The Incredibly Upbeat Stick-Figure Progress Montage You've Been Waiting For

Well, I haven't posted a new song in three months. And, lest ye think I've come to a stand-still: "ARRR, but no! A busy wee lass I have been!", says the Scottish Pirate (?).

The fact is, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. In My Imagination, a Spotsylvania's Marching Knights live show involves a full band with multiple instrumentalists, drummers, dancing, shouting, choral-ography, the whole bit. So, not only do I need to write the lyrics and music for the songs, I need learn how to arrange them, sing them, play piano/ukulele/horn in them, gather and rehearse a band for them, dance [some of] them, and not be afraid of them.

To tell the story of what I've been up to, enter The Incredibly Upbeat Stick-Figure Progress Montage You've Been Waiting For! But first! Turn on your speakers and PRESS PLAY to enjoy the upbeat montage music!

[Click image to enlarge.]

Kudos to anyone who can translate my heiroglyphs into action points. I'll start: 1. Take dance classes.

An album and two shows; I am not a sitcom.

To quote the sensible words of a 5-year-old I once met:

WHY IS NOBODY PAYING ATTENTION TO ME RIGHT NOW.

I have been at this blog journey thing for over a year. I have been squirreling away into dark basements with laptops to write and record songs that I timidly post in hopes that someone somewhere won't mind listening to them once. But tonight I watched the premiere of Zooey Deschanel in The New Girl and a) I was embarrassed to identify so strongly with the lead in a Fox sitcom b) I was pissed that she stole* my "Thanks, they help me see" line regarding her glasses c) I was most pissed that everybody was paying attention to her, a caricature of me, because really I want everybody to pay attention to me.

*Yes, this is childish of me to say.
** I know you are but what am I.

AMERICA, if you want a gluten intolerant brunette who sings songs to/about herself during the course of a normal conversation, has boundless nervous energy expressed in unusual mannerisms, is painfully awkward in bars, and still owns both Dirty Dancing soundtracks on cassette tape (covered in purple glitter puffy paint heart stickers) THEN LOOK NO FURTHER. I GOT THAT B-ROLL! And I have been here the whole time. Since 1978 even! Put me on the cover of your New York magazine! Yes!

I mean, that's it. I can't take it any more. I'm writing this blog because I want to sing and dance and make music and I want you to listen to me and watch me do it. WATCH ME.

I am beating my swords into French horns and my spears into pianos. I am learning the ukulele. I am writing songs. I am finding my own voice and I am telling you all about it. There will be marching bands, there will be hymns, there will be shouting and dancing. And in the end, or possibly the beginning, there will be at least one album and two shows.

I need musicians, I need a collaborating arranger/producer, I need some more vocal coaching and I need some composition/arranging lessons. But I will NOT be out me'd be a Channel 5 sitcom.

Song Alert: Nothing to do with you

A Summer Night. Credit: Keru

Here's the "rough draft recording," as I've been calling them: Nothing to do with you. (It's also in the SoundCloud widget above.)

To quote my favorite New Yorker cartoon: "This song is very difficult for me, emotionally. Plus, the chords are hard." No no no, it's not true. The chords are actually very easy. A simple harmonic ostinato.

This is the song that I wrestled with all through July (that didst bring a most grievous spirit upon me). Last Thursday I sat myself down at 11 AM and decided I was not going to shower, leave the apartment, or focus my attention on anything else whatsoever until it was finished. It was pretty grueling. While the hook came to me in a flash at the beginning of July, I'd tried many times to hash out the verses but I wasn't getting any ideas. Every line was a real struggle. But finally, by about 4 PM, all holes had been filled and I decided it was Good Enough.

Which means, as it does with all of my songs when I've just finished them, that I thought it was terrible and boring and I hated it. I sent off the lyrics to a trusted songwriter friend who cheered with me for finishing it (THANK YOU, DANI!). A composer friend added, with French accent, "Today, you've just given birth. You don't know yet whether this one will go off to college. Just, you know, give it some time and let it grow."

Half a bottle of Grenache on Friday night, and what-the-hell-it's-beautiful-let's-record-it. It's a song about love, God, sex, on a backdrop of cicadas, crickets, katydids, frogs, and other insects ... all the good stuff. Notice! It becomes gently NSFW in the fourth verse.

My Baby's Gone to Vegas (new song recorded!)

I got this song idea yesterday, wrote it when I woke up this morning, and then recorded it in a one shot live take tonight.

It took about 30 minutes to write, 3 1/2 hours to get the recording equipment/software working, and about 3 minutes to record. But hey, that beats 12 years and 17 hours --- my existing record!

I'd like to learn how to actually play the ukulele and then add some more strings and percussion to it. I'm also not entirely settled on some of the lyrics. But overall, I like this one. Hope you do too.

xo
VBK

  My Baby's Gone to Vegas by VirginiaBK

Step Three: It's Just You and Me

Actually it's been more like just me and me. But soon it will be just you and me, professionally. Well, not "you" specifically, as in second person plural but the "you" does apply to one reader in the second person singular who will be the "you" in the duo of "you and me." And there's also a third (part-time) "you" and a fourth, rather furry and howly "you," who keeps things competitive at tea time. So that's happy.

But for the past couple of months I've been in an extended transition. A monumental limbo as I finish some final projects for my former employer and await the green light from someone else's employer to announce my successor, as I unpack and nest at our new home, and as the aforementioned "you and me" secure arrangements for the new venture. But this week became an unexpected triple dislodging, allowing the River Styx to surge (wait, no. metaphor stops here.) . . . ushering a time of action on all three fronts and ending in a massive Housewarming Party / Wiener Roast** last night. (There's a deadline for ya'.) The apartment is painted, painted, painted, and painted. The wall hangings are up. All shelving needs are met. The liquor cabinets, slim yesterday, are now full of wine from generous houseguests. And, most importantly, the house has been generously full of guests. It's a real home now!

**Important note on throwing a wiener roast in New York City: You can't just "gather some sticks from the woods out back," home goods stores do not carry anything longer than a street meat stick, and most New Yorkers don't understand why this doesn't suffice. (Have you ever smelled burning forearm hairs?! NO. Stop talking with your dumb suggestions.) Just save yourself some time and unbend a bunch of unpainted, unpapered wire hangers from the dry cleaners. Another note: this will feel "rustic" to some of your guests. (Roll eyes.)

But enough yo gabba gabba. It's time for another progress report. For all of the above reasons, it's a-gonna be slim.

Milestones
~Left full-time office job to create new free-lance life. (OK, that's not so small.)
~Had second voice lesson with Mark Baxter Did not cry.
~Assembled music studio in basement. Rediscovered all those knobs on my Sony multitrack recorder.
~Acquired ukulele, swaddled in birthday wrapping by my dear Alaska. Learned five chords.
~Attended my first poetry reading ever. (There are other people! Who think! Like me!)
~Wrote two poems.
~Recorded the hook of a song I really like and want to develop.
~Had walk-over-the-Brooklyn-Bridge-meeting with composer/songwriter about the whole business of orchestration and arranging.

Next Steps
~Find a composition/counterpoint/arranging/orchestration teacher who gets/appreciates songwriting. PER ABOVE, GETTING CLOSER
~Keep vocalizing with my real voice and get rid of all that awful training. SOUNDS WARBLY AND EDGY AND TERRIBLE BUT FEELS HONEST.
~Buy big ukulele chord chart poster for music studio wall.
~Book voice lesson for November?
~Book horn lesson for November?
~Book horn/piano duet with Pam at PSUMC.
~Continue block-buzzing on horn mouthpiece and work range up to C5. (F4) Practice duets and etudes from July lesson. HAVE NOT PLAYED HORN SINCE AUGUST. WILL HAVE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN. GROAN.

Play Dates
~Play horn and guitar duet with Amy. Try out Ft. Lauderdale First Date song with her nylon string guitar.
~Coordinate Southern gospel trio with Leila and Sarah T.
~Join Pam's poetry collective.
~Follow up with flute, violin, cello, trumpet, oboe, guitar-playing friends to see about playing around in the studio.
~Learn "Tonight You Belong to Me" on uke.
~Arrange a small assortment of tunes for horn, piano, ukulele, recorder, and random African percussion instruments. Record and give to friends and family at Christmas like some kind of ill-imagined fruitcake wreck.