Posts Tagged ‘marian call’

Ever experimental in the ways an artist can work with her audience to both make a living and give them something special, geek-songstress Marian Call is selling a new bootleg CD to celebrate her second full-length live-streaming concert at WholeWheatRadio.org . 15 tracks in various stages of polish; some from live performances, some early versions of familiar songs, and some proto-versions of songs from her CD-in-progress "Something Fierce."

But you've only got half a day or so to buy it.

The audio is not perfectly mixed and mastered; the songs are mostly live bootlegs.  The CD label will be nicely handwritten and autographed by me, with your name on it as you please, and the track list & credits will be printed on the printer here at WWR.  If you want a lipstick smooch on it, please specify when you order.  This is homebaked music — as in, burned on my laptop.  This is INDIE MUSIC IN ACTION.  The CD’s come with Marian’s homeburn guarantee — if the disc doesn’t work, I’ll make and ship you a new one from home, cuz I actually care about you since you’re ordering something weird like this.

For SerenityStuff fans who remember the Sing a Song of Saffron contest, her second entry, "Never Did Catch Her Name," is included. Check her blog for a track list and more details.

Head to WholeWheatRadio's Marian Call page and scroll to the bottom. The CDs are $12 plus shipping, and will only be available from 8pm tonight till 10 a.m. tomorrow (Alaska time; that's 9 pm to 11 am PST or midnight to 2 pm EST). (By the way, I love that WWR's page includes a running tally of how many CDs she's sold. Go Marian, go!)

This is an excellent way to support a truly talented and witty musician, and indie music in general. Go check out the live concert tonight, if you need more (free!) encouragement to support Marian.

Marian Call's "Got to Fly" geek tribute CD, just premiered at Creation Entertainment's Salute to Firefly and Serenity convention last weekend, is now available directly from QMx.

There were only 1,000 CDs pressed and they're signed and numbered by Marian herself. After they're gone you'll be able to buy the songs electronically.

Just $15.95 for a fantastic collection of 'Verse and BSG-inspired tunes. You can find sample tracks here.

And don't forget to check out my interview with Marian from last week.

I like Marian Call. I like Marian Call a lot. And so should you.

Not only does she have an incredible singing voice, not only does she write haunting, intricate, and funny lyrics (yers, it's possible), not only is she a talented musician, but she's a geek, and a proud one.

You remember her from our "Sing a Song of Saffron" when she won, rightfully so, for her smoky song "It Was Good For You, Too." Since then she's been embracing her obsession and writing more geek-friendly songs, and now thanks to QMx she has a whole CD of them debuting just in time for her live performance coming up at Creation Entertainment's Tribute to Firefly and Serenity, November 22-23 in Burbank, CA. And I got to ask her questions!

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So what's a nice girl like you doing in a 'verse like this?

I never meant to be a fan of any show, ever — but enthusiasm sort of caught me by surprise and opened a wormhole in my personal solar system. On the other side was an awesome 'verse full of like-minded folks who were unafraid of enthusiasm and nerdiness.

When did you discover "Firefly"?

Exactly two years ago now, in November 2006. A despondent friend swore she had to watch it as therapy, and so I let her put it on at my house while I worked on my computer. But I gradually got drawn in, and at the end, sheepishly asked, "Can we watch another one?" When I finished watching "Objects in Space" for the first time, I wrote the song "Dark Dark Eyes" in about five minutes. When I watched it with Joss's commentary, something clicked, and I thought, "I can do this. I can be an artist." The next day I booked two weeks in a recording studio in Tacoma, and my first album, Vanilla, was born several months later. The only way I can describe what happened is to say that I finally got brave after watching the show and learning about how it was made.

How did family and friends react to you "coming out" as a geek?

They always knew. You can't fool people close to you — mostly you just fool yourself.

I always wanted to be "normal," so from the time I was very small I would pretend to be bad at reading and deliberately misspell words so that I would not stand out in school. That longing persisted through college, and I learned a certain regiment of self-suppression that never really worked. I feel a lot more free now. Though I still apologize when I bring sentences to a grinding halt by accidentally using phrases like "false yet pertinent dichotomies" in all seriousness. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember the "Sing a Song of Saffron" contest last year? It was won by Marian Call with her wonderful "It was Good For You Too."

Last year she also released a CD of her work called "Vanilla," with a special Browncoat edition that included the winning Saffron song along with her other amazing music.

And now QMx has declared her their "QMx Artist of the Month" in their latest Insider newsletter. Way to go Marian! And if you haven't gotten her CD yet, there's only about 30 left of the Browncoat version. E-mail her at mariancall@mac.com to get one, and ask about autographs. You can also visit her site at www.mariancall.com, or listen to her music at www.myspace.com/mariancall . And really, you should. She'll be big soon, and you'll want to get the CD now before it's going for hundreds on eBay.

While the Sing a Song of Saffron contest was going on, I didn't link to the entrants' web pages so you guys wouldn't be biased one way or another. But hey, contest is over! There are some great CDs out there, so let's check 'em out. First up: Marian Call's Vanilla.

Marian won the contest with "It Was Good For You Too" with unanimous praise from the judges, and with damn good reason. She has the voice of an angel: pure, clear, strong, and capable of wiping out a city. Talent, great song-writing ability, and a sense of humor: Marian Call is the anti-Britney.

There's a strong Firefly feel here. "Dark Dark Eyes" is about River, the stray "gorram" pops up, and these songs have a goal we identify with: there's a strong female character here. A lot of them, really. There's the one who's afraid she doesn't love enough, and the one that surrenders her heart completely. There's the one who rather wistfully wishes she was sexy and the one who delivers a verbal smackdown to a phony. My favorite songs are "Vanilla (I'm Not Sexy)" which describes my wife's self-image perfectly, and "Flying Feels Like" which should be riding the Top 40 if Billboard had any taste left. And you will be unable to not sing along with her cover of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning." Just give in, you'll get a headache trying to hold out. Head to her MySpace page for some samples, and more will be available at her web page soon.

(A quick description for Buffy fans: if she had been doing this 10 years ago, Marian would have been on stage at the Bronz, with the kind of lyrical songs that would have continued to play even as focus moved to Buffy and friends wrestling with personal issues. Also, she rocks.)

Read the rest of this entry »

And about time, too. Actually I have to confess, I've known the winners for two weeks now, but while I knew which songs were chosen by Christina Hendricks, Cedric of The Bedlam Bards, and myself, I was really hoping to include Ms. Hendricks' actual notes. She gushed over them all (sample quote: "God, these people are amazing! I was telling Morena about it, it's just fantastic. I want a CD of this!") but wanted time to flesh out her notes since she had jotted them down whenever she had time. However, her new show "Mad Men" (Thursday nights at 10 on AMC) is getting huge reviews and record-breaking ratings — and richly deserves both – and she's been a bit swamped, so rather than keep everyone hanging I'm going to announce the winners and add the rest of her comments whenever they come in. 

First off I want to say that I'd have been happy with any of the songs winning, they were that good. I know, everyone running a contest says something schmaltzy like that, but come on. These were way beyond what I was hoping for, and I had pretty high hopes. I got exactly what I wanted out of this contest: some great songs about a lady who definitely deserved them. So… Read the rest of this entry »

"Never Did Catch Her Name (But She’s My Wife)"
by Marian Call
(Listen to it here) 

Well, she caught my eye on Daedelus
And I couldn’t look away
Imagine my surprise when she told me
That she felt the same way
That night she promised she’d be mine
And she swept me off my feet
And for eighteen golden hours there
My rapture was complete

Read the rest of this entry »

I knew MySpace only allows you to post 4 MP3s, but until I tried last night I was unaware that they don't like you linking to MP3 hosting sites, either. After trying several times and failing to embed more songs in my posts there, I gave up and hunted around for another hosting option.

The Saffron MP3s are now at imeem.com. You have to be a member to hear them there (registration is free) but I've also collected all of them on a page here at SerenityStuff and that's where you'll find new ones as I get them. I do want to set them up so they can be downloaded easily; I'll keep checking around for hosting.

And you'd better check back, they're coming in fast now. Just added three more: "Soliloquoy" by Satori (a smoky torch song), "Every Time You Stow Away" by Jesse Graber (a barbershop number), and "It Was Good For You Too" by Marian Call (a bluesy piece).

And a couple more filks: Ziv Gur-Arye contributed "The Husbands’ Lament" (to the tune of "Early One Morning") and "Yo-Saff-Bridge" (to the tune of "Mandy"), and J.M. Harmon continued his filking dominance with "Somebody to Love" (to the tune of "Somebody" by Depreche Mode). 

Just 11 days left! I've heard some big talking from people still working on theirs but time's running out…
 

"It Was Good For You Too" by Marian Call
(Listen to it here)

Don't you cry now, sweetie
Just you put that gun away
All I did was play the part
you wanted me to play

You thought that you were handsome
and strong, and good in bed
I just agreed with you
and you swallowed every word I said

Read the rest of this entry »