Gretta Harley Music
  • Home
  • About
    • Biography
    • Discography
  • Current Projects
    • Mettle Lark
    • Solo Performances
    • Music Lessons
  • Past Projects
    • Love and Fury
    • Element 115 (Uup) >
      • Listen
      • Recording with Kramer
      • Lyrics
      • Album Artwork
      • Media Player
    • These Streets
    • We Are Golden
    • Maxi Badd / Danger Gens
    • Other Bands
    • Film & Theater
    • Other Contributions
  • Calendar
  • Watch
  • Press
  • Store
  • Contact

Where There's Smoke...

9/6/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
The light is so beautiful again this morning. It is pink and orange and dark and light at the same time. And ashy. The fires from all around my city of Seattle are blazing, displacing people, animals, birds…and all of those trees. This beautiful hue is caused by something so very destructive to so many beings, to structures, and to the land. But the land will replenish itself and the green will begin again, and the birds will come back- eventually. I started thinking about all of this, and of the everythings I tend to do in the blink of an eye; so much so I get blinded at times. I turn off the phone and the music and the onslaught of so so much turmoil, anxiety and upset, take some deep breaths and just listen inside.

At the campground I visited this past weekend we heard chainsaws at noon. My friend and I walked toward the grinding and discovered that a tree dies every day in this little forest campground from severe drought this year; and that the rangers have to cut the dead tree down immediately before it falls on a person, or becomes vulnerable to fire. The downed trees are watched closely for days to make sure that a spark from the chainsaw doesn’t catch and cause another fire.

​Four tickets in one night were issued to fellow campers who presumed that their little campfire couldn’t do harm. In what universe does a person think that his is a special fire that won’t smolder in the dry ground that hasn’t had a drink for months? The signs are everywhere- entering the campground, and at all corners of the grounds: “No Fires.” And yet, one quarter of the people who came for their Labor Day festivities felt it was their privilege to light a simple campfire anyway– for smores and to keep the ravenous mosquitos at bay; and besides, camping without a fire is not as much fun, so…. I witnessed a scolding from the camp host to one of the indicted fire starter crew. They looked guilty and ashamed, especially when this witness walked by. And I thought, they got caught. If they didn’t get a ticket and weren’t told to put out the fire they wouldn't feel sorry. They would just think they got away with something. I know how that feels. Not about the forbidden campfire in a drought bit, but about doing something you know is wrong and you do it anyway, and the high of getting away with it.

Then I started thinking about judgments, and that making judgments of others are at an epidemic these days, and so easy to throw down, and that's hurting us and disconnecting us. I recognized both my judgment and understanding of these fire starter people. I was angry at their hubris, while recognizing that I have my own brand at times. Then I started thinking about how disconnected we are from nature, from each other, and from our selves, often hiding behind a façade of thinking we’re special. Then I started wondering about introspection and thoughtful reflection, and if that transference of collective energy could help us somehow, as we watch things burn, flood, or of a possible coming nuclear war– the manmade suicide plan which is being somewhat diluted with our immediate attention to the world coughing us off of her.

Then I started thinking about social change and the social contract that has been ripped at the seam in what has always held us together- at least I used to think that. We grew up with the Golden Rule and believed that kindness and decency were basic tenants to our lives together, and I sincerely don’t understand how or why that all changed. There are lots of commentary and opinions on this topic, but still it just doesn’t make sense to me that turning away from compassion toward one another and to the planet that we share together is a good idea. I don’t see that anything is being made great by any of this ripped-apart-at-the-seam thinking. We are all witnessing the end to something, and I think that we are really afraid, underneath all this anger, of what comes next.

I am reading Brian Greene’s “The Elegant Universe” and it helps me daydream about alternate universes. In an alternate universe we didn’t go to war in Iraq. In an alternate universe we choose love over hate after the 9/11 attacks, treating the terrorists as the criminals they were under the rule of law. We led the world toward unity, global peace and justice for all. In my alternate universe we dismantle all of the nuclear arsenals, choosing life over threat of annihilation, and we work together to solve the problems of climate change, and disease, and we collectively realize that all people just want lives that are meaningful, and that all lives are valuable, and all political and corporate decisions are based on this basic premise. In my alternate universe we choose truth over hyperbole, science over myth, and intelligence over fear. Then I wonder how I can access that me in that alternate universe? Why am I only aware of this one here? And then I think maybe an alternate me is safe and calm and sitting on a beach in Costa Rica, swimming, singing, writing, dancing, surrounded by loving, happy people (sans spouts of being called a “snowflake”).

I see the thin layer of ash all over my apartment, an obvious reminder of the fires so close. The skies are filled with smoke. I follow on Facebook posts from friends who are being evacuated, and at the destruction of trails I’ve hiked, and the once gorgeous Gorge that I’ve experienced so many concerts at. Today I’ll clean the windowsills again, and sweep the deck, and I’ll keep my asthma inhaler in a pocket. The sunset will be beautiful again tonight, and the moon will light up pink. I'll pray that Irma misses land, and I'll wish that all of the people and animals so devastated by events in the Northwest, and in Houston and around the world will recover quickly, but I know it will be so so hard. And so unfair. And people and animals have died already and homes have been lost. And hearts broken. And lives forever changed. And I'll think of the young people who in trust, gave their names to the government who are now threatening their lives. And I'll think of the people who march in the streets fighting for justice that may never come in the universe that's trying to make America great again in hyperbole.

The fires are burning. Floods are receding. Things are still dying. And things will regrow. Maybe like us? Maybe if we pay attention, and if we are connected to our selves, and to each other, and if we are humble with the world...maybe if we listen inside and out, we can create something together- something more beautiful than what is being destroyed right now. Not in an alternate universe, but right here at our control. Maybe there is beauty through the smoke. Eventually...
1 Comment

Dia de Los Muertos

10/31/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
​Dia de Los Muertos
10/31-11/2/2016
​ 
Small and medium stones border
devotedly placed objects around the yard,
alters of significance for someones I've not met.
What inspires us to choose particular totems;
displaying, summoning, illuminating, particularly
ourselves?
 
I chose four stones on my hike yesterday–
descendants of an ancient war between earth and fire,
propelled fragments of land to sky;
and gravity, being what it is lodged pieces atop one another.
Precariously balanced they are,
convincingly un-budging (until another quake wreaks havoc).
 
I returned to his Rancho and
positioned my new stones in the yard
pointing toward center
and fanning outward toward possibility:
toward life,
toward forgiveness.
 
Why this passion of mine
for picking up rocks, placing them into my pocket,
arranging them in orderly patterns?
Symbols of an innate knowledge,
amalgam of recognition and prediction?
 
I found another object today:
a guitar pick (an alter contribution
blown away, landing half-buried in the sand?)
It had my initial on one side, a skull and crossbones on the other.
I asked him if I could keep it and he said yes.
He knows where it came from and I don’t care.
 
It was left for me
Like the bird spoke
Like your song played
Like the sunset
Like the ever-fading smell on your clothes I still wear
Like the tears that leave me dry.
Deserts are good for that.

©2016 Gretta Harley
Picture
3 Comments

COME CELEBRATE MY ALBUMVERSARY!

6/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Exactly One Year ago I released my album Element 115 (Uup). In celebration I am offering some insane discounts to purchase my album all month (with full color artwork, 180 gram vinyl and digital download) for only $18. I would love to share this record with you.  Or you can also just purchase the digital download code for $10. If you already have one, you can get it for a friend.

I can't think of a better tribute to my albumversary than to have had the opportunity to write an essay series about the process of making this project in New Music Box: 
1st Essay: The Slow Listening Revolution
2nd Essay: I Don't Have to Choose Do I?
3rd Essay: Creation is Messy
4th Essay: The Rush of Performing vrs Being A Witness  

I am also sharing here the link to the whole sold out concert of the song cycle with a 10 piece orchestra and video accompaniment. Please share.

What a year it's been. Thank you so much for your support. Without you, this is just no fun.
Love, Gretta 
0 Comments

The 4th Essay in the series of New Music Box

6/6/2016

1 Comment

 
Here is the Link to the final essay in New Music Box about performing and composing.
I can’t find anything that compares to the feeling I have when hearing what I imagined in my inner ear played in real time. I get a rush when I perform, especially premiering a new piece in front of an audience, or when the musicians that I’m playing with sound exceptionally good—when we are all gelling, the stars align and we’re breathing together, and that exact moment is the only moment and it is perfect.
1 Comment

Creation is Messy

6/6/2016

1 Comment

 
Here is the 3rd essay in the series in New Music Box. 
Creation is messy. Artistic inspiration without the mess (and an incredible amount of work and planning) will never see the light of day. Our finished work is only as good as it is because of the untidy part. Art needs us to bravely embrace our inner slob, even though most of us prefer a little primping before going outside.
1 Comment

What is a Composer? What is a Songwriter? Where do they cross? Essay #2 (of 4) 

5/16/2016

0 Comments

 
"My love for music always seemed clear to me, regardless of the style or form, but there was a disconnect for me as a young writer. I had the desire to compose, having an opera and another multi-media project in my head at age sixteen, but I had massive anxiety over not knowing how to make the music come to fruition. I was overwhelmed by my insecurity, thinking I didn’t know how to do it “right.” I had no mentors to guide me in compositional vision. I didn’t even know what to ask for. I was a suburban teenager with no family background in music, attending piano lessons each Tuesday and practicing four to five hours a day in secrecy from my rock-n-roll friends. The training I received was very traditional and I loved it, but it also intimidated me. Perhaps that intimidation is endemic to the culture? A lot of feelings weren’t clear to me until many years later when I analyzed my own relationship to music."
​Link to the rest of the
​ New Essay on New Music Box. 

Picture
Photo by Angela Castaneda
0 Comments

Where I have been and ESSAY #1 or 4 in New Music Box

5/10/2016

1 Comment

 
Shortly after my record, Element 115 (Uup) came out, my then-boyfriend was diagnosed with cancer. His name was James Atkins. He was my biggest cheerleader in putting my record out myself after Fin Records folded. I will always be grateful to him for that particular encouragement. Unfortunately James lost his battle with cancer on Feb 27th. We poured his ashes in Puget Sound last weekend and I am trying to get on with my life. New Music Box, specifically Frank Oteri, asked me to write a blog series last autumn, shortly after the record came out. I wasn't able to do anything during this time except care for James, which was pretty much a full-time job. Frank got a hold of me a month ago, following what little I published about my life on Facebook and asked me if I would like a perhaps well needed distraction from cancer and death to write that blog series. So here is the first installment. I hope you like it. Thanks Frank! Next one coming out Monday May 16th.
The Slow Listening Revolution
1 Comment

Holiday Season

12/15/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Musicians who played at the James Atkins CancerFund concert on Dec 4th and 5th at Chop Suey in Seattle.

It's that end-of-year slash holiday season again when we ceremoniously reflect and feel grateful, and spend time with our loved ones and plan the future and make resolutions and stuff. Or we get anxious, or cranky or hate shoppers and don't like what seems like hypocrisy in a seemingly fake idealistic annual ritual. Whichever. I actually like this time of year. I think ceremonies are important and regardless of our religious or non-reliogious affiliations, the ceremony of being with one or more people whom you love and respect is never a bad thing. So I wish you a person or persons to be around you this season and for you to enjoy doing what you enjoy. No matter how simple or bombastic. Cause why the hell not?! And the food is usually pretty killer. And I feel lucky to eat.

Looking back at this year and seeing where I am, I feel very grateful. Although not in perfect health or pain-free, I feel pretty darn fortunate for my health and friends, especially as I play witness to James Atkins going through cancer treatment. The fundraiser at Chop Suey (Photo above) was an incredible weekend. The Gits reunited for this show (with Rachel Flotard on voice, doing an amazing job honoring Mia, while singing just like Rachel.)  Hammerbox (sans James and with Fiia McGann on bass) played a great set of old tunes (guitarist, Harris Thurmond flew up from Austin). Alcohol Funnycar played a rare set, and Selene Vigil from 7 Year Bitch came up from L.A and sang some of the Bitches ole tunes with AFL backing her (Jason Finn from Presidents of the United States of America on drums), and Valerie (7YB drummer) in the audience up from SF cheering her on. Also playing were Coffin Break, STAG (Friday only) and moi on solo guitar. The room was one big ball of love and nostalgia, and mostly heartfelt, hard-hitting rock. It was medicine, to not only James, but to an entire community who came together for a comrade in need. It was an echo of the old Seattle. The old rocker days of the early '90s when we were young and innocent, fearless and bombastic. It all felt the same that night, as it used to. But with a respectful hindsight that only comes with maturity, loss and experience. It Was Magic This Medicine.

So I am thinking about this time last year. James and I had just gotten together as couple. He loves Christmas. I don't mean that casually. We had a great time decorating the tree, watching christmas shows, listening to music, eating and drinking holiday cocktails and behaving in ways that most rockers would question. But we didn't care. Well, he can't eat or drink at all right now. Nor can he work. If you are interested in learning more about James and his music and his battle with cancer, you can visit this here site. I have been doing a good deal of writing about this experience-  witnessing someone with cancer and the cancer system, but I haven't published any of it (yet). We plan to have Thanksgiving and Christmas in a decadent fury in February when hopefully his throat will be open.

A lot can happen in a year. At this same time in 2014 I was contemplating the orchestration of the song cycle I composed in 2013-14 and recorded with producer, Kramer; and debating whether or not I would release the record myself amidst a lot of anxiety attacks. The record company I had been working with just folded. I did end up self-releasing "Element 115 (Uup)" 6 months ago on my own new label, Mettle Records. It is getting great reviews from cities and towns all over the country and in Europe and is being played on BBC Radio! I played the song cycle with a 10-piece orchestra in June and spent the summer filling orders of the record and planning the next step. But life happens. So, letting go of that record for a while, I am composing what I think is the follow up song cycle inspired by the last part of this 2015. I am so moved by the state of the world, the suffering of so many, the anger of so many, the hopelessness and fear felt by so so many, and the hope...And my dear friend simply fighting for his life. Music is a way of communicating the unspeakable feelings- the feelings with no words. I don't really know what this music is going to be yet, but I am thinking of it like the giant hug I felt at Chop Suey a few weeks ago. Medicine. At least it is for me writing it. I am currently in the state of Negative Capability (John Keats). 

Thank you to every one who has supported my music and me, and who has checked in with me and James and wished us both well. I wish you all a loving and graceful holiday and the happiest and good luckiest of New Years. We all need it. Keep the love. Keep the hope. Keep the music. That's my Amen. G

OH! And as a holiday gift to you and your friends, I am offering for the next few weeks killer prices of my record! Please visit HERE to learn more.
0 Comments

Reviews of Element 115 (Uup) Are Coming In!

8/20/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
I am really blown away by the positive reviews this record has received. I don't want to jinx it, but they are all good so far. I couldn't ask for more. I am so grateful. I want to thank Dana Gordon and Lila Hurwitz for helping me get the music out there.

One wall of my living room in my 600 square foot apartment sits my makeshift record label. Boxes of records and shirts and stickers and packing tape clutter that corner, but the pile is getting smaller.

My summer has been filled with activities like shipping records and t-shirts and doing interviews and meeting all kinds of great people from all over the world. I still have some hand made silk-screened T-shirts left and extend my offer of a free T-shirt while supplies last if you purchase a record from me directly (LP comes with digital download or CD (while supplies last).

Enjoy the rest of your summer! Thank you for reading.

Gretta

1 Comment

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THESE INCREDIBLE DONORS FOR HELPING ME FINISH ELEMENT 115 (Uup) AND FUND THE VINYL RELEASE CONCERT! I LOVE YOU ALL!

6/5/2015

2 Comments

 
Charles Boyd
Karen Hoffman
Julie and Alan Burke
Breada Keane
James Holmes
Stephanie Emery
Margo Lauritzen
Heather and Michael Anderson
Martin Bender
Jose Gonsalves
Greg Rudolph
Aaron Solomon 
Rob Witmer
Alicia Sloan
Walter Kopf
Joan Mamelok and Steve Hayward 
Gretchen Dingham and Tom Lee 
Bill Redford
Erin Sullivan
Amanda J Phelan and Jacob Phelan
Sean Mullaney
Jacqueline Delecki
Robert (Trey) Anderson III
Darryl Pitt
AJ Epstein
Victor Janusz
Melissa Cabal
Scott Adams
Peter Spotts
Carol Amos
John and Laura Rothschild
Sheba and Gary Jones
Sharon Carlsen
Anonymous 
Kate Wisniewski
Mark Mitchell
Anonymous
Brian Nelson
Tracy Thompson
Jeanne Bulla
Anna Coogan
Randal Smith
Katherine Whitehall
Erik Major
Amy Poisson
Angie Louise
Emily Doolittle
Barbara and Andy Pritchard
Joshua Myers
Sarah Reynolds
Sookmee Almquist
Valerie Agnew 
Kristen Kosmas
Perry Montauredes
Karyn Schwartz
Anonymous
Jackie and Glenn Kramer
Anonymous
Douglas Higbee
John Neumann
Dayna Loeffler
Brad Younggren
Marian Naden
Diana and Andrew Ross
Sarah Rudinoff
Elizabeth Kenny and George Conard 
Rhonda Pelikan
Jane Ann W Dukuray
Matthew Menovcik
Joselynn Engstrom
Anonymous
HT Productions
Selene Vigil
Walter Cabell
Jenny Bendel
Cynthia Payne
Green Monkey Records
Carrie Akre
Judy Summerfield
Heather DeRosier
Heather Dwyer
Imogen Love
Antonia Koenig
Doug Day and Teresa O’Leary
Stephen Mack
Chase Anderson
Micha Dudgeonwood
Kristen Reed
Milton Sagahon
Mik Kuhlman
Edwin C. Tracy Jr.
Erin Brindely
Jen Rice
Amy Allsopp
Howard Shack
Joanne Tilley
Gary Rodgers
Laura Gibson
Jackie Murphy
Dawn Clement
Hollis Wong-Wear
Susan Pozo
Camille Bloom
Sheryl Wiser
Patricia Dunne
Paula and Jan Rudinoff
David Wiseman
Anonymous
Jeth Odom
Faith Seeto
Blair Payson
Rod Moody
Robert Scheu
Ronald Friedman
Geoff
Susan Picard
Annette Toutonghi and Bruce Oberg
Anna O’Leary
Stephen Parris
Stephen Shuman
Christina Lee
Angela Castenada
Ronald San Filippo
Donna Lewen
Eileen Pfeifer
Antonia Blume
Bruce Bernfeld
Dale and Mary Pat Mullaney
Henry and Sue Kramer
Paul & Janet Tao Knutzen
John Hagman
2 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture

    Welcome

    Gretta here, sharing some thoughts about music, process, performing. Thank you for reading, commenting, sharing!

    Archives

    September 2017
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

© 2025 Gretta Harley
subscribe