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Bandshell Sunset Series - The Idea
When the pandemic first started, I would do my favourite thing I did as a kid and ride my bike through the local park, which hosts a bandshell facing Lake Ontario. I remembered one amazing summer when they used to run the Waterfront Festival there. I saw Kathleen Edwards. Hannah Georgas opened. There was a sudden lightening and thunder storm. Being on bike, I took some shelter in the park and eventually the weather passed and the music started again. The show was phenomenal, not only did these talented songwriters speak words to me, but the fresh post-rain summer air was wet with nourishment. This beautiful combination of nature and art completely encompasses the type of experience that I love getting out of life.
I started talking to the town about using our local parks and outdoor spaces for safe-zone entrainment. If social distancing was going to be with us for a while, there was a good argument that more limited numbers, and having pods for your family/group set up in proper distance from each other in front of these stages, would work! We could still enjoy performances - safely.
The Bandshell Sunset Series keeps in mind a way to bring life and culture back to our parks for everyone to enjoy.
This year the first iteration of this initiative is taking place in Oakville’s Lakeside Park, the gazebo style stage, hosting three sunset-hour shows - come enjoy the stunning vista that is our lakefront.
The first show is August 7th, featuring Dovetail Jig (parts of The Barrel Boys https://thebarrelboys.com), a bluegrass style band. These are two dynamic musicians that have been charming audiences with their original and traditional music, composed of fiddle, guitar, banjo, piano and even the odd trombone solo.
My own project with Brendan Seaton called Treasures Untold will follow - original songs and a couple covers like Killing me Softly, and The Scientist.
August 21st is going to be a fun rock covers band tuned to the natural acoustics of the park, guaranteed to get you singing along and grooving.
Sponsors include the Oakville BIA, Cindy Avis Real Estate Group, and more.
Let’s get the legs of this music machine moving, so outdoor shows become synonymous with life in Oakville! I want to engage the community, foster appreciation of local talent, and show off the beauty of experiences where nature and music collide. xoxo thanks for listening.
Just a song: southside of heaven- ryan bIngham
This Ryan Bingham, has what we call a soulful voice. The kind that can call to “th’ lord” but still be respected by a businessman, because it calls up that same longing that anybody might feel.
He calls out to be brought home, and the tambourine kept beat, Which posts that longing along, whether anyone knows anymore where that home is or not, he sure could tell ya whether he’s there or not.
Our song here opens with a wandering harmonica, one that abides by its own melody, and builds freefully into this southside of heaven song, which is plainly lovely.
When a cowboy writes a song, all he can hope for - my guess is - at the very least to feel a whiporwhill wind as it scoops up a few tumbleweeds, or maybe, at best, a cowgirl to understand.
It has got some cool tricks, the train trill, and the dynamic and unpredictable structure, all in a package that would be fine to listen to all of the time, not like a cheesy wannabe western. This song is thievish in its ability to gain your heart. And perfect in its admission of self inflicted lore. May the tune be played more.
xo
A love letter to song…
The way it hits the ear when you’re at a certain moment in life, songs tend to encapsulate more than fleeting moments.
do you have a song where you remember exactly where you were at the exact first moment you heard it? Are you a person who becomes alert to the melody first, then listens to the words second? Or which? There is such a delicate balance of play between melodic catchiness and emotion when words manage to communicate without cliche. And when you least expect it, there it is back in your life like it never left - but this time with more nostalgia. What a gift - to be able to transport back to the emotions you were experiencing, but with more wisdom.
Goo goo dolls iris holds up for me a time in my life when so much was unsure. I was a youth, I had my Walkman with me all the time, I would tape the radio, and replay songs over and over and over again. I’m not sure what I was wearing that day or where we were going. But when I hear it, I swear I am looking out the same car window, turning at fourth line and lakeshore, and passing the high school that I would later attend. It struck a chord in me. It holds an emotional power that is only unlocked by those particular sounds and words put together and presented in that unique way. That song transports me.
I fall in love again with what i accepted and wanted to hear when the relationship with the song first began. It gives again!
if you can come back to a song like that, in a new way, and you still get all the feels, then it’s a song you should keep.
And in one note at the start of the song, I am in the backyard, standing alone. And listening. And in awe.
I love it. I loved it then, and I love it now. That love will never fade. It just may not come around as often.
To me the point of the song is to open up your vulnerability and challenge it. A good song tells you how you feel about something without directly asking. And a great song makes your mind figure out some pretty awesome shit! You can see things based on lyrics with images, you can be inspired to move your body in a certain way. You can gain confidence to do something or say something to people in your life. It teaches you to put aside mundanety and see something.
let a song guide you. If it is a good one - you’ll know.
Good Time Charlie - Danny O'Keefe - Shelley cover on acoustic
When covid first hit and the lockdown began, I had to quarantine for 14 days. I spent the days walking around the neighborhood, and cooking food. I hadn’t EVER been forced into my home for two weeks straight without work, as any hard earned naive young working woman had likely not been blessed with, the gift of time.
So I made me my own little version of this song …
BOOM, I had time, so I spend it looking around the library of music available - a scene as lush and varied as the rainforest floor.
Songs like this will live forever - and I want to know why.
The concept of being “down and out” is by no means unfamiliar. I kind of like the way this one sits in its chair, and holds a hand up gently fanning the hot southern air away, while almost shrugging, and taking a big long sip of cold fresh iced tea. There is a lite omen of humility, but generally the upbeat and simple melody makes a listener feel perhaps a little less bad that things have taken a turn for the worse.
A tale of fair weather friends, not unlike Eric Clapton sang in - nobody knows you when you’re down and out. A cheekily bluesy presentation of this oh so common affliction, the one that we know all too well, but that - when it happens to you - feels oh so lonely. It’s just one more affirmation that even when the whole world seems to be turned on you - take comfort in knowing when you get back on your feet again, everybody will want to be your long lost friend. More importantly, there’s always this library of music to turn to.
It’s the writers that make time and space in song for any mood that I’m grateful for. Writing their pain, or someone else’s, into notes and imagery, telling a story that is relatable.
Ahh, the sweet acoustic guitar, and abroad airy vocal saying, I’ve been there too — i’m already feeling better.
Finished this one back on Feb 4th
Tough girl - new song (raw)
Is struggling wrong?
Everyone around you, your neighbour, your coworker, your friend, your parents? Everyone! Everyone has something they are going through.
Measurement of success too often lies in tangibles, in redemption through currency. But what about the currency of love, the currency of soul? How can we balance such to obtain both? Is that the sweet spot?
Comfort is important. Drive takes us places that laziness cannot. But i ask you right now to look at what kind of comfort is around you - Do we appreciate it enough?
When I was a tween, I used to sit at the kitchen counter and look at the local newspaper classifieds for jobs and apartments - i would imagine myself in a “loft” apartment, with a fashionable job. Carrying coffee across the street in heels. Lol.
Why - and how - do you determine that what you have is finally enough?
This song is about that girl, who I used to be, and maybe you were too. The girl that hasn’t reached a point of resonance - who has not yet had the time to take inventory of her lifely possessions and taken count of the weight of her character, not yet strategized her ability to fill the world with positive space, in her own way.
The goal. These goals. They never turn off. That’s what we need to recognize. There are no closing credits on our mini triumphs. But they make up our lives. Only you can celebrate them. So do so.
#love
What makes the heart of a gypsy tIck?
Surely none other than Stevie Nicks could woo us with the most heavenly retrospective tune, her souls-a-wanderin yet guided and heart quenching vocals, prescribe to the listener a kiss of je ne say croix towards the past. A Gypsy takes nothing but the things she can carry. So for a Gypsy to return, for a Gypsy to detail, it must be something heavily desirable, something that fills up the soul, more than just the cup. To live a life of wild and free, yet long to go back to somewhere and feed off a certain feeling, to want that familiarity, it MUST be reaaal good.
I have so much admiration for her style. She embodies a woman of strong spiritual connectedness, and shows love, sings of things that we care of, and for, and with. With that eloquent touch of black magic.
What makes the Gypsy heart tick? Sharing nostalgia. Even if it’s just within yourself. And this song rings true of that - as if the former shell of a person in the moment she recalls is telling her now based on what she’s learned, just how it was. Like a shadow follows you around, or a mirror holds two sides, two tales, one dependant on the first. It marks the passing of time. And when a Gypsy heart ticks, it’s because she’s found someone, however breif or fleeting, that she can share that moment with, who understands - like only she can - the significance of that relief, to be in the past place, to return again, and to find this new feeling of regression, as a loving obsession, with the truth that the spirit guides you to believe. How beautiful her journey to bring this emotion to light. We need more like her in this life.
#waxingwhitchcraft
TOugh gIrl - a new song for lovers of time
https://soundcloud.com/shelley-marie-488636136/tough-girl/s-7i8T39AQaJg
hooked up my studio mic in the lounge and opened up a few tracks to put down this brand new original. First take is the base, a light second guitar over that, and harmony vocals.
hope you like it, in all it’s rawness.
Cat Power - Lived in Bars
Back when I found Cat Power, it was her album full of sweet covers. Now I get to see her original songwriting. This has soul and honest whimsy, with a muscular handle on the applicable sadness that is inevitable when being a happy young girl.
Listen to the lyrics, and her gift to everyone - hey - we’re risky, we engage in fun behaviour and walk the line between excitement and fear. And we have a family that raises and praises to do so.
“We've lived in bars
And danced on the tables
Hotels, trains and ships that sail
We swim with sharks
And fly with aeroplanes in the air”
Perfection. Just the right ode to care free fun, an appreciation of adventure which leads to self discovery - what it means to fill time just building character by pushing the envelope for the sake of experiencing new things, sans strategy or over contemplation.
I used to exaggerate a lot. I wouldn’t call it lying… but hey I was a “Creative child.”
When i think of Cat Power, i never forget the time that I wanted to be an actress, so I went for these expensive head shots in a studio. The photographer wanted me to be comfortable so he let me choose the music. I chose Cat Power. Then i proceeded to tell him I’d be going on a backpacking trip through some of Europe at the end of the summer. That part was true, I saved up money working through the summer and went to London, Barcelona, Nice, Venice, Florence, Rome, etc... But in the open air of this neat old studio with all the glamour of camera equipment, sensing the potential of artistic success, I decided it would RAMP up my riskiness and “cool factor" ifI told him we’d be hitchhiking. lol. I think he asked if my parents knew about the plan, and I can’t remember what I said but it must have deflated me to be phony, because those head shots sucked. I imagined it was karma.
“There's nothing like living in a bottle
And nothing like ending it all for the world
We're so glad you have come back
Every living lion will lay in your lap”
Finding this song reminded me what the adventure of being that young was like. Like a pinball bouncing from thing to thing trying to get points, but ending up drifting down the middle back into the release chamber. This song captures her loving knowledge and acceptance that it’s ok to just try things on. Some stick, some don’t, but that’s all the same in the game of life, aint it. It just makes you stronger.
Cave Singers - unearthinG a sOlid whole album
So I saw lots of great bands. Alongside many genres, some of the best shows are the indie bands, like Elliot Brood, and Born Ruffians. These bands give off a warmth and care for our relationship to each other and somehow also to nature. They play their blend of songs about love, and experiencing human emotion. Among some of the indie bands I have seen are the softly-gnarly and soothing tunes of the Cave Singers!!! Energetic shows, pop style song structure - and hearty and passionate lyrics. To stand among other fans, considerate listeners, and be woo’d by a romantic riff or two. I really liked the show, and this album.
The ultimaTe fuNk Soundtrack - super fly
FOUND SOMETHING!! There is THIS version of Curtis Mayfields PUSHERMAN - only (far as I can tell) available on the music streaming site called Hype Machine.
When it comes to tune discovery, my main streaming source is usually Google play, followed by my own library of iTunes, cds, records, mp3s etc., because it’s always good to rediscover. MIXes and DANCE music - when I want underground, or long mixes, or house/dance I use SoundCloud. But then, more underground lies therein the Hype Machine.
THIS RANDOM bootleg version has been a Mf staple.
I just fished out my vinyl copy of Superfly (Curtis Mayfield) which I bought in Victoria maybe over ten years ago. Back then I was just getting into building my collection. I pulled it out of a stack, i got goosebumps as a friend passed behind me and whispered - that is a good album. And so it was bought.
yea. The album is awesome.
HOWEVER, like a good remastered track, the mix/blend/volumed are mega important if you’re comparing to the sound quality of today’s music. Who is UCP Berlin? And could the person responsible for the above version PLEAZE do the same kind of subtle remix of other funk songs? There is definitely a lot of material that could benefit with this kind of careful improving touch. Like finding a gemstone on the beach and shinning it up.
Isolation albUm part four: robert plant & alison krauss - raising sand
I pull out zeps Robert Plant’s collaboration with Alison Krauss. Current mood? Calm and comforted.
The two perform (with beautiful harmony) this really PRETTY group of lyrical love letters. The song titled “please read the letter,” fits perfectly as the embodiment of the central plea for this entire album. You listen once through, then you want to go back and listen again. Each song is not independent in this collection, released in 2007. It’s not linear either. We are lucky to have them do it like this, a gift that keeps on giving, an album that maintains its common theme while giving more to the listener each time. Like holding a crystal in the sunlight, different shades glittering from every angle.
“somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail, bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues.”
And that’s what this album will do for You. Taking heartbreak, rejection, love lost, or whatever; making it palpable and for some reason, as musicians, artists, poets everywhere may confide, finding those emotions softly enjoyable. To feel, is to breathe in the air of love.
T bone Burnett hand picked these songs specifically for the duo, who need no glue to hold the bunch of them together as they are naturally blended and you can hear that. hopeful and longing, yet mature and understanding. Blue grass, red heart, honest hands.
worth flipping all four sides. Again and again. 🔆
Isolation album part three: david bowie - changes
I wouldn’t consider myself qualified to write about Bowie’s music. He is a true “star” and something about the massiveness of an artists popularity always makes me nervous to really talk about their work. There’s too much in depth writing around already.
what strikes me about Bowie songs is that they can range vastly in rhythmic and melodic patterns, even within the confines of a single song. Listening thru the album can gracefully guide you from space age contemplative lore, to pure unbridled rock and roll. How does he accomplish this? Confident imagery, careful selection and creation of visible characters who can embody stories that live between the lines of a whimsical but intentional music. Bowie is social, he’s busy, he is art, and he is pop - his swagger and poetry create a unique appeal. Strange, but uniquely cool.
One of the greatest songs of all time… Bowie owns the term - fame. Showing off with a cockiness that is so unique it is actually cute, is what makes him famous. Bowie is - and always was - Linguistically and aurally seductive. The imagery he uses is alive and he brings to life a real concoction of colour and personality.
“fame, what you get is no tomorrow”
Isolation album: part tWo - blue Rodeo - outskirts
My love for blue rodeo runs deep. I recall choice nights spent in our family music room with the hunter green walls and decorative canards, volume up on a good sound system. Also many rounds of 5 days in May, while watching my roommates play original Mario. I have seen them live in Hamilton, Jim Cuddy introduced the song 1,000 arms with the story behind the lyrics - about a woman living and functioning with a manic disorder, who rides a recognizable bicycle, and the community knows who she is, so when she goes off on those manic benders, she’s got 1,000 arms to guide her back home again. Safety. Compassion. #communitygoals.
blue rodeo’s is a country music that shines with neon lights thru the fog, (there is a wonderful write up inside this alb cover). Pure vocal work, commanding attention emotively and proudly, and clearly through soft twangy guitar strings. Canadiana thru to the core, love songs that don’t pull on the heart strings cheaply, but nestle in to the farthest soul reaches, emoting pain and ease at the same time. It is a soundtrack that can sit beside you like a friend in times of need.
“you were never the same way twice”
cool thing, find a copy of outskirts and read the blurb/story/scene painted by Phillip Martin 1986, as it creatively encapsulates this one of a kind band.
Isolation Album part one: bob weir - blue mountain
Sitting cross legged on the carpet in front of my record player, i get down and dirty with the sounds of my collection.
I didn’t know josh Ritter wrote so much for Bob Weir!
Listening party.
He’s listed on every song so I guess he wrote it with him? Have you listened to blue mountain yet? Ghost towns, questions of love long lost, rivers and storms; capturing the things in song that can slip so easily through your fingers in life. Perfect subjects for the lite and beautiful resonating folk-indie-Americana melodies. To choose to end the album on an ambiguous note too, gives the impression that their cowboy journey has not yet and maybe never will reach its end, with “one more river to cross.”
it’s Weir’s controlled country voice, reaching to deliver his soulful hurt in a way that is relatable but somehow still promising - that pulls me thru the songs. Resolution is found in the common yet new melodies on acoustic guitar, making this a great album for a Sunday morning when maybe you’re having breakfast alone and are warming up for an introspective day. Good set up for the next more heavy hitting album.
next on my listening journey…
Feelin Fine
It always amazes me how setting an intention to do something, can manifest direct results. Whether you speak it aloud to someone, or write it down - setting the intention to do something motivates the reciprocal action. New songs afoot — as intended, more content about life as a context, juicy nature, desire to change the world, spread love — these songs carry more weight than my writing before. Looking more outwards this time, rather than inwards, which can become a very enclosed space. Breaking down the walls of the cage, opening into the collective mind, helping to drive positive change. #change is definitely a recent theme, as well as progress and design.
“Don’t mistake fear, for weakness
You know that everybodies been through this
In terms that, they only understand
When they wake up and ask for a helping hand”
“We’re the team, heavenly divine, what’s yours is mine, we got lots of time”
“Friends
Whether coming or just passing
Sorry I was laughing and I know
That we
Can cover up so much pain
But forget your complex issues on your own
I Forget you’ve got your issues on your own”
some new lyrics.
Aug 16th
Opening for a dear friend at the Moonshine Cafe
On August 16th. Oakville, corner near Lakeshore and Kerr Street. It’s his 30th birthday - right of passage to break into the 3’s — good things happen in 3’s! Thrilled to be launching a few new songs at ya. Come by, i’m getting some new chord progressions, and mixing it up a bit. Love my Fender. Life is good.
I’ve been mixing house tracks a lot lately, which ends up lending a new rhythm to my acoustic work. I am only as good as my instrument, or better yet - my form is defined by the limitations of sound that the instrument provides! I love the bubble of acoustic guitar. Especially when i can counter act that laid back emotionalism with the Saturday night DJ sessions. Looking to get jammed up, visit me on sound cloud as Shelley Marie. https://soundcloud.com/shelley-marie-488636136
Found my solace in a song
Began writing and it all just came to me. A simple song, a summer song. I’m excited and thrilled at the result. It’s about purity and truth, and it is purity and truth. This is one I hope will bring a smile to a special someone’s face when played. The melody begins dramatic, and then lifts into a major. The lyrics spin a gentle sparkle across the earth. I hope one day you will hear it.
Moving Along ~ About Poetry
Well it's been a mostly slumbering summer, but the music was alive tonight. Sang with Melissa and Blake. Their songs informed me, reminded me, and controlled my own song choice. When you listen to other writers, and the odd cross-hatch of a theme comes along, it's fun to pick up and riff of that and turn it into something new. I look at writing a bit like a snowball gathering speed down a hill. As it travels it picks up the sickest bits of snow, giving you a big ball of a song. Sometimes weak, sometimes strong.
A beast could not tear me away from this path,
my mind, like a number, an equation called math.
My strategy, is un-wravelling, travelling through time,
not a thought goes towards the next word set in rhyme,
Yet they come to me, summon me, bring forth a theme,
and I yearn for the listening ears that you bring.
So I thank you, my old and my now and my new,
for to understand me, is my poetry through and through.