One day you’re a diamond

Today is a good day in the music world.

Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter’s recent tour partner, wrote a memoir entitled Diamond in the Rough which was released today. Oh yeah, her latest CD, All Fall Down, was released today too. And let’s not forget that MCC’s latest release, Ashes and Roses, will be out next week on June 12th.

But with all the buzz of a new Mary Chapin Carpenter CD or really a download, I don’t wanna get off track of the purpose of this blog. It’s just 25 more days until the actual 2oth anniversary of the release of Come On Come On. And my intent is to post a piece of memorabilia everyday until that day. 

This item is another unique piece of my collection. It’s a promotional window static cling for the release of The Bug. Its diameter measures 5 and 3/4 inches and it has a copyright date of 1993 on it.  I’ve never displayed it on a window but just always kept it squirreled away. Another promotional item that was released with this one was a 5-foot cardboard windshield visor with the same graphics on it. I’ve seen on eBay once or twice at most but I was never lucky enough to acquire one for my collection.

The song was the fifth single off the album and it reached #16 on the Billboard Country Singles chart. I pointed out in another post that oftentimes the song lyrics are attributed to Mary Chapin Carpenter but it was written by Mark Knopfler of the rock group Dire Straits. Oh well, you know what they say: Sometimes you’re the windshield…

Over & Out,
Lisa Luck

And the beat goes on

Today’s t-shirt is another item that I acquired from eBay. I’ve never worn it but whoever I got it from sure did as the shirt was black but the color is so faded that it is now a dark brown. I chose this shirt to post today for 2 reasons. First, it was one of 4 on the top of my t-shirt collection bin and second, because it makes me think of my mother when she younger and healthier than she is now as she’s battling cancer that came back again. She even celebrated her 75th birthday on Thursday.

This is the back of the t-shirt.

It’s not just a tour, you’re soaking in it

The phrase comes from a 70s commercial for Palmolive dish soap that good old Madge the manicurist used for her clients. Check out the commercial from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/_bEkq7JCbik?rel=0
I am grateful that I’ve met other fans of MCC at numerous concerts through the years. Because whenever I’ve posted on FaceBook asking for healing vibrations for my Mom, it’s been those same fans who have since become good friends that send them on their way to her.

A week from today, I plan to be at Infinity Hall for some healing of my own by listening to MCC and Shawn Colvin, a little heaven on earth too.

Over & Out,

Lisa Luck

On the road again

Two weeks from today Mary Chapin Carpenter kicks off an 8-day tour with her pal, Shawn Colvin in Norwalk, Connecticut. So I thought it appropriate to start diggin’ out the concert t-shirts in my collection.

No Mary Chapin Carpenter memorabilia collection is complete without a few concert t-shirts here and there. I’ve collected 30 shirts or so, a few hats, a coupla key chains and several posters over the years. The shirt pictured above is not the first one that I acquired but starts off with the theme of this blog as it’s from her tour in support of Come On Come On. Oh, and not all the items were purchased at her concerts. Many were from eBay and I always enjoy perusing eBay to discover shirts that I’ve never seen before.

Previously Shawn and Mary Chapin have played together numerous times through the years though with Shawn as the opening act and MCC with her full band. I saw them perform in Philadephia at the Mann Center, I believe in 1999. And in 2003, both were joined by Patty Griffin and Dar Williams in the fashion of a guitar-pull where they each took turns singing one of their songs while the others sang harmony. I believe I saw them twice on that tour.

The upcoming tour is just the two of them with their guitars and I can’t wait to experience  the magic of their singing together songs like, One Cool Remove, That’s The Way Love Goes and perhaps a current pop song or two since in 2003 they did sing the Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way. It wouldn’t matter to me if they sang the phone book, the two of them on the stage together is guaranteed to be unforgettable.

Oh, on the back of the shirt is a line from the title track,

You just have to whisper

Hey, maybe they’ll sing that one too. I can only hope.

Over & Out,

Lisa Luck

You come and go baby

Apparently (or to me at least) it’s difficult to write a daily blog. Not because I don’t have enough material to write about because I do but it’s about that thing called life. I was sick earlier this week. I had to work. I had a meeting one night. And then last night I attended a Dancing With the Stars benefit for our local educational foundation. So, after a break of a few days, here I am back in the swing of it. Or so I say.

The item that I posted is a promotional stand-up for a record store. I believe I got it from someone selling memorabilia in Tennessee. I have another stand-up kickin’ around but it’s black instead of white and that’s what made this one a nice addition to my collection. Because Come On Come On’s primary color was black.

Since I hadn’t been on my computer much at home, I forgot that I had put COCO in the CD drive. In case you were wondering, yes, I do have MCC’s songs on my hard drive but for some reason not this one. Call me old school if you’d like. As I started listening to it earlier this afternoon, the thought occurred to me that this album is still relevant 20 years later. For example, when she sings, “Everything we got, we got the hard way,” I imagine that the listener knows exactly what she means as they got something that they’ve wanted the hard way.

Then came He Thinks He’ll Keep Her. I listened to that on auto-pilot, something that happens I suppose after listening to the same songs on an album for 20 years, 240 months, 1040 weeks. You get my point. Then came the third track: Rhythm of the Blues.

I got “stuck” on it. ROTB was never released as a single but she’s performed it during at least 2 tours that I remember. I remember the first time that I heard this song. Before she even began singing, the melody reminded me immediately of Rosanne Cash. (Rosanne Cash is one of the 3 singer-songwriters that I adore.  Mary Chapin Carpenter is as you know the first, and Shawn Colvin is number 2.) Though it sounds somber, I find it uplifting and encouraging especially when she sings:

I want a place to call my own

where you have never been

This is a person who is ready to move on in life and stand on their own two feet. With Rhythm of the Blues, Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote a song that sounded as good as if Rosanne Cash herself penned it. Then again, maybe better.

Over & Out,

Lisa Luck