| DeanMail: June 18, 2019 - All Hail the Prince of Whales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Hey
Folks, All Hail the Prince of Whales! And while we're at it, let us... Lend an Ear to the Duchess of Corn Wall! Yeah, I know, it's easy for us Americans to make fun of the royals. Or at least it was, until an unfortunate orange aberration befell us and, in no time at all, succeeded in making the royals - normally easy targets of mockery, derision and ridicule - suddenly seem smart, suave and sophisticated, by comparison.  By
the way, as a point of interest, when I debuted my Music Atrium
Instruments - a musical playground for kids - at the Eureka! Children's
Museum of Halifax, back in 1992, the Prince of Whales was there to
commemorate the museum opening - pictured here conversing with Scoot, a
talking robot. The museum was abuzz with all the preparation for his visit. Bomb-sniffing dogs searched the grounds and we all had to wear paper booties so as not to track 
any dirt onto the spotless floors. He arrived with a phalanx of security
and was given a tour by Dame Vivien Louise Duffield, the museum's
founder. He actually tapped the Jingle-Lingle-Lilies, stepped on the
musical Tone Stones and strummed the Laser Harp. He absolutely refused,
however, to sit on the Honkblatt! Understandably, given that the
Honkblatt consisted of three, nine-foot, fiberglass, golden horns
attached to three spring-loaded pneumatic stools connected to fog-horns
- when you sat on the stools you triggered a enormous BLAAAATTTT! Kids
loved it! The
 museum
staff... not so much. You can see the Honkblatt in action - along with my Jingle-Lingle-Lilies, Tone Stones, Booble, Boing-D-Boing and Laser Harp at the following link: https://youtu.be/_qiQfA4cgGI Funny story: Scoot the Robot, a feature of the 'Me & My Body' exhibit, was programmed to interact with visitors by posing a series of silly questions about the five senses, including 'hearing'. By sheer coincidence, the very first question he asked Charles was, "Hey there, what are those two big floppy things sticking out of the sides of your head?" Oh, and here's another curious sidebar to my Boobles, Honkblatts and Boing-D-Boings: Did you ever wonder what possible connection there might be between me and legendary progressive rock band, Pink  Floyd?
Well, I'm glad you asked! ;-) Turns out that following the divorce
between Pink Floyd's co-founder Roger Waters and his third wife (one of
four) Lady Carolyne Christie (niece of the 3rd Marquess of Zetland),
Lady Carolyne generously donated a portion of her divorce settlement -
revenues from 'Dark Side of the Moon' - to the Eureka! Children's Museum
for a music exhibit. Yup! My Booble, Honkblatt, Boing-D-Boing,
Jingle-Lingle-Lilies, Tone Stones and Laser Harp were all paid for by
one of the best-selling prog-rock albums of all time!And here's an obscure musical tribute I wrote and recorded back in 1979, sure to tickle your funny-bone,  which
expresses my deep fascination and wonder at the world of the British
Royals, Prince Charles in particular. Bear in mind this was before he
married Diana, and was still a unmarried, polo playing,
prince-about-town. It's titled, 'Charles
the Bold' [click to listen] And while I'm at it, just to give equal time to the Duchess, here's a demo of the song I was commissioned to write, back 
in 1991, for an episode of the TV series, 'Eerie Indiana' [season 1;
episode 16]. Lend an ear to, 'The
Loyal Order of Corn [click to listen]' . You can see an
excerpt of the song, as used in the show, at around 1:14 of the episode
on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/288105631 (not sure if this will play in the
UK).I also wrote a song for another episode of that spooky, hip series - which was written and produced by my borther-in-law, Karl Schaefer - titled, 'Foreverware', but as these musical connections are becomming more and more tenuous, I'll leave that story for another day! |
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So, to my great surprise, looking at the calendar, just now, it appears that the second leg of my 2019 UK tour is only a month away - July 18 I'm at the Deco Theatre, Northampton, then on Saturday & Sunday, 20th & 21st July is my SongFest (south) in Wareham ORDER TICKETS, followed by SongFest (north) in Crewe ORDER TICKETS on the 27th & 28th July - with gigs in between, 24th in East Hagbourne [SOLD OUT], 25th Abergavenny ORDER TICKETS, 26th Henley-in-Arden [SOLD OUT] Then heading north towards Scotland with gigs in Otley, Dumfries, Livinston, Glasgow, Musselburgh, St Andrews winding up at the Edinburgh Fringe. ORDER TICKETS to ALL the GIGS |
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By now you should already know what's coming next, which is: here's a list of the incredibly gifted singer-songwriters who'll be joining me at SongFest (south & north): Chris Difford (of Squeeze; yes, that Squeeze!) - Richard Digance - Boothby Graffoe - Tracey Curtis - Kal Lavelle - Fiona Bevan - Boo Hewerdine - Charlotte Campbell * - Martyna Wren ** and, yup, me too, Dean Friedman. [* south / ** north] |
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 Listen
to me, friends... these are undeniably difficult times. If you're
feeling stressed, worn down, listless and uninspired... do yourself
a favor and spend the next 3 minutes and 25 seconds immersing
yourself in this slice of sublime songwriting by the inimitable
Boothby Graffoe. https://youtu.be/9KI0y_FOIXg titled,
"Don't Put That There It Will Fa- Oh Look!", (aka
"Bungee Girl"). I promise the world will look
entirely different, afterwards - better. Slightly more absurd - but,
decidedly better! Much better!! ;-)
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And Boothby Graffoe is just one of the outrageously talented performers who'll be joining me at SongFest (south & north). You know you want to attend one of the SongFests (south & north). So what's stopping you? The uncertainty of Brexit? Really?! F*&%@ Brexit! ;-) Don't let Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Vladimir Putin decide how you spend your days or what music you get to listen to! If you're on this email list I assume you like really good songs and if that's the case, well, listen... if you live in Bournemouth, Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Yeovil, Salisbury, Taunton, Worthing, Brighton, Exmouth, Basingtoke, London, or really anywhere in the south of England come join me and a slew of great songwriters at SongFest (south). And if you happen to live in Liverpool or Manchester or Nantwich or Sheffield or Leeds or Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Shrewsbury, Macclesfield, Derby, Nottingham or Leicester, or really anywhere in proximity to the county of Cheshire or where the midlands meet the north, well then, gosh darnit! - you should join us for a fun weekend of song at SongFest (north) |
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Do check out some of the other SongFest artists, at the following link: http://www.songfest.live/artists-all-01.html You'll be glad you did! |
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Last call for anyone interested in exhibiting/selling their wares: crafts, clothing, artwork, jewelry, pottery, sculpture, books, etc... Just email info@songfest.live for more info. And we still have room for a few SongFest volunteers (in exchange for attending) to lend a hand with organizing both fests. Again, just email info@songfest.live for more info. If I somehow offended any ardent royalists in this newsletter, feel free to post snarky remarks on my Facebook page, about Jarred and Invanka. Come to think of it, even if you weren't offended by this newsletter, you're invited to do so. Be well, everybody! See you on the road!  Dean |
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PS: Seriously, folks, if you've always had a song inside just waiting to be teased out of you, you definitely want to check out one or more of the 'Songwriting Masterclasses' being conducted at the two upcoming SongFests. Everyone's got at least one song inside 'em. They just need a little push! ;-) 
 CLICK
for Songwriting Masterclasses |
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ORDER TICKETS BELOW OR CLICK HERE |
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UK / IRELAND - GIGS:
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US - GIGS:
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