Melissa Ferrick

My life is crazy. A new Ferrick cd came out (sort of) on Tuesday and I’m just now blogging about it. Crazy I tell ya. Heck, I didn’t even download it til mid-day PT due to the fact that I was on a damn plane in the morning. There was a time when I would have scheduled biz travel around a Ferrick cd release. (Not really, well, maybe.) And then, after I downloaded it from iTunes, I didn’t even LISTEN to it until the next day on the trip back from California. What has happened to my priorities?

Let’s get the basics out of the way first – the cd, Goodbye Youth, has been available only at Ferrick shows since the 10th. On the 16th it was released on iTunes ONLY. Weird but I think I like that a heck of a lot better than trying to pre-order from Goldenrod. That never worked out for me.

So how is it? Well… Mid-life Clarity says it is her best album – ever. I’m not willing to go that far. In fact, I don’t think I can put it in the top three. A few of the songs on it are excellent but the whole album – her best ever? Nah. That’s still Valentine Heartache, I think. (Leaving out Skinnier, Faster, Live which is REALLY the best because Melissa live can’t be beat.)

In no particular order – just as songs pop into my head:

Glycerine – love Melissa’s version.
House on Fire – LOVE.
Hypocrite – makes me laugh my ass off because that is so Melissa.
John’s Field – really nice work with this one Melissa, I wasn’t sure I’d like it on an album that wasn’t live. I do.
Bad Habit – I don’t love this version. I’ve heard her do it live several times and like it better in the old “still a work in progress” version.
Real – I’m surprisingly happy that this “old” song is on this “new” album. I think it works well with this mix.

The other songs on the CD, I’ve got thoughts about them but they aren’t the songs that pop into my head quickly when I think about Goodbye Youth – ok fine, except Goodbye Youth – this one had a lot of potential but something is missing. I don’t know what that something IS, but it’s something. I’m betting I’ll like it better live, I’ll let you know in a few weeks. And something tells me I’ll like it better in the live versions she performs a year from now. She’ll twist it just enough to find that “whatever it is” that’s missing. That’s what she does and part of why I love her.

Melissa has a new song, Heartbeat, and in it – she whistles.


The bird likes Melissa, whether she whistles or not. But when Melissa whistles… the bird goes a little nuts and you can’t shut her up. She just kept singing all the way through the song, whistling back at Melissa during the whistle parts and then singing nonstop through this video of Melissa Ferrick & Sara Sample working on a song together.

And it’s going to be on the new album? OMG. No way. Awesome.

sassymonkey with melissa ferrick. Lat night. Hmph

Oct 17 2008 8:00P
Radio Radio Indianapolis, Indiana

Oct 18 2008 8:00P
Wesleyan University Bloomington, Illinois

Oct 19 2008 8:00P
Shank Hall Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Oct 20 2008 8:00P
The Mill Iowa City, Iowa

Oct 23 2008 8:00P
The Intersection Grand Rapids, Michigan

Oct 24 2008 8:00P
The Ark Ann Arbor, Michigan

Cafe Eleven is a great little place but every show we’ve seen there has had a sound problem. You’d think that would be bad, but it isn’t. We were there early, for dinner (because Michelle was starving), and watched Melissa’s sound check. Fun and interesting for us, frustrating for Melissa, her band and the sound guy. In the end, it all worked out because Melissa played a completely different show. She played most of her set from a stool. She played a lot of old songs. She talked a lot. It was a great show.


You can see the photos from Melissa Ferrick @ Cafe Eleven and check out the videos (pay particular attention to Anything, Anywhere and Nebraska and Everything I need – especially if you’re a big Ferrick fan and enjoy her stories.) You can also see a very good video of Closer on blip.tv. (The John’s Field video is also linked there – these two were too large for youtube and I don’t have a video compression tool on the tablet.)

Okey dokey, videos uploaded. I’m embedding Everything You Get because RJ really likes this song and because she plays around with it in the beginning. The video of how Edie met Melissa is fab. You can see them all (10 new ones) here. Be patient though, youtube is still processing but I need to get out of here and on the road to St Augustine.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

We shouldn’t wait 15 months between Melissa shows. That’s just nuts. We should quit our jobs and travel around the country, following her from show to show. Wait. I’m too old for that. We got home at 2am, I was up at 6:30am and I’m exhausted… and we’re going to do it all over again tonight. Yay us!

Anyway – the show was awesome. The Social tends to have a lot of talkers and a lot of drunk baby dykes, last night – there weren’t too many of either. It helped that the really big dude with the really big microphone was telling chicks to STFU. Heh.

The new songs are excellent. I have some video – it’s not great, the bright red light over Melissa’s head sucked and I needed to step back about 2 feet from the stage but that would have been where Mr Really Big Guy with the Really Big Mic was standing. I’ll try video again tonight – At Cafe Eleven… who knows what I’ll get.

Oh, also, Edie Carey – awesome. We’ve missed her. She was recovering from the flu and not her best but still – awesome, maybe more awesome because she had the flu, ya know? And she did sing Violently, with Melissa. I have video. Michelle is happy about that.

Videos later – after coffee and a shower and maybe a nap. Damn I’m old.

OK OK maybe not. But still, they’ll be on stage together – TONIGHT – and TW and I will be there to see it. Ah the memories! Ah the good ole days! I wonder if Edie will sing Disco Ball Heart? Probably not, but I bet she’ll sing Violently – which is almost as good. Anyone want to lay odds on whether Melissa will sing Drive? ha.

Edie Carey and Melissa Ferrick – go listen!

Ha. Ha. Ha. New Melissa song. Awesome. Not that we’ll ever hear it live because bars are too freaking loud for this song. Clicky