ellyssian: (Default)
Sofeya and the Puffins CD Release Show

Please come join us in the joy of celebration as we birth of our songs to the world.

Sofeya and the Puffins are an original blend of folk, rock, bluegrass, world beat, mystical rock and rhyme!

The New Deal Cafe, in the lovely community of Greenbelt, MD is not only known for having fabulous live music almost nightly, but also for their delicious Lebanese food.

For more information:
Facebook event page

Come and see us at Sofeya's Summer House Concert Series, opening for some awesome people...

We'll be playing in Linglestown PA, starting at 7pm on the following dates:

Friday July 18th, opening for Ginger Doss & Lynda Millard

Saturday August 9th, opening for Sharon Knight & Winter JP Sichelschmidt

Friday August 29th, opening for Wendy Rule
ellyssian: (sphinx)
Originally posted by [profile] greenmanenvy_fd at In Deep / When the Ocean was a Forest

In Deep

In Deep, 2008





When the Ocean was a Forest

By Mina Ellyse Warren

When the ocean was a forest, I was but a child,
I was but a young lass, when the ocean was a forest.
When the ocean was a forest, full of trees,
The sea without its waves, I was but a young girl.

When the ocean was a forest, ferns and trees,
I was then a young lass, when the ocean was a forest.

Each hundred years flown past, to the sea I return,
In the waves I must be bathe'd, each hundred years flown past.
Each hundred years flown past, to the shore I walk,
In the waters I am bathe'd, and I am young once more.

Each hundred years flown past, in the waters I must bathe,
Before bird or beast does speak, each hundred years flown past.

Upon the road I stop, cradling a life so dear,
Holding life within my hands, upon the road I stop.
Upon the road I stop, and I give them warmth,
Hold them as their life departs, with injuries so grave.

Upon the road I stop, as their soul departs,
My tears turn to stone, dripping grey rock upon the road.

I will be young once more, waves upon the stones,
Once I have bathe'd in the water, I will be young once more.
I will be young once more, as the tide pulls out before me,
I will bathe in the sea, and have my youth restored.

I will be young once more, when the seas have washed me clean,
In the tides my years wash 'way, I will be young once more.

It's early that the dog did speak, in advance of me,
The dog, in advance of me; It's early that the dog did speak.
It's early that the dog did speak, in advance of me,
In the quiet of the morning, on the ocean shore.

When the ocean was a forest, I was but a child,
I was then a young lass, when the ocean was a forest.
Each hundred years flown past, in the waters I must bathe,
Before bird or beast does speak, each hundred years flown past.

But it was early that the dog did speak, in advance of me,
The dog, in advance of me, as I crumbled before the tide.



Copyright © 2013 Mina Ellyse Warren



ellyssian: (Default)
Did you know...

... that there's a feed on DreamWidth for GreenManEnvy?

... that there's also one on LiveJournal?

The one on DW looks purtier in the whole (at the above links), but they look pretty much the same when you view them on your reading page/friends page.

Also, the one thing LJ seems to do better than DW is handle the share. I've been trickling down posts from DW -> LJ -> FB, but DW's share feature just opens up a dialog to email the post to someone, while LJ's allows me to share to my blog, making it look pretty much like I want it to, with very little effort. Unfortunately, DW's feed got updated right away, while LJ's takes a while. Might just have been the timing of the post, and they both might only update every 12 or 24 hours or something. To avoid duplication of posts on FB (i.e. I post it, then DW -> LJ -> FB cascades down), I'm going to just do the share on LJ -> FB of the poems.

Also also, if you have mythic/natural type content you'd like to promote or share, let me know; I want GreenManEnvy to host the works of others, to the point that I'd love to have a post of my content be a rare event. I'm not opposed to hosting interviews or reviews of music, books, or art that hits on the focus of GreenManEnvy, and excerpts or entire (short) works (such as poems) would also be very welcome.
ellyssian: (Green Man)
That's right, I'm using the Green Man icon again!

I'm back, and better than ever and...

Anywho.

Green Man Enviroscaping LLC is still shut down, but the web domain that bore it's (abbreviated) name, greenmanenvy.com, and the associated blog on Blogger and page on Facebook have now been repurposed as "Green Man Envy: Natural News and Mythical Meanderings".

I've got a few posts on the blog (which really drives the site and the page at this time, if not in perpetuity) that reflect the new direction. The old company related content is going to remain there ~ some of it, like the articles and PSAs, are going to continue being featured. The site will mix that sort of home landscape and nature articles with some fiction, poetry, and art.

Although it might take me awhile to get it up and running, I'd like to offer content from others on the site... maybe someday to even make it a viable market (i.e. where writers get paid). But right now, it's just a blog...

Anywho, an RSS feed is available for those so inclined (that's how the content gets from the blog to the site), and I'd like to encourage everyone (on Facebook) to like the page, and those who use Blogger to follow it there, and so on and so forth.
ellyssian: (Default)







Myths, Legends, and other Truths


by Everett A Warren

August 15, 2004

It is said that the call of the whippoorwill
brings out the souls of the dead
and takes them on their way
whither they may travel.

It is said that if you can hear the dulcet
tones of the indian ghost pipes
played on a warm June night
then when the flower fades so shall you.

It is said that the moonbeams are
pathways to the stars
and if you walk upon them
the man in the moon shall welcome you as friend.

It is said that journeys are keys,
but what they shall unlock
remains unspoken and unknown
save to those who have walked the ways before.

It is said that the chorusing of frogs
calling out from the pond-edges and bogs at night
are the glorious rhetorical speeches containing
all that should have been said but lay silent through the day.

It is said that the crows gather in the field
to hear the words of a storyteller
weave visions of myths and legends
and when they take wing as one they fly to spread the tale.

It is said that dreams are of two kinds:
flittering shallow fancies or deep whispered truths
and that those who dream the former
are legion and those the latter, few.



Copyright (c)2004 Everett Ambrose Warren

ellyssian: (Default)
Deb likes to watch television with captions.

[livejournal.com profile] aequitaslevitas just reported - on account of me saying my ability to spell was ded - that whoever did the captions for the show they watched on the Travel channel about Atlantis was either very tired (my personal excuse) or very incompetent.

For example:

"the volcano erupted violently and covered the island in ash and pumas"

"ash and pumas" - used multiple times throughout the program

"the island of Conosos" - used a couple times, then corrected to Knossos

"they were worshippers of the sea god, Pasidon"
ellyssian: (Default)


Frigga's Web by Hagalaz' Runedance

I think I actually liked this better the first time I heard it than I do on repeated listenings, and that's not a good sign.

I want to like it - all Norse mythology themed and all - but it just falls flat, especially in comparison to the not-quite-Norse but fantastic (Finntastic?) Arctic Silence by Merja Soria and Kari Rueslatten's faerie tale themed (I think - it's in Norse =) Spindelsinn.

Kind of funny that I think of those two prime examples of northern European female vocalists, one very traditional and the other traditionally spirited, instead of Vinland Saga by Leaves' Eyes, the playing of which led to a friend playing Frigga's Web and another disc or two by Hagalaz' Runedance. Whereas the former is German power prog metal with a soprano (who happens to be Norse), Hagalaz' Runedance, while often classified under rock, really is not.

Stylistically, Frigga's Web really has the same feel for me as some of the Llewellyn formulaic new age books - sure, it's Norse myths, but it just doesn't ring as true as the real thing, like Merja Sorja's performance of works from The Kalevala, or Liv Kristine's (vocalist for Leaves' Eyes) lyrics that really seem to capture the essence of the journey to Vinland (fictionalized, of course; but often through her own eyes, as a wife & mother left behind).

For some reason, I just can not connect to this, although I did at first listen. The only thing I can think of is that I preferred one of the other Hagalaz' Runedance discs.

-- Gave it another listen earlier today, and maybe this seems a bit harsh. The music is good, although with a Celtic or even English Baroque feel, but the vocals sound more like pseudochants than the actual historical music from Scandinavia. Hmm, on second thought, I'm not sure that is much better...
ellyssian: (Default)


The Cunning Little Vixen composed by Leos Janacek, performed by Lucia Popp, Eva Randova, Dalibor Jedlicka, and the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras

I first discovered Janacek's music in the best way possible - I used to keep WCRB on at night, and I half-awoke one night to some eerie, beautiful, ethereal choral vocals: quiet, just fading out. Mmmmm... I started to close my eyes... and suddenly a wild organ toccata charged in! Very dark tonalities - first chorus, now pipe organ, it was like the piece was written for me. Of course, I already thought this before the strings and horns came in for the finale of the Glagolitic - or Slavonic, depending on who you believe - Mass.

Of course, when they announced the piece by "Yanacheck" I dutifully wrote that down and proceeded to not find it until I realized it was actually "Yana-" with a J. Since then, I've collected a number of pieces, including his two most popular pieces, the Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba. I chanced to catch some of Janacek on the Met or some other program one evening, and toddler-Justin and I listened intently and liked it.

This, my second Janacek opera, actually has even more of the darker sonorities that I associate with Eastern European music in general and Janacek in particular. The recording includes the opera and the orchestral suite across two discs, although the suite isn't isolated on that second disc so listenings to the opera tend to go right into the suite, which isn't such a bad thing.

Although the Mackerras is one of the few recordings you can find of this work on CD, it also has an exceptional reputation, but my experience with the conductor has been a bit touch and go, and for a long time I avoided picking this up for that reason alone.

I finally came across it for the right price and could resist no longer - glad I broke down, as it is a great performance. I haven't done more than give cursory glances to the libretto, but it follows a folktale-like setting, a humorous story of a fox and a hunter. This performance was done in the original language - Czech, if I recall correctly. I absolutely can't abide by recordings of works written in language A performed in language B, especially when language B is English and you realize *exactly* how weak the libretto really is... I can get the gist of the story by reading about it; I can learn bits and pieces of however many languages the booklet is translated into; and it sounds much more beautiful in the language the composer intended.

A worthy addition to any opera collection.

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Mina Ellyse

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