In the Music Room

We were loading into the 2010 Deep Ellum Arts Fest and some guy with wild red hair came running up. "Hey, I'm Randy," he said. "We're friends on Facebook."

I had no idea who he was.

"I can't stay, but I want to invite you to play on my show."

He explained that he and his wife Helen have an internet radio show called In the Music Room, it was kinda like a house concert, but over the internet, and was mostly acoustic, but interested in all original music, and he had to go, had to pick up his son, and we would talk later.

Then he was gone.

I started to nose around. Over Facebook page threads, phone calls with Randy and surreptitious conversations with people who knew him, I concluded he was legit.

I've learned that Randy is passionate about what he does, passionate about music to the extent that he has built an excellent listening-and-recording room at his home, which he opens to music lovers every single weekend. All guests on his show play original music.

Even though most of the performers on the show play folk, country and indie acoustic, he was willing to open his doors to the Mood Swings. I warned him we were NOT like his other guests -- we were loud, we were rock, and we were sometimes inexplicable. He wanted us anyway.

As the recording date drew near, he emphasized that we needed to bring the volume down so we wouldn't overwhelm the room (it's about the size of your den), and we needed to arrive ready to play 7 songs. We gathered up as many soft songs as we could (five), tacked on two of our weirder ones, and crossed our fingers we wouldn't peg the meters on the sound board.

Five days before our recording date, he threw a curve ball: he was going to record us without stage monitors. This was heresy! We griped among ourselves, asked him again if he was sure he wanted to risk that, and he responded with a phrase that always makes my flags go up: "Trust me." But we figured what the heck, it's his show, he must know what he is doing because he's been doing it for a long time now, it's his room, so....we pushed out into new territory. We put Martha (drummer) on bundles and brushes, Diane (lead guitar) on acoustic guitar, and launched into the mellower side of the Mood Swings.

We had a lovely time. Randy and Helen did the interview with the band members, and it was surprisingly laid back and relaxing. Sweet love songs and a jazzy number and a mostly-instrumental; we even invited his dad, Harold, to sit in and play sax on one of the songs.

It was their 100th show, and we can't wait to hear the results. It'll take a month or so before the songs are mixed down, and a bit longer before they can be heard on the show site: www.inthemusicroom.com

In the Music Room is located in Waxahachie, Texas, which is about a 45 minute drive south of Dallas. I can tell you it is worth going to -- you will hear excellent music in a small, intimate setting, and will enjoy the company of music lovers and even some good food, if you go on a Potluck night. The room is small, though, so be sure to RSVP before you go. I hear Bugs Henderson is playing there in December, and in the spring, Cary Cooper & Tom Prasado-Rao will be in the house.

Mood Swings will be back In the Music Room in Fall 2011.

My Band’s Bigger than Your Band

“I pay $6,000 a month now to my business manager and lawyer. Yeah, I hate the business side of the business.”

This was “Ryan” (name changed), a traveling musician at the recent Wildflower Festival in Richardson, Texas. His music experience is different than my own.

While volunteering at the Dallas Songwriters Association table, I sat with some of the artists and listened in as they compared notes about life on the road. One was from Boston, another from Wyoming, the other from Nashville. Here are some differences between their music lifestyle and that of my band, Merry and the Mood Swings:

Touring artist: Travels all over the country and the world, singing their own original songs.

Mood Swings: Travels all over the Dallas area, singing their own original songs

Touring artist: Has a band, but often can’t pay for them to travel, so must hire an unfamiliar band to back them up in whatever town they are in.

Mood Swings: Always plays with the same band members, with an occasional sit-in.

Touring artist: When they can’t hire a local band, sometimes they perform solo.

Mood Swings: Never does solo work, but on rare occasion sends two or three ‘Swings out to do an “acoustic” set.

Touring artist: Has booking agent working the phones, negotiating accommodations and fees, and promoting the artist. Agent keeps a percentage of whatever artist makes.

Mood Swings: Do all of the above on our own. We keep whatever we make.

Touring artist: Earns enough money to pay for entertainment lawyers and agents because the artist can’t do it by themselves.

Mood Swings: Wishes we earned enough money to pay for lawyers and agents so we didn’t have to do it by ourselves.

Touring artist: Has some difficulty writing new songs because of distractions such as traveling, meetings, recording sessions, and shows.

Mood Swings: Has some difficulty writing new songs because of distractions such as day jobs, family responsibilities, meetings, recording sessions, and shows.

The last difference is the one that weighs the most. It is what makes me grateful that I and my bandmates get to live a rich musical life, but without some of the toll that touring musicians pay:

Touring artist: Has 150 gigs in an average year, a second home in Nashville (or L.A.), and sees his family on occasion.

Mood Swings: Has about 24 gigs a year, one home in Dallas, and sees family every day.

Thanks to the North Texas Musicians meeting yesterday and speaker JR Atkins, I'm trying Ping today. This is a test message!

Poem

Trees

Frilly blossoms brief as breath;

each sun a passing trend.

The cycle of days takes cold into our bones.

Battering rains and floods of tears

Soak our skin and bring us years

of rooting, sprouting, shading and shedding,

arms stretched out, never forgetting

to drink the sun, to amaze the moon.

It’s impossible to begin again,

So we grow from here,

folding wrinkles into expressions of time.

Geeky Software Saves the Day

Some very smart people at Roni Music have figured out a way to take an MP3 file and slow it down, AND change the pitch if needed.

Whoa.

This means the time it takes to learn a song has been cut in half. Ergo, the Amazing Slow Downer can change your life, or at least save you a bunch of time by trimming the learning curve.

In my case, I am learning bass lines, so it helps me pick apart the structure of a song and figure out what should happen when. It doesn't rush me, it doesn't nag, it doesn't sigh. It just patiently gives me what I need, every time I ask.

Plus, songs slowed down bring out nuances otherwise overlooked. Little, subtle details do, in fact, make a big difference when all packaged together. Like a fine art painting or tile mosaic, when you step close to see the details, they can stand on their own; when you zoom out and look at it altogether, voila! Gestalt!

Roni Music gets extra roses and chocolate cake from me - I had some difficulties mounting it to the new Windows 7 platform - but Rolf and Monica at Roni's were very patient, and answered each plaintive email within 24 hours.

If you want to learn how to play or sing a song, and you need to trim the time it takes you to learn new material, the Amazing Slow Downer is worth every penny (50 bucks US). No, I’m not a salesperson for Amazing Slow Downer – just a very happy, time-squeezed musician.

4/4,
Mary