Good things
19+ Voices in Solidarity
My voice started to go after playing a Music aLive show on Friday morning, and worsened while talking with pals that night. I chalked it up to a combination of not singing as much as usual over the past month and the post-travel rash of less-than-great sleep. Either way, I was starting to lose my voice, and the next day was the 19 Voices in Solidarity Show at the Lost Church in Santa Rosa. Bad timing across the board.
Given I’d organized the event, I didn’t feel I could cancel. So I tried to keep quiet most of Saturday morning, testing it out on a few lines of the song I planned to do before we left for Santa Rosa.
In February, at a mini-songwriting retreat with some fellow songstresses, I scrolled through my Notes app looking for ideas on where to begin. There I found an unrealized start of a song; a stray line and half a verse, which I thought I could now revive. What resulted was a song called ‘Blow That Whistle.”
Something’s out of line, people getting marginalized
Something’s not right when the truth gets penalized
Country run by egos, evil and outsized
Time to blow that whistle
I didn’t think of adding the song to the Flight Lessons folk opera until after I got home.
Since late last year, I’ve been wanting to give Liz Stuart, who plays percussion and provides backing vocals in Flight Lessons, a song to do in her role as ‘Fledgewatcher.’ As a whistle does get blown in the second act (and in general, the same forces of good and evil are at play in the show), I realized I could bird-ify ‘Blow that Whistle’ to fit the action:
Something’s out of line, people shooting birds before our eyes
Somethings not right when nature gets penalized
Animals flying for cover, cowed and terrorized, time to blow that whistle
I also cut a verse completely and put the the solo in a different place, but otherwise, kept the chorus the same:
Time to blow that whistle, blow that whistle, take care more than our own
Time to blow that whistle, blow that whistle, know you are not alone
With Liz’s spirited performance and the addition of doo-wop-ish harmonies by Tania, Kwame and Sean, it really lifted the scene. ‘Blow That Whistle’ is definitely staying in the Flight Lessons, but given how things continue to go in the US, it’s felt time to put the original version in regular rotation. We played it on KRSH last week and to a diverse crowd in Oakland on Friday, where it connected. And it definitely fit the brief for 19 Voices in Solidarity, a fundraiser for the ACLU and Peace & Justice Center - Sonoma.
Given my fading voice, I was grateful that it’s a relatively easy song to sing. On the drive to the venue, I remembered that my friend Michele (Yours Truly, Michele, Tippy Canoe, The Kirby Grips) was coming to the show. Michele was a huge part of the Lost Church’s origins and a part of many more projects than I can name. While she hasn’t been performing as much in recent years, I knew she could likely take a verse pretty easily. After some texting, I sent her the lyrics, knowing she may or may not arrive in time!
We were already onstage with Zoe Sameth's bass player, Paul (who we spontaneously added to the mix during soundcheck), when Michele came through the door. Nonetheless, she hopped up to join the fun. Given she had zero prep, she opted for more of a spoken-word delivery, which done with her usual aplomb, landed. Plus my voice lasted through the performance. Phew. A nice moment in what would be an afternoon full of them.
Stand up for better nation reject any form of subjugation, no kings, no ice
Gotta trust your own heart, trust your own eyes, time to blow that whistle
People really showed up on and off the stage. And when Cecilia Long took her turn and sang Nina Simone's 'Backlash Blues' (which Simone wrote based on a Langston Hughes poem) and dedicated it to the marchers who were protesting in Alabama at that very moment, I thought, oh yes. This is why we’re here.
Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash
Just what do you think I got to lose?
I’m gonna leave you
With the backlash blues
Here’s Cecilia’s performance with Dave Bell on guitar:
Nina Simone, singer, civil rights activist, force of nature, was definitely in the air throughout the weekend. On Friday night, we met up with Janet and Jeff to see our friend Jacqui Naylor perform at SF Jazz.
Jacqui’s started the set with ‘Feeling Good,’ which was originally written for a musical by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and famously sung and recorded by Simone:
It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life for me, ooh
And I’m feeling good
Jacqui and the band of New York cats who backed her, killed that song and the set that followed. The four of us left the theater lit up and inspired…which led to spending another hour or more at B-side Bar, discussing the show, music production, songs, and the merits of seeing the projects through to completion. Soul fed … if voice tired.