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Jun

Spring in Maine / Snow’s finally gone / Photos & Music / The best Presidential story gets better! – Life in Maine with family & music – the Marcrescue blog

Greetings All,

It’s been a very busy few months since I last wrote an update about life in Maine and the workings of a very independent music company.

If you read my last update – there was a story about how my family has a handshake connection with Abraham Lincoln.

At the end of this letter – I’ll reprint a reply to that story from a friend of mine that has a similar story about another great American president. Side by side – the two stories are astounding and remind us that our history is not as distant as we might imagine.

When I last wrote – Maine was covered in snow.

Which impacted our annual spring Maine Maple Sunday visits to our favorite maple sugar / syrup producers. They open their doors up one day a year for everyone to visit and celebrate the process.

We hit our three favorites again this year – first off stopping at Sparky’s – where they were busy loading wood onto the fire that boils down the syrup in a contraption that resembles nothing else.

The first thing you notice is that unlike most years there was still snow on the ground – a lot of it:

Of course this is Maine.

A reminder of that:

It takes a lot of wood to make maple syrup. On average it takes boiling down about 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of maple syrup:

We also love stopping at Simmons & Daughters Sugar House (always a party goin’ on) for MAPLE cotton candy – nothing like it:

And there’s no one more helpful and friendly than Mark at Bradstreet Maple Farm – he spends the entire day educating everyone about the process:

This year was going to be a complete mystery on how much syrup he was going to be able to produce.

Every season he has a chart of the previous year’s production and holds a guessing contest on what this year will produce.

Winner gets free syrup:

This year will be off – because putting in the taps on the trees was a bit more difficult. As Mark demonstrates – this was how deep the snow was – that he had to work through to place the taps:

You might think real maple syrup is expensive – but when you figure it out – I’m betting the producers don’t even come close to making minimum wage.

They don’t do it for the money – they do it because they love it.

This year we hit a another maple celebration in Vermont when we went to visit family.

Another state that takes it seriously:

They had lots of different maple products for sale at the festival but nothing came close to how wonderful these were – homemade donuts with fresh maple cream.

Forget about Dunkin’, Krispy Kreme etc.

They got nuthin’ compared to these:

And ya can’t beat the entertainment – free for kids:

Speaking of delicious.

Spent a few days in Philadelphia at the annual Non-Comm Music gathering – where public radio stations and music folks get together for meetings and amazing musical performances.

I was so busy running from one great performance to another I didn’t have a moment to stop to take any photos this year.

Except for the one time I slowed down for the yearly trip to Jim’s Steaks:

Thank goodness I don’t live near Jim’s or Nellie’s Donuts.

How do people resist the temptation?

I have no idea.

Of course the food in Maine isn’t too shabby either.

Backing up a bit to the end of winter – a snowstorm on Valentine’s Day is no surprise – but that didn’t stop us – a great night out at the Fog Bar in Rockland. Movie’s projected on the wall, a great new duck and sweet potato Shepherd’s Pie and fresh oysters!

But that winter of snow & cold seems long ago now.

Our indie music company Mishara Music released some very cool albums this Spring.

First a new EP by Cass Dillon – an amazing songwriter and performer. Second – an album unlike any other – poetry, storytelling and some great guitar licks by Dave Morrison and then – containing a track from both – our 6th free song sampler on Amazon.com:

Listen to Cass at our YouTube listening channel for his EP “Oregon Road”. Amazing melodies:

Listen to Dave on Soundcloud – storytelling like you’ve ever heard before:

We’ve found that encouraging people to sample free songs from the company builds our audience exponentially.

Here’s a sampling of some reviews on Amazon from our samplers – you’ll understand why we do this – we’ve been building a brand:

For our latest offering on Amazon this spring – we put together a sixpack of free songs:

Brand new this week on YouTube / Spotify / Soundcloud – is a 10 tune playlist of some of our favorite songs – with the kicker that they’re all available as free downloads on those Amazon samplers.

Here are the listening links.

YouTube link:

Spotify:

Soundcloud link:

So now here’s the link to Mishara Music on Amazon – where you’ll find those ten free songs and another 60+ additional free downloads:

http://tinyurl.com/MisharaMusic

How do all those free tracks do?

Charts on Amazon (and iTunes) change hourly – but checking randomly right now as I type this – here’s what Mishara Music has on the Top 100 Free All Format Chart on Amazon at this moment.

10 of the top 100:

As I tell our artists and anyone else that will listen to me.

Build your audience – build your brand.

More new music, artists and always additional free songs are coming this summer.

In the meantime – maybe we can sneak out a bit and enjoy this wonderful change in the weather.

The blooms on the apple trees this year were the most bountiful in years:

I have two favorite types of flowers and both are almost wild in Maine – they’re all over the place.

My favorite aroma flower is the lilac:

And my favorite visual flower is the Iris:

We also have that wonderful giant bowl of water called the Atlantic Ocean nearby.

The sailing schooners in Camden harbor have been prepping for a busy summer season.

You can sail on the biggest of schooners for a week:

Or for two hours on the “Owl”:

My wife lives for being outdoors in the summer.

We try to make the most of it.

A road trip ends up with a great view of the sunset over a small beach:

Our favorite used bookstore is only open on weekends in the summer in a small shack on an ocean cove tucked away on a side road in the middle of nowhere.

You’d be amazed at how many people find their way there.

(Of course – you need a lot of reading material around here startin’ about November for about five months or so):

Do people visit lighthouses because of the lighthouses?

Or because they just happen to be built in the most scenic spots?

I suppose we could do a survey – but once you’re there – who cares:

Got our first camping trip in.

For us camping is not so much about going to a different place physically – it’s more about the psychological change.

So we went all of about five miles down the road to Camden Hills State Park:

We can walk the path along the ocean and glimpse a view of a schooner sailing by and of Islesboro Island out beyond:

Our favorite campsite is in a wonderful stand of beautiful trees:

And if there’s one thing most important at the end of a great day of hiking and camping – it’s roasting marshmallows over the campfire:

This past weekend was fun.

Saturday was the annual Summer Solstice street celebration in our neighboring town Rockland:

Big fun – restaurants giving out free samplers of their dishes, games for kids, demonstrations, booths and on every side street they had music playing – acoustic musicians on one corner, a dj on the next, then a rock band – here’s a local jazz orchestra:

But my favorite this year was the Juke Rockets Blues Band.

What’s the old saying? “Youth is wasted on the young”

As you get older you learn to never underestimate anyone.

My suggestion – don’t ever walk up to the guy with the big white beard and say “Hey, you wanna have a blues guitar showdown?”

You’d lose.

Come to think of it – if ZZ Top is ever looking for an additional guitar player – I got the guy:

Sunday was Father’s Day.

I ran into a T-Rex at a showing of Jurassic World:

Remember when I talked about a couple of my favorite foods up above in the letter?

I gotta say – there’s nothing better than home cooking.

I got treated like royalty on Father’s Day.

First off Kim made a bbq hash for brunch – with smoked turkey from our favorite bbq joint – “4 Points BBQ” in Winterport, Maine. Smoked turkey, onions, garlic, peppers, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, some secret seasoning etc.

Alas no photo – but – here’s a photo of a similar hash from a camping trip last summer – that used some “4 Points” beef brisket instead of the smoked turkey – you’ll get the idea:

I thought that was my treat for the day – boy was I wrong.

Dinner at Kim’s mom was a total surprise – homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert – using corn bread instead of a hard biscuit – so much better – but the big treat was my favorite dish of all time – Crayfish Etouffee – made by Kim’s mom – who learned to make it when they lived in Lafayette, Louisiana years ago – with fresh flown in Louisiana crawfish.

I ate more food in one day than I usually eat in a month.

Nothing like Father’s Day with the family:

Which reminds me – let’s revisit that Lincoln story.

In the last post I wrote – I described the story of my father and uncle meeting an army veteran that my grandfather brought home from the “Old Soldiers Home” for dinner in the 1930’s when they were young kids.

Mr Carpenter shook their hands saying “Shake the hand that shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln”.

Turns out President Lincoln came to meet with his generals in 1862 and Mr. Carpenter was a young soldier at the meeting location and was part of the line that Mr. Lincoln walked down – shaking each soldier’s hand.

Which means that my father and uncle were two handshakes away from Lincoln.

Which means that I and my son (who’s 9 and has shaken the hand of my now 91 year old uncle – (who’s got his own great stories – read about him in the last post) are only 3 handshakes away.

150 years after the end of the civil war.

Pretty amazing.

But with this letter from my friend John Baker – who’s hand both my son and I have shaken – it gets better.

Here’s John’s story:

At my prep school in Groton, Mass, was a retired teacher, Mr. Richards, who had taught both my father and grandfather (class of 1909). Mr. Richards was revered. He died before I actually went to the school, but not before my older brother did.

On a “Parents’ Weekend” as it was called, in 1959 my father called on Mr. Richards (now THERE’s an old phrase) with me, my brother and my mother.

My father, after tea, became solemn, and asked Mr;. Richards to “tell my sons about the very elderly man you met and spoke of to my class back in 1934, my senior year, which was your annual story for the senior class.”

Mr. Richards nodded slowly, looked at us, and said “I haven’t told this story since I retired on 1951, but your father has asked.”

In 1888 when I was a student at this school, and home for Easter, my father introduced me to an aging member of our church in Boston. The man, it turned out, was over 100 years old. My father, who had seen and spoken to this gentleman many times, asked me to remember and revere that handshake, because, he said, “You have just shaken the hand of a man who, as a young boy, shook the hand of George Washington.”

Father then said that we two boys were to remember that we had just shaken the hand of a man who had shaken the hand of a man who had shaken the hand of the “Father of our country.”

Mr. Richards died a year later at the age of 90, and I must think that we may have been the last of his “boys” to hear that story.

John

So let’s recap.

History seems so long ago.

But in these instances – it’s close up and personal.

If we happen to run into each other and we shake hands….that means that you will be four handshakes away from Abraham Lincoln (I’m three) and five handshakes away from George Washington (I’m four).

Even better.

My son is nine.

In 2076 – the 300th birthday of the United States he’ll be 70.

And astonishingly – only three handshakes away from Abraham Lincoln and four away from George Washington.

I love history.

But history doesn’t need to be about events hundreds of years ago.

I was lucky enough to celebrate history earlier this year.

For my son’s birthday in January we did a 3 day road trip to NYC.

We ride the rails:

My wife and I were lucky enough to have signed up for a pair of tickets to a show last October that came through in December when we’d almost given up hope.

I’ve been in the entertainment business for over 40 years and actually had been to the show before – escorting one of the guests appearing that night – lady named Cher. Now that was an experience.

But tickets to this show – for the audience – were never given out to anyone except regular people that wrote in for tickets.

They never cared about catering to any VIP’s or the record companies.

You want tickets – you write in like everyone else.

They even warned you – if you’re chosen to receive tickets – you have to answer a random trivia question about the show.

I knew the answer to the question when they called.

They only wanted real fans in the audience.

My wife and I were real genuine fans.

Watched every night.

And miss him so much.

But we got to spend one great afternoon in the theatre for a taping.

I got a hat. A treasure:

I was there for a part of history.

Marc

PS We’re all busy these days.

Everyone I know is busier than they’ve ever been.

But I guess there are still people out there that find the time to do the unexpected.

Have a bit of fun.

Something I have to do more of.

Don’t know who and don’t know why – but I sure did appreciate it:

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

E-mail: marcrescue@gmail.com

http://misharamusic.com/free/beingapoet/

Mar

Greetings all,

(Look at the pictures, read what you want, download what interests you – but whatever you do….make sure you read the Presidential story at the end of the post. It’s mindblowing).

Now that it’s Spring officially I’m writing a blog about winter.

If you don’t live in New England you might have heard in a news report somewhere that we’ve had a bit of snow and some colder than usual temperatures.

Tsk, tsk.

As we all know the news media is always looking for something to fill their 24 hours news feed.

So they played up winter a bit.

As far as I’m concerned it’s simply my annual “Winter Conditioning Program”.

It did work a bit better than usual this year.

These past few months I’ve been able to utilize my conditioning program almost every other day.

Here’s what the weekly forecast looked like most every week – a day and a half without snow:

Here’s a description of how my snow days would go.

We have a double front driveway, a long back driveway and a deck that runs the length of the house that all need to be cleared of snow – plus some assorted sidewalks.

The back deck tends to build up in storms because of drifting and everything up there has to be lifted over the railing.

Can’t get a snow blower up there so it’s all by hand.

After I clear around us – I help four of our neighbors in the cul-du-sac for various reasons – out of town, young children, elderly etc – and then over to my mother-in-law’s house.

First thing – gotta charge my iPod.

Very important:

Second – always fun to see how much new snow we got:

Then it’s time to work.

I mix it up.

Snowblowing:

Shoveling:

Sometimes it’s a bit chilly.

Luckily Valentine’s Day is a heartwarming kind of day….because this is what we woke up to that morning:

But we have fun as well.

This year we built Ethan a snow cave / tunnel. (With a mini snowman on a beam to watch over it):

And it’s not just us – lots of people come out for fun in winter in Maine.

Our favorite winter event is the National Toboggan Championships held every year in Camden.

(Note I took this photo of the sign two years ago….this year they didn’t put up the Toboggan banner on the sign….they couldn’t get to it because of the snow:

This year it warmed up for the festivities:

Here are the rules – I love the part by the blue arrow: “No exposed skin except face. Face-masks and properly fitted ski helmets are recommended”. I wonder who they were thinking needed the reminder – this is Maine afterall?

The track is an old – fashioned wooden chute that’s ice coated.

It’s not long but it’s fast:

This was not a great run time – gotta get into the 8 second range to get into the finals:

Gettin’ four people on a flimsy wooden toboggan that travels 30+ mph is a challenge. The person at the back has no clue what’s going on – they’re just hangin’ on off the edge for dear life:

My team didn’t get registered in time this year so I sat this one out.

Whadda do if you’re not racing?

Eat of course.

Lots of nice folks haul out tents / shacks / trailers and hang out all day in really cold weather serving up some really good food.

Of course anything hot tastes great when it’s 5 degrees outside:

I made a major discovery this year.

I’m always on the hunt for the holy grail of fish chowder (way better than clam chowder) and this year I found it.

The trailer doesn’t look like much (and they got a lot of ribbing about the “Ice Cold Drinks” sign) but this innocent location had the best fish chowder I’ve ever had!!!!!

OHMIGOSH it was good:

Turns out Deb from Deb’s Diner in Waldoboro Maine was responsible.

Check out their FB page at https://www.facebook.com/debsdiner

But be forewarned – if you look at the page – it’s all about the things she’s making in the kitchen in the diner and it might make you jump in the car / board a train / hop on a jet to come visit – even in the middle of winter.

You’ve been warned.

Back to the races.

The racers take them very seriously…..

…..they come from all over with very fancy toboggans…..

…..maybe because they’re the coolest trophies ever…..

…..but as a racer checks the scoreboard…..you notice that many of the the team uniforms are unique…..

…..and some of the people cheering them on are strangely dressed…..

…..we do have fun in Maine in winter..

It’s also a great way to celebrate a notable birthday – with a sense of humor and a sweatshirt (that’s Deb on the right) that about 20 different people were wearing:

The toboggan races are also a great place to show off some toys.

I’ve heard it said that boys especially never really grow up – it’s just that the size of their toys get bigger.

Pretty hard to dispute that when it’s captured in photos.

I think I probably had a toy like this when I was a kid:

I sure did look longingly at this one….but can’t figure out how to justify it to my wife….but if we keep having more winters like this then maybe I’ve got a chance::

Meanwhile in the midst of all this fun there’s actually been some beehive type activity at Mishara Music and all the sudden there’s a bunch of new Spring releases coming.

Three to start – Cass Dillon, Dave Morrison and a new Amazon sampler:

First off – Tuesday March 24th is the release date for the new Mishara Music Amazon Free Song Sampler – our sixth:

I think it’s our best – certainly our biggest – 17 songs.

(The previous five have had over 1,800,000 free song downloads)

Here’s the Amazon download link:

http://tinyurl.com/MisharaMusicAmazonSampler6
Here’s a list of artists (in order on the sampler): Barnaby Bright, Cass Dillon, Meggan Waltman, Chris Ross, Ken Yates, Connor Garvey, Dave Morrison, Peter Bradley Adams, Clarensau, Gabriel Mann, Merlowe & The Dry Tear.

Some notes about the songs.

“Just The Same” by Barnaby Bright starts off the sampler – a track from their upcoming new album (first in two years) and to my ears it’s simply the best adult love song I’ve ever heard. If that wasn’t enough from them we’ve included a live version of “Made Up Of” from the last album which includes a cellist in the performance. You cannot tell it’s a live performance until the applause at the end.

New Mishara Music artist Cass Dillon debuts with a song titled “Friends”. The title says it all – friends are everything in life. The melody will stay in your head for days at a time….luckily you’ll be happy about that. More about Cass to follow.

“Rain” by Meggan Waltman is a song that’s haunted me for years. Meggan recorded and played me the song a number of years ago….and then completely disappeared.

I couldn’t find her anywhere. Phone disconnected, no longer at that address and not a hint of her on social media.

Then out of the blue she calls.

Turns out she went to Japan for a few years.

That’s one way to disappear – travel to the other side of the world.

We quietly released her EP “Nomad” in 2014 and now with this track on the sampler a lot more people will discover her.

The song is the essence of a dark rainy day – I may hate days like that but I love the song.

(And a side note here – the female singers on Mishara Music – Meggan, Kat Maslich, Sally Caggiano from Clarensau and Becky Bliss from Barnaby Bright are among the best & purest singers / voices I’ve ever heard. One of these days I’d like nothing better than to have a concert featuring just them. Even though I could get in for free – I’d pay to see it.)

Speaking of Clarensau – “Dance With Me” – the lead track from their 2nd Mishara album “This One’s For You” is as great a modern “first dance” wedding song as you’re ever gonna hear. Need one? Or know someone that does? This song is special.

Besides the three new albums coming right away….and the new Barnaby Bright coming right afterwards….there’s a new Chris Ross album – 3 years in the making.

Chris – with a great new band – is finishing the album – which will be titled “Young Once” in the studio as I type.

Prepare to be astonished.

In the meantime – before the band hit the studio – Chris recorded an acoustic teaser track “Drunk Women” for the new sampler.

As you might expect from Chris – the story is much deeper than that title suggests.

How do you handle a call from the “ex” who needs a ride at 2am?

You’ll also find a new acoustic version of his lyrical masterpiece from the last album “Your America” on the sampler.

Ken Yates also has a couple tunes on the sampler – from his “twenty-three” album – including the song “The One That Got Away” that won him the 2014 Ontario Arts Council Songwriting Award in his native Canada.

As we just passed St. Patrick’s Day how could we not include Connor Garvey’s classic “Irish Song” from his live “Before The Meteors” album. It answers the question of how a seemingly Irish lad through and through (his hair is THAT red) does not know a single Irish song to play on St. Patrick’s Day.

To match the playful Connor we’ve also included the stunning “Tattered Shirt” from the studio companion album to the live release “Meteors And Beating Hearts”.

What you may notice at this point…..these are some of our all time favorite songs from the label.

We’re giving them away.

The more we get people to hear our music the better off we’ll be.

It’s not so important to sell a track here or a tune there….it is important to build the audience for the music we love.

If do that – it will enable all of us to keep on making music.

Ever watch tv? Are you a fan of “Modern Family”?

Turns out the music composer for the show and a whole bunch of others is a gentleman named Gabriel Mann.

Two of his singer-songwriter albums are on Mishara. Check out “This Feeling”. You’ll understand why he’s in such demand.

The last track in order on the sampler is from a friend of the label – Danny Owen – who’s band Merlowe & The Dry Tear offers up “Table For One” – with a sound not quite like anything else.

Hmmm, what didn’t I mention.

Two more artists.

Peter Bradley Adams – the artist that helped start Mishara Music gives us a very popular track from his Mishara album “Between Us” – “I May Not Let Go” and from his new album “The Mighty Storm” – that he independently released – a song titled “Hey Believers”. There’s no one like Peter.

Lastly I come to Dave Morrison.

Two tracks on the sampler from his new album “Poetry Rocks”.

Why is it called “Poetry Rocks”?

Because Dave is a poet.

Let me back up a bit.

I met Dave here in Maine a number of years ago and we became friends.

I didn’t know he was a poet.

That’s good.

I hate poetry.

Anyday back in my old school days that we had to study poetry was a hard day for me.

Poetry just didn’t work for me.

So one day Dave mentions “Hey, I’ve got a new book coming out and I’m doing a poetry reading can you drop by?”

So I’m stuck.

He’s my friend and of course I say yes.

With every intention of dropping in….making sure he sees me and then sneaking out as fast as possible.

Did I mention I hate poetry?

I was the last one to leave.

Like nothing I’d ever heard before.

Dave knows how people feel about poetry.

That high school kind of poetry.

That’s not Dave.

Turns out he’s released 10 poetry books.

He’s been featured a number of times on “The Writers’s Almanac” – the Garrison Keillor daily feature on NPR.

But Dave was also a guitar player in a band for years and years.

He was toying around with the idea of combining his two skills.

I encouraged him and the album “Poetry Rocks” (release date is April 14th) is unlike anything else:

His first track on this sampler is “Being A Poet”. It basically addresses the scary subject that all writers face….”Hey I’ve got an idea for you to write about….”

On a more serious side is “Patricia Alone After 14 Years”

Mis-titled on the sampler – I left out the word “alone” – Dave said “Don’t worry about it”.

That’s the kind of guy he is.

Curious to know more? Read on. (But if I’d known his take on # 13 I would have re-evaluated this deal – they’re absolutely not!):

Wanna hear the track “Being A Poet” by Dave Morrison without waiting a moment more?

Here’s a link to a free download – no email or registration required (ever from Mishara Music):

The other new artist I mentioned was Cass Dillon.

His EP is “Oregon Road”:

Here’s the story of how he came to Mishara Music.

The friend I’ve known longer than any other in the music business – Marc Nathan – called me up and said something like “I’ve been looking for the perfect artist for Mishara Music for years and finally found him. His name is Cass Dillon and you’re perfect for each other”.

He sent me the music.

I made a cd and put it in my car.

Cars are the best place for listening. Most cars have great sound and it’s about the only place these days you get alone time to listen.

But I didn’t have any driving plans for a bit – so it didn’t get heard right away.

Until my wife’s car had to go into the shop for a checkup.

My job of course – so she takes my car.

As she came in the door that night she didn’t say “Hi Honey”.

Didn’t kiss me on the cheek.

Didn’t pass “Go” and collect $200.

She said “WHAT IS THE CD IN YOUR CAR? It’s GREAT!”

Now you know the secret.

Our test marketing – even when it’s unintentional.

“Oregon Road” releases on Mishara Music April 7th.

Thinkin’ you’d like to know more about Cass?

You can hear “Friends” by Cass Dillon right this very second – and download it as well.

Here ya go:

http://misharamusic.com/free/friends/

Some odds and ends about winter that I didn’t cover above.

In spite of the cold and snow it can be incredibly beautiful.

The harbor is always a sight – winter or summer:

The sky against the whiteness of the snow just shines in color (thanks to my wife for these photos).

Our favorite family mode of transportation – winter or summer:

Christmas lights look mysterious with a bit of snow covering them (before they were totally obliterated by the snowfalls to follow):

A good lesson to learn….don’t forget to change out the screen door for the storm window before the snow comes – oops:

My wife does have a great recovery plan for coming in from the cold and snow when you’ve finally had enough:

I discovered binge watching on “Netflix”.

Which brings me to the promised “Presidential” story.

Lots of people I’ve met over the years have met various US President’s and there are some wonderful stories that’ll I’ll share the next time we meet up in person.

Though if we do meet up in person – this is the story to remember.

Don’t forget to shake my hand.

Why?

Ahhh, time for a history lesson.

Abraham Lincoln used to visit his generals and the troops during the Civil War.

Here’s a very famous photo of him visiting Gen George McClellan and his generals in October 1862 after the battle of Antietam (the Union name / the Confederacy called it Sharpsburg):

It wasn’t the first time he visited McClellan. Here’s a description of his travels for a few days earlier that year in July:

July 7, 1862 — President Lincoln and military party leave Washington on the Ariel to visit General McClellan and the Army of the Potomac at Harrison’s Landing at Berkeley Plantation.

July 8, 1862 — Lincoln arrives at Harrison’s Landing at 6:00p.m. He then reviews McClellans’ Army by corps and divisions until 9:00p.m.

July 9, 1862 — Lincoln talks with officers of the Army about military problems and records the results in a memorandum. He then leaves on the Ariel for the return trip to Washington.

Now here’s a note from the records of the Minnesota National Guard:

July 9, 1862- President Abraham Lincoln visits the 1st Minnesota, camped at Harrison’s Landing
This is important because?

Earlier this year we went to visit my Uncle Gene.

One of the few remaining veterans from the World War II battles of the Pacific.

He was a Marine and is one of those brave individuals who stormed the beaches of Saipan, Tarawa etc.

The stories – you can’t imagine.

He’s 91.

My son Ethan is 9 and they hadn’t seen each other for a few years and it was a great reunion.

Here’s Ethan showing Uncle Gene how he uses his Kindle:

My favorite Uncle Gene story is not about WWII – it’s about the Civil War.

My grandfather (a WWI vet) back in the 1930’s when Gene was Ethan’s age used to visit the old solder’s home in Minneapolis and bring some of the vets home for dinner.

One day he brought the oldest vet in the home – Mr. Carpenter – to dinner as Uncle Gene tells the story.

When he walked in the door Mr. Carpenter walked up to Gene and my father Dave (who was a year older than Gene) and said:

“Shake the hand that shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln”.

He told the story of hanging out one day with the troops….no fighting at the moment although the lines weren’t that far apart….and they saw a “tall drink of water” walking down the road with a tall hat on.

They yelled at him “Hey buddy get your head down before the rebs shoot it off”.

As the “tall drink of water” got closer they realized it was Abraham Lincoln.

Mr. Carpenter says they lined up all the troops and President Lincoln walked down the line shaking hands.

Let’s put this in perspective.

Ethan and I obviously have shaken my Uncle’s hand many, many times.

That puts us 3 handshakes away from Abraham Lincoln.

If you shake my hand the next time we see each other – that makes you – in 2015 – 150 years after Lincoln’s death – 4 handshakes away from him.

I find that astonishing.

But even more so.

Ethan will be 59 years old in 2065.

200 hundred years after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and he’ll be only 3 handshakes away from him.

Anyone shaking his hand will still only be 4 handshakes away.

A fifth of a century later.

I love history.

Welcome to Spring.

Marc

PS Wishful thinking:

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

E-mail: marcrescue@gmail.com

http://misharamusic.com/free/oldhouse/index.html

Dec

Winter arrived / Autumn was terrific / This is the anti-cyber buying post – everything is free / The marcrescue blog – life in Midcoast Maine with music, family & an eight year old

Greetings All,

(Note – this is the Marc Ratner / Mishara Music – occasional blog / email. It shows up these days about every other month. Who has the time to write anything worthwhile more than that? That doesn’t mean that anything contained here is worthwhile….except of course the photos…I get lucky taking some and steal the really good ones from my wife…she’s the great family photographer. If you’re receiving this via email and want off the list – just hit reply and ask off. If you’re seeing this via the blog post on WordPress and would like to receive it via email. Email marc@misharamusic.com and I’ll get you added to the list.). Another great way to keep up to date on when I write is to follow me on FB at www.facebook.com/marc.ratner or Twitter at www.twitter.com/marcrescue

So it’s “Cyber Monday” as I write this.

Everything, everywhere is about – buy this – buy that.

So I’ve included a whole bunch of free song links in this letter – consider this the “Anti-Cyber-Buy” letter.

The letter is also all about our family adventures during this autumn season – mostly things we did for free.

Yes, for free.

It’s our way of getting away from the commercialization of everything.

Winter is definitely here – early and fierce – this is what we woke up to Thanksgiving morning:

Thanksgiving morning 2014 - 1 - Letter Size

Thanksgiving morning 2014 - 2 - Letter Size

How did we get here?

Last I checked – autumn was in full swing and we were making the most of it here in Midcoast Maine.

The wonderful thing about living in Maine is it’s easy and inexpensive to ditch the 21st century and remember that family adventures are the best way to spend time.

We attended the last fair of the year – the Common Ground Fair – put on by the Organic Farmers of Maine:

No fancy midway or rides here….and it might be the last refuge of people that started wearing overalls as hippies in the 60’s – but that’s a good thing.

A kid doesn’t need hi-tech rides – he can have just as much fun at the cardboard sliding hill:

Exploring the fair hiking trail:

Making a homemade hat our of natural materials:

And there’s no more fun than the hay bale jump:;

It’s a refreshing day away from electronics, video games and cell phones (virtually no service at these fairgrounds – makes dad’s hand shake).

We also did our annual exploration of Beth’s Farm Market corn maze….another wonderful family adventure away from the lure of computer games.

This year they really upped their game. They made it a contest. You had to try and find all the secret locations.

It was torture:

Dad thought: “Let’s make it a race!” So he competed by himself again Mom and the Kid.

An hour and 1/2 later I dragged myself out of the maze and we compared scorecards.

Notice the scorecard on the right with the two blue arrows pointing out two missing checkpoints?

That’s Dad’s scorecard.

Mom & Son skunked me. They got all the checkpoints and had been waiting for me for 20 minutes when I finally admitted defeat and found my way out.

Before we left Beth’s we did a little pumpkin shopping:

One of the great town events every autumn is the Camden International Film Festival….which features documentaries and is now recognized as one of the top festivals for documentaries in the world.

Every year Kim works as a volunteer at the festival and it’s a highlight for her:

We attended two films this year – including a terrific documentary about James Brown – with the director in attendance to answer questions after the showing:

And we always love the closing night festivities where they present the awards at the beautifully restored Camden Opera House – built in 1894:

As the festival closes – we notice that the town is getting ready for the changes in the weather. It’s always interesting to watch the sailing schooners in Camden harbor put on their protective winter wrap:

The change in the weather also brings our autumn leaves season.

Time for some hikes….along Hosmer Pond:

Then a family hike up Mt Megunticook.

Amazing views:

It’s rewarding getting to the top:

But also tiring…it’s a long hike:

During all this – work continues.

Mishara Music didn’t release a lot of new recordings this year because of the curse of all music companies…..delays in recording. Artists do their best work on their own timeline….which does and should have nothing whatsoever to do with business plans.

So not many releases in 2014 but that means we’re looking forward to a wonderful roster of releases in 2015.

But that doesn’t mean everyone wasn’t busy.

Lot’s of touring, recording and marketing.

A few weeks ago I checked a bunch of our artist’s social media sites at random – always fun.

Connor Garvey had an amazing summer festival season.

Awards all over the country:

Connor Garvey Summer Festivals 2014 Awards - 2 - Letter Size

Here’s a free song from Connor – my favorite song from his last studio album “Old House”:

Connor Garvey Free Song Old House - Letter Size

Barnaby Bright social media is always fun to read. They have a great relationship with their fans.

Isn’t that the way it should be?

How about a free Barnaby Bright tune – “Made Up Of” – achingly beautiful:

http://misharamusic.com/free/barnabybright2/

BB Free Song Page - Made Up Of - Letter Size

The streaming world has been very good to Clarensau:

Clarensau - Social Media - Spotify - Letter Size

A favorite Clarensau song of mine is “Endless Melody”.

Here it is – endlessly free:

http://misharamusic.com/free/clarensau/

Clarensau Free Song Page - Endless Melody - Letter Size

Chris Ross has the best FB page ever. His posts are 2nd to none.

He had some wonderful thoughts about election season:

Chris has also started recording at Hearstudios in Camden.

Here he is with studio owner / producer / engineer Jason Hearst during playback:

He started with some acoustic recording.

For his fans – while waiting for the new 2015 album – he recorded a new acoustic version of “Mostly Sober” and we’re giving it away.

No email or registration of any kind is required – just click on the link for the free download:

http://misharamusic.com/free/chrisrossmostlysober/

Chris Ross Free Mostly Sober - Letter Size

Chris will have two other acoustic tracks – (one classic and one brand new song) on the next Mishara Music Amazon Free Song Sampler – # 6 – which you’ll see released before Christmas:

Amazon Mishara Music Sampler 6 - Letter Size

Oh by the way – great news about Ken Yates…..he won a major songwriter award in his native Canada:

Here’s the song that won Ken the award – as always with Mishara – no email or registration required to download it for free:

http://misharamusic.com/free/kenyates/

Ken Yates Free Song Page - The One That Got Away - Letter Size

Ken’s award got me to thinking…..we sure have a lot of award winning songwriters on Mishara Music:

It makes us feel good about what we do.

We’re a low key independent music mgmt & recording company and we do what we do for the love of music.

It all starts with songs for us.

Here’s one of our latest favorites – “Rain” by Meggan Waltman.

Another free download:

http://misharamusic.com/free/rain/

Of course the rainy season has pretty much passed us by here in Maine.

We figured that out pretty quickly after Halloween.

We had a terrific Halloween as always.

Did some pumpkin carving.

This year Ethan drew out a plan for the carving and I did my best to match:

The family selfie as we headed out for trick or treating….(Ethan was the only one that got treats though):

We got home in time for our favorite Halloween TV show:

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - Letter Size

36 hours later the first Nor’easter snow storm hit.

We lost power for 26 hours and finally woke up to this sunrise looking at 16 inches of new snow through the Halloween decorations on the window:

We couldn’t get out the front door:

Can't Get Out The Front Door - Letter Size

If you were a tomato plant in a pot on the back deck – you probably weren’t happy:

So starts my winter exercise program:

And Kim got to make the coolest snowman ever:

Luckily we’re big fans of winter – we love sledding, snowshoeing and the change in seasons brings amazing visions….this from last winters ice storm:

But sadly – there’s one thing that goes away until spring.

The local lobster roll shacks all close up for winter.

We hit our favorite – “Red’s” – on their last day of the season about 30 minutes before closing.

Breathtaking as always:

Red's Last Day of 2014 Lobster Roll - Letter Size

It was a busy autumn.

We made the most out of it – but it was exhausting.

So much so that somedays you don’t even realize that you put on different shoes for work until 3pm in the afternoon:

Luckily no one else noticed either.

Hope you had a great autumn – here’s to a wonderful winter for all!

Marc

PS In keeping with this letter’s anti – buying mania – there are tons more free songs from Chris Ross, Barnaby Bright, Clarensau, Connor Garvey, Ken Yates and many more artists on the first 5 Mishara Music Free Song Amazon samplers. Way over a million free downloads have already been given away.

Enjoy our gift of music:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Website: www.misharamusic.com

https://soundcloud.com/misharamusic/sets/chris-ross-halfway-to-wonderland-album-on-mishara-music

Sep

Finally, a photo wrap-up of summer in Maine 2014 / the Marcrescue blog “Life in Maine with an Eight Year Old & an Appreciation of Music”

Greetings All,

A few notes before the attack of Maine summer photos:

1. If you’d like to make sure you receive this blog all the time – either sign up on the right hand side or if you’d prefer to receive via email – email me at marcrescue@gmail.com
2. You’ll notice during my music notes that we’ve made it extremely easy to listen to the music via Soundcloud and Spotify – whichever you prefer. You’ll also notice no sales links. Yes sales are important and if someone wants to purchase any of our songs – they’re always available on iTunes & Amazon. The key to building our audience however is getting the music heard. Music has to heard to be appreciated.

Summer happens.

In our family and in our community here in Maine everyone makes the most of it.

Not because the season is short and winter is just over the horizon…..we love winter as much as summer.

But because there’s a spirit here about living life and everyone we know has been out and about.

The last time I checked in with everyone – we had just passed this milestone:

Then summer took off like a rocket!

Are you ready……we’ve going to cover a lot of ground here and quickly.

It’s officially summer – how do we know? Because the people down the hill put out their annual summer sign…..which perhaps wasn’t written out exactly the way it was intended…..I sure don’t know any kids that play slowly…..but then again – it grabs your attention:

Gotta check the local swimming hole after a rainstorm:

Before you know it – “Coach Pitch” baseball is all over already and it’s time to get your end of season medal:

Harvest time for wild Maine blueberries – got to pick up our 10 pound box…..we freeze them and have all sorts of blueberry treats all winter:

Whew let’s take a breather & cool off – how about some Lemon Sorbet for Ethan and Coffee Heath Bar Crunch for dad on Father’s Day from Camden Cone:

Can’t beat Maine for summer camping:

Especially when you can take your morning camping coffee to the bench 20 yards away overlooking the ocean:

We take our eating seriously when we camp.

Some leftover beef brisket from the nearby BBQ place from the night before makes some mighty fine beef brisket hash for morning breakfast at the campsite – and yes it was every bit as good as it looks – not everything in Maine has to have lobster in it to be great:

But that said – Searsport Shores – our favorite ocean side campground takes eating seriously. Their Saturday night lobster bake makes it awfully tough to hike back to your campsite:

Fourth Of July…..bummer no fireworks…..rained out…..but how ’bout the nifty homemade popsicles that mom made:

Now let me take a moment here to say….during all of this…..work never stopped.

It never stops.

And some swell stuff happened this summer.

Chris Ross has spent the summer writing songs for his new album which he’ll begin recording shortly. He makes acoustic YouTube videos of each song when he’s finished writing them.

Can’t wait for the full band studio versions of these.

“Blame”:

“Burns”:

“You Can Have Mine”:

“Drunk Women”:

You can hear “Halfway To Wonderland” – Chris’ last album here on Soundcloud:

Or on Spotify:

One alternative to writing the new album….is spending the summer playing the new album at festivals.

That’s what Connor Garvey did.

Seemed to be a good plan.

Here’s where a partial list of where he played this summer:

Here’s how it went – one of those summers where you need to get an extra suitcase to take home the awards:

Wanna listen to both of Connor’s new albums…..easy to do…..just posted both new albums on Soundcloud & Spotify.

“Before The Meteors” – the live album that mirrors all the songs that are in the new studio album is here:

Also on Spotify:

The studio album “Meteors And Beating Hearts” is here on Soundcloud:

Spotify:

There’s another way to spend the summer – recording.

Both Ken Yates and Barnaby Bright have been spending time in the studio.

Ken has been recording some new songs and filmed one of the tracking sessions.

Here’s “Once More To The Lake”:

Here’s Ken’s last album “twenty-three” on Soundcloud:

And on Spotify:

Don’t have anything to share from the Barnaby Bright album recording sessions yet – but coming soon.

The whole Barnaby Bright fan universe is anxiously waiting to hear the studio versions of the songs they’ve been playing on tour breaks all summer.

Including this gem – “Just The Same” – recorded last year at WNRN in Charlottesville:

“The Longest Day” their last album can be heard in it’s entirety on Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/misharamusic/sets/barnaby-bright-the-longest-day-album-on-mishara-music

& Spotify:

I’ve been very busy all summer preparing new releases for this fall. More about that in a moment.

I’ve always been a believer in contributing to society in one way or another. Many might remember that I volunteered on a mountain search and rescue team for over 20 years while living in California.

Now in Maine I’ve found a new way to help….using my knowledge and long association with the music industry….I’m involved with our beautiful local historical opera house.

Built in 1894 and totally restored in the 1990’s…..I find myself during the Camden Opera House’s 120th anniversary….on the town board of directors.

Something I can do to help…..but unfortunately…..even after years and years in the music business…..I still can’t figure out which photographer is taking the photo…..arghhhh:

The Camden Opera House is such a great place for artists to perform…..lo and behold here’s Barnaby Bright playing there this summer:

As a special encore – Becky and Nathan stepped away from the mic’s – because the acoustics are so great….and sang at the front of the stage joined by special guest Liz Longley….what a great night:

This being Maine one can’t go too long without mentioning lobster again. As always we had a great time at our annual local “Lobster Fest”.

Here’s something you probably haven’t seen before unless you live in Maine.

The lobster trap race at the festival.

How many times can you make it back and forth across the harbor running on the lobster traps without falling in?

If you’re a kid most likely your favorite part of Lobster Fest is the bungee jump attraction…..where you get to dream of being some sort of superhero while you’re flying in the harness:

We always end our day at the festival riding the ferris wheel:

You cannot believe how many lobsters they serve during the five days of the Lobster Festival….here’s the count near the end of the last day – that’a a lot of lobsters:

It was also a great summer for gardens……here’s the first of many batches of cherry tomatoes:

At the end of the summer we get a carton of heirloom tomatoes from our favorite vendor at our local farmers market:

Lo and behold – they magically (with a lot of hard work by Kim) turn into the best sauce I’ve ever had in my life. It’s gonna be a wonderful winter:

But we’re not there yet.

First a little mini-golf…..and this time Mom got the hole-in-one:

Next up a day trip to Portland to check out the Jason Spooner Band performing at the Old Port Festival (they were great as always – as is the new album “Chemical”).

Just across from the stage we found this fence along the harbor (there’s always a cool discovery every time we got to Portland) – next time we’re bringing a lock.

If you look closely every lock has a message written on it. And they’re locked there by the people that put them there. So there they stay. Totally cool. What a great idea:

On the way back from Portland we’re legally required to stop at LL Bean’s Flagship store.

It’s open 24 hours a day / 365 days a year.

You meet the nicest people there at 3am:

Summer time for us is not just about eating…..although it might seem that way.

The town library sponsors summer movies in the amphitheater next to the library.

Bring a camp chair and a blanket:

Our local Bay Chamber Orchestra takes over downtown for an afternoon and dispatches classical players to storefronts, street corners and shops to perform for us. I caught this great duo at Zoot Coffee:

Of course there’s the beach.

A good place to catch up on Harry Potter:

And contemplate the beauty of nature (credit report here – many of the artistic photos in this post including this one were taken by my wife Kim. Every time I see one of her photos like this – the first words out of my mouth are “I’m stealing this one for the blog”):

Had to get in some hiking:

One of the sessions at summer day camp is theatre….there’s nothing like hearing your kid singing “Kids” from Bye Bye Birdie….”Kid’s? Whatsa matter with all these kids today?…..Why can’t they be like we were – perfect in every way….” (they even designed their own costumes):

Of course after a hard afternoon of summer theatre – it’s time to cool off with a Sno-Kone at River Ducks:

As we seem to be back at food again……how ’bout some fresh Maine raspberries….so sweet:

Another trip to Portland to see the Sea Dogs (Red Sox Double AA Farm Team) win in the bottom of the 10th:

What a surprise on the way down to Portland…….an annual gathering of VW campers of all ages…..all stopped at a rest stop to say goodbye to each other until next year’s meeting.

I had one identical to the beige one just to the right of center (arrow pointing at it) back in the 1980’s.

I never should have sold it.

The group even has it’s own t-shirts:

Kim’s told me getting another one is now on our bucket list.

That’s a good addition.

Better get crackin’ on some new music if I’m going to get Kim her camper.

I fell in love with a song called “Rain” a number of years ago by an artist named Meggan Waltman.

Almost had the opportunity to release it….but stuff happened and never did get it out.

So I just obsessed about the song for years.

After Mishara Music (www.misharamusic.com) was established as a label……I went looking for Meggan.

She’d vanished.

Phone disconnected, no Facebook, no Twitter, no search results.

Zip, nadda, nothin.

Bummed I was.

One day out of the blue……an email in my inbox.

“Hi Marc, It’s Meggan….I’m back doing music again”.

Oh Happy Day.

Turns out she’d moved to Japan for a number of years.

That’s why I couldn’t find her.

So – this time I didn’t hesitate.

Didn’t pass “Go”.

Didn’t collect “$200”.

Got a Meggan Waltman EP titled “Nomad” out in record time.

A digital release to start.

8 tracks from 3 different recording sessions over a period of years.

“Rain” is the first track.

And I want everyone to hear it.

So it’s free download.

No email required, no registration required.

Nothing like that.

Just click, download and enjoy:

http://misharamusic.com/free/rain/

Wanna hear the entire EP?

Soundcloud:

Spotify:

“Rain” will also be included in the next Mishara Music Free Song Sampler on Amazon.

This will be edition # 6.

You can get all five of the previous samplers anytime on Amazon.

Over 50 totally free songs by Mishara artists and friends of the label.

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Here’s a number for you.

That’s how many free songs have been downloaded off of the Mishara Free Song Samplers on Amazon.

I’m looking forward to 2 million.

The passion here is sharing great music.

Next up.

A gem.

A songwriter (with a degree in English no less)

With songs the likes of I’ve never heard before.:

You’ll meet her in the next blog post.

In the meantime.

The sky is changing – the seasons are changing – it’s getting darker earlier:

But the cycle of life is always a surprise.

What’s new becomes old….becomes new again.

Ethan found our old antique dial phone (from the 1930’s) and insisted we hook it up for him.

He makes all his calls on it.

(He only has 3 numbers he can call – his dad, his mom and his nana).

No smart phone this…but so totally cool:

And of course we end where we started:

Best,

Marc

Marc Ratner
Mishara Music

E-mail: marcrescue@gmail.com

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/barnabybright

Jul

The Parent’s Lament – As Time Goes By / The Marcrescue blog – life in Maine with music & an eight year old

Greetings,

Are you a parent?

If not – let me explain a few things you probably don’t realize.

Before you have kids you might think you understand the concept and the reality.

I can only say this based on my experience…..maybe it is different for other people….

But….basically….before I had a kid….I didn’t have a clue what it was like being a parent….and I thought I did.

Even being a kid doesn’t give you perspective on being a parent.

Assuming you’re a fortunate parent and you have a good kid (/s) and life is basically good…..then you have….

….The Parent’s Lament.

Something I had no concept of.

Let’s start with – you get no sleep.

Less than you can imagine.

I remember my business partner in LA – Hugo – coming to the office looking a bit tired and he’d say….”Violet was up last night”.

She was two at the time.

What I didn’t realize.

He only mentioned it once in a while.

Basically kids are up every night.

Our son is eight.

All these years and he still wakes up at night.

Not as much as he used to – but enough to keep us from getting any sleep.

Not a week goes by when he still doesn’t wake up……because…….

……water, bathroom, nightmare, can’t sleep etc.

Even when he sleeps the night through – we’re not sure.

“Is that him? Is he awake? Did he just call us?”

“I’ll go check.”

So….no sleep for parents….ever.

I figure he’ll start sleeping through the night just about the time when we have to start worrying about where he is at night when he’s not in bed – not home yet.

Is that The Parent’s Lament?

Nah.

Losing sleep becomes no big deal pretty quickly.

You get used to it.

Of course I have an overwhelming urge to ask surgeons, airline pilots and anyone else with my life in their hands…..

“Do you have kids?”

“Is that a SpongeBob Square Pants button you have there?

If they answer in the affirmative – I know they haven’t slept and want to turn and run in the other direction.

But I know they’ve managed to deal with no sleep.

We’ll be okay.

What other problems are there?

Is this the right school?

Is this friend a bad influence?

Too much TV?

How do we get them away from video games?

Doesn’t any commercial food establishment have anything besides junkfood for kids anymore?

Ever look at a “Kid’s Menu”?

Even an elegant restaurant that serves local farm fresh organic grass fed wild caught food……has a kid’s menu that’s basically a hot dog, mac & cheese, french fries and sodas.

Arghhhhh!

(More about that in a minute).

Are any of those things The Parent’s Lament?

Nah.

They’ll survive all that.

So what’s The Parent’s Lament?

It’s simple.

Times goes by.

It kills you.

The babies are so wonderful.

Suddenly they’re in preschool.

Making friends.

You make great friends with the preschool teachers and all the sudden – it’s off to kindergarten.

Here he is waiting for the bus the first day of Kindergarten:

Not a moment has passed……we think…..and all the sudden it’s the last day of second grade:

They have to grow up – but no one understands how hard it is on the parents…..it’s heaven and hell at the same time.

Everyday we want to freeze the moment.

Although the joy of watching them grow up & learn how to out negotiate their parents is stellar as well.

I haven’t won an argument in our household in years.

Ethan started out-smarting me at about 2 1/2….and of course I’m married…..we just celebrated out 10th anniversary…..so figure I haven’t won an argument for at least 12 or so years – except for about a year from when Ethan started talking to when he hit 2 1/2.

I don’t miss losing arguments.

I just marvel at how I’m outsmarted almost every day.

They say elephants have great memories.

They got nothin’ on kids.

They never forget anything you’ve ever said….AND….they have ears that hear as well as elephants ears are large.

Married with a kid.

I got no chance.

But I miss those days of innocence.

Eight going on sixteen – he’s already discussing his first car.

I’m scared – I’m very, very scared.

But daily life is all about the wonderful moments.

Can’t beat walking down the street after our 2nd grade graduation dinner – Ethan’s choice?

Sushi at Suzuki’s.

Sushi?

At 8 years old?

I wouldn’t even eat the fish sandwich at McDonald’s when I was 8 years old.

Another sign that times change.

Something that all those “elegant restaurants” should take note of…..kids don’t eat just hot dogs and fries anymore.

Thanks to my wife for capturing our walk after our sushi dinner in a beautiful photo:

Thankfully the photo gives me that moment in time.

My kid is growing up faster than I can imagine.

How do I entertain myself?

As I always have….with music.

Dad might work in the music business all day long.

But I’ve never lost the joy of music and love going to concerts that have nothing to do with my company.

We bought tickets to see Patty Griffin in Portland a couple weeks ago.

Then we realized it was Father’s Day?

What did we do?

Bought a third ticket for Ethan

He’s 8 years old – we end up buying him a lot of tickets.

We love to take him with us.

He just saw Patty Griffin.

Last summer he saw Paul McCartney.

He’s been to Jazzfest in New Orleans 5 times.

He’s been to the American Folk Festival in Bangor 5 times.

He saw the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary concert.

His favorite song of theirs is “I Get Around” – very appropriate – I took this shot during that song:

Here’s a shot of Patty Griffin’s wonderful show…..I always love the solo songs:

Of course he hears about music all day long in our household.

What’s happening at the moment?

Barnaby Bright have just finished the major tracking on their new album.

Don’t have anything to play from the new recordings yet – but both of these concert favorites will be on the new album:

“Just The Same” (just about my favorite “couples” love song ever) – here’s a live radio performance version:

“Sail” – here’s a live version from a concert in Portland, Oregon:

Becky and Nathan are pretty jazzed about the new album and also that their Pledge Music campaign has done so well…..still plenty of time to donate before the album release and it’s already past their goal:

They’re not shy and not “precious” either – here’s the selfie photo they took in the car while on tour when they found out they passed their Pledge goal:

How can you not love people like this?

Here’s the link to their Pledge Music campaign. Remember it’s much like donating to a public radio station and the great thing is that you always get value returned. For $10 you get a digital copy of the album BEFORE release date…..(cheaper than iTunes)…..and for $25 you get the pre-release digital copy AND a signed cd sent to you when it’s released.

Such a deal.

This guy:

Chris Ross…..just started his new Pledge Music campaign.

I showed him the Barnaby Bright intro video and Chris said “I better up my game”.

He did.

Here’s his link – click on his intro video…..I guarantee you’ll be surprised and entertained.

Guaranteed!

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/chrisross

Here’s a couple tunes that’ll be on Chris’ next album:

“Easier Said Than Done”:

“Burns” (Chris seems to write about relationship troubles quite often….this song is the polar opposite of the Barnaby Bright tune “Just The Same” linked above. No matter if your relationship is workin’ or not – we’ve got you covered):

As I mentioned above – I love live music.

So how excited are we that Mishara Music just released our first live album?

Very.

Connor Garvey’s “Before The Meteors” which is a companion album to the studio recorded “Meteors And Beating Hearts”:

Wanna hear something great?

Here’s “Irish Song” from the album….so much fun:

What’s better than an absolutely free song?

Not much.

Here’s the live version of “Tattered Shirt” from “Before The Meteors”- absolutely free and easy to download – no email or registration required – just click and save, enjoy and free feel to share with anyone you’d like:

http://misharamusic.com/free/tatteredshirts/

Aw shucks.

I feel like Monte Hall at the moment – (if you’re old enough to remember him that is – if you do – ask me about my Monte Hall story someday – it’s pretty weird) – so let me give away another free song.

Seems like a whole bunch of people have been getting married lately which reminded me that our trio Clarensau has a song titled “Dance With Me”.

It’s the perfect “first dance” song for a wedding – so here’s a Clarensau / Mishara Music wedding present – a free download of “Dance With Me”. Again – no email or registration required to download the song – just click and enjoy:

http://misharamusic.com/free/dancewithme/

Back to The Parent’s Lament for a moment.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our lives, the moment, this & that…..we truly have no perspective.

Until it comes sailing right into the harbor.

As two ships did into Camden Harbor this week.

We get all sorts – yachts, schooners, kayaks…..even a visit from a US Navy ship once a year.

But this was a first.

Replicas of two of Columbus’ ships.

Yup – THAT Columbus – the Christopher Columbus guy.

Some enterprising person had the wonderful idea to recreate the Nina and the Pinta (why not the Santa Maria? It never finished that famous first voyage).

The two ships now tour the world – stopping at harbors large and small all over the world.

A history lesson that comes to you and gives great perspective on life.

Here’s the Pinta (the black ship on the right):

Doesn’t seem very big does it?

(This copy is actually 15 feet larger than the original).

Here’s the Nina (which was smaller than the Pinta):

Which is exact size.

Note the rowboat right next to it.

Here’s the roster of the crews that sailed on that first Columbus voyage:

24 people sailed on the Nina – which was about the size of four or five rowboats.

I spent some quiet moments thinking about the lives those men lived.

I think I’ve got it tough?

Hah.

Geez – the water at our favorite lake beach nearby was a bit cold on the first day of summer:

Yup – we’ve got it rough.

But – again perspective.

Lots of people complain that the music business isn’t what it used to be.

Can’t make as much money as we used to.

I never did it for the money.

It was always about the music.

My biggest joy for our business these days?

Getting the new monthly figures and seeing how many free songs we’ve given away on our Mishara Music Free Song Samplers on Amazon.com.

We’ve put out five and number six is coming soon.

What’s in a number:

Here’s one:

That’s how many songs we’ve given away.

Here’s a review I just read on Amazon – posted about sampler # 5 a couple days ago:

I have no idea who that person is….but we’ve made their day….with music.

That makes my day.

Doesn’t get better than that.

Here’s the link for our Mishara Music Amazon Free Song Sampler # 5 that “Ozietwin” wrote the review about:

http://tinyurl.com/MisharaMusicAmazonSampler5

Try it.

Enjoy it.

Share it.

In the meantime…..as much as learning about the past helps teach us about ourselves and potentially about the future…..

It’s a new world out there…..the adventure may not be about sailing across an uncharted ocean…..someday hopefully it’ll be about sailing across an uncharted universe…..but in the meantime we’re just looking to the future and hoping to keep our perspective in focus a day a time:

Marc

PS Speaking of discovering new worlds. This letter started out years ago as a business letter to radio programmers. I still send it out as an email to programmers. But the perspective changed over the years. I became more interested in writing about life than business. There’s still business in the post – but it’s muted and it focuses on what I love – the music. A few years ago I decided that I’d post each letter on a wordpress blog site and let anyone, anywhere discover it and read it. Now the letters get read every day – all over the world – by people I don’t know, have never met and probably will never meet. Hopefully they’re finding some joy in the writing and especially the music – and if our free song stats tell us anything – they are.

Here’s the blog link:

http://www.marcrescue.wordpress.com

A week or so ago I checked to see where it’s been read in the past year. I don’t look very often and imagine my surprise when I saw the details.

I guess these letters could be my “Nina” – on a voyage of discovery.

Here’s the list of countries where the letters have been read in the past year:

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

E-mail: marcrescue@gmail.com

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Jun

A Day @ Jazzfest New Orleans / Last Year – This Year…what a difference / The Best Photo of All – the Marcrescue Blog – Life in Maine with an 8 Year Old

Greetings,

(If you don’t have time to read through the entire post….and who does? Jump ahead for the “Big Finish” – the best photo is there!)

Since my last posting – the snow is gone and the black flies have arrived in Maine.

Lucky us.

Camden harbor is looking pretty spiffy as it fills up with ships and sails:

Gives you that easy peaceful feeling:

Everyone has been busy.

Barnaby Bright is in the studio recording:

Here’s a song – “Just The Same” – that will be on the new album – recorded live at WNRN Charlottesville:

Chris Ross has been playing a lot of new songs in concert – preparing for his new album – recording to start momentarily:

Of course – all those new songs written by the 2014 New England Music Awards “Songwriter Of The Year”:

Here’s a new tune from Chris – “Burns” – that will be on his next album:

What the heck – here’s another new Chris tune “Drunk Women”:

I’ve been on the road for much of the past four weeks.

Saw Connor Garvey in concert in Portland:

Once again Connor has won another award – he’s been raking them at festivals all over the country and this past weekend he was a winner at the Kerrville Festival in Texas. How cool is this award? John McGue the music director at WNKU in Cincinnati clued me in when I told him about it by sending me the Wiki bit about the award – whoa – nice company Connor!

Connor’s live album “Before The Meteors” – recorded in Bozeman Montana – will be released on June 17th. It’s a companion album to his latest studio recording “Meteors And Beating Hearts”:

“Before The Meteors” includes live versions of all the songs from the studio album – with different arrangements…..and has the wit and wisdom of Connor on stage….and also includes the only recording of his live masterpiece “Irish Song”…..which you can hear here:

It also has a wonderful live version of “Tattered Shirt” – one of the most popular songs on the studio album:

I traveled to NYC to see Ken Yates open for Barnaby Bright:

Ken’s in Nashville at the moment – recording some demos for his next album.

Here’s one of my favorite Ken tunes “The One That Got Away”…..which is available as a free download – details below:

And just about a month ago (with Kim and Ethan in tow) I was at my fav music work festival – Jazzfest in New Orleans….and what a difference a year makes.

Last year I hit the rainiest days the festival has ever had where they didn’t cancel the day’s festivities…..this year was exquisite.

With 12 different stages – there’s a whole lot of music going on all day long – including some mighty big players on different days on the two big stages at opposite ends of the festival (this year had Clapton and Springsteen among others on the big stages). We tend to avoid those crowds and enjoy some amazing music that may be out of the limelight but excels nonetheless.

Here’s how one day went.

For us – a family with serious food allergies – there’s no better place we’ve ever found for vegan & gluten free foods than “Meals From The Heart”. The best thing about it – even though you can get your order vegan & gluten free – you’d never know it. We’d eat here everyday even if we didn’t have any allergies. Roland is waving hi….the best counter guy you’ve ever met in your life:

On to Jazzfest (yes the sign is correct – this was their 45th year!):

Right off the bat we hit the Peoples Health Economy Tent and saw the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble:

Now I find this interesting…..this is the only stage (out of twelve stages) where I spotted this sign posted. When you look at the acts playing this stage….and the people attending – note the guy with the sun umbrella dancin’ up a storm – it appears that the most unruliest crowd is the senior citizens…tsk tsk:

Our two favorite venues this year were side by side – the Jazz tent and the Blues tent.

Here’s Marlon Jordan in the Jazz tent:

Next up was my favorite act this year – Stanton Moore – his trio was very reminiscent of the Dave Brubeck Quartet minus the Paul Desmond saxMarN

Next door at the Blues tent Johnny Sansome was holding court:

Then we made our way across the fairgrounds to the “New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage” for Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco Playboys. What a difference a year can make – the same stage a year apart – sun vs rain:

Back to the Blues Tent for Luther Kent & Trickbag:

Then (after a quick listen to Marcia Ball who we’ve seen a number of times at the Fest) off in another direction to the Congo Square Stage for The Wailers (with one original member from the Bob Marley years still playin’ strong). Lots of dancin’ goin’ on:

Ahhh…it’s food time!

One of the great traditions of Jazzfest is that – even though it’s held at the New Orleans Fairgrounds – there’s not a corndog, prontopup or tube of cotton candy anywhere around – the rules for the fest are that the food purveyors have to be local and serving traditional Louisiana fixin’s – check out those signs:

Two of my favorites – Crawfish Boil and Fried Green Tomatoes:

The food was just as good but the experience was a bit different last year:

Then we’re right back to music…..and a rush of acts to see.

We stopped for a moment for Lyle Lovett – but we’ve seen him before:

So we were off for a quick stop to check out Banu Gibson with special guests The Pfister Sisters (maybe they were the act they the organizers were worried about the audience moshing for – ya think?):

I loved the New Orleans Nightcrawlers on the Jazz & Heritage Stage – and what a difference the sun made this year as opposed to last in the rain:

Our last two acts of the day were back at the tents – first the Blues Tent for the Bernard Allison Group – some great guitar playin’ here:

Then next door to the Jazz Tent one more time for the Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio – there’s no one better on the Hammond B3:

Ahhh now the walk out of the festival back to the various transportation sites…..(more on that in a minute).

This is what it looked like last year in the rain:

Though the day’s events at the fest are over at 7pm – (so people have plenty of time to enjoy the New Orleans nightlife) – on the walk back to transport the party continues on – the people in the neighborhood set up street parties.

This group was as good as many of those inside the festival:

There are a number of ways to get back to the French Quarter area – where all the tourist hotels are.

There are pre-bought shuttle bus tickets – sorta pricy – and the line is somewhat long.

Or you can get into the line for taxi’s…..it’s hugely long – at peak times it can be a 45 minute wait….and it’s pricey and you don’t get your own cab….they pile in as many people as they can…..and everyone gets charged individually.

Or – as we discovered a few years ago – you can walk up and get right on a city bus that takes you right to your hotel….and costs $1.25 per person.

Took us a few years but we finally got smart:

Time for some wanderin’ around the French Quarter

Jackson Square has great people watching:

After a number of years we’ve now discovered and revisit our favorite local food hangouts…. that aren’t quite as tourist oriented……our choice for oysters is Felix’s:

And of course – eventually everyone ends up sooner or later at Cafe Du Monde…..we prefer later…..something so special about late nights there:

But too soon another great trip to Jazzfest and New Orleans ends – we say goodbye to a great sunset over Jackson Square and hope to be back next year:

But as we all stay busy living our lives – things happen, time does pass and things do change.

For instance.

Recently a horrifying event occurred that has happened so quietly that most people probably have missed it.

Not a horrifying news event in the traditional sense – we have way too many of those.

Which is why not a single tv newscast covered this disaster – but it’s happened nonetheless.

A quality of life issue.

Sometimes – even with the best intentions – we’re just too darn concerned about our health.

Ben and Jerry’s are so careful about their ingredients that they’ve decided to discontinue Vanilla and Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream.

They’ve replaced both flavors with their own “toffee” because they weren’t happy with some of the ingredients in Heath Bars…….and reports are not good.

It’s not the same…..not as good…..not even close.

Luckily a friend warned me……he’s a Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch fan and bought up all the remaining VHBC at the local grocery store……I made a mad dash…..and bought the last four remaining containers of CHBC in town.

Safely locked away in our freezer:

But what do I do now?

You have to understand….this is my ciggie……my whiskey……my heroin.

I don’t smoke.

I don’t drink alcohol.

I don’t do drugs.

I do Coffee Heath Bar Crunch.

Four pints.

That’s all there is.

That’s all there is…..sighhhhh.

I guess once it’s gone I’ll have to drown my sorrows with cafe au laits and beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

And once a year I do get to go to Philadelphia for WXPN’s Non-Comm Public Radio music meeting.

Another amazing benefit of being in the music business……a meeting of the minds of wonderful smart music fans from both the radio and record sides of the biz…..where I learn something important every time I go and have the chance to see a whole host of music acts close up performing for the attendees…..and no special treatment here…..almost all the showcases are open to the public as well.

A great time is guaranteed for all…..and I get to sneak out with a couple radio friends for our yearly treat from Jim’s Steaks.

Here it comes:

Our annual Philly cheesesteaks:

So I guess it could be worse.

And it has been.

Much worse.

Again just a year ago.

If you remember last year’s blog post – my wife’s cousin ran in her first Boston Marathon.

We were there to cheer her on and just after she passed the finish line my wife took this photo:

See the blue arrow?

That’s where the first bomb went off 60 seconds later.

We saw them both explode.

We weren’t hurt but a lot of people were and so was the county and the entire world….one more step into insanity.

We went back this year.

Many of us wearing our special caps:

Everyone came back and brought their friends and family.

The spectators jumped from a half a million last year to a million this year – all to show support.

We were there to cheer the runners and each other.

Security was much tougher but everyone had a friendly smile and I didn’t observe a single incident of any kind – just a lot of supportive friendly people of all kinds:

Our cousin – from Ohio – made special notes for her run:

Her time was a bit off from last year……even though she was capable of a faster pace this year……because as she said “I kept slowing down to highfive all the kids along the race route”.

This was a joyful year:

When I said everyone came to celebrate – I mean everyone:

But joy is not just a year to year thing.

As much as this letter has been about “last year – this year”.

If you do it right – it’s ongoing.

I’ve posted lots and lots of photos over the years……but this one is the best.

I didn’t take it and neither did Kim.

How could we?

We were both in it.

Ten years ago last Friday.

You want my favorite photo?

You got it:

Doesn’t get better than the last ten years with my honey!

I wish you all the same joy in your lives.

Marc

PS Please share in our joy of music.

To help spread the joy we give lots of songs away.

Both on our free music page @ http://www.misharamusic.com/freesongs (Get the Ken Yates track from above free on this page).

And on our five (soon to be six) free song samplers at Amazon.com -.we have given away in the past couple of years – at last count – 1,029,484 free songs.

Over ONE MILLION free song downloads!

Songs by the above mentioned Connor Garvey, Chris Ross, Barnaby Bright, Ken Yates…..and from lots of other Mishara artists and friends of the label as well.

All free to enjoy and share.

Have fun:

Marc Ratner
Mishara Music
E-mail: marcrescue@gmail.com
Website: http://www.misharamusic.com
Wordpress: http://www.marcrescue.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marc.ratner
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marcrescue (The best way to keep up with these blog posts – join me on Twitter)
IM: marcrescue

May

Ever given away a million dollars? I have….in song. The Marcrescue blog.

Greetings,

This is what you might call an in-between post.

I’ve got a lot to write about – and that will come next week – but in the meantime – officially – we just passed a major threshold and I thought it might be worth mentioning.

I’m the managing partner of a small independent music management and record label company called Mishara Music.

http://www.misharamusic.com

We call it – “A Home For Singer-Songwriters”.

Why?

Because it’s what we love.

It’s all starts with a song.

No song……it doesn’t matter how great a musician or singer you are.

These days the commercial music world is all about manufacturing commercial music that SELLS.

Makes money.

Very often it’s the extreme outrageous marketing and the reality “karoke” tv shows that expose the music.

So…..if we don’t want to be outrageous……and we’re not interested in having our artists on reality tv.

How do we introduce our artists to the people that still yearn for great songs and performances.

It’s simple.

We give it away.

On our latest accounting – our five Amazon dot com Mishara Music Free Song Samplers have been responsible for……ready for this?

1,029,484 individual song downloads……every single one of them totally free.

It seems so simple to us.

If you give someone a song to introduce them to an artist they may not know about – or one that they’re interested in….but they don’t know how much….they’ll have a chance to find out if they care.

If they don’t – no loss – they wouldn’t have purchased anything from the artist anyway.

If they love what they hear…..they may buy some other songs…..they may tell their friends about the song and artist…..they may buy tickets to a show to see the artist live.

All good things.

So we started doing these free song samplers on Amazon.

Here’s what the five albums look like – we’re very proud to have unique artwork as well:

There are over 50 songs total on the five albums.

Many of the artists are Mishara Music artists.

But some are just friends – we like them and their songs – so we help them get exposure.

Let me make this clear…..we do that for free as well.

You can’t pay to be on our samplers.

You can’t buy your way on.

Our thought process is very simple.

Music we love – people we like.

Here’s a representative review on Amazon from each of the samplers:

Here’s the link to the samplers on Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Enjoy the music.

Discover and be surprised by what you find.

You’re welcome.

And thank you.

Marc

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH2uZ6OT_Tc

Apr

A World Apart – literally / Maine Maple Syrup / The best music you haven’t heard & a set list to long for! The Marcrescue blog – life in Maine with an 8 year old

Greetings all,

Been about a month since I last blogged about this and that…..and it seems in that span of days lots has happened.

You may remember that not so long ago…..our world here in Maine was all about ice, snow and cold.

So much so that I now have “Popeye” like arms – more than any other time in my life – because it seemed that every 7 minutes I was hauling, moving, stacking and then carrying wood upstairs to fuel up the woodstove and keep us warm in this much colder than normal winter.

Add in all that shoveling and I was tightening my belt one more notch.

Time to let it out again.

A few weeks ago I managed to stop to take a photo of the last ice fishing hut on the water near us:

It’s open water now….hope they got it out in time.

And it means it’s Sunday breakfast time with fresh from the tap pure Maine maple syrup:

That’s because we spend Maine Maple Day (it happens every March) touring our favorite maple sugar houses and stocking up on lots of syrup (seriously – if we time it right we get it hot right out of the tap) and various other maple syrup treats.

Hard to believe that it all starts with old buckets on even older trees:

It’s a party at all our favorite sugar houses and we see friends everywhere we stop.

First off we hit Sparky’s……as soon as you walk into the sugar house you get that unique aroma in the steam filled room from the boiling sap……perhaps my favorite scent of all time:

Sparky’s also has the best honey around – we buy big jars of his pure raw honey – nothing like it.

Then it’s off to Bradstreet – the most picturesque sugar house you’ll ever see:

Mark Bradstreet is the friendliest guy in the Maple business and when he’s not tending to the fire he’s smiling and showing off his fresh syrup:

And then the next moment he’s teaching everyone about how it’s made and about the different types of syrup:

They’re got live music in the corner:

And samples of waffles with fresh syrup and the best maple walnut fudge you’ve ever had!

We pick up some “Extra Dark Amber” syrup and fudge at Bradstreet and then off to Simmons & Daughters for more treats:

The Simmons eldest daughter was running the maple cotton candy machine and once you’ve gone maple cotton candy – you’ll never go back to cane:

At Simmons we picked up a half gallon of “Dark Amber” in a mason jar – so hot out of the tap we had to let it cool a bit before we could pick it up……out on the deck back at home…….it looks like the liquid gold it is:

Then it’s off to our last stop of the day – Kinney’s Sugarhouse….for some specialty maple items (maple cream among the items)…..and oooh the maple donut holes are to die for:

More live music:

And the final treat of the day – fresh maple walnut ice cream made with Kinney’s syrup by our friends the Chamberlains from Stone Fox Farm Creamery and served out of their “Mobile Cone”:

If you’re an ice cream addict like I am……I’m sorry – even though Stone Fox Ice Cream distribution is growing rapidly – it’s still local…..you’ll have to come visit to get some…..and it’s sure worth it.

My favorite “Salted Caramel”

And if you come visit – we’ll start with a main course before dessert.

Whadda think?

Burger?

Nah

Mac & Cheese?

Nah

Baked Potato?

Nah

Oh I know…..how about a Lobster Roll?

Sorry – couldn’t resist – it’s right before dinner time as I write this and I’m hungry……and the Mobile Cone will start hanging out at our local Farmer’s Markets which start shortly – at the same time all the local lobster shacks open for the summer.

Yum.

It’s been a long winter.

So while we’ve been wandering around Maine sampling maple products – two of my friends – who both have new albums out – been wandering a bit farther afield.

Peter Bradley Adams – who’s latest album “The Mighty Storm” moved up to 81* on the FMQB Non-Comm (Public Music Radio) Album Chart has been touring in all places – Mainland China!

The poster is great – I have no idea what it says but it sure looks cool:

And Connor Garvey – who’s new album “Meteors And Beating Hearts” debuted on the same radio chart this week (a great album and I love the artwork on the cover):

ConnorGarvey-MeteorsAndBeatingHearts1600x1600

Has been traveling almost exactly 1/2 way around the world from Peter.

Connor’s been skiing in the mountains in Alaska:

That’s hardcore.

Connor’s from Maine…..and I find it interesting that after one of the coldest and snowiest winters we’ve had in a long time – he went off to find MORE snow.

One of the songs on Connor’s new album is called “Old House” and it’s one of my two favorites on the album.

It’s the story of the house that Connor and his girlfriend bought this year and are in the process of restoring.

It’s a love song about the girl and the house (with a very tasty “Dire Straits” feel and guitar for about the last two minutes of the tune) – and the only photo I’ve seen of this house is this one……he did a FB post about the snow he had been shoveling this winter (as we all have):

The man loves his snow.

And I’m right there with him on that love of winter and snow.

Because of the severity of the winter this year – many of my friends in Los Angeles have been asking when we were moving back???

Not a chance.

Here’s my thoughts about cold vs hot.

It’s easier to get warm when you’re cold – than cold when you’re hot.

You can always layer on more clothes until you’re warm.

But you can only take so much off when you’re hot…..and the worst part about that…..it seems that too many people go beyond the limit of what they should take off – especially the older they get…..it’s scary sometimes.

By the way – my other favorite song on the Connor Garvey album…..is the last track on the album – a song named “Tattered Shirt”.

Lately I’ve noticed that “Tattered Shirt” and “Old House” have become the best researching tracks on the album and I love that – both creative and original songs. “Tattered Shirt” is unique in that Connor wrote the song with a female character speaking….and yet sings it totally straight. I suspect that twist in the lyrics really surprises people to start and captures them and then they find they love the lyrics, the story and the gorgeous melody.

Here’s a listening link on YouTube to “Tattered Shirt”:

And a listening link to “Old House”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUFyu58UKIA

Let’s talk about concerts for a moment.

I’m headed to a Connor concert later this week – looking very forward to it – he’s great live

…..as a reminder…..here’s his live version of “Irish” that I wrote about on St Patrick’s Day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y_6qP4qXw4

A live album “Before The Meteors” – with “Irish” on it – available now at his live shows – will be released shortly on iTunes and Amazon…it’s a companion piece to “Meteors And Beating Hearts”:

I just saw Chris Ross at the Camden Opera House:

…..the first time I’ve seen him play since he won this well deserved award:

Here’s one of his new songs “Drunk Women” – coming this summer on a new album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjZ83iFturk

Speaking of new albums and concerts – I get to see Barnaby Bright AND Ken Yates together in concert in NYC on May 8th at Rockwood……and BB are in the studio!!!!!!

Can’t wait to hear the studio version of “Just The Same” – which is perhaps the best adult realistic love song I’ve ever heard.

Check it out on this amazing live 9am performance at WNRN radio in Charlottesville:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibrnxU2F_n8

And did you ever hear the Ken Yates song off his recent album “twenty-three”…..

…..that John Mayer blogged about after hearing Ken play it – it’s a masterpiece – “I Don’t Wanna Fall In Love”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPWxk4JDEv4

Can’t wait to see Barnaby and Ken together in concert next month.

I feel very fortunate to be able to work with such talented artists.

But music has always been a part of my life.

Have you ever been to www.setlist.fm ?

It’s a wonder – people have posted the setlists for way over a millions concerts from over 60,000 artists and it’s a great way to relive your favorite shows.

Lotta talk about Springsteen lately…..and I thought “Hey is that first show I saw of his up on the website?”

Here’s the story – about a year after I got to LA…..I was a newbie in the record biz and had no contacts to get tickets to special shows in LA….but…..luckily a friend of mine realized that the night after Springsteen was playing what turned out to be a bellweather show at the Roxy in LA…..he was playing in Santa Barbara at UCSB in the gym……and it was easy to get tickets.

So we drove up and saw one of the great shows of all time in my experience.

Now just looking at the setlist and reliving the show – I realized how amazing a concert it was – my memory of it is strong – very strong.

I sure do wish someone would invent a concert time machine so we could all go back and relive those magic moments – especially when the distance of time confirms how truly special those nights were:

This one was truly a night to remember:

Check out Setlist.fm – it blows me away every time I think to look up a show.

I’ll post something else next time I write – already have something in mind.

One more note about winter.

Now that it’s over – and the snow has disappeared almost all over town…..(not everywhere yet)…..weird things have been spotted coming out of the ground……we’re trying to identify them……some people are convinced they’re alien pods……so if these blog posts suddenly stop coming…..or if they start taking a very different tone…..(for instance….short, timely and totally business like)…..run for your life:

But then again……we might be safe after all – saved by Mother Nature……so much for Spring and probably Summer……I think we missed them.

Here’s what happened this week:

No wonder – I’d packed the snow shovel off to the shed….foolish me.

Marc

PS I posted a lot of great songs up above……if you like what you heard – we give away songs by Peter, Chris, Barnaby and Ken and a bunch of other artists on our free song page at www.misharamusic.com/freesongs

PPS We also have over 50 free songs on our Amazon samplers – easy to download at:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

People seem to like them:

PPPS Ever wonder how we find all those sugar houses in the back woods of Maine?

Don’t need no GPS…..we have great street signs:

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJkenk2jtRY

Feb

Toboggan Terror (my own w / video) / books / Valentines / Creative 50 – the Marcrescue Blog – Life in Maine with an Eight Year Old

Greetings All,

I can never seem to get these letters written as often as I’d like……if for no more reason lately than it’s hard to find things to write about and take photos when you’re clearing snow an average of 3 hours every third day.

But how good an excuse is that? More about that later in the letter.

Also as you might have figured out – once I start writing – I have a hard time stopping.

This time I have it figured it out.

You’ll know when I’ve reached the end!

That photo was taken at the beginning of winter…..since then my snowblower, snow shovel and I have become a good team.

We have two large driveways & a long deck that need to be cleared after every storm and then I head down the road and help out 4 neighbors with some cleanup (I’m the only person in the neighborhood with a snowblower – and some of our neighbors have some issues – medical and otherwise – that won’t allow them to use a shovel themselves).

I feel like I’m 14 years old again…..and going from house to house……shoveling snow……and making my weekly paycheck……I think I made about a buck a house back then……now I do it for free.

It takes three to four hours to get all the snow clearing done if we have a six inch snowfall….and we’ve had a lot of snowfall lately.

So what do we do in-between the snowstorms?

Play in the snow of course.

Ethan loves to sled down the road before the plow comes:

And you can certainly say about us – “the family that stays together – snowshoes together”:

We walk up the hill a couple hundred yards and step into a beautiful trail:

But every February we really look forward to the US National Toboggan Championships which take place at the Camden Snow Bowl – 1 /4 of a mile down the road…..we just walk down the hill:

This year was the 24th annual Toboggan Championship and as always there are three kinds of participants.

1st – are the serious racers…..they come from all over the country.

Their sleds are customized:

They win nifty trophies:

The second group of participants are the ones that compete for the “Best Dressed” prize

Here’s the “Rocket” team:

The “Eat More Kale” team:

The “Willy Wonka” team:

The “Presidents” team:

The “I Have No Idea What They’re Called” team:

And the “Royal Danish” team (who usually win the “Best Dressed” trophy each year):

The third group of participants are teams put together by locals otherwise known as the “I Can’t Believe My Friends Talked Me Into This” team (I’m second from the left):

Because we don’t have our own specially made and waxed toboggan – we have to use a town owned sled that hasn’t been waxed since it was built 20 years ago…..we don’t make the finals – it takes a time under 9 seconds to do that……and as you can see “The Sliding Grundels” actually got slower on our second run:

But we did that run down the ice chute two times – think of the bobsled / skeleton ice track at the Olympics and then dial those expectations down about 1000% and you end up with a shaky wooden slot with hard ice on the bottom – (no temperature problems here – it was about 18 degrees this year as we made the run).

First you have to hike up the hill with your sled:

Then you approach the load in slot:

And – zoom – the longest and at the same time the fastest 9 seconds of my life….that’s us passing in front of the timing shed:

Why can’t you see me? Because of the way we set up on the toboggan – I’m third on the sled and flat on my back looking directly up at the sky – couldn’t see a thing.

BUT…..the reason we set up that way was so our guy on the front of the sled could take movies of our run on his “GoPro” camera – once in each direction.

So here’s your chance to ride along with us…..the camera facing forward……you can hear our yells:

And now with the camera facing backwards…..at the end of the run you can see me release the legs of the last guy on the sled and he falls off (intentionally):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-FKekMrdH4

That’s what we do for fun in the middle of winter.

Speaking of nice runs – Connor Garvey:

……has just released his second album on Mishara Music titled “Meteors And Beating Hearts” and he’s been having a great time since his last album was released.

He’s been traveling to music festivals all over the country and winning all sorts of prizes.

He started by winning the songwriting Grand Prize at the Maine Songwriters Association in 2012 and then soon afterwards he won the songwriting prize at the Texas Wildflower Festival:

He just was voted “Most Wanted” for the 2014 Falcon Ridge Festival:

Connor Garvey Falcon Ridge Most Wanted 2014

And this upcoming Saturday night – he’s up for “Performer Of The Year” (or “Perfromer” I guess – oops) at the New England Music Awards”:

Connor Garvey New England Music Awards Nominee 2014 - 2

When you win all those awards for songwriting – you can bet the album is terrific:

I love “Bright Morning”…..I love “Old House”……I love “Willow”…..I love “Spark”……arghhhh……I love the whole album……here’s a great way to listen to all the songs……a YouTube Listening Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGC891t3QjRzGB0hbN29k5Q

Please enjoy this wonderful album.

Concerning other subjects – let’s talk about books for a moment.

I love to read and always have a stack of books in line to read:

I just finished the latest book by Michael Connelly:

I hate it – absolutely hate it – when I finish the newest book by one of my favorite authors.

Why?

Because mostly likely it’ll be a year before their next volume comes out.

I can’t stand the waiting.

I wish they could be more prolific.

Which reminds me of a couple things.

First – like I mentioned above – I have trouble writing a simple letter on any kind of regular schedule..

Second – the 50th anniversary – we just celebrated – of the first American visit by these guys:

(The first visit that is except for George – did you know he visited America the year before to visit his sister who lived in the Midwest….and actually sat in one night with a local band at a club? Imagine their surprise the next time they saw him…..true story – there’s a book about it.)

But what really got me thinking is that all of the music they recorded was done in a 7 year period – from 1962 to 1969.

All of it.

That would be like one of my favorite authors writing – what? 50 novels in the same timeline?

Amazing.

Prolific.

I can’t imagine anyone else doing something like that.

With one exception.

When I thought about 50 years……I thought – there’s one example of artistry that even exceeds The Beatles.

You can’t imagine?

It’s true. I looked it up.

50 years of work….by one man – he did all the work all by himself…..that we enjoyed every single day……7 days a week…..365 days a year for 50 years.

With arguably an even bigger impact on society.

Here’s my favorite character of Charles Schulz’ work – you know all the others:

Take a moment and think about it – he did a Peanuts comic strip every single day for 50 years – 7 days a week – 365 days a year.

Whew.

Let’s talk about Valentines’ for a moment.

We went out for dinner and I got two great gifts.

One from my wife…..who knows me well…..never had a t-shirt from this band before…..so 50 years later:

Beatles TShirt Valentines' Day 02-14-2014

And can’t beat a great “Dragon” drawing from Ethan:

Ethan got a great present – he got to go see “The Lego Movie” in 3-D:

Dad and Mom enjoyed it too.

One of these days – Dad and Mom will actually go to a non-animated movie…..I think we’ve seen 3 in the last eight years.

Thankfully the new generation of animated movies is pretty great….although I could have done without “Chipwrecked”…..really-could-have-done-without-it.

One other Valentines’ Day note – for our Mishara Music mailing list I put together a list of my favorite “Valentines'” songs from our artists. Some nice listening – enjoy:

As Connor Garvey says – It All Starts With a “Spark”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjC9TElfWeU

Clarensau titled the song “Love”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KctD6Y0cqMs

Barnaby Bright has a song for the heartbroken “Made Up Of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDrEh6Wrl9I

Ken Yates is firm about it – “I Don’t Wanna Fall In Love”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPWxk4JDEv4

Chris Ross when asked about his heartbreak will only say that he’s “Mostly Sober”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9B2x5ZC-84

Peter Bradley Adams says it’s all “Between Us” (amazing – this video version has over 2 million views):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_dvakUl9wA

Clarensau invites you to “Dance With Me” (this song is starting to show up as a “first dance” wedding song – how cool is that!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIdb-NjziWw

Connor Garvey is coming for you driven by the “Western Wind”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_43tauGYX8

Kat Maslich says it all in “March”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpNcm_bR1AQ

And lastly as this is a “songs” Valentine – Barmaby Bright wonder what would happen “If I Came Back As A Song”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNRz7d9BALY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUs86_Y37cd3e29pavhWRHkw

Remember you can download free songs by all these artists (including some of the above songs) at:

www.misharamusic.com/freesongs

There are also more free songs on the Amazon.com Mishara Music Free Song Samplers – 54 totally free songs for you to enjoy:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Enough of all that – I think now I’ve finally reached the end of this letter.

How do I know?

Remember those great costumes at the Toboggan Championships?

Here’s one more:

It’s definitely time for the “END”:

Marc

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com