Mood Swings: Inside the Music

Changing Moods: Waiting for the Groove Bird

2011-09-28T19:37:00.001-05:00

Ourtravelin’ bass player Carol (drives all over six counties to play with variousbands, shazam) left the band last spring. ‘Twas a good run with Carol. At firstwe thought we’d search for a new female bass player – that rare bird hiddenamongst the flocks of female guitar players in the Dallas area—but they are fewin number and very hard to find. Untilwe find that Special Someone, we are overjoyed to let the boys fill in on bass.

JackReed, bass player with The Coppertones, Model Citizen, Alpha Dogs and myriadother configurations of musicians, sits in with us (no, he won’t wear a yellowsundress) and Michael Byron, lead guitarist/singer for Alpha Dogs, plays withus, too – he’s a bassist at heart, we suspect! We love the guys for stepping in, and MAN can they groove – whoa! But it’dbe nice, swell, groovy, awesome, I-know,-right?- if we could find that magiccombination of deeply funkified groovin’ gal. Had one of our fans tell usrecently that we need to keep it all-women. Pure. ….mmmaybe. I dunno. It’s hard to look forreplacements when the guys sound so good.

I’veheard people say a band is only as good as its bass player. I’ve heard the same thing said aboutdrummers. And “only as good as the leadsinger,” “only as good as its lead guitarist,” ad nauseum.Heck, in my experience, all five pieces of the band have to be cookin’ to getit right, make it tight, get it “in the pocket.” Bart Elliot of the websitedrummercafe.com has it right when he explains that “in the pocket” means: “Tothe musician, it feels like the music is playing itself, as though everythinghas merged together ... all the rhythmic parts being played by one instrument.”

That kindof playing is such nirvana! I call itbeing “inside” the music, when the music is flowing and you are enjoying theride. It’s a lovely feeling.

Anyway –back to bass. Moods Swings are stillgroovin’ with our temp bass players and loving every minute of it. But if that special female Groove Bird fliesinto our nest, we’ll be happy to make the room.

The Fifth Mood Swing

2011-05-17T17:59:00.002-05:00

We are looking for a new bass player. Let's see: We prefer female, but will consider a guy; someone who lives in or very near Dallas and who can practice or gig every weekend. Must groove. We're in it for the love of music. That means we sometimes play for free, we sometimes play for tips, and we sometimes play for the big bucks. KYDJ - keep your day job. If you want more details, contact me.
Mary out.

24 Hour Music Race

2011-03-13T20:47:00.002-05:00

Holy smokes. Imagine writing a brand-new song AND recording it with a band in a studio ---in one day. Oh-- and the line "Was anything real?" HAD to be in it, as did a fortune cookie message pulled out of a bag: "When the flowers bloom so will great joy in your life."

Thus was the 24 Hour Music Race, organized by Tom Jordan of Garland Recording Studio (and lead songwriter, singer and rhythm guitarist for band Chin's Mojo). It wasn't a competition; it was just a way to get the creative juices flowing in the music community.

It started on a Friday evening at 6. Tom gave me the two lyric lines that had to be in the new song. Met with vocalist Mary Hestand at 7, and for two hours we pounded out lyrics. No time to get deep or brilliant -- all extraneous efforts were stripped away. After two hours Mary H had to stop - it had been a hard work week; we decided picking it up in the morning would be best. Before she left she sang a melody into my laptop computer (Audacity program) and we said goodnight; I worked til 11 on lyric sheets, chords, and a shift in chord progression for the bridge.

Next morning at 9 a.m. I zoomed to Mary's house. We still had to get the skeleton of the song to Martha, the drummer, and our bass player Carol. After another hour of tinkering and singing into Audacity, we emailed the skeleton. All that afternoon the inbox was punctuated with questions and scratch-outs, and slowly the song developed. The first chance we'd have to play it together was at the recording session scheduled for 6 p.m.

At 5 pm we gathered at my house and drove to Tom's studio in Garland. It is a small space, but plenty of Pro Tools and good speakers (and a great Gretsch drum kit that was borrowed) made it as big as was needed. Tom was amazing -- worked very fast, and was a breeze to work with. He also was able to make a few quick suggestions that made our song better.

Since we had prepared as best as we could, and because we designed the song to be easy to sing and to play -- no time for fancy tricks! -- we actually recorded it in just over an hour, with 45 minutes left to do some mixing work. Way cool.

Did I mention Tom did this all for free? We really enjoyed meeting him and his wife Bethany and their girls, and are looking forward to hearing the other teams' renditions on Saturday, March 19 at O'Riley's on Forest Lane in Dallas. Each team had different fortune cookie messages, but we all had "Was anything real?"

Wonder what they did with it?

I highly recommend doing something like this --it really knocked the barnacles off the songwriting process.

In the Music Room

2010-11-28T17:45:00.006-06:00

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

2010-05-27T10:42:00.004-05:00

“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.

2010-04-18T10:13:00.001-05:00

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

Poem

2010-03-09T08:53:00.011-06:00

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

2010-01-05T16:34:00.006-06:00

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

Search Me

2009-09-14T18:16:00.006-05:00

According to Google, these are the things America is searching for: sports, music, Oprah.

If I were to write a song today about a singing football player who appears on Oprah, would people search for it? Would I be giving America what it wants?

Today, if you want your music to be heard or seen, it has to be on the Internet. If you can be Googled, you’ve got a chance.

I searched for Google hit statistics on “Paul McCartney.” Hit results were astronomical. I was surprised to learn that Canadians searched for Paul more than Americans, followed by Mexicans and Argentineans. The Brits were somewhere behind Argentina. People are nuts for his lyrics, which they look for more often than info on his tours, which came in second.

I then entered Texas-bred band Bowling for Soup. We cover one of their most popular songs, “1985.” It is just too perfect for our band of five women. I learned they are bigger in the U.K. than they are in their home country. What is it about hometown folks not being number one fans??

I then entered Merry and the Mood Swings. The message came up: “Not enough search volume to show graphs.” Well then! Here we have a wonderful home website and a presence on myspace, Facebook and now ReverbNation. I know we are searched for because ReverbNation can show me examples of where we have appeared on the web, and Google sends Mary H. updates when we appear on the web.

So I’m experimenting. If I salt hot topic terms into my blog posts and the band websites, will they eventually come up on Google searches? If they do and people click through, will I write a hit song titled “Oprah’s Football Music?” Maybe an entire CD, “The Battle of Jon and Kate,” “Taylor’s Swift Kick to Kanye,” “Facebook Virus Blues,” etc.?

Will I?

Search me.

It's Fall, Must be Time to Play Again!

2009-08-11T14:54:00.009-05:00

Summer is drawing to a close and that means the Mood Swings are wrapping up projects we've been working on since May ("What I Did On My Summer Vacation"), only some of which I can talk about -- the other tidbits aren't quite ready, but we are excited -- details in mid-September, I promise. In the meanwhile, a sneak peek of our new songs for the Fall is below.

To kick off the "fall season," the 'Swings will play the big Tour de NeighborsGo event in Lewisville on Saturday, Sept. 12, from 11 -noon. It's at the Village Shops at Castle Hills, a gorgeous new enclave right off of Lady of the Lake Boulevard. It's a family thing, with trike event at 9:30, "Big Bike" event at 10, and 'Swings at 11. Families, vendors, fun, live music, and free! Details to come around the first week in September in every edition of "NeighborsGo" in The Dallas Morning News.

On Thursday, Sept. 10, our sax-flute-guitar-vox-kitchen sink member, Diane, plays a benefit for Dallas Heritage Village in an intimate setting -- the Alamo Saloon ! -- with Jubal's Paradise partner, guitar master Kevin Kirk. Jubal's plays gorgeous acoustic songs featuring guitar and flute. This venue seats only 25 people and tickets will sell out quickly -- for an evening of truly beautiful music benefiting the historic, accredited Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park, call Michelle at 214-413-3675.

Then on Saturday, Sept. 19 the whole band is back at Dallas Heritage Village for the Chili Cookoff. Mood Swings play at 1:30; this is a CASI-sanctioned cookoff for chili aficianados. Details at www.dallasheritagevillage.org!

Preview of some of the new songs on the horizon:
"Chickenheaded Thing": Southern Rock meets aliens on a farm-to-market road!
"Unh When I Sit Down (Unh When I Get Up Again)": Danceable rap, in full Mood Swings mode.
"Geez Louise": Swingin' tune about a society gal who has it all.
"Father Time": Rich harmonies in this thoughtful song about music, friendship and encouragement.
"There": Bittersweet, old-fashioned ballad of lost love.
"Don't Come Back": Done-Me-Wrong for the last time, cheater takes a hike in this rock-pop tune.

Have a topic you want the Mood Swings to sing about? Let us know--then be brave.

You've been seeing a new URL, haven't you

2009-07-15T19:33:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the new Mood Swings blog home!

I'm duplicating all the posts from the original blog site to this one.

As always, your comments are welcome. Do write!

4/4,

Mary

Previously, On Mood Swings

2009-07-15T18:50:00.001-05:00

Texas Country Reporter, Part Two

The big eye of TV winked as we played at Opening Bell Southside. Friends filled the seats, buddy/soundman/musician Doug Potts crammed the mixer board onto a table in the middle of the room, and Dan and Ryan from Texas Country Reporter moved around without notice, except for the fact that everyone of course knew exactly where they were at all times and pretended they didn’t see them, which of course they did, clearly, with both eyes, because Dan and Ryan were holding large TV cameras, one of which could look your way at any moment. It was a marvelous example of the the magic of television: even after being around for 80 years, TV still thrills. Through the magic of television, you can be transported into millions of glowing boxes in people’s living rooms, where, for a few pinnacle moments, you will be the center of attention, the fleeting electronic gestalt of countless strangers’ existences, with the side benefit of writing home to mom to say, hey, I was on TV last night, didja see me.

Gets ‘em every time.

And so this pixie-dust made for an animated crowd, and the ‘Swings fed on the buzz. It was such a boost to look out into the room at all those smiling faces, those dancing feet— a happy thing indeed, and we cavorted through “Trailer Park Living,” “Reach Out,” “Match Not Made in Heaven” and a few covers, including “Dream On,” with cellphones waving in the air like so many handheld Tinkerbells.

At the end of the night, as Ryan and Dan were packing up their things and the ‘Swings continued to play, Mary H. picked Ryan to be that night’s “Metrosexual.” For those who’ve not yet heard it, “Metrosexual” is a song Mary H. wrote about the kind of hunky guy who dresses so well he could be a magazine model: “He’s a metro, metrosexual, he looks better than me… he’s a metro, metrosexual, oh what a man is he. . .” It’s a lot of fun for the audience, and usually fun for the pick of the night, unless the pick is terribly shy and mortified by five women singing about how gorgeous he is in front of a bunch of people, but Ryan had a trick up his sleeve – at the end of the song he tore open his shirt and revealed a Mood Swings T-shirt!!

It was a Superman kind of moment.

After that night’s shoot was done, I thought we were finished taping, but I was wrong. I’m telling you, when Texas Country Reporter does a story, they really go after it. Not only did they tape the rehearsal and the gig, they taped four more interviews with various Mood Swings at their places of work or home, AND came back to shoot even more footage at the Deep Ellum Arts Fest. Unbelieveable!

Ooh! Ooh! Remember the big fat hint I gave Bob Phillips at the rehearsal taping, about heyyy, wouldn’t it be great if the ‘Swings could play at the annual Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival in Waxahachie in October? Well guess who’s playing at the Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival in October! Shazam!! We’ll be there on Saturday, October 24!! Do you know they actually shut down downtown Waxahachie so that 50,000 people can converge for the Festival? It’s a full day of seeing everyone you’ve seen on the show that year, only in person and in festival style. I can’t wait!

Merry and the Mood Swings play on May 9 at a fundraiser for septecimia patient Delia King at Opening Bell Southside (see http://openingbellcoffee.com/calendar1 for details about the benefit or www.deliaking.org for more information about Delia King).

Then the ‘Swings open for Once in a Blue Moon at Poor David’s Pub on Saturday, May 30 – if you’ve been jonesing for a Hendrix/SR Vaughan-league guitar player (no joke), don’t miss Once in a Blue Moon – OMG. And bring your dancin’ shoes (and cellphones)!

www.merryandthemoodswings.com

Copyright 2009 Mary Guthrie

When the TV Crew Shows Up at Your Door

2009-07-15T18:43:00.001-05:00

Got a call the other day from Dan Stricklan of the Texas Country Reporter TV show (airs in Texas markets – GREAT show) and they want to do a segment about the Mood Swings. Hey! Cool! I LOVE Texas Country Reporter! I’ve always had a fondness for feature stories, and these guys are really, really good at it. So hey!

Here's a list about shooting at the house. Let’s dish!:

1. Home from work, they’ll be here at 7:

Put dog in back bedroom, close door
Clean toilet, they might want to use the restroom
Vacuum living room – does the rug still smell funny from when the dog upchucked?
Open windows
What if they wander down the hall & look in the kid’s bedrooms? Close doors.
Make black bean salad, set out on Texas-shaped cutting board
Go over set list at the kitchen table with the ‘Swings
The doorbell rings--act nonchalant
Nab escaped dog and haul back to bedroom while another ‘Swing opens the door

2. The shoot at house is really fun, but we’re nervous at first. They start out by standing in the shrubs in the front yard and shooting in through the windows. I feel the neighbor-vibes creeping across the lawns: “What now?”

3. When they come inside the house, we’re running through “Busy Body.” Talk about a close-up: Dan’s camera lens is two inches from Mary H.’s face the whole time. If she turned her head she’d hit the lens with her nose. Mary’s good, though; she’s channeling her inner theater major.

4. Now Ryan (producer-camerman guy) is doing closeups of Lucy, our “shy” ‘Swing who usually pulls in like a turtle when TV is around. She seems to be weathering this pretty well though, and she looks rela---heyy there’s a smile! These guys are good. Yeah, Lucy jus’ hangin’ out….

5. Martha is smooth on the drums during her closeups, keeps her sticks cool; Diane absolutely smokes on the sax & flute. Atta girls. When the camera turns to me I bang my teeth into the microphone and hope for merciful editing.

6. Time for the interview. They have Mary H. sit on the ottoman, the rest of us on the edge of the couch, scrunched closer than we would ever sit in real life – ewww we’re TOUCHing…camera’s rolling, act like this is the way we sit together all the time.

7. Host Bob Phillips is a pro*, he warms us up with “where are you from” throwaway lines, and then we’re off and gabbing. I wonder what parts they’ll use? When asked what our original songs were about, we should have had sparkling answers ready instead of everyone just kinda sitting there for a few….long…seconds… trying to explain, um, what, in fact, we sing about.

8. All the cool answers come to me later, about ten o’clock, long after they’re gone.

9. Bob & crew tape “Sarah,” “Busy Body,” and “Instructional World.” Do they really like our music, or were they just being polite? What is this going to look like when it’s all cut together? I know we’re in excellent hands – ALL their work is absolutely top-notch. But what will it turn out to be for the ‘Swings??

10. I drop big, clattering hints for an invitation to play at the next Texas Country Reporter Festival in Waxahachie in October – MEGA gig, they shut down downtown Waxahachie for 50,000 people, LOADS of fun – I hope we get invited. How cool would that be?!

11. Pack up, do gear count, big “faux” gig tomorrow night at Opening Bell Southside where they’ll record while we perform in front of an audience. We’ve invited some friends & family to be the audience – and we are going to PARRRR-TAY! Well, as much as one can par-tay between 7-8 p.m. on a Wednesday night – we’ve all got to get up & go to work the next day.

12. Let dog out of bedroom, set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. Tomorrow’s gonna be a big day.

* I want his job. He has the PERFECT job: Figure out what interests you, then go do a story about it, and get paid for it. Years ago I did magazine-style stories for radio and absolutely loved it and have always daydreamed about returning to those roots somehow, someday. Maybe after I win the Lotto.

Next: Previously, On Mood Swings

www.merryandthemoodswings.com

Copyright 2009 Mary Guthrie

Rock n' Roll Retreat

2009-07-15T18:38:00.000-05:00

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

What to Wear, What to Wear...

2009-07-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

After I wore a black and white jacket to my first gig a co-worker fussed at me for wearing the same thing to the office earlier that day.

It was true: I had no “rock” wardrobe. I’m not rich enough to buy new duds. I am no longer svelte, I can’t wear low-cut pants (“muffin tops”), my feet hurt in stilettos and jewelry just gets in the way.

And the look that guys use is out, too. I just don’t look fetching in grungy T-shirts and Keds. And skulls and crossbones are the stuff of angry young men, or at least young men who want to appear dangerously cool while they’re playing guitar. Guys even wear their guitars differently -- low-slung crotch covers designed to look like what they’re really playing is something they’re not supposed to play with in public. For me, I need my guitar up where I can reach it, with my hair out of my eyes and my glasses on my face.

And please, don’t ask me to do the emaciated heroin look -- the best I can do is a frappucino twitch.

So. Without a fat budget, and desperately needing to look like I didn’t just come from the office, my bandmates urged me to hit the local thrift stores. Lead singer Mary Hestand is especially good at finding the perfect stage clothes -- she knows every inch of the Salvation Army store over on Inwood Road. Mary Hestand, she of the plastic forks and spoons in her hair -- I bow to the master.

Today I’m the proud owner of a tacky maroon velvet shirt, a pair of bubblegum pink shoes, a Sgt.-Pepper-inspired black three-quarters’ length jacket with gold brocade, and a bitchin’ pair of blue suede spike-heel boots that I wear only when I can sit down. My stage wardrobe teeters between “clown” and “classic,” but mostly I have a collection of stage clothes that are comfortable -- and not to be worn at the office.

NEXT GIG: Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Tipperary Inn, with our friends Heimlich & the Maneuvers. Great food, drink, and fabulously dressed-out music.

www.merryandthemoodswings.com
Copyright 2008 Mary Guthrie

Now We’re Cookin’

2009-07-15T18:28:00.000-05:00

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

Walls Come Tumblin’ Down

2009-07-15T18:16:00.000-05:00

Part Four:
Walls Come Tumblin’ Down

The airport security guard eyed my guitar case. “You with the Temptations?” he said. “They’re on this flight, you know.” Wink-wink. Yeah, right, buddy. How can you jerk my chain so early in the day? It's only 6 a.m.

I had raced from the remote parking at DFW Airport to catch my 6:30 a.m. flight to Indianapolis. I was on my first music pilgrimage, a trip to see my brother Jack, who would take me to the next level in my quest to learn how to write a song. Just as I raced up to the attendant at the American Eagle ticket counter, she walked away and said, “You’re too late. You’ll have to take the next flight.”

“What?" I protested, "the plane is still here!” She informed me my wait would be five hours. “But the plane is still here!” I insisted. No matter. I was to wait in the frickin’ terminal for the entire morning.

I headed to the gate, shielding my eyes from the glare of the sun exploding off the silver metal of the jet, which had yet to pull away. Twenty minutes later the same attendant walked by with an 8 x 10 glossy photo in her hand of the Temptations, all of whom had given her their autographs -- all of who had just boarded the very plane that she had denied me, and which was just now pulling away from the terminal.

What kismet got knocked off-kilter by missing that flight with the Temptations?!!? What if I had had a chance to sit next to one of them -- what better way could there have been to start my music pilgrimage? I was robbed. I settled into my dismal fortune and pulled out my guitar. Soon a lovely chord progression came to me, and for the next four hours I teased out a new song. I had the chords and the melody...but the elusive words, as usual, did not surface.

Once at Jack’s, the pilgrimage continued to limp along. He had been placed on call with his job as an IT specialist with the Veterans Administration system, which meant that he spent nearly the entire weekend fielding calls from dudes and damsels in techno-distress from VA hospitals all over the country. His music instruction was fleeting, but he did give me a “Songwriting for Dummies” book which I practically inhaled.

That Saturday I woke up with a brand-new tune in my head and the words “biddy barlor” running through my mind. Biddy barlor? What the heck is that? It made no sense, but the words and rhythm and melody wouldn’t let go. I ran the syllables over and over in my mouth like tasting peas and carrots in a soup. Soon more syllables came, and before I knew it, I was running my fingers across the fretboard to a new, bluesy-funky melody. “Biddy barlor” soon morphed in to “Busy body,” and in short order the words emerged: “I’ll be your busybody, won’t you come and dance with me? No need to talk about it, get up baby dance with me...”

I’d done it! I’d finally written words to a song! I raced downstairs to tell my brother the good news. He took me down to his basement home studio, where he recorded the results of the weekend-- the slow, sweeping Song-Without-Words that came to me while I waited at the airport, and an barely-baked version of “Busy Body.” I couldn’t wait to get back to Dallas and share these new fruits with the other members of the band.

Next: Now We’re Cookin’
www.merryandthemoodswings.com
Copyright 2008 Mary Guthrie

Building the Band

2009-07-15T18:11:00.000-05:00

Part Three:
Building the Band

“It’ll take you three years,” said Melody Palmer, the pretty blonde vocalist from the local band Heimlich and the Maneuvers. We were standing in guitar player Kevin Moran’s backyard, where the Maneuvers were playing his birthday party. The Maneuvers had been together for ten years, and she was offering sage advice. “Three years until you start to gel -- then you’ll take off.”

I wandered away with my margarita, thinking three years was too long to gel. I wanted gel now. The Mood Swings had returned from New York’s Mamapalooza ready to work hard and start lining up gigs. But how to break into the Dallas gig scene?

I turned to veteran club owner David Card, owner of Poor David’s Pub, for help. Over lunch I plied him with tacos and questions about the nature of playing clubs. Although he offered plenty of advice, and a chance to play at Poor David’s on a future weeknight, the best bit of advice he gave was this: Do it for fun. When it isn’t fun anymore, it’s time to quit.

We started putting feelers out for any venue or event who would have us. We played a running marathon at Bachman Lake -- great exposure, except they had us play at the start of the race -- once the starter gun went off, the crowd ran away.

Then we landed a Mother’s Day gig at Biker Hall (not it’s real name), which is located in a part of town known for dicey people, druggies and new urban pioneers. Biker Hall is a small joint with a torn felt pool table in the front room and a dimly lit, sweaty-walled back room. A handful of people showed up to hear us play (some friends are angels); one customer with recent beer experience sized us up and gurgled, “Wow! Ten breasts and a guitar!”

We had brought along some of our family members for support, which may not have been the best idea -- my ten-year-old daughter burst out in tears because that large man at the bar looked at her (“Which one, honey? The one with the skulls tattooed all down his neck and the spike through his nose?”).

In the meanwhile our big weeknight gig at Poor David’s had arrived. It happened to coincide with a milestone birthday of mine, so family members from Illinois and Arizona flew in for the big occasion. My brother, who had taught me how to play guitar when I was 12, came up on stage and sang “Janie B. Goode.” It was a send-up he wrote for my 80-year-old mom, Jane Goode, who had flown in from Tucson. It was a fabulous night! The band was coming together, songs were starting to sound tighter, family and friends encouraged us, and we were on our way: We started lining up regular gigs at clubs, festivals and private parties.

And yet...I had an itch I needed to scratch. I had always, always wanted to write a song but could never pull it off. Chords and melodies came easily enough, but the words seemed stuck, locked away. If ever there was reason to write a song, it was now while I was living out my dream of playing and singing in a rock band.

It was time to make a music pilgrimage to my hometown, to my brother’s house in Danville, Illinois. Jack would show me the way.

Next: Walls Come Tumblin’ Down
www.merryandthemoodswings.com
Copyright 2008 Mary Guthrie

First the Granada, then New York City

2009-07-15T18:07:00.000-05:00

Part Two:
The Mood Swings Hit the Stage:
First the Granada, then New York City

“Soak it in, gals, it’ll never be this good again.” Diane, the veteran performer in our new band of five women rock n’ roll musicians, spoke from experience. “They have a stage, they have lights, they have pro sound guys -- we probably won’t see this great a setup again, so enjoy!”

It was easy for her to say. I was jittery. I had changed my clothes five times before leaving the house -- what, in my closetful of office clothes and sweats, did I have to wear that even approached a rock n’ roll look? I settled on a black, white and red jacket I had picked up at a thrift shop the previous week. Hey, guy bands wear grungy T-shirts and Keds, how bad could a thrift store jacket be?

Arriving at the Granada Theater for our first gig, a birthday bash for local entertainer Jerry Haynes (host of the long-running “Peppermint Place” TV show) did nothing to calm my nerves. This was going to be a full house. We had to play for 30 minutes, and one of the songs, a special arrangement we made up to the “Mr. Peppermint” theme song, was barely out of the oven before we had to serve it up on stage. Musicians -- established musicians, namely the Grammy-winning Brave Combo, would be waiting in the wings. Not only that, the drum kit the event coordinator set up for our band had only one tom, and our never-performed-before fledgling drummer Martha was used to two toms. I had a sense of dread -- just how awful would we be?

I barely remember the comedian who was on before us. All I knew is that we were on, and we started playing, kicking off with a version of “Peter Gunn” threaded with 1960s TV show themes (“Twilight Zone,” “Beverly Hillbillies,” and a crystalline-voiced version of the “Star Trek” aria). I was flooded with relief -- people clapped for us! I began to relax and look around. Hey, there are some friends from the office! By the time it was my turn to sing “Stormy Monday,” all nervousness was gone and I sang to the crowd. There near the front row I spotted a woman with her eyes closed, singing along, gently swaying to the beat. I’d never seen anything so wonderful in my life.

Other than losing sound on my amplifier during our cover of Everclear’s “Local God,” our set went smoothly. I was ecstatic for Martha, who played on her shortchanged drum kit like a champ. I could barely contain myself after the show. In a singsong voice I hadn’t used since I was 15, I waggled up to my husband and gushed, “THAT was FUNNNN!” I couldn’t wait for the next gig.

Which was rapidly approaching. The band was due to play in New York City for the annual Mamapalooza, a month-long fest showcasing performers who also happened to be mothers. Four out of five Mood Swings are veteran moms, so, we headed to the Big Apple to The Cutting Room, a venue in the Chelsea district featuring entertainers such as Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow and Joan Rivers.

New York was fantastic, a real bonding experience for our new band. Mamapalooza was an education. During an ASCAP seminar, a mousey-looking woman with big glasses and sloped shoulders leaned over and meekly offered how she was looking forward to hearing our band later that night. I nodded, said something nice to her just to be polite, and made a mental note to be sure and clap for this poor gal and her band when they got on stage -- surely they were going to need a lot of encouragement.

Later that night, her band not only hit the stage, they throttled it. Mousey-girl was front and center ripping it up with her guitar, with a voice that rocked like Gibraltar.

Clearly I had a lot to learn.

Next: Building the Band
www.merryandthemoodswings.com
Copyright 2008 Mary Guthrie

Cue Moods: Being in an All-Women Rock Band

2009-07-15T17:59:00.000-05:00

Part One: Stumbling into Bliss

Never underestimate the power of an invitation.

This is one of the main messages of this blog: offer invitations to people, and accept invitations when offered. These simple transactions can lead to some pretty powerful stuff.

If you’d like to see what this looks like when a fully-grown woman is invited to be in a rock band, read on.

Our story begins:

What started as a neighborly dinner at Diane Harris’ house ended up with an invitation that changed my life.

We were in her kitchen waiting for pasta to boil. Our kids played in the rec room; hubbies hovered over the grill outside. A small acoustic guitar in the corner caught my eye, so I began strumming and singing while the pasta burbled in the pot. Diane’s eyebrows shot up.

“Wait --you play?” she said. “I didn’t know you played!” Diane and I had recently performed as a trio with our friend Doug Potts at the Highlands Café in Dallas; they played flute and keyboard and I crooned to oldies like “My Funny Valentine.” I never thought to mention to them that I also played guitar.

She inched closer. “So, what do you know?”

“This and that,” I said, and showed her a few chords from a handful of old songs from the 1970s.

She inched even closer. “You have got to come and try out for our band,” she said. “We just lost our rhythm guitar player.”

It was a frozen-to-the-spot moment. Diane was inviting me to play with the rock band she was in! This wasn’t a Funny Valentine trio kind of band, no, we’re talking rock, punk, all original stuff, all…. Play with her band? Are you kidding? That’s like asking me if I’d like to have a million dollars. “I’d love to!” I said, “but...I don’t have an electric guitar…”

“No problem. We’ll fix you up with a loaner from my friend Sandra. Practice is next Saturday, just come on and play and you’ll fit right in. It’ll be fun!”

Just. Like. That.

I floated through dinner that night. A shot to play with an actual rock band! It’s only the one secret wish I’d had for, oh, 30 years. All my playing and singing to date had been church-related or confined to the bathroom. (Bathroom acoustics, by the way, are fantastic. The tiles make the sound ring out, and it keeps the kids happy while they’re in the tub.) But playing in a band is a far cry from playing in the john. Over the next few days I tried to not get my hopes up -- after all, they were probably going to try out dozens of people.

Diane showed me the chords to a couple of the band’s songs and I practiced like a maniac. Then tryout day finally came. It was time to relax and let the music flow. Playing those couple of songs with the band was sheer bliss -- drums pumping up the beat, bass filling the room, Diane’s sax wailing away, the lead singer attacking the notes like a pro skier on moguls -- and I was part of it! This was heavenly, and I didn’t want it to end. How can something this good be offered, and then be taken away? It was like I’d been inside one store at the mall all my life and had suddenly stepped out into the hallway: Shazam! There’s so much more…

Diane was pumped, the other band members seemed happy enough; but the bandleader was...reserved. She suggested I might be a good stand-in (a stand-in...?), but let’s schedule lunch and talk things over.

The lunch never came -- that band imploded a week later, buckling under the pressure of too many control issues. Diane immediately called and said that she and I should start our own band. A second incredible invitation!

We began practicing, noodling around on classics such as the Eagles’ “Best of My Love.” For the next few weeks we’d get together and play music and sing in our living rooms. Then, she got a call from Mary Hestand, the lead singer from the imploded band, who, along with bass player Lucy Galey, wanted to join forces. That next Saturday we set up shop in my living room and things started to click. All we needed was a drummer, and we’d be on our way. The only problem was we wanted a woman, and female drummers are as common as feathered cats.

We lucked out. A local drum teacher happened to have one student who fit the bill: Martha Germann, who only started taking lessons two months earlier. We pounced on her, and the band was complete: Merry and the Mood Swings was born.

We worked up mostly original songs (songs we make up on our own) and a smattering of covers (songs by other bands that people are familiar with). The only hiccup was that Mary Hestand landed us a gig before we were ready to perform. A big gig. Local entertainer Jerry Haynes (known as TV's "Mr. Peppermint," also the dad of one of the Butthole Surfers) was having a big birthday bash at the Granada Theater in two months, and we were to open for the Grammy award-winning Brave Combo.

Our fledgling band with its beginner drummer and green rhythm guitarist had a lot of work to do.

Next: The Mood Swings Hit the Stage:
First the Granada, then New York City

www.merryandthemoodswings.com

Copyright 2008 Mary Guthrie

2009-07-15T17:31:00.000-05:00