After I wore a black and white jacket to my first gig a co-worker fussed at me for wearing the same thing to the office earlier that day.

It was true: I had no “rock” wardrobe. I’m not rich enough to buy new duds. I am no longer svelte, I can’t wear low-cut pants (“muffin tops”), my feet hurt in stilettos and jewelry just gets in the way.

And the look that guys use is out, too. I just don’t look fetching in grungy T-shirts and Keds. And skulls and crossbones are the stuff of angry young men, or at least young men who want to appear dangerously cool while they’re playing guitar. Guys even wear their guitars differently -- low-slung crotch covers designed to look like what they’re really playing is something they’re not supposed to play with in public. For me, I need my guitar up where I can reach it, with my hair out of my eyes and my glasses on my face.

And please, don’t ask me to do the emaciated heroin look -- the best I can do is a frappucino twitch.

So. Without a fat budget, and desperately needing to look like I didn’t just come from the office, my bandmates urged me to hit the local thrift stores. Lead singer Mary Hestand is especially good at finding the perfect stage clothes -- she knows every inch of the Salvation Army store over on Inwood Road. Mary Hestand, she of the plastic forks and spoons in her hair -- I bow to the master.

Today I’m the proud owner of a tacky maroon velvet shirt, a pair of bubblegum pink shoes, a Sgt.-Pepper-inspired black three-quarters’ length jacket with gold brocade, and a bitchin’ pair of blue suede spike-heel boots that I wear only when I can sit down. My stage wardrobe teeters between “clown” and “classic,” but mostly I have a collection of stage clothes that are comfortable -- and not to be worn at the office.

NEXT GIG: Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Tipperary Inn, with our friends Heimlich & the Maneuvers. Great food, drink, and fabulously dressed-out music.
Band website: www.merryandthemoodswings.com
Hear the Mood Swings: www.myspace.com/merrythemoodswings



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(Fifth in a five-part series. Previously the author described the origins of the band, its growing pains, and a personal breakthrough in the art of songwriting.)

Songs started flowing out like a faucet with a broken handle. Ever since the music pilgrimage to my brother’s in Danville, Illinois, when he helped nudge me closer to being able to write a song -- any song -- a pent-up dam has given way, and songs of every kind are swimming to the top. Songs about matches not made in heaven (“...more like made in China”). Songs about Witch Joanie (“She got her twitchin’ eyeball / on my bewitchin’ man...”). Songs about handsome men, clueless women, instructions, low slow voices, billionaire oil tycoons, PR lackeys, and how sixteen lasts forever have all bobbed to the surface.

The Mood Swings has three years under its belt now and Melody was right – in our third year we’re gelling. We’ve played the big festivals (Turkey Trot, State Fair Women’s Museum Stage, Deep Ellum Arts Fest); private parties (thanks Sandra, and Wade, and you, too, George); and clubs (Opening Bell, Tipperary Inn, more). We even released our first CD, “Attack of the Mood Swings;” have issued two band t-shirts (“Is it the caffeine...or the Mood Swings?” and “Laundry...or Rock n’ Roll?”); have been covered by local TV and print; and, at this writing, are recording new songs for our second CD for release in 2009.

Do we want fame? Well certainly it would be a lovely thing -- but we are all realists, realists with day jobs, mortgages, and family members to support. Aside from rock n’ roll, life moves along just like everyone else’s, with all the bumps, hits, and jackpots. Between the band members over the past three years, we’ve had one husband with a heart attack, another with a mysterious nerve condition, one mom, one brother-in-law and one sister-in-law pass away. We’ve had one who was mugged at gunpoint, another who nearly broke her neck in a swimming accident, and one who struggled to find a new job. We’ve had three high school graduations, a couple of scholarships, a child win the lead in a school play and two kids who made cheerleader. In other words, life rolls on whether we’re rockin’ or not. Playing in the band just brings out more of the bliss in life.

Here's the take-home point: To anyone reading this who has ever wanted to “always _____ (fill in the blank),” do it now. Start now! Go ahead and tell yourself you don’t have to hit a homerun the first time out. Give it, say, three years to gel. Take that first step and keep going. You won’t be sorry.

And to those holding unissued invitations -- you may be the key that makes all the difference in someone else’s life. Invite someone along the next chance you get.

And remember what a wise man once said: Do it to have fun.

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Check back soon for more Mood Swings blogs. Next up: “What to Wear, What to Wear…,” a short perspective on how “gig clothes” creep into the wardrobe.

Merry and the Mood Swings preview their latest original tunes at Lakewood’s Tipperary Inn on Saturday night, August 30 (double-billing with Heimlich & the Maneuvers). For more information, log on to www.merryandthemoodswings.com. To hear samples of their songs from their first CD, log on to www.myspace.com/merrythemoodswings.


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