Poltz strums, starts fire.
The spirit of
squeeze it so hard that it coughs caught me earlier this year and I went on an adventure: four days of songwriting, singing, hiking, revelry, and insanity in the back country of South Yosemite led by the
SYMG gang with
Steve Poltz and
Tim Bluhm acting as instructors. I didn't quite come back down from the mountain a white-haired prophet, but I am certainly recharged and more excited about songwriting than ever.
"Two Song" David Mulligan.
Along for the trip were a great bunch of songwriters: Dave, Zac, and Traci (all from Portland) and
Tuscon/Two-Song Dave (from...uh.... Phoenix?). It's been a few years since I last took the
Old Town School of Folk Music's songwriting class, so here's a quick reminder to Jeff V., Carey, Jeff C., Ross, Lisa, "Strip Search" Rob, and the rest of the gang: being around good songwriters
makes you a better songwriter. Watching everyone create for a couple days was a sharp kick in the ass, and I can't wait to start playing the Poltz/Schneider songwriting game with them(thank you,
Internets, for making this possible!).
Tim Bluhm.
Being a fan back from the Rugburns days, I was of course familiar with Steve Poltz before making the trip. Tim Bluhm, on the other hand, was a revelation. It wasn't just the voice that did it - though it didn't hurt that Tim has a great one. But hearing Tim play his subtle, touching songs about California, grief, and love made me remember that a songwriter can write practically anything as long as he can sing it convincingly, something Tim does in spades. I know one thing: I'm not about to build my ship with eucalyptus wood any time soon.
The highlight of the trip was writing under the influence of Steve, who turned out to be as genuine, nice, and engaging off-stage as he's been on the times we'd seen him as fans. On the first day of writing, Steve threw out a suggestion for a song bridge (going to the augmented 5th - check out
Metaphor to hear the results) that turned out to be so strong that I used it twice. Steve and Tim were both eminently approachable, writing songs with the campers for some assignments, just sitting and talking shop at other times, teaching us how to play their songs when asked. If this sounds like an ad for SYMG, it isn't;
the songs that we all wrote probably are, though, since that's really the measure of whether or not the workshop succeeded.
