the darkness and the daylight

Bitten by VampireMania

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:43:47 GMT

Its been awhile since I've blogged, 2009 has been an interesting and somewhat discouraging year.... but I'm snapping out of it. I've been writing and recording like crazy these days much the way I did in 2007 the last time my band went kaput. The Twilight books and movies have especially inspired me, hence the new song I just posted-- Vampire Love. Find it on myspace, facebook, and reverbnation. I hope you enjoy it.

I also posted a new recording of an MG oldie that the Oblivion Seekers used to play when I sang with them (what feels like a million years ago) called Sugar Shaker. I recorded it a whole new way, find it on all of the above sites as well. Please enjoy the free downloads on my website and if you are so inclined drop a little something in the tip jar (donations accepted via paypal).
thanks for reading!
xo
Morgan

My New York Adventure

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:50:09 GMT

Day one - I arrived at my very good friend Monica's amazing loft in Chelsea where I stayed for 5 fabulous days. We caught up, i got the tour, we went grocery shopping and we were off to the venue in Brooklyn via the subway! Rose Live Music was one of the many venues in Brooklyn hosting the Williamsburg Live Songwriter Competition, I was one of 25 performers of the night performing one song. It was a nerve wracking experience....all the waiting, not knowing when they were going to call my name, listening to all of the other songwriters. I was in the wings warming up when my new york penpal Lachlan came backstage to say hello. It was nice to have a friendly moment with a familiar face, then it was time to play. We were instructed to only say our name and the name of our song but there was no way I wasn't going to give a shout out to my hometown. I said "My name is Morgan Grace and the name of my song is Valentine....Can I say where I'm from?" the MC shrugged, the judges frowned, and I shouted "I'm from PORTLAND OREGON!" Needless to say I believe this disqualified me though I have no proof. An example of my nerves: my guitar was plugged into the house system and I walked off stage without unplugging it. A few people cried out "the cord!" The MC poked "they don't have guitar cords in Portland?" They announced the finalists and I was not among them though I felt very much like a winner. Lachlan, Monica, and I walked a few blocks for an after-contest drink. We hopped the subway back to the city and hailed a cab from the 14th street subway station to Chelsea. I stopped in at a deli and had The Best Roast Beef Sandwich Of My Entire Life.

Day two - I walked around trying to find some cheap tourist shopping. I scored some fantastic striped socks and sparkly leg warmers that went smashingly with my pink polka dot dress. Me and Monica hightailed it to the Knitting Factory. These United States, and Scotland Yard Gospel Choir were wonderfully friendly. SYGC asked me and the other bands to join them on stage for a full on hootenanny for "I Never thought I'd Feel This Way For A Boy". I had a fine flirtation with one of the drummers (drummers!!!!) and got some great footage of the door person declaring my appearance to be the best show he'd ever seen at the Knitting Factory.....lies of course but what a great sport. Cab back to Chelsea, I hit the deli again for the second Best Roast Sandwich Of My Entire Life and a slice of cheesecake. I slept fat and happy.

Day three - I met Lachlan my NY penpal on 23rd Street for some breakfast. We walked past the Chelsea Hotel and he told me about his band renting out a room there to write songs. Did I mention Lachlan is charming and handsome and has a thick scottish accent? We tried twice to get psychic readings but the psychic was not there. Didn't she know we were coming? We took the subway to Ground Zero and walked around Wall Street and the financial district. My favorite New York stereotype that is completely untrue is that New Yorkers don't make eye contact or talk to you. complete rubbish! We hit a starbucks, I said "neat" a lot, we talked about stuff, relationships, music, we smoked, and then Lachlan headed back to Brooklyn for band practice.

Day Three - I slept in until 6p. Why did I do this? Because I was tired. I woke up to a note from Monica, she was taking me to a bar in the village to see some art and some bands. We hopped the subway to Avenue A, or B or C or something and went to the Niagara bar. Monica squealed with delight to see that her Favorite New York Band was playing, and they were great - Schocholautte. If you don't know how to spell their name it is a great feat to find them online...holy crap. We met one of her artist friends James Rubio who looks almost exactly like George C. Scott in the Hustler. I ducked out for a smoke and a slice of NY pizza. did I mention I have already gained 10 pounds by this point?

Day Four - Lachlan's band Morgan Avenue was playing Don Hills in the village. This was their first show and they were excited. The show was very different than I was used to. Lachlan's band is a loud rock band, they were followed by a 6 piece metal band, and then an electropop quartet, then it turned into a disco dance party. Very unusual, and very cool. I danced with Lach's drummer to New Order and Joy Division then I cabbed up to the Upper West side for a hamburger with another New York friend. When we said goodbye I couldn't help but want to just walk all the way home from 71st st to 26th st. Being in NY was just so fucking amazing. It was 3am and I was walking down Amsterdam by myself in my pink polka dot dress (yes I got a lot of mileage out that dress). the only thing that made me finally hail a cab was the cold but I was nearly in midtown before I started to care and I was still overwhelmed with joy. What an amazing city.

Day Five - More sightseeing with Lachlan but not before I whipped up three of my famous omelets for Monica, Rubio, and myself. delicious! Me and Lach took the subway up to the upper west, walked past the Dakota where John Lennon lived and died, walked through the park (holy shit it was COLD) and ducked into the Metropolitan Art Museum. We looked at stuff, had lunch, looked at more stuff, laughed, and took the subway down to Union Square to see Rachel Getting Married. I had a NY hot dog from a street vendor, why are they SOOOO GOOD???? After the movie (where I devoured an entire bucket of popcorn) we stopped in to the chocolate bar/restaurant across the street but it was so packed we settled on a quiet diner down the street for a burger and fries. lachlan marveled at how I could be hungry again, to which I responded with a shrug and a giggle. We hopped the subway back to Monica's and watched Dazed and Confused on my laptop. We were really partying!

Day six - Starbucks, oh how I love you. I sat and did some great people watching for atleast 2 hours, walked to a diner by myself, sat at the counter and had breakfast by myself. This is something I would never do in Portland but it felt great...just listening to the sound of the city, walking around, taking it all in. I think it was around this time that my heart started to hurt at the thought of leaving. I had just enough time to walk back the loft, pack up, and cab to JFK. Oh NYC I will never forget you....

It's here, new album Valentine out this weekend!

Sat, 31 May 2008 01:11:45 GMT

NEWS NEWS NEWS
I'm so excited to announce the release of my new album "Valentine" this weekend. It's a collection of self recorded demos. As many of you know I had a falling out with my band last year, I started playing in Kleveland for awhile and basically took a break from performing my own music. What I was doing behind closed doors however was diving deep into writing and recording. A year later with the encouragement and support of fans and friends I decided to compile my demos into a limited run EP. We pressed 500, included a full color signed poster, and when they're gone they're GONE. So come out this weekend and pick up your copy. For folks outside Portland OR Valentine will be available for mail order and download off my website starting Monday June 2nd. I'm also happy to announce that Sam Henry and I have made nice and are playing together again. We take the stage together for the first time in almost a year this Sunday at the Doug Fir with Michael Carothers and Howard Gee sharing bass duties.

Shows Shows Shows

Sat May 31st @ 5pm
ALL AGES CD Release and in store performance
*FREE*
http://musicmillennium. com
Music Millennium
3158 E Burnside St,
Portland OR
(503) 231-8926

Sun June 1st @ 9pm
Doug Fir Lounge
CD Release for Valentine
w/ London and the Look
Oh Darling
Jerry from Millionaire Magicians
21+ *FREE*
http://dougfirlounge. com
http://ohdarlingmusic. com
http://myspace. com/lyndseylondon
830 E Burnside St
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 231-9663

Friday June 6th @ 6-8pm
Laurelthirst
*FREE*
Lewi Longmire bass, Sam Henry drums
we'll play 2 sets...digging deep into the MG catalog!
http://lewilongmire. com
http://samhenrydrumstudio. com
http://laurelthirst. com
2958 NE Glisan St
Portland, OR 97232
(503) 232-1504

Sat June 7th @ 9pm
Kenton Club
*FREE*
w/ Ellen and the Felons, and more
2025 N Kilpatrick St
Portland, OR 97217
(503) 285-3718

Other News
Morgan Grace Discussion Board is up and running! come check it out at http://bb. morgangracemusic. com. It's brand new!

Here are some links to some nice press we got this week and a clip from doing the Rick Emerson show yesterday. My website just got a facelift too so stop by and check out the new digs, special thanks to Brian Lee/whiteteeth for the design help.

Q&A about the album

Clip from the thursday's Rick Emerson Show

Cut of the Day at Wweek. com

Morgan Grace Discussion Board

As always, thank you for supporting independent music, we do this all by ourselves!
love
Morgan Grace
http://morgangracemusic. com <--new website!
http://myspace. com/morgangrace
http://bb. morgangracemusic. com <--new discussion board!

a small step for you a giant leap for me or the opposite of that

Sat, 10 May 2008 05:06:24 GMT

I'm excited to announce that we just sent my EP off to be pressed. It will be a limited run of 500, each will come with a full color poster. It will be available at live shows and my website ONLY. I'm excited for you to hear these tracks! I literally recorded the final song the night before pulling an all nighter with the graphic designer to make deadline. Who needs sleep when there's work to be done? Special thank you thank yous to Brian Lee aka Whiteteeth who is not only a badass visionary but an incredible sport even on limited sleep. Release show is Sunday June 1 at the Doug Fir w/ London and the Look, and Oh Darling, with a special appearance by Jerry of Spider Virus in from Nashville. It will be a special evening of guests and ghosts. More soon.

love,
mg

epiphanies and awakenings

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:40:03 GMT

I've heard a lot of really great sentences in the last year that have changed my life, two in particular in just the last few months. I was talking to a friend about a guy I liked that I had just met. I said I was terrified and freaked out about him. My friend said "Now wait a minute. LANGUAGE DICTATES REALITY. Are you really terrified and freaked out?" I had to think about it. Well, NO. I was excited and overwhelmed because I knew this guy was going to be a big deal in my life. I could feel the inner rumbles of an impending life change and I knew this new person was going to be the catalyst. Changing my language really did help me shape my real feelings thus my reality. Impressive.

Recently I was at the grocery store and bumped into an acquaintance Tim that I hadn't seen in a long time. I was shaking off some bad energy from the day and was glad to have some interaction. Tim told me about a major life change he was going through. Said he'd quit his job, moved to Vancouver, and so on. He said "NATURE HATES A VACUUM" and explained that the Universe will always help you fill it up even if you created it yourself. Last month I quit a band I was playing with and inadvertently ended a friendship that had been important to me. Even though I felt it was time for these two things to end it still felt awful. But in just a month the Universe has presented many things both personally and professionally to fill the vacuum. Impressive.
The mind is a powerful thing, but our heart's desires are even mightier.
Thank you for indulging me as I share some of my inner-hippie.
xo

What do you mean I'm not a superhero?

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:49:13 GMT

Myspace is funny, I hate it and of course I love. I just spent an hour tracking down a fantastic guitar player I saw last year at Djangofest. I'm doing a few songs at a Billie Holiday tribute so I'm rocking the jazz guitar and I wanted to see some badass shit on youtube. (If you have a chance check out Stephane Wrembel he is amazing). Anyhoo, so I spent a bunch of time looking for him online because I couldn't remember his name and I was so happy to have found him I left him a myspace comment telling him how wonderful he is, I also left Kruno a comment, another amazing player from Djangofest last year. Myspace is like that easy comfortable relationship you get stuck in that makes it impossible for you to grow emotionally. When you want some advice you throw it out to your friends and OF COURSE they all love you so they tell you exactly what you want to hear....thus you feel like every idea you have is good, you walk around radiating goodness and light because you feel like the world is made of love....for you. Everyone LOOOVES you right? Of course they do, you don't have any enemies! Thats why Tom calls them "Friends".

So, I sent a shout out via bulletin and blog about this demo EP idea. I got tons of feedback (awesome) and everyone that wrote thought it was a great idea...so I'm doing it. I was so excited about committing to do it that I sent the news out to my mailing list and put it on my website. I'm invincible, music has set me free, people love what I do, I love the attention, I feel great about life and......wait, whats this? An email to my mailing list with 'remove' in the subject?? Someone who once wanted to be in the KNOW about my life no longer cares about me???? Someone who used to like me is BREAKING UP WITH ME???? It's melodramatic, it's ridiculous, it's pointless to think about, it means nothing, but it sent me crashing back down to earth from the clouds. egads. In my head I was Seinfeld's mom, incredulously defending myself, "How could anyone not like me?"

impossible.
hehehe
mg

If I build it will they come?

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:34:00 GMT

I made a list of potential songs to record for the next MG album, 36 songs! Some of these are new songs that I've demo'ed and posted recently on myspace like Valentine, Come Around, Eyes in the Back of My Head, and You're Gonna Ruin My Life. I dig the home recording I've been doing lately but I'm also excited to really spend the time and make a real album...it's been like 3 years since the last one. I'd really like to compile these demos into something cool though, they all have a cool vibe. So I was thinking - why not do a limited edition release of all the demos I've done in the last year, make it very fan-centric and special with 10 songs in all including an unreleased version of Freshman from 2004 with Sean Flora on bass and Sam Henry on drums. Obviously some of the songs will be on the next MG album but they'll sound completely different so it will still be a completely unique release. What do you think? Seriously, I need some feedback.
mg

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:34:17 GMT

I think I've mentioned this before....I watch a LOT of tv, not just because I'm a mouth breathing vegetable but because I'm always working on my laptop or playing guitar and the tv is just always ON. (I chalk it up to the low level of consciousness I require for creativity...don't judge). Anyway, I'm especially digging Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, not just because I have addiction in my past but because I love Dr. Drew. I remember sitting around with my drinking friends namely this crazy couple I used to run around with, (we'll call them Susan and Bill...no thats boring....we'll call them Scarface and Pugsly). Every once in a while we'd do some cocaine and wax poetic, you know, philosophy, music, love and life...that sort of thing. If I mentioned anything about being an alcoholic Scarface would say "You're not an alcoholic! I drink WAY more than you do." And Pugsly would chime in, "yeah, if you were an alcoholic your life would be way more in the gutter" or something to that effect. I knew I had a problem from a very young age. I started drinking when I was 15 and I knew it was poison for me, it just took me another 12 years to get a handle on it.

So, I was watching Celebrity Rehab and Dr. Drew said this - "We define addiction not by the quantity or frequency but by the consequences."

I find this definition to be very validating, whether it's booze, drugs, sex, attention, or whatever. The consequences...
Indeed.

thats NOT a compliment

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:23:20 GMT

I was visiting with my good old friend Marc today and we were talking trash about a local singer songwriter we can't stand. I generously offered that Mr. Songster was "good at what he does" because he did have a killer band and and he did have a nice ride for a while. I think it's funny how you can undercut a compliment so easily though. "He's really good." compliment. "He's really good....at what he does." NOT a compliment. What it really means is I can't stand to listen to that shit but surely there are unsophisticated fools out there who are willing to pay good money for it, inevitably translating the sonofabitch's crap shit music into a decent living.
yes, I'm capable of seething bitchery.

VH1 Classic

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:35:18 GMT

I just got expanded cable today. So I'm sitting here watching Def Leppard videos and it occurred to me that nothing has really changed since I was 13. Check it out - I slept in way too late today (6pm hello?) I'm stressed out about missing too much school this term, watching tv, my room's a mess, I'm about to play guitar all night instead of doing homework, writing songs about the cute boy I like who doesn't like me back, waiting for my friend to come over and watch tv with me and yes we're going to gorge on chocolate and smoke cigarettes. The only missing is my mom yelling at me to do the dishes....oh yeah, except I'm 30 years old.
I'll never grow up.
sigh.

What's Liz Phair's problem?

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 08:28:09 GMT

Exile in Guyville was an amazing album for me and sooo many other people. I had a cassette tape of it and literally played it until it broke. Why is it not on iTunes? I've read that she's like embarrassed about that album and that it's not really what she's all about anymore. I don't care! Get that shit on iTunes!
wtf???

and we're back

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:07:53 GMT

I have not blogged since June? Holy crap. the most exciting thing to happen is I finally moved out of my shoebox apartment and into a space where I have a lot more room to record. I just recently upgraded my set up too so no more dumping 8 track songs into my laptop :) digital to analog to digital? No wonder there was so much noise...ah!
I've posted a few new things on myspace, most recently the Valentine Song. Now I just want to re-record everything with this new set up! No more awful drumming on the electronic kit. (I know I'm not as bad a drummer as I say I am but still....what a headache) Doing the drums with the keyboard is just so much easier.

I have tentative plans to record a song with Rob Daiker next month, he recorded his own version of my song It's Only You. Check it out on his myspace if you have a chance. He's a great producer so I'm excited to see what we come up with.

Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day.

New Rock of Love 2 tomorrow night! ah, I am such a dork for this show!!
xoxoxo
morgan

I Did It! and more to come soon

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:33:35 GMT

I finally figured out how to dump songs from my 8 track to my laptop. I just needed an adapter. Okay, the rest is boring.

Here's a song I did last month called Eyes in the Back Of My Head. I debuted this song this weekend at Dante's when Sam Henry and I opened for Storm Large. The show was pretty fun, Storm is always a class act. It was also my debut with Kleveland on guitar.

Anyhoo, this song is just a rough 8 track demo. Sam and I should start getting to work on the upcoming album sometime next month. I just gotta make some dough first.

enjoy!

m

this is just the beginning....

Mon, 21 May 2007 10:18:38 GMT

I read this great article in the New York Times that profiled a bunch of successful independent musicians. A guy was posting one song a week on his blog that he would record in his home studio. A lot of the results were silly but sometimes he would strike gold with a bonafide hit. His listenership was in the thousands. A song a week from a home studio? I thought. Hey, I can do that! When I was a teenageer I used to four-track all the time. maybe one day I'll convert all of my old cassette tapes to digital and post some of those long forgotten gems but until then....I'm going to make this my goal - one song every week. There are some bugs I have to work out with my home studio though, like for one, the microphone I won in the contest doesn't work! I have to send it back to Audix and get a new one. I'm borrowing a nice condenser mic from my pal Sean Flora though so I'm still in business. I also need to find a way to dump song mixes from my 8 track recorder into my laptop. Should be easy enough but my 8 track is kind of OLD. anyhoo, just a preview of things to come. With all the drama and shit-storms the universe has thrown me these last few months I'm excited to have a new project.
stay tuned.....
love,
Morgan

welcome to my blog

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:16:18 GMT

I must be the last person in the world to get a blog. I use my website to keep folks updated with music stuff but I figured this one could be a little more uh, personal...or detailed rather....cuz I have stuff to SAY (!).

I just returned from a weekend in New York where I was visiting my new pal Fred Armisen from Saturday Night Live. I'll write more about that later though....

this is just a quick hello entry.

hello!

over and out,
mg