The T Word (and L, M, N, O, P Words too)

Here's a little known fact: we, True Margrit, got to play an L Word "gig". I had serious laryngitis, but we nonetheless performed live at their Season 2 DVD Release promo event at Borders Books in San Francisco-- we played for about an hour while L-fans gathered, the stars signed autographs, posed for photos, etc. Later on, Leisha Hailey ("Alice") and Sarah Shahi ("Carmen") stood by my keyboard and sang along to "Members Only" --really, for real!
& Hey! You know what else? Tomorrow the 3rd season of L Word comes out on DVD. I confess to you my dear readers: I will be at my local vid store at the crack of ten, since I have not seen season 3 at all yet--and yes, I have been sucked in (ouch).And so why the T?

Well.

I had a bunch of tea with Dianne Nola today at Samovar Tea Room today.We hadn't hung out in awhile, so we got really hopped up on goofballs (well, teas with lotsa sugar & milk) and caught up a bit. I had Lapsang Souchong which is smoky, strong and fab, and Dianne had Dong Ding, which--we were informed by our spiffy server--is very popular. They have delicious food too, which is intended to harmoniously accentuate the tea experience. And they do accentuate each other most perfectly & cleverly, in fact---from the obligatory scones w/ clotted cream, to the wild-bee-honeycomb with cambozola & fruit platter, to dolmas or miso soup, to the smoked duck sandwich with gouda cheese & chutney . Now, we didn't sample all those items today--just some of 'em. And to that I say the y word: YUM.

...and I must needs bid thee-all adieu, with one more memento (below) of our fleeting shining glory with L Word cast members:

It's a little out of focus--but thrilling nonetheless.

What fool hath added water to the sea?

I am pretty thrilled, I gotta say. And why?

Why, tonight is opening night for Titus Andronicus (produced by the Spear Ensemble Theatre Company!!! (& see, I composed, performed, and recorded music that is part of the show!!)

Get Tickets here


Appropriately enough, the show is opening on Friday the 13th! (if you know this particular play, things don't go so luckily for the protagonist--although he does get to bake his pie and see the Empress eat it...).

Anyhoo, the Spear Ensemble's version of Shakespeare's grim tale of ancient Roman revenge and how it goes cycling out of control, is quite arresting and fresh and strangely appropos in these warlike times we are enduring. It has a terrific cast of actors, some of whom play one character with a mask and another counterpart character maskless. In other words, Titus (the hero) and Aaron (one of the various villains) are played by the same actor who wears a mask when he's the loyal but dogmatic Titus, but then his handsome face is visible when he is playing the utterly evil Aaron. (& I say, whoa, that's a lotta lines, dude!) The masks (created by the show's director, Diane Jackson) are fairly disturbing-- malevolent yet slightly comical--which I think ended up influencing the vibe of the music that I generated for the production.

I keep doing little re-mixes, gain boosts, and cross-fades, but I am pretty dang happy with the music. Sarah designed a super cool cover for the Official Sountrack CD ( which is gonna be available at the show).

Tragedy was never this fun! Relax, you're soaking in it...

Seaworthy Podcast Update

Well, it's been a little while, but there have recently been a spate (according to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913):

1 definition(s) found

Spate \Spate\, n. [Of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. speid.]

A river flood; an overflow or inundation. --Burns.


Gareth in a showerful spring Stared at the spate.

--Tennyson.)

of Seaworthy tracks showing up in Podcasts:
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Bryce from Suffering From Sanity played Vanity Loves Company on show #25 (45:10 into the show, show title Not-So-Instant-Replay). He had previously featured Vanity on show #8 (12:22 in). There's some nice quality melodic/indie kinda stuff on this diverse podcast from Seattle, so listen up!

That Blue Jeans Guy (from Bay City MI) played True on his show #34 (14:37 into his show). As Margrit has noted, we seem to be quite popular in the cosmopolitan northern Midwest!

Charles from The Multiple Sclerosis Blog Podcast, a show "by and for people with MS" netcasting from New Jersey played Losing Face By Degrees on show #27, "Links and Daisychansaws" (19:35 into the netcast).

Back in June, the Razing Giants Podcast played Members Only on show #31, "What's The Frequency, Kenneth" (22:44 in) . Razing Giants is a bi-weekly podcast "featuring the best music and the best bands you’ve never heard…but should."

This one is a little unusual, even in the "world of niches" that is the demographic makeup of Podcast audiences: Cast-On is "a podcast about knitting and life," hosted by Brenda Dayne. It's a very entertaining half-hour, and the folks who produced the opening have obviously absorbed a fair amount of Firesign Theater records in their past... In episode #25, "Unforced Perspective" Brenda featured Vanity Loves Company (16:42 into the show).

We've shown up a few times on webm-japan [podcasting]. Back in April they did a show featuring Deliver Me (9:32), and a few months before they played Everyone Wins (9:15). It's hard to tell what these guys are about (unless anyone can translate the mostly spoken-word podcast for us), but they sound like they're having fun!

Rubyfruit Radio, a podshow dedicated to playing "only the best podsafe female artists" included Vanity Loves Company in episode #41 (at 23:52 in). Many more great female rockers are featured in this podcast from Georgia.

Borderline, podcasting from Lincoln, NE, features Danni, Lynn and Neil as they talk about pop culture, politics, interview our friends and argue inane topics while drinking, and reviewing, some tasty cocktails. They recently featured Deliver Me on episode #52 (30:00 into the show). Very tasty indeed. This show is a real hoot!

DigiVegas Indie Podcast rolled the dice and came up Losing Face By Degrees. Host Paulie writes:

Great song, Margrit. I like the \"fifth king\" line. Card playing and Vegas kinda go together. I also like the \"tasting labels but not the wine\" line too. A lot of folks tend to show off like that in this town. Being from San Francisco, you might be familiar with the grocery store Trader Joes? \"Three Buck Chuck\" is one of my favorite labels. Overstock wine at a super-cheap price. You never know what each bottle is going to have in it, but that\'s half the fun! -Paulie

The Unharshed Mellow, a Pennsylvania show with a fun cross genre format that really lets you feel like you are hanging out listening to some new tunes with old friends Addie & Suess, delivered Deliver Me on show #24: "The Girly Show" (52:45 in).

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All this and more is capsulized for the ages on our Podcasts Page.

Where've you been? I am right here.

Perhaps, dear readers, you have wondered...where the hell is she? The answers are all here.

Mostly, I have been busy composing myself--and a score for TITUS ANDRONICUS by William Shakespeare!! Its being presented by the Spear Ensemble Theatre Company at the Young Performers Theatre Fort Mason, Building C, Suite 200.


If you wanna go Get Tickets here.


What else?


Well, we have embarked on a thrilling new adventure-- we have dipped our collective toe into the waters that will wash up on the shores of our new CD, tentatively titled, "The Juggler's Progress". Maybe that's the title, maybe not--we'll see, oh yes we will, precious. Last time, we had three or four titles before we hit on SEAWORTHY. But at any rate, it's gonna be a long, long journey. Sit back, get a sandwich. Order some drinks. We recorded some sizzling basic tracks (as they are called in the biz, that is: "basics" --not sizzling) in August, but we had some technical Gordian knots that took until quite recently to unwind. Without going into too many tedious details, let's just say: a sampling rate by any other name smells as sweet (to glorify it in Shakespearean terms). Ahh digital recording...hey, remember TAPE!?? And way back in the day in Lithuania, our foremothers recorded their music onto corduroy by scratching it with a hand sharpened piece of flint. It sounded amazing--that's analog, man. CDs pale in comparison, I am afraid. But we cannot stop so-called progress.

At least we still have Shakespeare.