🍀💚🍀💚🍀💚 Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! 🍀💚🍀💚🍀💚
Stay safe. Stay at home, if you can!
We will all be singing and dancing together again. Just not for the next few pandemic weeks.
Our friend and musical colleague Scott died yesterday, November 26.
He was an exceptionally gifted fiddler, dedicated to the Irish/Celtic traditional music community.
We met him many years ago through our mutual friend Roxanne Oliva, who was his musical partner and, as time passed, his longtime caregiver.
The best way I can think of to honor him is by sharing his playing.
Here is a set of hornpipes and reels from the album ” 水精 Water Spirit ” which he recorded with Junji Sirota (guitar) and Robin Petrie (hammered dulcimer).
Walsh’s – The Knotted Cord – Green Groves Of Erin – The Flowers Of Redhill
Go mbeidh neart ceoil ann cibé áit a bhfuil tú anois, ár gcara.
(May there be plenty of music wherever you are now, our friend.)
Happy Spring!
We have just released a new single. ☠️🎶☠️🎶☠️🎶
“Blue Ska” is our version of an early Ska classic from Jamaica. We recorded and mixed the tune at Wally Sound in Oakland, California.
Listen to it for free on our BandCamp page. Throw in a dollar and you can download your own hi-fi file.
This is a very danceable groove that will surely please your endocannabinoid system. 😉
That’s right. Researchers have discovered that when we’re in motion, we release Anandamide the body’s naturally occurring cannabinoid that is similar to THC. This clever neurotransmitter (aren’t they all?) relieves anxiety.
So, lifting your legs will definitely lift your spirits. And, like the good musicians we are, we’re here to help.
Cue up “Blue Ska”, picture a warm beach with blue skies and start shaking that booty.
🍀🎶💚🍀🎶💚🍀🎶💚🍀🎶💚
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!
Bain sult as na foinn seo agus tú ag caitheamh siar ar Éirinn.
Happy St. Patricks Day!
Enjoy these tunes while tipping one back for Ireland.
🍀🎶💚🍀🎶💚🍀🎶💚🍀🎶💚
Drunken Sailor’s Hornpipe
Teach Tábhairne Mhaillí Ní Dhuibh – Molly Black’s Tavern
Musical Priest S
Morning Star
Sleepy Maggie
#Gaeilge #StPatrickDay #theMadMaggies
February 14, 2019 was the band’s 15th anniversary of making beautiful music together.
We celebrated by releasing a new single. “All in a Day” is light-hearted polka, perfect for lifting one’s spirits in heavy times.
Crank up the tune, grab a partner and dance around the house with wild abandon!
You can listen to it here on this player. If you drop a buck in the hat at BandCamp you can download a hi-res audio file.
Why crystal?
Well, according to those who know these kinds of things, the traditional anniversary gift at 15 years is crystal to represent sturdiness and clarity.
And, Death thinks crystal skulls are really cool. So there’s that, too.
(This crystal skull is from a collection of the British Museum in London.)
28 years ago tonight, Gary came over to my pad after work to hang out. That night was also a Tuesday — Mardi Gras actually.
After much talking and drinking of pots of Lemon Mist tea, we finally kissed and then connected “in the biblical sense”. We spent the night together –the first of approximately 10,220 nights that we’ve spent together.
We’ve only slept apart maybe 20 nights in 28 years. That’s a 99.8% uptime of downtime. 😉
Love is grand!
The Mad Maggies have another new video. This time it’s something blue for blues waves and the blue skies ahead. Let’s dance and celebrate a little.
Enjoy our live version of the ska classic “Blue Ska” on YouTube now.
“Blue Ska” was recorded by the Cavaliers most likely in the mid-60s. The 45s I’ve seen on YouTube list J. Willacey as the writer. I can’t find much about him except that he was trained in the Alpha Boys School, a catholic educational institution in Kingston which produced some of Jamaica’s finest musicians. Willacey recorded with Lester Sterling, the Jamaican saxophonist and trumpet player best known as one of the founding members of the Skatalites.
When I first heard the tune, I loved its simple but infectious hook and its irresistible dance beat. I arranged it for us making sure we were true to the original groove and giving plenty of room for the horns to strut their stuff.
Videographer Mira Stenger caught us live at Lagunitas Beer Sanctuary. The live show audio was impressively good. Add some B-roll from our Cotati Accordion Festival show (thanks to Jeff Stafford) and other bits and I was able to edit together an authentic taste of a Mad Ms performance.
We’ve also recorded “Blue Ska” at Wally Sound and will be releasing that studio version soon.
Plenty of four letter words have come to my mind over the last months with all the craziness going on in the world.
The word one I like the best is…
.
.
.
.
.
VOTE
Enjoy and share the Mad Maggies’ latest video. It’s a gentle nudge to just do it.
Finally, on November 6, we have a chance to turn this craziness around. Let’s do this!
I cannot bear the thought of waking up on November 7 feeling like I did in 2016.
Vote like your lives depend on it. Because they do.
Watch the new Mad Maggies video!
WARNING: Contains subtle political commentary and explicit calls to action.
10 days until the USA midterm elections on November 6, 2018. We can turn the tide.
_________
SYNOPSIS: There’s that horrible feeling when you realize that you’ve been duped by a brazen con-artist. It keeps you up at night. You know you’ve got to fix the situation. You CAN do something.
LYRICS
It’s three in the morning
I’m losing sleep
How did I fall for a
no good lying cheat?
There were so many warnings
I should have seen
through his gold plated charm and
lavish thieving schemes
but I strayed, yes I strayed
and was played for the fool
my careless heart made an easy mark
Far from gilded seats of power
Stars still shine, lovers meet
Sweet melodies ease our sadness
the madness is washed to the sea
It’s three in the morning
I’m wide awake
It’s time I put right my
sad, sad mistake
_________
AVAILABLE as a single on BandCamp:
https://musicshop.themadmaggies.com/track/three-in-the-morning
from the Mad Maggies’ 8th album “Naked Ladies”
THANKS to Sean Pete for concept consultation and new headlines footage.
THANKS to all the Mad Ms for video material:
Gary Wium
Ray & B Fernandez
Johny Blood & Juliana
Ian Luke & MJ
Mark Nemoyten
Ned Stone
_________
Vote! https://www.vote.org/
Pitch In! http://aclu.org
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