07.26.06
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 8:48 am by Deb
I realize I haven’t written in a very long time, but life hijacked me. We now have our 3-song CD all done, and I am almost recovered from a very exciting and exhausting festival. One of my co-crew chiefs was too sick to come. She had all of our newly purchased arts and crafts supplies. The festival was very short on volunteers and had moved to a new site. Things were very well run. The new site was set up just like the old site, but there are always things that need tweaking at a new place. I also brought Grandsweetie with me to camp for 4 nights. Rain is always guaranteed at this festival. Sometimes we only get one day of rain, sometimes a quick torrential storm, sometimes off and on the whole weekend. This weekend, we got rain on Friday (a short storm), a torrential rain on Saturday with major flooding and minor sprinkling and dreariness mixed with sun on Sunday. When it’s not raining, it’s usually uncomfortably hot and muggy. Why, you might ask, is this my favorite festival? Well, partly because of the music, of course, and mostly because of the community I have there. This festival attracts lots of other singer/songwriters, and there are lots of opportunities to jam, showcase at campsites late at night, and to network. I brought our CDs, handed some out, and we’ll see what happens now. As a crew chief, I get a pass to go backstage to watch the show, so Grandsweetie and I spent Thurs. and Friday nights back there. Dick came for the day on Sat., so we hung out with him instead of backstage, and Sunday is just too busy to do much more than the Activities for Kids area. Anyway, I’m home now, still not unpacked, and Grandsweetie is demanding my attention, which she’s had little of since we came home. I will write more later. Just one last note on all the help I had with her at the festival. Many thanks to Fyre, Spawn, and many, many friends and crewmembers who made this doable for me. This is a festival I highly recommend to everyone.
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07.15.06
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 11:12 pm by Deb
We went back to MoonDogEast today and rerecorded Roll On River. Many thanks to Hoby and Peter for all their encouragement and good advice. The finished product will be ready soon. Meanwhile, we played a gig last night, have one tomorrow and spent time recording today. Monday and Tuesday I teach music again, hopefully pick up the finished CD Monday night, make copies on Tuesday and try to get ready to leave for Falcon Ridge early on Wed. Whew! What a life! There is an old Chinese curse: May your life never be boring - or something like that. I’d like to meet the person who gifted me that at my birth. We just saw a great movie, Interstate 60, recommended by Fyregoddess that deals with the granting of a wish, sometimes with an unexpected twist. I’m sure I didn’t wish this, but who knows, maybe as a child I made a wish and it was granted in this bizarre way. Anyway, I highly recommend this movie. It’s the best I’ve seen in a long time. I also highly recommend that you check back here or at our website in the next week or so for a sample of our music.
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07.12.06
Posted in Uncategorized, life's stories at 11:38 pm by Deb
Okay, it may be cheating to use lyrics to one of my own co-written songs, but the song was inspired by this adventure. Before I get to the adventure though, I need to get to the lead in to the adventure. We were settling in to life in Santa Cruz, collecting an odd assortment of friends and acquaintances and starting to feel like a family, albeit a rather unique family, but family nonetheless. We had started out living communally with another couple in a house a little removed from the downtown area. One day a tiny puppy started following us home. This wee thing followed us down the sidewalk for a block, tumbled off the curb as we crossed the street and whined and cried when he couldn’t climb back up onto the sidewalk. We kept discouraging him, hoping he would go home, but soon realized he was hopelessly lost or abandoned. After checking with all the neighbors in the area, we took him home. Topaz was a very sweet pup of about 3 weeks. Shortly after this, our friends had to leave the state so we moved into an apartment about 3 blocks from the beach - and The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, California’s oldest amusement park and a designated State Historic Landmark. Home to two National Historic Landmarks, a 1911 Looff Carousel and 1924 Giant Dipper roller coaster, it has been owned and operated by the Santa Cruz Seaside Company since 1915. The big draw for me was The Giant Dipper. I have always had a weakness for roller coasters, especially wooden ones, so I walked down to the beach everyday for at least one ride until the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy.
When we looked at the apartment, we asked about pets. The landlord told us we could have our dog if he was small. He certainly was - and also very young. We had no idea that he would turn out to be part St. Bernard and part Malamute. We moved in and, because it was so close to downtown, X started bringing home a motley assortment of characters for coffee, or a meal, or to stay the night. Pretty soon, these folks started showing up on their own, not waiting for an invitation, obviously knowing a good thing when they saw it. We had mostly travelers and homeless people of various ilks. X brought one guy home who had been given 6 doses of electroshock therapy by accident and had won some big lawsuit. He came with an entourage of people living off his unfortunate fortune. Topaz started barking before he even came into the driveway and never stopped until he was at least a block away. One of these couples that X had collected asked us to keep their two Great Dane puppies for an hour or two while they ran an errand. Two days and much damage later, we took them to the pound. The owners were furious when they returned the next day. We were creating the same situation we had run from in Connecticut, and I needed to get out!
Our friend A wanted to go on a mini-vacation to Southern California. I grew up watching the Mickey Mouse Club on TV and had always wanted to go to Disneyland.
M-I-C - See ya real soon!
K-E-Y - Why? Because we like you!
M-O-U-S-E!!
Woo-Hoo…Anaheim, here we come. We couldn’t find anyone to watch our dog for us (talk about Karma), so we packed him up and away we went. There was a kennel at Disneyland where you could board your dog for the day, so we did. We got good and high before we went in, but not so much that we couldn’t pass the “attitude inspectors” at the gate. At that time Disneyland was refusing entry to anyone who looked suspicious. I mean c’mon now, this was an All-American place. Besides, in 1970, some yippies tried to take over Tom Sawyer Island in an attempt to “liberate Minnie Mouse.” Surprisingly enough, we made it through. It could have had something to do with the fact that I was almost 8 1/2 months pregnant. Anyway, we got in and went on quite a few rides, including the Matterhorn, which was very disappointing. For one thing, they almost didn’t let me ride on it. I had to argue for a long time and finally signed a waiver releasing them of any responsibility if I were to go into premature labor. We decided to go into the Haunted House but … as we were riding the train past the kennels we were sure we could hear Topaz whining for us. And … our “inspiration” had worn off and our feet were firmly planted back on the ground. We picked up the dog at the kennel and headed off for the parking lot. We had heard that there were cameras and undercover people throughout the park, and didn’t want to take any risks. Our inspiration made two rounds between the three of us when we suddenly heard and saw two three-wheeled vehicles racing down the roadway. X threw our inspiration away, and we leaned against the car nonchalantly. One of the Disney cops got off his vehicle and said, “Okay, where is it?” X replied, “Where’s what, officer?” We all heard a voice on the two-way radio, “It’s under the blue Impala.” The officer leaned down, picked it up and said, “Hmm, still burning, too.” We were amazed. That parking lot was huge. You couldn’t see the end of it - like a big sea of cars. How did they see us? They started to harass us, so X got real cocky, mouthing off about the laws for Marijuana having been changed recently - until the officer informed us that the new law didn’t go into effect yet. X then got very nice and cooperative, giving them two more joints out of his pocket when they asked if we had any more and telling them that, “no, we hadn’t gotten it here, but had gotten from a guy named Stoney in Golden Gate Park.” Amazingly, they believed us, or maybe they were just bored. Anyway we got away with the large quantity in the trunk of the car and didn’t get locked up in the underground Disney jail. That’s right, at least at that time, Disneyland didn’t have to report to the Anaheim police, but had their own security compound (jail) and complex security system including camera on most of the light poles in the parking lot. The Disney cop finally said in a gruff way, “Okay, get out! And don’t come back for the rest of day.” “What, that’s it,” we didn’t say. X did ask how they knew we were out there getting high in their parking lot. The cop replied, “The Mouse is everywhere.” We went to Knott’s Berry Farm and returned to the enchanted kingdom the next day fully inspired and hit the Haunted House first thing. It was worth the wait.
875 © 1975 P&D Cavanaugh
Everybody’s worried about Big Brother
Looking over their shoulders checking one another
While old man Disney is frozen in ice
Making sure someday he gets his slice
And I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.
Yes, I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.
Well there’s Disney world and there’s Disneyland
And Epcot Center so big and grand
And one in Japan and one who knows where
With mansions in the sky and castles in the air
But I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.
Yes, I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.
Yes, he’s everywhere…watch out now.
Well there’s the Disney channel with Disney ads
Following fashions and all the latest fads
It’s a world of laughter, a world of fun
Reality’s gone. Imagination’s begun
And I say people beware, because the Mouse is everywhere.
Yes, I say people beware, because the Mouse is everywhere.
Yes, he’s everywhere…watch out now…why, because we like you!
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07.11.06
Posted in Uncategorized, babble at 9:39 pm by Deb
Okay, I think I’m getting bored with writing about my past. I just can’t seem to find the time to do it, and anyway I’ve already lived these stories. Do I really want to go over them all again? I’m starting to feel like my life is and was boring. Maybe this is just a phase. Maybe I just need to decide to take a break from my past and concentrate on Being Here Now. Though coming up is the birth of my first child, another cool concert and another cross country road trip with that child, then more cross country and more unique characters, another child, more cool concerts, more cross country and on and on. Is there anyone out there reading this? What do you think? Should I tell you more, and what do you want to hear?
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Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 3:54 pm by Deb
Well, we did get three songs recorded on Saturday. One of them we’re thrilled with, one we’re satisfied with, and the third is a little disappointing, especially because it was the one I wanted the most. Maybe that’s why it didn’t turn out as well. Oh well, I’m hoping that the final version (after being mixed and tweaked) will be passable. It feels like all of a sudden things are moving forward very quickly. The reality is that I’ve worked toward all of this for a long time with slow but steady progress. The current forward movement is more dramatic, so feels more sudden. It’s akin to a relatively unknown musician finally gaining popularity and everyone saying that they were an overnight success. What?! How many years did it take to get there? There’s no such thing as an overnight success. Hopefully the final versions of these songs/tune will be done fairly soon and I can post at least a taste.
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07.02.06
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 3:19 pm by Deb
Back in May I entered my song, “Within the Giant’s Eye,” in a national lyric contest and just found out that I made it to Round 2. Out of 505 lyrics, they have whittled it down to 50. Now they will vote to get it down to the 20 final nominees who will be competing for the 2006 Best Lyric Award in Hollywood at the 2006 JPF Music Awards show on November 4th, 2006. Please send good thoughts my way.
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