound/hip-hop...I saw the rhythmic elements in how he punished the strings of his guitar with his fingers. But musically...the nicest thing I can say about it was it was very "avant guarde"...which is probably just a politically correct way of saying "dude, are you killing a cat?!?" It was loud. It was discordant. It was...

Well. Grandma always said don't say anything mean if you've got nothing nice to say. Most everyone who was in the cafe at the time, migrated farther and farther to the back of the room, a crowd even trying to escape by standing outside. Justin and his family were out there with a few other open mic regulars when I wandered back that way. We all collectively exchanged various grimaces, winces, and otherwise interesting facial expressions as the music still resounded even outside.

The smart patrons, Justin and his family included, were able to make their escapes and left for home or other places far more enjoyable than the sounds eminating from the stage.

I let the kid play his three songs. I chatted with him. I asked him questions about his music. I was a nice hostess.

But I was wholeheartedly bummed that it had to be this of any and all nights for a muscian like that to come out to open mic. It's not nice to traumatize your guitar teacher with the sounds of cats dying. Much less his family! At least I can say I wasn't the one who did so, but bummer!

Things got right back on an even keel with the next performer and the rest of the night was spectacular. After the avant guarde guy, we had a full evening of 11 talented musicans and a full house--27 audience members filling the room when I did a head count a bit after 9pm.

Can't seem to get the the GBS.com fortune cookie code to paste in livejournal but you can go watch the new "Walk on the Moon" Video!

Bummer that my pre-ordered copy didn't arrive promptly in the mail today. Don't they know what a uber geek of a fan I am and what rights I have to this CD LIKE RIGHT NOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW?!?!?!?!?!!?

*LOL* Please note this is me being humorous. I actually pretty much expected that I won't get my CD until later this week at the earliest. That's been the typical pattern of delivery for pre-sale items from the website for me. Now, if two weeks from now I am CD-less, I may just have to chew someone's arm off and go even more stark raving bonkers than I already am.


tomorrow is a most momentous day. My guitar teacher is bringing out his family to my open mic night and is going to perform a few songs with me. I'm both excited and wretchedly nervous!

And there's a rumor flitting about that I may be offered to perform at a very important local schtick called "Art on the Kinni". *guh* I don't want to get my hopes up about that one but the timing would be well...momentous (that's my word of the day apparantly?) and I will verily squee lots if anything comes of the rumor. There's just too much synchronicity in it to not be a bit excited though...*lol* Because it'd be smack dab in the middle of GBS concerts again, just like my first paid gig was back on St. Patty's Day a year ago. Only this time (and make sure you are seated btw) if it goes through, it means I will be giving UP a GBS concert to do my own thang!

Other than that I've been a decidely lazy teacher enjoying her summer vacation