jennyarntzen.music

Last night I attended 411 Coffeehouse, our local open mic event. Lucky for me, one of the hosts, Earle Peach, agreed to help me lead the gathering to learn my protest song, "Neighbourhood Folk". On the eve of mass protests in the United States to restore democratic principles and ideals to government, I am sharing this song I wrote after Nov 6, 2024.  Neighbourhood Folk was conceived as an antidote to the isolationism, consumerism and individualism that have burgeoned in the 20th century, to the detriment of our sense of belonging, connectivity and well being. We are social creatures. We need each other to help us make sense of the world. We need each other to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel empowered. We need each other to feel our own sense of autonomy as we learn to problem solve, plan, and act together. We need each other to learn competence at whatever skills, expertise or knowledge draw our curiosity and desire to learn. Neighbourhood Folk is conceived as a social exp...

  It is so difficult to see California under attack from the lawless crowd occupying the Whitehouse in Washington, DC. This song has been on my mind because the flag of California has a bear on it and this song has a bear in it.  In this song, Ghost Town Revival, Rick Bockner, the songwriter, describes an encounter with a wise bear who gave him good advice to live by. I see the bear on the California flag and think it has good advice for us all, too. Bears are our spirit guides. We need good spirits right now. We need good spirit guides right now.  We will prevail against the forces that would strip us of our humanity and rob us of our freedoms. We are facing the greatest pressure of our lifetimes to guide humanity to a new normal, a normal governed by caring, equality, and justice. A normal that ensures no one is above the law, no one is without due process. No one can be kidnapped by the government and trafficked to the profiteering prison camps. With this song I am sen...

  It is so difficult these days, to be enduring wave after wave of fabrications, fabulations, and misanthropic violence.  None of us are illegal. We are all human. We are in this together.  Leonard Cohen put it so beautifully, simply, with great depth. This is my modest contribution to help everyone stay connected, stay strong, and get the rest you need to fight another day.  Listen for the birds. Their songs will help.

  No Hard Feelings - Avett Brothers, performed by Jenny Arntzen at home in the livingroom. My musical challenge at this stage of my life is to simply hit 'Record' and see what happens. There is no question that I will not sound like a highly produced, professionally engineered performance backed by professional musicians with decades of experience, skill and knowledge. I am not going to create anything that sounds like that. Also, more importantly, that is not my aesthetic. It is not my interest. It is not what drives me to play music, learn new songs, and share music with anyone who wants to play with me.

  What a time we had yesterday, gathered in our livingroom to share songs, stories and poems.  Jenny - Water is Wide Matt Michel - If Knew What You Were After Moira - Teaching Recorder Virginia - requested Northwest Passage Kathy - Jackson Cherlyn - Ang Buhay Nga Naman (Oh Life) Stephen - The Flowers of Peace, Will You Go Lassie Go?, Hummingbird Laurence - Raising the Dead Patti - Come On Up to the House DJ Lucien - Alberta Isa - Turning Toward the Morning Nat Baby Elizabeth We played our instruments - guitars, drums, bass, ukulele. We shared original songs, new songs to us, and old favourite songs. We took time to make sure we knew what key we were in, and that we had words and chords for singing and playing along.  I ran the printer to making copies on the fly. Virginia served as Librarian, keeping our crate of charts organized and cataloguing the new ones. We sang songs that made us laugh, and songs that made us cry. We piled harmonies on top of each other like laundry...