Sealegs
-noun
1-The ability to adjust ones balance to the motion of a ship, inversely the slow readjustment to stable land.
2-The title of Irish singer songwriter Riona Sally Hartman’s Debut CD.
Here's a rough sketch of what I was thinking of doing with the lyrics I've been working on lately (a very rough sketch recorded with my computers in built mic). The lyrics are:
I've watched the swollen sea swallow girls in one piece
And they've come back out cold, clean and shining
And I've watched songbirds fly away with grown men
An leave nothing but streaks in the sky behind them
All while I've been waiting for the sweetest word.
The sweetest word.
I've been waiting for ripeness to reach it's peak
and I've been waiting for the cold to crisp the leaves
I'm still waiting
'Coz I was told and I believe
The stem will break but not too late for falling fruit it's sweetness take
from branch to fruit, from fruit to me, from me to you
Untitled as of yet but one idea for a title is maybe 'Miss Havisham and the Sweetest Word'.....or maybe not. Maybe I'll just call it 'Waiting', I dunno yet....let's just go with 'Untitled'
I've watched the swollen sea swallow girls whole
And they've come back out clean, cold and shining
And I've watched birds carry grown men away
While, for the sweet word, I've sat here, impatient and wanting
I also considered having the last line:
While for the sweetest word I've sat waiting, pining
But I thought maybe that was a bit too rhyme-y. Actually maybe it's all too rhyme-y.......hmm there's a lot of self questioning in this post. Maybe I should go think about this some more <---There it is again! The self questioning! Ok no more maybes, I should definitely go think about this some more.
If you think you might have an answer to any of my 'maybes' in the post (or would like to share an opinion on any post for that matter) you can leave comments here on the blog or on my facebook page. I like feedback, on my list of favourite things it's right up there with cake.
If you've never heard any of my music before don't listen to this song! If you have heard some of my music before you might notice it's a bit different from the rest.
The story behind it goes something like this;
I was visiting a friend at the acquired brain injury ward of a local hospital recently. There was a woman on the ward who I quite unimaginatively nicknamed The Screamer because that's all she did all day long. While my friend was sleeping and The Screamer was screaming, I came across an app that claimed to translate any language on earth to English, so I decided to try it out. I snuck into The Screamer's room and left my phone there for a little while with the app open to work it's magic. I took what it translated, set it to music and unimaginatively named the song The Screamer;
This song was brought to you by the letter S and the number 5.......and musicians Thibaud Keller on guitar, Arthur Johnson on bass, Bonnie Stewart on drums and sound engineer Aidan OBrien. Aidan is studying sound engineering in college and this song was recorded as an assignment for his course. We had a brilliant weekend in the studio and ended up recording a few jazz standards too.
It's my birthday next week and to celebrate turning 20 (ha! yeah right!) I'll be singing upstairs in Whelan's. I CANNOT WAIT! I've finished a few of the songs-in-progress that I've been posting up here about and I'll be playing them for the first time with my super-awesome-amazing band. Joining me on the night will also be a very special guest......drum roll....... Ross Breen! I played with him in The Cobblestone a while ago and he's excellent. Very Jeff Buckley-esque. If you'd like to join me for a slice of birthday cake and a sing along tickets are available from my website (just click the image above and it'll bring you straight there).
If you like compiling your friends faces in cyber book form (that's my overwrought way of saying if you're on facebook) than you can see the event page here.
That's Thursday Oct 20th in Whelan's upstairs. Tickets €8 (students/unwages/OAP) or €10. Doors at 8pm.
See you there
There are so many great gigs happening around Dublin at the moment that I thought I'd just mention a few upcoming ones that you might like to check out. Actually I might start doing this regularly, maybe a gig guide once a month or something. Full disclosure; some of these musicians are friends or acquaintances of mine...but that's not why I'm recommending their gigs.
The Jazz Kitchen is pretty much the place to be every Wednesday but I'm particularly looking forward to this one.
The Glór Sessions in The International for the next three Mondays I only recently discovered the Glór Sessions and I'm so annoyed that I'm late to the party coz now they're wrapping up. Only three more to go. If you haven't been before then better late than never but get there early coz it's guaranteed to be packed. If you can't squeeze in you can always watch live online.
Recently I needed some new press shots so I called up my BFF (I don't really call her that in real life I promise) and she came over with her fancy camera to help me out. We had a pretty simple idea; I put on a dress and jumped in front of a green wall. We got a pretty nice poster out of it I think:
But added bonus: we also got a few good 'hit by a bus' shots too:
Apparently collectors of Picasso painting would have his paintings screwed into the walls when he'd come visit becuase he'd take one look at them as say 'Oh that's not finished, I'll just take it home and make a few minor adjustments and drop it back to you tomorrow' and they'd never get the paintings back coz he'd keep insisting it wasn't finished yet.
Here's an update on yesterday's post, the lyrics are still unfinished (I didn't just compare myself to Picasso, not even a little bit).
I want my words to eat me
Like a big starving thing
Eat my bones my skin my hair
Till there's nothing left to see
But my words
Only my words will be left of me.
Still Hungry! Every night when you seek sleep
They'll thunder through your window
Just when you think you're alone
You'll hear my words looking for something good to eat.
Some new lyrics I started this morning after reading this paragraph from a short story*:
Do you have any pets? he asked. No. Not even a cat? No. Why not? I'm not sure I could care for a pet. I travel a lot. But you could get a very little pet that wasn't very hungry. I knew all about those things that weren't very hungry; my life was full of them. I didn't want any more weaklings who were activated by water and heat but had no waste and were so small that when they died, I buried them only with forgetfulness. If I was going to bring something new into my home, it would be a big starving thing.
And the lyrics in progress are:
My words will eat me
Like a big starving thing
My hair and bones
There'll be nothing left to see
But my words
My songs will eat me
Like a big starving thing
In it's jaws dying
I'll hear the sweet singing
Of my songs
Initially for the first two lines I had 'I want my words to eat me like a big starving thing. Consume my bones my skin my hair till there's nothing left to see but my words'. Not sure which I prefer yet. I only just scribbled these down today so by the time I'm finished with them they may have changed beyond recognition. They might go well with some lyrics I posted up here a little while ago....maybe, we'll see.
*The short story is called 'The Boy from Lam Kien' and it's by Miranda July
I've been working on the song 'Hand Holding' that I put a clip of up a little whole ago so I thought I'd update the work in progress. Here are the lyrics:
Hand holding remolding our fingerprints histories.
(find me here)
Hips joining unfolding the romance of alchemy.
(find me here)
-chorus Find me here
You won't find me here
Find me here
When forehead to forehead, a cheek pressed to kindred cheek,
(find me here)
Eyes seek and keep contact till eye colours blend and bleed.
(find me here)
-chorus Find me here
You won't find me here
Find me here
-bridge *Lips loosen words form from thin air, you won't find me,
Tongues touching find new growing teeth that were never there....
......I've almost got the next few lines of the bridge, they're on the tip of my tongue but they're happy there for the moment unfortunately.
*I'm still working on the bridge and the most recent update is:
Lips loosen words form from thin air, you won't find me,
Tongues run over new growing teeth, you won't find me,
Thin twin strands of hair knot and plait, you won't find me...
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it"
Martin Luther King JR.
The song of America's civil rights movement was not a call to violence, it was 'Dancing in the Streets'! That's dancing in the streets, not setting fire to them. With that in mind here's an excerpt of a new song I've started writing:
I went shopping yesterday which means I spent all day having radio 'friendly' pop songs blasted at me. 'Friendly'!! Friendly to whom? Certainly not me!
Throughout the course of the day I was instructed approximately 12 times to 'look to the left, everybody look to the right' by Jessie J. The only reason I was given for being instructed to look left then right was 'because we're paying with love tonight'! Can someone explain to me how looking left, and then right, illustrates in any way whatsoever the anti consumerist message of Jessie J's opus that is 'Price Tag'?
The Acoustic Picnic The Back Loft 7 - 11 St Augustine Street Friday August 26th @8pm
A one night only pop up festival of music and poetry all in the stunning setting of The Back Loft gallery. Bring along a picnic, or a few beers, and enjoy ‘the best thing to happen to Irish literature since the beatnicks’ and ‘goosepimple-inducing’ music. The night promises to be a genuinely eclectic picnic of Irish talent. BYOB/BYOP (the P's for picnic)
Music on the night from Ríona Sally Hartman and Peter Delaney
And spoken word poetry from The Poetry Chicks and Stephen James Smith
Tickets are €8 when bought in advance from www.rionasallyhartman.com or €10 on the door.
