Summer Hope for 2020

It’s summer and I sure miss performing! Postponements are now going into 2021 and remote teaching this spring was sure new for teachers and students. I was proud of my students. Now summer is here with so much anger, outrage, illness and lives in danger. It’s hard to write with gushes of emotion then silence.

There’s good news in that I’m about to record an entire new album which surprises me. But it’s been a very strange year and I’ve written new songs that are in demo form now. I’m excited to be able to record even without an entire band. The restrictions with covid 19 are so necessary and yet people still want to “break out of them” and go against wearing a mask or caring about each other. With the virus of racism and police brutality against Black people, too, these have been sad times. 

And in recording the new album, I thought it’s time to finally get “I Will Rise” done, which I had started to write after The Women’s March in early 2017 (and 2018). We knew from the start that getting that so-called president out of office would be best. I felt like I had an idea which came to fruition last year with The Pink Fund and PBS’ Those on the Front Lines of Cancer. Molly McDonald from the Pink Fund encouraged me to continue finishing “I Will Rise,’ and filmmaker Keith Famie also used the demo song for his PBS special in Detroit both in 2019.

 So I premiered the song live with my husband/guitarist Scott Dailey at The Pink Fund’s Dancing with the Survivors in October just before my new book “Detroit (Maiden Energy) street princess poems and lyrics” came out. It was a great time, and inspired me to record a final version now of “I Will Rise.” I’m also updating my website to include some poems in my blogs and also, photos of my retrospective of posters and Bands I’ve had. Also, I’m doing a new Zoom or Facebook Live event of music and poetry. I’ve been writing, singing and recording for years, working with some of the best musicians in the world for years, and am proud of my recordings and shows and bands.

In other record release news, Orchide Records Detroit released an album with Detroit Energy Asylum which was my band for many years. Featuring Dave McMurray, Luis Resto, myself and many well-known and wonderful Detroit musicians, Patti Smith also makes several appearances. “Recreation” is available on Orchide Records Detroit and for those who liked “Secrets and Space,” “Recreation” features new mixes of several numbers and a never-before-heard lead vocal on Smokey Robinson’s song (sung by The Marvelettes) “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” by Patti Smith. Patti and I duet on The Four Tops’ “Reach Out.” Produced by Freddie Brooks, it’s a gem!  https://orchiderecords.bigcartel.com/product/dea-recreation 

Also, there is hope for a retrospective of Rough Cut and Detroit Energy Asylum tunes with posters and photos in the next year, too.  https://secrets-space.bandcamp.com/album/secrets-space-original-soundtrack-of-transition

And another record release! I’m featured on Detroit Punks Archive entitled “End of the Night” compiled by Rob St. Mary and distributed by Light in the Attic Records (Seattle) with Record Store Day 2020 U.K. My song “Rockin’ Right” is included with one of my first bands The Cubes. The album includes Don Was’ first band The Traitors and also Hiawatha Bailey and The Cult Heroes “Amerikan Story” with much more! Check it here at https://lightintheattic.net/releases/6628-detroit-punk-archive-presents-the-end-of-the-night-1976-1983  

And it looks like we have several new livestream shows in late July at Detroit’s Music Hall, Otus Supply in Ferndale, Michigan, and even a new book/Audio livestream show! So that is cheery news in these times. The Audio Book for my book “Detroit (Maiden Energy)” is also coming this summer. My book is at many Michigan bookstores and soon to be in Milwaukee, Chicago and in England. You can buy it on Amazon, too, Aquarius Press, or directly from me https://www.amazon.com/Detroit-Maiden-Energy-Carolyn-Striho/dp/1733089837  

Begin Again

All the confusion couches the coast

rocks, rain, ruin return again

inside, harder, happens to me,

but happens to be the one quick avenue of alive in the pain

Birds floating, singing loud,
sun shining, seems so rude to leave Detroit’s beginning so fast

hurtling hurdles of hard crunch as shoes hit pavement near the river again

again and again
the city won’t end
just begging to begin again

scatters our blood and only pretends
to not care,

when it’s very soul depends on our love

through the hate we consider,

watching the dove spread its wings over water

and splash as it flies away from the smokestack,

away sunrise…
away from rocks, rain, ruin, return again

again and again
the city won’t end
just begging to begin again 

Thanks for the support. Love, and stay safe! xx Carolyn