Wonders Never Cease – New Release

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Enjoy this horn rich, bass forward, guitar sparkled, accordion laced instrumental with a sweet celebratory and exultant feel.

Guitar: Gary “GDub” Wium
Bass: Paul Olguin
Drums: Ian Luke
Trumpet & Fluegelhorn: Mark Nemoyten
Trombone: Ned Stone
Tuba: Johny Blood
and yours madly on Accordion

Music: M. Martin / ©Squeezin’ Diva Music / BMI

Released on the Winter Solstice 2024

For a hi-fi download visit our Bandcamp.

Be sure and follow us on BandCamp and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Click that YouTube “Like” button — it’s an easy, free way to support us.

 

About that Embroidery

File under “Wonders”

I embroidered this for a gift for a friend in the mid 1970s. I had forgotten about it until the man’s daughter wrote to me after he had died about 15 years ago. He had kept the piece all those years moving from Marin County, California to Kauai, Hawaii. In a super sweet gesture, she sent it back to me. A flash from the past for real.

I had never finished it completely, probably running out of time before I needed to present it. So onto my “to do” list it went.

The first task of refreshing the piece entailed opening up the frame, removing the piece and hand washing it – it needed it. Amazingly, the DMC brand Pearl Cotton threads washed up as bright as new.

Next, I had to fill in the spaces to complete the design. It had been decades since I embroidered anything but some skills just don’t fade. The majority of the stitches are “french knots” which are labor intensive and use a LOT of thread. Whatever possessed me to fill a 10″ circle with french knots is a wonder unto itself.

The frame was dinged and whatever gold leaf had corroded – humidity in Hawaii is a thing. I opted for buying a slightly larger frame so the new, now completed border stitches would have some space around them. I then sewed a loose running stitch on the outer edges of the fabric and pulled it to gather up the excess as I stretched it over a stiff paper board and placed the piece back into the frame. I didn’t use glass (there are differing opinions in needlework circles about covering embroidery). It came out nicely.

The sentiment that “Wonders Never Cease” is one I’ve had all my life. This piece of art making its way back to me definitely affirms that.

Happy Halloween & Two New Tunes

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I wish you all a ghoulorius Pagan New Year / Halloween / El Día de Los Muertos! 🎃 🎃 🎃

Calm On is my most recent video. It features the beauty of Lake Okanagan, Penticton, BC and its current autumnal, avian denizens. The music is ambient electronica with accordion. Yes, accordions go with every kind of music!

Watch and enjoy a few moments of calm.

All the Rage is a spoken word YouTube “Short” — 60 seconds. Yes, there is some accordion.

I describe the piece like so:

“Something wonderful happens to a woman when she lives long enough, don’t ya think?”

Be sure and follow on BandCamp and subscribe to the Mad Ms YouTube channel.

New tune: “flow like so” – mesmerizing accordion & electronica

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We’re busy preparing for our shows in August so I gave the band a break from recording this month. I still wanted to publish a video so I put the finishing touches on a tune I composed in 2022. “flow like so” is a synth-soaked ambient piece with accordion. I built the mesmerizing, relaxing, chill video with footage from the Penticton, BC dam and channel.

Accordions belong anywhere in any genre, even flow. No musical borders. That’s my contention and I’m sticking with it. 🙂

For music nerds, the time signature is 7/4. The accordion is my musette tuned Weltmeister Achat. The synths sounds are all in GarageBand (the free Apple app) which just goes to show that possibilities are endless if you have a creative streak and like to play with sonic landscapes.

For a hi-fi audio file of “flow like so” visit our BandCamp: https://themadmaggies.bandcamp.com/track/flow-like-so

New Tune & Video for May: California Love – variation for Harp with guest Roxanne Oliva

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As I was writing California Love, I kept “hearing” a harp version. I asked fab multi-instrumentalist and longtime friend Roxanne Oliva if she’d like to do it and happily she said yes.

She recorded her tracks at her home studio, playing her Celtic harp, a 22 string Stoney End. She sent the tracks to me and I added parts. Next step was to Wally Sound for mixing and mastering mix. The result is a lovely instrumental, a movie soundtrack.

To listen and/or download a hi-fi version, go to our BandCamp.

I had oodles of fun playing with the theme of “hearts coming together” in the music video.


 

newspaper photo clipping of Rox and MagsRoxanne and I have known each other since the mid 1980s, having met at Sonoma State University. We performed together in Mixed Company, a mixed-media theater company I formed with choreographer/director Diana Keener. (I must say, the shows we produced were waaaay before their time.)

We have criss-crossed in the musical world ever since.

I particularly love that neither one of has stopped making music. Can’t keep a dedicated artist down!
Check out Roxanne’s BandCamp.

New Mad Maggies’ Video “Hold On, Let Go”

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I gathered up a few musician friends to record some of my tunes on February 14, 2004. What was a one album project turned into a crazy 20 year musical ride. Wow!

We’re celebrating with a new tune: Hold On, Let Go

Available for download on our BandCamp

Enjoy the very danceable rhythm — a line dance shuffle, perhaps.
And, the chorus is just asking for you to singalong. Go for it!

One of the most valuable skills in life is knowing when to take chances and stay in the fray and knowing when the smart move is to walk away.

That hint of free will feels good in this crazy game of life.

Meanwhile, it’s not time for me to “let go” just yet.
I have quite a few tunes in the hopper. 😉

View on YouTube.

We’re booking some nice shows in August. So stay tuned.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel

New Video: Out of Proportion

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Here’s my next “Mags’ Jazz” piece — storytelling and music inspired by Ken Nordine’s “Word Jazz” style.

In “Out of Proportion“, a shopping mishap leads a woman to discover that clothes don’t make the woman…or the man.

And naturally, there is accordion.

Enjoy the video on our YouTube channel.

Please hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. That’s a super easy way to support us.

Music & Lyrics by M. Martin
Musicians:
Maggie “Mags” Martin: composer, vocals, accordion, & synths
Gary “GDub” Wium: bass

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the Mad Ms project: However Improbable

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“However Improbable” is a confection of ska, border polka, country, dance and brass band. The tune, written by yours madly, is a perfect example of the Mad Maggies “Hard to Describe, Easy to Love” style.

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

-– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, stated by Sherlock Holmes

Watch the video However Improbable on our YouTube channel.

The video features fantastic, detailed illustrations by Montreal artist Daniel Fiorito.

For a high quality audio file, go to our BandCamp.

the Mad Ms project: Surely, Shirley

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Will Shirley ever notice Sam?

Will they fall in love?

To find out, watch the video now.

The video features whimsical sketches by artist Mason Fernandez.

If you’re like me and have some word nerd in you, you will enjoy the homonyms, internal rhymes and expressions.

And with the handy onscreen lyrics, you can sing along.

For a high quality audio file, listen on the Mad Maggies BandCamp.

Mixed and Mastered by Wally Sound at the Wally Sound, Oakland, California

the Mad Ms project: Groove d’Hiver

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After so much warm, humid here in Montréal, it is hard to believe that the streets were covered in snow just a few months ago.

Enjoy a very snowy, wintry trip through the streets of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montreal, Quebec while listening to The Mad Maggies’ release Groove d’Hiver* (Winter Groove), a dub-infused instrumental.

Watch and like on YouTube.

Listen to a high quality audio file on our BandCamp. 

 

The Streets of Montreal. I had big fun filming the hood during snow storms. Each shot had to have snow falling.

The streets I wandered looking for video shots for Groove d’Hiver are specifically the streets of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (Ho-Ma) and Viauville, two neighbourhoods on the eastern side of the island of Montréal which border the St. Lawrence River.

Before the Europeans came, Iroquois inhabited the area. By the early 1800s, it was a rural village, then a working class slum, then a busy manufacturing district. By the 1980s, the manufacturing sector had shrank and the economic decline hit the area hard. There is some rebound now because of the affordability of the real estate.

All this history makes the area’s urban landscape a hodgepodge of blight and gentrification. There’s Beaux Arts architecture from its glory days, remnants of factories, blocks of condos, empty storefronts and plenty of graffiti. Alleyways thread through the backs of most streets, some rough and ignored, some family friendly and “greened”. Copper-clad church steeples are everywhere.

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