Counting the sleeps!!

I’ve been really busy of late. I haven’t had a proper lie-on-your- couch in front of the t.v. weekend since January…but that’s ok. So something is happening this weekend…Coal is going to Langebaan!!

I have my bags ready and my dog all packed up. It’s going to be an adventure, (we will take video and photos) and I’m planning what to cook for dinner(s). YES…you heard right. This band likes to eat well, which in my opinion makes for happy musicians. I can’t think when I’m hungry and the prospect of singing on an empty stomach is enough to make me cry. It’s like playing Irish fiddle sober…never going to happen! We also can never make it through and entire weekend of biscuits and tea alone…although I’m sure we will have those too.

Enough about food! We are going to spend time rehearsing, writing and cuddling the Oscar.

Today…it’s back to work. I’m making a tail coat as part of a rather fetching Tuxedo . It’s for a lovely Burlesque dancer and I’m rather proud of the result thus far. I’ll post pictures of the finished result once it’s complete.

X
C

Cherry red

I adore the nerdy librarian chic going on in this pic. And the red dress/hair/shoes/brille, of course! So sexy serious.

Her name is Fan Bingbing (yeah) and she's a Chinese singer.

Arts and Crafts

It’s been a long while since I blogged…so here goes!

As you know I am a Corsetiere, which is a lovely old craft involving the excavation of gorgeous patterns from the depths of history and re-creating them for the pleasure of both client and myself. I just love creating things with my hands and if I find a pattern which is particularly old, the thrill of bringing it back to life is better than toasted Hot-cross Buns and tea!

My fashion excavations are not limited to ladies archaic unmentionables, however. I have recently discovered a men’s tail- coat pattern dating back to the 1800’s and I love the process of re-drafting the pattern and finding just the right fabric to recreate this beauty.

In fact I love anything made by hand. It is something that I think that modern folk have taken for granted. If you are used to buying your clothes or gifts from a store that has them spat out of a factory at a rate of knots, I expect you to balk at the price of hand-made goods. But here’s a challenge: find an easy project for you, anything creative will do. Now take time gathering all the bits and pieces that you will need to complete that project. Then reserve time to sit and truly enjoy the project. It doesn’t matter how easy or how difficult it is, you are on a journey of discovery. Once you are finished, sit back and appreciate how much love and care went into your creation. That is priceless…even if it wouldn’t sell on Regretsy.com.

So I will include a recipe for my favourite smash together dinner, for those of you who are too busy to cook. It’s cheap and will make your partner want to marry you!

Refried Beans with Nachos:

Serves 3-4

3 x tins of Red Kidney Beans drained and washed.
1 tin of Mexican tomatoes
1x chilli chopped finely
1x clove of garlic mashed…more if you really enjoy it
Half an onion finely chopped.
1tsp Coriander powder
1tsp Cumin powder
1 garlic and herb stock cube.

Fry your onions, garlic and chilli with your spices in a little oil.

Add the beans and the tin of Mexican tomatoes

Dissolve your stock cube in a quarter cup of boiling water and stir into the beans.
Now mash the beans roughly with the back of the spoon. You don’t have to pulverise them, just smoosh them a little.
Add pepper to taste.
Simmer for about 10-15 min and then serve on a generous portion of Nachos. I prefer the plain salted, but the Spicy Tomato ones aren’t bad.
If you are feeling really decadent, top this off with cheese. Pop your plate under the grill to melt the cheese. (Only of it’s oven proof!)

Dollops of Guacamole are a must!

Enjoy!
C

Blueberry tart

Gorgeous!

See more at http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

Lessons in luminosity

There has been quite a variety of international artists gracing Cape Town’s shores of late. Due to the disparity of the genres, one wouldn’t have thought all too many people managed their monthly band budget around Rammstein and Imogen Heap, but as Helen and Vera attended (and loved) both, I figure there are probably many more music-lovers out there who get their kicks from any spectacular live performance. (Though I don’t foresee either of them attending U2 or Roxette. Ahem.)

Watching Imogen Heap live was a once-in-a-lifetime experience: a kick in the gut, a tickle of the ear, a whisper of breath on the neck. She is the most inspiring musician. Well... at least I endeavour to be inspired by her when not cowering in the face of her talent and ability.

While prancing about on a stage amidst the trees on Paul Cluver wine estate, Imogen collected samples of her superb cello and percussionist on her wrist microphones, as well as her own vocals, keyboard, all sorts of wind-up toys and bells, and the plucking of her thumb piano from Zimbabwe. These layers she used, bit by bit, to create whole worlds of sound that crashed down around us as the songs ended, leaving us simultaneously devastated and elated.

One moment she was silly and endearing with her personal anecdotes, and the next she was leaving us shell-shocked with her sheer power – and mad keytar skillz! Her vocals veered from wild and intense to breathy and sweet, all with such consummate skill that we were blown away.

And her graciousness meant that she was very kind (perhaps more than she should have been!) in agreeing to have all sorts of people up on stage with her, as well as involving the audience in the harmonies for one of my favourite of her songs, “Just for now.”

Because of her, we all went home with a little moonlight on our shoulders and a song in our hearts.

Let’s hold thumbs that musicians of this calibre continue to wow us and keep the local scene on its toes.

Yours in starlight and cello strings
Linky x

New adventures and sad goodbyes

It is with heavy hearts that we must announce the departure of our beloved drummer, Art. In a decision to take a break from the music scene as a whole, Art is going to have a well-deserved rest and devote his time to pursuing other adventures. He will be sorely missed for his refreshing input in jamming sessions, quiet strength, and infectious sense of humour – not to mention his superb drumming skills which showcased our music so beautifully.

Coal will be playing a few last shows with Art behind the kit:

• Friday 19 November at Obz Cafe (acoustic) with Tape Hiss and Sparkle.

• Wednesday 1 December at Mercury – a huge farewell show featuring some of Art’s bands, including Andy Lund and the Mission Men, V.O.L. and Three More White Guys.

• Saturday 11 December at Zula with The Sleepers and The Great Apes.

Be sure to catch one (or all) of these shows to enjoy Coal for the last time in its current format. As for us ladies, we plan to experiment a bit more with percussive elements in our songs and are open to various options going forward. We look forward to our future, and wish Artur all the best for his.

Waxing lyrical

Coming up with song lyrics is tricky. For an audience as varied as ours, they can’t be too soppy or poppy, must be meaningful without being emo, and should be recognisably hooky and easy to sing along to.

At our Monday night prac a couple of weeks ago, while we were jamming, sweet Cathy came up with the most lewd line. She crooned: ‘You float by me, still inside me’.

Well, that’s what the rest of us heard, anyway. This whopper (ahem) resulted in hours of sniggers, but it turned out her words were actually ‘You float by me, still and silent’. Much more poetic, wouldn’t you agree?

Misheard lyrics have always given us all a good laugh. Everyone remembers the famously shocking Jimi line, ‘Excuse me while I kiss this guy’. In the early noughties my friend K thought the words of ‘Leave me breathless’ by The Corrs were actually ‘Go-oh on, go-oh on! Tease me, Bradley!’ (Ja, I don’t know about that either.) And the father of one of Coal’s members used to sing along to R.E.M. in the family car, ‘That’s me in the corner, losing my erection.’

You float by me, still inside me? Perhaps not so bad after all, Cath!

The threads of the new song will hopefully come together tonight to form a beautiful tapestry – or least a comfy crocheted knee rug – and I will share with the rest of the band my terrible dream from last night. Coal was on stage in front of an awful audience of youngsters, most of them resembling those monsters I used to teach. It wasn’t going well: we had to stop mid-gig because our new mystery member (a tall, gangly chick I don’t know in real life) was useless and kept forgetting her guitar parts. I was so embarrassed I just picked up a newspaper that was lying off stage and stood there reading it, feigning nonchalance. *cringe*

I hope the ‘spring’ weather improves soon, and we will see you all at ROAR for Halloween on Saturday 30 Oct. With no useless new members in sight, promise. (Only the old ones. Nyah hah.)

Yours in lyrical productivity and nocturnal brain-activity,
Linky

Coal dinner

Every now and then, when we need to chat about admin stuff, the Coal ladies and gent get together and have a meeting over dinner. This is the usual (delicious) deal:

Ingredients:
Ciabatta rolls
Basil pesto
Ripe, creamy avos
Grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
Cherry tomatoes
Fresh rocket and or basil leaves
Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt.

Directions: (really tricky, so pay attention)
Warm the rolls in oven (two per person), open them up and generously smear them with pesto and avo. Top each half with leaves, tangy cheese and sliced tomatoes (otherwise they roll off), then season.

Hmm. I foresee us needing to have many more meetings this winter.
*wink*

Captivation

Our most recent gig at Obz Cafe (oh how it pains me to write that with a z) was wonderful for us, kind of like cruising in 5th gear. Despite Vera’s lovely epi deciding to take a leave of absence and some rather peculiar sound issues, the lights were pretty and the crowd was perfect. Thank you to the talented mister Simon Tamblyn (http://soundcloud.com/simon-tamblyn) for sharing his songs with everyone, and to all the peeps who braved the wet streets (again) to come see us in high-heeled action.

Our next show is at the Waiting Room on Tuesday 25 May. (See our FB page for details.) We love this venue, not least because of its awesome 70s wood panelling and golden orb lights, and are looking very much forward to strumming our strings and tapping our toes up there. We also will be handing out some girly merch to sweeten the deal. Do pop by!

Meanwhile, behind the scenes we have been working on a new ditty with a bit of a twist (for a change) and hope to unveil it soon!

Keep warm and listening to locals and we shall see you other side the rainclouds.
Linky x

Fuel to the (Coal) fire

After beginning 2010 with a bang at the Purple Turtle as part of the ‘Ayoba’ New Year’s Eve bash in Greenmarket Square, the lady members of Coal are very chuffed at the band's new acquisition: Art Pereira. Art has now joined the band as an official member, and (after some tootling and whooping) we will have our first full band practice for the year tonight. Some of us have been all over the country during the festive season (Art drummed with the ever-raunchy Taxi Violence on tour) and I have just returned from 4x4ing and freckling in the Klein Karoo on a work teambuilding thing where temps hit 40 degrees – perfect ostrich-riding weather! (Not.)

The New Year’s Eve gig was great (even though the onstage sound was a little elusive) as we were honoured to share the circus arena with the brilliant harmonies, percussion and Hawaiian shirts of Holiday Murray, our lads The Sleepers, and the enthralling insanity of the Great Apes, amongst others. Sadly we had to miss the downy-moustachioed boys from Locnville as they were on the outside stage in the same slot as ours. I, for one, cried into my pillow that night! But verily, I still have the sun in my pocket and the moon in my hand.

With 2009 now over, the four Coal ladies will have a new challenge: to convince Art to play in those heels we clubbed together to buy him for Xmas. And with some plans already being plotted, we are very excited to be recording some of our ditties to share with our fans and those far away who want to hear our sound online. (The recordings we have are a little dated now and don’t quite reflect the journey we’ve been on so far.) This way we can reach ears from Hong Kong to Timbuktu, as well as our lovely supporters in the Mother City.

We will be sure to keep you informed once we have confirmed our upcoming shows and all the goodies we have in store for you in 2010. All the best for the New Year! Keep supporting live local music.

Munching wasabi nuts from Oudtshoorn and wearing a purple skirt(le),
Linky