Had a good birthday

 Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes.  You made me happy.

I mentioned having a bit of a gig--I just wanted to let you know that it went well.  I commandeered two of the mics that The Emancipators had been using, and I think I got them reasonably positioned for vocals and mandolin without taking a lot of time about it or wrecking everything.  One side effect of the extra practicing I've been doing (I've been doing 20 minutes worth of instrumentals on the mandolin and another 20 minutes worth of instrumentals on the octave mandolin every day since about April, and recently I've added another 20 minutes of octave mando struming / singing, and included a metronome) is that I just feel much more confident about stuff.  I think I did a better job performing (though not perfect--sigh) but I know I went up there feeling like I had everything under my fingers and not shaking--or if I shook it didn't get in the way of my playing.

Which is interesting since the new development with the CD printer and abridged Bible-belt-safe CD meant I changed my set list up a lot yesterday (to include songs from my CD--if I hadn't taken any to sell there would have been a lot less point in doing that) so while I had practiced a lot, I hadn't practiced these specific pieces much in a while.  Practice.  It works.  Who knew?

I sold three CDs, which I thought was pretty good since there were maybe 20 people in the crowd, and the Emancipators had CDs too. There was another between-sets singer, Chris Dunham, who is local and who was quite good.  He said he had CDs and forgot to bring any.  I suppose my new adventures in marketing are going reasonably well; at least I brought mine.  And I closed my 15 minute set with "That Kind Of Mouse" saying that if my current CD did well enough that I could affort to make another, this last song will be on the next CD.

One of my customers donated his 5$ change to the production of the next CD.  That made me feel good.

Poetry Fishbowl

 There is a poetry fishbowl going on at YsabetWordsmith's LJ.  The theme is "toys and games."  Drop by and leave some suggestions of things to write poems about, and while you're at it, pass it on to your friends by linking it in your journal!

Jenny Behind The Fair--I hear the music; I must catch it!

It's a bit later than I intended to do this but life kind of crept up on me while my back was turned.

About two months ago now I got hold of _Acolytes of the Machine_  which is Mary Crowell's new CD.  It's fourteen gaming inspired songs, and as you might expect given that this is Mary Crowell we're talking about, it rocks.  Here's the review I put up at CDBaby--did I mention it is at CDBaby?  Well it is, though I'm also going to direct you to Mary's Bandcamp page for it because just between you and me Bandcamp gives the artist a better deal, and I think Mary deserves it.  But Bandcamp doesn't let you post reviews.

Anyway--the CD Baby review:

Mary Crowell's latest album is fourteen songs of irreverent fun inspired by D&D but with an emphasis on story that makes most of them accessible to a much wider audience.  Mary, whether on vocals, keyboards or clarinet, is the main performer, but the cast is filled out by Jeff Bohnhoff on guitar and bass, Sunnie Larsen and Amy McNally on violin, Betsey Tinney on cello, Chris French on saxophone, Kevin Kono on trumpet and Maya Bohnhoff, Michelle Dockrey, Kristoph Klover, Teresa Powell and Brenda Sutton on vocals. 

 

Mary's voice moves through these stories like an actor or a dancer, smooth and flexible, moving from mocking to sultry as the situation demands; a rogue of a thousand faces.  Her keyboard is alternately flippant, ominous, or cool and reserved as a music box playing in an empty house. On "City of Doors" in particular (one of my favorites) it reminds me of Robin Hood, stealing the scene only to hand it back to the electric guitar with a flourish and bow.  

 

Some of the songs are specifically about the mechanics of the game, like "Opportunity Tango" or, to a lesser extent "I Put My Low Stat" and will amuse D&D players but may be less interesting people who aren't into that.  Others simply tell stories ("Shifty Screavy"), or describe places ("City of Doors") or people ("A Balleto for Rupus"); that those stories, places or people began in D&D campaigns makes no difference to the song.  The stories, places and people often are a bit eerie, and occasionally contain elements of horror ("Post-Apocalyptic Blues" in which the world is full of zombies, pops to mind) but have an overall air of flippancy that tends to disarm these tropes.

 

This is an album that repays repeated listening, full of little gems like the violin that has its own opinion on the quality of were-rat cookery, and the background vocalist going to town on the last descant on "M is for Magic Missile."  I recommend it whole-heartedly.