I suppose I should begin with what you need to know about me... I am a very happy person. I love to write, I love to laugh, I love to love, I love emotions with the exception of rage and jealousy, I suppose. I love my family, I love my children, I love my cats and I love my dog. I love nature, I love my sleep, and I love to read. I love diversity and I love tradition. I love music...
and this is where this blog connects to my CBC Radio One page, for with almost every memory that I can recall, there is a musical association. I can place the song that was playing if there was music on. In our home, there was and always will be music playing somewhere. Particularly in my mind. It's a busy place in there. I have a lot on the go, and I say yes far more often than I should.
I am a slow and deliberate songwriter. Which is not to say that I am a slow writer. I write with exceptional speed, and I have boxes and boxes of lyrics. It just takes me a hell-of-a long time to find that melody. What I consistently find interesting as a writer is that the songs I like the least are the ones that people in a club will respond the best to. How bizarre. I wonder if we singers just seem to summon enough of the right amount of passion in those unlikeable tunes to really convince our audience that it's a good tune. I guess the negative energy meets positive performance energy and you wind up with a two-fer on the emotion scale. All I know is, it has certainly forced me to re-evaluate some of my songs and make an effort to see what people dig in them.
Lets see... I play guitar, I use it to relax and I love fingerpicking. I think I am a crappy, crappy rhythm player but I have been told by my friends, genius players all, that I am silly and should just be more confident and play live more. I play guitar to find the melody of a song... it rarely just arrives on my mental musical doorstep. I have a Seagull Tobacco full-body guitar which I LOVE. It has the warmest sound, full and rich. Lends itself entirely to my style of singing. I also have a Mapletop Seagull Cutaway with a Fishman pickup. It's nice and bright, but the neck is not nearly as lovely as the Tobacco, kind of baseball-battish, and the bright tone, while pleasing to the ear is kind of grating after a while. It records beautifully, though. I learned to play a bit of piano when I was 18, and picked it up again in my 30's but nothing to write home about. I should try writing a song on piano, but efficiency of time is paramount in my life right now... If I write on piano here, I have to go downstairs to the studio, turn it on, find the dang piano sound somewhere amongst all the doo-hickey synth sounds there and well... it's just easier to pick up the guit-box and play.
I sing all day long. Drives some people at my day-job nuts, I'm sure, but it makes me happy, and the important people around me happy and I've often been told it has made someone's day. I take requests, too. Where do I work? In a high school! "Miss, you rock!" It's always the goths and punkers that notice, too. They seem to have the best ears... Interesting. I'll say to them, "Oh, thank you. I guess it's not the kind of music you would normally listen to." The surprising answer usually is (and I should really cease to be surprised now) "I like all kinds of music. Punk(or Metal or Goth or Emo) is just what I identify myself with." Isn't that cool? We shouldn't despair for the future. I know some really wonderful teenagers. Our futures are in their hands, we should treat them better. Anyway, I digress... I'm not one of those annoying singers (at least I don't think I am) who sings right in your face when you're talking to them. I stop if someone addresses me, and if I'm feeling blue or foul and I can't pick myself up, I stop singing. People walk by and say "Dee, where's my music?" Nice, eh?
I'm halfway finished an album, and although the goal was June, then November, and now March... I'm taking it easy on myself pressure-wise. I have a great deal on my plate. John and I are trying to get things ready for bookings for the summer season. I have two grown sons who still need me, aging parents to whom I am entirely dedicated to and need help from time to time, a relationship to maintain, my brothers and sister who are my best friends and life in general. You will see an album this year... when, I cannot promise but it's coming, it's coming. I will tell you that what is coming is making me very proud.
In closing this inaugural blog of mine, I'd like to tell you all what I believe and what I hope any fan or friend or future friend of mine might believe...Be good to your family, you are going to need each other one day whether you believe it or not and you will be happier if there is no weirdness between you. Be good to strangers, you don't know if they will be a co-worker or family member one day, and again, you don't want to have weirdness because of thoughtless act or word. If this has already happened, be big enough to apologize. Life is too short. Take an active role IMMEDIATELY in saving this planet! It's all we have and our days are seriously numbered. We are at that brick wall that Dr.David Suzuki so prophetically spoke of, we had better turn the wheel or brake, NOW! Call your local politician's office and ask what they are doing to change this dangerous course we are on and what you can do to help. War, Employment, Interest Rates, Bird Flu will be minor priorities if we are facing Climate Change. Our coastal cities east to west and north to south will be submerged. Don't believe me? Check the weather today? Wherever you live. Is that what you'd call NORMAL? Love your children, know that they are a treasure and our future depends on what you teach them. Take that role seriously. Finally, I ask you all to talk to the elderly. Really. Just say hi. Smile at them, chat with them. They have so much to tell us, so much to share. It means so much to them, and you might be the only person they have spoken to in a week. On that note...
Don't worry, my blogs are usually a lot more light-hearted. I just wanted you to get an idea of who I am...
love, Dee