Less Than Art revamped!

Exciting news: Ookla The Mok's Less Than Art album has been re-released as a 10 year anniversary edition, fully remastered and with newly recorded bonus tracks.

My music group Urban Tapestry is on one of the tracks on this album (Still Can't Buy Me Love: Allison and Jodi do backing vocals, and you can hear my flute in a couple of places) :-) Check out their Less Than Art page on CDBaby for sample tracks and to buy the CD. Looking forward to getting my copy!

The album also has a special place in my heart because it was recorded a couple years after Urban Tapestry and Ookla The Mok met; Rand and I have remained good friends since.

Above: Adam English and Rand Bellavia, in 1994 when Urban Tapestry met Ookla The Mok.




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Dust Poets fangirl

It's hard to describe the music of the Dust Poets, and that's one of the things I liked most about this Canadian band; they don't try to sound like anyone else or fit into a particular genre. One minute they're playing bluegrass, the next a heartrending ballad, then sultry blues, foot-stomping folk-rock, then ragtime. Their harmonies are incredible tight, arrangements and instrumentals impressive.

A quote from the press:

"The Dust Poets continue a recent tradition of hip, intelligent and humorous Canadian bands, along with fellow countrymen Barenaked Ladies and the sadly defunct Moxy Fruvous." - Frederick News-Post

You can see the cover of the most recent Dust Poets CD, Lovesick Town, below:



You can hear the entire album (!) on their site. Dave Clement gave this CD to me last week (thanks, Dave!) and I also bought their Four Legs Good CD.



Dave Clement, Sean McManus and me.

The members of the band are:

Murray Evans (guitar, harmonica): Front man Murray has been active in the Manitoba folk scene for many years and has toured much of Canada and the US as a solo artist. I love the slight Prairie twang in his voice. Ok, I just love his VOICE. :-)

Corey Ticknor (mandolin, trumpet and trombone): I was surprised to find out that Corey has a music degree as a trombonist; his mandolin playing in the concert was so amazing. Wonderful stage energy! Corey and Karla both performed on Sam Baardman's CDs.

Sean McManus (drums, clarinet, sax): Another Dust Poet with impressive music credentials, Sean has a masters degree in Ethnomusicology at York University. Man, can this guy play clarinet! He admits he plays it like a sax, which is another of his instruments. I loved his drum set-up, which was a small suitcase on a drum stand with a cymbal thingy (what's the proper drum term for that?) and the top of Sam Baardman's double boiler pan. :-D

Karla Ferguson (accordion, piano): A classically trained mezzo soprano and pianist, Karla grew up on a ranch in Saskatchewan. She has served as the executive director of the national Canadian Chamber Choir, and performed with the renowned Elmer Iseler Singers. Lovely voice (I -love- "Lonesome") and gorgeous harmonies.

Gord Mowat (upright bass): Gord was in the Jazz Studies program at Humber College, and has performed and recorded with the likes of Steve Bell, Howard Levy, Swing Soniq, Kiva, and The Love Orchestra. He's the only member of the group to be currently living in Toronto. Watching him on fretless bass was amazing - he plays like he's part of the instrument.



I attended the Dust Poets concert in Orangeville with my friends Sue, Dave and Tom. Dave and Tom are Dandelion Wine, by the way, scheduled to perform in Germany at Filkcontinental this autumn. And I recently discovered that Heather Dale is the Special Guest at the convention! As you may recall, I Blathered about Heather Dale's concert in Toronto recently. I SO wish I had the money to go to Germany this fall.

Dave and Tom are friends with the Dust Poets and decided to surprise them by showing up at their concert. The concert was hosted by a B&B called The Stream, which is a 40-minute drive out of Toronto and (I discovered) a 2-minute drive away from where Jeff and I used to live (!). The B&B even had some Al Pace pottery for sale; Al is a friend of ours; he and his wife Lynn were some of the guides on our Nahanni River canoe trip.



If you ever have a chance to hear the Dust Poets perform, I urge you not to pass up the chance! You can find their performance schedule online. They're going to be performing at Summerfolk in Owen Sound on the weekend of Aug 17-19th, for instance.

Thanks to Dave, Tom and Sue for inviting me to the concert! I'm definitely a Dust Poets fan now. :-)

For more info about the Dust Poets, go their Web site and be sure to listen to their music.







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Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam (and Worms)

I've uploaded the sound files AND lyrics to "Hey, J.K.", "Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam", and "Walter" to the FilkArchive. The FilkArchive is a collection of filk recordings, generously maintained by Martin Gordon-Kerr. You need to register to download songs, but it's free! Anyway, here are direct song links, if you're interested:

Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam (and Worms): children's song, by me (I wrote it in the shower -- songwriter's cliché, I know, but true). We debuted this at a children's concert at FilKONtario earlier this year. To those with kids or who perform kids' concerts: The main melody is short and easy, and the arrangement highly adaptable to different numbers of vocalists and types of sandwiches. Anyway, this recording was done VERY informally, basically with a microphone stuck in front of us in my living room, and in one take -- we only had a few minutes left in the practice, and we wanted to get at least a scratch version for our own archives. It sort of degenerated into a gigglefit in the middle but since this is fairly typical of an Urban Tapestry practice, this is the version I'm going to keep. :-) We'll probably record another version for our children's CD, though.

Walter: By me, inspired by Urban Tapestry's friend, Walter Korynkiewicz. It was also a revenge song, a payback for certain practical jokes that Walter masterminded in Atlanta earlier this year. Again, the recording was done informally, with one microphone between the three of us since we just wanted to get a version recorded for our own archives. We debuted this at a children's concert at FilKONtario earlier this year.

Hey, J.K.!: Lyrics by Urban Tapestry, music by me. Our musical plea to J.K. Rowling about the last book in the Harry Potter series, resulting from an argument we had at one of our practices. No spoilers, just lots of rampant speculation. I'm mailing a copy of this to J.K. Rowling today. :-) We debuted this in our concert at GAfilk in Atlanta earlier this year; it will probably be the ONLY time we perform "Hey J.K.!" in concert since the song has a limited shelf life.






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Hey, J.K.!

Allison and Jodi came over yesterday afternoon, and we recorded Hey J.K.!

Each time we do some recording, I learn more about my home recording equipment. This time, I learned that I really need some soundproof headphones. And I still need to get at least one more microphone! We did the recording in Garageband; I'm still learning how to use Logic Express.

Anyway, I'll be uploading Hey J.K.!, Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam (my new song for kids), and Walter to the FilkArchive once I get upload privileges from the site owner. Meanwhile, you can hear Hey J.K.! at the:

Urban Tapestry MySpace page

and the

Urban Tapestry iLike page

Please feel free to download and send this song to anyone you think might be interested, or send them to our MySpace page.

Since this song obviously has a limited shelf life (until the next Harry Potter comes out in a couple of months), I'd also appreciate suggestions about any venues you think would be willing to play the song. I've revised the lyrics from the version we performed at GAfilk to take out a spoiler for those who haven't yet read the books.

Here are the lyrics, which are basically exchanges between Allison, Jodi, and me, speculating about the next book....

Hey J.K.!

Lyrics by Urban Tapestry

Music by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Dec/2006

CHORUS:
Gm      F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb
Who ya gonna kill
F
Who ya gonna kill, who ya gonna
Gm      F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb            F
Won't you let us have a look
Gm      F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb
Who ya gonna kill
F
Who ya gonna kill, who ya gonna
Gm      F
Hey, J.K.!
Bb                 F            Gm
Who ya gonna kill in your next book?

Gm       F
J: I think Snape's a goner
Eb             F
Always with a scowl and a frown
Gm        F
I think Snape's a goner
Eb                F             G
with nowhere for him to go but down
Gm        F
A: No, no, Snape can't die
Eb
J&D: He's a bad apple
D
A: That's NOT a fact!
Gm         F
No, no, Snape won't die
Eb                 D
J&D: Allison, he wears only black! 

CHORUS

Gm       F         Eb
J: Ok, it has to be a Weasley
Gm
A: No, you're wrong
F            Eb
J: There are so many of them, one of them has to go
Gm                  Eb
A: Ok, it has to be a Weasley
Gm
J&D: Then it's Ron!
Gm           F
A: No, no, Ron can't die
Eb
J&D: But he's a sidekick
D
A: That can't be his end
Gm       F
No, no, Ron won't die
Eb                    D
J&D: Allison, but he's Harry's friend!  

CHORUS

Gm       F
J: I think Hagrid's a goner
Eb            F
Always into trouble, breaking rules
Gm       F
I think Hagrid's a goner
Bb                 F                  (G)
He'll be dead or maybe kicked out of school
Gm           F
A: No, no, Hagrid can't die
Eb
J&D: He'll die for Harry
D
A: He'll never fall
Gm         F
No, no, Hagrid won't die
Eb                  D
J&D: Allison, he's just way too tall!  

BRIDGE:

Gm        F                 Eb
J: Oh, J.K. Rowling, are the rumors true
Dm
Who will we have to bury
Eb                                F
Weasley, Hagrid, Snape, or Peter Pettigrew?
Gm       F
Oh J.K. Rowling, please just
Eb          F
J&D&A: DON'T KILL HARRY
G                 F        Eb              F
We promise not to come unglued. (Yet...)

CHORUS




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Heather Dale book launch at the Renaissance Cafe, Toronto

Heather Dale is one of those performers who pours her soul into her live performances. You can see the joy in every movement, every note. Last night she gave a mesmerizing performance at the Renaissance Cafe.




As you can see from the above photo, I was the first to arrive! I sat at a table with Allison and Walter, and we were soon joined in that corner by Phil, Jane, Marsha, and Marsha's son. You can see Allison's report and some pictures here, including a photo of me and Walter. In the picture, I'm holding up my autographed copy of The Legends Of Arthur. By the time Heather took the stage, the place was packed to overflowing.

The Renaissance Cafe is a small coffee shop out on the Danforth (1938 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON M4C 1J4 416-422-1441) that offers a lunch menu as well as a selection of beer and coffee. It's not air-conditioned, but who cares about the heat when you're listening to Heather Dale? :-)



The concert was part of a book launch for Heather Dale's The Legends of Arthur, the culmination of ten years of Heather's creative work with the King Arthur legends. It contains sheet music for twenty original songs (basic and advanced arrangements), along with twenty-eight engaging short stories, written in the style of a traditional storyteller. The Celtic designs in the book and original cover art are by Canadian illustrator Martin Springett.



Martin Springett opened for Heather. I had heard Martin speak at a recent CANSCAIP meeting, and had also attended one of his concerts years ago. At this event, Martin played mainly original instrumental compositions inspired by literary works like Lord of the Rings; I was impressed by his guitar skills! I wish he had sung more.

The cover charge was only $5, which surprised me. I'd have paid considerably more to hear Heather perform. Anyway, here's what she played:

1. Kingsword

2. Lady of the Lake



3. As I am

4. Mordred's Lullaby

5. May Queen

6. Holly, Ivy and Yew

7. Lily Maid

8. Exile

9. Hawthorn Tree

10. Crashing Down

11. War Between Brothers

12. Miles To Go

13. Tarnished Silver

14. Three Queens

Heather and Ben were called back for an encore, of course. :-)



Heather was accompanied by Ben Deschamps, who also co-edited her book. Both played a wide range of instruments, including keyboard, guitar, electric fiddle (I don't know the proper name for this, sorry), mountain dulcimer, regular and low whistles, the electric bass you see in the photo above, and a cool percussion thingy that Ben tied around his leg.

I've also seen Heather perform at several filk venues. She's one of those performers who is as nice in person as she seems on stage: friendly, easygoing, approachable. In filk circles, she'll often do more listening than playing, and has always been supportive of new performers.


Publicity photo from Heather's site.

Anyway, Heather will be performing again next Friday (June 1st); she'll be the featured entertainment at Mitzi's Sister (1554 Queen St W, Toronto ON 416 532 2570 from 7 pm to 1 a.m.). Tickets are FREE(!).



She'll also be performing in Hamilton at an outdoor craft fair on Saturday, June 2nd at the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre from noon to 5 pm. Cost $2 for the afternoon.

You can hear samples of Heather's music here.
Her Web site: http://www.heatherdale.com/.

You can find out about upcoming events at the Renaissance Cafe here.




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