FRANKLIN MOTEL by Jenny & the Phantoms

[FOREWARD TO THIS POST: these songs most all are about james page, my now-husband, which i could not say at the time...]have had too much energy lately, 90% good... yesterday i got fed up & decided to do something useful w/it, like record this little thing, which in the old days might've been dubbed an EP, but today is just a DIY, one-day, one-woman toss-away... hang in there, if you will, thru the 1st song, on which i really messed up the levels: yikes! it improves after that... made this song collection a video cause wanted to present lyrics, too. they were fun & satisfying to assemble! i never much heed lyrics while enjoying music, tho do love to write them... hope you like the songs, slapdash as they be. :)
thanks to all my friends, musicians & non, who've encouraged me to make a "real" solo record in a "real" studio... maybe it'll happen! we'll see if there's any reaction to this latest batch of tunes... meantime, it's so awesome that such well-known & respected american roots scholars, performers, & songwriters (listed below) would think i'm worthy!! all i know is, i love to write & perform music, tho to call my efforts rough would be generous (have got this impatience thing that prevents me from doing many retakes to get things more correct, like on solos, levels, etc, & i have no idea how to mix)... i'm so happy to have realized lately that no matter, who ever, wherever, whenever, nothing ever can or will separate me from my music... it's as much a part of me as breath. how about for you? can you or should you allow yourself to be separated from your bliss? i think we should not, long as that bliss doesn't hurt anyone! :)
dusk devils play tomorrow, march 17, at the ridgecrest fairgrounds sometime in the evening... we'll headline a super-rocking long set w/our sturdy awesome rhythm section... i should have a flyer; i should have this & that; really all i know is, i'll wear my new piano-keyboard punk-lolita tutu & some green for st patty's day, & we will kick butt!... tomorrow, too, is my friend jp's birthday. i'll miss his awesome bd bash down south, but we dusk devils are gonna have some mondo-top-fun, i just know it!! and afterwards we all got comped rooms, & since i don't have "real" TV here at my mtn home, HBO, here i come! :)
meanwhile, happy birthday, frankenstein! may you who read this be, if not in, then en route to your bliss, one way or nuther... :) xo
:D

"when you're happy, play piano. when you're sad, play more piano." - gene taylor

my fingertips hurt, i've been playing so much. a spot of sunshine: the more i play, the easier it becomes, the more fluidly my fingers move, the more they cooperate, the more the ideas bubble, - no, - seep, sometimes weep, sometimes shimmer - on up. i have hope someday i'll be a little brown-skinned white-haired old lady looking a lot like my mama & grandma, wearing too much makeup & some strange outfit, cheery & useful & a pretty darn good pianny player. it seems lately like i don't have to be average or garden-variety forever when it comes to playing piano if i just keep at it. i'll never be the best, & that's never my expectation. but someday, if i keep playing & playing, i'll be able to play what i hear & be fulfilled by it.
for now, i bang & grin & go for the muscle & thrill because i just can't help it, but someday i'll have more to offer musically...
for you piano players, here are some tips i've gotten from some great piano players:
1. gene taylor: look at your hands; look for the "islands;" play left hand patterns while reading, talking to someone, writing, so it becomes natural as breathing; think about what each chord "means" depending on what change you're at.
2. carl sonny leyland: watch the right, not the left hand; don't be afraid to hit some wrong notes - just play them through so you can find the "right" ones; the "blues scale" is bulls**t - the guys in the old days were listening for the sounds of the music.
3. earl pool ball - a lot of times w/his band heybale, he completely lays off the left hand, but still sort of paws or claws at it to keep time, but then brings the left hand in when the music calls for that moment of extra boom! & excitement; in western swing, he plays straight time while the rest of the band swings; playing melody w/octaves really allows the piano to sing out from amidst all the other instruments.
i hope to get some tips from pat "banny" bannister, soon, but i need to call the man... he can run 3rds up & down the keyboard lightning-fast! ... i found out pat played on al hendrix's record, which was so cool. there are some real nice solos on that record! (www.cdbaby.com/alhendrix)
->well, since i started writing this, my folks came over w/cannoli & we had a really nice visit & i went & picked some grapes from the vines & they were just perfect, sweet, tangy, w/a slight crunch... so maybe things aren't as bad as i think. and maybe i better go play some more piano.

"if you wanna hear some boogie like i'm gonna play, it's just an old piano and a knock-out bass..." lotsa websites ref'ed below, too

this wkend at school, we did a writing workshop w/sharon doubiago (http:// www.new college.edu/ review/doubiago.htm - parental guidance suggested). she had us write about 1st memories, of which i've thought i have few. i was grateful, once the unearthing began, to realize mine are of family, safety, color, music (my baby mobile, my crib, smiling parent faces & support, the piano). i found myself writing about the piano & realized how its formidable comfort & resonance completed me (i was a backward kid, like so many). the piano was my companion for so many yrs! i still play on a 1930s-era kimball spinet, which mom & dad bought from my lovely piano teacher, a classically-trained welshwoman who let me play boogie-woogie. the piano & i had each other, & we still do... in a few hrs, i have my 1st piano lesson w/carl sonny leyland (www.carl sonnyleyland.com)! i've also had one lesson each w/nat dove (www. nat dove.com) & gene taylor (www.gene-taylor.com), the latter of which was especially useful! w/all the banging & pounding i've done w/dusk devils, i've worn out my thumbs & wrists some. carl suggested the book "pain free" by pete egoscue -- after just one day of its gentle moves, i can now again play for 2-3 hrs w/o pain! here's a link to the book: www.egoscue.com ... now i'm working on joplin & gershwin from manuscript, trying to get those fingers to stretch & cooperate like they used to & rebuild muscle memory (i'm happy how fast it comes back!). it's wonderful to be able to play again w/o suffering. i've forgotten the tactile pleasure of "really playing" & hope to get "rhapsody in blue" back up to speed, to play for mama's birthday (she doesn't read this, so she won't know). other exercises i've been able to do lately post-surgery are from "western yoga" (www.are store.com), recommended by my kindly little "witch dr" bridget (www.drbbonnet dc.com) ... they really get your heart going & energize!
so that's enough linking for now, my friends. hope you visit these friends' sites! wish me luck that, in front of awesome carl, i don't freeze up. he told me he wants to "hear how i play." yipes!
i know, tho, that it'll work out & i'll be a better player from it. i relish the chance to learn from carl, who is super-studied & devoted, in addition to considerably talented!
this is so exciting!!!!! the more i think of it, the more.... wow!!!!! :)
(sing) happy trails to you, until we meet again...

rockin 50s green bay!!!!!!