still more marmite

Jeff came home last night and I could barely recognize him, he was so grizzled and unwashed. All right, I'm lying. He looked exactly the same, except his hair was longer. He says he is going to get a "#2 cut" soon, whatever that means. I think has something to do with the level the barber guy (or whatever the person who cuts guys' hair is called) sets his razor to.

Many congrats to Graham Leathers, whose band recently completed recording their CD! I asked him for a "press blurb" thingy, and he obliged quite kindly. "The Porch Climbers are lively and energetic Folk band out of Winnipeg with a unique sound all their own. Although the instrumentation betrays the heavy Celtic roots, the influences of Blues, Bluegrass and Cajun make for a mixed sound that is distinctly Canadian Prairie. The new CD 'Sqeeze me, Beat me, Love me' will be coming out in Mid may, and the official release will be accompanied by a smokin' party at the West End Cultural Centre, Thursday, June 29. For more info, you can visit our website (www.crosswinds.net/~porchclimbers) or drop some email to Graham Leathers." Except when I went to check the website, Gray, there's no ordering info yet! HOW MUCH DO I SEND AND WHERE DO I SEND IT?

Still More On Marmite

An enlightening comment from Zander Nyrond on the subject (or rather, a clever tangent into another topic):

"Marmite is a strange beastie. There's nothing about the taste that I actually dislike, but I never ever have the slightest desire to eat it. It resembles strawberries in that respect (though in almost no other). Butter is quite another matter. I have experimented (I was young and foolish) and I can tell you that nothing, but nothing, will taste right on bread unless the intermediary substrate is properly constructed of Butter. As for the hardness problem, well, good heavens, you didn't think it was supposed to be *easy* did you?? There is, of course, a solution. Simply bung your butter, in its dish, into the microwave (if you have one) at .4 power for thirty seconds, and your troubles will be over. Unless your butter dish is not microwave proof...it was, wasn't it? Some of the cutesier kitchen shops in Britain sell butter dishes whose lid is a hemispherical container with a hole at the top into which you can pour boiling water. Besides softening the butter a treat, its shape provides hours of harmless fun for a certain type of male mind. Yours for the four basic food groups (cholesterol, sugar, fat and salt), Zander"

And now a Songwriting Process Poll

When you write a song, do you tend to sit down and give yourself and assignment? Do you wait for the muse to hit, or do you start with an idea? And if the latter, is it a musical idea or a lyric idea? Or both?

And do you ever basically write a song in one sitting, or is it a gradual process?

I tend to give myself "assignments". I very rarely (okay, NEVER) sit down and have a whole song flow out of me without having a particular song topic in mind to begin with. And even if I DO have a particular song topic in mind, it very rarely is completed in one sitting (unless it's a very short and silly song). Sometimes I get all the lyrics at one sitting. Like "Sex and Chocolate", and then I passed them to Jodi. She and I had never worked on a song before, so I was a bit nervous about how it would go. I even gave her some direction..."I sort of imagined it as a kind of waltz" (I kid you not). I am incredibly grateful that she ignored this feeble advice and struck out in her own musical direction....I LOVE the melody she came up with, and the fact that it is a capella (that's something I never would have thought of, either). The only 'serious' song I've written at one sitting is Homecoming.

Anyway, I'd love to hear any thoughts on your songwriting process. Please post in Blatherchat.

Today's BlatherPhoto is courtesy of Beckett Gladney (she scanned her Sock Monkey) :-)