9 Hour Music Marathon

There was some serious music happening yesterday.

Firstly, Noah and Steven were gracious enough to let me tag along to their Beach Boys practice. Noah also brought his friend Hilary who has the most incredible voice. We did some good stuff with God Only Knows and Wouldn't It Be Nice. In a mere three hours we were able to power through two full songs weird harmony bits and all. I even went out and finally bought Pet Sounds today. You should ask us to show you some time!

Post-Pet Sounds, we did a bit of unwinding down the street at Noah and Molly's place, finally settling into the living room. We had fun playing through our original catalog and Molly, Steven and I practiced a harmony for Fireball Mail (that song I've been learning on the banjo). It turns out that the song is about one of our favorite subjects: trains. Hopefully, I haven't already abused everyone's tolerance for bluegrass and we can work on it a little more. We sounded pretty great, if I may say so myself. Thanks to Steven for arranging the harmony!

We seem to be pretty into that texture that harmony adds these days, so I'm excited that it sounds like Hilary might be interested in joining our band. And she plays cello. How perfect is that?! I've been fantasizing about having a cello in the band since day one! She also has a friend who plays accordion, which would make Ciana's departure for the big, crazy, and far away world of New York City slightly less dramatic and sad. But it's still dramatic and sad - we miss you, Ciana!

Keep sending your awesome, musically inclined friends our way!

I'll leave you with the lyrics and the chord part of Fireball Mail. For the melody/harmony, you'll have to ask Steven :)

Fireball Mail:
G
Here she comes, look at her roll
                                                D
There she goes eatin' that coal
                    G
Watch her fly huggin' the rails
                            D         G
Let her by, by, by the Fireball Mail

Let her go, look at her steam
Hear her blow, whistle and scream
Like a hound waggin' his tail
Dallas bound, bound, bound the Fireball Mail

Engineer makin' up time
Tracks are clear look at her climb
See that freight clearin' the rail
Bet she's late, late, late the Fireball Mail

Watch her swerve
Look at her sway
Get that curve out of the way
Watch her fly look at her sail

Let her by, by, by the Fireball Mail
Let her by, by, by the Fireball Mail
Let her by, by, by the Fireball Mail

Sparks

Practice on Sunday, June 22nd

Steven, Lisa, Russ, and Ciana gathered at Live Oak Park in Berkeley for practice yesterday. We played through pretty much our entire repertoire, and even tossed in a couple of new cover songs for good measure. We had probably more adoring fans than ever - at least 3 (maybe 4) children under the age of 5, and one homeless woman. It was a monumental event, because we received our first payment in exchange for music EVER: a can of Sparks from the homeless woman. ("That's got like, 6% alcohol in it!!") We were, needless to say, honored, and have taken the can back with us as a future collector's item.

Music video ideas

I am a big fan of music videos. Let's make some:

Frankenstein
How about a La Blogotheque-style video for "Frankenstein"? Can it have something to do with Frankenstein, like in a lab or some dingy looking place? Or at least have that mood of something bizarre happening? If we don't try to film ourselves playing live, then cardboard instruments would be great for a Frankenstein video because it is like we are trying to give life to 'dead' cardboard. Maybe we can do that at a junkyard-type place like the Albany Bulb.

Marcher
For "Marcher," I was thinking something like this Belle & Sebastian video. The band is doing stuff while the singer is being contemplative. "Marcher" is kind of a tragic song and I would like the video to reflect that. I imagine a cold day in the city when Marcher is realizing what he has lost and he's wandering around. Then he ends up at a graveyard where May is, loosely following the story in the lyrics. It would be great to do this in Berkeley, since we probably have some favorite places there that we want to have some footage of. There should be a scene of us playing croquet, too.

Twenty-five
It could be a like an episode of Schoolhouse Rock! with animated versions of ourselves.

Sylvia
How about this? A continuous shot of me walking down the street, but I'm not lip syncing to it at all, until the very end, when I pick up a guitar and sing the word "Smile." So, it's like we are turning thoughts into action. Fade to black.

Yodel
Probably should be filmed in San Francisco. Could just be us singing and playing as we walk along the shore, and walk along some more...

The Flying Club Cup Chords

Nantes
D#m, C#/F , F#

Sunday Smile
C , F, Bb, Dm

Guyamas Sonora
D#m, F#, C#, D#m

La Banileue
F# , B, Em, A

Cliquot
Part 1: Bm, Em
Part 2: D, Am, Em

The Penalty
Verse: C, Em, F
Chorus: G, C, F, C

Forks and Knives
G, Em, C, D,

In The Mausoleum
A, C#m, D, C#m

Un Dernier Verre
F#, Bm, E

Cherbourg
Part 1: G, G, A, Bm
Part 2: D, Em, G, D

St. Apollonia
Intro: C, G, Fm, G
Verse: Cm, Fm, Cm, G
Instrumental: Cm, Fm, G, Cm

The Flying Club Cup
Part 1: C#, D#m, E, D#m
Part 2: F#, E, G#m, F#

Band Practice/Party, 6/1/08

We played in Molly/Noah's living room. Attendance: Noah, Steven, Lisa, Ciana, Molly

• Worked on the bridge on "Frankenstein." Will now sound like a workshop.
• Played "Marcher," "Idea," "Sylvia," and "Twenty-five".
• Discussed our next practice, our CD, a music video, and posting a Craigslist ad for additional musicians
  
• Played some Beirut songs