Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Over (or are we just beginning)



"Over," along with our "Rocket Man," has been getting airplay on 95.7 fm The Ridge out of Northwest Georgia/ Northeast Alabama. (2016 update: 99.1 FM Downtown Radio in Tucson is the latest now to give "Over" a spin!)

It's funny to think of that sober, reverent folk song being the one way most people in the region know of our music, when there's so many upbeat or darkly rocking songs in our catalog, but it does carry our trademark lyrics. Thankfully the somewhat-sad atmosphere of the tune is relieved by its hopeful last verse. It's usually a break, when played live, between our more boisterously-delivered numbers. I DO wonder how it got played twice over the other two numbers submitted for the BAttle of the Bands page, but as an artist it sometimes feels a bit egocentric to ask specifically about opinions of your individual work. (Maybe I'm afraid they didn't like the other two?)

Life
it's over too soon
is it true I'll spend no days with you?
I believed we were over the moon
You're not here, so was that ever true?
and it's over...over

Can we live beneath the same sky?
Will we ever know the reason why?
All that we must do, before we die
over all the reasons we might try
and it's over...over

Clouds release the tears of future fun
dry upon the things flowers have done
they'll be seen on days
of cheerful sun
with some answer, play, for there's still one
when it's over
over here
here it's over
over


words and music by Lue Lyron Copyright 2013 Integr8d Soul Productions

How we ended up with...a break up song?...as a break out song is a story that maybe deserves its own novel (which I've been preparing for now for quite a while!). But the back story doesn't matter overly much, since you're bound to bring your own story to it. Is it a funeral? What kind of goodbye is it? It's certainly a goodbye to something, someone, but it's not without hope. And I wrote one of our most cheerful songs, "Angela Dawn," just minutes after I played "Over" for the first time...by request from the Marc Kane.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Keep On Keepin' On with Integr8d Soul / Rocket Ba-Doom

So! Tickets for the Final 4 Battle at the DeSoto Theatre in Rome are on sale now. They are $12. That money goes to Cancer Navigators of Rome and also counts as votes, which Integr8d Soul could really use right now! (Yes, we entered a BAttle of the BAnds our first summer here! Or: yes, we have a band, with a cd called Glad To Be Live!)

This way, for your donation, you get a show ticket, too. Battle of the Bands semi finals ends at midnight Friday, so if you get paid and you want to help cancer patients with their necessities AND you want to shock Rome with our surprise appearance after being gone all these years, hit this site, where you can also here three of our very cool songs: http://www.theridge957.com/
What a summer. We've made seven public appearances since May 3rd, been on the radio for interviews twice, put our novel Anywhere With You in three stores (plus Amazon, and this week, on Smash Words), our t-shirts in two more, launched Marc Kane Fashion Bags again with eight lovely crocheted purses, and I'm already plotting our next two appearances this week before the carriage turns into a pumpkin at midnight.

Will we make the Final Four this Cinderella season? Honestly, without surprising help, I'd be shocked. People have been loving the music, but the two of us have put our humble earnings from the arts right back into stocks of book copies and prints, and most everyone we know's just trying to get by. We're still waiting to be paid the rest for the comic book we were hired to put together, which was another thing that has packed this summer to the gills! Throw in some bike rides, a pool party, two skating rink trips with friends and job searches and it's been SO concentrated with moments, I'm lucky to have gotten through a book without pictures (The Old Man and The Sea was great)!
There's been some reflection and what you might call spiritual or consciousness centering, too, and time with our family. I've also thought a lot about what I want to write in the future by re-assessing the rich past evoked in our stay in California, where ideas grew like creeper vines on a shady stone wall.


I truly believe in the kindness of Cancer Navigators: our friend Daphne was helped with doctor appointments, wigs, make-up, and medicine, and that's just some of what Rome's Can Nav does.

When I first started writing songs on guitar and decided that was no joke what I wanted from my life, I decided I really wanted my talents to produce melodies and lyrics that would stand the test of time, but also, that my career be as devoted as possible to helping others. I was happy to send three of my jewels in a still-growing catalog to 95.7 The Ridge and find them placed one day on their site...much less played and performed on the radio for thousands of people!

I honestly think, in terms of great writing and singing, they're in a league of their own, which you can judge yourself. I also pour my heart and soul into dynamic performances that reach out into the crowd and put the listener right on stage and up in the rafters (thus far, no injuries).
Maybe we don't have the established rep and can't afford beers in all the right places and only have two members, but we've become one of the local buzz bands of the summer---and you can say you helped the under dog! Let's shake it up. Be chill, Cease ill — with Angela Zora Ba-Doom Disharoon.


Thursday, July 3, 2014

The grand language of loss: All My Sins Remembered, by Adam Stanley


I've been watching the development All My Sins Remembered for several years now since I was still in California, along with many clamoring FB followers who have experienced love and loss. It's often melancholy in tone, yet there is an appreciation of what has been had, what is lost, and how one goes on re-discovering hope---or at least, the blessings of insight--- while wrestling with one's shadow side. The character's twenty-year obsession over one true love sets off a plot mostly told in flashback.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493723448/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

There's a carefully-considered selection of metaphors all the way through, infusing the progression of passages with imagery that often stirs the richness of the emotional context. The long, thoughtful process of assembling these expressions reflects the author's erudition as a reader and the desire to reveal the epic within the quotidian.
I've often found its expressions rather sad, nearly too much so; yet, this is a book written to deal with bitter regrets and come to terms with the absolute sincerity of true love gone bad, Dante following a Beatrice with a malfunctioning GPS. It's not meant to cheer you especially, and I don't agree with all its insights, but honesty is its best achievement. One might ask if the truth is concealed by the aims of inspiration to keep faith with a certain tone, but the same could be asked of a work of inverse outlook. I feel a little brotherly concern the author will reconcile with his past in this and move on to new happiness with some new wellspring of trust exhausted in the events told within.
Life's what we make of it. As for what one man would say of love versus another, it's as much a matter as with whom your stars have crossed you, is it not?

Its particular worship of past events and people is delicately assembled and inspired. I think its occasional disdain for the present suits the outlook of disillusioned readers approaching middle-age everywhere, in language that is undeniably beautiful. Yet hope for the future peeks through the clouds, because love takes other forms, such as for one's children. It strives for an egalitarianism that suggests the same skills might tell a very different story which only time will tell one day.

Again, it's the story of many of Mr. Stanley's peers, as well, but told in grand language.