another songwriter joins the ranks

Annabel started writing songs last year.  She has been recording them, and here is the first one.  Click on the link below to hear the YouTube.  Annabel made the video herself.  Sky helped her record and also sang backup harmonies.  I am really proud of Annabel.  She is blossoming, in front of my eyes.   

Here are the lyrics.  She is quite a poet.

Imagine This

Annabel Marks, 2012 

Whispers coming from my head as

I can't fall asleep
Sonic waves pulsing through my bed
Shattering the glass

The glass of a door
That leads through somewhere
I went to explore
The silent white noise

I roller-bladed the wind drifts
I sang to the silence
I listened to the invisible sounds
Than I lay down, and finally ascended to sleep

I can communicate best in the dark when everyone is dreaming
By sending silent signals out, only heard when not thinking
dreams and love, are glimpses of imagination when life is not in charge

I burst through the ashes
The only thing left over
I fled from the silence
Now it's all comin' back to me
Songs aren't meant to be screamed

summer revisited, boulder creek

 

We left Santa Cruz one day to visit an old friend and her boys.

We drove up north down a long quiet road, out of the city and into the countryside.  We saw tiny markets, tractors for sale, and lots of trees.  The road became windy at the end, and then we came to a clearing in the woods where Terri's house sat.

Terri (her real name is Teresa Lynn, and my name is Theresa Lynn) was one of Gary's and my first friends we made as a couple, when we began our life in California.  Terri and I took tennis lessons together, we took women's weekend trips together, and she helped me finish my famous mosaic wall.  We helped with each others' weddings, and we attended the births of each others' first children.  One fo the best gifts I ever got was from Terri -- a truckful of large river rock, that I used to make a fireplace facade in my old house.  She was such a dear friend to me.  After Gary and I left California with Sky, age four, and Annabel as a baby, Terri moved to Santa Cruz and we didn't see her anymore.  But two years ago we reunited when she visited us for a day.  We picked up like we had just seen one another the day before, like you just can with some friends.   

Our kids have fun with her boys.  They hadn't seen them since they were very young.  That didn't matter. They loved the swing and the expansive yard.  We visited, and caught up, and retold old stories, and ate pizza and pasta and salad, and had some good laughs. 

It was just like old times.  Only with more kids.   

corner view~i wouldn't say horrible...

But not great.
My computer has been broken and at the Apple store for several days.  I am not sure how long it will take before I get it back.
Meanwhile there's plenty to do around here!
Thank you Annabel for sharing your computer with me all week long.  A quick hello and a happy week to you all!

corner view~time for myself

Last night we were invited for dinner at a friend's house.  When we first arrived right after I said hello, I took a moment for myself and snapped this photo out their back door.

When I have stretches of time alone I like to water the garden, read, take photos, write, and paint.  I can get lost in these activities.  I think it's crucial that we get lost in these types of things sometimes.  For me, it provides balance and is often when the creative ideas come.

p.s. Regarding commenting on each others' blogs...would anyone please be willing to disable the step that requires comments to type in letters and numbers? The one that says "Please prove you're not a robot?"  Last I checked not too many robots are trying to comment on blogs, lol.  Or am I missing something?  I find this step tedious and unnecessary.  I disabled it on my blog and have no more spam or problems than when I had it. 

well i guess i'm out of the slump

Can you tell I like to work in blue?

Yesterday, in under four hours I worked on nine paintings -- four existing and five brand new ones!  A couple of days ago our kids' acting coach paid me such a nice compliment, and told me he is a huge fan of my work and he wants me to make him a painting to hang in his studio.  Plus an old art school friend and I are going to do an artwork trade as well.  So I decided to get to work.  I started by finishing something I started long ago, in realism.  Then I went right into abstract expressionism.  I used all of my new canvases but one. 

When I was in art school our professors encouraged us to trade art with fellow students.  I miss those days.  I love being in people's homes that have lots of colorful art on the walls, by different artists.   My house is becoming like that, but it's mostly my work.  I don't have enough wall space for all of these paintings. 

The only hard part is that I don't feel that most of the paintings are finished yet.  Even if the rest of the family loves it, I have to love it.  But it's okay, because it's a process, just like life.

I am so grateful for people who encourage me, my friends and family are great! 

summer revisited~santa cruz boardwalk, day one

I am going to print this one out someday, and get it blown up.  I love the antique finish on it.

This was a day of bravery and trying new things, which I did not partake in.  I was the family photographer.  The kids had a great time and so did the big kid I am married to.  Also note how Shawn followed instructions and held tight to the bar on all rides.

corner view~impression

Evening boat dock, Alexandria Bay, Virginia, 1992

oil pastel on paper

There was a time in my life when I made art all the time.  Like when I made the drawing above.  I was single, living in Old Towne Alexandria then and could walk to the water's edge from my apartment.  I often did this at night when the weather was warm.  There were street musicians, family with strollers, live music, buzzing restaurants.  I would bring my sketchbook with me wherever I went.  I carried a large bag to fit it in.

My artmaking started in childhood and lasted into my twenties.  I became an art therapist after completing my masters degree, which I did right after college.  I worked in a psychiatric hospital full time as an art therapist.  I did several groups a week, they lasted about two hours.  There was a big art room full of great supplies on our unit.  While the patients created art in the first hour, relaxing music playing in the background, I often painted with them.  It was just a part of my daily life.

Now I carry a smaller purse and I don't even have a sketchbook.  I bought one this summer, but it sits on my desk, crisp, clean, still new.  I am trying to break through the resistance.  I don't know how to get back there to daily artmaking.  I have been painting some.  I feel like I don't have the free time to get myself into that creative space.  I do have some free time in the week, but it's hard for me to get there.  But every time I take the time I enjoy it so much.
   

 Laura Howard and artist me, 1992.  

Laura made such an impression on me.  She was my friend.  We worked at the hospital together.  She was a nursing staff member.  She had a great sense of humor and a fierce sense of loyalty.  She was really intelligent, but totally approachable to staff and patients alike.  Some people are solid.  They are who they are and they never change.  Laura is one such friend.  To this day she is a fan of me and my entire family.  I miss her.  How lucky we are to find the friends we do on our life's path.

summer revisited~our first day in santa cruz

We checked into a beautiful bed and breakfast inn.  Gary's dear friend Gina (of Upon Oanda's Wing) came to visit us with her daughter and granddaughter.  We all walked to a seaside restaurant and had dinner together.  When we came out of the restaurant, in the distance the boardwalk was lit up and in full swing, giving us a glimpse of the next few days and what we would experience.

life lessons

This is Skylar's webshow -- in this episode she addresses bullying.   

I was harassed in high school my first year by a group of troubled girls who were my age.  I am not kidding, one of the girls' fathers was in prison, and I went to a really good high school!  These mean girls were from the city.  I was a small town country girl.  I never did anything to them, they just started picking on me.  I told an adult but it didn't help, in fact it made it a little worse.   They were pretty scary to me.  There was this older girl in my school (Becky) who was on my gymnastics team and she got word of what was happening.   Becky was also a city girl.   She had a few choice words with the bully leader.  Let's just say those awful girls never even looked at me, let alone spoke to me ever again, and two were soon kicked out of our school, due to their own self destructive behavior.   The rest of my time in high school was much better.

Becky was my hero.  Thank you Becky!!

My daughter was teased and mistreated by some girls and accused of being -- are you ready? -- too happy.  Now she is in a school where there is zero tolerance for this type of behavior and she is loved by her friends for who she is.  For the most part the kids treat each other with respect, despite their differences.

Have your kids experienced being bullied?    

summer revisited, california road trip

We left Marin county and road tripped to Santa Cruz.  I drove.  After we got through San Francisco, the traffic subsided.  I was able to take these photos as I drove, while the kids listened to their iPods.

On the drive, I remembered years ago when I first visited northern California and my friend Megan took me to a remote beach, much like the ones we drove by.  We were single, and we had all day to drive, walk the beach, make sand sculptures, eat a picnic, and finally pack up when it started to get dark outside.  It was fun to remember that time long ago, while being happy for where my life had taken me since then.     

corner view~growing (hearts)

Growth: We have taught our children that the most important thing in life is to be kind.  In our book this supersedes intelligence, talent and strength.  We tell them without kindness other strengths are weakened.  In fact we tell them that kindness itself is power.  Especially our son, who values strength above most anything else.  

Growing:  With the support of my awesome husband Gary in serving and cleaning up dinner back at home for our two youngest children, Sky and I have begun to help cook dinner at our local homeless shelter once a month.  We do this through our local "Mother's Kitchen."  We cook with some sweet friends, and they have a daughter too, so it is fun for the girls.  We made a polenta, bean and cheese dish, fruit salad, mixed veggies, and fruit crisp for desert.  We prepared food for about 60 people.   Our friends were so happy we came because they really needed our help...two adults and a teen girl have been cooking the large meals by themselves for the last few months.  And speaking of growing, look at the squash the shelter residents grew in their garden!  We got to serve it to them! I sauteed it in oil and spices, and we added it to the polenta. 

summer revisited~parkside

One day when we were visiting California we drove the kids up the hill and by our old house, the house where Sky and Annabel were born, where I did my first mosaics, that I recently showed you a painting of.

A woman was walking to the curb to get her mail.  She said hello to us and when we told her we had lived in the house, she invited us in!  It was so amazing walking through the house, seeing the changes that have been made, remodeling and painting, and the mosaic wall that I made there in the backyard, almost twenty years ago, still intact, as you can see from the first photo. 

upon oanda's wing

Last spring Gary received an email in Japanese, which he couldn't read.  He thought it was spam and deleted it.  A week later he got another email like it, and deleted it again.  In May he received an email in English from the same sender.  He was a man from Tokyo, wondering if Gary had gotten his prior emails, and explaining that he worked for a Japanese record company and they were interested in re-releasing his second album, "Upon Oanda's Wing," which Gary recorded many years ago.   Contracts we drawn up and signed right before we left for our summer trip.

They have been a wonderful company to deal with.  The re-release of the album happened quite quickly -- at the end of this summer.  So far record sales are going well.  "Upon Oanda's Wing" is being sold all over Japan and currently there are displays in three Tower record stores.  Pretty cool!

Here is the record company's listing of the album.

This is a YouTube of the first song on the album called Sailing.
          
This June the Japanese company sent Gary interview questions to use in their promotion.  This inspired me to interview him about his entire musical career to date.  One of this things I most admire about Gary is his unwavering focus on his goals and dreams, and his confidence.  He has had this quality since he was a young man, as you will see.  So this is part of Gary's music story, about the first two albums he made, when he was in his early twenties.  It is a story of perseverance, talent and Grace.     

When I was twenty years old I was very excited to have gotten a great gig in New York every Saturday night playing at the ultra modern, ultra hip Mercer Arts Center.  The Mercer Arts Center was seven stories of music, modern video art, paintings, an eclectic mix of what they thought was great art of the times.  One night a recording engineer named Michael Tapes heard my gig and asked to speak with me.  My best friend Kerry knew him and had suggested he come see my gig.  Michael said, “I am an engineer at Ultra Sonic Studio in New York.”  Sixteen tracks!  At the time this was a wonder.  He said, "I’d be willing to record you for free if you are interested.  Do you have a band?"  I didn’t but I said yes.  And off I went to look for a band to record my first record with.   The problem was, I wasn't meeting a lot of musicians at that time that could play music as complicated, harmonically and rhythmically, as the songs I was writing. 

So while in Boston one weekend, I started wandering around the New England Conservatory, listening in to all of the practice rooms, trying to find a potential band member.   After a couple hours of no luck, I finally heard someone that perked my ears up.  It was incredible piano playing.  It was jazz.  He was improvising.  And when the music stopped I knocked on the door.  This is how I met Michael Cochrane for the first time.  Of course I had my guitar with me.  I never went anywhere without it.  I said, “I am recording an album in New York.  Do you want to be my piano player?” 

He said, “I don’t know man.”  So without being asked I sat down crossed legged on the practice room floor, unhooked my guitar case, took out my 12-string, and played him one of my songs. 

We started working on it together and after 1/2 hour he said, “I’m in.” 

I said, “Good, do you know any great guitar players?  

He said “Yeah, one.  He’s at the Berklee School of Music and his name is John Scofield.” 

So off I went across town to find John.  I finally met John at his apartment in Boston.  John was 21 at the time.  I entered his living room, which was carpeted with song charts everywhere.  There were pathways to walk through and he would play his guitar looking down at his floor, playing through dozens of songs a day.  I played him a few of my songs and he said, “Let’s do it.” 

And I said, “Great.  Do you know any great vibes players?” 

And he said, “One.”  That was David Samuels.  The core of the Gathering band had been formed. 

Recording "Gathering" was one of the wildest experiences of my life.  None of us had ever even been in a recording studio before.  It looked like an Apollo Space capsule to us – cramped and filled with electronics and blinking lights of every color.  We were shown to a big room where we all set up our gear.  We had no idea that we could record tracks over each other.  We just assumed we were going to play everything live.  And the engineer assumed that we wanted to do it that way.  So he didn’t say anything!  We ended up sitting in a big circle so we all see each other’s instruments and faces.  John Scofield played electric and six-string guitar, Chip White was on drums, David Samuels played vibes, and drums on one song, Michael Cochrane was on piano, Paul Brickey played bass, and there I was, with a microphone in front of my mouth, and another one pointed at my twelve-string guitar.  We all had headphones on, we all knew the stories we wanted to tell, so the tapes started rolling, and we recorded everything live, in one take.  It was a very good day!

My older brother loaned me $1000 to print the records.  They pressed 500 and I gave them to everyone I met.  One day I got a call from a famous jazz player named Carla Bley.  She said that she and her husband Paul Bley had started a record company called JCOA (Jazz Composers Organization of America) and offered me to be on the label.  I accepted.

I continued to tour around sometimes with the band, sometimes solo.  Later that summer, I was offered a couple of gigs at some prestigious clubs in Europe to play the songs from Gathering.  I had never been out of America before, so I eagerly went overseas to play my songs for a whole new world.   I played in Amsterdam, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, London, Paris.

When I came back to America in the fall I decided to make a big change.  I asked Michael Cochrane if he would be willing to teach me piano.  I was 23 and was concerned that I might be too old to learn piano from the beginning.  But after the first lesson, Michael said, “Go home and write a song in C.”  I did, it was called “Seascape.”  And I knew after that that I was going to be able to have a great relationship with the piano.  It eventually became my main instrument. 

Two years after very intensive lessons with Michael, I moved to Santa Barbara, California.  I wanted to be close to LA, but not too close.  I was never much of a city person.  Santa Barbara was beautiful.  While hanging out at the university, I met a local DJ named Glen Albert.  Glen became a fan of mine and started playing my music on the radio station.  One day while we were at his house, he asked me to sit down and take a serious listen to a piano player with a new record out.  His name was Art Lande, the record was called Red Lanta.  Red Lanta was an anagram of his name.   After hearing the record I said to Glen, “I don’t know where in the world this guy lives, but wherever he is, I’m moving.  He’s my next teacher.” 

Glen told me, “You’re in luck. He’s only 6 hours down the road in Berkeley.”

Art’s music was totally unique.  His piano playing was different than another improvisational piano player of the time, Keith Jarrett.  Art’s music was a combination of totally wild, but totally contained sound.  He was a natural composer, so even his solos, as wild as they were, sounded like songs.  And his compositions were gorgeous and crazy at the same time.  His band, Rubisa Patrol, (ECM Records) mirrored his wild containment perfectly.

So one Saturday morning I pulled up to the nearest telephone booth in Berkeley, looked up his name in the phonebook, and amazingly enough, he was listed!  So I drove to his street, found his house, and knocked on his door.  It was 10:30 in the morning.  He answered the door in a bathrobe.  He had balding red hair and a red curly beard and certainly didn’t recognize me.  He looked like he had just woken up.  I said, "Hi my name is Gary.  And if you teach, I’m your student." 

He said, “I do teach, but I have a waiting list of about twenty people.” 

I said, “I just drove all the way from Santa Barbara just to meet you."

He looked me over, trying to figure out what he was getting himself into, and the said, "Alright, come in, practice on my piano for awhile.  I’m gonna take a shower.  I’ll be right out.”  And we had our first lesson.  Afterwards he said, “OK, I’ll teach you.”  So I moved to Berkeley.

A one point during a lesson I mentioned that I had recorded an album and left him a copy.  When I came back the next lesson our relationship changed.  He told me I was a really good writer and began to challenge me a lot more in our lessons.   After a lesson I would basically say, “I can’t do all that.” 

And he would say, “Of course you can.”   So practicing piano was pretty much all I did fitting in songwriting in my off hours.  I was surviving on playing solo gigs here and there.  I couldn’t afford anything more than an old beat up Worlitzer electric piano. 

In 1976 I recorded “Upon Oanda’s Wing.”  Art and Rubisa Patrol agreed to be my new band for the album.  The band consisted of Art Lande on piano (although he insisted I play piano on some of my songs), Bill Douglass on bass and flute, Mark Isham on trumpet, and Kurt Wortman on drums.   We recorded at Arch Street Studios in Berkeley, which usually only recorded classical and jazz masters.  Art Lande was my connection to that studio and the amazing engineer that worked there.  Each one of these players thought compositionally, which was a perfect fit for the way I had begun to arrange with bands—not focusing on the brilliance of the players but on the songs and the words.  Art was a great writer and a great composer in his own right and Mark Isham ended up being a great film score writer for modern day movies.

Oanda received a lot of great reviews.  One in particular was in Jazz magazine.  He said my arrangements reminded him of Milton Naciomento.  Of course this was a great honor for me.  

Oanda's Wing is an anagram for my best friend at the time, Gina Dawson, who was not only a friend, but a big support of my music.  She introduced me to jazz, she befriended all of the band members.  When I opened up for Keith Jarret one time, he liked her so much he gave her a private concert.  She just had that kind of allure with people.   
 
p.s.
In 2007 a company from the Netherlands re-released his first album, "Gathering."  Gary jokes that at this rate, his current albums will be released when he is in his 90's!

 Gary recording his third album, "Thoughts of Why"