Artist Interview: Ira Marlowe and the Mortimus Greely Haunting School

East Bay songwriter Ira Marlowe is one of the more prolific of the Bay Area's creative geniuses.  Writing songs for both adults (Save The Day) and children (The Chills: Creepy Songs for Courageous Kids, The Teasing Bird), he's won oodles of awards (SF Weekly's "Best of the Bay" song contest, the Napa Valley Music Festival) and garnered the praise of the press. Plus he runs one of the best local places to hear original songwriters, The Monkey House. Now, he's bringing us Mortimus Greely's Haunting School, a multi-media event featuring songs, games, interactive video, a 'calcium-rich anatomy lesson' and more. If you want to elevate this Halloween above pumpkin carving and candy corn get yourself to The Monkey House, starting this weekend, Oct. 12, 2013, when the show opens. 

While Ira is likely (hopefully?) writing a book on how to keep one's muse productive, he did share a little information about what led to his latest project. 

Q: Who or what inspired the Haunting School?

IM:  Oddly enough it was inspired by a spooky kids song I wrote with that title.  In the song, kids get to participate by imitating the scary sounds I make.  It was always such a hit that I thought it could be the template for a whole multimedia stage show.

Q: Tell us about Mortimus Greely.
IM: Mortimus is an erudite old ghoul, very refined and a touch British,  He's appalled that kids today spend so much time playing video games and he's here to teach them the finer points of the "dark dimension" he inhabits.  He has a bit of a sad story, which he reveals in the end.

Q You write for kids and adults — do you know if its going to be one way or another from the outset? Which leads us to your writing process: Do you sit down with an intended song or song subject in mind, or are you a wait-for-the-muse type?

IM:  With the kids songs, I tend to "write on assignment."  I have two CDs of spooky songs and I will deliberately say, "OK, I need a mummy song."  Or a werewolf song.  Sometimes I look at classic films.  That's where I got "Has Anybody Heard About the Blob?" and "The Boy with Two Heads."  But it's funny, I have more than a few songs that I wrote for kids which I regularly include in my adult shows.  They always go over great. 

Q Who are some of your favorite artists/mentors/heroes, living or ... haunting!? 
IM: Ha! At this point I'd say my role model is Shel Sliverstein, who worked in several different media and wrote both serious and funny stuff, for both adults and kids.  But I always loved any songwriter who wrote colorful, narrative songs that blurred the line between adult and kids music — The Beatles ("The Continuing Adventures of Bungalow Bill", many more...), Paul Simon ("At the Zoo"), even David Bowie, with his early songs like "Kooks."

Mortimus Greely's HAUNTING SCHOOLThis interactive performance involves a roomful of kids, a handful of ghosts, and one ghoulish (yet kindly) instructor, runs about 60 minutes and is best for kids 7-12.  Tickets are only $10 via Brown Paper Tickets:  http://bpt.me/475688  Opening day (10/12) tickets are only $5, but must be purchased at the door to receive this half-price discount.  October 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27  Doors 2:45, Show @ 3Halloween show:  Doors 4:45, Show at 5Final show! November 1, 8PM Followed by the Monkey House Halloween Party!!! Reserve your seats at reservations@monkeyhousetheater.com

More about Ira: http://www.iramarlowe.com. Buy Ira's recordings @ The Monkey House or via Cdbaby

Read.Eat.Listen: Stay

Despite my many comings and goings, the San Francisco Bay Area has always been home. But it took me a long time to admit that: My process has involved lots of taking off to see what it might be like out there, elsewhere. The shadow side of this curiosity is the addiction to the short-term excitement of taking off to new and exotic places and the 'hey, I'm back' novelty of returning. Not to mention the continual adrenaline of figuring out the who-what-where between trips. Last year, however, I did two things that were radical for me, if actually completely ordinary: within six busy months I got married and bought a house. With these two commitments, I gave my word to really seeing and being where I am. Which of course is the point, and the call, no matter where you are (and, well, everyone figures this out at a different rate). While it's not that I'm not thinking of elsewhere, or planning on going other places anymore, my internal perspective has probably shifted as much in the past year as it has in the last ten.  Staying, I tell you, allows you a whole new regard.
Read: "The Mountains of California" by John Muir. Last week, we played a last-minute gig at a cozy Berkeley neighborhood restaurant, The Westside Cafe. On our break, the friendly staff plied us with fine glasses of wine and food* and discussed local music. Somehow, the conversation turned to Martinez, a town north of here, a little east of the SF Bay on the San Pablo Bay. It's home to a handful of music clubs as well as a whole lot of history I hadn't quite grocked — think Pony Express and California Gold Rush and you start to get the idea. So we drove up there the next day and found, lo, naturalist John Muir's mansion and former ranch. I read oodles of John Muir's writing about the Sierra Nevada and his role in the conservation movement while studying natural history at UC Santa Cruz, but somehow failed to absorb that he settled down...in Martinez, living and writing there 'til his death in 1914. We enjoyed wandering the rooms— including Muir's book-filled study— of the stately mansion on the hill, before heading for a nature walk of our own along the Martinez Regional Shoreline.
Eat: Artichokes have always been my familiar. My dad grew them. They covered (and still do) the fields on the coast north of Santa Cruz. While they seem like the could be native to California, artichokes owe their roots to North Africa, have been cultivated in Europe since the ancient Greeks, and came to the US with French immigrants, reaching California via Spanish immigrants. But until I reached adulthood, I really thought they were disgusting. But now...a roasted artichoke with a glass of red wine is among my favorite things to eat.  Simple. Good. Good for you. (Did I mention, Westside Cafe had them on their menu? Good call).   
Listen: Vintage Jackson Brown, "Stay" which is about going as much as staying, and how for musicians, well, wanting to stay, and play, and go, are all mixed up... another old song that keeps on giving.

Read.East.Listen: Moving

I'm feeling extra grateful this Thanksgiving as we just moved into a new place! Woo-hoo! So I've been mostly about packing and unpacking boxes and figuring out where to put things rather than online, hence, the pause in posts. Nonetheless, some reading, eating and listening have transpired amid the boxes.
READ: I did manage to attend a lovely, awesome, inspiring, thought-provoking writer's workshop with writer/healer/wise woman Deena Metzger 10 days ago.  She read from her new and PEN-Oakland award winning book La Negra y Blanca. I picked up a copy and look forward to digging in once I settle down a bit.
EAT: Admittedly, many tacos have been consumed amid the upheaval. So much for cooking, ahem. In any case, I'm charged with bringing a dessert to Thanksgiving. Forecast is the Raw Pumpkin Pie from Cafe Gratitude. Yum.
LISTEN: I happened by a performance by Kim Taylor at The Living Room in New York a few years ago and was impressed and surprised in the best way. You know, how when you have no idea whose playing but you go out anyway and you hear exactly what you need to hear? I bought her "Greatest Story" on the spot and have been listening since.  She has a new effort "Love is a Dog" I bought via her recent Kickstarter campaign. The new CD is a great first listen if you're new to Taylor, or this video from one of her previous releases is a good intro, too.

Pacific Northwest: In Between the Raindrops

Setting for the Port Townsend Writing Conference at Fort Worden

Crabbing at Port Hadlock

Fort Flagler between the thunderstorms

I have a mixed relationship with the Northwest: love its beauty and cool people and wildlife, don't love its weather. A family event took me to Seattle and Port Townsend this weekend. It was, all told, lovely. The weather was alternately sunny and bright and rainy with thunderstorms. The sky was full of bald eagles, barn swallows, gulls and terns. Crabbing, Frisbee, picnicking went on between the rain drops. I also had the good fortune to sneak away for an afternoon class at the Port Townsend Writer's Conference to immerse myself in the Music of Poetry taught by New Mexico poet Wayne Lee.  It is always a treat to be surrounded by group bent on craft and art, be it words, music or both. Nice. Inspiring. Hard to come back. Monday is full of catch-up so I'm letting the pictures do most of the talking.

Read.Eat.Listen: Coming home

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
― Nora Ephron

Technically, this photo doesn't have much to do with the topic of this week's Read.Eat.Listen, home —a blog subject I've left dormant for a bit—albeit the birds in this photo are house sparrows! Regardless, I love this image so I'm sharing it, even if it's been a week of coming home rather than taking off. That said, sometimes sitting still feels just a risky.
Read: After I read the news about the passing of writer/director Nora Ephron, I've been checking out a bunch of her essays, columns and books. Clear-eyed wit, insight and opinion that reads effortlessly. Good stuff. Sorry we've lost her.
Eat: I discovered the wonders of Kelp Noodles recently. I've been eating them a lot this week, especially in miso soup with nori on top. Yum.
Listen: I keep coming back to the latest Tedeschi Trucks Live Album "Everybody's Talkin". They just released this live video of the 1967 tune "Darling Be Home Soon" and I think it's also pretty delicious.

Rex's Blues: Van Zandt, Rodriguez, Holland

A good song is a good song, period, not matter who it's sung by. Such is 'Rex's Blues' by Townes Van Zandt. It's a dark, bleak song about following one's own compass...despite the consequences.

'I'm chained upon the face of time
feelin' full of foolish rhyme
there ain't no dark till something shines
I'm bound to leave this dark behind" 
—from Rex's Blues by Townes Van Zandt

It was December 1992 when I saw Townes Van Zandt take a stage in Boulder Colorado. Barely out of college, raised on equal parts California fog, rain and sunshine, I didn't really know he was...and then I heard him sing. It was kind of like seeing Allen Ginsberg at The Fox a year or two later. Both men, pioneering and dogged in their pursuits, were very near the end of their lives. I knew it was big to see them but I didn't quite realize I'd remember these moments so clearly 20 years later.

When I feel lost where I am, I scan the past for such times. Sometimes, it's only when  you  look back over a life, you see you are being led all along.

So it's striking to me that several versions of 'Rex's Blues' by Townes Van Zandt have come to my attention in recent months,  both sung by female singers.  I've been listening to a version by Carrie Rodriguez, a polished, alt-country artist from Austin, since I heard her sing several months ago in LA. And this week I realized Jolie Holland, a true old-soul new blues/Americana artist of the day, included it on her latest album 'Pint of Blood.' Both make it their own—Rodriguez sweet and reflective and a bit more loyal to the origianl; Holland, haunting, howling and slower in tempo— while retaining both their own and the song's respective souls. Good stuff. Check 'em out:

Artist Interview: Phillip Rosenberg on Songwriting as Practice

Phillip Rosenberg wrote me regarding my thoughts on practice and music the same week I happened to be in Southern California. A songwriter who had spent time honing his craft in Nashville before moving to Joshua Tree, Phillip had recently began blogging about approaching song-making as one might approach their zafu or yoga mat, that is as a spiritual practice or ritual rather than something with a definitive endpoint.  We met up a couple days later at Kulak's Woodshed for the weekly community open mic, where I heard a bit of his 'Rags & Bones' music live.  I found his literate songwriting to be grounded as much in the contemplative as everyday living and evocative of both Leonard Cohen and John Prine. He later expanded on his process with Bird in the Tree:

Q: How do you define practice?

PR: Practice is a discipline. It’s something that you devote yourself to and also a form of devotion, if you’ve got the right daily practice. At different times I’ve tried sitting meditation and breath-work in an attempt to quiet my incessant interior chatter, but lately songwriting interests me as a different sort of practice. Songwriting might be a way to peel away layers of defense and bravado and open to a sacred space where vulnerability, honesty and acceptance reside.

I’m at the beginning of this inquiry so I can’t say too much about it right now. I would be interested in hearing the experience of others traveling this path.

Q: Name your early musical influences?

PR: Elvis, Dylan, Lennon/McCartney, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon. These are the shoulders I’m standing on. I notice, in retrospect, that they each challenged the mainstream culture at the time and pushed the envelope. They redefined our expectations of popular music. I was twenty when I purchased The Songs of Leonard Cohen and listened to “Suzanne” over and over again. There was something mysterious about this woman and this song, but I couldn’t define it. I knew “Suzanne” took an approach to writing that was unfamiliar to me, one that I had to learn. I suppose I’ve been working on that project ever since.

Q: Who or what inspires you now?

PR: It’s hard to outgrow Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, but Tom Waits comes to mind because he speaks the evocative language of the poet, a language rich in metaphor. In the song “Time,” for example, Waits creates unforgettable images: “Napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon.” This style of image-heavy, non-linear, multi-layered writing seems to point toward something important that each of us can interpret in a personal way. This sort of writing inspires me.

John Prine and Guy Clark are songwriting elders whose songs I love and learn from. I’ve also been inspired and influenced by some of the great Music Row writers in Nashville. They are consummate craftsmen. I’m a big fan of Bobby Braddock who wrote the Tracy Lawrence cut “Time Marches On.” Braddock manages to tell the story of one family through five decades in 3 minutes and four seconds.

Gary Burr, Don Schlitz, Matraca Berg, Gretchen Peters, Jeffrey Steele and Craig Wiseman are just a few of the really brilliant writers working in Nashville today. Their craftsmanship is impeccable and I’ve learned a lot from studying their work.

Q: How did you get to Nashville, and why and when did you leave?

PR: I was a framing contractor in Atlanta and a closet songwriter. In 1993, I started the local chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International as part of their regional workshop program and began to take songwriting more seriously. I’d just gotten divorced and was reevaluating what I wanted to do, as the poet Mary Oliver puts it, with “this one wild and precious life.” Nashville is a songwriting Mecca and I was wearing out Interstate 75 driving to Nashville for workshops and networking. I wanted to put myself in proximity to that kind of energy, history, and talent.

Nashville and Country music attracted me partly because country artists have historically looked to outside writers for material. This is changing and there have been other shifts in the industry. I often find the politics of country music objectionable and the subject matter too limited. When I decided to perform my own songs, living in Nashville was no longer a necessity.

My wife introduced me to Joshua Tree, which is an amazing community of creative people. We moved here in 2008. The desert is a great environment for writing, with minimal distractions. The Internet makes geography less important and here I’m able to utilize the craftsmanship and knowledge of the forms that I learned in Nashville to write songs that can hold my interest.

Q: Can you describe a 'typical' day in Joshua Tree

PR: I’m usually up at around 5:30. I read for an hour or so, and then my wife and I drink coffee together. We live in a small cabin on 5 acres in the high desert so there are chores. In the mornings I water the new mesquites and cottonwoods we planted in the spring and I put out water for the birds and critters. I make my wife breakfast, pack her lunch, and send her off to the office. Once the two cats are ensconced on their respective pillows-of-honor, I begin work. Work starts with an hour or so of vocal exercises because I have found that the more my voice can do, the more interesting the melodies become.

I spend some time on-line finding new artists and songs I like. My website is now up and running so I have to navigate those new demands and decide how much time to spend on them. It’s still so new that I struggle to keep from looking at my stats every 10 minutes. When I can’t put it off any longer, I have to start writing or I start to despise myself. I write about 4 hours a day. I usually have one or two things I’m finishing up or rewriting and three or four new ideas in various stages of development that are vying for my time.  I’m not always consistent. Writing every day is a challenge I’m still trying to meet.

The fun part, where the muses swoop down with a big payload, comes when I go off to our trailer once a month or so for 3 or 4 days at a time. There’s no electricity and no neighbors. At the trailer there’s only walking and writing. I use a camping headlamp to see the paper at night. What shows up in these intense outings never disappoints and provides the material I work on for the next few weeks at home.

Q: What can audiences expect from you musically in the next year?

First of all, my audience can expect new songs. The writing is moving deeper into Rags and Bones territory and revealing more of the landscape along the way. What I’m writing now is in the same vein as “Song of the Bricoleur” and “Gone”— songs that speak to what I feel roiling under the surface both personally and in the larger culture.

The new blog is already attracting some interesting comments and I will continue to develop that as a forum for conversation about both the craft and the soul of songwriting. Lastly, I’m looking for a producer and hope that next year will include a compelling recording of Rags and Bones songs.

For more information on Phillip's music, visit his website: http://www.ragsandbonesmusic.com

Artist Interview: Beth Lisick @ Notes & Words

Writer Beth Lisick is just cool. I think the first time I saw her read was perhaps seven or more years ago at what might have been a Writers with Drinks event at the Make-Out Room. Beth epitomized the hippest of the San Francisco literati as she cast a knowing, hilariously self-effacing eye on life as a creative in the Mission District. She was clearly the real deal. Since then she's only built more cred: amidst much writing and publishing, she's toured Europe, played the Lilith Fair with her band The Beth Lisick Ordeal, wrote a nightlife column for SF Gate and continued to help lead the Porchlight Storytelling Series.
With two acclaimed memoirs to her name — the lauded Everybody into The Pool and Helping Me Help Myself—as well as a husband and child, Lisick remains one of the Bay Area's favorite voices. On April 1, Beth will read as a part of Notes & Words, a benefit concert and reading for Oakland's Children's Hospital and Research Center at the Fox Theatre. As she readied for the reading, Lisick answered some questions about the event and what keeps her creating.

Q What are you working on now? Helping Me Help Myself was a(nother) big success--is there a follow-up in the works?
BL: I am writing a novel, which is really challenging and so much fun. After two memoiry, nonfiction books in a row, I was not only slightly tired of myself, but tired of thinking about how to write about myself. It feels so liberating and exciting to write in the voice of another character. I think some memoir writers probably feel that freedom when they write about themselves, but I started to feel very constrained. Like I was constantly editing out some very real material because I wasn't comfortable sharing everything. Helping Me Help Myself was a constant struggle for me to express myself while still maintaining some privacy, so now I'm on to fiction for awhile. It's letting me explore a lot of things without having to take responsibility that these are the thoughts and opinions of Beth Lisick, the person. It's fun to be surprised what weird things pop out of my head.

Q San Francisco has vibrant creative community-how has or does your writing community influence your work?

BL: I would be nowhere without my creative friends. Those are the people who inspire me on a daily basis. I collaborate a lot, which opens me up to new creative possibilities, but I am always amazed by the creative process that happens in private. I'll go see someone's art opening or read their new book or see their new film, and I get so inspired by the work and energy they put into it. It makes me feel like my friends are magicians.

Q Who do you count as big inspiration/teachers or mentors? What have you been reading or listening to lately that blows you away?

BL: As evidenced by the last answer, my friends are my main inspiration! I love all my comrades from Sister Spit, the group of writers and performers that Michelle Tea puts together. I love Bucky Sinister's new book Still Standing about trying to stay sober when you come from the punk/art world. I share office space in Oakland with authors Mary Roach, Lisa Margonelli, Anita Amirrezvani, Novella Carpenter, and radio producer Roman Mars, who are constantly working on smart, interesting things. My comedy partner Tara Jepsen makes me laugh so hard. I co-produce the Porchlight Storytelling Series every month with Arline Klatte and I am so inspired by the storytellers and audiences who come to that show. My husband just made a record with a mind blowing band called Tune-Yards. I'm taking a solo performance class with Martha Rynberg, who is so intuitive and funny. Oakland filmmaker Frazer Bradshaw, painter William Swanson, the hilarious tweets of comedian Rob Baedeker. It goes on and on. There's just something about knowing someone, seeing them dropping their kids off at school, trying to keep their life together, and then they have this whole creative world inside them. It's fascinating.

Q: Do you stick to a writing schedule? Can you talk a bit about your process?

BL: Since having a kid, I'm strictly on banker's hours for writing. Not my natural rhythm, I don't think, but it makes me manage my time better. Something with a deadline usually wins out, but if I'm in the mood (and have the time) to just lose myself, I will pull out the novel. The process for that so far is just to write what's fun. I'm still figuring it out, so I will think of a scene and then try to write it without worrying about where it's going to go. I'm really keeping it loose.

Q What can audiences expect at Notes & Words?

BL: Obviously, the greatest night of our lives so far. I am super excited to be inside that gorgeous theater and hear Kelly and Michael, and listen to the bands. I'm still deciding what I'm going to do. I will probably read from the novel because it's always fun to read something new. And scary. I like to be a little bit scared.
Beth Lisick reads at Notes & Words, April 1, 2011, 8pm at The Fox Theater in Oakland, CA