My friend, the singer and nerd girl Marian Call is in LA right now crooning at various venues about love, Volvos, Firefly, and Battlestar Galactica. Yeah, you read that right: she has geek songs. And she needs you! As she said herself:
This is a critical and slightly awkward career time — I’m booking very good gigs, but I must bring listeners to them to prove that I’m worthy, and that’s hard in a new town. So please pick a show or two and come out for some fun with me and Stone and Colter! I would love to have coffee or beer with you before or after if you can make it out. Thanks all!
She even has a nerd album coming out, and I will be ordering it as soon as I can. The last time I blogged about her, she got a lot of new fans; of course music is a matter of taste, and some of you will like her, some won’t. I’m not gonna twist your arm. But listen carefully to some of her songs and you’ll find she’s quirky, intelligent, and has a voice that hearkens back to the 1940s.
Sigh. She’s totally awesome.
She’ll also be at Creation Con in a couple of weeks. Oh, I wish I could go! We’ve never met IRL… but she said that in 2009 she might be headed this way again. So Marian, if you’re reading this — and I know y’are, Red — you’ll get warm cookies from Mrs. BA and lots of adoration from me and The Little Astronomer.
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Oh — you can keep up with her on Twitter, too.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I clicked on the banner to visit Marion’s website, but myspace has taken it down.
Is there an alternate web page?
November 13th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
For some reason “…. Music with Brains” immediately reminded me of her song “We’re Out for Blood” from “Zombie Cheerleader Camp”. Puts a different spin on things, though.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Forgive Phil, he’s still new to this “social networking” thing. Try this link: http://www.myspace.com/mariancall
November 13th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
The proper link is http://www.myspace.com/mariancall or http://www.mariancall.com.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Indeed, the other day I was listening to her on my mp3 player and was thinking about getting more of her music.
@Wildride,
Then you’re familiar with Jonathan Coulton’s Re: Your Brains? I think you can buy the song for a buck on his website, if not iTunes.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Yes, there is an alternate website: http://www.mariancall.com.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
She’s someone Maestro Hrab outta know! Sounds like she’s got BBB!
November 13th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Tell her to play Salt Lake City, I’ll bring the crowds…
November 13th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
http://www.myspace.com/mariancall seems to work. I don’t know where the original link went.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Mexico’s senate aproved the notion for creating their own space agency today.
=]
November 13th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I’m not sure anything can beat Aphex Twin or Boards of Canada when it comes to “Music with Brains” catagorie.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Red head… sings about Battlestar Galactica… I’m in love…
Well, she could come to the huuuuge megalopolis of Squamish, and sing in one of our finest establishments, The Grizzly Bar and Grill…
November 13th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Well, this is a step in the right direction for Alaska.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
The link you are trying to visit has been disabled.
You have reached a link that is no longer in service. That means the link was very naughty, and, much like head lice, had to be eliminated before it spread.
You may be asking yourself, ‘Hey, what was it about that link that got it in trouble?’ An excellent question! Usually, it’s one of the following reasons:
- The link was spam! No one likes spammers, and we don’t like their links.
- You almost got phished! There are people out there who want to steal your MySpace password. They want to log in as you and send spam, harass your friends, change your profile, and generally run amok. Phishing pages are usually designed to look like MySpace to trick you. Other sites may also ask for your MySpace login information to customize your profile, insert videos or slide shows, track visitors, or any number of other things.Don’t make it easy for them. ONLY USE YOUR MYSPACE LOGIN INFO ON http://WWW.MYSPACE.COM!!
- Viruses are not fun! Neither is adware, spyware, or malware. We cut the links to places that are known sources of infection.
If you really did want to check out some spam, viruses, or phishing pages, we’re really sorry to have interrupted. We’re sure you can find it elsewhere. There’s plenty on the Internet
November 13th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Actually, I took the code for the banner off of Marian’s page! Weird. I made the link go to her MySpace page.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
The other link works
November 13th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Not so much.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I’d like to do a full embed here, but that might be uncool… So here’s the URL:
Marian Call sings “Vera”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTU0cxESOY&feature=related
November 13th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I still think that Phil is trying to steal my Myspace log in.
That evil, myspace stealing blogger.
November 14th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Looks like you’ve upset someone, Phil.
November 14th, 2008 at 1:41 am
I can’t decide whether I love Myspace or hate it. I love the things it can do for musicians (like me, though I’m not on there… yet) but I hate the culture there – the way people post HUGE colourful images instead of just writing words. It bugs me.
However, one thing I don’t hate is Marian’s music. Thanks for introducing us, Phil
November 14th, 2008 at 2:29 am
I’d be more easily sold if there was a lyrics page, which there doesn’t seem to be.
Speaking of intelligent music, my nomination for best love song of the modern era is In Your Eyes by Oysterband (audio/lyrics). I’m definitely interested in meeting any woman whose eyes match the description in that song (though I’ll pass on the guinness).
November 14th, 2008 at 2:37 am
She has lots of samples of her music on her various pages, including MySpace. That’s how I first found her, in fact.
November 14th, 2008 at 4:47 am
There are plenty of audio samples, yes. They didn’t grab me, but as yet I haven’t given them a fair go. What I meant was that reading some lyrics, and being impressed by them, might persuade me that listening to the samples should be more of a priority.
November 14th, 2008 at 5:25 am
I’d never heard of here, but she’s brilliant, so I’ve just bought and downloaded the first album. Are you on commission?
)
November 14th, 2008 at 7:05 am
I would gladly buy this talented young lady’s album and put it on my Pod for repeated listening.
I wonder if Marian is eagerly awating 1/16/09 as much as the rest of us…that’s when the final turn of BSG starts. Woohoo!
November 14th, 2008 at 9:31 am
You do realize she must have been on your website at least once right? You’re one of the highest results should she google herself. (Autogoogling?)
November 14th, 2008 at 10:28 am
The Chemist: Marian and I are e-friends, and so I know she’s been here, even a few times.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Charles:
1/16/09 has been declared a holiday in my home
November 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Wow! Since she is an Indy artist, I’ve totally missed Marian. I listened to a couple of excerpts on her myspace site and immediately went to CDBaby and bought the album.
What a good get! Thanks, Phil!
Gary
November 14th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
@Adrian Morgan:
“I’d be more easily sold if there was a lyrics page, which there doesn’t seem to be.”
Actually I found a lyrics feature by accident. If you look on the music player there is a tiny little button that pops up lyrics for the song being played. Enjoy!
November 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Actually… sorry, that’s only on one of the songs :\
November 14th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Also, check out Marc Gunn (http://marcgunn.com/) for some awesome Celtic nerd music.
She Said Her Name Was Saffron
http://media.libsyn.com/media/bellobard/MarcGunn-SheSaidHerNameWasSaffron.mp3
Monahan’s Mudder’s Milk:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/bellobard/MarcGunn-MonahansMuddersMilk.mp3
November 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
It was my pleasure to watch Marian Call live for a second time in a short set she did last Friday (11/14) night (she was the first of four female singers featured), and I got to talk to her and her husband afterwards. Although she says that she still gets butterflies on stage, her nervousness gets translated into a charming effervescence and–yes–sexiness (in spite of her protestations in her “Vanilla”). I hope to catch her in at least one of her other appearances in the LA area.
Marian did say that on her way either to or from Austin (for the next SXSW music conference in mid-March 2009) she plans to perform at Boulder, Colorado, if only to play for BA and the Little Astronomer.