feet disguised as people

Annabel's second EP has been released on iTunes and in general, into the world.  Four new songs...check them out here https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/feet-disguised-as-people-ep/id1048288523

or here https://soundcloud.com/forestsong108.

She's continuing to write songs and study guitar, bass and drums. Some days I literally cannot keep up with her pace.

conveyor

Annabel's first EP is available on iTunes and many other music promo sites all over the world, including Russia, Japan, France, and soon India.

Here it is in case you want to check it out https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rain-time/id983742879?i=983742903&ign-mpt=uo%3D4.

Four songs, all are wonderful.  My favorite is called Rain Time.

a new year

Wow, in many ways 2014 flew by.  It was my busiest year in a long time and I blogged the least amount since I have started this blog, which makes me a little sad because I honestly just didn't have much free time.  Writing this blog is really important to me.  I don't have tons of readers at this point, although I used to have more.  But I write for myself and my family.  This is a sort of record of our life. Someday when the kids are grown I hope they will read it and remember these moments.  I am still really behind with our past summer and fall travels, but I will get to them, in good time.

One thing I have learned in life is that for the most part, we are all just doing our best. And my best isn't close to perfection.  That's okay kids.  That's what they call a life.

I am always really happy when a new year begins.  I love the idea of seeing how more of our life unfolds.  And trust me, there have been so many surprises lately, I can't imagine what 2015 will bring.  But I am ready.

Here are excerpts from our holiday letter.

2104 was a busy year with a lot of travel (many college tours).  We went to several places, including Oahu, Los Angeles, NY, Europe, and northern California.  We went on retreat with Amma, saw family back east (spent Father’s Day with Theresa’s dad, which was really special), and returned to Italy and France.  We spent time in beautiful northern California, due to the generosity of our new friend Dennis.  The boys went to see the 49ers play in Santa Clara.  While at home there was a visit from Sky’s childhood friend Naomi, a surprise visit from Uncle JP, a family concert to raise money for Shawn’s school, and many meals cooked at our local homeless shelter. And lots and lots and lots of music.

Shawn is doing well.  He is now eleven years old.  His life is about school, baseball and drums.  He loved playing the king in his school play last spring, raised money for charity by selling baked goods he made himself, and was thrilled on his birthday with surprise tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters.  He played baseball in the spring and pitched many games, had some great hits, and his underdog team won the championship. Shawn does well academically, and started a new middle school this fall, that he likes.  He loves his male teacher, who tells us that Shawn keeps him on his toes with his constant discussions of science and the universe. 

Annabel is really growing up.  She turned fifteen this year.  Her first love is music. This year she released her first album (an EP of four songs), called Conveyor. She recorded this at a top studio, (Thanks Lynn!)  Shawn played drums on the songs, and Gary produced them.  Annabel also played a few live gigs this year and attended summer band camp in Palo Alto, along with Sky and Shawn. Annabel is also really into science, and spends much of her free time learning about chemistry and physics. She is a good student and is already looking into colleges.  Here is a link to Annabel’s songs:

https://soundcloud.com/forestsong108

Sky is eighteen, a licensed driver, and very independent.  She helps us a lot with cooking, grocery shopping, and…driving!  Her focus this past year has been SATs and college - visits, choices, applications, scholarships…She hopes to attend college in California next year. She has taken several college classes at her high school, and next year will venture to the local university campus for more. She is interested in psychology, technology, music and photography.  She plays recreational tennis, and loves her coaches.  She still records many songs, mostly covers, with many tracks and harmonies. Here is her updated website: http://skylarmarks.com/ 

Gary continues to write songs and novels.  He is very involved in the kids’ lives.  He is the one to buy them new instruments, replace drum sticks, find music teachers, or teach them himself.  Annabel and Shawn are now playing piano, Annabel plays bass and guitar, and Sky plays drums.  The family performed a benefit concert this year. The kids all learned two of Gary’s songs and the four Marks musicians performed together for the first time.  In the spring, Gary jumped in to coach Shawn’s team after the head coach quit.  Gary was fantastic with the boys and taught several of them to pitch and hit.  The team went from being one of the worst and depressed teams in the league to being tied for first place and winning the championship.  Shawn hit the winning run, it was all very exciting.

Theresa continues life as mama, wife, cook, nurse, counselor, photographer, blogger. She is also a bit of a farmer, growing bananas this year for the first time ever.  She continues her meditation and yoga practices and is hoping to become a meditation teacher this year. She attended several retreats, and took a few trips: one to see her brother give a medical talk, to California three times to visit with friends, to New York to celebrate her parents 50th wedding anniversary with a party with all her siblings.  Congrats Mom and Dad!  T is planning to apply to graduate school next fall.

So, dear readers, if any of you are reading this, here’s wishing you Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  I always love to hear from you, please comment and tell me how you are.

annabel songbird

I love this picture that Gary took of Annabel in the recording studio.  She is finishing her EP.  There are four songs, I love them all.  She is our unique poetic indie rocker. She is really doing her own thing. She has put so much time into her music the last two years, I am really proud of her.  On this album she sings, plays guitar and bass. And she wrote all of the songs.  Can't wait to share them with you all!

final song from her album

Skylar is pictured above with her ukulele, her newest instrument.  She and Annabel have been playing music together a lot these days.  They are planning to record a Paramore cover together.  They attend a high school where they have some days off weekly and are assigned virtual work.  They get their schoolwork done early in the week, and then make time for music.  It can be a bit chaotic for Gary and me with no regular school schedule (every day is different).   But the girls are having a balanced life, they are students and artists.

This is the final song from Skylar's album.  The song title is "Journal Pg. 15." Click here to hear it. She loves getting comments on her songs if you have YouTube accounts.

annabel's first band gig

We heard about this week long band camp from a friend whose son has done it in the past.  The counselors said we could come the first day to check it out before paying, since we were from out of town.  "We need a lead singer," they had told me.  Annabel was happy to accept the challenge.  The first day we walked in with her, all of us, the five Marks family members, into this tiny room packed with about twelve boys, and two male counselors.  They were friendly and welcoming.  Annabel turned to me and said, "I've got this," and that was our cue to leave.

She went to camp daily for a week, coming home happy and inspired and chatting about her new friends.  Then on Friday afternoon the kids performed five songs, one of which was Annabel's original, a new song that still has no title.  

time

A couple more of Sky's original songs are here, (written in 2009) and here (written in 2010).  The first one is called 'Survival," and the best line from that song is, "How can you love with an unhappy mind?"

The second song is titled "Flying Through Time," appropriately illustrated above.

I am catching myself flying through time these days.  And it seems like all of our kids are ready to take off.  

one fall

This is another one of my girl's songs from her new album.  The title, "One Fall."  I remember when this one was first being created.  We hear her on the piano, working something out, until suddenly there is a new song.  I have no idea how this happens, but all four of the people I live with over here have this gift.  I just listen.

another song

Skylar at 11

Title track of Sky's new album, "Searchlight."  She sure has a way of telling a story.  She has always been fascinated by orphans.

back to earth

I think I have a favorite Sky song.  It's called Back to Earth.  This girl amazes me.  I can't wait to see what she does with her life.  She is already on her way, that's for sure.

a new sky song

Skylar's new album has been released.  She worked very hard on this.  She wrote all of the songs, sang lead vocals and all of her harmonies, and played all of the instruments.  Then she recorded the entire album and mixed it to boot. We sent it to LA to have it mastered.

Sky, I am so proud of you.  The songs are amazing.  (There are seven).

The first song is titled, "Too Wonderful To Be Here."  Skylar wrote this one a while ago, when she was thirteen.  Click here to listen.

circling the world/giveaway

back cover of "No Turning Back" designed by Gary and Sky

Here is the final song to share with you from Gary's new album.  This song, "Circling the World" is described by Gary as "about our inner search to find faith in love."

My interpretation -- This could be romantic love, or Divine love.  I like to think of it as both.

The first line is, "Every mind, circles a world, tries to find the sun it left behind."

That has been my task in the last year since I began my daily meditation.  A beautiful challenge, one that I have to recommit to daily.  It's easy to leave the sun behind.  But it's always there.  We just sometimes forget.

A giveaway of the CD "No Turning Back" is happening this week on Facebook. Click here and like Gary's page to play along!

right reasons

About Gary's song "Right Reasons at the Time," he said, "I got back into Bob Marley for a while and re-listened to 'Three Little Birds.'  He sings 'Don't you worry 'bout a thing.  'Cause everything little thing gonna be all right.'  But we can't always be on the same emotional level as the high priests in this world. This song is about what happens when we ignore the message of the three birds at our door step."

time for a new song over here...

Somehow many of the songs Gary wrote for his new album remind me of our time in Italy, the Cinque Terre region.

This is a song that is close to Gary's heart.

In Papa Maestro's words, "The song 'Bells from Town' is an autobiography that never happened. I imagined one night what might have been if I'd have made other decisions in my life -- basically choosing touring my songs over starting a family. And I saw in a dream an aging washed-up ex-rock 'n roll star living in a big house by himself on a hill overlooking his home town. No one wants him to tour on the big stage anymore. He gave up the girl he loved to chase after that dream, chasing after an image of himself -- a modern Narcissus. And he is left standing at his gate, looking a little thin, hearing the bells from town, and wondering. . . . .

When it was time for the great lead guitarist, Tom Finch, to record his solo I told him the story about this guy and said, 'Tom, be him. He was a great player in his day, but he's done. It's over. And he's angry. He's not ready to stop. He's screaming through this one final great solo of his, that no one's ever going to hear. He's screaming about the loneliness, and the entire waste of a life! Play that!'

Fortunately, Tom Finch is not one to be intimidated. He's the real deal. And this solo proves it. I can listen to it over and over, and I feel this guy standing by his gate, screaming into the wind."

corner view~music

Music adds life to life.

Tonight I was finishing up dinner and I was running late so the natives were a tad restless.  But the broccoli could only cook as fast as broccoli can cook so there was some time to pass.  Gary walked over to the piano and started playing.  Annabel pulled out her electric guitar and joined him.  Shawn walked over to his drumset, turned on his computer to record and joined.  And they jammed.  They sounded great. I stood at the stove and danced while the broccoli sizzled, grateful that this all happened, that it could happen.

Always there is music here.

After dinner Gary showed the kids a video of Chuck Berry playing with John Lennon.  Later Shawn came to me and said that musicians listen to music differently than non musicians, as he commented on a new pop song that he didn't care for much.  "Musicians are more deep about lyrics," he said.  And I wondered what songs he will write some day once he masters the piano he has begun to learn this year.  

We are releasing Gary's new CD, "No Turning Back."  He is getting positive response from fans and new listeners.  Sky is finishing a new CD, and it will be done very soon.

Always there is music.

Here's the latest Gary Marks original song to hear.  It is titled "Words."  The first sentence is great.  "In a life of wandering, never cross a diamond mine with too much money to burn."

Free downloads of his songs are on his Reverbnation and Facebook pages. CDs for sale via moi. Just let me know if you'd like one.

corner view~bridges and backroads

In 2009 we took the kids on a magical trip to France and Italy.

After spend some days in Paris we took a train to Bordeaux and then drove to Sarlat.
We were supposed to take a highway but quickly got lost from the directions that had been given to us in French, so we took the backroads.
What a fortunate change of plan!  We drove through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen.  This country girl was in heaven.  It was one of my favorite parts of our entire trip!

I wrote about the train ride here and told the road trip story in detail here, if you want to see.

And if you are interested in listening to some new original American rock 'n roll, check out my husband's new song, appropriately called "Out My Window."

corner view~stunning architecture

Only in Europe will one find buildings like this.

When I am there I can hardly believe people can walk around without being totally stunned by the amount of beauty everywhere!

If you have liked my husband, Gary's music in the past you can either scroll down a bit, or click on this post and this post to hear two new songs from a new album.  And stay tuned, for there will soon be a giveaway.

wake

Best. song. ever.  Makes me cry every time I hear it.  Click here.
Free downloads here or here.

Wake

We walked to the top of the wave                            
Touched the peak of the sunrise all ablaze
Crazy blue floating down as we feel                     
The time like a pulse til we know it’s real
               
Our colors shine
Good morning stranger                                         
Time to wake 

We walk through the streets of our town
Lights blurred and frozen from drops of rain
Somehow the moon still appears  
Through the clouds and the wind and the winter years

Time falls like snow
Good morning coldness
Time to wake 
  
We sit at the top of the stairs
Looking out to the life that we tried to share
And your eyes seem to swirl like the day
That we met and you walked me into the waves

Good morning night
World starts to fade now
Time to wake 

written by Gary Marks © 2012 Marksland Entertainment

corner view~shadow

Hello corner viewers.  Today is the perfect day to share something with you.  A few months ago Annabel wrote a song called Shadow.  Here she plays it live on electric guitar in her cool rock star outfit.  

She has been writing a novel and lots of poems too.  She would be thrilled to have feedback with her writing, if you have time to jump over to her new blog, Glimpses of Imagination, and say hello.   

Meanwhile, "Shadow" is a very evocative song, I think.

Lyrics -
Frozen darkness speared with the light

I turn away so I will not see
Your reflection
I know it's not real
So why can't I burn you away?

And I know I shouldn't be asking questions to myself
I'm only gonna hurt

So turn around, let me see your eyes
Don't look away from the damage you've done
Hold me
Don't abandon
Like I always knew you would
But I fell for your shadow

Empty trenches filling with sand
Are they still trenches?
Is our anger love

Show me
Your face again
It's made of glass and your sockets are hollow
Eyes, they are on fire
I can't look away from your shadow

I try to talk to you but I walk away in tears
Is it so hard to say?

"I love you. Your beautiful."
And look me in the eye.
Don't fall back into your other world
Where everything is burning
The pain keeps them alive

Pull your hand away
Pull your mind away from my tears
Because I won't love a shadow.

no turning back

Gary's new album is out.
This is my favorite to date.  I am really hooked on these songs.
There are seven gorgeous compositions, including some incredible ballads and very catchy rock songs.

There are free downloads of the title track available here on Facebook or here on Reverbnation.

To listen to this song on Youtube, click here.

Lyrics-
Some of us fear the dark
Some of us fear the light
Someone needs to love
Someone needs to be free to find
love in their own time.

Some never find their way
They don't know what they feel
Don't be one of them
don't let them steal what's yours this time
You know it's all brand new.

No turning back
Take the chance
If you know it's true
No turning back
Illuminate what's in front of you
Ohh oh
Accelerate and go
No turning back.

Some of us wonder why
Until we never know
Some of us wait for things
That just won't ever show
Til we're here
At war with the world.

No turning back
Take the chance
If you know it's true
No turning back
Illuminate where we're going to
Ohh oh
Accelerate and go
No turning back.

Chaos flows on through
I watch the colors turn
to a shade of you.

Someday it all collides
like it's meant to be
and when the atoms clear
What's left is you and me
Close as a breath
A dream of breathing together.

No turning back
To the past
If you know it's true
No turning back
Illuminate what's coming through.

Ohh oh
Accelerate and go

No turning back.