Red Cedar

creative endeavours

Posted on May 31, 2005 by Megan

i’m playing hooky today, having decided that the whole body/mind combination for me was about to come unglued due to too many days of people in a row. i am particularly stressed these days on the job because of all the union hearings this week and next, which i need to hold some empathy for the human race in reserve for…. so i decided it would be best to squeeze in a mental health day before my next hearing (thursday), lest i lose all patience with everyone. and lucky me, it has turned out to be a rainy day here on the coast, which gives me a perfect excuse for staying inside, listening to music, and reading books. i may even get around to unpacking the rest of my library room later today.

i have decided to teach myself how to play the guitar finally, and am planning a trip to tom lee music later this week to buy a new acoustic (ben gave me some good advice on solid tops that are made in canada and not too expensive). i own a classical guitar that came from my mother, but the wide neck has always been an impediment to my very short fingers when it comes to chording. since i have been through that exercise unsuccessfully in past years, i am going to circumvent the frustration and just buy a guitar that fits me. mostly my desire to learn is for social purposes, to be able to play and sing my own songs at parties – and for writing new material. i don’t ever forsee playing the guitar with the flying folk army since we have three exceptional players in the band already. i have always wanted to be able to sing and play around the campfire though – and i feel like this summer is a good time for creative ventures of all kinds.

the other thing i want to focus on is my writing – both creative and non – as my needs for expression are surpassing this blog and i suspect i have some more songs and possibly a story or two tucked away inside me somewhere. the only thing i’m not sure about is where i will find the time to put the practice into both guitar-learning and writing that i need. i think possibly the ferry will become writing time now that i have my computer all retooled and happy, and music practice (which includes spending more time on the fiddle) will be evenings after work and the weekends i am kicking around the coast.

i’m excited anyways – about the music and the writing – i haven’t felt this creatively driven in ages.

more than seattle

Posted on May 30, 2005 by Megan

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anna, me, alison, & jon walking up the street after breakfast in beacon hill sunday morning – pretty smiley despite the hangovers!

for a selection of photos from the seattle flying folk army trip please check out my red cedar photo gallery hosted by mutualaid.

i haven’t been home yet since leaving for work friday morning – having spent the past few days watching, listening, driving, eating, drinking, fiddling, partying, talking, dancing, yelling, wagering, border-crossing, laughing, and finally crashing in total exhaustion. whew! sometimes i feel there is too much me to be contained, and this weekend was another one that stretched that sense thinly across nights with too-little sleep and loud, crowded days.

the trip to seattle was a blast, as it often is, this year far surpassing last year’s outdoor venue played in the pouring rain. my friend anna joined me for the journey, another person to venture forth with the flying folk on one of our escapades – and was a very welcome addition for she simply rocks and is loads of fun to hang out with. everything about the weekend went smoothly and involved much connection for all of us – for myself and other bandmates a reconnection to each other (jon, alison and i all felt the weekend was an impetus to start playing together again), and also a reconnection to friends in seattle who support us year after year.

the show itself went better than i expected, being short our bass player, and given the fact i was a little drunk when i took the stage (we played much later than originally intended which gave me extra drinking time), but i chalk a lot of that up to having an amazingly responsive (and large) audience. our intense burst of amazing stage-energy opened with the mc leading the crowd in a vocal version of which side are you on (which we joined in with as we set up our instruments) and ended in a frenetic display of fast finger-styles from alison and myself in our finale ukranian dancing tune. i sang my favourite (campiest, sexiest) version of “kiss the anarchist” ever, which went over exceedingly well (and many people commented on after the show), and the lot of us had an incredible amount of fun with a couple really great crowd-participation moments. to top it off, we sold the last fifteen copies of the flying folk cd – massive folk fist to the man, giving us another chunk of change for the recording fund.

the great thing about playing that labour showcase at folklife is just how appreciative the audience is, and putting on a great show for them each time we go down (that was our 3rd labour showcase out of five years at the festival) is a point of pride for us because they are so supportive. there is something so incredibly ego gratifying about making people so excited about what you are doing – i really forget that in the band downtimes, how good the ups of the process feel, and how responsive my well-being is to those moments. better than any drug i have ever encountered.

we are planning to go back into the studio in early october at this point to get more of our 2nd full-length album recorded if not finish that stage of it. we will also burn more copies of our first cd and make photocopies of the liner notes so there continues to be some availability of that cd as well (of course, we will not charge the full price for it). in a way this weekend was a bit of a make or break for us, for it reconfirmed the spark we share and provided the encouragement to keep the project together into another album and more shows.

there of course is more to write about: the hospitality of the emma goldman finishing school, the dance show i saw on friday night, more plans i have for music, and sean’s incredibly funny run-in with a state trooper… but i will save those for later posts. suffice to say i am exhausted as i write this, but at work upright and ready to try to make it through the day.