222. Between Two Trees – Lady Lamb the Beekeeper Cover

SONG TWO-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO

So, my 365 project turned into more of a song project.  I keep telling people, “I’m going to finish it! I will!”  Well, the words slipped out of my mouth and into the air, and after a while I didn’t believe it anymore.  Months and months would pass, and I always find an excuse.

No more. I’m sitting here at this computer dreading even logging into my wordpress account, feeling my own damning inner disappointment.  I talked to Brian Speaker, the friend who inspired the 365 Project through his own (totally completed) 365 Project called Spiral Notebook.  His advice? “The 365 Project is what you want it to be.  If you’re done at day 200, you’re done.  You set the rules, and no one can say any different.”

I started the 365 with an All-Or-Nothing mentality.  I did just fine, with only a few missed days, until 214.  I remind myself that that number is huge, and I’m not a disappointment even though I didn’t finish by January 4.  I remember when that day came and went.  I was rushing to finish the movie score I had picked up months earlier, and now, I have 214 songs and an entire soundtrack behind me.  Not so bad, and now I’m telling myself: finish.  I miss the 365.  And really, even though I’m not sure exactly how many are listening out there - I miss you.

Between Two Trees – Lady Lamb the Beekeeper Cover

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper has been heard at least twice here at the 365.  Her voice is unmistakable and unforgettable.  I recently saw her open for Beruit  in a magical-only-Aly-Spaltro-could-command-that-big-of-an-audience-all-by-herself kind of performance.  She played this song that night, and I recalled when I first heard it.  Pearl and the Beard was in Maine doing a show in Portland on a mini-tour.  The evening consisted of Dylan Metrano from Tiger Saw and Lady Lamb the Beekeeper.

I am posting a video of my cover of this song as shot by incredible photographer Josh Maready in a subway tunnel in New York City.  It was almost 2 am by the time we finished.  Trains were about 5-10 minutes apart and the song is somewhere in between there in length, so we had a hard time finding a quiet spell.  This take was the only one not interrupted by an arriving subway train, until, serendipitously, one arrived right at the end of it like a period on a sentence, taking the sound away and out.  I suspect Rick Gribenas might be a little pleased, wherever he is.  It worked great, but it was the only take where I forgot lyrics…sacrifice for the greater good I suppose.

Watch Lady Lamb the Beekeeper’s video of her song shot by the always amazing photographer Shervin Lainez.

365 Songs on New Release: Lady Lamb the Beekeeper

Shervin Lainez? Did you take this amazing picture?! http://www.shervinfoto.com

Good morn to you!

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper from

Day 15: Ghosts In My Teeth

Day 125: Apple

has just released a 15-track album of previously unreleased and live material which include these two songs from the 365. Even more, Lady Lamb was just voted Best Folk in Boston at the Boston Music Awards, so jump on this while it’s here and available.  You’ll absolutely be the talk of the town.

GET IT HERE:

http://ladylambthebeekeeper.bandcamp.com/

May your day be filled with sugarless sunshine (as I have taken it away [sugar] from mine, and I’m doing just fine).

-ehp

146. Dead Man in a Hotel (Email)

DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX

This is an email my mother sent me recently.  Yeah.  I’m singin’ an email.  She will update me on various happenings in my hometown and such.  She used to work for the mayor but has since retired and is now a librarian: a dream she’s had a for a long time, and I think she is very happy.  She has a really funny way of writing her messages to me, and I love getting them.  (I’m now wondering if this is the last email I’ll get since I’m using it for a song… yikes…).

Russ has a manager for the hotel and he noticed that the dead man stopped collecting his mail, so the manager stuck it under the door.  Days went by and the dead guy didn’t get his mail from under the door so Russ and the manager unlocked the apartment door and found it was chained on the inside.  They were very afraid of what was inside so Russ called the police.  What they found inside was the dead guy in a little room among all his hoarded junk.  Russ says he was a packrat.  Anyway, they think he was dead at least seven days.  Russ said the smell wasn’t bad but the mess he is cleaning up is.  They could find no relatives or friends, so the state took over and buried his body. That’s sad.  Russ said he was a “cipher.”  But he loved to collect frogs – all types of frogs– big little stuffed ceramic.  And then he finally croaked…

The guitar part I have STOLEN from a FREAKING awesome song off of Lady Lamb The Beekeeper’s seven-inch record (and slowed by my record player) called Sunday Shoes.  I recorded the intro, cut and looped it to create the base for this song.  Slowing Lady Lambs voice on this recording is awesome, by the way: she sounds like some sweet old gospel singer.

(And someone told me once that, quote: “Fade outs are for people who can’t write endings.”  I will let you ponder on that.)

This is an important experience for me lyrically. Lots of words.  And a story.  Unusual for me.

This American Life has done a story about this very topic… it’s so sad to leave this world and have no family or friends to take care of your final business… the state has to clean you up and bury you.  The people who show up at the graveside are a few city workers.  I’ve tried to find a link to the episode but can’t remember what it’s called.

May you have a beautiful Memorial Day remembering those you’ve loved and lost…

Dead Man in the Hotel

125. Apple (Lady Lamb the Beekeeper)

DAY ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE

Lady Lamb The Beekeeper

Sometimes I feel like magical things happen very quickly and unexpectedly… other times magic happens after a while of hard work and dedicated thinking… however, this song is probably a great example of the former.  Lady Lamb The Beekeeper and I have started a habit now (well, is two songs a habit?) of writing songs in short bursts (see DAY 15 Ghosts in My Teeth) .  I had a show in Portland a few days ago where Lady Lamb lives.  There was literally no time to get together that day to write something, so we stole some time after a show to write something in about 5-10 minutes.

Writing: Sitting outside in the gutter and tuning my tenor uke like a baritone, I just started playing these chords.  We quickly found a melody and swirled out these words onto paper.  Lady Lamb said she had been using “apple” in another song she’d been working on and used it for this.  I think it’s perfect.  In deciding that there would just be sung syllables and no words for the middle, there was really no plan or decision for placement or how many times we would do it.  What you are hearing now is the first and only version we did of this song.  This is why I see this as magic.  There are a few really wonderful things that happen totally by accident.  One of my favorite, totally unplanned, parts is the second time through the verse (yes, repetition is awesome), the last time we repeat “become” in the verse  before we repeat it, Lady Lamb drops out and lets me sing “become” by myself and then she begins singing a descant part using the word “become”.  It’s one of my favorite moments in the whole song.

Recording:  We had to record in a hurry, so I opted for just the internal speakers of the computer.  Not a great sound, but  it works.

I would dare say that there are more lines to be written to this song, but as it is, it’s already very sweet.  I hope you like it, too.

Apple

So suffice to say

If you walked away

I would be a lonely apple

In the core of me

There grows a seed

And it’s trying to become

La, La, La

So suffice to say

If you walked away

I would be a lonely apple

In the core of me

There grows a seed

And it’s trying to become

Become, become, become…

15. Ghosts in My Teeth

DAY FIFTEEN

Good day to you, my friend.  I hope this day finds you well, and, should the weather permit, may you attempt a Slurpy run sometime around noon. (I knew a girl who added vanilla ice cream in the middle of hers.  It was surprisingly tasty.)

Lady Lamb and the Beekeeper! You are the reason jealously is running through my veins this evening… the voice, the hair, the menacing guitar, the screaming!  (Insert any obligatory “Woo“, “Hey” or “Yeah” here.)

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (Aly Spaltro). Photo courtesy of G. Capecelatro III

This song was written in approximately 15 minutes in the larger Portsmouth, New Hampshire cemetery beneath a lovely, lonely tree.  Aly and her lovely traveling companion Maisie, drove an hour to Portsmouth just to write this song with me for the 365.  (I’m so grateful!)  Guy Capecelatro came to our aid yet again by, not only choosing the location to write this song (genius), but also carefully and skillfully tied my stereo mic up in the tree above us and has a thumb piano solo!  If the wind hadn’t been blowing so fiercely, I do believe the sound quality would not have frustrated me as much in the editing moments of this posting.  Not only was the wind a bit of a trial, but, for some reason, the video recorder on my mac decided to jump here and there which made matching up the garageband recording of the live performance impossible.  Why did we shoot a movie for this song, you’re asking yourself?  Well, I’ve been to Portsmouth, NH a few times now and each time I go I realized why I want to go back.  It’s just beautiful there, and I thought, for a little change of pace, I’d actually get video of the song today.  Everything seemed to fall into place, and I love it.  I hope you do, too.  (Again, sorry for the quality all around.  These things do happen, but I wanted you to see it anyway…)  Anyone interested in matching it up, let me know: have at it!  I’ve resolved to post everything as it is and say: Love to you!  (Oh, and who is the genius who got rid of the old iMovie and created this waste of space new version?! Who?! There is a reason I don’t put movies up anymore, and that program is it!)

EHP and Lady Lamb the Beekeeper in Portsmouth, NH. Photo G. Capecelatro III

As I mentioned earlier, I met Lady Lamb, also known as Aly Spaltro, when I was on tour with Anna Vogelzang a few years ago.  She caught my attention then and still manages to pull me in, years later.  I am enthrawled with her performance and writing style, and I will admit to you here that I had a hard time while recording and writing this with not feeling envious of her voice: so unique and beautiful.

Collaborations do a lot of wonderful things, but they can also bring up that little voice in the back of my mind that’s always critiquing, envying, and, even, punishing.  I don’t know a musician who doesn’t struggle with this aspect of the craft.  It’s a game we play with our own self-consciousness and awareness: Who am I, and how I can assure myself that I’m here and have something to offer as well.  Grass is always greener, no?  But I’m working on it.

Aly came up with her lyrics very quickly.  A few weeks ago, I had heard on the news of the death of a young South Korean supermodel who was once quoted as saying, “The more I gain, the more lonely it is…I know I’m like a ghost.” I thought, though so sad, it was beautifully poetic and wrote it in my lyric book.  This became the Ghost in My Teeth. (Something of interest: Guy only suggested right before we left for the cemetery that we go there to write the song as well, not just to film.  I had already planned on using that line with Aly before we even started writing.)

Aly (Lady Lamb) and EHP in Portsmouth, NH. Photo G. Capecelatro III

As far as the actual collaboration, she and I talked a little about ideas while driving to the cemetery, but decided in the end to just let stuff come as it wanted.  We only performed this song once, so what you’re hearing is the result of the 15 minutes we took to write it in the freezing cold. (Motivation!)  We went to the Friendly Toast for dinner (go there!), and we all had this song swimming in our minds.  The exciting thing about collaborating is the opportunity to revisit songs at a later date, fill them out, complete them if necessary, and make them even more awesome.  I hope Aly and I will get this opportunity soon.  Love you, girl.

Ghosts in My Teeth

instrumentation: guitar, cello, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper

What a sight you are for a night at the sea side

How the wasp watches you turn and toss

With the waves as cold as ghosts in your teeth

Where will you go? Will you wait for…

Where will you wait, where will you wait for…

Where will you wait, where will you wait for me?

Until tomorrow, dear friend.

EHP