From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V7 #18 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Friday, February 20 2004 Volume 07 : Number 018 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [MLL] Concert Friday [Patrick T Power ] Re: [MLL] Lyrics Request ["Journey Bear" ] Re: [MLL] Lyrics Request [AWeiss4338@aol.com] [MLL] Re: Concert Friday ["Marshall Levin" ] [MLL] Boston Phoenix article [K3285@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 11:56:28 GMT From: Patrick T Power Subject: Re: [MLL] Concert Friday Since there are three bands playing (Mary Lou, The Gossip, Gingersol) according to the Middle East's website, it's likely that Mary Lou won't start until close to 10. But you didn't hear that from me!! Pat - -- SithspawnR5@netscape.net (Matt Maranda) wrote: What time is Mary Lour perfomring Friday> Does she or anyone else know? Thanks ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 12:15:04 -0500 From: "Journey Bear" Subject: Re: [MLL] Lyrics Request Hi Andrea Excellent! Thanks so much! Well, at least my geographical instinct was right ;-) since she's from Boston area. Very cool that someone that (relatively) obscure got played on XM. I've also heard Patty Larkin and even Jess Klein - but not Mary Lou - yet! Thanks again, JB >From: AWeiss4338@aol.com > >journeybear@hotmail.com writes: > > > > Maybe we could talk for hours > > Maybe we could smell the flowers > > > > ... shots of whiskey and a good fight > > > > [The chorus is just:] > > I'm feeling good, I'm feeling good, I'm feeling good, uh-huh > > > > I'll bet it's obvious to someone. Thanks! > > > >Jen Trynin, Better Than Nothing. >Good song. >Andrea _________________________________________________________________ Find and compare great deals on Broadband access at the MSN High-Speed Marketplace. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200360ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 14:14:29 EST From: AWeiss4338@aol.com Subject: Re: [MLL] Lyrics Request In a message dated 2/19/2004 12:41:22 PM Eastern Standard Time, journeybear@hotmail.com writes: Hi Andrea Excellent! Thanks so much! Well, at least my geographical instinct was right ;-) since she's from Boston area. Very cool that someone that (relatively) obscure got played on XM. I've also heard Patty Larkin and even Jess Klein - but not Mary Lou - yet! Hi, You're welcome. XM from what I've heard, is good for that. They play some good people, Mary Lou probably whent he album is out. Andrea ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 21:04:25 -0500 From: "Marshall Levin" Subject: [MLL] Re: Concert Friday > Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 22:49:04 -0500 > From: SithspawnR5@netscape.net (Matt Maranda) > Subject: [MLL] Concert Friday > > What time is Mary Lour perfomring Friday > Does she or anyone else know? Thanks If you call the Middle East box office at (617) 864-EAST ext. 221 sometime on Friday, the recording should give the set times for that night's acts. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 21:52:34 EST From: K3285@aol.com Subject: [MLL] Boston Phoenix article Baby Blue steps Mary Lou Lord takes the slow road back into the spotlight BY BRETT MILANO A couple of weeks ago, I ran into Mary Lou Lord at the Middle East, where shebll be performing this Friday night, and she asked whether Ibd heard her new album. I said I hadnbt gotten a copy yet, and she flashed me a rather foreboding look. "Thatbs all right, dude," she replied. "Itbs not very good." Even from an artist known to be as candid as Lord, thatbs not an admission you hear very often. So it seemed likely that she was having a bad day or a severe case of the pre-release jitters. Or maybe, after a six-year gap since her previous studio album b Got No Shadow (WORK/Sony) b and a retrenching period that saw her return to the Boston area full-time, return to busking on streets and in subways, release a live album (City Sounds, on Rubric), and have a daughter, she really had made a bad album. Fortunately, that didnbt turn out to be the case, though Baby Blue (Rubric) is definitely a lower-key effort than Got No Shadow. On that 1998 disc, Lord and her collaborators (producers Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock, guitarist/songwriter Nick Saloman of the neo-psychedelic Bevis Frond) built a sparkling, alternative-radio-friendly sound out of Lordbs reference points, which include English folk rock, the California singer/songwriter tradition, and the work of modern troubadours like her friend the late Elliott Smith (who appeared on her first album, and to whom the new one is dedicated). The music on Baby Blue makes fewer attempts to court the mainstream: itbs an old-fashioned singer-songwriter album with a laid-back, folkish feel. Saloman takes a greater role as producer, guitarist, and main songwriter; Lordbs own writing contributions are down from seven tracks to three. In fact, itbs practically a Bevis Frond album with Lord as guest singer. Yet Lord manages to personalize these songs, just as shebs done with a wide range of material in the past ranging from Shawn Colvin to Daniel Johnston. Whereas the songs on Got No Shadow dealt with her adventures in the rock underworld, those on Baby Blue are more about getting older, taking stock of failed dreams and imperfect love affairs. (One of Lordbs songs, "43," is about middle age, though shebs still in her late 30s.) But the new disc resolves with Pink Floydbs "Fearless" (easily the most, and maybe the only, uplifting song in the Floyd catalogue) and a reassuring Saloman tune, "Old Tin Tray." The breathier tone of her vocals suits the introspective material, and the album holds together as a personal statement, one that her fans are likely to enjoy more than she appears to. Yet Lord manages to personalize these songs, just as shebs done with a wide range of material in the past ranging from Shawn Colvin to Daniel Johnston. Whereas the songs on Got No Shadow dealt with her adventures in the rock underworld, those on Baby Blue are more about getting older, taking stock of failed dreams and imperfect love affairs. (One of Lordbs songs, "43," is about middle age, though shebs still in her late 30s.) But the new disc resolves with Pink Floydbs "Fearless" (easily the most, and maybe the only, uplifting song in the Floyd catalogue) and a reassuring Saloman tune, "Old Tin Tray." The breathier tone of her vocals suits the introspective material, and the album holds together as a personal statement, one that her fans are likely to enjoy more than she appears to. But the real reason she was critical of the disc is more complicated. Sometime last year, she began to have vocal problems; at times her voice would jump uncontrollably, and sometimes it wouldnbt come out at all. After much confusion and a few visits to the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, she was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological condition that affects control of the vocal cords. Although the condition has become well known only in recent years, itbs something that numerous singers have struggled with. The most famous example is Linda Thompson, who stopped performing for decades after she and Richard Thompson split up in the b80s. "It feels like you have a cricket in your throat," Lord explains. "Itbs a lot worse if youbre tired or under stress. But I can accept it better now that I know what the hell Ibm dealing with. Itbs like being a pitcher and you break your arm: you have to practice and learn how to pitch again. So now Ibm back to learning how to sing. I mean, I never had the greatest voice on earth, but Ibve been able to work through my abilities and come across as a very honest singer. So it felt pretty terrible to lose whatever little shred I had." Shebs also picked up some encouragement from Linda Thompson. "Shebs sent me e-mails saying, bHang on, little sister.b You canbt ask for better company than that." Lord was booked to make the album while all this was going on, and she decided to go ahead with the sessions. "I know that people are going to hear this quiet, sultry, and odd delivery of mine and think it was intentional. To be honest with you, I know where it stands b I know itbs a good, solid record. I just wish I hadnbt been so lazy with it. A couple of times I decided to say I didnbt care how it was recorded, and I did a few of the songs before I really got to know them. I always try to keep a certain honesty in my delivery, and when I did this album, it was hard to get to that place where Mary Lou goes and makes it all believable. Especially since webve started rehearsing the songs to go on tour, and Ibm hearing how they should have sounded on the record." Some would say that Lordbs career has already had more of its share of drama. As a b90s artist with a high indie-rock profile and a major-label buzz, she hit the gossip columns a few times (her brief involvement with Kurt Cobain and subsequent battles with Courtney Love have been well documented elsewhere). Her own life has been through its ups and downs, but a major turning point came when she cancelled the final leg of her Got No Shadow and went into rehab. At the same time, she found out she was pregnant (daughter Annabelle is now five), and that was the end of her major-label career. "I know Ibm a control freak. And some people thought I lost control at that point. But it was really where I got my control back. Nobody can tell you when youbre ready to make a big life change. Therebs no right time to have a baby or buy a house: those things just happen. I know that I was never cut out to be some frigginb rock star. I didnbt want the attention. I just wanted people to hear a good song. It probably has to do with the way I grew up. Ibm neurotic as hell, and Ibd never even been on a plane until I was 23. So that tour was planes every day, hotels every day, and I wasnbt willing or able to make those sacrifices. I didnbt turn into a drunk so I could have a party. It was more a matter of bGet me through this plane ride.b " Meanwhile, the Sony imprint shebd signed to went under and was absorbed by Sony/Epic, and she sued to get herself off. Since her contract stipulated that she couldnbt be assigned a new label or an A&R contact, she won. "I got awarded the same money theybd already paid to sign me. So I played the game right." Nowadays her life is quieter, more stable, and, she says, more upbeat. She lives in Beverly with her husband, Raging Teens frontman Kevin Patey, and runs the vintage-clothing store that shebs dubbed Retro Vixen. "The people that shop there donbt know my music unless I went to school with them." And between higher-profile shows, shebs been doing the same street-corner gigs that made her a local favorite 10 years ago. She recalls one impromptu show during South by Southwest in Austin last year: "Chris Ballew [from the Presidents of the USA] walked by and caught me busking, and I talked him into coming up and joining me. The girls watching didnbt recognize him, since he hadnbt been on MTV for a while, and he started making up a song about their birthday. And the girls picked up the box, passing it around and saying, bGive him money, hebs good!b I know that brought him back to when he used to play Harvard Square. Those kind of moments are priceless." Of course, not all of them are. Last September, she found herself playing outside Fenway Park after the venuebs Bruce Springsteen concerts, and she was covering one of the Bossbs prime ballads, "Racing in the Street." To which a less-than-sharp onlooker responded, "Play some Springsteen!" As Lord recalls, "I looked back at him and said, bI am, you fuckinb moron!b Okay, I donbt usually say things like that, but I needed to put him in his place. I can only imagine what I would have said if it had happened five years earlier." Although shebs now touring with a band for the first time since the Got No Shadow era, itbs likely to be much different from the last go-round. For starters, instead of putting together a Boston band, shebs annexed the Los Angeles band Gingersol to back her up. "Itbs funny, I barely know these boys, and I feel like Ibm the older woman. Five years ago, I would have freaked out, but itbs sounding great." And there wonbt be any mid-tour meltdowns this time around. "I realize now that itbs all about being relatively healthy, having a nice family and friends who care about you. Sure, it would have been great if Ibd made a million dollars, but Ibd probably still be in debt." ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V7 #18 *********************************