Stephen, Joe and I opened the Friends of Guero’s SXSW Showcase Tuesday afternoon. Here are two songs from our set.
January 2015 Singalong at Little Stacy Park
It was just too cold and wet to sing in the park last Sunday, so we gathered by the fire at my place and had a good time. Gray played uke, Doug played guitar and cajon and shared Sweet Baby Jane as his sacred song. It was a pleasure to have my mom join us and she loved reading over all the great lyrics like those of Mr. Tambourine Man.
We debuted a new songbook with two new Stevie Wonder songs and one by George Harrison. Here is a clip of one of the Stevie songs, Heaven Help Us All, followed by George’s Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) and perennial favorite Tomorrow Never Knows:
Set for Singalong March 1, 2015
- One Love
- Country Roads
- Blowin In The Wind
- Mr. Tamborine Man
- Tomorrow Never Knows
- Give Me Love
- Amazing Grace
- Heaven Help Us All
- I Still Haven’t Found
- This Land Is Your Land
- If You Wanna Sing Out, Sing Out
- A Place In The Sun
Next Sundaysong Singalong: March 1, Little Stacy Park
We’ll be back at Little Stacy Park, Austin, TX, on March 1, 11am-12pm. Come sing with us!
You can RSVP and follow any updates at the Facebook event. Here’s a little medley :
We’ll be adding a few new tunes to the songbook, like these two:
Outside (demo)
I’m thrilled to present not just a new song but a video to go with it (a new goal of mine for new songs). The song is Outside, which started one day as I sat out in front of my house as a quick shower fell around me.
I started singing: “If I’m not sitting outside then I’m not noticing how the rain is falling on the street…” After a month or two of building and reworking it, here it is.
For the video I found some old public domain footage to go along with my own video of reflections waving in the water.
My DC friends will recognize the Cherry Blossoms blooming from what looks like the 70s.
OUTSIDE
If I’m not getting outside then the sun can’t lay its light
like a hand upon my head and bake my spirit bright.
If I’m not getting outside then I can’t open my eyes
past the walls around my mind, and stretch them out upon the sky.
Feel the breeze go still a while, then the rattle of the leaves,
song upon song from the trees, looping layered choruses.
I need the sun upon my face.
I feed my feet upon the ground.
Get me high on air and space.
Surround me with the open sound.
‘Cause if I’m not getting outside then the birds cannot remind me
that the dawn is filled with song and the wildlife goes on.
If I’m not getting outside then the flowers can’t confide
their sensual serenity, the sense of possibility.
Lay upon the lawn with me. Stare up at the sky and see:
There is no philosophy like the branches of a tree.
Mamacita, let’s go talk along the lake,
like we did so long ago, there’s still so much I want to know.
Hija linda, let’s pretend that we just met
for the 1st time in a long time and we fall in love again.
I need the sun upon my face.
I feed my feet upon the ground.
Get me high on air and space.
Surround me with the open sound.
If I’m not getting outside I need to slip out on the sly
sip a cup and simmer down, circulate around the grounds.
If I’m not getting outside then I’m not really alive.
I’m a part of everything, I feel it in my wiring.
Suddenly it starts to rain, hushing me with everything,
quieting my busy brain, I’m nothing but a weathervane.
I need the sun upon my face.
I feed my feet upon the ground.
Get me high on air and space.
Surround me with the open sound.
My Presentation to the Texas Commission on the Arts’s 2015 Conference
This post is for a presentation Earl and I will deliver at the Texas Commission on the Arts’s Jan. 2015 Conference, State of the Arts: Engaging New Audiences. Our session is titled “Websites that Work: Building and Quantifying Your Success” which we are co-delivering with Chris Rankin.
Some related posts of mine: