Basking in some local music...

TA-DAAAAAAAA~!

Camps are over. I prayed hard and I worked hard and it turned out beautifully. We had a pizza party on Friday, and there's a few of us who'll go in and deep-clean this week... but it's pretty much... done.

The monsoon cancelled our weekend programs, so I just got to sit around the house. It was a good thing... I was in a little physical pain and a little spiritual pain, neither of which I'd like to go into detail about on this here blog. Most of my weekend, therefore, was NOT dedicated to cleaning (so the house still looks like it's the last week of camp), but rather to sitting in my favorite recliner and busting out some Final Fantasy III.

Anyway, it was a good weekend, full of music and people. I had the chance to see a couple different shows... Bullbuckers played at Home Grown in Newark on Saturday night. Facebook informed me of it about 8 hours prior. I have my ups and my downs with social media, but that was a definite UP!

Bullbuckers is a local ska band - I saw them open for the Toasters here in Delaware a month or two ago. (Another one Facebook told me about.) I lost my favored FAWM hoodie there, but the bands did such a good job keepin' everyone skankin' all night that frankly, I just didn't care. Bullbuckers are a seven- or eight-piece band, and they rocked at Mojo 13 that night. I couldn't believe they were a local band - with a sound that polished, they had to be touring from somewhere. Anyway, I'm glad I had the chance to see them at a bonafide ska show surrounded by that ska energy... they did a great job at Home Grown, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't a ska show. ^^

I go out by myself with moderate frequency. This was the case all this weekend. It's not like I have no one to ask, but I just like adventures sometimes. Going out with people is a very safe thing. Safety is the hazard.

But the cool bit was running into some old friends from high school who are also ska aficionados. Sitting at the bar alone would have been just fine, but it's great to be at a show with fellow appreciators who will yell and clap in appreciation when the saxophone player mutes the low note with his knee, leaving himself to stand on one foot while blaring the sax.

Sunday, I went to a house show here in Newark, DE. This is a relatively new venue. The family just loves local music and having folks over and I'm not sure if this was the case, but it seems very much like the house was designed just for those two things. Runa is an awesome contemporary Celtic band. One of their members is genuinely Irish... :) His wife is American but she did a great job singing in Gaelic on many songs. They are just an incredibly enchanting and mesmerizing group. It was wonderful to see them in such an intimate setting - there were about 12 or 14 audience members, so I got to meet a lot of new folks and I got to chat with a good number of the band members. I had thought the guitarist was classically trained (got excited when he had to pause mid-set to file a broken nail), but it turns out he has just busked a lot. ^^ I have to admit a bit of guitar envy because his guitar sounded positively magical. He played a steel string like it was a classical. I have yet to figure out how one does that without destroying the nails. :( Shannon, the singer, told me a good deal of her story, how she was working and trying to make ends meet that way (in the "normal" way that so many people know), and that her husband (the guitarist) encouraged her to quit her job and see if they could make the band work. She commented that it's been three years and it seems like most small businesses need those three years to actually start taking off. They're now playing tons of festivals and it's really easy to see why... they are just a fabulous Celtic band and they have definitely come into their own.

And let me not forget to mention - the awesome drum battle! Bodhran versus the drum kit. (Well, it wasn't really a kit, but it was the best acoustic percussion setup I have ever seen, played by a great percussionist from Canada.) (Did I mention that the fiddle player was from Japan? None of them was from the same country. :)

Apart from being a tad jealous ;) it was a great weekend for music. Now that the summer's more or less over, it's time to burn more demos, cut more business cards, and renew myself musically.

And clean the house.

First campfire of the season!

Hallelujah!!

Campfire!!

(Photo by Laura Madara)

Last year, I had the pleasure of performing at 3-4 campfire programs with Delaware State Parks. This was not by any coincidence, since I am also employed by DSP. Now, among many other things, I am technically the booking agent for an entire park. Granted, we have all of maybe five performances a year, but... still. It counts.

Anywho, I booked myself for a campfire program. Actually, I guess I didn't book myself. Since I'm an employee, I can't get paid anything other than my hourly rate, so when I play, I'm technically playing as an employee of DSP and not as a crazy music lady.

Even though I still am, and will always be, a crazy music lady.

Anyway, I love my park and I love campfire programs! There's one thing you need to understand about me... I've been to summer camp. Overnight summer camp. Since the first grade 'till about fifth grade. And at summer camp, you sing. You sing ridiculous songs, sentimental songs, funny songs, songs with participation or callback lines, walking songs, grace songs, morning songs, night songs, time to go to bed songs, counselors trying to entertain the kids when there's an unexpected delay songs...

And if you've been to a summer camp where there are songs, you know what I'm talking about. It just seeps into you. There are songs we learn as children that we can never escape. If you have little sweet songs embedded into you from childhood that always make you feel happy and nostalgic, you're incredibly blessed. You get to hang onto those songs for your entire life and they will always take you back to summer camp.

Yes, it absolutely takes guts to get up in front of people by yourself and sing songs. Even more guts to make them all stand up and sing and motion along to "Princess Pat." But as I told the audience last night... I think people really do want to be silly. They do want to have fun. And outwardly we all assume that no one else wants to do it. But secretly, everyone does want to stand up and do the silly motions and sing "Princess Pat."

Also, when I'm doing a campfire, I guess I'm just more aware that people are there because they love the outdoors. They're not drinking. They didn't just stumble in on some other motive. They're not there for any other reason than knowing that the outdoors and music go together like fine wines and certain cheeses.

Plus, I've always secretly wanted to be a storyteller. Campfires are a great way to start to sneak into that. :)


Photo by Cathy Tibbitt Joulwan


We also took a little night hike after the campfire, and it was beautiful. If a little muddy.


Photo by Cathy Tibbitt Joulwan