Musical thoughts

Today, I’m trying something different. Instead of typing directly into the blog editor, I’m taking a little time and typing this out in my word processor (AppleWorks 6, that came with my iMac). I’ll cut and paste it when I’m ready.

I’m also going to talk about something different than my graphic art too. I know that’s the stated purpose of this blog, but let’s face it, each of us has different facets to our personality that impact our creative work. I am no exception.

Today I wanted to talk about the Gypsy Bandwagon CD, “Stole My Mule”. If you’ve read the bio to the right of the screen you’ll notice that I am a member of GB. I got involved simply because my wife, Karin, was playing music with the two other members, Lance and Carissa Moore.

It’s a long story, and I won’t go into it here, other than to say that eventually I ended up playing drums, singing, and having a great time with the Moores. It’s a dream come true for me.

I grew up in a family of musicians. Some of my earliest memories are of my Dad hosting a “hootenanny” on our front porch, singing and playing folk tunes on his guitar. My older brothers were engaged in various musical outlets while we were growing up. In fact the three of us were The Chimpanzees when I was about seven (emulating The Monkees, of course). But we had the usual sibling stuff, and went our separate ways. I decided to ignore my musical leanings and set out to find my identity in the family by being the artist.

But I kept dabbling in music all along. When I moved into my first studio in 1985 it was supposed to be devoted to drawing comic books, but it was only a few months until I’d bought a secondhand drum set and moved that into the studio. I got a Yamaha PSS 460 keyboard a few months later and used to keep it next to me on my drawing board so that I could practice solos when drawing got boring. (This is not to imply that I can actually play a keyboard in any real way).

I even went on to join my brother, Jeff, and his buddy Brian in a Contemporary Christian band that lasted one gig.

I borrowed a Tascam 4-Track recorder from Jeff and did some experimental multitrack recordings about the time I met Karin, and sent her the results dubbed off on a cassette. She seemed to think I was pretty interesting anyway. Eventually, I ended up marrying her, so I must have done okay.

I’ve kept playing music. Jamming with various people, doing a little music at Church, that sort of thing.

But what really got me excited was the fact that I was married to a multi-instrumental musician! She got invited to perform and record with a number of people; Doug Trantham, Anne Lough, Michael Schull, Bean Sidhe, Celtic Knot…folk types mostly.

I’m not that into folk anymore, but when she’d go into the studio I’d get to go along! Fun stuff. I even seemed to have an ear for it, and occasionally I’d get to put in my two cent’s worth. It was a neat process.

Karin, on the other hand, tended to be a bit uptight. Well, she did have to pull off these performances, didn’t she? But mostly she was just into it for the performance. She simply enjoyed playing with other people, the genre was not the issue.

She would put in another bang-up performance, everyone would be amazed. I’d say, “she’s MY wife”, with a chuckle and big grin, and life would go on. The CD would come out she’d show it to a couple of friends and listen to it once or twice and then it would go into the CD shelf and collect dust.

But this time it’s different. This time she’s listening to the recording--A LOT. This time I come out to the car the CD is in the player. This time I hear her playing tunes from “Stole My Mule” for her music students. This time she’s excited.

I’m excited too. Hey! I got to play drums and sing on an actual recording, that costs money!
I’m reasonably excited to have my artwork on the CD (but then I’ve been there before). But it is gratifying that my wife, the professional musician (did I mention that my wife is a professional musician?), is actually excited about the project. That speaks well of the album. She’s turned her nose up at some pretty good stuff over the years!

Is it the next “Rubber Soul”? I can’t say that. But “Stole My Mule” has got the players excited, at very least. That my wife (yeah, the professional musician, that’s the one) wants to listen to it again and again is something like a miracle in my experience. The only other CD in our collection that has gotten as much rotation is a copy of ELO’s greatest hits, “Strange Magic”.

To be fair, I think that Jeff Lynne has put a lot more work into his catalog so far. We have a lot of work to do to match that guy, but when’s the last time ELO had a cartoon donkey on their album cover? Stumped you with that one didn’t I? Well we have two! Three if you count the back cover.

I really didn’t want this to seem like a plug for another project. It may very well be, but I don’t want it to seem like one. I’d honestly like to give everyone a free copy of the CD and see if you like it or not. But I can’t do that either. We do need to sell some copies. If anyone is interested in hearing the sound you can order copies from
Gypsy Bandwagon Website
Someday soon Lance may actually have some downloadable sound files so you can preview the CD. I don’t know. He’s been working on the site feverishly for the past couple of weeks, but won’t show any of us until it’s done. If you link now you’ll get the old version of the site, but you can bookmark it if you’re still interested after seeing the prototype.

In the meantime I did set up the tee-shirt shop for Gypsy Bandwagon at
Gypsy Bandwagon Apparel
There you can see the “Official Gypsy Bandwagon Tour-Shirt” and even order one if you like. Four hard working musicians would appreciate the business.
(Okay, THREE hard working musicians and also a drummer would appreciate it.)