So, I did a Soundcloud search for myself, to see how my cloud was coming up. It didn’t. Jess Elaine Edwards’ cloud came up. That’s odd, I thought. Who is Jess Elaine Edwards?
Upon closer look, I see my song–a lullaby called “When I Am King.”
Ah yes, I remember. From the Plug-Pulled Pollyanna Sessions (circa 2000). It was the first aborted attempt to record Pollyanna Loves Cassandra at Supernatural Sound in Oregon City. It was going to be my most ambitious project to date, recorded in one of the best studios I’d ever seen in my life. Alas, we were too raw as a lineup. After laying down basic tracks for nearly half the album, producer Mike Davis said, “I don’t get the feeling we’re making a good album here.”
So we pulled the plug. And we hit road to sharpen up (revisting the gargantuan project in 2002). We did, however, get a nice demo of this particular song, with the help of Isaac Szymanczyk on keys, and a budding teenage diva named Jessica Lageson.
“When I am King” is favorite amongst Shipe fans. But I rarely perform it. When I double-bill with a fine female singer, I try to rope her into doing a duet with me: Shannon Curtis or Jessica Plotkin (who plays viola on the official recorded version).
As lovely as this song can be, I don’t feel that I’ve gotten it right yet. The official recorded version, on Cassandra, features Stephanie Schneiderman. You can listen here and compare the two versions.
I’d love to hear this song given a complete makeover by some hitmaking machine–pop, country, or R & B.
The start of 2009 found me in North San Diego County. In the middle of my Yellow House run, it seemed a mistake to up-and-leave headquarters just to get out of Northwest rain. Sure, we lived on the beach, and the sunny weather was awesome, but they don’t have much of an original singer/songwriter scene in that surfer strip between L. A. & S. D.
What they do have, however, is a great Irish scene. Irish bands and Irish pubs. (Gentlemen from Flogging Molly reside there.) I was lucky to fall in with these folks. Ned Giblin, of Brehon Law, invited me to play Wednesdays at his pubs, J.J. Landers and R. O’Sullivan’s. So, I had regular gigs and a close look at a timeless style of music. (The influence of Ned and his cohort David Lally is bound to show on my next album.)
In Oceanside, I befriended Doug Whorly and several of his showcases at McCabe’s, where I met the lovely and talented road warrioress Jacqui Foreman. She honored me by covering my “Faith in the Man.”
It was at a Whorly showcase where my wife, Amy Wray, filmed the video of me covering The Pretender’s “Brass in Pocket.”
I didn’t bother working the L.A. scene. Too big, and like different country. But at the urging of my publicist Leona, I played a couple times at The Gypsy Den in Orange County. (Once with Trevor Davis.)
We lived down the beach from football star Junior Seau, who has a beautiful blue Pit Bull named Rocky. I mention the dog, because it was about this time that my connection to the international Pit Bull community really deepened. I was getting daily e-mails from dog lovers about my song “Pit Bull Blues,” which I gave out freely to anyone engaged in canine care and rescue. Soon, videographer Jeff Fleiss contacted me with the idea of making a video. By spring, he had hauled me up to L.A., filming me in front of the Coliseum amidst 25 Pit Bulls and their trainer, Dogman. He put it together with some excellent footage taken by Amy, and boom… there was a sweet video… still getting legs on the web.
Treasures & Found Objects | shipe | 
October 29, 2010 8:17 am | 
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