One of My Best Friends, Marty…Read About This!
October 27, 2008
Many of you know my dear friend, Marty Lester, from our years of working together in the studio. Here's an update
from his girlfriend, April, on a project he just completed. If you are in Austin, please tune in Thursday night to watch
the show!
Love,
Sara
FROM APRIL:
Marty has been extremely busy over the last few months. One of the projects he was working on was a film, "Tattooed Under Fire".
Marty spent countless late nights at the studio enhancing the sound quality of a film that was produced in a tattoo parlor.
This means removing the sound of multiple tattoo guns from the film in order to hear the deeply emotional conversation.
I don't know the ends and outs of audio mixing, but I can imagine the challenge.
"Tattooed Under Fire," will air on KLRU on this Thursday, October 30th at 9pm. Please feel free to watch it then or DVR it for later.
I think you will find it incredibly moving.
"Tattooed Under Fire" is a film set in Fort Hood, Killeen, at the River City Tattoo Parlor. In this tattoo parlor,
many of the war-bound and returning soldiers go under the needle, share their secrets and confess their deepest fears.
The film looks at the unconventional work of tattoo art as an affirmation of personal identity while weighing the human
and cultural cost of a futile war.
April
posted by Sara Hickman at 08:50 am
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The Teton Orchestra and Grand Fun in Idaho Falls!
You know, when I wrote "Simply" for M. S. all those years ago, who knew that someday it would be arranged and orchestrated and performed in the Teton mountains?
I mean, honestly, I was just a young girl, in love, wanting to sing about my heart's desire, bursting to be shared.
So, Saturday night was just icing on the cake and the tastiest icing I can recall in quite some time!
Eric Wenstrom, the arranger/conductor who took the bull by the horns...
My music being the bull, not me! I'm not bullish! I'm more of a ringed tail lemur, I think...
Eric orchestrated "Birdhouse", "Two Days Today", "When I Fall in Love", "Edward", "To A Maddening Ghost," "Simply", "Romania", "We Are Each Others' Angels", "Joy", "Just One Race" and Kristin's beautiful version of John McVey's song, "Shadow of a Doubt" and did a fantastic job.
Friday morning at 8:00 am, Eric drove Kristin and me to Rigby, about 20 minutes outside of Idaho Falls, to work with his junior high orchestra. Eric had helped them work up my song "EDWARD", the song i wrote for Lance. I must have heard, "Mr. Wenstrom, can you help tune my violin?" or "Mr. Wenstrom, do you know where..." about 80 times before we went out into the practice room...it was hilarious! This is one loved dude, I tell you what! And then the kids performed "Edward" while Kristin and I sang it, and I couldn't stop smiling. I was smiling so hard that at one point I couldn't even SING! After they played, we stayed and I talked about the music industry and covered the dry erase board with numbers and figures in conjunction with getting an advance, being on a major label, where the money goes, what "recoupment" and "perpetuity" mean, etc.
And Kristin sang a beautiful song a capella and talked about being a side person and what that means, and I answered questions about downloading and why I wrote "Cantaloupe". Good, good fun!
Friday night, during rehearsal with the adult orchestra, I got very choked up during one of the songs. It just sounded surreal to be standing in the middle of an orchestra, watching Eric raise his hands, and hearing a full blown version of an idea that had once only been nestled in my heart. And everyone kept asking who "Edward" was since I'm married to Lance, so I had to explain that Edward is Lance's middle name, and I didn't really want to write a love song to Lance's name (too easy: Lance, dance, pants, chance...you see where I'm going with this...) so I chose his middle name, Edward. Much more sophisticated, I thought, back when we were dating and I wanted to give him a new version of "Simply"....
SHOWTIME: Althought the audience seemed timid and conservative at first, we just kept showering them with love and grace until they cracked under the immense joy! I even went out in the audience and sang "Edward" to a kind man named Shawn, because I thought it would be fun to sing it to a single man, sitting alone, who reminded me of Lance (since he couldn't be there) and Eric and the symphony thought that would be really hilarious. During the instrumental break on the song, I leaned over to Shawn and whispered, "Dance with me?" and he popped up out of his seat and we turned circles in the aisle. Then, I whispered, "Ok, thank you... you can sit back down... I have to sing now!" and he did, and I finished out the song. Ha ha ha, that was a joy, I tell you! (Later found out he was married to this fantastic woman in the orchestra, so that was another good laugh!)
The symphony did a very good job...it is a volunteer community sypmphony, and I just find that so cool. How awesome that people come together and read charts and make MUSIC as a group of strangers. That's just wild! And what a BLESSING each person was...Everyone was so enthusiastic and everywhere I looked, someone was smiling back at me from their chair. People playing bassoon, french horn, oboe, clarinet, a viola section, a violin section (I stood right by the first chair---super nice fella!), cellos and a double bass/electric bassist named Chris (who is also internationally known for building double basses) and trumpets and trombones and a drummer! My goodness! We were only missing lions and tigers and bears! Someone even played chimes, which was incredibly haunting, during the extended intro Eric wrote for "Romania", which I have to admit was my favorite song of the night.
On "Romania", I have slips of paper on each seat, waiting for the audience members, and the slip asks each person to stand for a country that we sing about in the song. As they hear the name of the country on their slip of paper, they are to stand and pray silently for the men, women and children of that country. So, those that get Romania stand the entire song, and watching from the stage, I saw one woman stand, then look sheepishly around, and sit right back down. I was singing at looking right at her, encouraging her with my head, nodding up Up UP! until she finally stood, and then all the other folks who had Romania, started to stand, too. Eventually, the entire audience was standing and praying in support of Somalia, China, India, North Korea, South Korea, Bosnia, Africa, South America.... it was so moving, I can't hardly express it without getting teary eyed again right now.
And the most amazing thing is that after the show, after talking with and signing items, there was one man, still waiting, at the front of the stage, and I went over to meet him, and he had the biggest tears in his eyes, and he told me that "Romania" had moved his heart more than he could say. That he felt his life had been one of selfish thoughts and deeds, and that he wanted to change and make a difference in the world. He told me he was going to go home and start an email movement to get people to start praying for others around the world, and he wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but that he wanted me to know that the song had really spoken to him.
I hugged him and hugged him and thanked him and I wanted to say I understood because I have been selfish too, and done selfish things, but I felt like this was an awakening for him, and I didn't want to lessen the lesson he was sharing so tenderly with me. I wanted to just listen and support him in this awakening...My tears, hopefully, told him he is not alone... I suspect his world will expand exponentially now with this love enthused within him...!
So, let's talk about Eric Wenstrom!
Eric was very, very nice and easy to work with---supportive and full of smiles. I could ask questions or disagree with a thought, and he was totally open to working with me about the songs. It was a creative relationship/experience from day one, first through his MP3 concepts of the songs, and through phone calls, and emails...Eric was always a true delight and I'm very excited to say that David Batteau and I will be going to Idaho Falls at some point because I asked Eric if he would be interested in helping to create orchestrated versions of songs that David and I want to create for July 4th, new songs and ideas for a new time, and Eric said CERTAINLY!!! So, David and I can't wait to get there, sequester ourselves (sometime in 2009) and finish out what we started about three years ago... we just needed someone with Eric's skill, talent and intuitiveness, and I feel like God provided the key link via Eric! A big WA-HOO here! Watch out! 2010 there will be a big event in Idaho Falls... a world premiere!
Oh, and back to Saturday night... there was also a CHOIR, too!!! Wow!!! I think there were 60 high school students in the choir... AND a group of 7 adults who are in a full time weekly choir, and they were gracious to come over to our hotel for an additional rehearsal on Saturday so we could practice "Birdhouse", "Romania" and "We Are Each Others' Angels". I feel like I have a new family of friends in Idaho Falls... and Rigby, too!
i FILMED the event, which captured the music, so you will be able to watch and see what happened... it's not an exciting piece of filmwork because I had to set the camera up in the back of the auditorium hall, but it captures the event nicely so you can hear and see what it would have been like if you had been there! In the back, with your popcorn and your enthusiasm, cheering us on, getting up and dancing in the aisles (like the two year old who came tumbling all the way down to the front of house, all giggles and smiles...)
At intermission, Kristin and I were literally mobbed by children and adults wanting to share hugs or have us sign ANYTHING... shirts, ticket stubs, pieces of paper... it was CRAZY! i just kept hugging and saying GOD BLESS YOU to every single person until the house lights started flashing for the second half of the program...
We received a standing ovation at the end, and then I surprised everyone by having all 1400 hundred (yes, 1400 HUNDRED PEOPLE CAME!!!) sing on a song dedicated to a little boy on crutches out in the audience who was living with cancer. His name was Landon, and what a big heart he has. He came up to me at intermission and told me he felt several of my songs would cheer up other children with cancer he had met at a summer camp... So we sang for Landon and children around the world... and then...
I invited up the junior high kids from Rigby.... I asked them to hop up on stage and sing "Your Red Wagon" with us to the audience...and, suddenly, there were about 120 teens all over the stage, singing and dancing, with the full choir and orchestra still on stage, the kids and choir dancing and shakin' the house...
It was a BLAST!
Very tired now, but must finish laundry! (I'm back in Austin)
xoxo
sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:47 am
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What Can You Do to Change What’s Going On?
October 15, 2008
First of all, gotta admit it. It's here. It's everywhere. It's rampant.
It's in your neighbor's eyes.
It's down the street,
Up the street,
All over.
You see it.
You know it.
Say,
"Ok, there is poverty."
Now that you've said it aloud,
What's the next step?
You move.
You move towards a change
In your part of the world.
Check out your local shelter.
What do they need?
Not just blankets and food.
They need:
MENTORS.
That's right.
They need your time and energy.
Can't buy that.
Once a week, say,
Maybe you sign up to teach
Someone how to read
At that shelter.
Maybe you take somone
On a field trip to a zoo.
Maybe they've never been
To a zoo. I bet they'd like to
Share that experience with you.
Or...walking down the street.
Someone asks you for money.
Give them bus fare and
Have a card in your pocket
With shelter/hospital/rehab program
Information.
Give them that
And a phone card
So they can make phone calls.
Talk about poverty.
With your kids,
your family,
your politicians.
Get engaged in creative ways
That you can ebb the flow
Now
So there won't be a tidal
Wave of homelessness/
hopelessness
Tomorrow.
Simple things.
If everyone starts educating
Working
Volunteering
Just simply NOTICING
Change can occur.
But we all
Have to
Join in
And Make The Change
Together.
It takes all of us
Engaged
To Do This.
Once a week:
Get to it. Let's do it.
I'm on it. How about you?
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:51 am
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Music On The Back Lot (Raising Conciousness/Changing the Dollar)
Folded arm
He studies the chart.
He is playing with the verve
Gusto
Drive
That is a person
In love with rhythm.
John blows a horn
Sends waves of sound
Suzi sings and
Collects the leaves
Of quarternotes
Falling all around her:
Simply by closing her eyes.
Music is coming.
Can't you hear it?
Can you remember
What it feels like
To have your bones
Stirred up
To the passion
Of blood pumping
Feet stamping
You can't control those feet!
You gotta MOVE!
You are moving
And dancing
And now you are laughing
And throwing everything
Out of your pockets...
Those old nickels
And gum wrappers
And...whoa!...There go your
CREDIT CARDS
You slap your knee
Your knee that is bouncing
Like a baby in the air
Up
Down
Up
Down
The music is SO RIGHT ON!
You can't get enough of it!
The horn wraps inside your
brain and you
shout out in time,
you sing along to
a song
you don't even know
and you don't even care!!!
Cuz you are changing the
Dollar!
You are bending the coin
!
You are sharing the
Moment
Of this moment
And you are diggin' it, man!
You are really
Truly
All about this sound
This crazy sound
That makes you
bellow with JOY
Makes you shake
You old skeleton, you!
You old flesh and life
Shakin' it like you just don't care!
And now people are runnin'
Out of their houses...
Onto the back lot
They see this music,
Daddy!
Like a painting in the air,
Mama!
Van Gogh...everywhere!
Matisse!
Gaugain!
Grab the colors!
Climb aboard!
Everyone...cleaning out their
pockets!
A Musical cornucopia!
Money is on the ground
Swirling in ladies' hair
Caught up in the trees
Stuck to walls,
Whoa! Yea!!!
And...No one cares
About the damn old money!
Shake it, baby, shake it!
The music is returning
In bits and pieces
Until full throttle
Even the president
(Whoever that might be)
Will be shakin' it out
On the WHITE HOUSE LAWN!
Mouth open wide,
An operatic thrill from inside,
Singing:
"I hear the impoverished
And we are ending it now!
I see the fatigue, the woe, the
hopelessness...
And it is ENOUGH!
It is time to DANCE, everybody,
Time to SHAKE IT OUT!
Feel that beat?
That is the eternal heartbeat!
And it is GROOVIN, it is
The Master Pressure Cooker
Boiling up with
The Sounds We have Forgotten
And It Is ROCKIN'
And Now is the Time...
Right now!"
Out of your chair!
Crank that music!
Rid yourself of those burdens
Keeping you from taking
Your neighbor fresh cut
Rosemary and Thyme
Get on board!
The train's a comin'!
There is no bend..
Except the one that
You are shifting
And shimmying
And sighing,
"Thank God, almighty, Thank God...
Free at Last!"
Sara Hickman
8:35 a.m.
10/15/08
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:35 am
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Cleaning House
Making breakfast of bagels and cereal and cold,
sweet
orange juice...
making sure there is a napkin
in each lunch box,
next to the graham crackers and applesauce,
nestling up to each
other by the
sandwich,
by the
spoon.
Someone out there on the streets of Austin
Is looking down at their feet.
They are shuffling in circles
no where to go,
really...
Just waking up to their day
And walking in the woods.
Walking towards the brink of
CONSTANTLY
trying to understand
HOW
They ended up
HERE
here....
In Poverty
With a capital "P".
They have left their
apartment
Knowing when they come back
This afternoon
All their stuff will be scattered
On the street.
Strewn and invaded
By passerby,
Hungry vultures
Looking for treasures
Among a broken life's
Savings.
No this person is
Beating themselves up:
Man, if I'd just done THIS
Or remembered to turn THERE
Or why didn't I return THAT CALL?!
Silent, heavy hammer
Banging down
Insistent:
YOU RUINED IT ALL.
YOU LOST IT WHEN YOU HAD
THE CHANCE.
gone forever
Someone in Austin
Right this very minute
Has a grumbling, twisted
Stomach.
And there is absolutely
No food coming.
They are sitting behind a desk
In a school
They are sitting behind a desk
At the Goodwill
They are clinging to the hope
That someone is going to notice
The pain on their silent face and
Invite them to share
That sandwich in
The bottom of the lunchbox
Nestled near the spoon.
Sara Hickman
10/10/08
8:27 a.m.
posted by Sara Hickman at 05:17 am
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