notes from mi casa

2009-01-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

A Change is Gonna Come
by Sam Cooke

I was born by the river, in a little tent
Just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming, but I know
A change is gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long time coming, but I know
A change is gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody always tellin' me, don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming, but I know
A change is gonna come, oh yes it will

Now I go to see my brother
I say brother, help me please
But he wind up a-knocking me
Back down on my knees

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
Now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming, but I know
A change is gonna come, oh yes it will

a little something about the posters....

2008-12-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

In 1988 when I first started booking shows, I began to do a poster series. Following the old standard set by the San Francisco artists like Kelly and Mouse, I used an 11 x 17 format and also a smaller post card type of size. The first one I did was with a great Detroit (Grande Ballroom, Eastown, et al) artist named Gary Grimshaw. He signed a number of them. Back in those days I would run 200 posters in total. Some were placed around town, most ended up stored away. The Tom Russell Band were featured in that poster. It still looks good today.

After that poster my budget got smaller and a local artist named Duke Shell did a few for us. Then a great artist named Bill Stinson did a couple. He did a very cool one for shows for Robert Earl Keen and Townes Van Zandt.

What we have for sale here are the last ones that remain, in a run that is likely not ever going to be replicated again. If anyone has questions about any of them, leave me a post and I will get back to you....

It is snowing here again. A foot deep and rising....

Gotta go stoke the fire and warm things up with a little music.

the return of barbed wire records

2008-12-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

Ironic how things get to be more timely the more they are left alone. Also ironic is how sometimes the importance of recorded works is amplified during changing times. Barbed Wire Records cd releases by Fred Eaglesmith and David Olney being cases in point.

Hard times. People looking to make sense of the economic collapse of their world and their dreams. Music that nurtures and harkens to viewing the world through a prism that allows us to take a deep breath and move forward.

from the paradise motel is just such a work. Ah yes, Fred Eaglesmith and the Flying Squirrels were artists on the cusp when this was recorded. Years of hard work, song writing, and endless hours of performance and practice seemed to all come to fruition for Fred, Willie and Ralph. A work so timeless as to recall Dorthea Lange and her depression shots of Okie's and migrant's. And something about that music is once again important. It's about the songs and the struggles of the characters in those songs.

So here we are, seven years after this recording was "temporarily" shelved to make way for other projects, yet paradise motel is as timely as ever.

No more inflated prices at Ebay or Amazon. It's been asked for for a while by those who listen and long for simpler times. Thanks for waiting for this old jewel, and remember to keep searching, always, for those little pearls that speak directly to your heart.