Marian Call in Concert

Bl... Blogger... eevil... *sputter*

I wrote the beginning of a draft of this post a long time ago. A loooooong time ago. Back when I was pregnant (that makes it over seven months ago at the least), and I think before some of the pregnancy real craziness started (which I couldn't link to because I haven't truly written about it yet, so that's a link to the intro). Which makes it longer ago. Maybe even not all that long after the concert itself. Which was last July.

Then, last month, I finally wrote a continuation of the draft, at 750 Words. Today (er, "today" when I was writing this part...), I copied and pasted that continuation into Blogger to join the beginning of the draft. Noticed that it wasn't formatted quite right, so hit "undo" -- I was going to go paste into Notepad and then copy and paste into Blogger. That always works, it just needs some odd formatting stripped off.

But. When I hit "undo," for some reason the whole thing disappeared instead of just the part I'd pasted in. I hit "undo" again -- there was one time, as I recall, that this happened before, but for whatever reason the main part reappeared with a second "undo." No go this time.

You'd think I would be smart at this point and "redo." Well, maybe I remembered to try somewhere in there, but also somewhere in the mess the blighter decided to automatically save itself. The empty version. I closed. I reopened. Nothing. By the time I used "Revert to draft," (which you have to close to use, it's in the screen with the list of posts, not on the editing post screen) it had decided the "draft" was post-disaster. I didn't have that original draft beginning backed up anywhere else. As you have probably surmised.

AAAaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh. *HEADDESK*

The thing of it is, it wasn't even that long or much. I know I had a basic structure thought out, and a bit of intro. But because it's been SO LONG since I wrote the thing... gaaaah.

Sigh. So my crazy late post about a concert that I wasn't remembering as well anymore (I mean, I remember it well enough. Just not blog post well.) but I was going to still post up because it's still worth sharing even in a very imperfect state... That's all still true, it's just even more imperfect now.

It was something about why it's awesome to see Marian Call in concert, and not just listen to her CDs. There were multiple reasons. I think it went something like this: 1. Awesome venue. 2. Sound quality and general live music experience. 3. Meeting her in person. Maybe?? I mean, that more or less fits with the draft continuation I have -- I know the beginning of the draft had some points written down, but didn't make it far in elaborating the points, so the continuation finished the elaboration of point one and then went on to two and three. I think. And that looks like what I'm elaborating. Wish I could remember the actual headings... and the intro. *grouch grouch grouch*

Okay. I'm over it. Really, I am. Marian Call concert was awesome and all that!

I took a friend, @Joi_the_Artist, for her birthday. A selfish, selfish birthday gift. Um. We both enjoyed it.

Awesome Venue

As you can maybe kind of tell from the picture in the post where I introduced the Marian Call series, it was a garden concert. I mean, it was at a coffeehouse, but in an outdoor seating area they had. It was beautiful and small. I saw a hummingbird during one song. Lovely. I doubt I'll ever go to a concert where I can listen from that close to the performers again. Maybe even not at future Marian Call concerts, even though she likes house concerts, because I was in the front of the front row.

How can one be at the front of a front row, you ask? (No, really, you do. Hey, ask or else.)

Well, (And here's where we switch to the draft continuation... yay! Kind of... I mean, it's not a continuation I was super happy with, but... meh.) um.

As I was saying, well, we were seated around tables, and though we pulled the chairs out to make wobbly almost straight rows, they weren't quite straight. So I wasn't just in the front row, but farther forward in that front row, by dint of being seated more beside a table than behind it.

Live Music Experience (or whatever this heading was)

Of course, live music is always better, anyway. I mean, unless the musician isn't very good, and uses autotune or something, and fifty bajillion gazillion takes to get one that actually sounds decent? Um, not the case for Marian Call.

On the road Marian Call only has a guitarist instead of all the instrumentation on her CDs, but she does so much with her voice alone that that isn't really so much a liability as... different. I like having the opportunity to experience her music both ways. Check out her live album to see what I mean.

And, then, the live album shows off another thing -- her intros! It's really fun to hear her talk about the songs. She pointed out for us before "The Avocado Song," as a California audience, that it's much harder to find good citrus fruits or avocados in Alaska than in California. They're a risk -- expensive, and you cut into them not knowing what you're going to get, a bad one or a good one. In the many times I'd listened to that song, somehow, I'd never thought of that aspect of the metaphor!

The ability to tailor a show to the live audience is also a good thing. Those moments when a train whistle interrupts a song and you wait and laugh together. The requests people make, the camaraderie of it all. It's a good time.

Meeting Marian Call

Speaking of which, I had a chance to meet her in person. Shortly after the event I think I remembered every word she said to me, which maybe I should have journaled before I forgot. (Nooo, I'm not creepy...) I wouldn't have blogged it all, but at any rate, as I've said before, she's a very nice person. When I told her my twitter handle (/blog name) she remembered who I was, and the same with @Joi_the_Artist. She signed our stuff, and sang happy birthday to Joi in... I forget what language. A different language. It was cool.

Loot.

I told her which songs my baby especially seemed to enjoy, based on the kicking ("Highway Five" and... "In the Black," I think?) and she commented that it made sense for her to like the ballads, the higher and slower songs. If I'm recalling correctly.

(In retrospect, it was probably because I particularly liked those songs -- since then I read a study somewhere or other that babies will react in utero even when their mothers listen to music with headphones -- they're not always reacting to the music itself, so much as to the mothers' happiness at the music.)

Anyway, basically, a good time was had by all. She's going to be in the area again this month, and I'm going again! Check out her concert schedule, and who knows? If you go to one in Southern California, maybe I'll see you there! Meanwhile, I do believe I have some music to go listen to.

We couldn't resist. It was tricky with a camera phone and the lack of lighting to get the whole word in frame AND make me visible (let alone to get a very good picture), but Joi made a valiant attempt.

Rhythm and Rhyme

I get Marian Call songs stuck in my head, and it is no bad thing. The other day I was struck again by her rhythm and rhyme, and the contrast with... other lyrics.

Take, for example, Weezer's
"I swear it's true
Without you my heart is blue."

(I admit it, it's not fair, this is not a random example. I picked these lines because they particularly bug me. For some odd reason.)

And then there's Marian Call. The lines running through my head the other morning:
"She'd collect on the cash, but her victory stung
She cursed at the cat that had captured her tongue."
 
Ah. Sigh of pleasure and relief. (Fun alliteration in this sample, too. Bit of assonance even, for that matter.)

Or how about:
"So you unpacked your camera to frame the good times,
And I nabbed a used napkin to scribble some lines.
The chemistry swept us both off our toes --
You shot no one else -- I couldn't compose --"

See, Weezer? Not "off our feet," but "off our toes" -- you tweak a cliché just a tiny bit, and your line becomes about a million times better. Objectively.

Dang it, now I have Weezer stuck in my head. ("Girl!")

Marian Call

Not the best pic ever, but I was busy listening, didn't want to spend much time attempting a better shot. Especially since I was in the front of the front row and feeling conspicuous.

A month ago I reviewed the song "In the Black" by Marian Call. I actually intend this to be the beginning of a series of posts about her songs, but I wanted to jump right in and do that review before introducing the series, especially because the timing felt so right.

So here I am. Introducing the series.

"Uh, who's Marian Call?"

Oh right, I should introduce her if I'm introducing a series about her, huh? Well, she's an indie singer-songwriter from Alaska who sounds a bit like Joni Mitchell, but with maybe a little more jazz influence, who writes songs with clever subtle lyrics. That's the short version. Arguably the rest of this blog post is the long version. Or, of course, you can click on the above link for info directly from her.

 

 "Why review her songs, when the vast majority of your reviews are of books?

 If you really have to, wouldn't just one post do? Like that post about Battlestar music?"

Glad you asked. I've been thinking about doing this for a while. For one thing, it'd be more efficient -- I keep gushing about her on facebook and in emails, but instead I could just link to these! Well, to some extent, anyway. I might not have to repeat myself quite as much, which would be nice. At any rate, I discovered through all the gushing that I have plenty to say about her music. I'd enjoy saying those things here.

I've talked with her a little bit on twitter (@mariancall), and when I mentioned toying with the idea of a series like this, but said my blog doesn't exactly reach that many, her answer was, "Hey, do it! I will enjoy reading them at least!" So there you go. That makes two of us. But I'll try to make them entertaining for the rest of you! Feel free to yell at me if they're not.

"But why listen?"

Why do I listen to Marian Call? Why might you enjoy listening to Marian Call? The fastest answer might be to go listen to some of it. She's put it all online to stream for free. But I'll admit, the first song or so that I listened to didn't excite me like this. I had another friend (@Joi_the_Artist) who gushed like I do now, and I listened a little more and more and more... Her songs really reward repeated listens.

Lyrics. Ohmygoodness lyrics.

Now I'll freely admit, I'm a lyrics gal. Don't get me wrong, the music is great, but that's not what made me fall in love. There are instrumental pieces out in the world which I love, and I'm pretty sure I've even loved songs which had lyrics I couldn't quite make out, or never understood; but... lyrics are pretty much the key to my heart. I'll even forgive some semi-awful music for great lyrics. Once in a while. (Didn't have to do that for her, yay!)

I mean, again, I'm Quettandil. Word Lover. This should surprise no one.

Ever watched the movie Music and Lyrics? You should, it's good. Hugh Grant isn't my favorite, but he's surprisingly perfect for a washed-up '80s pop star. Anyway, there's a novelist and a lyricist in the movie. The novelist has done something bad to the lyricist (I'm trying to be vague to avoid spoilers, though this isn't quite central to the plot), and someone makes a comment to the lyricist that writing lyrics to huge hit songs will "show him." Or something to that effect. She replies that it won't exactly impress him. (He writes literary fiction. Snooty stuff.)

Well, this wannabe novelist is impressed. I mean, Marian Call's songs have layers of meaning, metaphors all over the place, they're clever, they're most certainly not repetitive. Many of them are subtle enough that I don't catch the double meanings the first time I listen, or even the second or third or fourth, necessarily. Whether direct or subtle, they're always clever. (For an example of very direct and obvious metaphors, delightful and funny ones that make the song, you can either wait for me to someday review "The Avocado Song," or you can click here for the song and lyrics.) After listening to Marian Call, should I happen to hear some random pop song, my reaction tends to be, "Wait, that's all? You didn't have anything else to say? Couldn't have phrased it just a little differently?"

Well okay, music too.

No, of course the similar-to-Joni-Mitchell sound doesn't hurt. Or the way she makes the music fit the lyrics, in more ways and places than I've even noticed, I'm sure. "Dear Mister Darcy" is a good example, check out the recurring "...but not quite" bit.

Nerdiness

Oh, and did I mention that she has a whole album inspired by Firefly and Battlestar Galactica? Which begins with The Nerd Anthem? She does. Awesome, I know. Just keep in mind that again, some of it is pretty subtle. It's not parody. She has some things in common with Jonathan Coulton (the aforementioned nerdiness and all-around teh awesomeness, for starters, perhaps), but that's not quite what you should be expecting.

I don't know what to call this. Awesome philosophy and respect for both fans and art, I guess.

She has a pretty great philosophy about sharing her music. Check out this wonderful post about her Pseudo-Scholarship Fund. Very good balance between valuing the music and artist with making it freely available to people. Heck, it's not a balance, per se. It's lots of both. "Enthusiastic cheer!"

Bring the nerdiness and the awesome philosophy together...

And that was before Kickstarter really took off. I haven't spent a lot of time looking at Kickstarter projects, but even if I had, I wouldn't be surprised if I still thought the theme song and video to her Kickstarter project, "Marian Call's European Adventure Quest," was pretty much the best thing on Kickstarter ever. There's this cool game, and everything! Explained through song! Questing! Awesome prizes! Okay, that last bit's kind of normal on Kickstarter, almost by definition, but stillll.... Um, you should watch the video.

She's worth it. As a person.

She's nice. Kind. She really cares about her fans. On top of everything else, that's why she has my undying loyalty. And money. She makes it easy to realize there's a person behind her music, and to want to support that person.

She replied on twitter to my review of "In the Black," said, "I only just had time to read your 'In the Black' blog post tonight, and it really touched me. Sending good wishes your way. Thank you for really knowing and loving one of my songs. That is the highest possible honor. I made it for you." Awwww!

I was talking with her on twitter several months ago to arrange a physical copy of Got to Fly for a sister of mine in Hawaii, who didn't have the internet speed to download it herself. I could've paid for the download and shipped it out, but I thought I'd see if Marian Call had a magical office worker bee who could do it, and she did. I agreed to pay a little bit for her time. And then... March happened. So as we were finishing up the details, I told her "And one last thing: just received very very bad news this morning, and your music is helping, as usual. Thank you!" At which point she said, "Don't worry about the cost, it's on me." I explained that my bad news wasn't affecting my sister, who was going to be paying me back anyway, but she still gave the CD away for free.

This really touched me, possibly more than anything anyone else did or said at that time. It wasn't much perhaps, but the fact that she'd do it, as a stranger who had no idea at all what my bad news was about? It meant something, at least to me.

I would worry about telling this story, lest you take advantage of her generosity, but well, there's already a system in place for you to get free CDs from her if you ask. (See the Pseudo-Scholarship Fund, above.) Please don't abuse this. Because, as I think this story and others illustrate, she is well worth supporting. Heck, good art is worth supporting, even if you don't like the artist. How much more so when you do?

Concert story and pics to come!

Alright, I think this miiiight be lengthy enough. Stay tuned for a post about my very first Marian Call concert, just last week (from whence the beginning pic comes). It will be shorter than this one. Probably.

Because sometimes I run out of different ways to say "AWESOME." Really. I do.

Until then, be sure to check out Marian Call's upcoming concerts and see if she's coming to an area near you.

"In the Black"

"In the Black," from Got to Fly by Marian Call

In the Black

Guitar: Kyle Harrington / Piano: Paul Pew / Violin: Adam Stewart

You’re in the black – in the black – in the black — ain’t it lovely baby

Not coming back, in the black – ain’t you free

No more debts – no more threats – you’re in the black, baby

Left it all behind – must feel fine – must feel fine

But we  —-    wish we could see  you

We thought you might find time to write us now and then

You’re free —  now and you’re lonely

I love you, but please do not ask me to pretend

Come home if you want a friend

I’m right on task – since you asked – I’m doing great, really I am

I don’t blink, I don’t think, I just press on, press on

I’m doing fine – I’m not inclined to crack anytime soon baby

Left us all behind but we’re still fine – swear we’re fine

But we cry for no reason

Late at night when we run out of thoughtless things to do

You’re free now and you’re lonely

Please come home so we can cry with you

I hear that you cry too

We cannot bring you back when home’s not home

We can’t make you pay debts you will not own

We cannot reason with the unforeseen

We can’t compromise when there’s no in-between

CHORUS

This review is dedicated to my very very good friend Rachel. She and her family are moving thousands of miles away, and I'm going to miss them. Miss her. A LOT.

The song isn't perfect for this situation. I can't in good conscience appeal for them to "come home," this move is too good for them. But then, parts of it are still wildly appropriate, like "ain't you free / No more debts."

The phrase "in the black" is from Firefly, for Got to Fly is a wonderfully nerdy album inspired both by Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. The song and the phrase work on their own, apart from Firefly, all the normal senses of the words are kept in mind, but there's added meaning. Being in the black ("out here, in the 'Verse") has to do with freedom, adventure... and, well, yes. Freedom.

Rachel and her family are going on a new adventure, though it hardly feels like it right now, even for them. Again, I do not appeal for them to come home. Nor do I think I'm going to have to say, "We thought you might find time to write us now and then." But the sad notes are all exactly right. For that matter, so is "We can't compromise when there's no in-between."

This song has been a favorite of mine, an obsessive favorite, longer and more consistently than any other Marian Call song, I think. Which is saying something. The line that really gets me every time, the line that forced me to go back and memorize the chorus until I could sing it every time the mood or the thought struck me, is "But we cry for no reason / Late at night when we run out of thoughtless things to do." Along the same lines, I also love the entire verse right before it.

I'm not sure why I love it so blindingly compulsively much -- the concept is hardly new, in itself. Perhaps I've never seen it expressed in song form before? Certainly not expressed so well. Though many people can relate to the grief in a friend moving away, or in moving away themselves, the song works for, well, all griefs, all losses, as far as I'm concerned. I think of all the times I've been depressed, with or without a reason, and staved it off for a bit with a novel or the Internet or some game on my cell phone. But it always comes back stronger, afterward. Sometimes it can't be staved off at all. Those are some of the moments when I love singing this song. I also sing it when I'm happy, in memory and in gratitude for the music and words.

Rachel and Tim, I hope it helps you, too.

Those of you who pray, please pray for them. Pray also for me and for my family. We have other drama of our own going on over the weekend, about which I will have to remain vague. (I should pick a code name for it...) It's related to the vague stuff in the March Madness post, and it means I could be quite lonely this weekend.

Lack of extreme depression is to be desired (even more than usual), for two reasons. One, it's better for my health and thus for my baby's health to not be sucked into that blackness right now. Two, I need to get some unpacking and cleaning done over the weekend, which will be basically impossible if I'm stuck in a depression pit. So pray especially on Friday for me, as that's when it all begins, both Rachel's family moving and my family drama stuff. Thank you.