Creative is other ways

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Margriet and I haven’t been making much music together lately. Instead we’ve been creative in other ways.


From Irene’s pocket collage ‘sketchbook’

 

Deck of Cards


Margriet’s Queen of Hearts

Margriet’s Queen of hearts collage is part of a year-long collage project on Instagram: #deckofcardscollagechallenge2022. Each week a different card gets drawn and everyone uploads their design. The variety of styles is amazing.
 

Collage Workshops

I was hoping to organize a collage workshop at my church on World Collage Day (14 May 2022), but our church hall was booked, so I held the event on 7 May instead. Then the Ukraine House in Rotterdam came on my radar and a week later – on World Collage Day – I led a collage workshop on their premises, with a group of Ukrainian women and children. More sessions at the Ukraine House are planned for the weeks to come.
 

Links

Irene’s Instagram account: @irene.bom
Margriet’s Instagram account: @margriet.van.overbeeke
 

News update

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Irene writes,

“We have built up quite a repertoire of songs over the years, but losing my voice at the end of 2019, and then Covid-19 restrictions and extra responsibilities in my church, has meant that we haven’t been out and about much.

Thankfully my voice is improving (with the help of a speech therapist), and hopefully there will be time and space in our busy programmes to put our Two Doors Down hat on again soon.

Meanwhile, do reach out and let us know what you think of our songs/our act and if there are any gig opportunities where you are.”

LOST song gets trumped by LOST voice

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Irene writes,

I had a song in the bag for the Creative Mornings Rotterdam session on Friday, 15 November – inspired by the theme, LOST. But, unfortunately, I LOST my voice due to a bout of flu with added complications and we had to cancel.

We hope to be able to share a Two Doors Down version of the song with you soon. Meanwhile, here is some of the backstory.
 

DID YOU KNOW?
“As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,000 natively spoken languages existed worldwide. Most of these are minor languages in danger of extinction; one estimate published in 2004 expected that some 90% of the currently spoken languages will have become extinct by 2050.” (wikipedia)

I do believe we can all play a part in rescuing languages from extinction by giving our mother tongue (first language) our full support. Other languages may serve us well, but our mother tongue serves to keep us fully human and connected to our roots and ourselves. That’s what our LOST song, “Mother tongue”, is all about.

Here are the lyrics:
 

MOTHER TONGUE

Verse 1
Mother tongue – faded and flickering
Mother tongue – what’s to become of me?
I sold you out to the highest bidder
Mother tongue – I feel so dumb

Verse 2
Mother tongue – I am ashamed to say
I lost respect for you along the way
My heart went cold and I kept my distance
Mother tongue – I did you wrong

Bridge
You taught me to say ‘thank you’ and ‘please’
and helped me to stand on my own two feet.
You taught me to speak up for what’s right and true
and not to be afraid to say ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I’m here for you’

Verse 3
Mother tongue – let’s plan a grand reunion
Mother tongue – I want to recommit
I want to taste all life has to offer
Mother tongue – you hold the key

Coda
Join me at the table as much as you are able
Mother tongue
I mean to keep you close so you keep me on my toes
Mother, mother tongue

 

RECOMMENDED READING/LISTENING

onbeing.org
David Treuer – Language Carries More Than Words

brainpickings.org
The Lost Words: An Illustrated Dictionary of Poetic Spells Reclaiming the Language of Nature

BTW … we did go busking on 24 August

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We set up here (in the shade of the tree, next to this huge artwork) and played for about an hour, entertaining the passersby on their way to and from the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, with our “straatartiestenvergunnen” (busking licence) at the ready.

The highlight was meeting a father with his very sick little boy who were taking the air in the park next to the children’s hospital where they made regular and lengthy visits for treatment of a serious but repairable birth defect. A plucky dad and a plucky boy.

 
And here’s Margriet surrounded by all our gear, post-busking.
 

 

Plans to go busking and updated list of open mics

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Open mic in York, U.K. – in support of a charity  (Photo: Irene Bom)

 
Margriet and I hope to take advantage of the good weather in Rotterdam this Saturday and go busking. We have a busking license, but haven’t had time or energy to make use of it till now. (Get in touch if you’d like to know where we’ll be.)

I’ve also updated the open mic page, realizing that some of the locations listed are no longer active. Some are still going strong, though, like Hostel ROOM in Rotterdam and the Amsterdam Songwriter’s Guild.

Live recording: Good Night’s Sleep

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A live recording of Two Doors Down performing “Good Night’s Sleep” at Creative Mornings Rotterdam on 2 August 2019.

The song is inspired by Creative Mornings July’s theme, “End”, and captures something of Irene’s daily struggle to call it quits and enjoy the benefits of a good night’s sleep. Irene is on the guitar as usual and singing lead vocal, while Margriet adds percussion (bell and shakers), sings harmony and plays the melodica. Notice the audience reaction when Margriet starts playing “Somewhere over the rainbow” at the end.

 

Good Night’s Sleep

bell signalling midnight

Verse 1
There’s something about the midnight hour
that brings out the worst in me
Not that I’m a party girl
On the contrary
But I struggle to call it quits
And miss out on all the benefits
of a good night’s sleep

Verse 2
My second wind kicks in and them
I’m chasing after something again
I love the flow but as some of you know
It can be an addiction
I wish I could train my brain
to entertain the counterclaim
of a good night’s sleep.

Verse 3
At the end of the day I need to learn to say
Lady, enough is enough
It’s time for bed, you sleepy head
Stop sweating the small stuff
On the far side of my dreams
There’s a better version of me – I’m dying
for a good night’s sleep.

Coda
Gotta try me some of
sleeping beauty’s beauty sleep

strains of “Somewhere over the rainbow”

Live recording: Symmetry

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A live recording of us performing “Symmetry” (this month’s theme) at Creative Mornings in Rotterdam on 22 February 2019.

 

Symmetry

 
Verse 1
We were in motion when we met
How we connected I’ll never forget
In this world of tangled dreams
there are no guarantees
I’m one of the lucky ones
who know that love is real.

Chorus
Symmetry, by degrees,
is shape-shifting me
The unexpected symmetry
of me and you loves you and me.

Verse 2
I’d had enough of playing games
Round and round in circles, what a waste
Love helped me to begin
my return to innocence
Love is like alchemy
it changes everything.

(Repeat Chorus)

Verse 3
Looking forward, looking back
Everyone says I’m much more relaxed
The future sure looks bright
with love in my life
It’s not a bed of roses
but it’s deep and wide

(Repeat Chorus)

CreativeMornings RTD keen to have us back

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Irene writes,

As mentioned in our previous post, we’ve built up a relationship with Creative Mornings Rotterdam, performing at three of their monthly gatherings in 2018.

Last Friday I attended the January event on the theme of ‘Surreal’, and a number of regulars recognized me as part of Two Doors Down. Also, the organisers – including the new host, Lodovico – are keen to have us back sometime soon. So watch this space.

Live recording: Honest friends

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Irene writes,

I’m a regular at Creative Mornings Rotterdam. It got me thinking. Could I write a decent song on the theme of the month and would Creative Mornings Rotterdam let Two Doors Down debut the song live at that month’s breakfast lecture?

The Rotterdam Creative Mornings team were willing to indulge me. To date I’ve written 4 songs inspired by Creative Morning themes, and we got to performed 3 of them live. (“I trust my hands” I performed a capella to a gallery owner in Manchester where I was stranded because I’d missed my flight. It happens.)

 
The 4 songs in our “Creative Mornings Collection” are:

Who will throw me a life line (Theme: anxiety)
Curiosity (Theme: curiosity)
I trust my hands (Theme: craft)
Honest friends (Theme: honesty)

 
Here is the latest song, “Honest friends”, recorded live at Creative Mornings Rotterdam on 26 October 2018.

 

Honest friends

 
Verse 1
Will you tell me the truth
tell me the truth in love? Please share.
I appreciate it when you speak from the heart
It tells me how much you care.

Chorus
I need honest friends to keep me grounded
Who bring out the best in me
Up close and personal
I need your honest-to-goodness honesty

Verse 2
Will you back me up
back me up when I’m under fire
It’s so good to know I have support
from those who know me and how I’m wired.

(Repeat Chorus)

Bridge
Like the pitch and roll of a ship at sea
My life is in constant flux
I need an anchor, a harbour and a lighthouse
People I can trust

(Repeat Chorus)

Ram(e)ses

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Irene writes:

Last Tuesday Margriet and I recorded our Art Rocks video, with our friend, Theo Huijgens behind the camera. It all got a bit late, and I forgot my capo, so I had to play a whole other set of chords. Also, my guitar strings need replacing and our voices were a bit shaky. But we did it. And then came the challenge of taking the best bits and tweaking the audio and turning it into a video. Amazing how much I’ve learned in the process.

 
Here’s the result:

 
If you like the song, please vote for us on the Art Rocks website.

 
Note: The artwork on the easel Irene had made years ago.