Wednesday, 25 June 2014

The Return of Summer


Our beautiful summer has returned! She took her time leaving the cocoon;  I think because it must have been so very warm and cozy, but she braved it and has begun to blossom.

My spring has been very busy and quite wonderful. In April I was named a recipient for FACTOR funding for New Canadian Recording Artists and I’ve been busy doing just that. I’m recording with Russ Mackay at Blue Sound and Music in Toronto and we hope to share our musical creations with you soon. I’m thrilled to be working with Russ and I’m very excited to be sharing my songs with you; it means a lot to me and we’ve been working hard in the studio. I’m so thankful that I am able to share my gift of music and hopefully I can make a little difference in the lives of others.

Over the last while I’ve enjoyed wonderful performances and have met people who would be impossible to forget.  Last Friday for instance, I sang in Sudbury, Ontario in a place called the Fromagerie Elgin, run by two charming gentlemen, Andy and Jake. The Fromagie is an enchanting little place where sweethearts seem to flock and where wine and cheese and music flourish. I sang to a lovely audience and had the pleasure of meeting one of my Twitter friends for the very first time face to face.  We were able to share our stories, our dreams, and our passion for music.

In May I had the honour of singing with The Legendary Canadian Singer/songwriter Dan Hill. I have always loved Dan’s music and was so thrilled to sing with him. He is a beautiful person with a gentle soul, a true artist.
 
 

I’ve written a number of new songs this spring and I seem to be bubbling over with sound. One of my songs was inspired by a book I had been reading. I could see everything about this song, it had a living form, characters, a plot, colours, it took on its own personality and its own being like all creations, stories, and songs.

This weekend I'll be singing at a Street Festival. Over the summer I will be singing around Muskoka and Northern Ontario. Next week it's planned for me to be singing in Huntsville in conjunction with the Algonquin Theatre, somewhere along the waterfront. In July I’m being presented in Bala by The Actor’s Colony Theatre. I will also be doing a summer residency at Deerhurst Resort and in August I’ll be singing The Winderemere Golf and Country Club, and of course I’ll be singing some more street festivals. I’m singing a house concert for a corporate event and will be returning back to Peterborough to The Carpe Diem to seize another day!

Some highlights of my season have been my first swim of the year with my Bailey woof woof, some traveling I’ve done, and my garden that is growing. Tonight I collected mint leaves for my dinner.

I’m just so thankful for everyone who’s taken the time to read my blog. Your support is so important to me! Please keep checking in at http://molliemoloney.com/ and my concert list as it is dynamic and ever-changing. It seems to move around in its own little way.

I’m so looking forward to singing for you,

~Mollie

Wednesday, 9 April 2014

Spring News


 

S is for the sun that shines on us
   P is positive and loves to trust
       R is for respect in every-little- aspect
            ING is knowing you are truly grow-ING,-glow-ING, go-ING?!
                     Spring’s returned to us at last!

 

Beautiful Spring-Welcome Home!

The robins have landed the seagulls call.
I'm singing my songs- for one and for all.
The winter came in with a storm full of rage
I felt like a songbird at home in my cage
At home in my cage-how strange that must sound.
What songbird is happy with feet on the ground?
The season has chimed as winter would fall
I’m dancing in time to a click-for my ball
The journey’s begun with a book and a page
I've felt like a prop right at home on the stage
At home on the stage-how mysterious the sound
At home on a page-how marvelous the crown.



 
This winter has been truly wonderful. I have met so many people who I’ll never forget, and on those days when I feel discouraged and grey I’ll remember only their light and will all the bad away. Thank you so much for all of your support. You know who you are! You're beautiful Uniques.

 

I started off the year with performances in Huntsville, Midland, Waubaushene, Paris, Brantford, Peterborough, Barrie, Shelburne, Bracebridge, Port Severn. Ontario was my wintery home. I was interviewed for radio by a lovely man named Grant and another named James. I played many beautiful pianos, some tuned, some un-tuned, and some I even named.

 

I’ve learned many things and I’ve written new songs. I’ve started working with some lovely people and have headed into a studio of brilliant blue sound, as blue as the loveliest sky, and as musical as the loveliest sound. I work with a gem named Russ and another named Arun. I’ve been mentored and supported by a Scarlet Pimpernel and we’ve created goals, a mission, and an orchestration of positivity, determination, and most of all patience (shamefully one of my silliest struggles) :)

 
I was captured on TV by Cottage Life and Cogeco and will be appearing with Elizabeth on Rogers in Midland soon. I promise to keep you posted and up to date. March finished off on a high note. FACTOR supported me with funding to continue my dream and I am so thankful. I could have danced all night!

 
My family is well. Bailey is happy. He’s singing more than ever and has objected to finding a day job? He tells me he likes lying in the sun.

 
Drum tracks have been laid, bass I think too.  Maps have been planned out and explored through and through. On Thursday, I’m heading to the city of colour, the city of sound. I’ll record with a click, with a drum, let the music abound. Wish me luck. I’m dyslexic at best and rhythm has always been a challenge and a test.

 
New sounds coming soon. New shows on the rise. To Peterborough, To Huntsville, To Bala, To Sudbury, To the south, To the north, To the east, To the west. Call me hither and I shall arrive.

 
One day we will meet! I can't wait till the day, but until then I’d like only to say…Be beautiful, be safe, and be very happy this spring!

 
Love,

 
~Mollie

Thursday, 13 March 2014

A Midnight Moment!


 What am I thinking?
I’m thinking about the fascination of words and how they define our lives. I was reading a short quote just now by Oscar Hammerstein it goes something like this… “All sounds of the earth are like music.” I believe that.  I wanted to acquaint myself with these words and reflect on three of them: sound, earth, and music, and that’s what I’ll share here! I’ve taken a moment for each word and jotted down what they mean to me! Enjoy!

Sound

When I think of “sound” I think of the sounds defined by my life. I think of My mother's voice, my brother’s high pitched belly laugh when we're watching Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin movies, and I think of my Dad singing Jimmy Buffet and "Down by the Bay"  to a circle of happy kids around a campfire. I remember the sound of the wind and waves beating against our 24 foot Shark "Tyme Out" and the afternoons I spent sitting on her bow dangling my bare feet into the waves. I think about those summer nights gazing at the stars from inside the refuge of her v-birth and falling asleep to the gentle rocking sound of her hull against the water and the tinging of the halyards hitting her mast.

My neighbourhood friends come to mind and a game Jeremy named "Elmo” an exhilarating and nervy game we played night after night. I think of the haunting train whistle blowing through our town? Is it Dad? Will that be his train? Or is Ollie passing through? I think of Maia, and her thick Latvian accent, the sound of her hands swiftly playing across the old Anglican Church piano, the first time I heard Puccini, my first opera, and the first time I danced in my living room at a family party to Queen’s  "Another  One Bites the Dust.”  Delicious.  Every Saturday night my parents would turn Big Band onto the local radio station and on Sunday mornings the bacon would be sizzling and we'd be dancing and performing our flying acrobatics through the house to Swan Lake and Carousel with our colourful ribbons and cap guns blazing.

Sound has significantly shaped my entire existence! I found sound through those countless hours of Voice and Piano practice, scales, and vocalises and the sound of my beloved animals. I still remember the sound of that strong bay horse carrying me across my first jumping course, her galloping hooves along the dusty beaten ground, an eager greeting, and a soft gentle breath we shared quietly in her stall. I think of that fire siren, command signals, alerts, a hospital, and dedicated comrades hard at work trying to help the best they could. Oh God those amazing off tune Wednesday evening choir practices with Casey, Judith, Angie, Rick, Carol, Lynn, Katerina, Barb, John, and Betty wrong notes and missing breaths and the choir master frustration. The sound- the hum-the buzz of a small town how could one forget. I think of the sound of silence in the bush my hikes and adventures through Mount St. Swamp and my pondering rock. Elsa's laugh. The whistle of the lifeguard, the clip clopping along corridors and a sterile nursing ward, the sound of a cry, an ache, a love and a tenor serenade,  that Log Cabin, a busy kitchen, a spring wedding, a live band singing “Stand By Me”, dishes breaking and a loud OPA in festive style, a glass of Pinot Gregio being poured, the sound of rushing, pacing, and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and “Bella, Bella, espresso, espresso”, children laughing and stories aloud, the call of the seagull,  my howling Bailey,  a concert, a tuned piano, and an unturned piano...The voice of healing,  the voice of strength, laughter, popcorn popping, Katie, reading aloud, CBC and BBC, shaking Beatrice and her rattling teacups, late nights with sound and only sound. This is what defines me and this is what defines my sound.



Earth

When I think of earth I think of mud pies and beaten trails, a construction site and hammers, and paths through a backyard bush. I think of The Salt Docks and the flat hot rocks by the bay, my family home, The Big Blue Fish on the Hill, the trees, the rocks, the grass, and the moss. I think of Haines Lake and I think of Rankin Lake.  I think of canoe trips and driving trips some to Cape Hatteras and another to Newfoundland, Kensington Market, and the Scarborough Bluffs. The earth brings me country drives along old country roads that lead to old country hunt camps, farmlands, and meadows upon meadows of freedom. I think of a Log Cabin that felt like home and a ward where I felt sadly alone.  Yes, I think of the earth as being round, but round in a way that is completely open to dreams. Huh, a possible world!  Sometimes you can’t believe in your dreams until you climb way up high and look down at them! Earth to me is an untameable creature. We think we can plan her out and kind of trick her into what we want her to be for us, but the funny thing is we can’t and that’s what’s truly so marvelous about her! She always runs the show.  She’s a heaven on earth. Those feet that walk, run, and play on her quilted landscape and those arms that cultivate, wheel, work, mend, and heal upon her rooted core. Our beautiful nature and those imperfections in everything we love and hate, but most of all I want to love and respect this place we call home.
Music

Expressions, ideas, emotions, sounds, and experiences we so creatively add to rhythm, harmony, and colour a simple and crazed pleasure for the brave and living. Music defines who we are and nurtures our time on this beautiful earth. It comes to us at different stages in our lives for different reasons. Right away I think of my uplifting times, the celebrations, a love, an infatuation, my friendships, thoughts, deceit, sadness, and healing. One thing I have noticed and perhaps you have found this too is that our ears like to change on us.  I listen to music I never imagined or dreamed I would ever listen too, but through experiences I can relate to all sorts of different colours and sounds. There’s nothing like metal on a sunny day! Music, sound, and earth are all gifts and every sound good, bad, celebratory, silly, sad, angry, thought provoking, spiritual, heavy, cultural etc., etc., etc. as the King of Siam would proudly sing out in only a Rogers and Hammerstein fashion. They are all beautiful sounds, we can’t always appreciate and understand them at the time of their birth but what we can do is collect them all and share them in our lives without even knowing. We do this all the time because they are what make us who we are.

 If you ever drink five cups of Peacock Green Tea with friends before bed and have a midnight moment like me try your hand at experimenting with words. I dare you to jot them down and express how they’ve changed your life.  It’s rather fun. Sweet dreams! I believe morning has broken!

~Mollie

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Winter's Solstice


I’m writing to you from my desk, a white washed desk passed down to me. My desk has a dainty shape. It has been marked by many a pen and has scribbled notes with long lost secrets hidden on its body.

 I’m warm, but let me fool you not! It’s teeth chattering cold out there! We've had record breaking chills in Ontario and across Canada and where I am we have heavy, heavy snow; magnificent for dog-sledding (with Bailey), skiing, fort building, skating, and that snowshoe too good to forget! 

You should see this massive white snow drift that’s made its home in front of my window. It’s huge! I can’t really make out my neighbour’s house any longer, except for some smoke puffing at odds.I don’t take enough time to observe these things, so I’ll do it here now. At my sill some healthy mint leaves thrive, there sits a beautiful bouquet of freshly cut flowers from friends, two volumes of Cassell’s New German and French Dictionaries (a resolution), and a handsome porcelain prima  ballerina, a gift, with a story. 


December the twenty-first proclaimed her Winter’s Solstice and she’s here. It was a memorable month for me and I hope it was for you. I sang some beautiful concerts and met some real lovelies. Christmas couldn’t have been better I was with family and celebrated in a true northern fashion. For me the New Year rang in with an unforgettable charm and a glass of bubbly….thinking as the clock struck twelve…So many pages still left to turn…

This year I tried to make some “honest resolutions” for myself? One- I will do my best to speak only words of healing! Two- I will encourage and live in faith! Three- I will refrain from the use of the nonsensical sound “um” in my daily life and four-I will finally finish and read 100 of the world’s best books. Right now I’m on“Persuasion” by Jane Austen. I have far to go!I’m a huge JA fan and am finding Persuasion to be one of my favorites. So far there is this tremendous amount of agony and contraction and this complicated struggle for truth and depth, a love well deserved. There’s a read for every space and for every feeling.  I’m feeling this one!

This year I’ll be heading back into a studio in Toronto to record some new music! I've been writing up a fury and I think I’m maturing as a songstress? I’m so excited to record!  I’ve found recording to be a vulnerable and intimate experience, the kind that gives you butterflies and tingles. It makes me nervous but in a transitional sort of way. I love it and am so thankful I’ve taken the blind double-flipping sow cow fly from the seat of my pants to dive into somewhere. It’s quite a something.

2014 will be a touring year!  I’m meeting new musicians that will join my touring dance, and am playing in a labyrinth of Ontario communities and perhaps heading across the borders. This year I’m beginning to lengthen my tours so the “Gypsy Queen” and I will be learning the ropes on hotel living! Please check out my concert tab for upcoming shows near you! Hopefully we’ll meet up somewhere somehow soon!  You can tune into my gypsy dance around Ontario by reading about it here, or on Twitter, or on Facebook, or on Blogger! Maybe even somewhere else who knows what the universe will hold!  I promise to share more when I know more. Each day has a will of its own—doesn’t it!

For NOW take a breath and live in the moment!

~Mollie

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas to you all!


It’s Christmas Eve! Our tree is bright with lights, our presents are wrapped, and excitement is in our midst.
Here in Parry Sound we’ve enjoyed a beautiful day full of sunshine and I’ve just come in from a snowshoe with Bailey.
Tonight my family will gather for hors d'oeuvres and a snowshoe trek through a candle lit trail. We will light our Christmas candles and say the Rosary. My brother will read “The Night Before Christmas” as always and we will play games and music. We’re all just going to savour each other’s time and just be. I’m so thankful for family and special times like these!
 I would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you’ll have a wonderful evening making memories with the people you love. Take time to remember the meaning of Christmas and to welcome into your lives the people in need of your love and care. Sending out my warmest wishes and love for the holiday season. Stay safe and Merry Christmas! Ho, Ho, Ho!
I’d like to share with you a Christmas song of mine called “He’s Our Son”.  The song is a conversation between Mary and Joseph on the birth of their son Jesus.  Hope you enjoy!

Sunday, 8 December 2013

Bala Trek to Bethlehem

It's the eighth day of Christmas and my true love said to me relax, sit down, and have a cup of tea! So that's what I'm doing! I'm watching the newly fallen snow flurry past my window and I've got my warm cup of rosehips and hibiscus tea, my true English treasure just in time to share what I did last night- My Trek to Bethlehem.

My trek began at five o'clock. I departed with a troupe of merrymakers, my Christmas colours, and my carols to the land of Bala, Ontario in the heart of Muskoka. It was a wintery drive and from where I was sitting in the passenger seat it felt like I was molded into a snow globe. Some parts of the highway had not been plowed which definitely made it an eventful and courageous journey.

I was to sing at twenty after six and was met at the door by angels and prophets warning me to steer clear of the Roman soldiers! I was told that they were in a fowl mood that night. They said to make sure I had paid my taxes and here I was, I had just arrived both curious and confused, slightly frazzled, and just trying to find the piano I was supposed to be playing on in twenty or so minutes and hoping it wasn't in a fowl mood. After some mindful searching a kind angel pointed the way and I got myself settled for my first set.

Soon after playing I got ready to journey outside. I was prepared! I had my lime green propylene Long Johns, my snow pants, my down feather coat, hat, gloves, scarf and so on. I was ready to trek. I was ready for anything! So I joined into a group lead by the Prophet Matthew from the House of David. He lead us, might I say, completely in character cloaked in a beautiful garb along the torch lit village streets of Bala.

I had heard about the Trek before, but had never been able to make it out. It seemed like conflicting dates, life, and weather had always made it a challenge for my family. I'm thrilled that I could make it this year!

Matthew from the House of David lead us (his family) along Mary and Joseph's path to Bethlehem- Along the path were various homes and displays decorated and acted out in historical character and costume. We went past a live donkey, a live miniature horse,  a market place full of spices and copper and salted fish, the Three Kings of the Orient, a choir of singing angels surrounded by lit clouds on a balcony. We walked amongst lepers and prophets, shepherds tending their sheep and an Innkeeper at his Inn. We had to pay our taxes to the tax collector and show our papers to the fowl Roman soldiers so we could pass through into the manger where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus calmly and quietly (maybe a little cold) waited for us beneath a shining star. It was enchanting-lovely- and was really inspiring in community spirit!

It was an incredible Christmas experience. I was profoundly amazed by how a group of around 100 or so local volunteers could put on such a beautiful event for twenty years and counting. We were taken to an Inn after the trek to have hot cocoa and baked treats. I had my cocoa quick and zipped back inside to sing some more. I had a great time and it really made me think of the meaning of Christmas and the meaning of community! I can't wait to some day bring my children to Trek in Bethlehem (Bala) what a gift that would be.

Wishing all my Christian friends a very Merry Christmas, to my Jewish friends a very Happy Hanukah,  and to all my friends of other religions and beliefs a safe and happy season and if you're ever able to make it to the Bala Trek to Bethlehem no matter what belief- peace and love MAKE SURE YOU GO! You won't regret it.

                        ~Mollie

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Meet Bailey

I just realized I blogged a lot about Bailey yesterday and for all you know he could be a goat! So, I thought I should share some photos and his story...

Bailey wasn't exactly in my plan...We just crossed paths.

I was driving and he ran in front of my car. I remember thinking is that a wolf? a dog? or a creature from Narnia? He was straggled and bedraggled and quite wild at that! He had a rusted chain around his mane and his ribs poked through his coat.

After some skillful and patient coaxing with Tomaso this sweet little Italian man speaking a mixture of Italian, English, and something else I didn't quite understand, we managed to get the flee-bagged, ticked, and tape wormed infested orphan into my car and back to my house.

I spent many hours cleaning and spraying. I was completely terrified that I would wake up with ticks crawling through my hair and burrowing under my skin. Shortly after this Bailey went for his first veterinarians appointment and I had the pleasure of finding out he was not only infested with exterior creepy crawly critters but that he was also deathly ill with worms crawling and creeping inside him too most notably his heart. Bailey had heartworm!  I too was recovering from a worm in my heart so we seemed an ideal match :) We were hopeless heartbreakers together. Pat Bentar's "Love is a Battlefield" became our theme song over the summer of 2012!

After about a month, 50 posters later, radio ads, and missing dog alerts NOBODY CLAIMED HIM and he wasn't exactly what one would call a cheap stray. Our NEW best friends were Jennifer, Ashley, Mallory, and Natalie all from Cottage Country Animal Clinic. What would I do with him? What, What, What!!! .......

This infested creature had immediately stolen my worm infested heart and I knew I had to help him get better someway somehow and that was my therapy. I didn't realize it at the time, but I needed him just as much as he needed me. So, over the course of a summer with arsenic injections and a very long list of meds that I hadn't budgeted in for Bailey lounged on my sofa, my bed, my floor, my hammock, at my feet , and mostly under my piano bench when I was writing songs late at night after coming home from  earning our keep. My Bailey was  lethargic and tired. He needed to rest up and heal. He became my own!


By fall he was robust and strong- By winter he was pulling me on a sled along the icy shores of Georgian Bay--By summer he was swimming and making huge bellyflopping waves off the rocks. You no longer could see his ribs poking through his shaggy fur. His coat was glistening...We were complimented on every outing. We were a gypsy pair he and I. His markings were made known- one floppy ear, a white chest, and a DISTINCT black cross on his tail, the description of a true crossbreed or an angel? your pick. He was my diamond in the ruff. My lesson learned-never judge a.book by its cover and have the courage to trust again.

Once the first summer was over I had prepared myself for the worst, to find him a good home.  I was single, going on the road, free to explore and discover. I felt I couldn't have anything holding me back...Yet, there he was every day and every night under my piano bench, beside my bed, crying when I left the room, ecstatic when I came back, and clumsy as ever so I realized that sometimes life happens when you least expect it. I received a very special gift, a very loyal friend, and a special angel. He may not be able to talk but he sure can sing and he isn't going anywhere we're attached at the hip heartache to heartache (Because WE ARE YOUNG)! Here are some fun pics of Bailey (one with his fitted headphones that I'd mentioned in my last blog).

I just wanted to tell you a bit more in case you really thought he was goat!





                                                                  ~Mollie