About a year and a half ago I answered an ad for musicians to participate in an art project. The project was about “rewilding.” As far as I could figure it out I think the idea was nature taking back developed land.

I brought my old tater bug mandolin to the meeting with the artist, a young french woman. We met up at a forgotten block that feels like nature really is taking it back.

She put a little audio recorder in a patch of weeds and went across the street to shoot video with a Flip camera. It didn’t take long. We did one take each of two songs, parted on the spot, and I never heard anything else about it until just now when I stumbled across it on YouTube, under the title Rewilding With Intention.

It’s not my best singing, but the feeling of the place makes it worth tolerating.

A couple songs from Ghost Solos are in a short film called There is work for you in the sky: see Mars! The short has a lot of charm.

There is work for you in the sky: see Mars! from Antonino Valvo on Vimeo.

I learned about it from this warm email titled “About your job”:

Hello Lucas

My name is Antonino and I’m writing from Italy. I am a young filmmaker and I am writing about the history of my project. 

I’ll be brief: some time ago an actor friend of mine asked me to make a video of his monologue that he had brought as a final exam in his drama school in Bristol. The text was taken from “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury, in particular a novel called The Off Season. 

I made  the video trying to complete an original work and self-sufficient rather than a simple recording of a dialogue. The result was a ten-minute short film rather special, not particularly beautiful or great, but I think an interesting experiment. 

Anyway while I was working in post production, I tried, just for fun and curiosity, some music that could accompany him and help create the atmosphere of this sci-fi Western.

During my research on a free music site I found your songs from your album”Ghost Solos” and I found these really perfect for what I had in mind and I mounted on the video. The effect was amazing. Now that the video is complete I would first like to apologize if I have done this without your permission, but I honestly did not believe that the video had any visibility or was seen by some other person of my friends. 

But now I’m writing because so many people tell me that the video may be interesting for some kind of sci-fi film festival, and I would not miss this opportunity also to thank the many people who helped me for free to realization.Obviously I will not do it without your knowledge, and I’m writing to ask permission to use your own sounds for public screenings.

As you might have guessed the film has no budget production or distribution, and I can not afford to pay the rights, so I’m asking you a favor.

You do not know me and I do not know you, but I think you understand, because your work has given me this impression, I’m not doing this for money. I have ambitions and projects, but it is not business, it is passion. I hope that you agree to grant use of your two songs and I’ll share with you every success this project were to obtain.

The video you can see on my vimeo channel, here’s the link:
http://vimeo.com/28145742

I hope you do not be offended if I uploaded on the Internet, I assure you that I have kept the private link.

Aspect of your news
and thanks for your attention.

Anthony Valvo

When I previously blogged the old old sheet music for “Pompey Ran Away”, I used a scan that only an insane person would try to read:

To make restitution I dug up a better source and clipped out the image for myself and am herein sharing a version that will not cause you to go blind:

I found it on page 57 of a PDF at imslp of Volume 1 of James Aird’s 1782 music book “A SELECTION of Scotch, Englith, Irith, and Foreign AIRS Adapted to the FIFE, VIOLIN, or GERMAN-FLUTE”

Some funny song titles from that book:

• Bung Your Eye
• Carlen Is Your Daughter Ready
• The Widow’s Rant
• Had the Lafs till I win at her
• My Wife’s a Wanton Wee Thing
• For a’that and a’that
• My Mother’s aye Glowring o’er me

And my favorite:

• I’ll Touzle Your Kurchy

From “A Few Words of Advice to Singers” in an 1813 songbook called “David’s Harp”:

1. Let the mouth be opened freely, but not wide, and let the tones proceed from the chest — otherwise they cannot be good.

2. Avoid singing as though the nose was stopped up; — this is commonly called “singing through the nose,” but it is the very reverse of it, as may be proved by closing the nostrils.

3. Never attempt to sing a part for which your voice is not calculated; for if you strive to reach tones which are above your compass — your abortive attempt will have a tendency to depress the pitch of the tune and create unpleasant sensations in yourself and others — men who cannot reach F with ease, had better sing Bass.

4. Stand or sit erect, and avoid all ridiculous gesticulation and affectation; “suit your looks and action to the words,” and if the subject be praise and thanksgiving, you need not look as though you were at a funeral.

5. Above all, let the melody of the song, be accompanied by the melody of the heart; never losing sight of the important direction of the poet, “Rehearse his praise with awe profound, Let knowledge lead the song; Nor mock him with a solemn sound, Upon a thoughtless tongue.”