Darger

I've been putting some of my music up on band camp! Check it out. And you should know that I can see whenever someone skips a song without finishing it. I KNOW.

Oceanic Obsession

As I may have mentioned, I'm going in a nautical direction. So this is the song I wrote in this strain. It was debuted a few nights ago with a fair reception. Ok, so I'm no Leonard Cohen. But I like it.

Awful

I'm playing a show tomorrow night!

Or, at least I'm schedule to play a show. I have something like a flu, but for sure it can't be the flu, right? I'm achy and feverish with a sore throat.

But I'll probably feel better by tomorrow night and I don't want all this practicing to have been a waste. So there it is.

This is a poster that someone I don't know made for the show. I love it.

Mermaid Avenue

Well, I broke down and got the whole darn complete sessions of Mermaid Avenue. The lyrics are all by Woody Guthrie, previously unrecorded. The music is written and performed by Billy Bragg and Wilco.  I love this stuff! There's some slow ballady songs, plenty of jiving rock and just enough twang to make this southern girl smile.

Woody Guthrie's lyrics are amazing. Words that paint this man so you feel like you know him. A few of the songs are just so tender you don't know what to do, but then he's bragging and causing a ruckus and womanizing. Then he sings about women being ahead of the men all along. Oh, and that love song to a flying saucer. What's that about? (Future Darger cover song is what!)

via

I know that on my blog when I'm obsessed with something it shows. Remember all those Dune posts? Well, here's a lyric for ya,

"I ain't the world's best writer 

or the world's best speller, 

But when I believe in something 

I'm the loudest yeller." 

Home Again

I'm back from California! I got back Sunday night, but have been so confused with all that time changing. It's good to be back in the South, back with James and these babies.

I learned so much and gained so much in just one week that it's pretty overwhelming. But s'tch-k because I took mad notes. The entire time. I wrote down everything, even my meals. Well, almost everything. Let's not get boring with our descriptions, right?

My homesickness was only kept at bay by the intense camp schedule and powerful winds of Castaic. It's a really beautiful place and I'll show you pictures later if you want. In fact, I think I will show you pictures over the next few days and tell you a lot about what I learned and how it inspires me.

Here's what I came home to:

Here's what else I came home to: a clean house, a bunch of sweet letters from James, an organized studio, an unrelenting amount of homework and the first Darger Pop show in years on the books for April 19th!

Tuneday

This tune is dripping with nostalgia, which is something I think ought to be avoided. In most cases. But here, I think it works. These are two versions of the same tune. Written and recorded by Darger (myownself) at the Wolf Note HQ.

If you like them or dislike them or like one more than the other, do tell. Do.

Ghost

A few years ago I wrote and recorded this collection of songs. I call it my third album. But James says that it's probably too short to be considered a real album. It's like 17 minutes. Who cares? My songs are just short, that's all. If you can't say it in under a minute, don't say it at all. 

The lyrics on this album are more introspective than anything I've written since, but don't let that put you off. You'll still find them (almost) all to be catchy, singable numbers. My genre is "lo-fi pop." This album was all recorded on 4 track. 

It's free to download. 

Paradise Lounge

So this is the video I mentioned. It is a song from my second album, Darger II, which is currently out of print. It was only ever issued on cassette anyway. 

What do you think?

Tell Me What You Mean

This is fast-cheap-easy for you. On Friday night, we got the kids in bed and set up our camera in the back yard. We had some lights to use, but the regular outdoor flood lights on the back of the house worked fine. The first take was ok. We could have used it, but I wanted to try again. I made James take a shot or two of vodka and cointreau while I finished a glass of wine before the second take. And here it is. 

Someone on youtube "disliked" it already, so if you don't like it, you are not alone. :)

Fairview

So I had a comment regarding creativity and pressure on my recent post about how much I am enjoying painting.

Pressure to create is the one thing that is always sure to stop me dead in my creative tracks. It's not like artists block or fear of bad feedback. It's like as soon as there are expectations, everything from ideas to desire dries right up (but not creative energy) and is replaced by a bad attitude. Even when the pressure is self-inflicted.

So how does one deal with this?

I can't say I have a sure fire cure, but I know what worked for me. 

A few years ago, before we had kids, two of my brothers came to stay with James and me. We were all really creative, the four of us. We liked to draw and make clothes. And we all had bands and we were all in each others' bands. No Yes, Charles and Henri/Cooper, St. Lucien's Choir and Darger. All under one roof. 

Just about every night, we sat around a bottle of wine and shared our latest songs with each other. We teased each other and picked on each other the way siblings do, but deep down, I knew their songs were amazing, mostly better than mine. Before long, we started getting a little competitive. 

Very competitive.

Eventually, I felt like I had to produce more and better material every day, plus contribute kick ass bass-lines on the spot at our almost nightly band practices. I was unable to paint anything that made me happy and my songs stopped representing me the way they should have.

So I took a vacation. I told myself didn't have to do anything. If the Spirit moved me to pick up my bass? I might. If a song wrote itself inside my head and I felt like picking up a pen to write it down? Maybe I would. But I didn't have to. I released myself from all pressure to create and I informed the boys of this as soon as the decision was made. 

I can't say everything suddenly got better or turned out ok. James and I survived as a couple, my brothers made it out alive. But we went our separate ways for a while.

I eventually got back on my feet and James came out better than before.

So there it is. Make a conscious decision not to accept any pressure -even from yourself- and maybe you will get back to where you want to be. 

Pink Elephant

Here's a song about pink elephants and various other animals. It was recorded in our new studio/lounge. The room is so stinkin' disorganized in the video, but I swear this place is going to look like a genuine mom cave before I'm through with it...

Paint Me

Here's my latest song. It is a love song to Picasso.

My Lovely

I'm really loving this song these days! It is super easy to play, but I dare you to attempt to learn all the millions of lyrics. (Did Wes Anderson introduce you to this song in Darjeeling Ltd or are you hipper than I am?)

Playing guitar has become a fairly important part of my life lately. It is so relaxing during these hectic midterms.

School could easily have me stressed to the max. But it doesn't. I balance it with all my other responsibilities and it just becomes one more thing. The thing I do after the kids are asleep.

Better get back to work now.

(P.S. Spring Break is coming up pretty soon and rumor has it that the latest Darger album is waiting in the wings to burst forth in all its catchy popness.)

Collection: Glasses

Apparently, I horde glasses. Whenever I get new ones, I keep the old ones and sometimes still wear them, despite the out-of-date prescription!

I used to really have a problem with the shape and girth my nose. So as a teen (because my nose was so impossible to diminish in any way), I really wanted glasses to hide behind. Finally, at age 14, I got an eye exam and my first pair. Thick, plastic, tortoise-shell perfection. They eventually got smashed (in a totally worth it manner) and I began a long and frustrating relationship with America's Best Contacts and Eyeglasses.

Here you may enjoy viewing my collection, sans one pair I cannot find. I'm afraid there is no avoiding seeing my nose many times also, unless of course you were to close your computer and walk away which I recommend you do immediately.

 1. Vintage with someone else's prescription. But they were made for me!

2. Math Nerd

3. These were my one and only's for years. *true love*

4. Copying James

5. Ms. Professional

6. All at once?

7. These ones are my everyday go-to glasses. They go on my face as soon as I wake up in the morning. Every day.

Homework Photobooth

Math

Math+microsoft refusing to admit that my proof of purchase link is valid

Math+Microsoft+Moscato

Moscato

Mmmm, yummy. Homework!

Fictional Bands

We've got soooo many bands: No Yes, Darger, MBF, Charles & Henri, Johnny Hand & the Hots; the list goes on and on. Trouble is, most of them are not real. I mean, they're real in the sense that it's a group of people who get together and play original music. But they're not real in the sense of a Band that drives around in a van and works on a business plan, man. Nope, we do it for its own sake. Don't get me wrong, if someone offered me money for my music or to play a show, I would take it! But it's not a career. It's a way to connect with our friends and loved ones and hopefully meet more of them.

So we treat the bands like works of fiction. We play roles, use stage names, wear costumes. We assume alter egos. Our Wolf Note label has dozens of artists and bands, but only consists of about half a dozen actual people. And why not?