Maugorn

The hits just keep on coming lately.
I haven't posted here in a very long time, it seems, and that's mostly because my social needs were met by Facebook.

Except... My FB account has been suspended. I don't really know why.
So just in case, I really should diversify my media, hence a post here.

In case you're here and wondering about an update on the whole Mama Tiger saga, she's all but ready for her final journey to the Summerlands.

Her successor has finally been cleared by MD State inspection (the brake problem has been fixed) and our permanent registration will be acquired soon. The new "Tiger Van" still needs to be painted to fully manifest as such, but has a name.

"Tommy Tiger"

Taking an afternoon's break from doing my webconcert publicity and adding back FB friends, to continue some cleaning and decluttering I've been doing.
So I pulled a milk crate out of my wreck of a studio, because it looked like it would be easy to sort. Turns out it's a present from my past self:
It's entirely full of recycling from the last attempt to clean up the studio. It was as easy to deal with as dumping it into a box that's going out with the recycling tonite. And now I have another empty milk crate to help with the greater task at hand.
Thank you Past Me!

2/16/23 Webcast 88 (Valentine's Set)

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
01) Dear Doctor
02) Butterfly (request)
03) You Done Stomped On My Heart
04) You're Breakin' My Heart
05) Back Street Girl

(Electric 6 String Guitar)
06) Last Kiss
07) Cupid
08) Venus
09) It's Only A Paper Moon (request)
10) Sweetheart Tree
11) I Don't Miss Lovin' You (original)

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
12) Delilah
13) Bike
14) Triad
15) I'll Come Running
16) Brandy
17) I'd Lie To You For Your Love
18) (instrumental) Rostiboli Pericoloso (request for instrumental)
19) You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

(Electric 12 String Guitar)
20) Who Knows Where The Time Goes
21) Wild Horses
22) Romeo & Juliet (request)

(Banjo)
23) Pistol Packin' Mama

This is another one of those sets that I look forward
to every year, if for no other reason than the truly
wacky variety of songs that I wind up playing. Many of the
songs, while not direct requests, were the result of choices
I put to various of those in attendance. I'm also happy
that I got to highlight a bit of my original work.

Alas, the time we had was far too short for all of
the songs I'd wanted or wished I could play. BUT-
in two weeks there will be another, and I'll be totally
happy to play some of the leftovers that I didn't get
to hit for this set.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in!

The next webconcert is Thursday, 3/6/23 7:30 pm
http://tinyurl.com/maugieshow

PS.
I just got confirmation for an IN PERSON show at Maryland Meadworks!
It's on 4/28/23 7-10pm.
The theme/occasion is ARBOR DAY.
Look for songs that mention trees in the lyrics

One of my more-distraction-than-comforts filling in the gap from missing FB is sorting and decluttering. Between decades of neglect and the mess of the addition and other renovation, there is SO much crap to sort, re-sort and fix. I'm doing a lot of that. And with the amazingly convenient extra swap space/buffer in the new addition (now that it's done), I'm able to do that alot more effectively and with incredibly less impact on the ordinary life stuff.

But first, a bit of catching up. For close to three weeks now, I haven't had access to my FB account and have zero idea when or if that will ever be fixed. It got hacked and accessed remotely. Whomever did that then tried to friend someone I have no idea of, and then (or simultaneously) posted no less than NINE highly offensive, dangerous, hate filled things or links or (something - I never got to see past the thumbnail), that looked like pro (ISIS) propaganda- terrorist stuff. I got the notification of the remote login (several, in fact), but as I was going through all of the steps that my very panicked brain said I should do- changing my password, banning the non-friend, I never got to the point where I could see the offensive crap and delete it... before the account was shut down. BAM! I honestly can't blame FB for that, but the fact remains that I (ME!) did not post that stuff and so after I was trying to go through what looked like steps to make things right, request a review, etc, I have been shunted to a screen that essemtially says "You disagreed with the decision to suspend your account and so now we have to review it and if you don't pass the review, the account will be permanently deactivated". With some helpful intercession, I managed to gain *just* enough access to delete (hopefully) the offensive posts. However, that has not changed the status of things and that stern, ominous sounding screen is still ALL I can see if I try to log into FB as me.

Time is apparently ticking down to some deadline where the account will be automatically shut down. I have a bit more than a week before that happens. It's also unclear whether it's just my account that will be shut down or ME who is now "off" of FB, with no apparent course for recourse or appeal.

Why is that such a big deal? Well, it just is. If I lose my FB account, I lose contact with a lot of people; A LOT OF PEOPLE. Sure, if I get a new account, I could build all that back up, but I also lose photos, tags to photos, writing I haven't archived, access to lists I used as publicity for my gigs and (now also) webconcerts, contacts for gigs, contacts for potential gigs, on and on and on. It's a setback; a MASSIVE SETBACK, that could not have come at a worse time as this time of the year is when I line up a lot of my paying work. I have other avenues for some, but not all, so I have to do workarounds. Building it all back up will take time AND there WILL be things permanently lost, some of which WILL be work related.

So between work and other things, I am NOT one of those people who can just walk away from FB, clap some dust from my hands and claim that I won't miss the time sink of arguing with idiots and endless cat pics. I USED FB for a lot more than that, and I enjoyed the extended contact.

I also missed a place where longer and deeper posts were more normalised, which *had* been LJ back Before The Black Ships Came and everyone fled here. I had been intending to move my LJ over to here, and this latest crap just reminded me that I was past due to do it.

In the meantime, there is LOTS that needs doing, and LOTS of neglect to undo. I resent seeing this as an expanded opportunity, but I will take it nonetheless. My future self will no doubt thank me for it, as will Sonya. But just as with all to many other times that I've fixed things and stubbornly put one foot in front of the other to get past the wreckage of yet another stupid setback, I don't have any pollyannaish notions of making lemonade from lemons or some shit like that. The stuff has to be done, and while getting more done is good, this is not a Good Space. I won't look back from the future and see me having been done any favours right now. If you comment, please, PLEASE refrain from saying that.

I realise I am late to the game here, but better late than late is what I say.
I'll be importing my Live Journal, of course and setting up more of the things as I go.

1/5/23 Webcast 85

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
01) Long Black Veil (request)
02) Into The Mystic
03) Rocky Mountain High
04) Who Knows Where The Time Goes?
05) Six Snow Flakes (original) (request)
06) All Things Must Pass

(Banjo)
07) Detectorists' Theme
08) Wanted Man
09) Fiddler's Green (request)
10) I'll Tell Me Ma
11) Grandma's Feather Bed

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
12) Loch Tay Boat Song
13) Jenny Of Oldstones
14) Colorado Rockies
15) Almost Cut My Hair
16) If You Could Read My Mind

(Electric 12 String Guitar)
17) Door Into Summer
18) Children Of The Revolution
19) Little Wing
20) Mr Tambourine Man

It was a fine night! I got to sing about several
ultra-important things, like, for instance:
National Bird Day!
It was one of those in attendance who brought
this ultra-important fact to light for us, and
so I marked the occasion with a couple of songs
that mentioned or alluded to birds.
I also got to scratch some itches for some
John Denver and some Johnny Cash.
My favourite of my originals was also requested,
so YAY! for that.
And... I got to end the night with one of
my favourite songs *by* The Byrds. (well, by
Bob Dylan, actually, but it was the Byrds'
version that inspired me to learn it and
my arrangement of it)

Thanks to everyone who tuned in. The
next webconcert is Thursday, Jan 19th!

12/15/22 Webcast 83

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
01) Jamaica Farewell
02) Butterfly (request)
03) Dear Boss (request)
04) Workin' At The Carwash Blues
05) The Night Nothing Happened In Dublin (original)(request)
06) Staffordshire Home (original)(request)
07) Can't Find My Way Home
08) A Pirate Looks At 40 (request for Jimmy Buffet)
09) Summertime
10) John Barleycorn (request)

(Electric 12 String Guitar)
11) California Dreamin' (request)
12) Door Into Summer
13) I'm A Believer
14) Sugar Magnolia
15) Little Wing
16) Romeo & Juliet
17) Cool It Down
18) Stray Cat Strut

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
19) Imagine (request)
20) Heather On The Moor (request)
21) Son Of A Son Of A Sailor (request)

It was a dreary, rainy, (or icy- depending on where
you were) cold night. So for my part I focused on
some music from warm places, as did the many requests.
A singular thing that pleases me is that two of those
requests were for original songs! It was a good night.
Thanks to everyone who tuned in.
The next one is Thursday, December 29th. That one will
feature my "Wintry Mix" of Yuletide observances, other
holiday fare, wintery magick, and some other "cool"
surprises that are now in the works.

11/26/12 The Time Travellers' Social At Chessiecon

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
01) Time In A Bottle
02) The Time Travellers' Ball (original)

03) Petit Vriens
With Elena Stark- Harp & vocals + Some Bibbering Humdingers
on recorder, drum and other instruments

04) The Time Warp
With Elena Stark- vocals

05) Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (part 1)
06) Yarn Of The Nancy Bell
07) Voyaging To Vinland
08) The Night Nothing Happened In Dublin (original)
With some Blibbering Humdingers on bodran, mandolin,
and maybe other instruments, it was a mad scene!

(Short guest set from The Bibbering Humdingers)

(Banjo)
08) Hero Of Canton

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
09) Waltzing With Bears
10) King Tut
11) Walk Like An Egyptian (debut)
12) Stray Cat Strut
13) Who Knows Where The Time Goes?
14) What A Wonderful World

What a wonderful time it was! I got to tell some of my
worst jokes, and play some great songs.

My highlights included:
-An original that I may or may not ever play again.
I set a limerick about the "Time Travellers' Ball" to
music. And to make a fine meta joke about it, I set
the same limerick sung a bunch of times to a *bunch* of
music from a crazy mix of genres and styles, including
a couple of shoutouts to some musical iconic bits and
cliches, like you do... because: time travel.
Ok, I thought it was hilarious.
-Getting to perform with Scott and a couple of
other members of the Bibbering Humdingers on some
tunes. We're acquainted as colleagues from places
like Pennsic where we usually pass each other by on
our ways to our respective works. I don't think
we've gotten to actually play together. This
was a fun and a precious moment. They added
just the right touches! They also covered some
sonic space as a guest cameo as I took a break.
- I got to debut a song that I thought would be
great fun for this scene.
- What I thought were some perfect tunes to play
for the occasion!

Thank you, Chessiecon for this lovely opportunity.
I hope we get to do it again, some other... time!

11/3/22 Webcast 80

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
01) Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
02) The Ghost In You
03) Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (pt1)
04) Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead
05) Jenny Of Oldstones (debut)
06) This Wandering Day
07) The Highwayman
08) Dire Wolf

(Banjo)
09) The Hell Of It
10) Mary Ellen Carter (request)
11) Best Of All Possible Worlds

(Electric 12 String Guitar)
13) Me And Bobby McGee
14) Folsom Prison Blues
15) Children Of The Revolution (debut)
16) Season Of The Witch (seque into)
17) Ramble On

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
18) I Don't Want To Live On The Moon
19) Pretty In Pink
20) The Mouse
21) Blood And Roses
22) The Night Nothing Happened In Dublin (original) (request)

It was night filled with leftovers, new things, and
since it was webcast #80, some things from the 80's.

It was kind of neat that for an "encore", that someone
absolutely *needed* one of my originals.

Thanks to everyone wwo tuned in. The next one is Nov. 17th

10/5/22 Webcast 78

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
01) Maggie Mae
02) This Wandering Day
03) Cape Cod Girls (request for Sea Shanty)
04) The Night Nothing Happened In Dublin (original)
05) Last Farewell
06) Forever Autumn
07) I Don't Want To Live On The Moon
08) Enchanted Gypsy
09) Shankhill Butchers

(Electric 12 String Guitar)
10) Cold Dead Hands (original)
11) Dock Of A Bay

(Electric 6 String Guitar)
12) Moon River (request)
13) Sweetheart Tree
14) Bandit Queen

(Acoustic 12 String Guitar)
15) Norwegian Wood
16) Cool Water
17) If You Could Read My Mind (request for Gordon Lightfoot)
18) Father & Son (request for Cat Stevens)
19) Honey Pie (request for Beatles)

Once again, a wonderful and eclectic set.
The highlights for me included:
-Some more exposure for "This Wandering Day", which
is an awesome song from the new new _Rings Of Power_
TV show. I'd debuted the song at the Ravenwood
Faire, the weekend before.
-A couple of tunes on the Gretsch electric 12 string,
which is not my usual thing.
-Excellent requests!

The lowlights were some persistent weird cable problems
that kept me from recording the set. Grrr.
They're fixed now. I have NO idea why that cable failed
as it's working fine now.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in.
The next one will be October 20th, and likely have
lots of spooky, autumny things in it.