Musical Blog Entry

Hi folks and folkettes,

Today, my blog entry is a musical one.

It was my very first Mariposa Folk Festival, summer of 2006 (yes, I'm a slow learner / late bloomer / whatever).  It was hot.  I was walking to one of the workshop stages with my friend Jennifer Ives, carrying my cello, guitar, knapsack, big music bag and assortment of percussion; she was carrying two guitars and a bunch of other stuff, herself.  We felt like big, sweaty pack horses.  And then, across the field, we see Suzie Vinnick lightly flitting to her stage, with her boyfriend, James Dean, following up behind, carrying all her stuff for her, and staring adoringly.

Jen and I paused, looked at each other, and both said "I want one of those!"  And then, the inevitable, "hey, there's a song in there."  A few weeks later, I wrote the song -- a humorous (I hope) exploration of the unrealistic fantasies we all hold (although Suzie assures me that most of the things I wrote about are true!).

When I saw Suzie and James at the OCFF conference that fall, Suzie laughed and said she'd heard I'd written a love song for her boyfriend -- should we take this outside?  ;-)  I sent them the lyrics, but somehow never got around to actually playing the darned thing for them.

Suzie was up in Orillia a couple of weeks ago, for the Orillia Folk Society's January FridayFolk concert.  And I once again remembered that they'd never heard the song.  So when Suzie suggested that we get together and visit our mutual friend, Joe Yanuziello, this weekend, Don and I hatched our evil plan.

We spent Wednesday evening recording this song "My Own James Dean" in our music room.  I did my usual cello and foot-percussion stuff, but when we were finished, I asked Don how much work he wanted to put into the song?  Well, he's on recording withdrawal, now that his solo album is finished (other than the graphics, which is my department), so he was willing to go all-out.  So I suggested the cheesy Andrews-sisters background vocals.  We haven't had this much fun in the studio for a long time.

And so, Friday afternoon (after an unfortunate adventure with a wheel bearing), we all sat in Joe's lovely cabin, and Don presented James's song in all its "glory".  I apparently have to write a song for Joe now.  :-)

Curious?  Listen here: http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_12140744  (Please note, I'm leaving this song open for free streaming for the next few days -- after that, it will become a "fan exlusive".  I just didn't want to force you to sign up as fans just to hear the song.  I know, bad marketing -- but hopefully those of you who actually ARE fans will sign up and make it official.)

Musically -- and cheesily,
Alyssa