Irish Pub Songs for Cat Fanciers

It's midnight, and I can't sleep. I have this funny idea for a CD--Irish Pub Songs for Cat Fanciers. Course the CD would be filled with filks of Irish pub songs with kitty themes.

Crazy, huh? Yeah, but it makes me smile, and giddy. Cool thing is that I have the instrumentation recorded for the songs. All I need is the lyrics, and I could lay the vocals on top and voilá, there's a hilarious new CD. :)

I really want to do this. I know I don't have time for it, but hey! It'll be fun.

So I'm looking for new lyrics to the following songs: Whiskey in the Jar, Johnny Jump Up, Wild Rover, Come Out Ye Black & Tan, Lanigan's Ball, Patriot Game, Spancil Hill, Rising of the Moon, Rocky Road to Dublin, All For Me Grog, Finnegan's Wake, Danny Boy, Rosin the Beau, The Mermaid Song, Health to the Company, and any other public domain Irish drinking song that you might've heard us sing or that you really love.

The lyics have to be about a cat or cats. Keep in mind that I may make adjust ments to the songs which would make them co-written, but authors will get full co-writer credit when and if this CD is ever released, plus royalties.

:)

I LOVE this idea!!!

Irish Drinking Songs

Our recent gig at the Irish Dragon Pub in Killeen really got me back into the Irish drinking songs. Just been wanting to hear more. And I noticed something, which'll require a wee bit more investigation... there's a big difference between Irish and Scottish songs.

Admittedly, I haven't explored traditional Scottish songs as much as I'd like to. They're a LOT harder to find. Ye have the Childe Ballads, of course, but it seems there aren't as many fun Scottish drinking songs as the Irish (that is, that aren't traditional and uncopywrited). On the other hand, the Scots songs are much more rousing.

This raises an interesting question then... how will we record our Scottish CD and still stick to our bardic sound?

What's our sound? One lass described our music as "fun". I like that description. It's just kinda... well, fun and fitting too. Yeah, our music runs the gammit. Probably the majority of it is composed of ballads and beautiful instrumentals, but I like to think that our love of the music shines through.

So as although we have most of the songs picked for the Scottish CD, I'm thinking there will be a few arrangement changes before it is done. I want another album that's just a helluva lotta fun to listen to.

Course the toughest part is just getting in the mood to record it. I've got a bunch of new original songs I'm wanting to set to music, and new ideas pop in my head all the time, like "Kyara, The Elven Mistress of Whispers" did. And the other night I started laying rough tracks for "The Pleasant Peasant Pheasant Plucking Song".

Well, I'll get there soon enough. Got one more project before I start on the Scottish songs. So stay tuned. And if you have any song suggestions, let me know. I want some more drinking songs. The Irish Dragoon Pub setting is just too cool. If we could find more pubs like that, I'd be a very happy bard!

Happy Eleventy-First Birthday to Bilbo Baggins and Thirty-Third to Frodo

Well, twenty minutes before midnight, I finished the mixing and mastering of "The Hobbit Happy Birthday Song". Ah well... it's ready for next year at least.

Listen to "The Hobbit Happy Birthday Song"
Download "The Hobbit Happy Birthday Song"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILBO BAGGINS - The Hobbit Happy Birthday

Free Music Downloads Ezine & Bilbo's Birthday

So last night I was brainstorming this whole b-day thingy and had an idea. I recently bought a domain for my Free Music Download Ezine. My plan was to put together a nice self-maintaining site. But ye know, I don't have a heckuva lot of time to really maintain something. I have too many sites as it is. I haven't even published my Celtic MP3s Music Magazine in over a month now (though I plan another edition this weekend). So I don't really have the time for anything that doesn't require minimal maintenance.

So what hit me was using the site instead to promote my birthday songs. Here's the idea:

Basically, setup a site that is designed to giveaway my happy birthday songs. There'll be greeting cards, free downloads, and customized happy birthday recordings. So people could pay twenty bucks and have someone's name plugged into Bilbo's song instead of Bilbo.

Well, that's the idea. I know I've had a few people ask about that for friends. But it might be another decent income source that could help me quit my job. Only this one sounds pretty decent.

So whatcha think? Am I loon?...umm.. with this idea that is...

Websites and stuff
Hey BTW. In case ye missed it, I do also have a livejournal. I really would prefer having the functions of livejournal ON my website, but LJ has a nice little community in tack. Seems everyone I know is on it. So feel free to add me to your friends list if you have one.

Umm... still feel like writing, soo... let's talk about my other websites... the Texas Musicians Network.

Well, that was the name when it started up in 1997. My brother and I were working on it. Much bigger than it is. Well, whatever I wanted it to be is again gonna take up too much time. So I'm getting ready to change it to another music biz resource page like The Bards Crier's Free Guerrilla Music Marketing and Promotion Tips.

I mean as long as that site is doing so well, why not turn the TMN into something similar for Texas artists, right? Well, that's the idea anyways.

I love helping out other musicians. Haven't had nearly enough time. I'm also just not big on criticism, methinks which is one of the reason The Bards Crier eventually disappeared in the first place.

Heck, also been thinking of dropping out of the Austin Celtic Association. I'm just tired of organizations in general. Particularly those that seem like "members only" clubs... Not saying I wouldn't be happy being a member in a "members only" club, but when you're not in it, it's frustrating.

Feeling like I just want to disappear off the face of the earth (side note: need more coffee).

Ugh, yeah, we could use a manager. Someone to guide the whole promotion of the band and keep things in check. I really should just focus on music. But I'm just psycho that way I guess.

Other annoyances
I signed for a bunch of newsletters over time. Ye know the ones I think are absolutely worthless? Those run by the Big Five record labels. Like Launch. What a crappy ezine! Heck MP3.com's bites these days. They used to have some decent zines.

Avoid those. Listen to Indie music (that means, Independent for those who don't know). That's the type of stuff that's way cool. I've found some incredible Indie bands. And that just makes me pretty durn happy!

So stick with those. You'll be happier in the long-run.

Ooo. One of the slogans (been brainstorming lots) I came up with was, "Think for yourself. Listen to Indie music." Odd little twist, of course, since I'm telling you what to think... but the it still makes a point, I think.

Celtic station
Oh, I'm also looking at the fact that I don't have much faith in the livelyhood of MP3.com. My guess is the Vivendi wants to kill off another indie competitor (though they could make a killing if they tried).

So the thought occurred to me. I need to find a new place to host the music from my ezine. So I guess I'm gonna try to find an online Celtic radio station that might be willing to give up an hour a week for me. Don't think I want to invest in something like that myself... I don't know though.

I forget where I saw this quote, but I like it:

How beautiful it is to do nothing...
and then to rest afterwards.

Alrighty. I'll stop babbling now. Have a great day!

The passing of Two legends

I was saddened to hear on NPR this morning that country music legend Johnny Cash died today at 71.

My intro to Johnny Cash was twofold. I didn't much know about the whole "Man in Black" thing until the mid-90s. I knew him more from one of my dad's old albums of his, Blood Sweat & Tears where he does an incredible version of "The Legend Of John Henry's Hammer". It's been a while, but I remember the song is LONG...and engaging! The album is just brilliant.

But as much as I enjoyed Cash's music and such, after his wife June Carter Cash passed away a few months ago, I kinda expected it. What I didn't expect was the death of IMO another legend... John Ritter.

At just 54, John Ritter was the comical genius of Three's Company and then some. Apparently, he died while on the set of his new TV show. It's hard to think of a greater tragedy. He was just way too young. Considering how much I watched Three's Company growing up, he was really almost like family. He will be missed.

Soul of a Harper is done!!!
Yesterday, I put the final touches on Soul of a Harper. They weren't exactly the final touches at the time, but I decided late last night that, indeed, the album is done. I really need to move on and focus on my bardic pursuits. I listened to the songs I recorded for the album. Yes, there are a LOT more songs I'd like to add, but I just haven't focused enough on The Bards upcoming CDs, so I made the decision. The music is finished.

All I have left to do is finish up some of the graphics for the CD, but all the music will be available on MP3.com shortly, and since I found a low-cost duplicator, I should have CDs printed in a few weeks. I hope you will help Save a Bard by purchasing a copy since the profits will go to my Save a Bard Foundation until the end of the year. Then we'll see what happens.

**sigh** One project down, a dozen to go.

P.S. The track listing in no particular order yet:
1   The Barrel Song
2   Killiecrankie
3   The Bridge
4   The Lady of Setliff Manor
5   Lanigan's Ball
6   Happy Birthday from Ireland
7   Middle Earth Bragging Song
8   Patriot Game
9   The Leprechaun (No Irish Laddie!)
10   My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose
11   (The Princess Bride) Buttercup's Lament