Perfect Fourth

Jessica Maybury — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:44:54 +0000

OK so yesterday was an horrific day. Apparently me using ‘an’ before a ‘h’ is very Jane Austen. Retro.

Today’s post is about acid jazz. I only learnt of its existence through a friend of mine’s tagline on MSN. Why does nobody come on MSN anymore?Sadface

ACID JAZZ: WHAT IT IS

It turns out that I’ve been listening to acid jazz for a while now, ie Thievery Corporation and Air.

It developed in the 80s and 90s in the UK and in it’s purest form is a blending of jazz, hippedy-hop, funk andelectronica. I love electronica.

WHO?

Thievery Corporation

Air

Jamiroquai

Young Disciples

Brand New Heavies etc etc etc etc etc

WHY?

Basically you’d be sick not to.

em…

Jessica Maybury — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:39:39 +0000

Well to be honest, I don’t know where I stand. Those of you on facebook might have noticed that my blog has moved towordpress, except then I missed blogger so I came back to blogger and then I thought maybe I really should be hanging out with the cool kids on wordpress, so I updated both of them with exactly the same thing. Which is lame, for obvious reasons.

I have some announcements but maybe I’ll keep them for a later post in case I forget what I wanted to blog about.

This post was supposed to be about routine and stuff, and has morphed into something else. I SEE NO METHOD, says Captain Willard.

Stuff has been a bit fractured lately. I play an instrument for fifteen minutes, and stop, and go on facebook. I edit something for 2 minutes and go on facebook. etc etc etc etc etc. Facebook is our generation’s malaise. Or something.

I have a song by The Postal Service stuck in my head…”the taste of recycled air…lala.”

Reading:

Schopenhauer’s Telescope, Gerard Donovan

The Cordelia Dream, Marina Carr

Uglies, Scott Westerfield.

Clara Schumann

Jessica Maybury — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:27:59 +0000

I’m being a bit pro-feminist here by doing a post on Clara Wieck Schumann [13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896]. Or at least I think I am. She was married to the Romantic composer Robert Schumann, and he is usually the more famous of the two. However, she was seen as one of the most accomplished pianists of the day and was the main breadwinner of the family, organising her own concert tours while also bringing up 7 children.

I have a book of some of her pieces, bought for me by Fred Patella many years ago. Over the past few years I’ve attempted them but never really got the knack. Seeing as my sortie into Satie is going so well, I think I might attack them again.

Clara Schumann stopped composing completely by the age of thirty-six, believing that… “I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose — there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?”

Just back from a lovely walk in the SUNSHINE. I also read Marble last night (in between playing Thief: Deadly Shadows) and found it lacking and unsatisfactory.

Over and out, people.

Hennessy Announces Shortlist

Jessica Maybury — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:29:00 +0000

Hennessy announced their shortlist and Kate Dempsey is on it! Fingers crossed, Kate. Click here to see the other candidates.

Also, there’s a picture of my desk. It’s desky.

Suckedy Suck!

Jessica Maybury — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:26:00 +0000

Ok, ok ok ok. I need me to get a practice buddy because clearly my willpower is shot to sh1t.

Anyway, here’s some sites I found that would probably help me play the mandolin (if I wasn’t stupid):

http://www.folkofthewood.com/page5296.htm

http://www.mandolessons.com/

http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch.pl

A little more staring should do the trick. STARE!!! STARE!!!!

Basically I need a teacher or nice person to point me in the right direction. I kind of want to start writing songs, so some basic chords would be good. I’ve had it for a YEAR now and I can still only play C, G and D. And some Trad tunes. Wooo.

CAN YOU BE THAT NICE PERSON? COULD YOU???

Scripting April, Gallery Press, Sophie Kinsella

Jessica Maybury — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:42:00 +0000

Hello! It’s sunny! And I got free books! And went for a walk! And got.up.early!! So I’m very happy. I’m planning on doing this: writing more of the infernal play, and playing my newly-cleaned pinano.

Yes, pinano is a technical term.

Anyway, I completely am not doing the Script Frenzy thing that I mentioned before. Although, I am writing a script so perhaps that means that, inadvertantly, I am actually doing it. I need to settle down into a routine.

I got four lovely books from Gallery Press today. It was really exciting.

I really like the books that they do; they smell good and are beautifully bound. I got Pirandellos by Thomas Kilroy, and Marble, The Cordelia Dream and The Mai by Marina Carr. They’re all plays, and I’m greatly looking forward to reading them. Hopefully they’ll help!

Finally, I just finished reading Sophie Kinsella’s Twenties Girl. I know that chick lit has a bad rep in the literary fiction circles that I tend to move in (yes, I really am that amazing. not) but I loved it! Maybe I should write chick lit myself. Although it’s probably really hard. After all, if it was that easy, everybody’d be out doing it and earning millions. My two favourite ladies would have to be Jilly Cooper and Marian Keyes.

They’re making a movie of Rachel’s Holiday!!

Writing prompt for the day: “I have to show you something.”

Here I will leave you with a picture of my wonderful friends, Robert Jones and Áine Belton.

coffee! books! poetry!

Jessica Maybury — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 16:46:00 +0000

A pile of books gifted to me by the unrivalable David Maybury.

Well I haven’t done any work on chords, but 15 pages (or 15 minutes) of the play have been written. I’ve decided to brainstorm until I get back to Galway and then hit the word processor. I’m in Dublin for Easter don’t ya know.

I found myself intrigued by a poem that I found here. Poets of the moment:

I’ve noticed that a lot of people on my blogroll have been writing poetry. Instead, I’ve been agonising about my membership of the Catholic Church. Maybe I should write a poem about it.

Over and out.

Chords

Jessica Maybury — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:15:00 +0000

Chords are not something I’m good at. I remember being really confused in school trying to assign chord arrangements to the respective bass lines, and I haven’t changed much since then. If I could just get a handle on them I could play all the songs that are ratcheding around my head, and I could make up my own stuff on the mandolin…which is what I want to do, ultimately. It’s only taken me a year to make up my mind …

Another thing I have my eye on are clean runs with Mozart. My runs are stumbly at best, and need work. Well, to be honest, everything needs work. Perhaps another six week plan is in order.

Anyway, I did a bit of a troll around and here are some sites that I found handy;

http://www.pianoblog.com/

http://the-piano-blog.blogspot.com/

http://www.pianostreet.com/blog/

On the benefits of drinking Tea

Jessica Maybury — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:54:00 +0000

With so much on at the moment, I’ve been drinking a record-breaking amount of tea. Here’s some reasons why it’s good for you:

It keeps you awake
You get that weird aftertaste and rough tongue after a while but really, if it makes you feel like a junkie, it must be good

OK by ‘many’ I clearly meant two.

I went to the Cúirt programme launch and got a bit hammered. I did manage to meet the lovely Nuala Ní Conchúir, though, which is something I’ve been wanting to do since I read her collection Tatú. I’m going to be a giant dork and ask her to sign it at Cúirt. I also ranted at Susan Millar Du Mars, for which I’m sorry! So much wine (five glasses. I’m a lightweight now).

I was at the Irish Blog Awards in the Radisson last night, and it was really fun. A lot more craic than I was expecting. I wasn’t sure about what to wear so I can-can skirted it. Oh yeah baby.

Off I go to ‘write’ some more of my ‘play’. Harder than I thought. I leave you with Panti’s blog.

All Go

Jessica Maybury — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:06:00 +0000

The launch of THREE TIMES DAILY (join the facebook group here) is during Cúirt, on the 21st of April, 5.30 pm, Bar No 8, Galway. Be there or be a giant melon.

Mike McCormack says it is “a terrific anthology laced with edgy wit and imagination. Here are the confident, sparky voices of a new generation of writers.”

Currently madly adapting Reversals to a full-length play in less than a week. Frantically reading Woman and Scarecrow and the complete works of the man himself, Samuel Beckett. The amount of pages usually, for a full length play, stands at 90. Yipee, I say.

Also! Also also, got some freelance writing work! Applying for jobs in London is appearing to have paid off. I have three on the go at the moment, so there’s a little cash coming in. Hello riches!