JENNIFER JACKSON’S PORT TOWNSEND NEIGHBOR COLUMN: ‘Seriously Funny Songs’ to be Upstaged

FOR PAULA LALISH, the moment of inspiration came at a harp music festival in Monterey, Calif., in 2000.

Taking the stage was a succession of young women, garbed in flowing gowns, who sang medieval songs featuring the ubiquitous unicorn.

“I wanted to puke,” she said. “I thought it was time for the unicorn to have his say.”

That’s why Lalish wrote “The Maiden and the Unicorn,” a satire that she will perform Sunday at a concert at the Upstage Restaurant.

Organized by Otto Smith, the concert, called “Seriously Funny Songs,” features five singers-songwriters who, like Lalish, use their instruments to skewer conventional genres.

“I like doing things with the harp that people don’t expect,” Lalish said.

Lalish said she was inspired to play the harp after seeing her first Marx Brothers movie, “A Night at the Opera,” when she was 10 years old.

In the movie, which premiered in 1935, Harpo Marx sheds his comic persona when he sits down at the harp.

“He could be funny and still entrance everyone,” Lalish said.

On stage at Upstage

For Ken Maaske, who lives in Sequim, it was the more recent transformation of Forks into a tourist mecca for Twilight fans that inspired him to compose “Vampire Blues.”

The song, which he will perform at Sunday’s concert, is written from the perspective of a teenage musician in Forks who bats for vampire Edward’s side.

Maaske, who plays the guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo and harmonica, also will perform “London Bridge,” which he wrote about the landmark being moved to the Mojave Desert to promote tourism.

“I think America is a wild and wacky place to live,” Maaske said. “Americans continue to create a Disneyland environment in which to live. It’s fun and it’s funny.”

Also appearing will be Michael Murray, a country/folk singer who lives in Port Townsend, and Flip Breskin and Zeke Hoskin of Bellingham, who defy classification.

All five performers have written original songs with a humorous twist and are acquaintances of Smith, who came up with the idea for the concert.

Otto plays the concertina with partner Kristin Smith, a violinist, although they will only be on stage as backup for Lalish and to play their novelty piece, an instrumental duet on turkey basters.

The concert will start with each musician performing a song, Otto said, then returning for a longer set.

Suggested donations

There’s no cover, although in the spirit of the event, the suggested donation at the door is a million dollars.

Other suggested donations: chickens, broccoli, old musical instruments, warm socks and chocolate.

“Anything useful,” Smith said.

For Murray, who plays guitar and banjo, “useful” means hearing a phrase or reading about something that strikes him as ironic.

Murray, who is from eastern Montana by way of Seattle, won the Tumbleweed Song Writing Contest two years ago for “Grandpa Held a Snake.”

Writing humorous songs is easier than regular ones, he said, because you’re not constrained by reality.

“You start rolling off into fantasy,” he said. “It can be any oddball thing.”

Murray wrote the song “Sniffin’ Gasoline” with Kevin Cavanaugh and Peggy Sullivan, with whom he used to play in a Tacoma band called The Smelter Rats because it met at the Antique Sandwich shop in Ruston near the site of the old smelter.

Other compositions: “Road Rage,” “The Night Hermann Goering Met J. Edgar Hoover” and “Little Bitty Men.”

The last refers to chess pieces SEmD Murray, a retired software developer, is a chess player of note on the Peninsula.

“I’m a better musician than chess player,” he said.

Classics across border

Hoskin is known for writing such Canadian classics as “Hunting the Duck” and “The Lizard That Ate Vancouver.”

A finger-style guitarist, he also plays ragtime mandolin, Celtic harp and alto clarinet.

According to his partner, Breskin, Hoskin’s compositions range from children’s songs to songs with adult themes.

Some of his titles: “Grandma’s a Pirate,” “I’m Not in Denial,” and “Me and Your Hot Flash.”

Hoskin sees the absurd side of everything, Breskin said, and puts it all into witty songs that have been recorded by bands across Canada.

The sister of Joe Breskin of Port Townsend, Flip plays the guitar and is one of the founders of the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop.

The duo’s signature numbers are “Slack Key,” in which she uses Hawaiian licks to frustrate Hoskin’s attempts to sing too fast, and “I Love Chocolate,” in which Hoskins improvises verses on the spot based on suggestions from the audience.

Won’t tell ending

Humor often relies on an element of surprise, Maaske said, so he won’t give away the end of his Irish drinking song, about the morning after of a tourist who spent the night in the pub, nor the subject of a song whose title consists of numbers.

Maaske, who plays with The Sound Dogs at Smuggler’s Landing in Port Angeles on Monday nights, said his music incorporates American and world music, including Caribbean blues, country-western and Celtic styles.

Lalish, who lives on Marrowstone Island and has a CD out called “Island Time,” plans to play “Geezer Love Song,” which she wrote for her husband, Greg.

She also will do a lullaby titled “A Monster in the Closet.”

Lalish said she remembers watching Harpo Marx on an episode of “I Love Lucy,” circa 1955, in which he plays “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” picking out the familiar melody against a surfeit of swirling glissandos.

“I seem to be in the minority of people who want to exploit the comedic qualities of the harp,” Lalish said.

“Seriously Funny Songs” is at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Upstage Restaurant, 923 Washington St., Port Townsend.

No cover. Donations, including chickens, will be accepted.

For more information, e-mail Otto Smith at otto@olympus.net.

________

Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688 or e-mail jjackson@olypen.com.

More in News

Power restored after more than 6,300 lose electricity

A fault on a Bonneville Power Administration transmission line… Continue reading

Tim Morland, front, and Rich Lear of Tualatin, Ore.-based Field Turf USA add fill to the playing surface at the new Monroe Athletic Field on Tuesday at the site of the former Monroe School near Roosevelt Elementary School in Port Angeles. The synthetic turf field, which is expected to be completed by mid-autumn, is being developed by the Port Angeles School District and will be available for community athletic events. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Monroe field prep

Tim Morland, front, and Rich Lear of Tualatin, Ore.-based Field Turf USA… Continue reading

Petitions developed by local citizens seek to keep the “new” Towne Road unpaved and open to hikers and walkers. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Public comment sought about Sequim’s Towne Road future

Meeting for residents scheduled for Tuesday

Eran Kennedy.
Sound regional publisher stresses local connections

Partnerships offer lifeline despite struggling industry

A crew from Port Townsend Public Works watches as a backhoe removes water-logged timber from a sinkhole on Kearney Street outside the Food Co-op on Tuesday at the start of construction of a traffic circle at the intersection of state Highway 20/East Sims Way and Kearney Street in Port Townsend. Traffic heading eastbound toward Port Townsend will detour at Benedict Street and turn left on Washington Street to return to Highway 20/East Sims Way. Traffic going westbound away from Port Townsend will turn right at Kearney Street and left onto Jefferson Street to continue on Highway 20. The detour configuration will last about four weeks, according to the state Department of Transportation. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Roundabout construction

A crew from Port Townsend Public Works watches as a backhoe removes… Continue reading

Members of the Bagley family of Forsyth, Ill., from left, parents Jessica and Cameron Bagley, and children Cody, 10, Addie, 12, and C.J., 7, look at an information kiosk on the Olympic National Park wildfires on Tuesday in front of the park visitor center in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Blazes spread in center of Olympic National Park

Large helicopters requested to keep fires at bay

Wreck shuts down US 101 south of Brinnon for five hours

A semitrailer driver accused of falling asleep at the wheel… Continue reading

Peninsula College sophomores Ian Coughran, left, and Ciera Skelly were two of seven students participating in the inaugural Pathway Summer School at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory this summer that focused on education and career development in STEM fields. Both Coughran and Skelly plan to pursue degrees in environmental science. (Paula Hunt/Peninsula Daily News)
Internship through college presents career pathways

Students part of inaugural class at Sequim laboratory

Most Read