Rock n' Roll Retreat

Queen Elizabeth watched us from the hearth. Her electric blue and lime green eyes tracked us as we moved through our retreat weekend at artist Sarah Green’s lake house. Elizabeth, one of Sarah’s gorgeous portraits, kept a quiet eye on us all weekend.

Here’s what she saw: four out of five Mood Swings going through their Saturday slowly, with no agenda and no plans: four musicians and an artist looking out the bay window at huge grey herons. Sitting on the floor playing cards, drinking wine, slouching on the couch. Bundling up in borrowed coats to go out and gaze up at the stars on an ink-black cold night.

Here’s what Elizabeth heard: Sarah’s soft-spoken, melodious British accent, telling us stories about an ungrateful Pavarotti and a friendly Van Cliburn; my own shriek as I captured then lost a yellow jacket as I tried to release it back outside; Martha’s stream of comebacks as we all played word games; Lucy talking with us from the kitchen as she prepared the best gourmet Mexican meal any of us ever had; and Mary H’s evenly paced instructions as she led us through an early morning yoga session.

Here’s what Elizabeth did not see or hear the entire weekend: traffic, airplanes, ambulances, kids, dogs, husbands, power mowers, leaf blowers, doorbells, televisions or cell phones.

We did hear a bit of music, but it wasn’t ours. We stepped away from creating music and just listened to other people’s music for awhile. It was a good break, time to exhale and catch our breath again.

Here’s what I learned during the weekend: Martha has a keenly observant side to her that I was not aware of before. Watch out if you ever play cards with her: She plays with a quiet, serene look on her face, but what she’s really doing is watching you and learning your patterns. Every ace, every spade, every choice you make she memorizes, and like the raptor in Jurassic Park she is on your trail, she will win, and you won’t realize your terrible fate until it is too late.

I already knew that Lucy is familiar with more styles of music than I even have names for, but I never knew she had a place in her collection for country-western/bluegrass; in particular, she has a thing for The Knitters. I questioned her about it, saying I never suspected she’d like that kind of music; she said the magic was all in the Knitters’ lyrics.

I learned that Mary Hestand gets cranky if she goes too long without food and that she will settle for Jack in the Box in a pinch. I also learned that she knows the words to more songs than anyone else I know, and that every Christmas she and her family love to break out the karaoke machine.

I also learned that an armadillo is one alien-looking creature, so bizarre that it’s cute, with its long nose and snuffly way of walking through the underbrush, it’s elliptical ears so tiny and sweet; I learned they have tufts of coarse hair peeking out from under their armor. I also learned the poor things are just about as deaf and blind as they could be; for 15 minutes I followed within four feet of one while it shuffled along looking for bugs; it got so close to me that I had to consider: when it shuffles onto my feet, should I move and let it know I am here, or just stand really still?

So the Mood Swings retreat was less about music than it was about refueling our souls and getting to know each other a little better. Usually when we get together it is to practice our music or to perform, and it goes a lot like this: get in the door, set up the gear, play music for a couple of hours, take a quick ten or fifteen minute break, play more music, pack up and rush out the door to the next thing: taking the kids to taekwondo, shopping for groceries, packing for a business trip, making dinner.

In the car on our way back to Dallas we did do a small bit of talking about our music and what we want to do for our next CD. The retreat provided what I call song starts: snippets and phrases that could grow into songs. The next few months will tell if any of these phrases make it into a new Mood Swing song:

Hecho en Taiwan
Olive Dreams
Catch & Release
Lifespan
All words S, D & P
Tijuana Breakdown
The Outcast of White Lake Hills
Your Narrow Heaven

Stay tuned…

The Mood Swings play the 41st annual YMCA Turkey Trot in downtown Dallas on Thursday morning, Nov. 27, 9-11 a.m. along the race route, near the corner of Harwood and Elm. They say it’s one of the most fun (“funnest”) gigs they do all year: 40,000 people, all in great moods, run past and wave and have a great time. Rock on!

www.merryandthemoodswings.com

Copyright 2009 Mary Guthrie