News and Views

Hi Friends, I love this music video!

This song is special to me as a songwriter/performer, and this is a great version that put in tears in my eyes as a teacher! The first time I likely ever heard anyone play and sing guitar was this song. I was about 4 years old, and Dennis Herbison (my aunt’s brother) sang it around a kitchen table at my aunt and uncle’s place in Peace River.

I remember that moment so clearly. It was the moment that gave me my life’s direction and purpose because right then I saw that music was magic, and playing music was what I wanted to do. Thankfully, some 55 years later I am still playing music and have shared this magic with many thousands of students who I have been honoured to teach over my career. I still cover this song, and love performing it. And yes, music is magic. Keep on singing, friends!

https://www.facebook.com/betty.mcivor/videos/668707274104332

In honour of Louis Riel Day, here’s a song I wrote about his partner and leader of the Metis in the War of 1885.

I read that after the war, and he was declared an “outlaw” who, if captured, would share the same fate as Louis Riel (hanging), Gabriel Dumont escaped to the USA where he briefly joined Buffalo Bill’s Show as a “Canadian Outlaw and Buffalo Hunter,” he said (as he looked around and saw what was happening to his beloved country), “This damn country is getting too soft for me.”

I took that line and put it into my song “Barbwire Fences” where I use the voice of Gabriel Dumont. Note: Barbwire was invented in 1873. Barbwire was the invention that allowed the unthinkable (at the time): fencing-in the great North American West. Cheers, friends!

Sorry to hear of the untimely passing of Ron Taylor!

I knew him well as a fellow performer and friend. He did the sound at my first CD release party and we recorded one of my songs together in his Ragged But Right studio. We have lost a true gentleman, friend to all, and fine performer, songwriter, and all-round musician. #rontaylor #edmontonfolkmusic

Thanks Ingrid, for this photo from the Vernon Chamber of Commerce Christmas Luncheon on Tuesday! It was so nice to be with a big group of happy people again!!!! It felt so good! And thanks again to the Vernon Chamber for doing this and inviting me to perform. Feliz Navida!

Hi Friends,

Here’s a song I recorded back in the 2000s and have been playing live lately! This song was inspired by songs like Lightfoot’s “Song for a Winter Night” and poems like Frost’s “Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I am also heavily using Pachelbel’s “Canon” for the chord structure.It’s a Western Canadian Full-on Blizzard and the character in the song is feeling feelings that can only come at such a time. The street in North Edmonton where I grew up was wide and open with high street lights. When a blizzard would blow in, the street-view from my parents’ big, 60s-picture window was magical! The air would seem to come alive with the falling and blowing snow glowing and sparkling in the bright street lights. Thanks for listening, friends! Cheers!

Hi Friends,

The Prince of Cups is a card that indicates you are about to engage in something new, something good, and something big that will bring many benefits to your emotional life. But as always, it is up to you to act. Nothing like this will happen if you do nothing to engage in the life around you, and you do not travel onward with purpose, direction, and hope. Take care and have a great day! Card from The Millennium Thoth Tarot Deck

Buffalo Skinner Redux

Hi Friends,

I hope your December 2021 is off to a great start! I have just released another single from my studio in Vernon. This song is called “Buffalo Skinner Redux.” As some of you may know I released a song called “Buffalo Skinner” back in 2008 on my CD Warm Summer Night. While I still love that version of this traditional folk song that I had recorded, a couple of years ago, I was inspired to rework the lyrics to be more accurate with the story I saw in my imagination rather than the more traditional lyrics that I had followed back in 2008. This recording, thus, is a re-working or re-visioning of this classic song.

“Buffalo Skinner” is a traditional song that has been recorded by many people and sung by even more for many years. As an old saying goes, “A great folk song should have hundreds of versions to sing it and keep it vital.” This is one more version of this great song about the Buffalo, Western Canadian Roots, Justice, and Fair Labour Practices.

Spotify

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/buffalo-skinner-redux-single/1598030148

Apple Music

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kYJnpKcBGFQqzaFeY_tt8d2qBDnJUuwvs

YouTube Music

Hi Friends!

It has been a busy month as far as releases and news go: since the market season ended for me, I have had more time to get a few things out there.

I am glad, for example, to have republished my book of poems, Wonder, as a ebook. It turned out really nice with the addition of many of my colour photos that I have taken and added to the book! Please see my new release pages for more information.

Also, my book on the Tarot: The Five-Card Pentagram Tarot, also finds itself in an ebook version as of this month.

I started a long-delayed video series on Marshall McLuhan media ecology as well as producing a few more videos about the Tarot. See my YouTube Channel.

I have been busy with my recording equipment, and plan to have a few more singles released before year’s end.

I can see a bit of snow on Okanagan Valley’s highest peak in the distance. Terrace Mountain. The locals have told me that this mountain is their season-change talisman. It’s not summer until all the snow has melted from its peak, so I guess this means that winter itself is on the way!

***** Press Release *****

For Immediate Use: June 30, 2021

Marv Machura, Releases Book on the Tarot

He says this book is designed to help people move forward with their lives

Marv Machura has released a new book on the Tarot: The Five-Card Pentagram Tarot.

The book is a guidebook to divining your future with the Tarot Cards. Machura’s book can be used by anyone to engage with the Tarot card deck. Machura says, “The Tarot deck is an amazing legacy handed down through the ages that provides a visual and iconic representation of the complex nature of our humanity.” He further says, “This book has the potential to help many people through its explanations and divinations of each card in the Tarot deck.”

The book focuses on the five-card pentacle layout which uses one card drawn from each part of the deck and arranged in a classic pentacle shape. This five-card pentacle layout speaks to the present and near‑future in an immediate and comprehensive way, giving readers advice on various aspects of their lives including their spirit (Trumps), energy (Wands), emotions (Cups), thoughts (Swords), and money (Pentacles).

The book shows you how to use the Tarot deck to give advice and direction for your life and also provides information on the Tarot deck and its use as a fortune-telling medium.

For more information and to get in touch with the author, please see www.marvmachura.com.

This book is currently available at all online booksellers, Expressions of Time (in Vernon), and in person or through Machura’s website.

Hi Friends,

I have been having a great time teaching for the College of New Caledonia over the past four months. It is a great college with a great faculty and staff. I have been teaching online English courses, but alas, the term will come to its conclusion today.

In between times since my last post, I have released a couple of songs and related videos. The first release is my song “On the Road to Toronto” and the next one is my song “South of the North Saskatchewan.”

I have also recently published an article in Canadian Teacher magazine: “Reflections on Student-Centred Teaching.”

My new book on the Tarot, is nearing completion!

I am looking forward to publishing it soon.

Life is good, and I hope all is well with you and yours. Let’s keep hoping and praying that our world will stay peaceful and open up again with all the wonderful things we have been missing during the past year with COVID restricting so much of our way of life and our basic freedoms and human needs.

Cheers!

Marv