It’s been a long time since I’ve written on this page…I don’t know why it took so long, but I found something good to mention on here.
There’s going to be a fringe festival in Rochester in the fall, and I’m thinking about taking part in it. The theater group I’m involved with is doing a multiple-slot event over the course of 8 days in September, with each slot being an hour. So I could come up with a 45-50 minute show, allowing those who would go before and after me time to set up and leave.
At this point, I’ve got an idea in my head, but I’m not ready to fully share - except for one element. It would have to do with something in my past, and maybe telling some stories about that element would be my way of letting it go for good. And who knows, it might actually be entertaining. Really? Maybe.
But I need the idea first to come together. I’m sure it will.
I’m just watching Martin Scorsese’s documentary on George Harrison again for the second time this morning. I watched it last night after I bought the Blu-ray.
Whether you’re a Beatles fan, a George Harrison fan, a Scorsese fan, or just a fan of really great rock documentaries, this is an absolutely amazing one. And for a film that goes 3 1/2 hours in length, it leaves you wanting more.
If you don’t have it on DVD or Blu-ray, get it. It’s that good.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Peter we could have done without the zoo noises at the end, but whatever.
There’s nothing wrong with the noises, really. The whole song started with just a guitar, then more instruments get added every few seconds, then it all just explodes with Robert Fripp’s guitar and the animals roar out. This song is timeless (more so than most of his ’80s hits), and as classic as classic gets.
Source: annamarie
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Sometimes after a long day at work, talking to someone you’ve known for a long time can be a good remedy -
Even if they’re half the state away, though if it may feel like half a world away,
Even if you haven’t seen that person face-to-face in what seems like an eternity (and a half),
Even when you and her webcams don’t seem to cooperate in video and sound,
Even when you have to resort to talking on the phone just to hear her voice -
It’s all worth it, because you hear her voice on the other line. And even when you can’t see them, they can see you…and they’re smiling. They’re just glad to hear and see you, and feel nothing has changed.
A good friend can make you feel like the best person in the world. And I just spoke with one such friend. Thanks, Candie.
For anyone who complains about having a bad day, think about a young woman named Nicki Maitland. She was my cousin, and she fought cancer to become a teacher, a wife, and a mother of two wonderful girls.
Nicki died this morning from that battle at age 31. Her family was at her side when she died, and she was on the minds of fellow family members and friends who helped guide her through the most difficult chapter of her young life.
Through the many postings of Facebook tonight, I saw those friends reflecting on what Nicki meant to them - as a teacher, as a friend, as a woman. When a person dies, the family and friends they leave behind are left to assess the legacy of that person. Did they do a lot of good in the world? What was their impact on them? How will they inspire them to be better people?
Nicki left this world a champion, a survivor, a ray of light for her family and friends to behold, and she will remain an inspiration to them all. I count myself as one of the lucky ones who felt the spirit of Nicki during the 31 years she walked this Earth.
My thoughts and prayers go to my Uncle Pat, Aunt Peg, cousin P.J. and Nicki’s entire family and team who rallied behind her in her most desperate times of need. She brought out the better of humanity in all of you, and you are all better people because of her. Nicki Rielly-Maitland was a fighter to the end, and even in death, she won - for she will never be forgotten, and the legacy she leaves behind is one of grit, determination and love. Now that’s something her loved ones can be proud of.
Nicki Rielly-Maitland
June 26, 1980 - March 19, 2012
Rest in peace, and free of pain
On St. Patrick’s Day, I had written my experiences of experiencing the holiday in downtown Rochester. I had written a beginning in which I mentioned a police officer trying to revive a fallen man near the South Avenue parking garage. It turns out it wasn’t one of those stricken and collapse situations.
According to YNN Rochester, it was reported the man had actually jumped from the top of the parking garage. He never survived. Police reported no foul play in his death. Who knows if those people who were around him were actually related - but merely stunned passersby who watched a man take his last leap of life?
Who knows what may have gone wrong for this man that led him to this, but what a sad turn of events on St. Patrick’s Saturday in the Flower City.
NOTE: No parts of this writer or the writer’s car were harmed during the making of this commentary. The various incidents described in this are surprisingly true.
For someone who has always had a hard time fitting in or finding a relationship, those things can be hard to deal with on random days. Yet there is one day I don’t feel such guilt or depression - and all the better.
On St. Patrick’s Day, Rochester turns into Crazyland - where there are no rules, anything goes, drinks are available everywhere, and everyone can just act as wild as they want without a care in the world - unless you get caught.
Before this Saturday in March really began, I had watched a harrowing sight while getting out of a parking garage. A man looking to be in his 50s was being revived - or attempted to be - by a waiting officer. Friends and a woman who had to be his wife stood by nervous, or helpless in the situation. The day hadn’t even begun, the parade was still hours away, and there was already a chance of tragedy occurring on St. Patrick’s Day - hopefully that wasn’t to be. Then morning became afternoon, and the atmosphere changed - drastically.
I only go to check out the parade on St. Patrick’s Day, and when the weather is good (temps in the 70s with sun & clouds), the crowd goes in the thousands. That means lots of pushing and shoving just to get from one end to the other, and it could take longer than a regular walk down East Avenue downtown on an average day. People decked out in their best green were fighting to get a good view of the parade, and then there are those who just wanted to get back to their cars or find their friends to go to the nearest bar or pub.
It seems St. Patrick’s Day now has become a perfect excuse to get drunk early, drunk in the middle of the day, drunk late, and drunk often. Now this writer has never had the moment of being plastered in alcohol, and it’s probably for the better. Sometimes strange things can happen when one is so lost in the drink - they can scream, dance in a not-so-funky style, throw cups and bottles on the streets, and it seems the only thing they say is “Whoooooooo!” Maybe in Crazyland, that word would be the official motto.
The later afternoon showed one of the more outrageous moments this writer’s eyes has ever seen. Outside a bar at the corner of East and Alexander, a crowd was mobbing the entrance. Two guys were having a verbal argument - over what they were arguing about, who knows. Yet the verbal became the physical, as the men suddenly got to a fistfight and grabbing each other’s shirts. Their friends were helpless in trying to stop them, and even two officers & the bar’s security took a long time to subdue the situation. After taking a few steps back to avoid the situation, I just had to say to myself: “All of this just to go to a bar?” A younger gentleman turned to me and said, “It’s St. Patrick’s Day, what do you expect?”
It seems on St. Patrick’s Day, wherever one lives, their city or town becomes Crazyland - and even Rochester is no exception. People go from bar to bar looking for excitement, thrills and drinks, all on the same repeat cycle. Friends and lovers take in the atmosphere in the hope of having a good time, or just acting as crazy and/or stupid as they want to be. Yet this writer doesn’t feel saddened about not feeling a part of it - getting drunk, possibly facing down a fistfight, and trying to locate lost friends in the middle of a wild scene isn’t exactly an idea of a good time.
As it was said at the start, sometimes it’s hard to feel being a part of a group or having a relationship. What does it have to do with St. Patrick’s Day? In the traditional sense, the answer is probably nothing. Yet it’s better to get through the day intact than dreading the inevitable hangover for the Sunday after. There’s no worry about finding a potential love or making friends on this unofficial holiday of getting crazy. Can this writer get a “Whoooooooooooooooooo!” on that, with a crazy dance to go along with it? Even behind a computer, it would look really embarrassing - especially if this writer tried doing all of that.
Just a short time ago, teachers and parents connected to my former high school in New York got together to form a club supporting fine arts. They recently launched their page on Facebook, and was asked to participate in their efforts. I wrote the following statement about my experiences of fine arts in Carthage, and how it shaped me. More information about the Carthage Fine Arts Booster Club is included below.
If it weren’t for fine arts in Carthage, I don’t know what person I would be now.
Being in band allowed me to appreciate the greater qualities of music. Being involved in theater gave me the chance to show off talents I probably never would have thought of showing. Being involved in musicals opened me up to a world I had never fully experienced. And for someone who was always picked on for being too smart or too different from everyone else, it was the world of fine arts in Carthage that somehow saved me.
From playing drums in pep band to singing as Enjolras in “Les Mis,” from marching down the North Country roads in the spring to the emotional catharsis of “Anne Frank” - these experiences are etched in my soul, never to leave. Those years of performing would prove to be vital in my growing up as a man, and as a writer. Anything I’ve done in my life after Carthage wouldn’t have been possible if it had not been for the teachers who gave me the chance to shine, and fellow students who were part of the incredible journey along the way.
Fine arts programs in our schools are not luxuries. For those with artistry in their hearts - the painters, the musicians, the actors - this is their outlet to show their true talents. And along the way, that artistry can guide them in the classroom to be better students. When they leave Carthage, they leave better people for the real world ahead. Coming from personal experience - the fine arts of Carthage made me a better person. I may be only one of many who went through it all, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who believes this about the world we went through in Carthage: It changed my life.
Justin Rielly
Carthage Class of 2003
LINK FOR CARTHAGE’S FINE ARTS BOOSTER CLUB http://www.facebook.com/#!/CarthageCentralFAB
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So February 14 comes again. I don’t celebrate it for Valentine’s Day, I only mark the day because that was the day I was born.
At 1:24pm this afternoon, I officially became 28 years old.
At 27, I was working part-time in television news, a world I had dreamed of working in since childhood. Now at 28, I’m going full-time at a call center. And yet somehow, things have been looking up.
So many things have changed in the year since the last change of ages - new job, new place, same determination to get a woman to fall in love with me (still working on it), holding incredible friends (have that going for me), discovering new music (that’s worked), and being reminded every day of having the greatest family in the world (never a doubt on that).
The everyday struggles will be close by, but they won’t slow me down. I think 28 is going to be a great year. I’m looking forward to each day of it.
Inside a small studio in Ontario County, the rock band Violet Mary has begun work on their third album. The title is unknown.
It will have 9 songs, and four of them were given their first studio workout on Saturday (though cue tracks had been recorded days earlier). The songs have been in various writing stages for about two months, before recording began on January 28th at Belly of the Whale Studios in Farmington.
The band of Mel & Mike Muscarella, Scott Cranfill, Scott Butcher and Marty Dorren convened to record rhythm tracks for “Take the Train,” “You and I,” “Lonely Bird” and “Stonewall.”
It’s hard to know what overall direction the album will take, but one clue Mike gave out lied in the songs’ details. He said the songs all had to deal with travel in some way - more specifically, leaving something or somewhere. It also seemed to be another album of transition for the band, with new members stepping in for others who had since left. On the band’s last release After the Plunge, Scott Butcher replaced Pete Gallagher on drums. For this release, Marty Dorren steps in for original member and chief songwriter Tyler Gagnon on bass. Mike and Mel would split lyric duties, while the band remained responsible for the music.
The band has already road-tested some of the new material during many of their live sets, including recent performances at Henrietta’s Lovin’ Cup and a memorable December 2011 set at Rochester’s Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. “Disaster Medicine” was the first new song to gain any live performances, with “Take the Train,” “Bub’s Midnight Blues,” “With the Sun” & “You and I” slowly gaining early and appreciative steam. Four other songs planned for the record are currently yet to be heard by a live audience - save for the audience of the band members themselves.
Throughout the night, Mike said sometimes most songs need at least five run-throughs before the band can be satisfied. Scott Butcher mentioned alongside Mike’s statement that with After the Plunge, three songs were started and finished for that record with only one take needed (which ones in question, who knows). Would it be possible for the four songs of this first session to meet that same destiny?
The gospel-like “Take the Train” needed one run-through to kick off the session, with the band operating at full power in the studio. Mel even sang the chorus of Sonny and Cher’s “The Beat Goes On” during the song’s conclusion - who knows if it will end up on the final version? It just might, after Mike declared later in the evening that it was a keeper (though that could always change).
“You and I” was given three recorded run-throughs at one period, with a major concern on one such run being the drums returning to the main rhythm after the first chorus was performed. There was agreement on the transition from the choral rhythm to the verse rhythm being extremely tricky - the moment deals with one of the snares potentially being hit too close, or an extra hit on the hi-hat causing the drums to momentarily lose their place. Mike admitted during a playback of the song, this moment was something he was glad to catch now - in the event of re-recording it at another time. The band would give it a 4th run-through (or in their words, a second full take) before they were satisfied with it - and that includes the drum riffs.
“Stonewall” uses words said to have been the last ones spoken by legendary Civil War general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, with the poem called “Let Us Cross Over the River.” Two full takes were recorded, with some of Mel’s most driven vocals to date. The arrangement for this song has an epic feel reminiscent of The Band’s landmark tune “The Weight” (a song the band frequently covers during live gigs).
“Lonely Bird” was a song debated by the band in terms of how much music needed to be added. Marty and Scott Butcher felt the song was good and intimate enough without their input - and that Mel’s piano & vocal (with some light acoustic work) would be just fine. The band would make two attempts on a full-band version to see if Dorren and Butcher’s thoughts held water. The second take would prove to be the difference - with the exception of cleaning up the bridge, Mel (the song’s lyricist) felt the song worked with the band involved. During the session, Mike suggested “Lonely Bird” could be the album’s finale. If it ends up that way, it would be a radical departure for the band in terms of album closers - Marionette’s “Release” and After the Plunge’s “The Contented Tune” were certainly more epic in musical scope.
Since this is one of the first full sessions for the new record, the chances of any release date being confirmed are very slim - unless the band is keeping that date close to the cuff. It will likely be out later this year, though no clear timetable is set. Yet if there’s one message for die-hard Violet Mary fans the band wanted to give, it was this: the process of laying the album down has commenced. The wait for its release will now be sooner than later.
Planned Songs: Take the Train, You and I, Lonely Bird, Stonewall, Disaster Medicine, Bub’s Midnight Blues, With the Sun, Planning My Escape, Independence Day
CORRECTION (1/29/12, 11:39am): The article originally mentioned Pete Gallagher was not a member of the band. Mel Muscarella said on Twitter that Gallagher was a member, but albeit for a short time. This correction has been included in the review.
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