A video worth watching.

Twins born, still holding each other during bath.

Such a lovely video. - MJ

CATcerto. ENTIRE PERFORMANCE. Mindaugas Piecaitis, Nora The Piano Cat

How is it that some people can have something truly great right in front of them, and not be able to see it?
What trick of the mind prevents them from embracing the good thing? Something shows up, not looking like anything that was imagined or planned for; yet there it is with a life of its own. And with success attached to it. With recognition, favorable response, and forward momentum. But hey, it wasn't part of the original plan.

I am always trying to see things with eyes wide open, and I can reflect back on the fact that some of the very best stuff of my life 'showed up' unplanned for. I try to remain flexible, adaptable, and open. Surrender is a favorite word of mine. In the best possible meaning of the word.

We are so delighted to share this with everyone. No one has worked harder on this recording and video than Kurt has. Hard to keep it all straight with late-night brain storming sessions, but I believe the concept for the video was his idea. And it is beautifully done.
I had this reach-for-the-stars idea that I could get Davy Spillane to play on this song. I started referring to the solo section as "Davy's solo" and I sent an early version of the song to him, explaining why I wrote it, and asking him to please listen to it, and consider playing on it. Understand that I have been a fan of his for something like 20 years. When he wrote back and said "It is a fine song and I would be glad to play on it" well, let me tell you, I could not have been happier. Possibly the best moment of my professional musical life thus far. I don't know how I kept from telling the world.
So here we are, done. I hope you like it. Loss is a hard subject, and yet it is common to us all. My sincere intention with this song was to convey the pain of a loved one dying, and to bring the listener through a cathartic place.
A note about the video: We came by all of these shots honestly. They are friends. No models holding stock photos. To those who shared your time, photos of your loved ones, and stories, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
If you like the song, please share. It is also up on iTunes and Amazon for sale. We appreciate your support.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SUOTP6DslI&feature=youtu.be

Goodbye - Mary Jane Riemann, featuring Davy Spillane

True measure of success.

Here's a look at the book at Over The Rainbow Toys. The staff have been playing the song over the sound system for people who look at the book! I walked in today (unexpectedly) and there was an elderly woman in tears because she thought the art work, song, and overall sentiment was so moving.

That beats any sales numbers we'll ever have.
Well done, all of us.
MJ

Working on a video

We are entrenched (in the trenches) with the video for "Goodbye" - a song we'll be releasing soon. The song itself is a straight shot about the breath-taking grief of losing a loved one. I gave myself some pre calculated parameters for writing about this subject; and I did manage to stay within them; but still I was pretty surprised with the song that showed up. I think assignments are good for me. Imogen Heap talked about doing something similar: she picks a key, a time signature and a tempo to write in, for example. Anyway, a powerful song showed up, and I have been receiving some powerful responses to it. All will be revealed soon. Lately I have been reflecting on how heavy the process has been for filming a video for this. We are using real friends holding pictures of lost loved ones, and the video is intense. I burst into tears while filming  a segment because a picture of my father was on the table in front of me. He died when I was 27, and I am now 46. The grief was just stirred up by singing "goodbye, goodbye" over and over. Kurt is doing amazing work as usual. We keep watching episodes of "The Trailer Park Boys" just to end up somewhere completely ridiculous and silly - far away from the pain, everybody's pain.

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral.

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.

And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly. Amen.

-Aaron Freeman.

Hmmm, Just read an old post, and I'm still liking the idea of writing a whole album (heck at this point, it is just pulling the material together) of music for sensitive souls.
In the meantime, working like crazy with Lynn McCarron on launching lullaby books all over the place. Wonderful, exciting, life-changing work going on. www.maryjaneriemann.com is now in place and almost finished; to highlight the published, or soon to be published works.
I just got to work with and talk to a musician I have held in high esteem for 20 years. The fact that he likes a song I wrote and loves my voice has meant more to me than I can properly express. More about this when we are ready to launch that song.
I'm almost afraid to sit at the piano right now - there is a pressure to write more really good stuff. Because you don't want to go backwards. Nothing like pressure to send the Muse scurrying in all directions except toward you.

Favorite Quotes, Musings, and Mantras

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” - Martha Graham

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
-Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson

Here's a quote from "Healing Back Pain; The Mind-Body Connection"by John E. Sarno, M.D.
"One of the most powerful systems that has evolved over the millions of years of life on this planet is the biologic capacity for healing, for restoration. Our body parts tend to heal very quickly when they are injured. Even the largest bone in the body, the femur, only takes six weeks to heal. And during that process there is pain for only a very short time. It is illogical to think that an injury that occurred two months ago might still be causing pain, not to mention one of two or ten years ago. And yet people have been so thoroughly indoctrinated with the idea of persistent injury that they accept it without question."

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." - Oscar Wilde

John Fugelsang: "White People - We were Illegal Aliens back before it was trendy!"
"I'm a douchebag, if you could empty one and fill it with Jack Daniels, Smarties and daydreams." - John Mayer
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." --Hunter S. Thompson




"But, If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'"

"It's all part of life's rich pageant" - Kurt Riemann

"My heart is open. I am willing to release all resistance. Good now flows into my life from expected and unexpected channels. Love is the miracle cure. Loving myself works miracles in my life. I now accept and appreciate the abundant life the Universe offers me. I allow my income to constantly expand, and I always live in comfort and joy."