Myrna Marcarian (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Geoff Feinberg (guitar), Matt Kloss (bass) John Ehils (mandolin) Dave Cushing (drums)
Influences
beatles,stones,buffalo springfield,emmylou harris,gram parsons,flying burrito bros,neil young,ac/dc,ronettes,shangri-las,dusty springfield,aretha,supremes,righteous bros,ike and tina,silver apples,air,beethovan,bach,bruce,hank williams,jimmy rodgers,johnny cash,roseanne cast,rodney crowell,dolly parton,led zepplin,patti smith,pj harvey,parliament,numbers band,temptations,dick dale,pentangle,mary black,toots and the maytals,black uhuru,beastie boys,libertines,prince,the time,ESG, Run DMC,Grandmaster Flash,Bootsy Collins,jefferson airplane, hot tuna,buddy guy/junior wells,oscar peterson,standells,buckinghams,bernie worrell,dandy warhols,quicksilver,janis ian,jimi hendrix,laura nyro,bobbie gentry,lee hazelwood,quincy jones,everybody who ever played at jabberwocky at syracuse in the 70s and 80s, tin huey,bizarros,chrissie hynde,joe walsh, eagles, howlin wolf, muddy waters, bonnie raitt,joni mitchell,tom waits,and a bunch more but i can't think now - it's kind of late.
"Be not entangled in this world of days and nights; Thou hast another time and space as well." ~ Allama Muhammad Iqbal
"There is some principle of magic in everything, some living quality. Something living, something real, is taking place in everything." ~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Myrna Marcarian took a sabbatical from music and her band Human Switchboard for 14-year stint doing "straight jobs and raising a family," and has returned with Ruby on the Vine. As Chogyam Trungpa put it: "It's all Ati. Now, let's be practical." No doubt raising the kids and working in the salt mines (at PBS, Stanford U and the Hoover Institute) can change a person. The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam may have given the band a name, but the practical workaday world informs "The World of Days." The tomato doesn't fall far from the vine, and those jobs Myrna worked weren't really sweatshops. Myrna studied to play classical keyboards at the age of 3, lost it to the blues seeing Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, and built on the blues in the new wave years with songs of her own. Ruby on the Vine is the expression of a seasoned musical mind.
Myrna Marcarian doesn't sing like Patti Smith, Marianne Faith or certainly Maria McKee, despite such comparisons in print. She writes an expansive lyric with images pulled from the heavens, the East, her own extensive library, and her own passionate heart. On the rocker "Why You Wanna Make Me Mad," she has a Joan Jett punk sound. Her phrasing on quiet tunes may be pedestrian, but the words are skyscrapers. Marcarian is a singer songwriter with expressive allusions, and a connected voice. That's enough.
Producer, songwriter, guitarist Doug Hall brought Myrna to his home studio for "Gather Round Your Wishing Wall" and "You Belong To Me" and deserves some credit for bringing Ms. Marcarian into this new musical incarnation. Mr. Hall sings a fine backing vocal, and Myrna may sound best when Doug sings along on the slow songs. What brings this album to life is the passion and complaint of real human experience.
THE SONGS
1. GATHER ROUND YOUR WISHING WALL opens the album with an anthem to change. This song is a kind of overture. In Myrna Marcarian's cosmology, we are potential angels striving to be worthy of wings. "Take a look at your world, / Just to see what's there." Enlightenment is, after all, see things as they are. The need for change is the complication to this plot, and that is represented here by a trip on a train. We gather "around the wishing wall," "[a]nd together we can make it fall." Wishes won't do, where actions are needed. This is a clever mixing of metaphors. Joshua prayed and the walls of Jericho fell, but this "wishing wall" should also be razed. In this song, we hope to become miraculous, seeing things as they are, taking the train to a new life where we become the angels we hope to be. If this is the preface to the album, we know now the answers won't come from above or below but within. "And let your wings, / Help you find your way to better things." That chorus with Doug Hall's backing vocal has a freight car full of hope.
2. YOU BELONG TO ME explores familiar territory with a hint of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's Close to You in the line "Why does the sun suddenly appear, / Every time that you are near." Myrna and Doug Hall write about the one who makes things make sense. "In my life, / In my mind, / You're the one who makes things right." The experience of finding one such someone in an uncertain world makes things clear as sunlight. "traveled from the ocean to the sea, / Set sail, / Without a clue, / But now it's clear…" This may be the feeling had before the relationship begins in earnest. It's just a little too perfect. "Won't you tell me / That you agree / That you belong to me?" The pace here is slow, deliberate, and sure. There is of course a difference between finding and having.
3. UNLISTED NUMBER is perhaps the song a night after finding the one who matters, because "you've got an unlisted number / And I've just gotta get through to you." There's another little problem. "That look on your face / That's when I knew / That I had to take her place." Oh baby, sounds like trouble coming. Maybe that's why the number is unlisted. This short 1950's girl group rocker sets up what follows.
4. STANDING OUTSIDE OF YOUR DOOR takes on Mike Levine on Dobro (& guitar) and Rebecca Harris to set out on the road to "your door." The heart knows where to go, and that number was unlisted, so we are out on a road trip to knock on that door. Let's hope the intended is "look[ing] for something more?" We already know he's hitched. Maybe Ruby (or Myrna) is the one answering the question, "[H]ow much can you take before, / You decide to let somebody love you." When the "clock is all the company / that I needed to keep" and a "bird outside of my window [that] keeps telling me / To keep on trying," the courtship begins with "standing outside of your door." Myrna is "waiting" and "trying," but there's no mention of knocking. Doors are great metaphors and there's a bunch of 'em on this album. This ain't no stalking song. This door is one of perception. "How much faith before / You look for something more? / And how much can you take before / You decide to let somebody love you?" Perhaps the answers will come.
5. DON'T BE SO SURE rejects the death of accepting less than love in a plea for life. The sorrowful tone of Mark Spencer's slide shines in this this ember of a song. Myrna's voice is set on personal with a quaver that would be corrected by a conscientious mixer. So tell me / what is this thing / That you say I have lost, / Do I have to give up everything, / No matter what the cost. / Don't be so sure, / I haven't changed." Myrna "hasn't given up on this world just yet." The singer seems uncertain. This is no anthem. The beauty of this song is in the flawed vocal and uncertain lyric. It is at the moment of discovery. Mark Spencer's guitar tells the story of the heart in transition.
6. SOMEBODY ELSE WILL DO gives Myrna the mic for a more self-assured anthem directed at the lover lost to complacent day to day. Hey, he's got the stuff, but he's stopped giving it out. He may be the one, but another one will do. Maybe this is an answer to Steven Stills' "Love The One Your With." Ruby on the Vine's response: "I wish that it could be you, / But somebody else will do."
7. LET ME GO employs Tony Maimone's insistent bass to suspend time before the decision to ask for safe passage to through to the next doorway. Myrna and Geoff Feinberg tell the story semi-captive love looking to cross the threshold out the house. "It's too much, / When you gonna let me go?" 'Course nobody let's anybody go. Just gotta follow Feinberg's sweet guitar down the yellow brick road.
8. LITTLE DEMON may be a walk back to the guy with the unlisted number. He's a "Little demon / With your wings so wild." Oh hell, you know it had to be a bad boy, right? "You're looking long and distant. / You blind your eyes, / You smooth your smile, / You kick around / Like a crocodile." The lyrics here are worth the price of admission, but Myrna's voice is a little like Joan Jett live without the benefit of a good monitor. "Come on take those dreams you threw away." The drum programming has a little of the glock sound of early Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo going for it.
9. TODAY (IS JUST MY KIND OF DAY) has the great benefit of Andy McKee on "Stand Up Lion Head Bass" and Frank Vilardi on dumbek. The slow 4/4 of this this song "keep[s] it's eyes on heaven" with the warmth of strings and the human sound of hands on skins. The story of this album takes Myrna to the verge of discovery where "every destination is a mystery." There is light at the bottom of the barrel.
10. WHY YOU WANNA MAKE ME MAD is a look back in anger at the one she doesn't live with anymore. This song suits Myrna's voice and spirit with a jaunty Joan Jett blackhearted taunt: "I hear you knocking on my door / I don't want to see you no more." Geoff Feinberg shares writing credit, and most likely provides the wicked guitar riffs on this blues informed punk romp. This may be the hit of the album. What good would all that contemplation be without a damn decision made? The unlived life isn't worth analyzing. "I can stand alone." The journey is complete… or is it? Stay tuned.
(a dumbek)
This review is reprinted from the following myspace address:
http://www.myspace.com/billysheppard23
Hey Hi Hello...
Been daydreaming about getting over to rawk your side of the country, but the piggy bank is looking pretty sad lately. So, we'll just give you a virtual cruise till we can get an east coast thing happening (hopefully in the next year). Have a kickass weekend.
Punk Rock!
-Obedient Waves
Ever wondered what to do in the event of a nuclear threat?
A while ago I found stuff that inspired me to make this film:
Living Under the Shadow of the Nuclear Umbrella
Both artistic (ensure you get the background music!) and educational, it primarily comprises official British government civil defence advice.
Though source materials are quite aged, much remains relevant today.
I encourage all to visit the YouTube page to learn more (Show support! Rate! Comment!) and responsibly circulate as widely as possible, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaIim3Rj7L4
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Thanks for sticking around! I'm sorry I got there late. I caught the end of your set and the first thing I said was I should have gotten here earlier! I'm looking forward to seeing you again
I thought I would drop by and say "hello". When you have a few minutes, swing on over and let me know how life has been going for you. Thanks for the awesome friendship, and wherever the road may lead you... have a fabulous journey! Don't ever be afraid to step out and take those risks.
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We are stopping by to wish you the most fabulous holiday season ever. May you enjoy this special time with friends and family and all whom you love. Love and Peace on Earth.
Hey Ruby on the Vine, Thanks for being our myspace friend, have you seen the Sex Pistols comic scrapbook on myebook yet? It is very well done and is not spam. Just click on the ebook embedded below, it is that simple
I look forward to seeing them! The sound on someone's little camera video sounds like Lenny suddenly morphed me into the Grateful Dead-- I'm afraid I can't go out in public w/out a burkha!!
we need a change///OBAMA & Biden we need a change///OBAMA & Biden ...DOWNLOAD IT FREE FROME TONY LOW RECORDS PAGE ON MY TOP PAGE LETS HELP MAKE THAT CHANGE AND VOTE OBAMA & Biden DOWNLOWN THE SONG AND PASS IT OUT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAM WE GOT TO VOTE,VOTE,VOTE,VOTE,VOTE,VOTE,VOTE
