The New Girl Who’s Causing A Stir

well, because of exhaustion issues i never really got around to touring my most recent album Dependent Arising very much. them’s the breaks. here’s what would have been the single…

The New Girl Who’s Causing A Stir

March On Wisconsin – free download

Over the past three weeks the events in Wisconsin have been nothing but captivating. The popular uprising is both exciting and empowering and is turning into quite the showdown:

corporate greed vs. the middle class.

Governments have been obsessed with corporate tax cuts and the destruction of the middle class for three decades now. But the popular uprising in Madison is delivering a clear message – enough is enough!

My own personal experience is that it’s the middle class that drives the local economy not massive corporate profits. They are the ones who live in our communities and spend the most in local shops, restaurants and on the arts. i learned this lesson well over the past few years down in Windsor, Ontario where lots of good paying jobs quickly dried up. The end result for me was that my ability to pay rent quickly dried up as well.

i’m certainly not part of the middle class, and like most artists in the country struggle just to make it to the poverty line, yet i can’t see how the destruction of the middle class is going to improve my lot one bit. It doesn’t infuriate me that some folks have good paying secure jobs while i don’t. It makes me happy. It gives me hope for a better society and that some of that dough might trickle my way too.

But hey, not all are struggling. The two head honchos over at Ford Motor Company just got paid $98.9 million in combined bonuses.

Let’s break that down. The average Canadian family income (two people or more) was $74,600 in 2008. So two Ford execs got combined bonuses of that of 1,200 Canadian families entire earnings. The average income for unattached individuals in 2008 was $31,000 making that roughly 3,200 individuals. But we’re only talking about bonuses here not even the actual income of these two Ford execs.

And where might all that money be coming from?

Win or lose, what’s happening in Wisconsin is extremely important.

Surely the McGuinty Government and the newly minted Harper Government (excuse me?!) are watching closely. Will they take a calculated risk, bet on Canadian passivity and further the dismantling of Canadian democracy and continue to aid the corporate takeover of our country? The events in Wisconsin just made that a much riskier move.

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i’m not seeing a whole lot of coverage about this in our national or local papers so i decided to write my first topical political song in the spirit of Phil Ochs. Possibly this will become a regular thing.

Here it is…

March On Wisconsin
(free download) – right click “save link as”

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March On Wisconsin – words & music by Ron Leary © 2011

march on Wisconsin
don’t be pushed around
oh we know what’s right
and what we’re hearin’ is just plain wrong
march on, march on

it’s a coup d’était
by the corporate class
they tried to slip it past
while no one was lookin’
but they were caught in the act
march on, march on

i hear voices
growing day by day
releasing decades of belt tightenin’
joinin’ hands yellin’ “SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!”
shame shame, shame shame

you been told
keep your mouth shut
let the experts shed light
while they drain pockets
in one great heist
shame shame, shame shame

there’s a chance
this is the first you’ve heard
cause the media’s been sold off
to just a very small rich few
those who control the message
we all know they rarely lose
til today in Wisconsin
we’re learnin’ there’s a brand new day
march on, march on

it ain’t just about
workers rights
it’s an attack on democracy
and that’s what they got
square in their sights
shame shame, shame shame

this ain’t no time
to just stand around
stretch your legs and your mind
let Wisconsin know
that we’re all behind
stretch your legs and your mind
let Wisconsin know
that we’re all behind
march on, march on, march on

march on Wisconsin
don’t be pushed around

Henry Adam Svec: Folklorist

Welcome to the Bedroom Sessions. Occasionally i’ll be posting interviews with some of my friends who are out there doing interesting things in the world.

Folklorist, actor, songwriter, scholar Henry Adam Svec stopped by my place last week, in between performances at the 2011 Rhubarb Festival, to sit down for a little chat.

In installment #1 of the Bedroom Sessions here, Henry discusses his passion for bringing to life the work of Staunton R. Livingston.

Enjoy!

Issue #1 – Henry Adam Svec: Folklorist

Learn and hear more of The CFL Sessions

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songs on this program:

1. Life is like Canadian Football “The CFL Sessions”
2. On Discipline “The CFL Sessions”

* interview recorded Feb 26, 2011
** Travelling Salesman theme song “The Convincer” by Dean Drouillard & Nate Milk

Grasslands National Park & Holy Piss!

One of my favourite things to do with a day off while on tour is to head for the hills.

On one particularly ridiculous Canadian tour a couple of years ago (driving 20,000 km’s in 7 weeks) i made a stop at the Grasslands National Park in southwest Saskatchewan. It turned out to be one of the most memorable nights of my life.

There’s something incredibly special about driving down dirt roads in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan. All you can see for millions if not billions of miles is endless wheat fields.

The national park is just a few hours southwest of Regina by car and it takes driving down some dirt roads and through a ranch of likely the largest beef cows you’ll ever see to get there.

My first thought upon arriving at the park was wow, not too many people around here. None in fact. The next was hmm, there sure are a lot of bullet holes in all these signs here. Whatever i was exhausted so set up camp for the night.

After setting up my tent on a ridge, overlooking the entire valley, a coyote party erupted just over the ridge. This gave me second thoughts on sleeping in a tent alone in the middle of no where, with no cellular service, no homes nearby and well shit all those bullet holes!!

So another night of sleeping in the car. Awesome, just what i needed.

Exhausted, stiff and half asleep i stepped outta the car in the middle of the night to total silence, or more truly to a hum of the earth, like i’d never experienced before. No cars, airplanes, city sounds, or anything. Just a peaceful buzzing.

In the middle of taking a nature call my eyes finally fully opened to the sight of a massive sky, where i could see the earth rounding in every direction, not just full of stars but packed with billions of them. There was no dark sky to be seen, just a massive blanket of stars. Unbelievable.

This was likely the most powerful and astonishing few moments of my life to date. All i could think of was how overwhelming a sight up there and how deprived us city folk are from experiencing its full beauty and power. That’s what’s up there?!

And all this happened while taking a leak. i like to keep things classy.

* Here’s an interesting article about the Grasslands National Park.

** And some poorly shot video from the park put to my song Years (from the album theroadinbetween):

* next post, coming soon…Bedroom Sessions – Henry Adam Svec: Folkorist

Behind the Song: Steak in the Raw

After years of slugging away in the Windsor bars, playing folk roots music while the grunge scene raged locally, i received my first ever press.

What grabbed the attention of the press was my humourous song called Steak in the Raw. While i certainly appreciated the recognition, all the attention quickly led to the decision to never EVER write another humourous song for fear of becoming pigeonholed as the next Barenaked Ladies.

The inspiration for the song came about cause in my early 20s i became a vegetarian and, being from the Dairy Capital of Canada no less, well that decision was not always terribly well received.

“Smell that juicy piece of meat!” waving it in front of my face. “Mmmm, does that make you wanna puke?” “Come on just have a little, you know you want it” Usually these comments and taunts were delivered by faces all screwed up and looking stupid.

You know, shit like that was nearly a daily thing for years. It was kinda like the whole gay marriage thing. Just cause same-sex couples can marry now does not mean you have to become gay as well. It changes absolutely nothing in your life. Someone being a veggie does not mean you have to subscribe either. It was no personal attack, though it appeared that many folks seemed to take it that way.

After a while i was like F-you, so i wrote a song to warn those meat eaters dangling a blood dripping raw steak in my face to back off suggesting that by forcing us veggies to eat meat may in fact release a pent up voraciousness for eating meat like never witnessed before. One where even your cats and dogs may not be safe from the unleashed insatiable desire to eat meat once again.

Well, it’s a stupid song. But here it is….

Steak in the Raw – words & music by Ron Leary © Feb 2000

slab of bacon served on my breakfast plate
though i’ve not eaten meat in years
“but son don’t you think it’s been draggin on far too long
it’s just a phase and it’ll end today”

give me a hot dog, a steak in the raw
ground beef i resist no more

oh how my life has changed since you unleashed my pain
like my eggs i’m on the sunny side
but lock up the kittens and the dog or i’m liable to eat them all
shake a paw let’s go out for a walk

give me a hot dog, a steak in the raw
ground beef i resist now more

p.s. i’m not a full-time veggie anymore. Insert meat eaters club vindicated smile and “i told you so’s” here. Nowadays i subscribe to the survival diet (aka the musicians diet) pretty much eating anything that lands in front of me in order to stay alive. i’ve yet to eat cat or dog but hey don’t tempt me!

* next post, coming soon…Grasslands National Park & Holy Piss Them Stars!!

Behind the Song – “Sitting On A Bench”

The most magical place for me is alongside the Detroit River. i’ve never been able to quite put my finger on it but there’s an energy there that matters. It’s an energy that continues to draw me in and always intrigues.

Over the 15 years that i lived in Windsor very few days passed by where i didn’t go for a walk down by the River. It was the place to clear my mind, work out ideas, walk through dreams, and shake off the previous night’s stupidity.

In the winter there’s the sound of moving chunks of ice crashing into each other combined with a bitter cold coming off the water freezing the skin. During the summer months it’s a place of excitement and wonderment. A place that turns into a soup of different cultures flowing alongside its river’s edge.

I used to stare at Detroit for hours and hours trying to imagine what was happening over there at that exact moment. Other times i just stood soaking up the evidence of Detroit’s historical abundance.

The River was also the place i went to read and to write regularly. Many lyrics and journal entries were written sitting on various benches alongside the River. So many in fact that after years and years of writing there it hit on the brain i should actually write a song about the experience and excitement of being down by the riverside.

And thus, Sitting On A Bench was conceived. i tried to capture as much of the spirit that i saw and felt down there as possible, and pay homage to my favourite bench.

There is in fact a favourite bench. It’s quite close to the Ambassador Bridge. It’s slightly angled west looking towards the Bridge with Zug Island as its background. It was an excellent place for me to get some much needed afternoon sunlight, comfortably read and write, and appreciate the gorgeous sunsets that happen on the American side.

Here it is, Sitting On A Bench, taken from my most recent release Dependent Arising:

purchase on iTunes | eMusic

* next post, coming soon: Phil Ochs Talking America

Sean Fitzgerald – Showing the Way

There are a few key people along the way who have heavily inspired my career and given it direction. Sean Fitzgerald is likely the most important person for getting my solo career on track and providing me with a blueprint for how to get moving forward.

i met Sean on a whim. Bored one night in Windsor i picked up The Real Detroit and saw a listing for an Open Mic in Ferndale, Michigan at a venue called Xhedos Cafe. So i threw my guitar in the trunk, crossed the border and made my way north on I-75 to 9 mile. Sean Fitzgerald was the host and immediately made me feel comfortable and invited into his circle of artist friends.

Sean became my model of how to break into the music biz full-time – through hosting weekly Open Mic nights.

He realized the importance and responsibility of the role of the Open Mic host and took it seriously, showing genuine enthusiasm towards anyone who got up, always paying attention, no matter the skill level, and encouraging folks to keep creating and become part of a community.

If there is one word i’d use to define Sean Fitzgerald it would be ‘community.’

Sean was the bus driver of an entire community of like-minded artists. The connector for so many. He took pride in that role and was always promoting how great other people were, not himself. These are all things i tried to emulate myself and grew an appreciation for.

Long before the ‘support local’ movements gained today’s steam Sean Fitzgerald was spreading the word of the many fine artists who lived in the Detroit community. This inspired me to look inward as well and get focused on the positive aspects of the Windsor community and leave the bitching and complaining to others.

In many ways i think my love for Windsor was heavily inspired by Sean Fitzgerald and his love for Detroit. Sean LOVED DETROIT! and made me see Windsor through new eyes, as a great city full of creativity and passion.

This all led to me hosting Open Mics in Windsor every week for close to a decade at venues like Rock Bottom, Phog, Sky Lounge and The Grad House. The job as Open Mic host introduced me to so many amazing folks locally, kept the rent paid most months and gave me something to get excited about every week.

Sean showed me my ticket towards becoming a full-time professional musician and for that i will always be thankful.

Sadly Dec 10, 2008 Sean was in a car accident that ultimately took his life. This loss will be felt greatly in the Detroit urban folk community for years to come and amongst the many lives that he touched. I have a poster of Sean Fitzgerald hanging on my bedroom wall to always remind me of him and what he represented: Love, Charity, Community and Passion.

Here’s an interview i did with Sean Fitzgerald (in 2004?) on my old campus radio show called Open Mic: On Air! on CJAM 91.5 FM (features live in-studio performances of The Train Song, South of 8 Mile Blues & Jen):

* next post, coming soon – Behind the Song Sitting On A Bench (from Dependent Arising)

It’s Goal Setting Time of the Year!

One of those goals for 2011 is to write a regular blog.

So here we go, this is a blog about an indie artist (me) who’s trying to keep the bills paid and the fun level high.

Some things to look forward to on this blog will be entries about the people who have influenced me the most, the odd music review, a feature called ‘Behind the Song’ where i’ll pick one of my songs and tell the story behind it, tales and pictures from the road, likely a couple of pieces on the history of popular music, interviews with some of my favourite artists, and posts about the joys and pains of being an indie singer/songwriter.

Hopefully it all provides for some interesting reading.

stay tuned,
Ron Leary.

p.s. The inspiration for this blog is taken from my former campus radio show, in the same name, called The Travelling Salesman which aired on CJAM 91.5FM from 2001 to 2004 in Windsor, Ontario.

Its theme song was composed and recorded by Dean Drouillard and Nat Milk