Deb Montgomery

Zone Baby

2006-02-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

My sister is here from Vancouver with Liam, my 8 month old nephew.
We sleep, eat, walk, burp, laugh, laugh, burp, eat, sleep, play, play...
grab a nap, steal a nap, burp.....baby land. When they leave, I will cry.
What a joy. What a remarkable exhausting beautiful joy he is.
Peace,
Deb

Boa Constrictors and Elephants

2006-01-18T19:38:00.000-05:00

"I showed the grown-ups my masterpiece, and I asked them if my drawing scared them.........The grown-ups advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why I abandoned , at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist. I had been discouraged by the failure of my drawing Number One and of my drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again." From 'The Little Prince". by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Living Room and Life

2006-01-13T17:46:00.000-05:00

Tonight I am thrilled to play with 3 amazing musicians. (Konrad Meissner, Drew Glackin and John Abbey).. And tickled to play live with John Abbey as well because it is our first time on stage together despite producing Ask for Angels together! At the same time, day of a gig, I have been curled up with the Little Prince and Thomas Merton...in my usual rolled up mess of nerves and wondering about the state of the world..and Africa lately. If you can find the movie "Yesterday" on Channel 13's archives...it is an incredible film about a young mother trying to cope with caring for her daughter and coping with being HIV positive in a climate and country that can only provide minimal care...it tore a hole in my heart. A good thing I think. I want to play some little part...in helping. Perhaps we'll figure out a way to do so specifically on the site..for instance my friend Kevin Perkins in Toronto heads up CapAids....you can read about it at www.capaids.org AND World Vision is also doing some amazing work in Africa....between the two, perhaps we could get bicycles to some small communities and sponsor a kid or two as well. We'll be looking into it. In the mean time, I have to go sing and rock and roll and perhaps flutter a butterfly wing here or there...a little love at a time. Peace, Deb

Mosquitoes in December

2005-11-28T16:13:00.000-05:00

Brooklyn is not the best place for Mosquitoes or should I say it is the best place for them? Are they still surviving anywhere else up here right now. I woke at 3am to put some anti-itch cream on a bite. damn them. on the other hand you have to have a little respect for an insect that survives last week's cold...or eggs that did...and then hatched last night on my arm. I'm very busy with a green project right now. Sang for some 10 year olds last week. The boys really dug it.they were waving their arms like teenagers at a REAL rock concert..I thought I'd be answering questions but they kept just wanting another song..one of them (after shaking my hand and saying he wasn't going to wash it) suggested I learn a Greenday tune. I said I'd think about it. I am knee deep in paperwork. These are my deep deep thoughts. Looks like Mikael Rickfors of Sweden and I will record a song we wrote in Ireland..with Hector Castillo at Looking Glass Studios in December. That's what it looks like today as I gather 15 years of stuff and make it as big and shiny as a Macy Day's Parade Balloon. Peace, Deb

Shadow of a Bird

2005-11-18T15:17:00.000-05:00

perhaps I should go back to school and get a Masters, open up a family therapy/education center, and adopt a kid or two...after I make some money. In the mean time, the shadow of the bird outside on my fire escape is walking across my curtain...very pretty. It is interesting as I volunteer some time teaching 8 year olds...that I find their 8 year old worlds to be everything that matters in that moment...and many hours later...and apparently even now. Peace, Deb

Annie Dillard

2005-11-13T14:50:00.000-05:00

If you havn't read Annie Dillard, I highly recommend doing so. "Pilgrim at TInker Creek" which Melvin Maddocks from Time
called "...a remarkable psalm of terror and celebration." I read her for a lot of reasons, but often because it is the next best thing to being by a body of water or building a fire by which you may sit.

"The secret of seeing is to sail on solar wind. Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff."

"I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck."

falling asleep

2005-10-30T20:35:00.000-05:00

I am babysitting tonight for friends. They have a 4 month old.....a little love of a boy. Tonight, his parents first outing, he cried for about an hour...as I moved from one thing to another to soothe him..finally the bottle, then some rockin (the quiet kind), and then some singing..the quiet kind and then some whispering while he sucked away on a finger for a bit...hands gripping my thumb and baby finger...and I watched as he fought sleep..and slowly drifted off...to the sound of cooing...(I did my best coo sounds)...and then the grip fell loose and mouth fell open..and his little body settled and he was out. For some reason it made me think about surrender and prayer and God..and weeping...and fussing and kicking and fretting...I had a week like that last week. A lot of Grief about something I could not change...and it seemed like it just kept coming...until it didn't anymore. Our own grief is sometimes the whisper, the cooing, the act of surrendering...and then our grip loosens and our mouths fall open and something new comes..life is strange. Babies are amazing. There is so much grace.
Peace,
Deb

Blogging Trouble...hm

2005-10-26T16:03:00.000-04:00

well...my last blog didn't fair so well..

the point of "Sculpture and Haircuts"...that by taking away things, you often create something beautiful. An eight year old in a writing class I was helping with today...said that "haircuts" were one of the things that you got by taking away stuff. We had been editing her writing..I wrote this quite clearly before..now I'm rearranging my apartment and throwing things out..this will have to do!
peace piece by piece

2005-10-26T16:02:00.000-04:00

Sculpture and Haircuts

2005-10-26T14:45:00.000-04:00

Neil Young's little sister

2005-10-11T12:11:00.000-04:00

Well, CD BABY gave a discription of "Ask for Angels" in these words:

"haunting and frolicking folk rock that makes you wonder if Neil Young has
a little sister."

Here's a true story that I actually wrote out for Neil when I sent him my CD recently.
When I was 13 years old, my best friend was Ann McCauly (spelling?). she was from
somewhere in the states,..I think Alabama. We would hitchhike from my juniour high school
in Toronto to her house for lunch and hitchhike back again. We would spend our lunch
hours eating Oreo Cookies and air guitar-ing "Harvest". I always hogged the lead guitar
parts. I think we did this for weeks until some guy picked us up and yelled at us for
hitch-hiking. But I fell in love with Neil's music that year. Later in College, After the Gold
Rush reminded me to stay alive in the midst of what was then a certain personal kind
of hell. All this to say that I love this quote about being his little sister if he had one.
Besides, I am the eldest of three so being someone's little sister is just cool. Hm. Probably
I am often my little sister's little sister though................

rain peace,
Deb

Things Break

2005-10-07T20:31:00.000-04:00

When I was on Inesheer, I co-wrote a song with a songwriter from
Germany. Her name is Julia Noack...you can go to her site www.julianoack.com...
anyhow, our song was called "Things Break." I think it's a beauty.
The funny thing about songwriting is that sometimes I think that songs are
like dreams..revealing wishes and fears..playing out parts of our deepest places
and spaces. Sometimes forecasting things to come...a working ahead on some
issue or issues...Everytime I go through major change, I tend to feel like
I'm falling apart or breaking down. I've come to trust it more as time has gone along...
that in the falling there is transformation..that broken is not bad, that being scared
doesn't mean scary things must happen, If you're out there reading this Juls, I find
the music and lyrics of the song we wrote very comforting and even exhilerating....encouraging.
You should get your butt to this side of the Atlantic and we'll record it!
ok...or mine back there.
peace lasses and lads..I miss Ireland.
Deb

Where the heart is.......

2005-10-05T18:11:00.000-04:00

I am back in my hood. Lovely to see familiar faces and catch up here and
there...to greet and be greeted with such genuine enthusiasm....great to miss
and great to be missed. At the same time, for those of you in Ireland and on
Inesheer.........I left a little piece of my heart with you....thank you. I am sad
and full, longing and satisfied, missing and deeply grateful. I thank God for such
a time. I thank you for being there. If Russ the Ghost reads this, I have a couple
concepts for you. Get in touch!

Fish out of Water For Now,
Deb

Missing and Jet Lag

2005-10-03T11:47:00.000-04:00

Back from the Island of Inesheer.
Fabulous week with about 17 other songwriters..
Amazing place to spend a week as well.
Castles and Shipwrecks...Kind of like life.
Co-wrote two songs that I think are wonderful.
I miss all of you from the retreat very much..
I miss the Island as well. I do not miss the ferry
back though I've always wanted to be out at sea...what
a thrill and how scary! Beautiful!
Checked in on emails yesterday...will slowly get back
to you all! Give me a day or two :)
Ireland Rocked in every way. I am very thankful.
Peace,
Deb

Inesheer...off to the Island

2005-09-25T05:52:00.000-04:00

Galway has been lovely. Sheridan's Cheese Mongers
and Tich Nachtain my two favourites...after a number of
guiness yesterday, I took a break by eating a big plate of
fresh fish and chips from McDonoughs........read that name
carefully. Then met up with a lovely woman from Galway who
was the DJ at the University STation for 6 years...gave her
a few CD's.. pretty cool.
Well, I'm feeling my late guiness night....so going to chill
and try and make some sense of this later. I can't complete a
thought and I'm totally anxious about going into a structured
week of songwriting....even though THAT is what I came for!
Yikes, I'm a spaz. My nephew agrees.

Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher

2005-09-23T14:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I met a nice guy from Chicago...he was on his
way to the cliffs today..I offered to split the gas and join
him...what beauties they are..and the coast off a little town
called Doolin...County Clare I think..stunningly beautiful.
I feel blessed and thankful...full of the sea, the blue, and
happy to have met a fellow traveller for a bit. The Irish Stew
mid day was a treat too!
Peace,
Deb

tich neachtain

2005-09-22T09:03:00.000-04:00

.....grand pub at the corner of Quay and Cross Streets...
someone tell Annie to meet me there :0...............and Val thanks
for the rec.

met a guy today that invited me to record a song in his studio..
may or may not..but great chat..

off to Sheridan's Cheese Mongers for a glass of wine and some
cheeses........................and stuff.
saw a boat today called "defiance". took a pic and told the guy
(I dug his boat!

Under the Weather in Galway

2005-09-22T05:25:00.000-04:00

...can someone tell me where the phrase "under the weather" came from?
Canada? UK? Ireland? the USA?

thought I would have loads to say by last night, but seem to have picked
up a little flu thingy. so wandered rather unacceptingly yesterday around Galway
which is darling really...found the pubs and places friends have recommended..
the sweater shops..passed some talented buskers..and finally asked a local where
the best Indian Food was in Galway. yup, that's right. ordered the hottest thing
on the menu, took it to my Hotel and hopefully made any little virus in my body
feel extremely unwelcome and in for it..lots of vit C to make it unpleasant for
anything to stick around...put the big "VIRUSES NOT WELCOME HERE" sign on every
organ in my body...and...here..wait..wait..
WENT TO SLEEP!

11 hours later, feeling like some of those Galway trecks might be possible.
so..will try later to write some more. CLiffs of Moher..on the list.

actually felt a tad lonely last night after all this amazing interaction.
but felt like I was up for that. called my sis. Hello to Liam..Little growing
Liam is 4 months almost!
peace,
deb

oyster festivals guiness men and green things

2005-09-21T09:54:00.000-04:00

..just a quickie from a public booth...............
the title forecasts my few days here I think.
....and hello also to Loree and Leslie and Dawn
and Carla and Don...and Kel Bel and wee Liam..
later gators...
out til 3:30am at a session in an Irish pub that stayed open
won't say where though so as not to get in trouble Pat the
bartender/owner?
but thank you thank you! what an amazing night of music..
and yes, I was asked to sing..I sang "Ask for Angels"
the woman at the bar told me in the bathroom that I reminded her
of Celine Dion...?????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
ok. well. Celine should sing one of my tunes and make me a lot
of money.
Gareth says that Ask for Angels will be a worldwide hit...cool!!!
I'm ok with that.

..and we all sang Helpless..and I did Bruce Springsteens' Downbound Train..
Craig will like that..
with Irish flutes and banjos to go with..
running out of time
back later beauties!!!
Deb

All Things Cold and Irish

2005-09-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

...Perhaps I will figure out how to transfer my pics from dig camera to disc
to the library computer in Drumshambo...but for now you'll just have to trust that
I was walking barefoot in the Irish Sea a couple days ago. Beautiful and fierce.
Fierce and Beautiful. Like life sometimes. Funny that we often trust the calm in
our everyday lives more than the fierce moments...times.

My uncle asked me some pretty cool questions which I could not answer. "So Debbie,
yep he calls me Debbie...and he can cause he's cool..so Debbie, you seem fun and funny and tough and lovely..and I was just wondering if you ever think of writing a happy song? Your stuff seems fairly dark in places...." It's a great question and a fair question..but I don't know the answer and that's what I told him. I thanked him for asking me though. I'm sure a few people have wanted to ask that in my time...

but maybe it's in my partly Irish Blood to catch the songs that express the hard parts...or hard bits as one friend calls them...there are times in my life when I feel like I hit a wall and I'm knawing on it...that's just how impossible it feels to
get through it...some obviously far more intense or awful than others..but still there it is...and crying doesn't move me through it, nor laughing nor drinking nor praying nor raging like the sea...so I pick up my guitar and begin to pick or strum and hum or wail in a musical kind of way..you can sing an ugly thing and make it beautiful..you can sing a grief and make it song..you can distort and guitar and scream something angry to a rhythm...and make it fun..

out of nothingness something comes..and there is the song. and it feels like a gift and it feels like there's a giver..and somehow faith is restored.

It's still not an answer to my uncles good question...but I like the question.

Speaking of Irish Songs, I am staying with the multi-talented Eileen O Toole in Drumshambo..tonight off to a local Irish Session complete with flutes, accordians,
fiddles, pipes and bodhran with a little accent above the a....
when Ei picked me up she explained she lives in a little Irish Farmhouse...Old as the hills..truly but is out of oil so no hot water...this morning I had THE coldest
bird bath EVER!!! But it makes me feel good. like I'm REALLY in the country!

Today I was on a riverboat on the SHannon...a two hundred mile river which apparently starts at what Eileen calls a burp of a beginning..puddle...
you see how much water can come from little things...lots of life from a small place.. sometimes the things of God are born in little burps. Be prepared to be surprised. Try that one on today.

Met a man on a boat today off to hunt ducks with a cute yellow Lab by the name of Sam..."He won't quit looking for the bird til I call him off!" Well... lovely.

I met a woman today who's Irish and wants to marry a canadian guy...asked if I knew any...I told her to go to Sarnia and hang out at a bar....was that ok?

I'm hungry. It's almost dinner time. Off for some guiness. High in the B vitamins and Iron apparently,....if that's not true please don't 'contact' me to tell me the
truth on this one!

Peace...and more peace within and around.
Deb

Belfast, Troubles...Green things

2005-09-17T10:25:00.000-04:00

not much time to write, but I'm hanging out with
my Dad's twin brother...only met him once for short time.
we're having fun..had a guiness today in Bangor..
Belfast had a hard week. Reminds me of my grandmother
talking about the troubles when I was a kid..

walked by the sea yesterday..green blue Irish Sea with
two of my aunts...very cool, very cold very beautiful.
did I mention how much I like the Irishmen? ah yes.

Of to Yeats home soon........terrible and beautiful..
should pick some of his writing up to read on the bus.

Contacted by Swedish JOurnalist yesterday. heard the cd
on cdbaby and wants one to write about. very cool.
Belgium,,Sweden..hm...sounds like a tour en route.
hello to vic friends, dba friends..and Jacob, Benny, Maddie and Liam.
Josh and Abbey, Sarah and Pam and Valerie..Shea, Lisa, Mr. K...
squish. love Deb

Bang on a Can.org

2005-09-15T06:20:00.000-04:00

David is the drummer. THere is nothing sexier than watching/hearing him
play drums. He'll make you feel like you can fly. Anyhoo....last night
I took Gareth to Bang on a Can, who were playing DUBLIN...Mark Stewart (on
my CD, plays with Paul Simon etc...............)is in B.O.A.C. and
threw us on the guest list....what a treat! If you, whoever you are, ever
get a chance to see these guys...go go go!SO inspiring. So Aikido...
Yeh, too bad I'm not having any fun right...oh well. www.bangonacan.org

Working on learning Bruce Cockburns' 'All the Diamonds in the World'.
Been going through my head for over a week. time to cover it I think.

Got a call from a DJ in Belguim who heard the CD and CDBABY.COM and wants
to play in on his station...very cool. Off to Bangor via Belfast tomorrow.
My Dad's twin brother lives there with my aunt.

Dublin has been a blast. I really like this city. I hear Galway is stunning.
But as big cities go, this has been a treat. thank you again to my hosts and friends
Gareth and Louise.

I am off to write again in a cafe...perhaps before I leave Dublin, I will leave
you with some of my writing writing...to sum up Dublin..or dip you a little in
my deeper waters..

Deep Thoughts on Jet Lag

2005-09-14T04:46:00.000-04:00

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my brain and eys are swimming in my stomach.

dublin is fun and my hosts Gareth and Louise ROCK!
cutest couple in Ireland I think...thanks for that :)
I will be walking ghost-like today through Southside Dub
...need a VIC coffee...hello to all you cuties in Brooklyn.
someone build a fort with Jackson..tell him I said hi
from across the sea.
peace and gurgling gut for now.
deb

p.s. wrote yesterday in small cafe called Lovin Spoon..lovely
bartender/waiter..he was so patient with this elderly couple.
it made me smile and cry a tad because so much of our culture
is fast, youth, sex oriented....and we so need wisdom and
patience..so we don't miss what really matters.
oh, and he did make a mean expresso!

not disturbing the contact

2005-09-13T08:42:00.000-04:00

Learning something new involves not just listening but
listening in very new ways sometimes. It took the whole aikido
class before I realized that listening with the body, not unlike
dance, is very different. not disturbing the flow. staying present.
allowing something difficult, unfamiliar to turn you in whatever
direction you FEEL it turning you..to go with and into it..and
let whatever is harmful about it find its own end while you
just turn in and move..dance with it..but to stay present and centered
..not to shrink away from it..

it reminds me, of course, of life...at least a lot of mine. songwriting
for me has been a lot like that..letting that which feels unbearable
move me in a direction..and turn turn accordingly..and what appeared to
be after me becomes something I master by listening/feeling/turning
into a song. there are a thousand metaphors for songwriting .. I just happened
upon a new one last night..and some sore muscles to prove it today.

peace,
deb

Dublin and Aikido and Deb

2005-09-12T14:02:00.000-04:00

....far be it from me to do something typical or normal in Dublin
on my first Ireland night...no I am dawning a kikogi and taking Aikido...
I have been told by my host that he is teaching and I am taking...
...what is it EXACTLY? i ask.....jet lagged...

"Think about not disturbing the contact. I'll leave you to ponder that today."
So, I've pondered in a jet lagged kind of way..so much so \i got lost walking
around..oh well, I have three weeks to find my way back..
I read something Aikido related too about how you can't reach your destination
if you have both eyes on it...

what a start to a time in Ireland. what a perfect reminder to let go.
there is a lime green train going by. yes, that's right lime green.
i've had one cup of tea and been offered 4 today...ah...
my Nanny (irish grandmother/Nanda was grampa) used to talk about the troubles
all the time growing up...apparently there are more. that is sad.
it is great to be here.

there was a really bad movie on the plane, but it was funny to watch with no sound.
does anyone think I might need some sleep now?
first CONTACT UNDISTURBED and the A REAL IRISH PINT OF GUINESS!!!
peace lasses and lads....peace.

Toronto and Underwater Philosophy by Maddie

2005-09-09T23:17:00.000-04:00

How do you prepare to be unprepared? Go with the flow.
Jump in the water when 2, 5 and 8 year olds tell you to get in the pool.
My niece wants to go under but doesn't quite grasp the holding
of breath yet. She's the cutest thing to ever cross anyone's path EVER!
ok...I'm bias..."Go Under. Go Under. Go under. Deep end. Deep end. Deep
end." No worries that we are not fish. No worries that we don't know how
to swim...Just the simple wanting...to go deeper..to go under..

the simple innocence. the simple ignorance...
we have awesome silly pics. I'll figure out how to frog them as well..
a few. then we built a fire and made smores. I fly on Sunday to Ireland.
I am so not prepared. I don't even know how.

Go under. Go under. Deep end. Deep end.
Pics to prove it eventually.
Saw that it's 62 in Dublin today....better get some socks.

...Don't be Fooled the a NAME

2005-09-09T00:36:00.000-04:00

Dudes! APPARENTLY.....There are Deb Montgomery's, Debbie Montgomery's...
Montgomery Debs...
many a montgomery....there are christian music Debbies, mystic poet Debs...
ery gom monts beds.....get it?.............so..........

I am the irreverant "glory and dirt" (to quote a friend) Deb. And for these three weeks plus I am the Deb that is in Ireland...and will keep you posted and frogged completely.
This is my frog. I am committed to learning to frog. I cannot spell very well. Ask my nephew. But I write. and sing. and rock. and frolick. and pray. and rage. and drink coffee... speaking of which. VIC CAFE 7:30a.m. Hoyt/State...bon voyage...in the mean time, I am trying to stuff...warm clothes for cold nights, light clothes for hot days, digital gadgets up the whahoo...
whoa...
regarding the new CD...here's a blurb..a letter excerpt....expert...expatriot...

" ...I want you to know how much I sunk into feelings and images when I listened to your disc. I mean sunk... I mean how much you took me out of the petty garbage I was thinking about in that half hour previous to picking up the mail.... and put me into a place of contemplation, beauty, and complexity. You have the ability to remind a person that not all can be worked out.. that there is beauty in mystery and even in pain"....

...in the mean time which is the real time, I should sleep...I've called 451 friends to ask for help waking up...to have a coffee with my folks...and head to Laguardia... some nephews and nieces to splash about with in their pool before heading to Ireland Sunday...

peace and a giggle here and there,
d

p.s. I saw that beam of light up last night where the towers once stood...and then there's Nola Now...
and all the rest of this dear world...or..if you don't live here..there's what is hard for you now, and then somewhere there's a beam of light and a place called New Orleans across the Sea..
all of us...traveling...arrows through time...
but to you in my hood, take care of each other...and see you again soon God willing.
and if you're reading from Ireland...start my guiness pour..cheers.

Nola

2005-08-31T14:30:00.000-04:00

Prayers and Peace for our friends in New Orleans...

My Team Rocks!

2005-08-31T08:02:00.000-04:00

Thank you J Bomb and A Bugs!

First Post

2005-08-30T23:42:00.000-04:00

Here it is, the first post to Deb's Blog. Plus a link.