Love Was Comin' Through

Quintin Stephens is spearheading an effort to do a Mimi and Richard Fariña tribute album, which he's pitched to Robert Force. I hope we end up doing it - as he mentioned in his e-mail, it could be a new Pacific Rim Dulcimer Project along with bringing more attention to the Farina's music. He asked me what tune I'd be interested in covering and, with no hesitation, I said "The House Un-American Blues Activity Dream." Buddy, we're about to indict.

I began a new song yesterday and finished it today. It's deep. It works on many different levels. Here are the words:

love was comin' through
music and lyrics by Bing Futch

father
what's that you're smoking?
father
I need to know
father
I was only joking
I don't really need anything anymore anyway

father
what is your mission?
father
what was your crime?
mother
got away with murder
I don't really need anything anymore anyway

cause I got love
sweet love I found
she lifts me up
when I am flat on the ground
do you remember
how it felt to you
when love, sweet love, was comin' through

father
left you a message
father
left it on my knees
crosses
make me uncomfortable
I don't really need anything anymore anyway

chorus

instrumental break

father
why should I believe you?
father
where should I begin?
mother
says I need a reminder
I don't really need anything anymore anyway

chorus

father
what's that you're saying?

Easter 2007

Told you it was deep. The music is loosely southern gospel - and I'm working up the charts right now to get some players onto it and working it proper. More to come soon.

The Energy of Spring

Like the magnetic power of a waxing moon, this springtime buzz has been slowly seeping into everything. Ready. Steady. Goforth. Walkin' on the balls of my feet again and smilin' for no particular reason. Has Spring got a hold of you yet?
It's so good to smell the earth - to sense its unfurling underneath you, sending waves of brown and green scents to dance and flirt with the air, lovely for the allergic and asthmatic, it's true, but what a great pain to have, huh?

The songbook is almost finished and while I continue to knock out pages for that, I'm simultaneously working up charts for the songs that Mohave will play at the Central Florida Fair on April 29th. It's their 95th year. I think it's our seventh. It's one of our favorite shows to play each year (how can you beat milling about between sets eating polish sausage sandwiches and grilled corn on the cob? or riding something puke-inspiring?) and we've got a great line-up assembled for this outing. Kristi Kief, who just recorded "Music" with us, will be on drums and steel pans. Mark Kring will perform bass guitar - I had the opportunity to share a jam with Mark and local guitar hero Roger Zimish not too long ago; he's a magnificent bassist. Our man-on-the-harp Charles Stansell will be there and I'm still looking to rustle up another utility performer - I've got a phone number that's got the dreaded tri-tone "the number you have reached has ceased to exist" message.

Did you get that "Music" rough demo? If not, it's gone. Been replaced by this.

The raw Pro Tools tracks arrived from Full Sail last weekend, so I imported the 648MB of filework into Garageband and did a quick mix. There were 24 tracks! In configurations that only the talented students of Group 16 and their intrepid instructor Paul Harlyn could possibly know, I guessed at some of the microphone placement to recreate the room ambience that they'd built so beautifully in the studio. With the multimillion dollar toys in every direction, it's no surprise to notice the incredible quality in the sound as compared to the tracks that I record here at the studio.

While I'm dishing out music, here's one that I wrote to be in the songbook. It's called "Seminole Solstice." Just mountain dulcimer and Native American drums (with a few cinematic effects).

Podcasting Stuff

Stephen Seifert played "Positive Vibes" by Mohave to open show #11 of his Mountain Dulcimer Folk Podcast. If you know about Stephen, then he needs no introduction. If you aren't sure who he is, visit his page and let it hit you slowly. Stephen stands out in the mountain dulcimer worldwide community as a tremendous talent and teacher who explores the boundaries of space as often as he kicks back in the groove of terra-firma tradition. And the boy smokes some dulcimer, sho' nuff. Burn it to the ground.

Also, thanks to everyone who has been subscribing to The Dulcimerica Video Podcast and downloading episodes. The response has been fantastic and it's been a lot of fun. Road-trips are going to be especially fun.

But mostly - thanks to you "Nowhere" blog readers. You know who you are.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together Pt.2

One of the worst phrases in the whole world has to be, upon arising from a deep slumber: "honey, what time were you supposed to be there?"

Needless to say, I made a few quick phone calls Friday morning to make sure that something would be happening for the Full Sail students besides a total absence of musicians. Charles was due to arrive at 9 am, so I dialed in and found that he was running slightly behind - with apologies to Michele, I jetted out of the house and got there as he was tracking. Big apologies to the students and to Paul Harlyn, the instructor, "no worries" came the response and we got on with the business of overdubbing. For all of my flustered tardiness, both Full Sail classes were quite professional, friendly, engaged and a good bunch of students, some of the best I've ever worked with at the facility.

As it stood, I left the dulcimer tracks as they were and added an acoustic track to "Ring-A-Ding" along with vocals and harmony. Kristi arrived and added tambourine to the mix, giving the song a real revival flavor. Quick. Done. Out of there.

After lunch, we began work on "Music", with its tri-vocal harmony and assorted percussion tracks. I also laid down a "bubble track" of burbling keyboards. All in all, it went just as smoothly as the previous day's session and by the time we were finished, I had a mixdown of "Music" with a promise of the ProTools tracks to follow on disc.

Here is the rough mix, which I'll keep up until I get the files for fully mixing the track. Dulcimer will come up in the mix as well as the lead vocal, backing vocals will be brought down some along with the bass. I don't remember if the tracks ended up dry or with reverb effect, but for a reggae tune, I'll probably throw a vocal slapback of some sort on there during mixing.

Again, it was just astounding to have actually met the rhythm section on the first day of tracking and sixteen hours later, we had two great sounding songs and two classes of students who were happy to be working with us and material that they enjoyed. As I stated with the titles of these two posts, "I love it when a plan comes together."

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Went into Full Sail today to record for two different classes. For those of you who don't know, Full Sail is a state-of-the-art recording school and facility that educates aspiring audio and video technicians in their respective skill areas. I've been working with Full Sail since 1999 - recording arts in the main studios A and B, live sound reinforcement with video across the street from the main campus, artist sessions on a more intimate scale, lecturing to music business students on the skills of the trade -- I mean like this. Michele Bunker has always hooked me and the various projects of mine up. But this was the first time that I had NEVER played a live note with any of the people involved.

Early this morning at 9 am, I met with Kristi Kief, whom I had met through Bob King, a member of my dulcimer group. She's a world-class drummer and percussionist who also works part time as a gator wrestler at Gatorland. I had lined up a bass player for this session, but it sort of fell through; twice. So, upon a suggestion by Cheech, the manager of Hank El Diablo, I got ahold of Larry Nader, who drove down from Jacksonville to do the double session.

Keeping in mind that I had never played with either of these people before, I wasn't concerned.

We did two songs, "Ring-A-Ding" and "Music." The first being a staple Mohave tune and the second being also a staple, but extracted from the song "The Miner and His Music" which was a mixing of two songs written by myself and Bunky.

I had sent out chord sheets and demos to Larry and Kristi so they could get the hang of the tunes, very simple ones at that. When today rose in the sky, we were there at Full Sail making it happen. I had a peaceful easy feeling about the whole thing, and as it turns out, for a very good reason.

First off, Kristi is on. The girl knows her stuff. Having listened to her demos, I knew she would bring a lot to the session. Something about talking to Larry also put me at ease. He had the ineffable way of someone who has been playing for years in the biz, and a confidence that could not be faked. I knew he would rise to the occasion after talking with him.

We ended up doing two different sessions with two different classes of students, both under the direction of instructor Paul. Kristi played a drum kit for the rockabilly/boogie-woogie hybrid "Ring-A-Ding" while Larry played bass guitar and we knocked out the track in five takes, working through all the changes for the first time ever. It sounded so good, that it was delightful to tell the students at breaktime that we had only met for the first time that morning and had never rehearsed together before.

Afternoon session brought on "Music", with its reggae beats and Kristi's expertise on steel drums. It was a sure sign of success as we tracked the rhythms with the students nodding their heads in time with the music.

Tomorrow, we do some overdubs, having laid down what are known as "bed tracks." They are the foundation for the rest of the recording. Once you've got the drums, bass and main string instrument down (in this case, dulcimer), then you're ready to keep piling on layers until it really begins to erupt.

I did a vocal scratch track, meaning, we weren't planning on keeping it - just as a guide for the live performance of the scratch track. Tomorrow, I'll actually stand alone and record not only the main vocals, but also the secondary harmony and, in the case of "Music", three-part harmony. We're also bringing in my friend Charles Stansell to play harmonica on "Ring-A-Ding" and Kristi will be adding some more percussion to "Music" in the later session.

I found out that Kristi is moving to Australia to be with her boyfriend, who moved there recently for a computer gaming job. I'm happy for her at the same time that I'm frustrated, because it's been a long time coming to find someone so intuitive and talented in rhythms. I wish her well, at the same time that I bemoan the chance to work with her in the near future - not that we won't work together from afar, but damnit! The good ones always get away, don't they?

What can be said about today's session is that it was wonderful, magical, informative, spectacular, eye-opening and jammin' to the highest degree. We're all looking for a way to gig together before Kristi heads off to Brisbane, because it's not very often that three people who have never played together before can come together and create such beautiful music as they did today. There's something special in that kind of inspiration - and as soon as the tracks are delivered to us - I'll share them here.

A Beautiful Night

The gig tonight was wonderful - I love Scott Ainslie for his passion in not only playing music, but sharing it and educating others about the roots of the form. As soon as we arrived at Fodor's Grove, I met up with Scott and met his wife Barbara - and then we quickly launched into a fervent political discussion. I love his heart, his spirit and his dedication to truth. And he's an intelligent, well-read guy, to top it all off.

It was great to see Mark Fodor again and Barry Brogan of the Central Florida Folk group, both of whom were responsible for me opening for Scott. The Orange Blossom Blues Society had co-sponsored the event, so there were some familiar faces there - and of course, the potluck. Now, I don't really eat before a show, so I missed out on some good vittles, but there was plenty left after my set. Well, I missed Jerry's shrimp jambalaya, damnit.

My voice coach Judy was there and she was happy with my performance, as was I. Scott was amazing - as I've said, he can play the blues right down to the zip code, and he delivered once more some incredible songs and stories, shedding light on the origins of songs and providing background to events that may have otherwise been passed over. He also gifted me with a copy of his album "The Feral Crow", which has the fantastic song "Don't Obey" included. This tune is one of the many that are on Neil Young's "Living With War Today" site - and if you haven't heard it, go have a listen.

Another great night - and there were many friends there - along with George and Sheri, my brother and sister-in law, who are always fun to be around. I'm reviewing the video now and will post something on YouTube and MySpace soon.

Submerged In Song

After a hard-impact learning curve with the TablEdit software, I'm finally making some progress towards finishing the songbook. Once you get the hang of it, the going is easy. Getting the hang is not-so-easy.

In any case, much of the sheet music for tunes that I had created with Sibelius have been uniformly re-done and now the process of notating new and older pieces of music has begun. I'm not sure what to call this songbook, but I'm thinking of the title "Dulcimerica: All Over The Map", because it truly is. Style-wise, that is. Any songbook that contains the traditional tune "John Henry" as well as the theme to Steven Spielberg's dinosaur flick "Jurassic Park" is really stepping outside of conventional music boundaries.

It will be mostly an original songbook, with my arrangements of some traditional and not-so-traditional favorites. One piece that I'm having fun with is the Disney medley, which will include parts of songs from "Old Yeller", "The New Adventures of Davy Crockett", "It's A Small World", "The Little Mermaid", "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty." The licensing on this one will more than compensate for all of the original and public domain music that's on the CD, but it will be well worth it, absolutely the show-stopping final track.

At the same time that I'm tabbing out tunes, I've also been on the search for traditional Irish music, jigs, reels, airs and the like, just to get my fiddler's repertoire up. This week, I ran across a delightful traditional Irish tune called "Off To California" that I can't wait to play out live.



Mohave's got a recording session at Full Sail in two weeks, so I've also been charting out the changes for the players - "Music" is one of the tunes and the other one, I'm not sure yet. Perhaps "Neon Tiki" or something newer. I want something that's not too complex so that we can learn it, rehearse it, record it and have it under our collective belts. More word on that as the day approaches!

Blues Jam at Underground Bluz

It's been a good week for jamming - I haven't been doing much of that lately. After sitting in with Patty Gates at Reilly's Lantern Pub last week for a sizzling rendition of "Bobby McGee", she mentioned to me another jam going on at Underground Bluz on Saturday night. Not putting two-and-two together (I'd performed there on this night before), I arrived and discovered that it was a blues jam.

Blues on mountain dulcimer isn't impossible, but it can be difficult due to the diatonic nature of the instrument. With the blues revolving around the pentatonic scale, you're hard-pressed to find the melody, let alone accompanying harmonies that will make your music sizzle. However, it can be done with a good load of string-bending and, if you're capoed at the second fret (key of F#), you can actually get the pentatonic scale and lay some smoky sweetness down.

Of course, it also helps to know your blues chord progressions - so even if you're playing in the key of E (capo first fret), you know that the blues is typically a I - IV - V chord progression.

With each key, there is a scale - and with each scale, there are degrees for each note. The degrees are represented by roman numerals:

I = Tonic (or the root note)

II = Supertonic

III = Mediant

IV = Subdominant

V = Dominant

VI = Submediant

VII = Leading Tone

I, IV and V are what's known as primary chords - the only major chords in the major scale, and usually the chords that are used for blues progressions. No matter what key you're in, this holds true.

So, in the key of E (which is the Tonic or I chord), you count up four notes in the scale (including the Tonic) and you've got A as your IV chord. One more to five and there's your B.

And don't forget that the Key of E has four sharps, F#, C#, G# and D# - so you've got to make some careful choices, even if you're barreing the chords, for soloing.

In any case - blues is not a real strongpoint for me, so I resisted the urge to quietly slip out into the night. Especially after enough people had seen me tuning up and wanted to know what the hell I was playing. Angelique has never been known for her huge voice and this was an all-out jam, better suited to Halcyon's solidbody sound, but I found a break in the action between sets and went to do a little demonstration of some swamp blues with "Cluck Old Hen", just to mix things up from the big Chicago sound that had dominated the evening up to that point.

Imagine my dismay when I couldn't get any sound out of her - realizing that I had left her plugged in all day while practicing and drained the already fatigued battery! No worries, for a shallowbody, she's got a pretty decent voice, so I just had them mic her and I went ahead with the jam, which was raucously received.

There were quite a few familiar faces and talents there, like Kristen Hart and Roger Zimish, who had in mind a little experimental free-associative jam with the dulcimer. So, a fresh battery and a jewelers screwdriver was located, Angelique was re-energized and I hopped in with Roger and crew to do some crazy jamming on a spacy tune in D and then a bluesy rocker in the aforementioned key of E. I was plugged into a Kramer 412 that had some seriously nasty power behind it - but I resisted the urge to go nuts and kept it in the pocket, carefully experimenting with my lead licks; I knew that Roger would toss the ball my way at some point, and when he did - I had found a nice little combo to work over the chord changes. After it was all said and done, event promoter Straycat said to me, "now I can say that I've heard Stevie Ray Vaughn played on a mountain dulcimer!" Wild good times. And recorded for posterity somewhere - I'm going to work on getting ahold of that.

There's another blues jam tonight - and I'm looking forward to mixing it up again, though I'm stuck on whether to bring Halcyon or not. One one hand, her humbucker pickup gives her a bold and brassy voice. On the other hand, her fretboard is too shallow for me to use a capo, and that's a serious setback. I think Angelique is up at bat again.

At least I know she's got a fresh battery.

Web Updates

If my web statistics show correctly, it looks like people, in general, like to watch more than they like to read. My two video portals, The Dulcimerica Video Podcast and my YouTube page get the most traffic out of just about all of my websites. God, I love statistics.

And in thinking through some workflowy thoughts, I suddenly came to the conclusion today that offering live video lessons would be a good thing to do. So I'm doing it.

Actually, I've been talking with a soon-to-be-student about doing some lessons via video, and these would be of the TDVP variety, recorded and then sent out. But then I thought, "hey, wait a minute..."

So, check out the page at my website, which also has undergone a slight bit of updating to sort of accomodate the growing and changing times. It's under video lessons.

Tonight, I think I'm heading down to an open mic to start testing out material for my opening set with Scott Ainslie in a couple of weeks.

I've also got to demo a version of the left-behind song "Music" for Mohave, as we gear up for a recording session at Full Sail and begin looking at playing out again. We've already been getting inquiries from folks in the past who have booked us - so it's definitely time to get thing shakin'!

Just A Little Recap

It's been a busy couple of weeks. If my bulging calendar is any indication, it's about to get a lot busier, so I'll take some time here to catch up a little with what's happening in the dulcimer community from my corner of the world.

Dulcimerica Video Podcast

Subscribership is booming - thanks to everyone who's downloading video and checking back for new episodes. The latest entries are a reminiscence of last summer's Mountain Music Festival in Manitou Springs, Colorado. This is where I met the inimitable Robert Force and had the sublime opportunity to join him onstage during his performances at the festival. This is recounted through still pictures and video, courtesy of Rick Laurenzi and Richard DuCharme, who were both in the audience. Thanks guys!

Back to today (today IS today, isn't it?), I've been getting some really great topic suggestions for upcoming episodes of the podcast which I will incorporate. If YOU have something you'd like to see covered - send an e-mail to me at bingfutch@yahoo.com.

I've been chatting with Stephen Seifert these past couple of weeks. We're both tech-heads and are always looking to do something interesting with the technology that's becoming available to us; through his Mountain Dulcimer Folk Podcast and through TDVP. It looks like we'll be doing some cross-promotion through our individual podcasts for the other, and anyone else who wants to join us is free to submit either an audio or video ad to be shown or played during our respective shows. It's all part of an effort to raise awareness of our various endeavours, and to underscore the fact that there is no competition between these unique features in the dulcimer community. Quite the opposite; the more productions like this, the more people will come to know and more deeply appreciate the mountain dulcimer - which is, of course, what we want! Stay tuned for more info on some plotting Stephen and I have been doing regarding Kentucky Music Week and our laptops.

Central Florida Dulcimer and Autoharp Festival

This past Friday and Saturday brought out a sizeable crowd to Mt. Dora where workshops, jams, open mics and a wonderful instructor concert engaged folks from all over. I only attended the concert (bein' sort of short on change at the moment), but got to hang out in the Memorial Garden outside the First United Methodist Church of Mt. Dora and do a little jamming and meeting with folks from Everything Dulcimer and my dulcimer group, Dulcimer Central, as well as meeting new friends and catching up with Jean Ritchie and her husband George Pickow, and sharing some laughs with Don Pedi. Here are some stills from the Saturday evening concert:




Maureen Sellers



Anne Lough



Susan Boyer-Haley



Festival Organizer Ruth Harnden with scholarship winner Micaela



Susan Trump



Don Pedi



David Townsend, Cheryl Belanger and Ray Belanger



Jean Ritchie

We Get Letters

I'd like to share a response to an e-mail that came all the way from Japan! The question had to do with my dulcimer track "Raga111806" and the tuning that I use to emulate the middle-eastern sound. You may be surprised to learn that it was actually performed in DAD tuning!

In regards to the Raga recording that I did - that was done in DAD, actually, melody played on the bass string starting at open D and then walking up from fret 2 or F#.

0 - 2 - 3 - 4 6 - 4 - 3 - 2

then playing higher on the fretboard

7 - 9 - 10 - 11 13 - 11 - 10 - 9

and what I'm doing to get some of the missing notes is bending the strings -

like, the lick from F# (9) to D# is a bent 7 (D) and I'm bending it before I actually hit the note. I'm also not really hitting it as a perfect D#, since the middle-eastern scale includes quarter tones - so a "not quite" bend is in order there, along with some tremolo that can be attained by wiggling the string back and forth as you bend it.

Then letting the string bend back into place for the final note in the sequence, so you have F# - D# - F# - D# - D

You can also do the same thing in improvisations with the 5 (B) and bend it for a quarter tone between B and C (6) since C is actually a half step up.

Aeolian tuning (D-A-C) on its own is more Celtic sounding, but if you Capo it at the 1st fret (Aeolian E), then you get some really cool middle-eastern sounding runs (with bends in mind) if you include the 6+ fret.


Hope this helps a bit - I'm still sort of wandering about in the land of modal tunings, myself - and there are some really wild sounds you can get by exploring these lesser-used modes like Phrygian (D-A-F) and Lydian (D-A-E). A good resource for tunings and application is Steven K. Smith's site at: http://www.sksmithmusic.com/ and Jerry Rockwell's site at: http://www.jcrmusic.com

Have fun exploring!

Speaking of modal explorations - I've been toying around with the Locrian mode this week, which is a great mode for playing the blues. You can enter this mode by tuning to D - A - Bb or by placing the capo at the second fret, effectively putting the dulcimer into the key of F#. I'll post on this more at another time - probably after I've actually worked out a couple of blues tunes to better demonstrate the process. In the meantime - have fun and keep strummin'!

Theory In Action

Oh God, not a cold. Not now. As my wife always says: I can't afford to be sick.

So, I'm currently recording tracks for another song by Mizieya for his upcoming release "The God Who Had An Affair With Himself." Our collaboration on "Rites of Passage" went so well that he offered up another track of a distinctly different flavor. I like this one too. It's called "Avalon" and is more of an uptempo dance piece, though still dreamy in its structure. It calls to mind (at least to me) the work of Seal, or maybe just the song "Crazy", in general. You know the one - "we're never gonna survive unless we go a little crazy."

Anyway.

I had absent-mindedly strummed along with it in DAD tuning when he sent me a demo several days ago and found that it was another song in D - perfectly suited for the dulcimer. Or so I thought. Upon closer inspection while running through it today, I discovered that my scale wasn't right for the tune. Even though it appeared to be in D. So what was the deal?

A little sleuthing led me to work out the chords of the chorus, since the verses are sort of built on a sustained Dm. That was my first clue.

Dm contains the notes D - F and A. Of course, the dulcimer, when tuned to D, has two sharps on the scale. C# and F#. So that Dm wasn't gonna happen. The chorus then goes Dm - C - G - F. Well, that F ain't gonna happen either. So what key was this? I plucked around on the piano next to my workstation and discovered that the scale I was using was an F major scale. The relative minor scale (beginning with the sixth scale degree) was Dm.

F Major Scale - F - G - A - Bb - C - D - E - F
Scale Degrees - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - (6) - 7 - 8

D Minor Scale - D - E - F - G - A - Bb - C - D

So, obviously I can play all of the chords in the song except for Dm and F Major. What to do?

Well, I decided to run through and try some alternatives, finally landing on substituting an Am chord for the F as a chord extension. Since Mizieya plays the F chord on the keyboards, it wasn't really necessary for me to play it anyway. So by playing an Am chord (6-4-4) over the F, I'm actually extending the F chord into a F Major 7th chord. Here's how that works.

Am includes - A - C - E (1 - b3 - 5)
F includes - F - A - C (1 - 3- 5)

The E (5) of the Am chord serves as the 7th of the F chord! (Remember, a dominant 7th is flatted. That's the standard seventh chord. This is a Major 7th chord I'm creating.)

With that hurdle out of the way, I set about playing the chords to the song and was pleased and relieved to find that the Am chord worked beautifully. Now I just had to resist the urge to do any soloing into the F territory.

I'm still mixing down the various parts that I've conjured and sending them over to him in Wales - when there's something available as an approved demo, I'll post it here so you can see what I'm talking about!

Dulcimerica Video Podcast now in iTunes!

Whoa, seriously - production has been nuts around here, lots of video projects popping off the hard drive, which is good - keeps me off the corporate trolling runs.

The Dulcimerica Video Podcast now features its first bona fide episode and is currently listed in the podcast directory of the Apple iTunes store! To subscribe, all you have to do is click here and iTunes opens automatically and takes you to the podcast page. Or, you can simply browse for The Dulcimerica Video Podcast from the Apple iTunes store. Of course, it's free to subscribe, and you can also download videos directly from the page without subscribing, if you like. The benefits of a subscription are that you will always be alerted when new episodes arrive and using whatever podcatching software that makes you happiest, you can keep all of your podcasts together in one area of your computer. Less headache, more fun!

I've been busy booking shows for the spring and summer, even into the fall. It's going to be such an eventful year on the road and I'm really looking forward to seeing some new parts of the country as well as revisiting some favorite places! Given that so much of my work is done on the computer, it was decided that I needed a laptop in order to keep operations flowing from the road. Unfortunately, they're like, not cheap, and our flow of "extra money" - you know, the stuff that hangs low from the trees, is sort of non-existent.

So I made a big sacrifice - and actually SOLD my beautiful Masterworks 16/15 Chromatic hammer dulcimer. I know - wow. But the rationale went something like this: I spend most of my time working with mountain dulcimer and only take the hammer dulcimer out when I'm obscenely curious about it, which amounts to maybe four times a year. I figure that when I decide mountain dulcimer is really under my fingers good enough and that I want to expand my musical horizons (keeping in mind that I've still got a chromatic Dulcitar here that I have to explore more of), perhaps then, I'll go ahead and purchase another hammer dulcimer.

In the meantime, it's going to a very nice home in Idaho, where it will be played frequently by a wonderful lady named Linda who is really excited about getting it. And, with the proceeds from the dulcimer sale, I'm going to purchase that MacBook that I've been eyeing for some time and start enjoying the processing power of the Intel Core 2 Duo. (And, since it runs Windows software, I can enjoy some downtime by playing "Rollercoaster Tycoon", a habit I had to quit when my PC took a dump many years ago.)

Casualties of Faith REDUX

"Casualties of Faith" has finally reached the finished demo stage, thanks to a bass guitarist from Portland, Oregon named Steve Hale (aka I. Spike).


Besides the addition of his wonderfully in-the-pocket bass performance, I retracked the vocals and added some organ. Other than that, it's the same drums and same dulcimer tracks/solo that existed on the previous version. Steve's bass playing really energized this piece, you know, made it new again, since I've been working with it since September of last year. It just goes to show how important "feel" is to all the elements of a song.

A Lovely Surprise

I got an e-mail from Jean Ritchie yesterday. It's not completely out of the blue, though it was a lovely surprise. I met Jean and her husband, photographer George Pickow, while shooting video of Kentucky Music Weekend last summer. For those who aren't familiar with the dulcimer world, Jean was responsible for introducing so many to the instrument back in the 60's and she remains the grand dame of mountain dulcimer, though she would modestly deny such a glorious title today. I had always wanted to meet Jean since the early days of my courtship with the dulcimer and Nancy Barker, the founder of Kentucky Music Week and its satellite events, promised to introduce us, mentioning also that Jean's husband George was quite an accomplished photographer.

True to her word, Nancy introduced us and Jean was quite charming, cutting up as George took a photo of us looking up at some backstage lights, but we didn't talk about much: that conversation was had with George. We talked video for quite some time.

Nancy has turned to me for assistance in archiving on video the ongoing history of Kentucky Music Week, Kentucky Music Weekend and the Winter Dulcimer Weekend, not a small feat by any means. As it turns out, not a lot of video has been taken in the past, which is a real shame, considering the stellar talent list that has been involved over the years. Once in a lifetime moments, performers who are no longer with us and a steady chronicle of events going on 32 years in 2007; that's a lot of history. George Pickow has quite a lot of that history on video, since Jean has been a part of many a Kentucky Music Weekend. He offered to send me a DVD to see if it could be useful and when it arrived in the mail, the images were incredible.

Jean and George will be in Mt. Dora next month for the Mt. Dora Dulcimer and Autoharp Festival, so I dropped a line to George, thanking him again for the DVD and inquiring further about his assistance with producing a retrospective of KMW. When I saw the response in my e-mailbox, I began reading and then noticed, with some surprise, that it wasn't George at all, but Jean writing to me. Apparently, they have an arrangement - Jean doesn't drive and George doesn't type!

It's not every day that you receive an e-mail from a legend, and Jean might cringe at that sort of praise as the country girl from Viper, Kentucky has remained simple at heart for the whole of her career. But there's no denying her place and influence within the folk music scene and outside of it as well, from her own music to the preservation and presentation of old folk tunes both European and American in origin, it can be said without exaggeration that Jean is indeed what you call a national treasure, even an international treasure.

Which makes it even cooler to note that I once had a late breakfast in a Denny's with her somewhere in Louisville, Kentucky at a long table filled with musicians. (after getting lost in a car with Butch Ross and Christie Burns.) I have a great life.

Music Stuff

Stephen Seifert started up a live call-in internet radio show last week which is turning into one of the coolest things for dulcimer enthusiasts on the web. The show is currently scheduled for every Monday at 9 pm ET and runs for about ninety minutes with Steve appearing on a video screen while playing music, interviewing special guests and talking with listeners. Luthier and music theorist Jerry Rockwell was the interviewee for the premiere program while Everything Dulcimer creator Bruce W. Ford was the spotlight guest last night. Steve played "Swing Low Sweet Chariot/He's Got The Whole World In His Hand" from Dulcimerica: Volume 1, which prompted some early morning sales today, always a nice thing to see upon awakening.

Not only that - but Sweetwater Folk has included a track from the new album (available here) on their latest playlist as well. I haven't started the big push with this CD yet, though it's been available at shows since August. Some remixes here and there have shored it up production-wise and it's been submitted for a review in the spring issue of Dulcimer Players News. According to staffer Neal Walters, the magazine will be including a CD with each issue featuring tracks from albums covered in print. Wow. Talk about distribution!

Behind The Barn

What else is going on? I've been talking to some prospective players for Mohave as we gear up for festival season, though I'll be spending a large amount of time on the road this year. Bud Ford of the Dulcimer Shop and organizer of the Manitou Music Festival wants Mohave to play the 25th anniversary show in Colorado, so we're hoping everything works out. Many other solo dates have been confirmed and they can be found below in this calendar, which will update with new gigs as they come in:



There's other news, but I've been sitting here for far too long already and there's rehearsal to be had. My dulcimer group gets together tonight and there's at least one tune that I need to get under my fingers. There always is.

New Video Podcast!

The Dulcimerica Video Podcast

Rites Of Passage

The track that I worked on with Mizieya is now up at MacJams. "Rites Of Passage" is a gorgeous song and I'm both pleased and proud to have been a part of it!

I wrote a new tune called "I Cried For Days" and finally got it Tabbed out; it's available at my music page. There are words coming eventually, but I wrote it to stand alone as a dulcimer instrumental as well. The .mp3, TablEdit file and .pdf are at the above link.

Should old acquaintance be forgot...

Last year at this time, I recorded a version of "Auld Lang Syne" ("Auld Lang Syne 2006") with hammer dulcimer. This year, I decided that it would become a tradition to do a new version every December to see which direction each one took. This time around, I went with mountain dulcimer and vocals. Using the Fantom as a controller, I created a tribal rhythm as the pulse and laid down a simple sub-bass track with a neat soundfont to really ground it.

I was going to embellish the arrangement with some other elements, but something came up. Champ, our 16 1/2 year-old black labrador/border collie mix, took a turn for the worst (he was diagnosed with renal failure some time ago and suffered a sort of stroke as well, from which he bounced back) and the decision to let him go was made. In researching the lyrics, it struck me that the verses containing lines such as "we two have run about the hills", "we two have paddled in the stream", "we've wandered many a weary foot", etc., very much related to the kind of adventures that we've shared with this old dog. My wife Jae has been his companion since he was a tiny puppy and I only have known him for the past five years, but what amazing times we've spent together; he is truly a dear friend and I knew we were living on borrowed time, so this sudden signpost hit me like a ton of bricks. Tomorrow morning, we visit the vet to free him from the pain of this earthly life.

I was going to really lay on the sentimentality with this development, but in the Scots-Irish tradition, I decided to leave out the dramatic modulations and tear-jerking minor chords in order to celebrate his life as opposed to mourning his death. The melodic-harmonic riffs that bridge the verses and end the piece are motifs that recall Champ at his happiest, prancing along in the summer sunshine. Finally, I recorded his voice on this, his last day with us, and let him have the final word, as it were. We're sure gonna miss you old buddy. And we will never forget you.

May we all know love and laughter
of good companions, ever so
may the road rise up to meet them
when it's time to let them go

go forth, ye old dog - you'll always be a rascal!

Your friend, Bing

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll get your pint mug !
And surely I’ll get mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the hills,
and pulled the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine (dinner time?) ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-friendly draught,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

"Auld Lang Syne 2007"

In The Works

Busy, busy, busy.

Sort of working on a number of levels these days - I've got a new piece written on dulcimer in DAA called "I Cried For Days", an instrumental that will eventually have words, but I wanted it to stand as a piece all its own.

I just picked up the PreSonus Firebox and am now experimenting with it for recording. It's sweet. In Garageband 3, you can record a number of tracks simultaneously, and the Firebox has two channels, so I can record vocals and dulcimer at the same time on seperate tracks. Muy excellente. Also, the sound is so much warmer going in now - what a world of difference having the pre-amp! It's basically like a tube amplifier, only for the computer. Much warmer sounds that spill out of the speakers as opposed to sort of pinched in the sound spectrum. This really opens things up quite a bit. I also appreciate having a true headphone buss - which is in stereo and actually goes up to "11" - not that I'd ever do that - still, it's nice to hear what you're recording - the rag-tag, jerry-rigged method I've been using was less-than-satisfying.

The first big test for this set-up will be a song called "Rites Of Passage" by a British artist called Mizieya. We met up through MacJams and enjoyed each other's music, so we're now working on this track together.

Most recently completed is a sort of test run of some new soundfonts I found for Garageband's software instruments. The track, called "One Winter Solstice Morn" is a three-minute orchestral adventure that I composed in Sibelius and then imported into Garageband using the Dent Du MIDI converter. If some of this is just flying over your head, I apologize! If you ever have any questions about what the McHell I'm talking about, please do drop a line and I'll get you up to speed.

I've got raw skeletons of about three dulcimer songs cooking in Garageband - I sketch out an idea, verses and choruses, then record them and leave 'em until I come back with more ideas. When it all boils over, usually that's when I move ahead with recording a song demo. There is another on the horizon here - I'll post when it's complete!

Mohave is gearing up for festival season, which will probably reveal itself to be starting in March, or later spring. There's some even fresher blood in the tribe, as well as a wealth of new material, so this next season is going to be sweet! Thanks for checking back with the blog. Me ke aloha!

Rebirth

The raga that I recorded a little while back has been getting some loving attention from artists over at MacJams. Offering up the six-minute track for an open colloboration in the forums got a flurry of nibbles from inspired musicians who are even now contacting me for the raw data file. The first two tracks are both intense.

The first, called "Raggier Muffins" (a second version of a track originally, and cleverly called "Raga Muffins"), is by a MJ member who goes by the screen name Pete_NB and it adds a sea of chiming electric Stratocaster guitars to the mix, layering textures over the original dulcimer track. It's a mind-blowing approach that sticks very close to the tonal spirit of the original.

The second, called "Sunday At Little Beach", goes in a completely different direction and with stunning results. In recording "Raga111806", I played in a free rhythm without metronome or click track, not thinking that I would be doing more than one track. When I posted the colloab, I'm thinking that if it got any bites at all, it would be mainly melodic or textural, but only rhythmic if someone was ready to do quite a bit of work. Well, this particular MJ member, who goes by the screen name of "Bad Smells", managed to slip a tight four on the floor heartbeat rhythm along with keyboard washes and loopy guitar licks into the mix, ebbing and flowing with the dynamics and emotions of the original dulcimer track. It's an astounding bit of compositional insight, matching the spirit of the main instrument and weaving an aural coccoon around it, occasionally painting with such broad, sonic strokes that the contrast nearly eclipses the dulcimer before retreating like a wave back into the sea, leaving the earth tones of strings, plucked and snapped, to reappear as a musical beach.

Now that I think about it - the title really does reflect that.

There are a few others who are currently working on versions or who have just started, so there will be more to come. This is such a joyous thing to be involved with - working with other people around the world on music by way of our computers - there's one thing about the 21st century that is the absolute shiz-nit.

Crazy Feels Like

"However, to create a new cosmos (order), the old cosmos must be turned upside down. Thus the Magician Hermes is the Lord of Contradiction. First, he is himself a contradictory figure: trickster yet savior, king of misrule yet obedient to justice, deceiving orator yet honest prophet, illusionist yet revealer of truth, fraudulent conjurer yet genuine mage, thief yet honest trader, diabolical yet angelic, material yet spiritual." - Pythagorean Tarot - Magus

I'm having issues
a year subscription's worth
I'm causing drama
in a way unbecoming to a gentle soul

Losing function
in the gray matter battlefield of my brain
here it comes again
at the start of the circle, everything's the same

this is what going crazy feels like

I'm hearing voices
they're ringing in my head
I'm seeing writing
on the ceiling at night
while I'm tryin' to sleep

I'm feelin' cold hands
running over my skin underneath the sheets
here it comes again
at the end of the circle everything repeats

this is what going crazy feels like
you've shown me the way
so this is what going crazy feels like
it feels okay

I think I like it

I'm seeing angels
they always follow me
they're tricky devils
and they think I'm stupid, that I do not see

I am afflicted
with a deep desire to kill the pain
I am addicted
to the madness

Music and lyrics by Bing Futch
Copyright © 2006 J.O.B. Entertainment Inc.

I've been working on this song for the past couple of days. It's not done yet, but I still wanted to post it somewhere, so it's playing on the page now.

For any dulcimer folks - I am playing in DAD, only rhythm -

"Crazy Feels Like"

MacJams Song Page

Raga Against The Machine

Woke up in a curious mood and begin messing around with some Raga-like playing. Though the recording is 6 minutes long, that's actually a condensed idea behind what I did this morning, which was play variations on this raga for at least a half-hour, maybe longer; I don't recall. I was so sucked down into the marrow of the music that I was just another instrument in the orchestra at that point. 'Twas a pretty deep rabbit hole and it was nice.

So, here's another version - still very much a trance.

Raga111806.mp3

Hit The Home Running

The highway slipped underneath the car like a concrete treadmill set for "turbo." I made good time heading up to Ohio because five miles over the speed limit is my average speed. It's the grace zone. The legal buffer. Confirmed by law enforcement types all across the country. Six above the speed limit and you're pushing it. I did push it quite a bit on this trip, which is why I made such great time.

The leaves began to show their colors just north of the Georgia border. Brilliant yellows and golds and reds blazed brightly from the hillsides as I sped through, stopping only once at the South and North Carolina border for lunch at a Cracker Barrel across from Paramount's Carowinds theme park. From there, it was non-stop for Stewart.

Jerry and Mary Rockwell live in an historic house right on highway 329 in Athens County, Ohio. We met and then spent a couple of hours talking, during which time Jerry showed me his woodworking studio where he makes his incredible dulcimers. before I shuttled off to bed in their upstairs guest room. When the morning came, Jerry and I set up camp on their front porch and took out the dulcimers, talking more than we actually played. He's a fascinating guy filled with incredible ideas, lots of history about the instrument and a huge sense of the present. His awareness of the importance surrounding every moment was evident as we sipped coffee and shot the breeze on an unseasonably warm and bright sunny November day.

Presently, the Rockwell's drove into town to run errands, leaving me to kick back with a couple of Jerry's signature dulcimers and nothing on my mind but music. Normally, on these trips, you can barely remove the camera from my face as I work to capture images for posterity, but it was different this time around. Something about the cool air and warm sun inspired little more than the desire to sit and do some front-porch pickin', though I did squeeze in a few shots here and there, including one of their house with the Chevy HHR in the foreground. I love that car.

That was Friday, pretty much. Jerry and Mary came back to find me in exactly the same spot they'd left me; sitting on the front porch. Jerry and I picked up where we left off and then headed down to the old school where the festival would take place the next day, lugging a bunch of our electric equipment along. We jammed for quite some time - doing everything from meditations on "Skip To My Lou" to a neo-classical treatment of "Louie Louie" - all sprung from the mind of Jerry and interpreted through the fretwork that I mused up on dulcimer and Dulcitar. A handful of people were there to witness it - some of it got captured on video, but again - it was all about the moment and I kept my eyes pretty much locked with Jerry as we rolled through song after song. We left our gear there and got a good night's sleep in for the early start on Saturday morning.

All told, SEODfest '06 was great fun. All of my workshops went really well, due largely to the aptitude of the attendees, who ranged from beginners to professional performers. It was a rush to sort of fly by the seat of my pants, which is what I did for the most part. How to instruct a class on rhythms or free-flow improvisational melodies? You can really only do it when you've got everyone sitting there and can get an idea who you're dealing with and vice versa. My second workshop, "Primal Dulcimer", had the added element of a journalist recording the entire hour as I led the group through visualization of the Scottish highlands before launching them into melodic exploratory over a room full of drones; quite a lovely sound!

Lunch came and went - I made some phone calls to Jae, who was getting over an illness and a little stressed out. Cel reception was for the birds but we managed to get a complete conversation in before I headed back inside. By this time, the bright blue sky had been replaced by a more typically grey and overcast smear that dripped rain throughout the day. A chilly, bone-soaking kind of cold set in, making forays into the outside something that you had to bargain with yourself. "Do I really want to go out there?" "What will I get if I go out there?" "Is going out there worth it?" And of course, it was.

Throughout the day, the staff went onstage to perform short sets and I was able to catch a couple before my set at 2:30. Mike Oliver and his wife Marlene went up and did a very enjoyable set, he is a member of Everything Dulcimer, so it was nice to put a face and talent with a name. Khrysso Heart LeFey's set was enjoyable as well (as well as being a fascinating guy.) Going with the moment, I continued with my public explorations of "Song For George" and "Cluck Ol' Hen" before launching into the Ryan and Stacia Trilogy and then jetting for my final workshop, which was "The Dark Side of the Dulcimer." This seemed to be the most populated of the courses, though that might have been amplified by the fact that we were in a tiny pillbox of a room (heat worked good though.) This is the only class that I prepared a hand-out for and discovered, as I rushed to get settled in, that I had completely neglected to pack them into my briefcase; so I taught "The Pirate O'Reilly" from memory and promised to upload the tablature once I got back home, which I did.

The rest of the day was spent milling about, conversing with some of the other attendees and instructors, going through a brief informal tutorial on using Garageband for recording and stuffing pizza down my gullet. As evening fell, the staff concert began, allowing everyone who wasn't able to see the daytime sets an opportunity to enjoy the music in a more formal setting. Steven K. Smith, Mike and Marlene Oliver, Linda Sigismondi and Bill Schilling, Vici Gombaski and Sylvia White and Khrysso Heart LeFey all performed about three songs each and the crowd just ate it up. It was a warm room and an intimate setting with sweet acoustics that got filled with expressive, passionate, dazzling performances. Jerry presented my closing set as one by a "special guest" and gave me time to stretch out my fingers and voice a little bit. I performed "Gold Trails Hotel", "Sunday Morning", "One-Way Ticket", "Simon Brothers Mercantile", "This Road This Moment", "Positive Vibes" and relayed a few stories here and there that were well-received. When all was said and done, I'd been invited to perform at a couple of Ohio-based festivals, sold some more CDs (they began to move shortly after my first workshop - hooray for gas money!) and was told of a few other venues that would welcome my style of music.


All in all, you can color me encouraged. As a musician still seriously searching for my own voice, it's a right trip and a half to find that maybe I've already found it. Before this trip, I had never heard any music by Richard & Mimi Fariña, and Jerry's quite a historian on those two, so I got up to speed pretty quick, as he sent me home with some recordings and books. He also made mention of the "Pacific Rim Dulcimer Project" and said that my sound was evocative of the "west coast" sound that was displayed on the album which featured a number of popular dulcimer players including Neal Hellman and Robert Force. It sounded like an album I needed to pick up. Any evidence of a place for non-traditional dulcimer music was all the proof I needed to stay the course. As much as I love what is known as traditional and old-time dulcimer music - it's always going to be a passion of mine to push the instrument into different directions. Maybe all those years of colloborative drought in the California 80's was enough to set the tone for the music that I'm writing and performing now. Who knew?

"Dear Mr. Bush" On Neil Young's Site

Aloha, cousins -

I'm still in Ohio, visiting with friends after SEODfest '06, which went extremely well. I was alerted to the fact that "Dear Mr. Bush", which I submitted to Neil Young's "Living With War" site, had appeared on the page as a new tune, I think this was yesterday.

Today, as of 11 a.m., the tune has gone from somewhere in the 800's to #248! That is effin' WILD! All I can say is, it's an honor to be included in a roster of such passionate music and I hope y'all get a chance to hear some of these tunes, as they truly reflect the conviction, the outrage and the hope that America is feeling across the board right about now. Spread the word to all of your music-and-peace-loving friends; and if you haven't heard Neil's latest release - do yourself a favor; get it, borrow it, and listen to it straight through. It'll carve a place in your heart, that's for sure!

Here In Ohio

What a rush these past few days have been! The trip up from Orlando was simply lovely; I pretty much ran straight on until the border of South Carolina and North Carolina, ate at a Cracker Barrel across from Paramount's Carowinds theme park (very difficult to sit there and look at a closed-for-the-season place of amusement with its wicked rollercoasters taunting me from so close) and rolled right into Guysville for a meeting with my hosts, Jerry and Mary Rockwell.

The first night was spent just talking and hanging out at their grand old house. The daytime was spent chilling with Jerry, who is simply a fascinating guy - well steeped in dulcimer folklore and music theory - until he and Mary went into town for some things, and I was left on the front porch with a couple of his dulcimers and a few of my own - just soaking up the beautiful sunny Ohio day.

SEODfest went off the next day without a hitch and though it began to cloud over and rain, bringing temperatures down, attendance didn't seem to be affected. My three workshops contained a healthy number of people who were talented, eager to learn and highly attentive.

I'm still in Ohio - visiting with my good friends Denny, Rose and Blake, who live in Seville; I head back on Thursday.

Great times, beautiful times. More to come - I think we're going to the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Oh, and Jae called me this morning to say that "Dear Mr. Bush" was listed on the Neil Young "Living With War" site. Very cool! I'm proud to be a part of that historical tribute to change in America.

Be well and healthy all -

Joanna newsom

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Ohio-Bound

I'll probably be away from the computer for awhile - but will blog in via phone. Destination: Ohio.

I'm excited to be performing and teaching at Jerry Rockwell's SEODfest '06 because the man is another force to be reckoned with in dulcimer culture and I'm pleased as punch to be getting some face-time with him, as well as actually participating in his gig. Holy Cow - I mean, really - how did I come to get involved with this?

It actually goes back to Stephen Seifert, calling me up and saying "hey, I think you should get plugged in to the dulcimer circuit." God bless Stephen.

So, I'm teaching three workshops:

Vox Rhythmata -- Bing Futch's highly rhythmic singing and playing style has earned him a reputation as "the rock 'n' roll dulcimerist" though his music spans many genres. In this free-flowing workshop, he shares techniques with an eye (and ear) towards incorporating various strum and picking rhythms as well as getting comfortable with playing and singing. 9 - 11AM Meeting Room

Primal Dulcimer -- free form channeling of energy into improvisational melodic and percussive playing. 11 - 12noon Kitchen

The Dark Side of the Mountain Dulcimer -- Exploring minor keys, drones, dissonance and musical conflict. Some of the most compelling and expressive music comes out of our shared human condition. 3 - 4PM Emily's Lobby

Jerry was very enthusiastic about presenting a free-flowing kind of curriculum, one that was edgier than most of the workshops you'd find at festivals around the country - so, I was encouraged to come up with some ideas that would really invite players to embrace the dulcimer in a spiritual way. I printed out some music to distribute, which will be the bulk of the "Dark Side" class - and the other two will be very much in-the-moment, which is sort of scary, but very exciting at the same time.

I'm also excited to be driving a Chevy HHR again. Mmmmmm. I drove one of these up to Kentucky Music Week this past June and, I gotta tell you, this is my next vehicle.

When Jae and I went to my 20 year high school reunion, we rented a PT Cruiser, which was a hell of a lot of fun and catapulted me towards wanting to buy one. It wasn't until I drove the HHR that I realized it was a superior vehicle and not a knock-off like I had dismissed it as earlier. It not only holds more cargo, but it also drives better, the cruise-control is immaculate, and it's more gas-conservative and ultimately, a more handsome car, in my opinion.

I drove a gold-leaf model this summer. Tonight, while picking the car for this trip, I spied several HHRs, but one caught my eye: it had a running board. (It doesn't take much to get me going.) It was also bone white, which had a certain flair, so as I loaded the gear into the back and got in, I also noticed that this particular model had a sun-roof. Sweet. I dunno how that will work when I get up to somewhat frozen Ohio, but the first half of the trip would be rockin', this much is sure.

I head off at 4 am, in order to get there by 5 pm or so. This is going to be a fantastic trip and I'll try to keep up with the developments as they happen. But I'm truly honored and blessed to have this opportunity to learn more as well as teach.

SSA Music Awards/Deland Original Music Festival

Here's some footage from Saturday's SSA Music Awards and Deland Original Music Festival. It was truly a blast! The two sets went great; first set, I did the "Ryan and Stacia" trilogy for a nice crowd. Second set, I broke out "Casualties of Faith" and "Dear Mr. Bush", both of which got an amazing response. In the video, though, I highlight a bluesy, electric mixture of "Song For George" and "Cluck Ol' Hen" as well as a very dramatic performance of "Caught."

Though it's kind of dark, you'll also see them announce my name as "Songwriter of the Year", which came as a complete surprise and nearly made me choke on the water I was swigging at the time. Huge thanks to everyone who voted for me - it's truly an honor!

Now, I'm hauling ass - trying to get squared away and organized after being out there with the gear and supplies for the J.O.B. Vendor table, which are now sprawled all over the living room floor. Jae's in Washington D.C. on a business trip and I'm heading for Ohio this Thursday. It's going to be a busy week after an even busier weekend.

If you haven't done so already, vote tomorrow! Vote for change, vote for peace, but vote!

Dear Mr. Bush: Taking Off

As I mentioned before, I'm seeing a vocal coach, and after today's warm-ups, I decided to revisit "Dear Mr. Bush" without spending too much time on it.

"Dear Mr. Bush"

Yah, I wasn't going to do a demo version, but hell with it - it's two weeks before mid-term elections, why the fuck wouldn't I? I'm still a leather-jacket wearing, nipple-and-nose-pierced, fire-breathing liberal, so I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to puss out now.

Anyway - the response has been awesome. Over at MacJams, the song has rocketed to the top of the charts. I don't expect it to stay there or anything, but it's the first time that this has happened, so I'm going to suck it up while it's still there for the sucking.

On MySpace - I've added it to my main page and, likewise, it has gotten a great response, as well as some flak - which is actually quite good to include in the repertoire. Our lives are BAD if we only hear the ideas and points of view that please US. Am I right? For those of you who disagree, er.....ookay.

The EQ Bible

In the interests of passing along great information - here is a little guidebook, a bible if you will, to E.Q. settings for recordings. This article contains information originally sourced at EQ Frequencies and is used with permission from Songstuff.com. If you're familiar with working the knobs and faders to E.Q. your mix, this will be super-cool. If you aren't - this may be kind of a brain-drain, but nontheless - here it is:

50Hz
Boost: To thicken up bass drums and sub-bass parts.
Cut: Below this frequency on all vocal tracks. This should reduce the effect of any microphone 'pops'.
70-100Hz
Boost: For bass lines and bass drums.
Cut: For vocals.
General: Be wary of boosting the bass of too many tracks. Low frequency sounds are particularly vulnerable to phase cancellation between sounds of similar frequency. This can result in a net 'cut of the bass frequencies.
200-400Hz
Boost: To add warmth to vocals or to thicken a guitar sound.
Cut: To bring more clarity to vocals or to thin cymbals and higher frequency percussion.
Boost or Cut: to control the 'woody' sound of a snare.
400-800Hz
Boost: To add warmth to toms.
Boost or Cut: To control bass clarity, or to thicken or thin guitar sounds.
General: In can be worthwhile applying cut to some of the instruments in the mix to bring more clarity to the bass within the overall mix.
800Hz-1KHz
Boost: To thicken vocal tracks. At 1 KHz apply boost to add a knock to a bass drum.
1-3KHz
Boost: To make a piano more aggressive. Applying boost between 1KHz and 5KHz will also make guitars and basslines more cutting.
Cut: Apply cut between 2 KHz and 3KHz to smooth a harsh sounding vocal part.
General: This frequency range is often used to make instruments stand out in a mix.
3-6KHz
Boost: For a more 'plucked' sounding bass part. Apply boost at around 6KHz to add some definition to vocal parts and distorted guitars.
Cut: Apply cut at about 3KHz to remove the hard edge of piercing vocals. Apply cut between 5KHZ and 6KHz to dull down some parts in a mix.
6-10KHz
Boost: To sweeten vocals. The higher the frequency you boost the more 'airy/breathy' the result will be. Also boost to add definition to the sound of acoustic guitars or to add edge to synth sounds or strings or to enhance the sound of a variety of percussion sounds. For example boost this range to:
Bring out cymbals.
Add ring to a snare.
Add edge to a bass drum.
10-16KHz
Boost: To make vocals more 'airy' or for crisp cymbals and percussion. Also boost this frequency to add sparkle to pads, but only if the frequency is present in the original sound, otherwise you will just be adding hiss to the recording.
Specific Instruments
Vocals
General: Roll off below 60Hz using a High Pass Filter. This range is unlikely to contain anything useful, so you may as well reduce the noise the track contributes to the mix.
Treat Harsh Vocals: To soften vocals apply cut in a narrow bandwidth somewhere in the 2.5KHz to 4KHz range.
Get An Open Sound: Apply a gentle boost above 6KHz using a shelving filter.
Get Brightness, Not Harshness: Apply a gentle boost using a wide-band Bandpass Filter above 6KHz. Use the Sweep control to sweep the frequencies to get it right.
Get Smoothness: Apply some cut in a narrow band in the 1KHz to 2KHz range.
Bring Out The Bass: Apply some boost in a reasonably narrow band somewhere in the 200Hz to 600Hz range.
Radio Vocal Effect: Apply some cut at the High Frequencies, lots of boost about 1.5KHz and lots of cut below 700Hz.
Telephone Effect: Apply lots of compression pre EQ, and a little analogue distortion by turning up the input gain. Apply some cut at the High Frequencies, lots of boost about 1.5KHz and lots of cut below 700Hz.
Hi-Hats
Get Definition: Roll off everything below 600Hz using a High Pass Filter.
Get Sizzle: Apply boost at 10KHz using a Band Pass Filter. Adjust the bandwidth to get the sound right.
Treat Clangy Hats: Apply some cut between 1KHz and 4KHz.
Bass Drum
General: Apply a little cut at 300Hz and some boost between 40Hz and 80Hz.
Control The Attack: Apply boost or cut around 4KHz to 6KHz.
Treat Muddiness: Apply cut somewhere in the 100Hz to 500Hz range.
Guitar
Treat Unclear Vocals: Apply some cut to the guitar between 1KHz and 5KHz to bring the vocals to the front of the mix.
General: Apply a little boost between 100Hz and 250Hz and again between 10KHz and 12KHz.
Acoustic Guitar
Add Sparkle: Try some gentle boost at 10KHz using a Band Pass Filter with a medium bandwidth.
General
Try applying some mid-range cut to the rhythm section to make vocals and other instruments more clearly heard.

sub 0-60
bass 60-180
mid bass 180-300
lo mids 300-800
mids 800-2k
upper mids 2-5k
high end 5k up

Just remember these settings aren't magic, still use your ears and experience to get the type of sounds you want. This is just a general starting point or reference but by all means this isn't a rule to use these settings for those instruments all the time.

Coming Out Of My Hole

But for just a moment; the hole is nice.

I've been crazy-busy, which is a good thing, because it translates into "cash flow." Had a couple of video projects come up, went and did the shooting, am now in the editing phase. Also, I've been preparing for the trip up north to Ohio for Jerry Rockwell's 5th Annual Southeast Ohio Dulcimer Festival, where I'll be teaching workshops and performing on November 10th and 11th. I'll actually drive up there on the 9th, to get some quality time in with Jerry, whom I've never met, but have e-mailed and spoken on the phone with - I'm really excited to soak in his vibes, he's done so much for the dulcimer and really lives on the leading edge of progressing the instrument into the next dimension. This festival is a pure example of that - the workshops are very much cutting edge and I'd say the content seems to be of a very spiritual, primal nature. I love the tradition and history of the instrument, but I also love getting off of the same old paths and making the sojourn into the dirt roads of possibility. It promises to be a wild and fruitful weekend. Then to cap it off, I'll be staying with my dear friends Denny and Rose not far from the festival site. They come down to Florida often with their son Blake, who is a real joy, and it's been awhile since I've seen them on their home turf - so I'm making a week out of it.

But, before then - there's the Deland Original Music Festival on November 4th, and though I was originally scheduled to play a set at 10 pm on the Indiana Ave. stage (number 5), this week I picked up another set, albeit shorter, on the acoustic mainstage (1a) at 8 pm, right after the SSA Awards Presentation - which means there will be a nice crowd there, hanging out (at least until I chase them away, right?) Though it was sweet to get nominated in 8 categories - that in itself is reward alone. Personally, I used my votes to stuff the ballot box of Dan Walters, who is a phenomenal performer and songwriter - I don't care to win anything, but I do hope to sell a few CDs.

I also hope to put on one of the best solo shows I've ever done, because I've been doing some work behind-the-scenes. I've been seeing a vocal coach to help me correct some of the bad habits I've developed as a self-taught vocalist, and already, the results are very pronounced and I'm quite stoked about it. Also, I went today and picked up a Buzz-Off hum eliminator for my gear. Since I've been playing more solo shows, I've reverted to using my transducer pickup on the acoustic dulcimers and sending that signal through the amp, which brings a nasty 60-cycle hum along with it. So, a little investment and all of a sudden, that hum is history! I was picking up the same hum using the shallowbody electric as well - so hopefully this will mean better days for recording too. Don't know if I've mentioned it here or not - but I've got a Firebox on layaway - so that I can warm up the audio signals that I record into the Mac (meaning vocals, guitar and any other "real" audio.) This is quite a nice step forward, so perhaps by Christmas - the recording set-up will be truly ready to knock out some fun stuff. Of course, there's this little matter of needing a processor upgrade for the G4. Oof. It does NOT stop.

Music and Politics

Earlier this week, I got an e-mail from a armed services veteran in a folk music group who took issue with the MySpace profile pic that I'm currently using, which I've also posted here, along with protest photos. The link is there if you want to get deeper into it, but the bottom line is: we agree to disagree.

One of the statements he made was that "a musician should be defined by his music, and not his politics." Sort of a broad statement, depending on how you look at it. There's a time and a place for everything. And much like the sixties when Vietnam was raging and the public was voicing their displeasure with a very unpopular war, I believe that the time is now for musicians who feel the call to step up to the plate and address the issue. There are plenty of artists who will avoid this and that's just fine. I just don't happen to be one of those artists.

Music for me is not a business, it's not something that I methodically plot out to gain dollars and attention. When called upon to entertain, that's something that I do. When I have the opportunity to express opinions in a situation where it may do some good as opposed to harm, then I exercise that right. If I'm invited to a church to perform bluegrass music, then that's what I do. If I'm scheduled to perform at a songwriter's festival with a variety of musical styles represented, then I'll break out songs that I feel will speak to the folks that come to hear me play. I don't bank on them liking what I do; that's a risk that you have to take and that's where working the balance between full-out protest singer and entertainer comes into play.

In any case - I play festivals where it's clear that anti-war songs would get me booed off the stage - does not playing them mean that I'm selling out my convictions to remain involved? I don't think so. When I'm at a birthday party for my daughter, and I know that in my heart, my concern for policies of the Bush administration is seething, it's still not the right time to say, "happy birthday dear - and while I have your attention, what do you think of Bush's desire to get rid of an all-volunteer army?" There's a time and a place for everything.

This blog is a place where I'm free to post what I want. It's representative of the whole enchilada, though I keep it mainly music-focused and within that sub-area, usually dulcimer-centric. I have a completely socio-political blog that folks can peruse if they're interested in my activism. Do I worry about the lines blurring? Not really. They're both part and parcel of the same individual in different modes. If someone at some festival decides that I can't be trusted to stick to the theme and I'm not invited to play, then that's a decision I'll have to live with. It hasn't happened yet - but it very well could, and I'm aware of that.

Fortunately, many folks in the dulcimer community are not so narrow-minded, nor are they necessarily full-fledged supporters of war OR the Bush administration. After all, many folkies and Americana afficionados are old hippies and we pretty much know where they stand about things.

I guess I'm posting this because I wanted to address the issue before it ever became an issue. Songs like "Casualties of Faith" and "Dear Mr. Bush" aren't the first political/theological songs I've written and they won't be the last. I do know when and when not to break them out, and that's what makes an entertainer; the knowledge of when to lay your cards on the table and when to keep them close to your chest. However - when you come to this blog - rest assured that they'll be face up so that you can get a good look at them. When I'm home, I'm as see-through as the Pope-mobile.

Pictures from the protest today

Dear Mr. Bush

Here is a link to protests taking place all around the country today in support of getting Bush and his gang out of office. Many of the events are taking place late in the afternoon.

If you're sick and tired of the direction in which America is traveling, if the level of corruption has brought your blood to a boil, if you can't stand the thought of dealing with a never-ending war for the rest of your lives, then there's only one thing NOT to do.

Don't be inactive.

Get out there and join the others who are just as fed up as you are. Believe it or not, we are the majority. And majority RULES!

Monday, I wrote a country song in support of our president.....getting the HELL out of office. It's called "Dear Mr. Bush" and I'm in the process of rehearsing it to perform at the Deland Original Music Festival on November 4th. I don't know if I'll record a demo or not, because my idea of the song would get obliterated by a demo with computer instruments and whatnot - so I'm going to wait, I think, until I can get some stellar folks together and really make it an event. Got a pianist, bassist, fiddler in mind - looking for a drummer. In any case - here are the words:

Dear Mr. Bush
I've got a thing or two to say to you
with all the best intentions and respect that is due
I cannot wait til America's through with you

Dear Mr. Bush
while you and all your friends in Washington
have squandered our good name and flushed this country down the john
oh, rest assured, we've been catching on

CHORUS

from sea to shining sea, we are aware
that to you, in times of war, all is fair
we will pray for one fine day when we can kick you in the tush
and finally be free of all your drama, Mr. Bush

Dear Mr. Bush
these sentiments should come as no surprise
after all, you led this nation into war based on lies
do you think of that as every soldier dies?

Dear Mr. Bush
if you're dreamin' of martial law, you might think twice
and that goes for Cheney, Rumsfeld and that Condoleeza Rice
don't even try it, you're slippin' on thin ice

CHORUS

from sea to shining sea, we are aware
that to you, in times of war, all is fair
we will pray for one fine day when we can kick you in the tush
and finally be free of all your drama, Mr. Bush

Your image of a cowboy on the range
infuriates the sanest democrat
but the posturing won't ever really change
the fact that you're no cattle and all hat

Dear Mr. Bush
I thank you for your time, to let me spout
where we stand as Americans, I hope there is no doubt
don't let the door hit ya while you're on your way out

CHORUS

from sea to shining sea, we are aware
that to you, in times of war, all is fair
we will pray for one fine day when we can kick you in the tush
and finally be free of all your drama, Mr. Bush

you might've been a better president if you weren't such a puss
bring it on, the day you're gone away
George W. Bush
bring it on, the day you're gone away
George W. Bush

Copyright © 2006 J.O.B. Entertainment Inc.

Recent Recap

I think it's been mentioned here at some point that I've got ADD, so each day is a real struggle to maintain clarity and I refuse to take medication, because one needs to be able to handle life without the aid of something that can suddenly not be available to you. If it ain't in ya, then you're in IT. Anyway - I've been hunkered down over a complete and total re-do of the J.O.B. Entertainment Inc. website - which is harder than it looks, since I've got to edit video, re-encode it, do the designing and whatnot. The new site will be up later today (I hope) - and I've just hired an assistant to help me with the push. I've been so wrapped up in that, I didn't even post about the gig this past Saturday at First Presbyterian Church of Maitland. It was a blast - just like last year, only more so this time around. Jae was there, which certainly made it more fun for me, and this marked the first time that I've done a set primarily consisting of instumentals - mostly tunes that I learned over the summer. (Check out video from the event!)

Well, it all went astoundingly well - and David Schweizer is such a great guy - I enjoy working with him whenever I get the chance (he gave Mohave its first gig, after all, not to mention producing a very fine record for us) and it was great to have him join in on washboard with some of the songs. Uncle Charles Stansell was there too, and he joined me on mouth harp for a couple of songs - so it was just a whole lot of fun; played for a cakewalk, got to see and hear some great music, had barbecue - you know, excellent! Then later that evening, Jae and I went out on a date - had a nifty dinner, great conversation and then went to a place called Dessert Lady, on the suggestion of our friends John and Yoko, and ate ourselves into a sugar coma. How sweet it is indeed.

And on Tuesday, my dulcimer club got together for the first official jam of the fall and that was a blast as well. We always have soup and bread before getting into the music, visit with each other and talk about the shows and festivals we've been to and the ones we're planning on attending. Dulcimer playing is like church - it's so much easier to walk each day when you've got that fellowship going on.

Now, it's back to the designing grind - I've got a wedding to shoot this weekend, the production traffic is picking up after summer, as it always does, so I've got to be extra-focused and balance between the world of video and the land of dulcimer. It's pretty hard sometimes, but I just keep saying to myself: "I love doing this." And that makes all the difference in the world!