Kristen Lawrence: Bloggy Monster

Hello Trick-or-Treaters!

I almost turned into a one-eyed Corpse Bride a few days ago.  Well, at least it felt like that.  But I have since learned that hydrogen peroxide will not melt one’s eyes out.

I woke up and was getting ready to go out for a run.  I wasn’t completely awake, and while putting my contact lenses in, instead of reaching for the saline solution, I reached for the hydrogen peroxide cleaning solution.  Once my left contact reached my eye, I knew immediately what I had done.  And I heard a terrible sizzling sound.

AAAAAAAAAACK!  As I violently stuck my face in the sink and slapped water into my ocular area, I had visions of my eye bubbling up and dissolving.  A mini zombie flick, right there in my bathroom.

But my eye didn’t bubble up and dissolve.  However, it has been very angry at me for the past few days.  I’ve had this little monster eye.  Bright red.  And because my eyes are green, with the principles of complementary colors (red vs. green), the colors have looked very exaggerated.  Grrr, monster.

Fun.  I’m just glad that I can see.

Well, in the world of music, I went to NAMM about a little bit ago (Jan 14 – 16).  Ah, what a glorious gathering.  Once a year, the Anaheim convention center (which is city blocks long and three stories high) fills to the brim with every sort of music company you can think of.  It feels so good to walk around and take it all in, just being around music-minded people.

I had the pleasure of meeting the president and the district manager for Allen Organs – Steven Markowitz and Joel Hurley.  I’ve played on many Allens and like them quite a bit.  I also met Franco Luzi of Viscount Organs.  I was really impressed with the touch of its keyboard – very tracker-organ-like.  It’s a lovely instrument – perhaps to record on someday …

In chatting with Franco, I gave him my CDs and asked him if he had seen any Halloween happenings back in Italy.  He said that Halloween has just barely started up over there, that his 18-year-old daughter went to a Halloween party just this past October.  I asked him about trick-or-treating and he said it started up maybe 2 or 3 years ago.  And here I’m getting all excited and fascinated about this – like little giggly creatures silently bubbling up inside my head.

How did the children know about trick-or-treating?  Through American movies, said Franco.  And did the neighborhood people at each doorstep know what to do?  He said many of them did not and the children had to teach them what to do.  So, the next year they were prepared.  Ha!  Isn’t that great?

He said that of course Italians celebrated November 1 and 2 (All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days), but that just recently the Italian government declared it no longer a government holiday.  Franco said the people still celebrate those days, but they don’t have work off like they used to.  Boo. 

I wish that Oct. 31, Nov. 1, Nov. 2 were official government holidays here in the U.S.  October 31^st is a crazy/fun night, and November 1 & 2 are days to reflect on life and think about our ancestors and our posterity.  I truly believe that how we think about death fashions our character in life.  There’s a time to make fun of death and laugh at it (Oct. 31), and then there’s a time to be solemn, pensive, and have peace about it (Nov. 1 & 2).

So, after I talked with these organ companies at NAMM, I headed over to Fender.  Sigh.  I have a beautiful Martin guitar that a friend hooked me up with, but it turns my fingertips to pulp (because I’m still learning and am slow with getting the chord positions solid).  I want to save up and buy a really nice electric guitar.  My good friend, Ian Fowles (many of you might know him through The Aquabats! and Further Seems Forever – a most excellent player) let me try out the action on his Gibson and I loved it!  It doesn’t hurt my fingers!  So … I will acquire one such beauty someday soon and have a ball.

I was able to attend NAMM because my good friend, Kevin, works at Ludwig Drums and gave me a pass.  So, he introduced me to some nice, Ludwig-endorsed drummers.  I chatted with Mario Calire of Ozomatli – very nice guy.  I gave him my CD and he asked if his kids would like it.  Absolutely.  It’s for all ages.  I also had the pleasure of meeting Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, the drummer for Weird Al Yankovic.  Again, very nice guy.  Such nice drummer boys!  We chatted for a while about virtual drums and recording programs.  I’ve been especially interested in this since working with Micah Anderson and the program Reason for my Samhain song.

I also met Jeff Friedl of ASHES dIVIDE and Puscifer.  We discovered a mutual soft spot for cats and Halloween.  He showed me his iPhone screensaver – a picture of his two beautiful Burmese kitties.  Ah, now there’s a musician – rocks hard on the outside with pure kitty-loving tenderness on the inside.  Good music is guaranteed.  I liked him – I felt a nice friendshippy connection.  Maybe we’ll work on a cat song someday (hang on! ding, ding, ding! I already have another cat song written that needs jazz drums … hmmmmmm ….).  I love meeting fellow cat people.  I met a fellow runner/fast walker yesterday who was being followed by a beautiful orange-and-white stripped cat.  We stopped and petted it and chatted.  Instant understanding between cat people.

Outside of the Ludwig group, there was one drummer I wanted to meet.  I was told he was somewhere around NAMM.  And I chased him down.  Hunted, more like it.  Vatos.  Johnny “Vatos” Hernandez.  The drummer for my favorite band, Oingo Boingo (now disbanded).  I told him I’d been a fan since I was 10 years old.  We bantered for a while.  I told him I’m a pipe organist who writes Halloween music and gave him my CDs.  He told me that he does Halloween concerts at Magic Mountain and other places and might give me a call for this year’s concert.  Now, wouldn’t that be neat?  Why, yes.  Yes, it would.  So, we shall see.

Why did I meet so many drummers and not keyboardists?  I don’t know.  It just happened that way.  When I’ve played live with bands, I must say that the most thrilling part for me was to be playing with drums.  Totally electrifying.  Really.  Electrifying down to my toes and fingertips.  Those beats get into my blood and move me like I can’t explain.  Purr!  See, I’m used to playing for funerals, church services, and weddings – not a lot of drum action.  Although, I did play a gig for a modern worship service with drums and guitar.  That was interesting. 

And I played a Spanish wedding mass with a mariachi band – that was cool.  We weren’t slotted to play together, but they were up in the loft with me and I invited them to play Wagner’s wedding march with me.  Why not?  I usually play it in B-flat, and they said in their awesome accents, “Can you play it in the key of C?”  Brilliant.

Well, my dear Trick-or-Treaters, it’s been fun.  I hope I’ve filled your satchels up with a lot of good candy.  Enjoy your munchings.  And please, don’t put hydrogen peroxide in your eyes.

Hello, humans and other creatures who love Kristen’s music.  I’m her cat, Molly Macabre the Halloween Cat.  Kristen’s been sick over the past month, so I’ve decided to write her blog for her.

I thought only cats like me hacked hairballs, but meowow!  She became sick two days after Thanksgiving for about two weeks, seemed to be getting better for a week, then got sick again.  I’ve been doing my cat-ly duties by lying on her stomach to keep her warm.  I also give her nose kissies early in the morning to make sure she’s not dead.

Kristen has been going through her Halloween Carols and thinking about which ones to arrange for her next CD.  I hear her humming and playing a particular one over and over.  She once told me that it was about the Roman history involved in Halloween.  I get to hear a lot about her carols while she’s writing them because I often sit next to her at the piano bench or couch when she’s writing and she’ll tell me little insights.

Kristen and I spent Christmas with our whole family and it was lovely.  Her dad (my Grandpaw) cooks prime rib every Christmas Eve and Kristen gives me all the fatty meat from her cut.  I love the fatty meat.  She loves me so much.

While I’m writing this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my tail to the tips of my whiskers for your kind comments about my performance in “Cats in the Catacombs.”  I don’t like it when Kristen holds me because I’m a control freak (she held me while I recorded the vocals), but … I guess I should thank Kristen for making me a rock star.

Kristen tells me that it’s New Year’s Eve tonight.  Well, whatever that means to you humans, I hope it’s fun for you, but it couldn’t possibly top all the fun I have napping all day.

I wrote “Vampire Empire” almost three years ago – February 13, 2007, to be exact.  Like a lot of my Halloween Carols™, it was a study of counterpoint on the couch.  (Counterpoint is a type of musical composition.)  I had gone through a very painful break-up the year before which sent me into a black hole, and the couch became the hub for most of my activities. 

Oh, I won’t gloss it over by calling it a break-up.  It was a dump – let’s be honest.  I was dumped.  Dumpee.  Frumpy Dumpy.  Dumpty Dumpty sat on the wall.  Dumpty Dumpty had a grrrrreeeeeaaaaaat fall.  But COME ON!  Where were all the king’s horses and the king’s men?  Nowhere to be found, I’ll tell you.  King’s men would have been nice.

I tried so hard to be optimistic and forced myself to continue exercising daily by running, biking, or even just walking, but I could hardly write any music.  In fact, I don’t think I wrote any music for quite a while.  And then, many of us go through this, where we tell ourselves, “OK.  Come on.  Come on.  It’s time to get living again.  Just try.  Little bits.  Little bits.” 

So I tried little composition exercises in counterpoint for fun, starting each one as a study, not knowing if it would work, but just trying for the sake of trying.  I did all of these lying down on the couch because I wasn’t completely happy enough to sit up straight at the keyboard (except to check on chord progressions now and then).

I wrote a good number of my carols in addition to “Vampire Empire” during this period – A Broom With A View, Arachnitect, Mostly Ghostly, and Flappy Bat are the ones I’ve released so far.  It really is amazing how we grow stronger after sad experiences.  For me, it was deciding to be content and happy without the man I thought I might marry … and seeing my composition skills reemerge and become more refined and creative.

When I was deciding which carols to put on the CD for this year, I knew I had to put a vampire song in there.  Of course!  The world is afire with vampires.  I wrote this carol before I had heard of Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight novels, but I’m glad I had something in stock to offer during this craze.

I arranged and “fluffed up” Vampire this past summer in preparation for recording.  This carol is different from the others in that I worked some of it out in pencil, and some of it while I recorded.  I just told myself to keep building and patching it together.

I came to a predicament when writing the harpsichord lines.  The purist and the experimentalist inside me clashed.  During a few parts, I wanted the harpsichord bass lines to dip down to a D.  A real harpsichord only goes to an F.  But with a synthesizer, I could do anything.  The purist inside me screamed, “NOOOOOO!!!!  Don’t do it!!!!  That’s not what a harpsy does!”  But the experimentalist inside me cooed, “Oooooh yeah!  Mmmmm, that sounds so cool.  Sooooo cool.  Ooooh, honey.”

So, what did I do?  Time to pull out the old mantra … WWBD? 

What Would Bach Do?

And I went for it, dipping that harpsy line down to a D.  Oh yes.  My mantra came through.  If Bach had all the musical technology available today, he absolutely would use it to its far-reaching ranges.  There are stories of his playing bizarre combinations of organ stops, exploring very non-traditional colors of the pipe organ.  What a musician.  The ultimate musician.

Something to listen for is my re-harmonizing of the melody in each verse (different chords each time).  I’ve always admired how Bach could take a single melody and harmonize it in multiple ways, and so … WWBD … I wanted to do that, too.

I wore red lipstick while I recorded the vocals, trying to achieve a vicious beauty in the sound.  I had studied the characters of the vampire wives in “Van Helsing” and was trying to channel a similar personality.  My laughter at the end of the song came while pushing the limits of this vampire character in take after take after take.  I had tried some dramatic “muah ha ha” laughs during a take, but they sounded so ridiculous that I started laughing at what I just did – and those are the laughs in the CD recording.

 

 

Succulent biting and sucking to our desire

Forever mark the Vampire Empire.

Come have a taste of our vicious kisses

Then drink, awake to the pulsing blood where bliss is.

 

Undead, un-reflected, seeking a neck to bite,

We shun the sun and hark the dark night.

Don’t cross us, or pointed words from our lips

Will stab your gloat – and throat – ending in dripping sips.

 

Garlic or our lick? Will sticky blood be your pick?

Drains by Romanian fangs are quick.

Sharpen your smile and, while midnight dancing with us,

Chase lushly the blush of Eternal Spring.

My song “Dark Glass” is the only track on my “A Broom With A View” album that is not directly from my Halloween Carols™ collection.

I wrote this song before I had conceived the idea of Halloween Carols in 2004.  When did I write it … 2001 or 2002 … I can’t remember right now.  Starting in the late 1990’s, I wanted to write beautiful Halloween music – most of it about Halloween history – and I was exploring a lot of areas and ideas.

“Dark Glass” is about a dream I had – a mesmerizing dream with surreal Halloween imagery.  In my dream, I was in a shower that had an open window to the night sky – no glass.  I saw the earth right outside this window.  It was huge, spherical, glowing with greens and blues, and rotating while making a sort of sparkling humming sound.

I thought to myself – if that’s the earth, then what planet am I on?  I somehow floated outside and up into the atmosphere, observing how the globe, the waters, the sky – how everything was a shade of blue.  So beautiful.  So vibrant!

I then floated further out where the atmosphere had become a pinkish black color.  I have a lot of these dreams, where I’m floating or flying, and I start to go up and up to where I start to panic a little bit that maybe I’m going too far up.  Then the atmosphere shattered and fell in big drops of dark glass, shattering and splashing on the ground.

Also in this dream were touches of a Halloween/fall season I experienced back in college – some of the nighttime fog and feelings when I walked with some friends from their apartment to the grocery store to buy some pumpkin ice cream, then walked back to watch “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”  Also, some of the scenery and feelings from a Halloween party further out west from where I lived at the time (Provo, Utah) where it’s more rural – black sky, open fields with wheat-ish colors, clear night, cold, a fence by the house – really beautiful autumnal feelings.

When I woke up from this dream, my mind was on fire from all the vibrant, beautiful imagery and surreal experience.  It was such a powerful dream, that I had to write it down.  That day I had a gig to play organ for a wedding ceremony an hour away, so as I drove, I put a notebook in my lap and wrote down a description of the dream (writing in big, messy letters as my eyes were on the road).  The lyrics of “Dark Glass” are almost exactly as I wrote them down then, while driving.

I set these words to music later, trying to capture the feelings in my dream.  I think one of my favorite musical lines is the contrabass during the chorus.  I scored it to go into a high range, which works because the organ pedals fill in the bass in those moments.

I hope this song “takes you places.”

 

I saw the earth as a moon-like globe

Outside my window, shower window.

No glass impaired my sight this night

As a vision pulled my ear, “Come out here.”

All the atmosphere had shattered

And fell in fragments

Like dark glass from the sky.

No one can say, none can detail,

Where droplets splashed

And shards rushed maddened.

 

Chorus:

Everything was a shade of blue,

Round and grand and blue,

So close,

I had to check what planet I was on.

How radiant the sphere appeared. 

Glowing water waved a mirror.

Long points of white

Turned the earth with sparkling hums.

 

The continents seemed a little fuzzy

As they throbbed in their green pattern.

I stretched my arms to their expanse,

So round, so bold,

So feeling and yet small.

Through this night I could fly

Past all wintery fences high,

Alone for miles around.

 

Am I too far above ground?

The motion pulled, so where’s too far?

 

Chorus

 

My elbows leaned on the tile.

I forgot there was tile for a while,

And soaked in absence of time.

The steam gathered dew in mind.

So light and dark spin their fight –

Or agree to what they are –

All at night outside my window.

 

 

Happy All Hallows Day, my dear Trick-or-Treaters!  I hope you all had enchanting, fun Halloweens last night.

The Orange County Register published an article on my Halloween Carols™ yesterday that made front page!  I thought you might enjoy reading it:

http://www2.ocregister.com/articles/halloween-lawrence-says-2631119-carols-song

 

 

Of all my Halloween Carols, “Mostly Ghostly” is the only one for which I wrote the words first.

Isn’t that funny?  I was always taught by music teachers and professors that text comes first, then the music, so that the music can express the text.  Well, “Mostly Ghostly” is the only one that follows that advice.

I wrote “Mostly Ghostly” in bed a couple of years ago – words and music (but there were a few weeks between the two).  A lot of these carols I write in bed or on the couch.  I don’t have perfect pitch, but because their melodies are exercises in counterpoint (a type of musical composition), I like to write away from the piano, to exercise the “music composition muscles” in my brain.

When it came time to arrange it for the CD (this one I arranged back in March-ish of this year), I did that at my piano/synthesizer.  I wanted to experiment with richer harmonies than I used for the plain carol – diminished chords and other lush combinations of notes.  I pulled from centuries of musical influences and had fun with what a slight tug of a half-step might do.

This carol is about a ghost who misses being alive.  I used to think that all my songs were girls, but this one strikes me as being male.  I don’t know why.  Every time I start to refer to this song as “she,” it doesn’t feel right.  Funny, huh?  So, this man-ghost misses his life … and his smarts. 

He was very witty and intelligent in mortality (so he thinks), but not so intelligent as he thinks that his smarts were left in his physical brains … so maybe he isn’t so smart after all, because he doesn’t esteem his spiritual brains.  Nonetheless, he’s a maudlin guy, but mercurial, too – weepingly sentimental one moment, seethingly angry the next.

Ghosts have been associated with Halloween from the very beginning, from the original ancient Celtic days of Samhain.  The eve of Samhain was believed to be the night when the dead came back to visit the earth.  These early people welcomed deceased family members, but were wary of other visitors who might not be so friendly … or just jealous that they’re not alive anymore and have turned insecure and boastful and bipolar like “Mostly Ghostly.”

 

 

I’m mostly a ghost, but I still have my head.

I don’t mean to boast, but I’m better than dead.

For, those folks in graves are still lying intact,

And each ghost behaves as though all-dead, in fact.

 

I keep my mind here, in my hands, at my side.

But, yes, through my ear all my brains seem to slide.

Oh, I love my head; I was clever in life.

But, witlessness dread, so beware of my scythe.

 

Before I purr on and on about the Souling Song, I’d like to wish my soul friend, Lady Bats, a happy birthday today.  Happy All Births Day.  In her words, she and I are “carved from the same pumpkin.”

Don’t we count ourselves very lucky and blessed to have good friends?  She is a friend who is supernally kind – the most important quality in people I choose to be around.  And it’s an added bonus that she’s a Halloween connoisseur like me.  We both enjoy very elegant Halloweens.  She’s the Pumpkin Queen of Utah and England (she’s from Utah, her husband is from England), and she’s also my “Vampire in Waiting.”  (Maybe I’ll marry some lad from Norway, so I can be the Californian Viking Pumpkin Queen.)

We’re going to grow up to be old cat ladies together.  She likes to rub her face in Molly just like I do.  (For those of you who don’t know, Molly is my cat.  My Halloween cat.)

I would wish good, kind friends like her upon everyone.  Soul Friends. 

OK, now on to the Souling Songs on my Halloween CD.  These songs aren’t about soul friends, directly, but they are about those departed souls whom we memorialize and welcome during the Halloween/Day of the Dead/Samhain season (and many of us do have dearly departed soul friends and family).

I’ll start with my research on “The Souling Song” (also known as “Soul Cake” and “Soalin’ Song” and “A’ Soalin’”) which is an All Souls Day (Nov. 2) tradition, and then go back in time to the Celtic Samhain traditions about which I wrote a new version of the song.

It’s funny how many “flukes” have happened during my Halloween Carols™ project.  One fluke led to my discovering the “Souling Song.”  On my first release, Arachnitect (2008), I arranged the traditional tune, “Ghost of John,” into two versions, adding four more original verses.  In thinking about which songs to put on my second release, I thought another traditional song would be fun.  I didn’t know of any more traditional Halloween songs, but I thought about changing the words to a traditional tune.

Many of us grew up with the tune, “Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, Will I Ever See Thee Wed?”  As I mention in this year’s CD liner notes, other people know the tune as “Hey Ho, Nobody Home.”  Well, this tune is so pretty and so likable, I thought it might be fun to change the words to something like, “Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, Will I Ever See Thee Dead?” as a sort of meditation on romance and mortality and how death can just get in the way of things.

I started to research this old tune online, and what did my wondering eyes fall upon?  Why, something too coincidental to call a coincidence.  This tune had also taken on some traditional All Souls Day lyrics!

I nearly coughed and sputtered, it was such an astounding and surprising discovery.

Well, the creative fires really got burning then.  In Lesley’s and Jack’s books, and online, there are different versions and snippets of the traditional words (Lesley Bannatyne and Jack Santino – my two favorite Halloween researchers – I highly recommend their books.)  Online, I found another tune associated with the words – the “Cheshire” tune.

Here are links to the two tunes I worked from:

http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSOULCAKE;ttSOULCAKE.html

http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=216

 

There are more words associated with this song that I found in books, but couldn’t find the melody to go with them, like:

 

Little Jack, Jack sat on his gate,

Crying for butter to butter his cake.

Up with your kettles and down with your pans!

Give us our souling and we’ll be gone!

 

So I wrote new melodies to glue the whole song together. You’ll also see that I altered the old melodies quite a bit.  I put the “All Hallows Version” in 2/4 and the “Samhain Version” in 6/8.

I didn’t use all the words I found in my research, because then the song would be too long, and I don’t want to put my Trick-or-Treaters to sleep.  And I tried to keep the All Souls Day meaning, because this song is also associated with Christmas as a caroling song.  Those hearty carolers from centuries ago, wassailing around town, hoping for beer and whatever else the homes had to offer – it makes me laugh as I picture the old traditions and antics of overly merry people.

And, yes, do you see the connection?  Christmas caroling and trick-or-treating.  As Jack Santino points out in his book, The Hallowed Eve, the lines between Halloween and Christmas in Irish tradition are blurred.  This blurring happens in varying degrees throughout the British Isles.  Depending on the area of these isles, the caroling or pre-trick-or-treating tradition was called guising or mumming.  This involved EARNING the treats with a song or skit, not just begging like we do in modern, American trick-or-treating.  (Also, think about the ancient Celts leaving out food for the visiting dead, and our tradition of leaving out food for Santa Claus.)

In getting my bearings on this traditional song, I discovered some other artists’ versions.  Here’s Peter, Paul, and Mary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnbD3QLU5o4&feature=related

The Watersons:

http://www.amazon.com/Souling-Song/dp/B000TPNROW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1256610131&sr=8-1-catcorr

Sting does a version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2qDq2U6eMQ

And here are some other versions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoaa8EuUSkQ&feature=related

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1UNkinuKTM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL0d4RqZYuM&feature=related

Interesting how some versions have Halloween associations and others have Christmas associations.  That’s history to my ears.

 

The two versions I arranged I call the “All Hallows Version” and the “Samhain Version.”  To explain, I’ll quote from my CD’s liner notes:

“’Souling’ grew as a begging tradition – offering to pray for someone’s beloved departed in purgatory in exchange for a ‘soul cake’ …

“The idea to do two arrangements struck me when I realized that this song could clearly outline two of the cultural forces behind Halloween – paganism and Christianity.  As I studied and played around with the Cheshire tune, I had an epiphany: the beginning notes are the same as the medieval plainchant Dies Irae – ‘Day or Wrath’ or ‘Day of Judgment.’  It struck me as plausible that this tune could be a corruption of the chant, a folk simplification of the meaning behind the ‘souling’ tradition – praying for the dead in purgatory, for Judgment Day is coming.

“The traditional words that I use in the ‘All Hallows Version’ present the early Christian viewpoint of the living who pray for the dead.  And then I thought, ‘Well, what do the dead think?’  Medieval Christians thought they were in purgatory.  The Celtic pagans a few centuries before thought they could come and visit on the eve of Samhain.  Because both traditions involve food, I thought soul cakes the perfect crux to musically explain two different viewpoints that swirl together to create modern Halloween.  And so I wrote new words for the ‘Samhain Version’ to explain this.”

Another little insight that I don’t mention in my liner notes is that the Cheshire tune could be called a “Totentanz” – a Dance of Death.  It might be a bit of a stretch, but I argue this because the topic concerns the dead and the rhythm is 6/8, which is a dancing rhythm, a jig.  The Dance of Death (also known as “Danse Macabre”) is a well-known medieval metaphor for the universality of death, that it comes for us all, regardless of station, age, or character.

 

Recording the “All Hallows Version” was a solo job like most of the songs on my CD.  Listen for the Dies Irae chant in the bells toward the end.  These bell sounds come from a combination of several tracks.

Recording the “Samhain Version” was a party because I hired Jamie Glaser and Micah Anderson.  Jamie recorded the guitars and bass.  He is so, so, so skilled.  He double-tracked the rhythm guitar like it was nothing.  The recording session was so much fun and had such energy about it.  I was dancing about like a barefoot pagan as I was conducting him from the score (he’s a mighty fast reader; he was known as the fastest reader for sessions when he lived in L.A.).

 

Micah Anderson programmed the drums for me.  And he introduced me to my new favorite music term – the flam (when the drums are smacked just barely off-beat from each other).  He’s a very skilled musician.  We worked so well together, I felt like we’d been friends for many years.  I told him the overall ideas and drum timbres I wanted in the beats and we smacked out the rhythms on the floor and the desk until it worked.  He did a fantastic job of really capturing the character of the song; he totally understood it, that it was meant to be an epic song.  He joked that it needed to be played live in an arena to a bunch of head-banging pirates.

 

If you would like to know more about these two fabulous musicians, here they are:

 

http://www.jamieglaser.com/

http://micahdahl.com/

So there’s an epic blog to go with an epic song.  Here are the words for both versions:

 

 

ALL HALLOWS VERSION (traditional words)

 

 

 

Soul Day, Soul Day, we be come a‘ souling,

Pray, good people, remember the poor,

And give us a soul cake.

 

Chorus:

Soul, soul, a soul cake!

Please, good lady, a soul cake!

An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,

Any good thing to make us merry.

Soul, soul, a soul cake!

Pray we for a soul cake!

One for Peter, two for Paul,

And three for Him who made us all.

 

God bless the master of this house, the mistress also,

And all the little children who ‘round your table grow.

Likewise, your men and maidens, your cattle and your store,

And all that dwell within your gates, we wish you ten times more.

 

Souling Day, so we pray for the souls departed.

Pray give us a cake,

For we are all poor people well-known to you before.

 

Little Jack, Jack sat on his gate

Crying for butter, to butter his cake.

Up with your kettles and down with your pans,

And give us our souling, and we’ll be gone.

 

Down into the cellar, and see what you can find.

If your barrels are not empty, we hope you will prove kind.

We hope you will prove kind with your apples and your grain,

And we’ll come no more a’ souling ‘til this month comes again.

 

Soul Day, Soul Day, we have been praying

For the souls departed, so pray good people, give us a cake.

So give us a cake for charity’s sake

And a blessing we’ll leave at your door.

 

 

 

 

 

SAMHAIN VERSION (my original words)

 

 

Chorus:

Soul, soul, soul cakes!

We come hunting for soul cakes!

We are dead, but like we said,

On this night we’ll take your bread

And while you’re out of your abode,

Lighting fires of Samhain old,

Think of us, out of body –

As we are, you, too, shall be.

 

Samhain Night, at long last,

We parade from ages past –

A journey from the Otherworld –

Oh, the hairs that we have curled!

 

Winter’s Eve surrounds us,

Its open portal astounds us.

We creep into the living sphere

And see where memories summon here.

Find us in this coldness,

Visiting with much boldness.

Share your food; we’ll share our power

To discern a future hour.

 

Summer’s End, Summer’s End –

Will the sun return, vital warmth to send?

Summer’s End, Summer’s End –

Darkness lengthens in its stride across the sleeping land.

 

Little Jack, Jack sat on his gate,

Offering goblins and demons his cake.

Up with the chill and down with the sun,

Waning and waning, the Dark Half’s begun.

All this night as boundaries untie,

Visitors friendly and frightful stop by.

Up with your mask and down with your feet,

Marching and marching to lead out the fleet.

 

How about this dwelling?

Its offerings are compelling,

With drinks and cakes and porridge,

And cherries and berries from storage.

Rattles at your door!

Don’t be scared, but give us some more!

A banshee or a fershee might delight by new firelight.

It’s time to blog about the title track from my Halloween CD this year – “A Broom With A View.”

It’s about a witch taking a joy ride on a broom.  This is one song I could call “Halloween History ‘Lite’” because I don’t go too far into the history of witches and Halloween.  I just wanted to create a mood and emotion of a lovely, elegant witch taking an otherworldly ride through the sky.

In writing this one, I wanted to have fun with the chromatic scale (that basically means all the black and white notes).  I scored the strings to twist and turn to sound like she’s really guiding that broom for a delicious spin.  I took an idea that Beethoven uses prominently in his music – some even call it one of his trademarks – the hemiola.  To explain it simply, this is when, in triple meter, the accent changes from every three beats to every two beats (without changing the meter).

I wrote it a couple of years ago, and had always played it at a slower waltz tempo.  But when I started to think of how I would arrange it for my CD, I realized that it was just too slow.  Yawn.  I took out my metronome and started experimenting with higher tempos, and all of a sudden, life came into this carol!  It’s more of a Viennese Waltz tempo now and I think it suits her better.

For the lyrics, I summoned visions into my mind’s eye and set to describe them.  I wanted to capture the sensory elements of Halloween, because I think this season is such a glorious feast for the senses.  For me, the sky in all its varieties is a big part of the whole Halloween/autumn season.  I love how it “sets” everything, whether it’s a sunny afternoon with the sun at that low autumnal angle, or delicious grey rain, or a black night with piercingly white stars.

 

Come, my broom, it’s time to view the world with the moon.

Listen! Ev’ning winds approach to escort us up.

Halloween makes midnight seem candle-lit by stars and screams! 

Ah, Oooh!  Ride and glide as in a dream.

 

As we rise past curving branches which sweep us high,

Ghosts wave, visiting a time past before the grave.

Halloween makes midnight seem candle-lit by stars and screams! 

Ah, Oooh!  Ride and glide as in a dream.

 

Down below, the porches glow for Trick-or-Treaters.

Broom, swoop us through cemeteries’ old pretty stones!

Halloween makes midnight seem candle-lit by stars and screams! 

Ah, Oooh!  Ride and glide as in a dream.

 

How the scent of dry leaves mingles with warm lanterns,

Wafting as a stream into the black sea of night!

Halloween makes midnight seem candle-lit by stars and screams! 

Ah, Oooh!  Ride and glide as in a dream.

“Sleeping Dust – ‘The Death Lullaby’” is the third Halloween Carol I wrote.

It came to me that first day when I decided that we need Halloween carols.  I had played the organ for a funeral, and the autumn equinox was a week away.  “Ghost of John,” the traditional American folk tune, came to my head during the service and I felt the pull to go directly home to my piano and write.

This carol has words, but I decided to release it first without words to show that it is a lullaby, so I hummed it.  You can view the carol in multiple ways.  Something to hum at a gravesite.  Something the living sing to each other to give comfort about death. Something the dead sing to the living … or each other.  This “Ashes to Ashes Version” symbolizes simple beginnings and simple endings with a world of intensity in between.

Here in America, most of us celebrate just Halloween.  But I feel like we are missing out on the complete holiday – the days of the dead – October 31, November 1, and November 2.  In Mexico on November 2, people have picnics on family member’s graves.  In Europe on November 1 and 2, people go in droves to visit the cemeteries.

November 1 and 2 are like Memorial Day.  This past Memorial Day, I went for a bike ride through the graveyard and it was a party!  Totally packed.  Cemeteries are such lovely places and I really think there ought to be parties there all the time.

But then, maybe I like quiet cemeteries the best.  I do like my bike rides through there when no one is around. 

Here are the words on the CD:

 

Hmmmmmmmm Hmmmmmmmmmm

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hmmm Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hmmmmmmm Hmmmmmmmmmmm

For those who don’t sneeze at the presence or thought of a cat, I would like to let you know that Molly’s song, “Cats In The Catacombs,” is up on YouTube.  It’s mostly still photography, but includes some video of her recording session:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLqz2fKREig

She is my “mews.”

Also, for those who tuned in to my interview on “The Steve and Johnnie Show” on Chicago’s WGN 720, and enjoyed “Cats In The Catacombs” broadcast there, I want to let you know that they played the special radio edit of that song which includes more of Molly’s “singing” so to make it more catchy for on-air.

The splendorous news is that you can buy that version as a single-track download, if you wish.  It’s available on my CD, “Vampire Empire – radio edits from the Halloween Carols™.”  It’s on CD Baby, iTunes, and DF Jams Store (links on my WebbySite – HalloweenCarols.com).

If any of you missed the interview, you can catch it here:

 

http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/stevejohnnie/wgnam-stevejohnnie-halloweencarols-uncut091019b,0,2343242.mp3file

Molly put her face right in mine to wake me up this morning.  If you’ve never experienced a wake-up-call like this, I think you’re missing out.  However, I know many of you feel like drop-kicking every cat you see, so just go on living your unenlightened lifestyles, and Molly will laugh all the way to the Nine Lives Bank.

 

 

If you don’t like cats, I advise you to avert your eyes from this blog right now.

Because I’m going to tell you about my Halloween Carol, “Cats In The Catacombs,” which is full of cat goodness!

Oh yes, I LOVES deh kittehs!  In fact, a good dose of “lolcats” is happy medicine.  If you’ve never heard of this site …

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

… try it out.  It’s so funny.  Yes, sometimes there are cheesy, sentimental “Hallmarky” pictures there, but most of the time, the pictures and captions are just plain funny.  (To my Trick-or-Treaters for whom English is a second language, some of the captions are in the silly “internet English” or “lolspeak,” so just slowly sound out the letters to figure out what the caption is saying.  Example: “kitteh” is a funny way of pronouncing “kitty”)

So, on to my Halloween Carol.  My cat, Molly, is the rock star of this song.  I adopted her from a shelter when she was four years old.  For months and months and months, she didn’t purr.  No purring.  This poor kitty had been physically abused by the former owner’s husband (as a cruel way to mentally abuse the owner), so she put Molly in the shelter.  Poor owner.  Poor Molly!

Why did I adopt a cat that didn’t purr?  Well, I was just drawn to this beautiful creature!  She’s a silky, black, elegant thing, and out of all the cats available, she struck me as the most intelligent, the most sophisticated.  The shelter was surprised that I chose her, but they were also astounded that I was able to calm down her growl-y nature.  It was like Harry Potter and his wand – simply the right match.

I thought about changing her name, because I would have never chosen “Molly” as a cat name, but no name came to my mind, and this little animal knew her name.  So I “Kristened” her Molly Macabre the Halloween Cat.

About a year or so into owning Molly, she began to purr.  Lots of love and gentle affection has healed this little beast.  As well as lots of tuna.  Yes, human’s tuna, right from the can, juices and all.  I love this girl!  She is so smart and funny.  Really, she has a funny little sense of humor.  She makes these “huh?” sounds when she catches my eye.  And we play hide-and-seek.  No joke. 

And I’m happy to say that today, 11 years after I adopted her, she has a mighty purr.  A cat motor.  But one “kitty issue” remains – she HATES being held when it’s not her idea.  She’ll come and sit on my lap by her own choice, but if I try to put her on my lap – no way!  And if I pick her up, she’ll growl, hiss, and spat.  She just doesn’t like it, but I still try because … when I want to hold a cat, I WANT TO HOLD A CAT!!!

Anyway, when I was arranging this carol, “Cats In The Catacombs,” for the recording, it struck me that I really should have Molly as a featured vocalist.  This song was made for Molly.

I scored this carol for organ, piano, xylophone, cello, and cat.

For cello, I asked my friend Brian Stucki to play that for me.  He is one outstanding cellist.  He is one outstanding musician!  He’s my friend from college and I wanted his skills and his personality on the recording.  He is at once very silly and quirky, and then very balanced and pleasant.  He, his wife, and their two children are currently in Warsaw, Poland, because he is singing in an opera there.  Yes, he does it all.  A fantastic musician.  He double-majored and double-mastered in cello and voice (tenor).  Here he his if you would like to know more about him:

http://www.guybarzilayartists.com/artist.asp?ID=80

 

The xylophone use in my song is a wink at Danny Elfman and his “xylophone band” that I have been a slobbering fan of since I was 10 years old – Oingo Boingo.  Here’s one of their xylophone songs, “Grey Matter”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Fc9lvRMy0

I love all of Oingo Boingo’s songs, but here is my favorite song of theirs, “Just Another Day”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b6opMEu-zM&feature=related

The harmonies and upper register piano usage are a wink at Camille Saint-Saëns, the composer of “Danse Macabre” and the incomparable “Organ” Symphony (No. 3 – the main theme of which is used in the movie, “Babe” – LOVE it).

Here is “Danse Macabre,” original orchestration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdLoTPUNtD0

And here is an organ reduction of the score:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhsGpNE4abY&feature=related

I’ve got to learn to play that!  Maybe for a future Halloween organ concert.  And here is a link to the final movement of Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3qCmp_Ujig

It is so beautiful.  Out of this world.  Gosh, here I am typing this blog with it still playing on YouTube and I’m sobbing out of control.  Where did that come from?  It’s sooooooooo preeeeeeeeeeetty.  Especially when that heavenly piano comes in (listen for it at 0:30).  Unreal.  Such a truly sweet musical theme.

 

When it came to recording Molly, well, that was easy.  I held her.  Yes, I held her in front of a microphone, and the longer I held her, the more annoyed she got.  She performed beautifully.  No, I did not hurt her.  I would never do that.  And to soothe her growls afterward, I gave her a whole can of tuna.

“Cats In The Catacombs” came about because I love to play with words, I love cats, and I’m intrigued with catacombs.  I’ve been to Paris three times, but I have yet to see the catacombs there.  I know, what’s my problem?

Cats’ association with Halloween comes mainly from their companionship to witches.  I’ve read in some places that cats (and other animals) were sacrificed by the Druids to help in their Samhain prophecies long ago, but I don’t like to think about that.  Aaah, Molly’s ancestors!

As far as companionship to witches, it’s such an understandable thing.  I am a quirky woman who loves cats.  I can see how a lot of women like me throughout the centuries were called witches.  If it weren’t so tacky, I’d own 100 cats.  And I’d make soup all day from a garden while my cats kept me company (but making soup isn’t tacky – no, no!  It’s a brilliant art.)  I love rubbing my face in cats and listening to their purr motors.

And wow, this is a long blog, but I have to share one more story with you before I end.  Several years ago, I was getting ready for a Halloween party.  I dressed up as … a cat … and curled my hair into a huge, golden fro.  I painted crazy, detailed cat make-up on my face.  Before I left, I went to say goodbye to Molly, who was lounging atop a bunk bed.  The room was dark, so she only heard me until I came closer to her.  And then, when she saw me, her eyes grew so big!  I kept talking and cooing to her to reassure her that it was I, but she backed away from me and her fur bristled.  When I reached out to pet her, she backed up so rapidly that she hit the wall and fell to the lower bunk.  The poor thing was “spooked to poofs of nerves and fur!”

 

 

Cats in the catacombs have scratchy, catchy claws.

They tousle a mouse or a ratty, tatty rat, then pause,

For something in the darkness creaks; and curious to see …

RAWR!  Spooked to poofs of nerves and fur!

 

Cats hiss like catalysts for mighty, frighty nights.

They cater with caterwauls down the labyrinthy halls,

Then patter, scatter as a knocking echoes down the way …

RAWR!  Spooked to poofs of nerves and fur!

 

Cats’ eyes can categorize images so dim. 

Like bunk beds of bones holding grins and gory eyes awake.

A cataplexy like a hex will seize the bristly beast …

RAWR!  Spooked to poofs of nerves and fur!

 

Cats brush by catafalques which, slipped in crypts beneath,

Can portend a mortal end to the lives-of-nine inclined. 

Well, pity kitties on their eighth who paw a
t loose, pile
d skulls …

RAWR!  Spooked to poofs of nerves and fur!

 

 

 

I’d like to tell you a bit about a bat. 

A flappy bat. 

Yes, I know that “flappy” is not a word, but I want it to be, and that’s one reason I love writing music and lyrics … NO RULES.  Of course there are “rules” in music composition and English grammar, but sometimes rules need to be broken … intelligently … to wrangle one’s art as one’s vision guides.

So … “Flappy Bat” … it’s just fun to say out loud.  Try it!  Flappy bat.  Flappy bat.

My Halloween Carol, “Flappy Bat,” is an interesting creature.  As I’ve said on a recent podcast (linescratchers.com), she is a Type B personality – a wise woman who knows her worth.  She’s confident and patient enough to wait for people to listen to the domineering, Type A songs of mine, and then come and explore her world.

I will say, however, that she was not pleased when a careless, lazy, ho-hum newspaper reporter referred to her as “Flabby Bat” last week.  Indeed, she was rather miffed.  I would be, too!  Calling a woman flabby … sheesh.

I scored the strings in “Flappy Bat” to sound like bats’ wings fluttering wildly.  This is mostly seen in the inner voices as they move in and out in patterns – sometimes parallel, other times contrary.  The vocal duet (my voice on two different recording tracks) represents the two wings of a bat.  I had their volumes mixed to sound exactly equal to one another, almost indistinguishable, so to make a perfectly balanced harmonic blend.

The history of this song covers the bat’s association with Halloween.  In pre-medieval Celtic lands, pagans celebrated Samhain on November 1 (the Celtic New Year).  Samhain means “Summer’s End,” and the eve of Samhain was the night they believed the dead visited the earth.  Bonfires, which were always a part of this celebration, attracted insects, which in turn attracted … bats.

 

As the traditions weaved and twisted through the centuries, bonfires were used cruelly to end the lives of those accused of witchcraft.  Bats were attracted to these bonfires for the same reason.  And this time, the superstitious people believed that the witches were shape-shifting into these bats to escape. 

As I was writing the lyrics, it hit me that the face of a bat looks a little demonic.  And isn’t that a truth of life?  Appearances do not always represent the heart.  (On the other hand, bat faces are kind of cute in their own way.)

I hope you enjoy delving deeper into this Halloween Carol and let her fluttering wings take your thoughts across the centuries.

 

Flappy bat flapping at

Halloween bonfires great,

Have you caught any moth

Fluttering to its fate?

 

Witches’ stakes – grave mistakes –

Summon your swooping grace.

Might your shape be escape,

Masked by a devil’s face?

 

Pointy wings, echoings

Guide your nocturnal flight

Past the hills, sweeping chills

With your form by moonlight.

 

 

Oooooooh, it always makes me so happy to arrive in October.  *sigh*  We made it.  We made it through the long, hot summer months and now we get to revel in this beautiful season.  My nose, eyeballs, and heart are swimming in the wonderful smells, visions, and feelings.

Last night Lord and Lady Bats flapped into town – two of my dearest friends – and we’re going to Disneyland tomorrow.  Disneyland now has “Halloween Time at Disneyland” with a special fireworks show and other fun changes around the park.  I’m so glad Halloween is growing.  Disneyland didn’t have anything of the sort a mere five years ago. 

Just within the past ten years, purple and orange porch lights have overtaken neighborhoods.  I’ve seen Halloween trees with Halloween ornaments.  And now there are more Halloween greeting cards available then ever!

I’m sure some of you will say, “Bah!  Pooh pooh!  Commercialism.  Bah!”  But I don’t.  I think it’s great that we are imagining and creating more ways to celebrate and have fun with the season!  I mean, yes, let’s have some taste in our decorating – I see a lot of kitsch in stores – but when I find a Halloween item of quality, it makes me do that “smile-and-breathe-in-deeply” sort of thing.

Well, in case any of you have been dead in a grave, I’ll announce again that my new Halloween CD – A Broom With A View - is online for sale!  I’ve been receiving such lovely, kind emails and notes from you, and I want you to know, my sweet Trick-or-Treaters, that I appreciate each one.  If I have the time, I always try to respond, because I LOVE MY TRICK-OR-TREATERS!!!  I’m charmed by what an eclectic bunch you are – kids, moms, dads, goths, pirates, witches, symphony-goers, gypsies, belly dancers, history enthusiasts, fairies, rockers, steampunks, and the lot!

With leaves, cider, lower sun angle, cooler air, costumes, candy, lights, and all things made of pumpkin, I hope you have a lovely October.

 

My darling Trick-or-Treaters!

My new Halloween CD – “A Broom With A View” – is now officially online for sale.  Go trick-or-treat yourselves!

Happy Autumn Equinox to you tomorrow!  Did I deliver on my promise or what?  “New Halloween CD coming the end of summer.”

Whew.  (*swipes brow*)

 

Hello Trick-or-Treaters! As we wait for my new CD to be online for sale (any day now), I thought it high time to announce the title and track listing.

Yes, there she is …

A Broom With A View – from the Halloween Carols

… my new, full-length Halloween CD. And she can’t wait to fly into your life. Here are the 13 little goodies:

1 – Mostly Ghostly – Entrance Music (2:20)
2 – A Broom With A View (5:16)
3 – Souling Song – All Hallows Version (7:56)
4 – Souling Song – Samhain Version (7:10)
5 – Dark Glass (5:42)
6 – Cats In The Catacombs (4:19)
7 – Sleeping Dust (“The Death Lullaby”) – Ashes To Ashes Version (5:58)
8 – Flappy Bat (5:10)
9 – Vampire Empire (6:07)
10 – A Broom With A View – Instrumental Version (5:16)
11 – Cats In The Catacombs – Instrumental Version (4:19)
12 – Vampire Empire – Instrumental Version (6:02)
13 – Mostly Ghostly – Exit Music (2:20)


The first place it will appear online is at CD Baby – cdbaby.com. They then distribute it to Amazon, iTunes, etc. – this may take a few weeks, so if you want it NOW (well, any day now), then hie ye hither to CD Baby. I now have a physical distribution arrangement with CD Baby, so you will be able to buy it physically and digitally from many online sites.

I’ll tell you, it’s such a strange turnabout to go from writing mode to recording mode to business mode. I think I like the writing mode best. I love sitting at my piano, keyboard, or organ with a pencil and manuscript paper. But here I am, tapping into my business promotion side. And as I’ve said before, my idols are Catwoman and the Phoenix, so they bring out the bad-tail-toughy in me. Purryeah!

In my coming blogs, I’ll talk about each of the songs, the Halloween history they are based on, and other little fun-sized bits about the music and words.

Happy Almost-Autumn-Equinox to you!

Oh, my dear Trick-or-Treaters! Your time has nearly arrived! Yes, your time is almost here to go Trick-or-Treating with your ears.

I finished recording my new Halloween CD about a week ago, and it is currently being printed. In fact, I hope to pick up the first box of freshly printed CDs later today (cross fingers!). The next step is to overnight them to CD Baby so they can get them online for sale. CD Baby then distributes them to iTunes, Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, etc. for digital downloads only … so, all to say that my CD will be available on CD Baby first if you are just itching to get your paws on my new music.

Also, if you wish to purchase a physical CD, for right now, they will only be available on CD Baby. I’m currently working on getting physical CD distribution through Amazon and other online shops. If you find a physical CD for sale on Amazon right now, it will be overpriced because some dealers buy them from CD Baby, then try to make a profit on Amazon. Online scalpers. Rascals. I hope you don’t support them.

I am now on Twitter – twitter.com/HalloweenCarols – yes, it’s Trick-or-Tweeting time. And if you type my name on Facebook, you’ll find my fan page. Please come and join me! And invite other Trick-or-Treaters!

Now … it’s time to thank a certain food for getting me through this recording project. It’s a smoothie, really. I call it the “Happiness Shake.” It’s so easy to make and it’s perfectly healthy.

In a blender, pulverize:

 frozen banana
 soy milk or cow milk (soy makes it frothier)
 peanut butter (the kind where the ingredients are only: peanuts, salt)
 optional: a few chocolate chips

Just eye the levels until it’s the consistency that you desire. I like mine really thick. Lately, I haven’t been adding the chocolate chips because it’s already plenty sweet. But chocolate is, indeed, a happiness maker, so it’s often high time for it.

Thank you, Happiness Shake. You helped me to stay happy so I could work hard. But now with autumn approaching, it will be time to introduce warm cider into the mix. And drinking warm cider in the shower is such a treat. Such an escape. How can I ever complain about anything when I have a hot shower and warm cider in my life? Such simple privileges. Such scrumptious fall-time smells and flavors.

I’ll post a new blog entry when my CD is up for sale. Stay tuned!

Crazy. That’s what I was over the last few days. Why, you ask? Well, it was voluntary craziness, but that’s simply what you do to help out friends. That’s what friends do for me, and that’s what I do for friends.

My friends from the band “Checkpoint Charley” had a gig set for this past Saturday, opening for Jon Schmidt. Checkpoint Charley's regular keyboardist could not do it. And the guy they had lined up to do keyboards bailed a few days before. I used to play keyboards for them, and recorded their first CD with them, but no longer could help them when my Halloween project started to take all my time. (I highly recommend checking out their song, “Cardiac Arrest.” Terribly, terribly catchy. I think most of you will like it. And it’s the most fun for me to play, because they gave me free reign on making up keyboard parts.)

Every last minute of mine has been spent on getting my CD for this Halloween out the door – recording, mixing, CD-text-checking, etc. And I am exhausted. (It’s a good exhaustion, but exhaustion nonetheless.) So when Kevin, the lead singer, called on Wednesday night in a panic, I told him I wanted to help, but that I needed to think about it for 10 minutes. I had to just sit with my brain and check it to make sure I wasn’t insane. I didn’t want to load on another task and pop from the stress of it.

I called back and said yes, but that I couldn’t make the practice that night or Thursday, but I could run through the songs on Friday night. BUT THEN … Thursday morning, before I drove to Gaynor’s studio to work on my Halloween song mixes, my back went out. It was all of a sudden and I’ve been spending these past days hunched over like an old witch from a fairytale … want some candy, little boy???? Or like Igor. “YES, MASTER!”

We had a very, very short sound check before the show on Saturday, and just went for it. I haven’t played with them for two years, but … hooray for chord charts! It was an outdoor show, and the weather turned surprisingly freezing for an August night. My fingers were so icy, stiff, and DONE by the end of the set. (I don’t know how Jon does it, playing these outdoor, mountain-y venues in nighttime weather. Such a skilled dude.) We finished with a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and that was fun. It’s so much fun to play with a whole band, especially drums. Mmmm … drums … mmmmmmm.

The other voluntary craziness some of you might scoff at, but I don’t care. I’m a girl, and I like high heels. Yes, my back was out and in pain, but I wore heels. That’s just what lady keyboardists do! At least this lady keyboardist does … except when I play the organ. I like playing the organ barefooted because I like the way the pedals feel under my bare feet. But that only works for German baroque literature. French romantic literature, on the other hand, requires that I wear my special organ shoes. There is too much legato craziness – it would pretty much just not work.

I could have pulled out the flip-flops for the gig on Saturday, but … come on … heels are just so put together. Yes, I’m 5 feet 9 inches, but I still love heels. I’m forever a California girl, so when I’m not wearing heels, I’m wearing flip-flops, but I didn’t want to look sloppy onstage. And I insisted on sitting down at the keyboard, so my back could handle it. (My back hasn’t gone out for years, so I hope it just finishes up already. Sheesh.)

My friends in “Checkpoint Charley” were very gracious to let me sell my CD from last year – “Arachnitect” – alongside theirs at the merch table. It’s been an interesting time, getting the word out about my Halloween Carols. Most people, when they think about Halloween music, probably think of tacky, spooky sound effects and cheap, synthesized organ sounds. So, promoting my music is an undertaking in confronting those mainstream thoughts.

I want to give Halloween the beauty and classiness that it deserves. It is a rich, intriguing, historical holiday and I don’t believe enough of us consider it such. AND IT’S COMING!!!! Here and there, I have felt little tendrils of autumn curling past my senses over the last few weeks. Happiness.

So, back to Gaynor’s studio tomorrow after an eventful weekend. Gaynor and I are in the last stages of mixing, so the CD is very close to being finished. I’m hoping to finish in two weeks. Cross fingers with me! And please tell friends! So many people are looking for nice Halloween music … help me find them! You can be the Trick-or-Treater who makes a difference in another Trick-or-Treater’s life!!! Remember when we were kids, and filled each other in on the “good neighborhoods” – the neighborhoods that gave out the king-size candy bars? Yes, it’s like that! Tell them to come to my porch. I’ll be handing out the GOOD goods.

I recently had an out-of-belly experience. Food poisoning. My first case of it. Oh, I hope, hope, hope it’s my last. What torture. My traumatized tummy did not want anything in it for a couple of days. And then it said to me, “You know, you ought to put a little something in me. I trust you.” Yes, I have such a nice, understanding belly.

So, yogurt is currently my favorite thing. I’ve always liked yogurt, but now I reeeeeaaaaaallllyyyy like it. And eating it so often these past two weeks has brought back memories of when I was a little girl, when I liked the sensation of squeezing yogurt through my teeth. I haven’t done that in a while. Maybe I’ll try it again. I remember grocery shopping with my mom and she’d often buy lemon yogurt – a truly outstanding flavor for the art of yogurt. Really! So pleasing, it makes me smile in a lazy way and makes my eyes roll back up into my head. And while we’re on the subject of dairy, I must say that pistachio is a remarkable flavor of ice cream. Quite inspiring. Ah, I’m so grateful for cows.

And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a cow that caused my food poisoning. I don’t ever want to lose faith in bovines.

This food poisoning episode didn’t slow me down in studio too much, luckily. I was rather weak for a few days following, but it gave me a nice, mellow edge to my personality – so chill, in fact, that I got some fantastic vocal takes, probably because I didn’t care about too many things and wasn’t thinking too hard. Kind of funny how that works, isn’t it? There’s a time and place for it, but when it’s the right time, we could call it “The Power of ‘Whatever.’”

And, in contrast, there is also “The Power of Red Lipstick.” Wearing this lippy stuff is quite a boon to one who wants to capture just the right vampire vocals. I’m here to say, “It works.”

So, I’m about a month or so away from finishing my CD (then of course a few more weeks for replication and distribution). I’m so excited to get it out to you all. And you know what’s so funny? Now that I’m almost done with this CD, my other Halloween Carols have been popping into my head, whispering to me that they want to be on the next CD. I have about 60 Halloween Carols that I have written in four-part carol/hymn style, and many of them are begging me to be the next one to be arranged into a fully orchestrated song. I love each one. They are my babies. My brain babies. My heart babies. (My mom calls them her grandchildren.) They each have such different personalities, and it’s funny how they each ask me in their own way to be chosen.

Some of them are full-blooded Type A personalities. They want to be powerful and rock the flesh off people. Others are subtle in their intensity and choose to rock you without your realizing it. Some are mellow and dreamy. Some are silly (like the family comedians). Some are cheerful. Some are rascals. Some are thoughtful. Some are hypnotizing. Some are pouncy and bouncy.

And they are each waiting to be born onto CD – this current litter in the next couple of months, and more litters of little “song kitties” in the years to come! Meow.

Hello, my dear Trick-or-Treaters! I can’t believe that June is half over, but I’m happy to report that my new, full-length CD for this Halloween is really starting to come together and sparkle (these last few days, I’ve been so excited and dancing around to my new Samhain song, which I just added drums to with the help of the talented Micah Anderson). More on all that in a paragraph or two, but right now I’ll come to the main point of this blog …

I’ve been receiving enthusiastic and much-appreciated feedback from many of you, my sweet and quirky Trick-or-Treaters. I do enjoy very much hearing from you and delight in our common love of Halloween. And I thought – to tide you over until my CD is finished – that I would offer free downloads of my College Senior Organ Recital.

A good friend was very kind to record my recital for me back in 2001 (May 1, 2001, to be exact). I graduated from Brigham Young University in Organ Performance and Pedagogy, and this was the final recital required for my bachelor’s degree. I had the privilege to perform on the glorious organ at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City. It was built by Kenneth Jones and Associates of Bray, Ireland, and installed in 1992. And it’s my favorite type of organ – a tracker. Tracker organs are mechanical action and I love them because I can FEEL the manuals and pedals more intensely. This organ is a 77/79 rank, English-style beast that has 4,066 pipes.

So, wherever you wish – my WebbySite or myspace – please help yourself to these free downloads. We can pretend you’re at my porch in costume a few months early, but I’m still putting candy into your satchels. And let’s just say that I love all kinds of “candy,” but J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia is one of my favorite candies ever. Oh, what a masterpiece. I like to play Bach barefooted. So sensual.

OK, so back to my recording adventures. It’s vocal time now, so to relax and get in a quirky, performance-y mood, I’ve been watching Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland.” It’s so ridiculous and silly … and classic. “There are dog-and-caterpillars …” Also, I’ve been YouTube-ing “Mambo Italiano” often. It works.

Just two days ago, I finished recording the vocals for my cat song. It’s a cat-person sort of thing. If you’re not into cats, this song might make you cringe. Or sneeze. It features my little, black kitty, Molly, on meows and hisses. She doesn’t like to be held when it’s not her idea, so (heh heh) I held her up in front of my microphone … and kept holding her. Oh, she performed in kind with some great sounds! Ha ha. The style of this song I somehow want to label “Turn-of-the-Century Vaudeville.”

Like I mentioned above, I worked with Micah Anderson to program MIDI drums for my Samhain song. He was so easy and fun to work with and did a FABULOUS job of interpreting what I wanted in drum sounds and rhythms, from skins to kits in 6/8 time. It was great to hammer out rhythms with our hands and feet and imagine the song being played at a huge concert with pirates in the audience banging their heads. I also learned a lot by watching him work with the program “Reason.” Next step is the vocal recording, then electric guitars and bass. I’m labeling this song style as “Epic Pagan Metal.”

Lately, avocados have been my fuel of choice. Aren’t they magnificent? I’ll take them in any form, but I think my favorite is simply with salt and balsamic vinegar. What smooth, creamy pockets of energy! Such nice, little friends.

Other nice, little friends are the blue jays right outside Gaynor’s studio (but not for eating like the avocados, of course). It’s so funny. Gaynor is like Snow White, but he’s masculine – all the birds and creatures come and “talk” to him. Gaynor has trained these blue jays to take a peanut from his hand. The boldest he has named “BJ.” BJ now trusts me enough to take a peanut from my hand. And he is a smart bird! There’s a window right by the controls where Gaynor and I work, and BJ will appear at the window and look in. This means he wants a peanut. One of us will get up from our chair, BJ will see this and hop over to the door, where we’ll put a peanut in our hand and he’ll fly up and snatch it. I’m not kidding. This is totally true. It’s like Magic Creature Land at Gaynor’s. He’s the perfect engineer for my quirky, Halloween needs.

Well, my friends, enjoy the free downloads! And enjoy Summer Solstice coming up in a week! A couple of years ago for Summer Solstice, I made three CD mixes of pagan-ish dancing music, and a bunch of friends and I lit a bonfire and danced around it. I don’t know if I’ll have time to do it this year because I am such a recording hermit right now, but it would be fun. Anyway, ‘til we meet again at the next blog!

My bicycle – Bianca, She-Goblin of Might – and I just returned from an evening ride through the cemetery and while there, we happened upon a really neat thing. A family was gathered around a grave, singing, of all things … “Happy Birthday.”

(Now, this was a non-incident bike ride, not a wasp-inside-sports-bra-biting-left-breast-crash-incident. For more details on that harrowing episode, let me refer you to my blog from last August entitled, “The Lore of Mountain Bike Gore.”)

I rode past these birthday singers, smiling to myself, not believing my timing, and continued my path up and down the little graveyard roads. I didn’t know if they were singing to the deceased, but if so … what a great way to keep life in perspective!

See, that’s one of the many reasons why I study Halloween history. I’m fascinated by how past and present societies, cultures, and religions – and the individuals therein – deal with death. I think it has a lot to do with how one will behave in life. Dust, angels, demons, resurrection, reincarnation – whatever people believe, I find it all interesting.

On my ride out of the cemetery, I went by that family again and asked a woman if they had been singing to the deceased. It turns out they weren’t, rather just taking advantage of their family gathering to sing “Happy Birthday” to a couple of kids who recently had theirs. So, no Birthday Corpse, but … I still like the idea.

It makes me think of the birthday girl from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, blowing out the candles. If you’ve never been to Disneyland, here’s a YouTube video of the ride to give you an idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E60nt-_f6Sw&feature=related You’ll see her about 9:15 into the video. I practically grew up at Disneyland, being an Orange County kid, so the Haunted Mansion is in my blood.

The Birthday Corpse idea also makes me think of the body. The mind. The heart. The spirit. Who we each are. How we progress year by year in our mortality. Teens, twenties, thirties … and on until our death … and beyond (as I and many others believe).

If those seem like dramatically contrasting thoughts on either side of the serious-to-silly-spectrum, well … that’s Halloween! In my Halloween history studies, I’m constantly intrigued and amused by what people through the ages have done to make it a season of frightful thoughts of death on one hand, and a time for pranks and lightheartedness on the other. (Throughout my blogs, I’ll share bits of this history, but if you’re dying to read more information now, I recommend you check out some books by my two favorite Halloween researchers: Lesley Bannatyne and Jack Santino … who are SO COOL, by the way. When researching an old Halloween-related tune a few months ago, I emailed both of them, wondering what they knew about it. They were both so gracious to respond with what they knew in their experience and expertise.)

Birthday Corpses make me think of Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos (much like the scene on Oingo Boingo’s album cover, “Dead Man’s Party”). On All Souls Day (November 2), or Day of the Dead as it’s referred to in Mexico, families gather around graves and have picnics to celebrate the lives of their deceased loved ones. In their homes, they set their tables and have a feast, leaving one chair empty for the dead family member’s ghost to sit.

My dead Grandma Lawrence didn’t visit me at a dining table, but I think she visited me in a dream. This dream occurred in October a few years back (of all the months!) shortly after her death. In my dream, my extended family was all gathered in my driveway, having a viewing of my grandma in her coffin. I was sitting in the coffin with her, holding her hand. Then her hand started to move, and I looked at her face, and she came back to life. Her dead body came alive and totally reanimated! She got out of the coffin and just hung out with us. She wanted to be with us. She loved her family so much. We always had such fun family reunions.

I like gravestones that say things like, “Families are Forever” or “Forever Loved.” There’s a German section in the graveyard that I ride through and I’ve seen on a few headstones the phrase, “Heiraten für Ewigkeit” – “Married for Eternity.” So simple and beautiful.

My grandma was so wise. I always loved hearing any tidbit she had to tell me. She once told me that her 40’s were a great decade for her. She said, “By my forties, I finally ‘got it.’ I really had a good handle on life.” I loved hearing that because it makes me feel just fine with my 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and so forth inevitably coming.

I’m in my 30’s now, and I feel like I’m “getting it.” I’m getting my brain, heart, and body to all work together. I exercise six days a week for my brain and my body. All those little exercise chemicals that light up in your brain when you work out are so lovely. They make my brain run so smoothly. And I’m trying to keep my body young and full of energy so it can serve me well.

But what’s a girl to do when she has an affinity for fine cheeses and dark chocolates? Try to savor little bits, that’s what. I’ve got to be careful – my catwoman costume was a little tight last Halloween. Ha ha.

Yesterday, I wanted a burger … BADLY. You know. Sometimes it’s just like … burrrrrrrrrger. BUR. GER. BURGER!!!!!!! Gimme that red, charred, dripping meat. And I wanted the whole deal. Burger, fries, shake. Oh yeah. A lot of times I’ll just get one. But yesterday I thought, “Let’s be responsible about this.” So, even though I had exercised that morning, I told myself if I went for a run in the evening, I could get everything I wanted – cheeseburger with pastrami, fries, and a rootbeer milkshake.

Three miles and a short car ride later, my dreams came true. I think I must have sounded like Bill Murray in “What About Bob?” Mmmmm. MMMMM!!! M! I love sauce and melted cheese and tomatoes that bleed into everything. Biting onions that bite me back. Watery lettuce. Sigh. Mmmmm. Sigh. It’s like I almost dance with food like this.

This beloved burger came after some hard weeks of recording at Gaynor’s studio. The mixes are coming! On Tuesday my good friend from college, Brian Stucki, came and recorded cello on my cat song. Oh, he is so good! He double-majored in cello and voice (tenor), then went on to double-master in the same. Yes, he is QUITE the musician. So brilliant and gifted. He’s been singing in operas around the country. I wanted him, especially, to record this cello part because the music is silly and fun and quirky. And so is Brian. (He’s also one of the most emotionally balanced artists I’ve ever met – not always common in the world of artists). He did a fantastic job and I can’t wait to get this song out to all of you, my dear Trick-or-Treaters!

I’ve also been making great progress with my vocal coach, Jason, getting ready for the voice-track recording phase. Today we worked on my upcoming CD’s first song, “Mostly Ghostly.” He’s a great coach and teacher, helping me understand even better what I’ve written, helping me express the essence of my songs, digging into each and every phrase. We have lessons in the basement of a cathedral. It’s kind of like the Phantom and Christine (Kristen) under the opera house. Except not. Because he’s much better looking than the phantom and we’re not having a love affair and it’s a church.

A neat thing is that we are the same age. I’m precisely eight days older than he. Birthday Corpses!!! I hope that all of you Trick-or-Treaters are having good birthdays and good years. Or, as Tori Amos would say, “Pretty Good Year.” Well, it’s more than a pretty good year for me (because I’m in my 30’s and am training my brain to work smoothly, of course, so I will “get it” in my 40’s).

If any of you are having your “Halloween Birthday” coming up, I wish you a happy one. By “Halloween Birthday” I mean your 31st – because Halloween is October 31st. My good friend, Linda, just had her Halloween Birthday two weeks ago. I saved a pumpkin from last October on top of my fridge, waiting for the special occasion so I could carve a big 31 into it for her.

So, keep those birthday candles and jack o’ lantern candles lit, because I am cranking it hard to get this CD ready in time for your Halloween! I’m almost done programming the beats for my vampire song, and the guy I hired to do drum programming for my Samhain song is also almost finished. Full steam ahead!

Hey! I just thought of a competition for the Halloween Olympics! The Decapithon! I think only zombies and skeletons could compete. So don’t sign up unless you are one of those. And no, being tired or not eating enough doesn’t count.

I almost qualified as a zombie these past two weeks. Well, kind of a cowgirl-zombie-thing. I’ll explain. It starts with a “HEE-YAW!!!” That’s the sound of my trying to make my pipe organ software work for me. I have been a metaphorical whip-wielder.

See, authentic pipe organ sounds are not the most demanded digital samples in the world. Strings, yes. Drums, yes. Even non-pipe organ sounds like Hammonds, yes. But no, not so much demand for true-form cathedral pipe organ sounds. More programs are appearing (thank goodness) with options to pull each stop separately, as an organist would while sitting at a console (not just pre-programmed combinations of stops). I bought a promising company’s pipe organ software last year, but it is still not available as a plug-in for Logic or Pro Tools. So, I’ve had to be a creative wrangler to get this RAM-sucking software to work for me. H’yawwwwwww!!!!!!! But, oh, how it has exhausted me. Rrrrrrrrrrrrr. (That’s a zombie sound.) (And it doesn’t help that my cat, Molly Macabre the Halloween Cat, wakes me up before 6 every morning, demanding both her wet food and to be let out.)

I’m grateful to my engineer, Gaynor Brunson, for helping me figure out this software last year. And to my friend Tracy Taylor for helping me get it going again for this year. These last two weeks I’ve been recording organ audio tracks at Tracy’s, using his big desktop to run the organ software and my laptop as the MIDI controller. Quick tech lesson: MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and can be thought of like the little knobs in a music box. The knobs are created to strum in just the right sequence. They will strum whatever set of chimes is placed against them. MIDI makes those little knobs in digitized form. And they will play whatever digital sounds are run through them. For those of whom I’m fooling, I am not the most computer-savvy catwoman out there. I am finding, however, that when computer things go wrong, I learn computer workings better and better.

So, it’s fun to get smarter and smarter with computers, because a lot of things have gone wrong. MIDI is old technology and I’m baffled that it still has bugs. It gets stuck … a lot … and I have to hit “stop” and “record” in quick succession more than I’d like to. Also, because this organ software is relatively primitive for my recording needs, I’ve had to do a lot of experimenting and back-and-forths with recording audio tracks on my own and dumping them into Gaynor’s Pro Tools. But I’ll wrap up this paragraph by saying, All Hail the Flash Drive!!!

I’m sorry to shatter the illusion for anyone who thought that I record in a cathedral. I would, indeed, love to do this. Maybe someday I will, if I have the money for such a feat of mic-ing. What is great about recording pipe organ through MIDI, though, is that I can be a total control freak about the sound, and produce it more like a rock CD (classical organ CDs tend to sound distant; I like it a little more in-your-face). One foot in the classical world. One foot in the rock world. One hand in the folk world. One hand in the cookie jar.

The software I own was recorded dry (right up against each pipe with no hall sound), so when I work with Gaynor, we can control how much reverb to slap on. I also love to watch how he does EQ. He’s so good with all of those “tweaky” things. I call his studio “Gaynor’s School of Rock” because I learn so much as I sit next to him at the controls, day after day, observing and asking questions. He’s so kind and patient to explain things to me. Now and then he lets me take over the controls to try it out. I record on my own through Logic on my laptop, but my use of it is light and limited, so to sit next to an expert at work on a humungous system is so enlightening. I’m a control freak with every detail of my music, so it’s nice to receive this training day by day so my control freak-ism can deepen. Yes! Plus, Gaynor’s hair is long and curly. How can one not feel in good hands with a long-haired music dude? Ok, ok, there are plenty of long-haired fakes out there, but Gaynor is the real thing, so his hair only helps his case.

What I’d like to know is … how was Davy Jones’ pipe organ recorded? When I first saw Pirates 2 in the theater and his first pipe organ scene came onscreen, I can’t tell you how my eyelids half dropped in dreaminess and how my smile stretched and shone. I thought, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.” What a great sound! It was fierce but alluring, really catching the character, the essence of his particular pipes. Are these among the secrets at Skywalker Ranch? Can anyone out there tell me? Please? I’ve tried some networking connections to contact these people, but to no avail so far.

Either way, I am the hee-yaw-ing cowgirl and I will keep on driving my herd of pipes forward (or should I say “heard” of pipes … bah harrr). Sometimes I’m a tired zombie, but sometimes I’m a T-I-double-guh-RRRRRRRR! When Gaynor and I get a good mix of a song going, I often yelp, howl, giggle, smack some ledge, and bounce in my chair next to him because it’s so thrilling for the sounds in my head to become translated into reality. (I’ve tried to be cool and chill … but I’m just not. I’ve accepted it. I’m just not cool. I’m a puppy dog, complete with wagging tail, lolling tongue, and rapid panting … and I love to give friends nose kissies.)

I’m excited to be getting closer to delivering this CD to you. The song topics cover ghosts, witches, cats, bats, vampires, centuries-old traditions, reverencing the dead, and a sort of Halloween-in-space song. I’m really hoping that it will add an enchanting, quality spirit of celebrating to your autumn.

I just finished squeezing a good amount of orange juice. The oranges themselves hail from Orange County. Orange County Juice! Ah-yummmmm, lip-smack-smack-smack. Every time I visit my parents in OC, I always drive back to my Salt Lake place with at least one box of oranges picked from their yard. And I hardly dent the trees; they carry so much fruit. After the Christmas holiday, I drove back with three boxes and inundated my friends with orange greetings.

I was in Orange County to play the organ with the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. The performance was at the same hall where I played in the Halloween Spooktacular with the Pacific Symphony – The Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (how’s that for a mouthful?). The piece I played with the Youth Orchestra was Albinoni’s “Adagio in G minor,” which, by the way, was not truly written by Albinoni, rather by Remo Giazotto, who claimed to have based it on fragments of an Albinoni trio sonata.

Also at this hall, I had the pleasure to be part of the audience a few days later when the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra performed. It was a Saint Patrick’s Day concert and green lights shone on the organ pipes. It was delightful. And who should introduce this concert, but Fionnula Flanagan! She walked onstage at the beginning of the program and my eyes lit up! I recognized her from the movie “Waking Ned Devine,” where she plays Annie O’Shea. This is one of my favorite movies ever. The first time I saw it, I literally SCREAMED in laughter when the phone booth went flying over the edge of the cliff. Literally. It was so funny to me; I almost couldn’t stand it. My mom and I were watching it together and we both SCREAMED and SCREAMED in disbelief at the humor. I got up on my knees on the couch and clutched and gripped it hard while I wheezed.

And so, to thank Fionnula for her saucy acting in this great movie, I wanted to give my Arachnitect CD to her. After her introduction, I saw her come into the hall and I watched very carefully where she found her seat. When intermission came and I saw a few people getting up, I made a B-line straight for her and said hi, with a good bit of enthusiasm as I think back on it, which might have weirded her out, but then, maybe she’s used to it. We had only walked together a few steps when someone said that it wasn’t intermission yet. Woops! She quickly went back to her seat, but undaunted I followed her and slipped my CD into her lap and whispered, “To thank you for your acting.” I then ducked my way back to my seat in the smack middle of a row, dodging legs and apologizing as I went. Ha ha!

After the lively and lovely concert, I had the pleasure of meeting Frankie Gavin, considered to be the greatest living traditional Irish fiddle player, and Aidan O’Brien, who rocked on the Uilleann Pipes, Irish flute, whistles, banjo, and guitar. Their music, with the orchestra and soloists, was fabulous. The jigs, especially, went straight to my blood. Those sounds produce a very particular type of magical feeling. I can’t explain it, but those who know what I’m saying, KNOW what I’m saying.

I gave my CD to both Frankie and Aidan because I loved the traditional Irish music they played and thought they might like my take on the traditional American tune, “Ghost of John.” And a great deal of Halloween history comes from Ireland, so I’m eager to share my music with the Irish. It all made for a very rewarding night back home in Orange County.

My cat, Molly Macabre the Halloween Cat, is always such a good travel companion. She’s so patient during the drive. And with every drive, she’s getting more and more brave. Lately, when we drive through the Arizona canyons on the I-15, instead of curling up on the floor behind my seat, she has been standing on her hind paws and leaning against the window, looking with great curiosity at all the interesting scenery passing by. When I stop at In-N-Out, I always share a little bit of my hamburger with her. Treats for the kitteh! (And speaking of Molly, she just barely jumped up on my lap so I’m reaching around her right now to type on my laptop. I’m not kidding. A laptop and a cattop!)

During this last drive, among my stack of CDs I went through was the “Coraline” soundtrack. I’ve seen the movie in 3D twice and was so ear-tickled with the use of harp and children’s voices. I find the closing credits music especially tasty (and I love those flying dogs onscreen). A happy work of quirk! How can one leave the movie theater not singing psycho little sounds? Thank you, Bruno Coulais, and thank you, Neil Gaiman.

I also listened to Aaron Copeland while I was driving through the desert, which was such a neat thing, really. I love America. I can see why many Europeans are enamored with the “Old West.” Cowboys, Indians, the desert. See, and I’m fascinated by cities with ancient ruins. Vienna, for example, has ancient Roman ruins protected behind glass right in the subway stations. Blows my mind. So many interesting flavors and pockets of wonder to enjoy in this world.

Well, my Halloween CD for this year is galloping along. I’ve been scoring strings and other lovely sounds like mad. Today I played around with beats for a new vampire song. Beats are fun. I used to be intimidated by them because I was purely classically trained and had fear issues with technology (though I still prefer to write music down with a pencil, not a scoring program). I used to shake when I’d pick up a users manual for programs. My brain wanted to shut down. But I’ve told my brain that it is time to be fearless and just go for it. And why not? Fear is silly. Plus, my alter egos are Catwoman and The Phoenix.

I like February. I see it as a big splash of red right in the middle of winter. All around town I like seeing the shades of red and pink that emerge. So invigorating. And I think Valentine’s Day is kind of intriguing. I’ve never celebrated Valentine’s with anyone special, but I’m not pessimistic about it. I rather think it’s a succulent eye-feast with the deep blood colors and dramatic hues.

And a fun chocolate-feast, too. I am an experienced participant of the wonders that chocolate does to the brain. When I experience a piece of chocolate that’s so good, it seems a tragedy to finally swallow. I want the dark cocoa bliss to absorb into my tongue. I wish I could roll those flavors around in my mouth forever without the caloric punishment.

Blood reds and dark chocolates. Last winter I decided that I needed more red in my abode. I needed a pungent kick to the grays of January (as elegant as they are). I bought a red kitchen rug, kitchen towels with red/black/chocolate prints, a red tablecloth, a red vase, and I treated myself to a Costco bunch of red roses. Oh it was so good for my spirit. I think it made my eyes brighter, taking it all in. I wanted to chew and claw at the air and smile constantly.

Now, because February usually brings up the topic of romance, I’ll put it simply that I have not yet found a suitable suitor. I’m in a relationship with my Halloween Carols project. And it’s FAAAAAABULOUS. But then this, in turn, brings up the topic of Cat Woman.

I aspire to Cat Woman – the Michelle Pfeiffer archetype. However, I wonder if sometimes I lean toward Cat Woman – the Simpsons type or the Monty Python’s Holy Grail type (though I’d never smack a cat against a hard object). I’m a bachelorette with a cat. And as the years go by, I fancy more and more having … a second cat.

I went to my first cat show a few months ago and made fun of myself for liking it. And it made me laugh even harder that that event was about 90% estrogen. Oh but these creatures! These cat creatures are so beautiful. All the different types – shapes, colors, furs, designs, eyes, tails, mew pitch and timbre.

The Long Beach Dog Show has been on the television lately and I’ve really enjoyed watching that, too. But it makes me wish that cat shows were as classy and formal (blue blood, almost) as dog shows. I mean, dog shows have COMMENTATORS. With microphone headsets, even! Like football commentators. But even though I chuckle at it, I was just as swept up in the wonder of all the beautiful breeds of dogs. Such lovely, intriguing things in life to enjoy. Sweet poochies. (I often stop to pet dogs while I’m out running and can’t get enough of their soft ears. Silly little pleasure, but it makes me happy.)

Cats, dogs, red hearts, and dark chocolate. What a nice February. This month also finds me hard at work for your Halloween music needs. I’ve been orchestrating and arranging more of my Halloween Carols to release on another CD this fall, headlined by a special witch song. I have some songs up on YouTube (like “Ghost of John” and “Blood Waltz”), so if you like them and are so inclined, please share with your friends. I constantly hear of people who are looking for good Halloween music and I’m trying to reach them. Please help me spread the trick-or-treat love!

This past November was a magical one. November is like October, but more dead. In an enlivening way. There is more of the “autumn muskiness” in the air. The trees of November are more naked, their branches looking like gothic cathedral spires. The sun’s angle falls lower and lower, making afternoon/evening walks scrumptiously surreal.

Going on these walks gives way for monumentally deep thoughts – like how “gratitude” rhymes with “foody-food.” We Americans consider November as the month of Thanksgiving, and though I miss Halloween decorations, I’m happy to report that I saw some jack o’ lanterns turned around right in their spots on some porches with turkey feathers stabbed in them. I think Thanksgiving is a lovely holiday similar to Halloween in that it celebrates the sacred and the profane. Sacred – gratitude. Profane – testing the elasticity of one’s stomach.

But for me, November is also a continuation of Halloween. I call November “The Month of the Dead.” Where many countries do not think anything special of October 31st (I’m trying to change this), they DO think very important things of November 1st and November 2nd – All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

Pagan Samhain (pronounced SOW-in) was gradually morphed by the medieval Christian church into All Hallows – a day to remember the saints. This was in the 7th century, and later, in the 10th century, as Christians wished for a day to remember their own familial dead, All Souls’ Day was set forth officially. I’m so fascinated by all the cultural interpretations of these holidays (“holy days”). One of the most notable to me, perhaps because I’m from California, is Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos. Some year I will travel there to experience it firsthand. (And some year I will travel to Delaware for the annual “Punkin’ Chunkin’” contest and see the brilliant display of pumpkins flung thousands of feet across a field. Oh happy activity.)

When I lived in Vienna, Austria for a semester of college in the fall of 1995, I remember walking the streets on All Saints’ Day, noting the services at various churches and cathedrals. I did as the locals did, and rode a streetcar out to the cemetery to visit graves. The day is distinct in my memory … crisp, cool weather; droves and droves of people making their way out to the cemetery; the sun at such a pretty angle with a magical haziness in its beams, the day seemed photo-shopped to perfection.

I visited the grave of Herr Beethoven, among other great ones. But great or small, known or unknown, I just enjoy graves. What stories they tell of the bones who lie beneath them. I like noting the families, the religious beliefs carved into the stone, other symbols carved there, what life might have been like during the years they were alive, and so forth. The only thing I don’t like seeing is a little gravestone with the years something like “1912 – 1913.”

I do love seeing humor among gravestones. One family I am quite fond of resides in the Salt Lake cemetery. I’ve never met them in life, but I often stop on my bike ride by their plot, just to re-read their gravestone. It’s shared by the mother, father, and a baby son who only lived a day. Under the son’s date of birth and death, it reads – “His humor kept him young.”

Also in the Salt Lake cemetery, I once happened upon a gravestone whose occupant’s first name was Bror. Bror! I think that is so handsome. He was an immigrant from a Scandinavian country in the 1800’s. I often think about naming one of my future sons Bror. It rhymes with roar.

I just started Neil Gaiman’s new book last night – The Graveyard Book. I went to the Cathedral of the Madeleine for a children’s choir Christmas concert (which was enchanting … those perfectly pitched little voices with nary a bit of vibrato). I was in my seat an hour early, so Gaiman’s book kept me company. Delightful company. I’m only a bit more than one chapter in, and I find it a charming read! A boy who was raised by ghosts in a graveyard. Love it.

In other news, my motorcycle burn is healing very well but still makes me chuckle with happy memories of the Pacific Symphony’s Halloween Spooktacular. Yeah, who needs Maxim Eshkenazy’s autograph? I’ve been practically tattooed by him.

Next up in my recording endeavors … cat sounds. Oh yes. Cat sounds. I’ve already scored the cat parts right underneath the cello staff. Just as Christmas needs jingle bells, Halloween needs meows. I can’t wait to record this for you!

October was a mighty month. A surreal month. A beautiful month.

And it gave me an honor that will make me smile for quite some time: playing the organ with the Pacific Symphony in their “Halloween Spooktacular” children/family concert at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center.

This splendid hall just finished installing a 3.1 million-dollar pipe organ by C. B. Fisk Organ Builders – the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ. Four manuals, tracker action, 4,322 pipes arranged four stories high. It is a beautiful beast. My little paws had such a delightful adventure prancing across its keys.

The Spooktacular was a program with a little play and music excerpts. I played a music teacher who gives a lesson to a boy on Halloween. I somehow have a whole orchestra in my house to demonstrate different instruments to him and at times I am under the spell of “the Phantom of the Concert Organ” who “commands” me to play as the boy and the conductor try to break the “musical spell.”

It was also fun to teach the audience a little bit about the organ and demonstrate it’s incomparable range of pitches. I heard gasps as I played the 2-foot flute as high as it could go (almost like a dog whistle), and chuckles of disbelief as I played the rumbling 32-foot reeds in the pedal slowly down to low C.

Rehearsals were a kick. Sometimes I was smiling and laughing so hard that my cheek muscles ached. And guess what – I’ve been “branded” by a new friend.

As I parked my car at rehearsal and got out, Maxim Eshkenazy, the new assistant conductor of the Pacific Symphony, pulled up on his motorcycle. Now, something to know about me is that I am a puppy dog. I love car rides, bike rides, boat rides, train rides – they stir up my brain chemicals and make my tail wag. Maxim must have noted something like that when I eyed his bike, for he immediately asked if I wanted a ride.

Oh YES!!! I didn’t even take a second to put down my purse or car keys. I hopped on and … psssssssss … something felt very hot on my right leg. I forgot that exhaust pipes on motorcycles are burning hot. Maxim felt so badly, but really, my excitement didn’t give him enough time to warn me. Off we went anyway – oh it was so much fun. I don’t know why fun, little rides make me laugh my head off, but it sure pumped me up for rehearsal. What a brain high.

We teased him about being a “hot conductor.” He conducted two different sets of pipes this month. Ah, it was great to work with him and I feel I’ve made a lasting friend.

The Pacific Symphony was very gracious in letting me sell my CD after the two concerts. About 100 sold there and I hope they are making trick-or-treaters of all ages happy.

Another highlight of October was going for a stroll on a couple of evenings at Downtown Disney with my parents and getting a caramel apple at their confectionary shop. This shop also sells wonderfully huge cookies. Huge. Chewy. Full of love. These cookies – oh man – what a story each one is. The perfect balance of doughy and bake-y. For me, texture is half the pleasurable experience of a good cookie. And the caramel apples – it’s like biting into autumn. (Like the same caliber of when I lived in Vienna for a semester of college and I bit into a hot sausage I bought on the street – I bit into Vienna. I felt the history, art, music, architecture, and culture swirl around in my brain with that simple sausage. Silly? Profound? I don’t know.)

My catwoman costume (á la Michelle Pfeiffer) made it out this year for a pre-Halloween party. Thank you to my friend Jana Hill-Dyble for creating it – such a talented seamstress! Certain costumes really are extensions of our personality and it feels so right to wear them. Well, such it is with catwoman. It feels so right. Purryeah.

I became sick the day before Halloween, but my dear old boyfriend, Sam, invited me to go surfing with him on Halloween day and, fie on sickness, I went. (Sam teaches surfing lessons and brought me along!) It was a lovely way to spend Halloween, like costuming as a surfer chick. I only got up for a few seconds and did a lot of “knee surfing,” but I’ll conquer it yet. The clouds, sun, and water did some very pretty things. I think what I like most about surfing – at least at this point in my skills – is sitting out on the board, waiting for the waves. It is so beautiful right there, bobbing and floating (I was hoping the sharks wouldn’t consider it the reverse of “bobbing for apples”). I love the salty, fresh smell. I love how my lungs and brain feel as I take it all in.

As for my “Halloween Carols” project, I’m taking a bite at a time. I’m very fortunate to have a New York contact to some big publishing houses, so I hope I get a bite there. People have already asked if they can buy the sheet music, and so I hope that a good publishing company will see the ready demand and market for my idea.

I hope that all of you had a magical Halloween with lots of chocolate and candlelight!