Now We’re Cookin’

Part Five:
Now We’re Cookin’

(Fifth in a five-part series that originally appeared in The Dallas Morning News.)

Songs started flowing out like a faucet with a broken handle. Ever since the music pilgrimage to my brother’s in Danville, Illinois, when he helped nudge me closer to writing a song -- any song -- a pent-up dam has given way, and songs of every kind are swimming to the top. Songs about matches not made in heaven (“...more like made in China”). Songs about Witch Joanie (“She got her twitchin’ eyeball / on my bewitchin’ man...”). Songs about handsome men, clueless women, instructions, low slow voices, billionaire oil tycoons, corporate deities, and how sixteen lasts forever have all bobbed to the surface.

The Mood Swings has three years under its belt now and Melody was right – in our third year we’re gelling. We’ve played the big festivals (Turkey Trot, State Fair Women’s Museum Stage, Deep Ellum Arts Fest); private parties (thanks Sandra, and Wade, and you, too, George); and clubs (Opening Bell, Tipperary Inn, Lakewood Bar & Grill, more). We did two band t-shirts (“Is it the caffeine...or the Mood Swings?” and “Laundry...or Rock n’ Roll?”); have been covered by local TV and print; and, at this writing, are recording new songs for our CD for release in 2009.

What about fame? Well, certainly, everyone who plays rock thinks it would be a lovely thing -- but we are all realists, realists with day jobs, mortgages, and family members to support. Life moves along just like before, with all the bumps, hits, and jackpots. Between the band members over the past three years, we’ve had one husband with a heart attack, another with a mysterious nerve condition, one mom and one brother-in-law pass away and one sister-in-law in hospice. We’ve had one looking for a new day job, one who was mugged at gunpoint, another who nearly broke her neck in a swimming accident. We’ve had three high school graduations, a couple of scholarships, a child win the lead in a school play and two kids who made cheerleader. In other words, life rolls on whether we’re rockin’ or not--but playing in the band just brings out more of the bliss in life.

Merry and the Mood Swings preview their latest original tunes at Lakewood’s Tipperary Inn on Saturday night, August 30 (double-billing with Heimlich & the Maneuvers).

www.merryandthemoodswings.com.

Copyright 2008 Mary Guthrie