Posts Tagged ‘marian call’

The video above was from Marian Call's 2010 concert in Winter Park, Fl, part of her 50-state tour. It was taken at The Geek Easy, a cool little geek-friendly gaming room stashed in the back of A Comic Shop. And if you missed seeing her then, you've got another chance this Wednesday night.

If you've been to this site before, you know of Marian. If not, you really, really should. An angel-voiced musician who started off with (excellent) genre-themed ballads and moved on to writing and singing more complex, more layered pieces — still excellent — Marian is building an amazing career, right in front of our eyes.

Also? She gives good concert, complete with feather boa and typewriter as percussion instrument.

Her show starts at 7:30 p.m., followed by a set from DJ HexWarrior. $10-15 suggested donation. See you there.

Find out more about Marian Call… well, here, and on her site, and her Twitter feed, and her Facebook page.

Marian Call's new CD is done and ready for pre-order! And she wasn't thinking small…

2 and 1/2 years in the making, "Something Fierce" is a double-album, a 2-CD set with 19 songs and a 16-page booklet of lyrics and photos. In that time she's traveled all 50 states, had some amazing experiences both good and bad, and she returned home to fall in love with Alaska all over again. And all of that went into her music.

Broadly speaking, "Something Fierce, vol 1: Good Luck With That" is about her life and what's happened to her over the last few years, and "Something Fierce, vol 2: From Alaska" is a love letter to her adopted home, but that's far too vague a description for both. It's not as geeky as her previous releases — one of which was commissioned to be just that — but she is a proud geek, and so the flavor remains. It's not a single thing at all. There is sad here, very sad, and there is thoughtful, and there is bouncy fun that I guarantee will stick in your head for days. There are the thoughts of someone who has traveled far and done a lot, and there is the expertise of dozens, even hundreds of friends, family and fellow musicians with whom she crafted different parts (I'm in the background of "Goodbye Morning Moon" but I don't think I damaged it any). There are sections she recorded in hotel rooms and in studios, with raucous crowds and by herself, and with every instrument you can think of, including, of course, typewriter, rainstick and deceased cat.

But what it really is, is Marian. It's a look inside her head. It's her thoughts and her humor and her heart. It's the powerful voice we knew she had, further tempered into a finely wrought tool by, basically, life.  And I haven't really told you a damn thing about the songs, because a) I hate spoilers and b) it's easier to just show you. Head to SoundCloud for samples, or listen to (and maybe buy) Good Morning Moon and Anchorage. Go to her live shows or listen to her occasional concert webcasts (check her site for times). And then order "Something Fierce."

"Something Fierce" will be released October 1, 2011, and there are a variety of ways to get it. You can pre-order the digital download version for $15 (or more, if you wish) and you'll get something free now and the download link to the album as soon as it's available.

Or you can pre-order the 2-disc CD. The first 500 will be autographed, and you'll get the digital download copy as well so you can listen to it right away while you're waiting for shipping. Autographed copies are $25, or you can wait till after the release and get the non-autographed ones for $20.

More details here.

Marian Call performing at The Geek Easy in A Comic Shop in Winter Park, FL, Sept. 17, 2010, with guitarist Bryan Ray. This is an early version of "Good Morning Moon," now available for sale at mariancall.com . Try not singing along, I dare you.

Indie artist, geek diva and all-around talented lady Marian Call is nearly finished with her newest release, "Something Fierce, Vol. 1," and she's just released a song from it: "Good Morning Moon."

She was challenged to write the song that astronauts on the shuttle should wake up to, and she did. It's a happy, muppety, relentlessly cheerful song that will get stuck in your head. Sorry.

And I'm in the background, one of the many voices that contributed to the chorus and whistling. So from now on I'd appreciate it if you'd refer to me as "Recording artist Chris Bridges," thanks. Now to go update my LinkedIn profile…

You can hear it below or at her site mariancall.com, but please consider buying a copy so she can keep doing this.

The latest event in her 50-state tour, geek-folk singer Marian Call is coming to Winter Park, FL, to perform at The Geek Easy at A Comic Shop.

Marian puts on a hell of a show, complete with typewriter and rain stick, and doesn't get to this end of the country so you won't want to miss this. Plus she'll be sharing the stage with Marc With a C,  Donations of $10 or more are requested.

A Comic Shop is at 114 S Semoran Blvd. Winter Park, FL, and the show starts at 8. See you there!

Along with all the other wondrous things to see at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA, this weekend — an amazing collection of stars, writers, artists, musicians, and a few zillion people just as passionate as you are about the same things you love — Marian Call is putting on a concert and wants you there!

Marian performs an intimate show at a private warehouse space in Atlanta the weekend of Dragon*Con, at 236 Marray Drive, Atlanta, GA 30341. Tickets are $15, $10 for students, seniors, military, disabled, or starving artist (honor system). Please purchase the appropriate ticket. In order to increase capacity, some strapping able-bodied fans may be asked to enjoy standing room; be kind and plan to take turns or leave seats for those who need them.

The concert is at 8 p.m., Friday night, Sept. 3, at The Warehouse Therapy Band Space, and tickets are available at her website (at the top).

Marian also will be making other appearances in the area this weekend, check her site for details.

Time to help raise make-the-CD money for great geek singer Marian Call! Or, to put it another way, time to use this excuse to buy some stuff you'd probably want anyway.

Marian Call — she of the angelic voice and the silly-haunting-emotional-upbeat-really-hard-to-pin-down genre — has stuff on sale and stuff up for auction, and you want all of it. New stuff for sale includes T-shirts, autographed and personalized tour posters (did you know she's touring all 50 states?), personalized voice mail calls, photo prints, and CDs in bulk.

Stuff in the auction is even cooler. Handwritten framed lyrics, an artisan typewriter necklace, first drafts of original Marian Call songs, limited edition 1st run Vanilla CDs, and a set of QMX's Serenity Blueprints signed by Geoffrey Mandel, Timothy Earls, Nathan Fillion, and Alan Tudyk.

And everything goes toward supporting a talented indie artist and her upcoming CD. It's for the arts!

Check out mariancall.com for details and pics.

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 »