Fee Fi Fo Fum on a Summer's Day

Fee Fi Fo Fum "These are the Days"

This is a band I got to see live in a downtown Minneapolis Park one summer afternoon in 1988. I remember steel drums--If they didn't have them, they still evoked that summer tropical sound.

The band broke up long ago. I'm not sure they ever released an "official" album. They were selling tapes (remember cassette tapes?) in that park that day with hand-colored liner notes. The illustrations were kind of like mud-cloth doodles--electric stick figures. I bought one and gifted it to my friend, J--but not before making a copy for myself. ;-)

On the B-side, I taped Johnny Clegg and Savuka. To me, Fee Fi Fo Fum had a similar dance-able, happy tropical rhythm.

Well, I had that tape for 15 years. It was also some of the music my son liked, too, after he came along. The tape lived in his room when he was small. Until one day, he decided to see how cassette tapes worked--and he pulled out the tape--irrevocably. It was ruined.

Of course, Oliver (at 2-3 years old) had no idea what he'd done. I was heartbroken--that tape was irreplaceable -- even in this Internet Age where you can supposedly buy anything on eBay. 1) It had minimal distribution to begin with
2) J no longer had the original tape
3) It was long out of print
4) It pre-dated the Internet

So I listened to Johnny Clegg and tried to remember Fee Fi Fo Fum, their music and lyrics.

One day a year or two ago, my sweet, thoughtful husband CL (I don't get diamond rings from him -- I get these kinds of really thoughtful, meaningful gifts out of the blue) told me he'd been in contact with one of the original band members via email. This guy (Javier?) still had some of the old (reel to reel?) tapes and promised to make us a copy ... That never quite happened---but it does look like he posted a few vids to You Tube. This discovery today made my day! I'll keep looking for MP3s of their tunes.

A few of their other songs :
Rosalee
Safe as Milk
Where the Pieces Fall
Stay with You

As video goes, it's not much to look at--but I still love the tunes and sentiments of the lyrics. Turn 'em on in the background and go do something else. Enjoy!

If the band sees this post--You still have fans in the Midwest!

Music of the Spheres : My Favorite Things

More than 10 years ago, I finally (after 3 years!) saved enough money to buy one of these gorgeous and melodious wind chimes. The Music of the Spheres vend at the Bristol Renaisance Fair every summer. They have a wonderful shop under a huge old tree. All their chimes are on display in various scales and octaves (bass-tenor-alto-soprano). You can pull the clapper and just let the music flow through you ... And pick your favorite!

My consistent favorite has always been the Mongolian Tenor (listen!). Check out the rest of the options, too. They put up MP3s so you can hear them online. It's not quite like standing under that tree and listening to these chimes, or even on my porch, but it will give you an idea of the appeal. Do you hear how they RINGGGGGGG!

What's so neat about these chimes is that they are perfectly tuned in several octaves. There's at least one to suite every taste. In Texas, Christian even worked with one of the Music of the Spheres chime-makers (That's before I knew him). He was the guy who cut the pipes ...

Why am I thinking of it now? April is coming. 7 years ago, I was very pregnant. Because we were preparing for a natural childbirth, I was looking for ways to rest and relax and "open" (why fight the inevitable). CL even made me a tape of those chimes softly ringing for 45 minutes. It's still a favorite. Sometimes, he does some really wonderful and thoughtful things for me--that was one of them. ;-)

The other thing that helped a lot in those childbirth "opening" meditations was visualizing a flower opening. I had a soapdish that was the perfect image for helping that cervix to open and let that baby through ...

It worked, too. I was at work until about 1 pm. I had gone to see the midwife at noon. She said I was already 6 cm dilated, and couldn't figure out why I was still calm and not having big contractions yet--well, something was happening, but it wasn't too bad yet. She told me to go home and have a shake spiked with castor oil which (I think) was supposed to start up the contractions again ... I labored at home until about 6 pm when CL took me to the hospital. At times I didn't think we were going to make it. By 8 pm, we had Oliver--and the whole world changed!