09.16.07
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 8:11 am by Deb
Well, we finally did it. Last night was our long awaited show at Caffe Lena. We had a great crowd and played very well. I think it was a combination of excitement at finally headlining in a nice listening room, especially on that means so much to us, having such a warm and supportive audience, and having another person providing a different instrumentation. Whatever it was, last night was probably the best performance we’ve ever given. My grandson, T, videotaped most of the first set. Thank-you, T. I can’t wait to see it. Hopefully we can put a bit of it up on our site soon. Now the goal is to make a demo DVD so that the essence of our shows can, hopefully, get put across. We realized the other day that our music alone is not the heart of our performances, and how do you transmit that to someone who is just listening to a CD? This may be the answer. I think T is probably very good at this, so I’m excited to see the result. There were family members, old friends, new friends, and strangers there last night. Everyone were as wowed by our performance as we were. Thanks also to Dave Danks who played very well and added a new dimension and depth to our music. We just all had a blast, and it showed. I think we’ll keep playing with him occasionally and hopefully will get more gigs that warrant a third person. Maybe we’ll be The 3Ds.
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08.26.07
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 12:12 pm by Deb
We had a very fun gig last night in a new venue. We shared the show with two other musicians, Steve Grogan and Molly Durnin. We all did two alternating short sets. Although it was a minor annoyance having to bring our equipment and do all the set-up and break-down by ourselves, we still had a good time. For one thing, it was nice sharing a show with younger people. Also, there were a fair amount of people who came specifically to see us. That was a nice change. We’ve actually had a gradual increase over the last few months of people who return to see us or hear about us from friends. The down side was there was no publicity in the paper. Oh well, it was a chance to break into a new place. Molly was very good. She did two songs that she had written the night before. They were both good, but I was very impressed with the second one. I felt inspired to write and discouraged at the same time. After the show, we chatted with Mr. Math for a while. I mentioned my dilemma about not having a secluded place where I could go to compose my songs. He told me about a famous artist who painted on someone else’s back porch because he didn’t have studio, yet. My reaction to this was to dismiss it and tell him about having too many distractions from Grandsweetie when trying to write or play music. He then told me about some great mathematician who did much of his important work “with his grandchildren on his knee.” At that point, I decided to give up. He just didn’t understand. Later last night, after unwinding at home for a couple of hours, I decided to read before going to sleep. I remembered Molly’s two songs and the things that Mr. Math had told me. At 3:30 am, I had a wonderful new song that I plan to debut at our next show. It’s called “A Brand New Day.” It’s a new style for me and is fun and light. The lesson I have learned from all of this is a lesson I should have learned a long time ago: If I want something, I need to go out and grab it rather than waiting for it to find me. I’m sure I’ve learned it many times. I just get caught up in the struggle and forget. Thanks to Mr. Math for the encouragement and to Molly for the inspiration.
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04.21.07
Posted in Uncategorized, babble, music news at 8:04 am by Deb
Boo-hoo! Our Caffe Lena showed got snowed out! We’ve rescheduled for September. We have been playing so much ( 4 - 5 times a month, sometimes more) it’s been hard to do this writing. I am writing in my journal everyday, though. Thank goodness I have that at least.
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03.03.07
Posted in music news at 9:56 am by Deb
Our big show has finally come close. We were offered a Friday night at Caffe Lena. Dick used to be a big part of Lena’s. He was a companion of Lena Spencer for quite a while and was the president of the Board of Directors after Lena died. Caffe Lena was also the place where he first heard live folk music and decided to be a part of that scene. Below is our press release:
Local musicians Cavanaugh & Kavanaugh will be performing at Caffe Lena on Friday March 16th with special guest Dave Danks.
Much of the traditional music Cavanaugh & Kavanaugh performs is in the Irish and Southern Old Time tradition. Deb and Dick also perform original songs and tunes on guitars, mandolin, fiddle, mountain dulcimer, banjo and more. Life partners, as well as musical partners, who coincidentally share the same last name, they enjoy performing together and sharing their stories and songs with an audience. A subtle blend of ethnicity, humor and more, they bring their varied experiences to life on the stage. Dave Danks will be joining the C/Kavanaughs on stand-up bass and mandolin. Dave is from the Saratoga area and plays with many area musicians including The Zillionaires.
http://www.CavAndKav.com
http://www.myspace.com/cavanaughandkavanaugh
We’re hoping to record the show. We’re also planning to go back to our favorite studio, Moondog East, to do more recoding there as well. Hopefully that will happen this month or next. Wish us luck!
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12.14.06
Posted in babble, music news at 11:49 pm by Deb
Life is as crazy as ever, but things continue to fall into place just as they should. When will I ever get the message to try not to rush things, but to just let things happen in their own time? There are so many things up in the air right now that are dependent on others to be completed… As always there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything I want to… Once again I need to give up completely and surrender to the powers that be, whatever they be… This weekend will be filled to overflowing with events and commitments. I think I’ll just add a day into the weekend to accomplish the home and holiday things that will still need doing. Why did I think that I could raise a toddler and a 16-year old and pursue a career in music? And…where were you when I had this crazy thought? After this weekend, we will have had 5 gigs in 8 days. I guess maybe I should practice saying “no!” It’s so much fun, though. We keep getting better and better. Last night, and this morning, we were so relaxed and performed really well - despite the fact that Dick has a chest cold with a raspy throat. Not only are we well polished lately, but our performing has improved greatly because we’re doing so much of it. We are even managing to continue to work on some new things. We should have a new fiddle tune pretty soon and another traditional song. We are pulling out some older originals that we put on the shelf for a while and working on at least one new one. We have really settled into Deep Elem Blues and Shady Grove. They are very smooth and easy now - and people really like them both. I think it may be because they are traditional but were both covered by rock & rollers. Everyone seems to recognize them. Also, our upgraded website should be up and running soon. We have a new logo and new color scheme for the website in the works as well as having our promo package almost completed. It’s been lots of fun working on it. I love being involved in the visual arts end of it as well as the music. Many thanks again to Dan Rain for all his work on the site and the graphic arts.
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12.08.06
Posted in trivia, babble, music news at 9:54 am by Deb
Back on December 8th in 1980, one of biggest heroes was shot and killed. I remember that day very vividly. He was my hero as an activist as well as a songwriter. I was stunned when I heard the news. I remember walking around like a sleepwalker and crying off and on for the rest of the day. My daughter, who was 5-years old, kept asking me what was wrong. I recently saw the movie “The US vs. John Lennon” with her and cried during the movie, too. What a waste his death was. I didn’t understand it then, and still don’t understand it today. How can people be so angry with the way you conduct your life that they decide you should die? There is another movie, “Shut Up and Sing,” coming to our local theater soon about The Dixie Chicks and all the trouble they had because Natalie Maines said one thing folks didn’t like. She had death threats, but luckily no one has tried to actually kill her. I know it’s things like this that stop other artists from speaking out. Whatever happened to free speech? Anyway, I will go through today thinking about our loss of a real hero and humanitarian.
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
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12.07.06
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 3:25 pm by Deb
It continues to amaze me how things work out just the way they should. I have been a little stressed about my lack of work lately, and having to remind myself that I really want to try to make a go at music. We got offered a set with a new friend near Ithaca, NY at an interesting sounding coffeehouse, The Blue Frog Coffeehouse. That’s pretty exciting. We’re both looking forward to trying out a new area. Then, yesterday I got a call from someone looking for a musical director for a school musical, Once Upon A Mattress. I’ll be doing auditions this Wed. and Thurs., then doing weekly rehearsals starting in the middle of Jan. through the middle of May. I almost turned it down. Once again, like when I did the classical mandolin performance in Kingston, I’m feeling like I may be in over my head. After speaking with the co-director though, I think I can do this. Mostly they want someone who can work with the singers and accompany them during rehearsals and the performances. If I have the music ahead of time to practice, I should have no problem. It’s just my lack of self-confidence that always gets in the way. Anyway, I said, “Yes.” Yikes! Here I go again.
Another very cool thing happened this week. Someone randomly found this blog, left a nice comment, sent me an e-mail and wrote a wonderful post about us on his blog. Thanks so much, Mark. Please go and check him out.
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11.16.06
Posted in babble, music news at 7:10 pm by Deb
Whew! I almost forgot I had this blog until suddenly, while reading my e-mail tonight, I found we had gotten two new comments. Oh yeah, that blog I used to write pretty regularly. We have been playing so much, I hardly have time to breathe. We’ve been averaging between 3 - 5 gigs a month. Now, I know that doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re working full-time and raising a family, it’s really a lot. We celebrated our 13th anniversary last week by staying home. What a treat that was. This weekend we have an event every day - Friday evening right through Sunday. I do manage to write in my journal at least twice a week, quite a change from everyday. In the past month we played two Halloween gigs - one I did by myself and both paid well. We also played our regular cafes and had a gig in Potsdam at Clarkson University. That was fun. It was quite a trek, though. I didn’t realize that it was almost to the Canadian border. It was almost a 5 hour drive each way, but we really enjoyed traveling through the Adirondack Park and enjoyed our uninterrupted time together. The gig was also lots of fun. We both agreed we’d like to do more of those. We also found time to do a photo shoot. Some of our new photos are on our website and also on our MySpace account. You can also check out our songs there. Things are moving along. It’s just a little exhausting.
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09.11.06
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 9:30 pm by Deb
Oh well, I didn’t make the finals in the lyric writing contest. I will admit that I’m a little disappointed, but also very pleased to have made it as far as I did. Some of the nominees in the other categories who made it to the finals include Janis Ian (one of my songwriting idols), Freebo, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, They Might Be Giants, Lowen & Navarro, Art Garfunkle, Cris Williamson, Jay Mankita, and many more. One of the lyric winners is Tom Kimmel, who has been writing for other artists such as The Byrds, Linda Ronstadt, Levon Helm, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Waylon Jennings, and more. I’ll get over my disappointment. Meanwhile, I hope I get myself in gear and write more. By the way, here is the lyric I entered.
WITHIN THE GIANT’S EYE
© 2006 Deb Cavanaugh
As a girl, I spent my growing years
On a small Nantucket isle
I climbed up into the lighthouse tower
And looked across the miles
I recognized the birds in flight
They soared across the sky
I looked down at the sea below
From within the giant’s eye,
from within the giant’s eye
As a woman I moved on from there
To a life that was my own
Started working in a factory
Going home with aching bones
I moved into a tenement
In my room I’d sit and cry
I looked down on the city
From within the giant’s eye,
from within the giant’s eye
As a wife I watched my own true love
Work eighteen-hour days
My babies never played out in the sun
They worked their lives away
I watched them lose their fingers
I watched their spirits die
The bosses watched their workers
From within the giant’s eye,
from within the giant‘s eye
Now I go and leave a legacy
Of hope that never dies
Remembering those birds I used to see
They wheeled across the sky
As my life is ending
I encourage you to fly
I look down on your struggle
From within the giant’s eye,
from within the giant’s eye
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08.24.06
Posted in Uncategorized, music news at 8:59 pm by Deb
Just a quick note to let you all know that our songs are now online at our website and also on MySpace. If any of you are on MySpace, add us to your friends. Summertime is hard to do much other than work and play. Now it’s almost over. My birthday is next week and the beginning of a new year. My year always seems to run according to the school year. I’ve been actively parenting for 31 years with school age kids, and celebrating my own personal new year as well as birthdays of two of my three children. It’s become so ingrained in me now, I assume it will continue regardless of whether I’m involved with the school year or not. Anyway, enough of my babbling. Hope you enjoy our music. Please let me know what you think.
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