fannishliss

hi from a rainy day here in the midatlantic

an awesome video by one of my top favorites.

Every so often I just get overwhelmed by Fiona Apple being the half-sister of Blair Sandburg. Ahem.

Also, Maude Maggart appears in this video on the left side of the screen. Maude has a higher voice just as beautiful and completely unique from Fiona's. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG1VVFfOnYQ

you all must know his performance of O Death, which the Coens put into O Brother Where Art Thou?

Ralph Stanley was one of the greatest voices, if not The voice of Bluegrass. So many great songs for so many years.

So many of our great masters are passing, but at least with Ralph Stanley he made it a good long life. Thank you, sir, for being the height to which I aspire in traditional music. His voice is singing in the deepest soundtrack of my heart. Bless Ralph Stanley for making mountain music and getting it the respect it so richly deserves.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/ralph-stanley-his-10-greatest-performances-20160624

it's the middle of the day, but I think I need to spill a drop of whiskey howsomever.

Apparently I am all about the 1930s now. :P Anyway I found a website that listed the top popular songs of the 1930s. These are the songs Steve and Bucky would have known very well. I thought it would be fun to do it as a meme.

BOLD the ones you know right off the bat.
Add ASTERISKS if you LOVE the song (you may also MINUS if you dislike a song that much).
Put a QUESTION MARK if it rang a bell but you'd need to look it up to be sure, or you you feel like you should know it but don't quite. I am putting a Tilde on ones I know vaguely.
UNDERLINE if you have a recording of this song (or know it super well), and ITALICIZE if it is the same performer. :)( a list of great songs from the 30s under the cut! )

Bucky is in my icon saying "who the hell is Bing Crosby."
But later he is like "that song... I knew the bridge... "

Here is a draft of a song. Edited, now with bonus third verse.

Sometimes I write too many words for a song. This song is very pared down. Let me know what you think. Does it give you happy thoughts of fandom?

CELEBRATION SONG
( LYRICS UNDER CUT )

On Sunday night we went to hear Angelique Kidjo in concert. We usually go to one concert a year or less, so we try to make it a great one. This one was fantastic! see also http://www.kidjo.com/ ; :)

She went down into the crowd and invited people to dance on stage. I sent my son forward and she hugged him and I think he nearly fainted. It was incredible. We have been big fans for a long time and my son has been listening to her music his whole life. Now he has been hugged by a person who hugged Nelson Mandela. !!!

Two songs by Angelique you may have heard include her beautiful song Salala feat Peter Gabriel, and her song Adouma which was covered by Carlos Santana on his album Shaman.

Our favorite song which she performed at the concert was Batonga, which is also the name of her foundation for Girl's Education. :D
Here is a link from late 2011 of Angelique performing Batonga live. Just look at her go!! She is now 53!! So beautiful, and her voice is so incredible.

Here is my link to my post about Kidjo for last year's International Women's Day.

She performed with a bass player from Paris, a guitarist from New York, and drummers from Senegal, Peru and Brooklyn. :) It is always so inspiring to watch great performers do their thing!!! My songwriting goal for March, inspired by Kidjo, is to write a love song to the women of fandom. As she says, with our linkages of technology connecting us around the globe, there is nothing we can't do!

I just finished my Sherlock song. Does anyone have an idea of where I can store it for people to download? Where do people put song-sized files these days? Would anyone like to host it???

The song features my new Martin steelstring AND my hammered dulcimer, which is fun.
My family says it is "Very Liss" so if you like any of my other songs, you will not be disappointed.

IF YOU ARE AT ALL INTERESTED IN THIS SONG, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I will strive to get you a copy.

Here are the finished lyrics to tease you with.

( read the lyrics )

I've now laid down the initial tracks for my new song.

It is so weird going through garage band to find appropriate drum and bass loops. But I prevailed! I laid down my guitar track with my brand new Martin steel string acoustic. I am very pleased with it. Still getting used to the differences from my classicals around the neck, but it is so easy to play and sounds great. :)

I've pretty much worked the song around the way I want it. Now I'm considering how to go about getting the next set of tracks, which are instrumental. It may not really be feasible. I can't really go out and hire a cello for a song very few people will hear! I'm disappointed that there aren't more instruments in garage band to work with. The only string is a Southern Fiddle, which is not what I'm going for right now. :P

This time I think I'll put the song on bandcamp. Having done my ballads album there, I know that it is easy and you can still put the song up for free. Do any of you have any opinions about copyright? If I write a song that is wholly original and doesn't make any quotations, can I make money on it? It seems reasonable to assume that a musician could legitimately write a song inspired by another art form.

you’ve got a war in your head
all your needles in the red
dragging yourself back from the dead
— just like me
comrades bound by blood and fire
soldiers in the mire

you come alive when we run
aiming yourself a loaded gun
I’m the knife you dance with for fun
— can it be?
pas de deux of blood and fire
friendship and desire

I am addicted to the fight
taking a dive into the night
darkness makes everything so bright
—can't you see?
comrades bound by blood and fire
truths spoken by a liar

break through every deadlocked door
spinning on a palace floor
I want more more more
--give it to me
this grand adventure of desire
throw me in the fire

--------------
Did you know that "paranymph" is a term for Best Man? :D
Do you remember the song "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits? I adore that song, and wow is it dominating in my head right now. Mark Knopfler is songwriting wizard.
PS. This song is supposed to be from EITHER John or Sherlock's pov. How does that hit you?

yesterday's post was a success -- thanks for saying hi!

The CD release concert went well. I was incredibly nervous about my voice because my throat felt so raw. So one of my musician friends was like, take your guitar and sing some quiet songs at the beginning. So I did that, and I played four of my originals, which was fun and yet, as usual, weird. My originals come out very slowly, and, ahem, many of them are fannish, so that means I have a hard time putting an album together. I sang a vampire song and three old love songs. An album of my originals is my next goal! So I closed my guitar set with House of the Rising Sun, which is a big showy vocal performance for me, and it went very well and got my chi up, so then I sailed on for the rest of the evening and did two 45 minutes sets after the initial guitar set. thanks for all your well wishes! don't forget to PM me for the url if you'd like to hear the album!

To a classically trained singer, the ballad style might sound dangerous to the voice, being so loud and powerful. The ballad style is not bel canto, the classical voice technique that you learn in a music degree for quality tone, and also as a method to train and protect the voice. For me though, the ballad style is a "power" style that I access from a different place in the voice, but still with the posture, breath control and relaxation that I've internalized from my classical training, so it feels perfectly easy and not harsh in the throat. Witness to this fact is that I sang full out for two 45 minute sets while sick and with a sore throat, and felt perfectly fine today, whereas, with my normal busking gigs I do sometimes fatigue my throat by singing too "naturally" (that is, without taking care to set up the voice with proper technique).

also, I do in fact write songs to order. For example, I'm performing a song at church next week that was written to order, and I've written two specially commissioned wedding songs, and I'm pretty sure I could write a specially commissioned song that would go with a fandom theme. So don't be shy if you ever need a song!

In other news, I'm having trouble getting started with my Jo/Three fic, because, FOR SOME REASON, my mind keeps going straight to the ahem, good parts. So I guess I'll just have to write the PWP first and figure out any supporting plot later. :P

My flist haven't been super posty recently, but if you are reading this, I am saying HI TO YOU!!

Tonight is my CD Release Party. Of course I was in bed all day yesterday with a STUPID COLD and so I don't know if my voice will hold out for a two hour show tonight, but hey, I'll do my best! PM me if you'd like the url to my album, which is under my real name.

We finally watched Captain America: The First Avenger. It was pretty good! I still wonder what it would have been like with Jensen Ackles as Steve.

We went to see The World's End, the movie with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin BAFTA Freeman and several others. It was good. Simon Pegg did a great job with his character, and Martin really went for it! Plus Nick Frost was really great. There is a twist I totally didn't expect. It threw me a little, but my husband and friends were 100% positive. :)

I have a Three/Jo fic up my sleeve for September.

I found out that a couple of my fics on AO3 are in the top 100 for the pairing by Kudos. That is pretty exciting for me, really. I am spending most of my fannish energy over on AO3, mostly reading Sherlock stories. But I'd love to see a return to LJ. Say Hi if you read this!

I spent yesterday sick in bed reading an awesome Who story on AO3 called Closed by

who_in_whoville. It is long and satisfying. If you love Rose, read it! It is a crossover with Broadchurch, featuring Rose meeting up with DI Alec Hardy in Pete's World, and seems pretty spoilery for Broadchurch, if you are afraid of that sort of thing.

Also I really liked a story by an author new to me called RishiDiams. The Space Between, it is Ten/Rose (but in my head it was Nine/Rose) f*k or die, with brilliant aftermaths, and it is a really well done 25k story! The thing about it is how deeply the author gets inside the Doctor's head to understand his point of view, his various hangups, his powers as a Time Lord, and the depth of his feelings for Rose and everything he's willing to sacrifice for her. Such a good story. Because it's so perceptive as to who the Doctor IS, for me it reads as Nine, because Nine is My Doctor.

Okay I've got to go revise my set list for sore throatedness. Cross fingers for me!

I published my album on Bandcamp yesterday!! It is an album of 14 traditional unaccompanied ballads.

Squee!!!

It is published under my real name, so leave a comment if you would like the url and I will pm you.

I will also be having a real live CD Release party but you can celebrate with me virtually by going and having a listen.

The first track has guitar to ease you in. The rest are unaccompanied in the full-on traditional style. :)

PS. Thanks to

quickreaver who made some beautiful sketches for the cover. I finally succeeded in persuading my son to finish the cover -- his second professional commission. :D

hi all -- I am going on a three day trip, and wonder if anyone has any book recs for me to upload onto my Kindle? Especially Doctor Who or Sherlock related?   I realize I am shallow and fannish that way..... but also if any books have really rocked anyone, I'm open. :) Just saying, I do read at least one non-fiction book every month due to my book club. :D It could be a novel length fic as well...

Here's my rec in return: two excellent new (to me at least) songs by the Gregory Brothers.

1. O MY DAYUM
First, this awesome song about a really good cheeseburger. This guy was on NPR's Tell Me More and he is really psyched that the Gregory Bros. picked up his youtube. "Food critic and YouTube sensation Daymon 'Daym' Patterson travels the country to find the best takeout spots. He eats in the front seat of his car - when the food is hottest and freshest. Guest host Celeste Headlee talks with him about his new Travel channel show Best Daym Takeout."   I love this video and totally bought the song from iTunes. :D   The thing I love about the Gregory Brothers is how they focus on the oratory powers of their subjects and really bring it out by adapting the speech pattern into music. Awesome songs like "I love cats, I love every kind of cat", "Bed Intruder", Kristen Bell's song about the sloth, "double rainbow all the way across the sky" -- all those youtubes focus on powerful storytellers and then the Gregorys use their power as musicians to translate that into music -- so there is that amazing synergy between the original power of the story, with the added drama of the perfect rhythm, melody, and accompaniment, which is what the Gregory Brothers bring.

2. DJ PLAY MY SONG (NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!)
So now, we are only two degrees away from Psy!!! (My bro in law's BFF is a Gregory, so we rejoice in their successes. :D ) Here is a link to their amazing, funny, and awesome original song and video, DJ PLAY MY SONG (NO LEAVE ME ALONE). It is in the amazing genre of hiphop parody which we adore in the Lonely Planet or Flight of the Conchords. I am really amazed by Sarah's gorgeous performance!!   So if you ever wondered whether the Gregorys could write amazing songs under their own power, please enjoy this video. with special bonus PSY!!!

31 Day blog Challenge
27. Favorite Recipe -- I will post later

28. What I'm looking forward to: TRIP TO LA!! also, My album being finished and ready to publish on bandcamp. SO CLOSE.

29. Where Have I traveled.
In 1989, I spent a semester in England and took a field trip to Venice. I've been back to England only once, but am hoping to visit again next summer. I love England so much.
Living here on the East Coast, we've been to such cities as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Washington DC, and south to Fayetteville, Asheville, and Winston-Salem NC, where we have relatives. I've also been through Chicago and to Boulder CO.
In 1992, I spent the summer living in San Francisco. That was awesome. What a great city.
I went there by train and took a detour to Canada. I've been to Montreal twice. :)
In 1993, we toured the Southwest on our honeymoon, through New Orleans, Texas, New Mexico, Utah. Awesome!
In 1999 or so, we went to Washington state and camped around the Olympic peninsula, visited my uncle in Seattle, drove to Twin Peaks, and also to Vancouver, so I've been there as well. Washington was beautiful, we really loved it.
My BFF lives in Las Vegas so I've been there twice, and am now going to visit her in LA for three days. Woo hoo!
One bro in law studies History of Latin America, so we visited him in Recife, Brazil, in 2003.
Other bro in law went to El Salvador in the Peace Corps, so we visited him in 2008.
Last summer we visited our friend in Alaska.
This spring we visited friends in Puerto Rico.
We plan on going to England next summer. If you are English, and would like to show us the splendors of your town, please let me know!!

No, it isn't really Sherlock, but it's one of the pieces I very strongly associate with him.

I'm a busker, so let's just say: $32 over the course of two pieces is not bad at all for less than an hour's work. Still he could have tripled his take by choosing a better piece. He's playing Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004: Chaconne, one of my absolute favorites, but it's slow, dissonant and sad, a terrible choice for busking. He should have done Flight of the Bumblebee, and then you would see the money flying into his case!! Or a really good choice would be Suite No. 1 in G Major for Solo Cello, BWV 1007: I. Prelude -- do violinists ever do that one? Whatever is fast earns the most money -- one of my good friends busked her way around Europe on fast tunes.

Also, Washington DC is very cold to buskers, which is strange considering how it's loaded with tourists. I think, for example, that busking is forbidden on the National Mall where all the museums are, because it's federal property -- as is much of the City. So I'm not surprised he didn't make a lot. I busk at a Farmer's Market, and I live in the suburbs, so that's how I do it.

Not all of y'all might know that I am a musician and that music is a huge part of my life.... I love hard rock and women's rock and all kinds of music, and last night my husband and son and I went to the Fillmore, Silver Spring MD, to see amazing amazing Shirley Manson and Garbage.

Thanks so much to

ciann -- we did not manage to connect, because I am super disorganized, but it was thanks to her post that I found out about the show in time to get tickets.

It was AWESOME!!!
( More about the Awesome )

This is a very famous ballad from the nineteenth century, made famous by Joan Baez's performance.

" As I roved out one evening some pleasure for to find,
I saw a girl from Winchester most pleasing to my mind;
Her coal-black eyes, her cherry cheeks, like daggers pierced my breast,
They call her handsome Mary, the lily of the west. "

The link leads to a set of lyrics that seem to have been collected in Newfoundland in 1958. Azazel makes an appearance: "down by a shady grove, I saw a lord of high renown conversing with my love" !!!!

Anyone care to fic on this???? That's a Supernatural fairy tale for sure!!

Today is a genuine Day Off. My son went away on Spring Break and I am taking the day off. The sun is up and the birds are singing. Yesterday my husband and I took a very nice stroll around a nearby lake and I almost stepped on a muskrat. Someday soon I hope to start a photobucket so I can share some of the lovely pictures I've taken this spring, including several muskrats!

Today will be a big day of straightening the house, planting some seeds, taking a nice walk somewhere, and enjoying myself, hopefully work a little on my new songs. I have a very hard piece by Purcell that I need to perfect by Easter, when I will also be playing guitar in a sunrise service outside at 6:15! Actually, greeting the sun outside on Easter morning is one of my very favorite ways to celebrate the day.

Apparently the Daleks are ready to help me relax! This youtube made me shriek with laughter. Dalek Relaxation Tape :D

A lot of media was watched by me in March!!! However, I also walked 45 miles in March, bringing my total up to 58 miles so far. It still seems kind of wrong that I've watched more eps than I have walked miles! Still, I've completed two new songs, and have two more that I hope to record this week!

It is now 8:10 am, I finally finished this entry, and now time to get out of bed and start the day! :D Wishing everyone out there a lovely April morning!

( media log under cut )

Y'all, I have two more songs in development. !!!

One of my flist recommended bandcamp which is for indie artists who sell their songs. Apparently you do get a certain number of free downloads. I shy away from anything that suggests a profit as long as I'm promoting the songs through my identity here on LJ, in association with fandom and fanfic and such. What do you think?

Again, any ideas for the best place to upload these songs so that people can actually get to them would be very much appreciated!!

hot off the presses, another new who song, from Nine's pov, to Rose. An upbeat pop/rock song.

NOW! DOWNLOAD HERE FROM BOX.NET

Please let me know if you prefer a different download service, and I'll do my best to accommodate you.

( lyrics under cut )

Here is my new original song, "The Universe Keeps Turning," that is sung to Nine from Rose's point of view. It is a slow acoustic ballad. Lyrics are below under the cut. This song is dedicated to the awesome folks at BWR on the occasion of their first anniversary. ROCK ON! :D

Download for free from 4 shared

ETA: Or from Box.net

ETA: also from mediafire

Please let me know if you download it, and what you think!

( ... )

Does anyone have an intuition or advice about where best to upload my new song? Somewhere free or cheap, but also fast and where the link won't expire very soon?

Thanks for any advice or recommendations of places you like best.

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Entries tagged with musician liss

hot knife

the passing of Dr. Ralph Stanley

Songs Bucky Knew. :P

Celebration Song -- for fandom

Angelique Kidjo

Sherlock song exists!!

my new song

sherlock song -- PLEASE concrit

hi again

hi to all

CD RELEASE PARTY!!!!

book recs? and blog meme

Is that Sherlock busking? :)

Garbage! Fantastic rock show at the Fillmore

Mary Winchester = Lily of the West !!!

Media Log, 500 Miles progress, and day off!

two more songs in development

another new song: Run With Me (Nine/Rose)

who song: "The Universe Keeps Turning" by fannishliss

where best to upload my song?