Songs from the Subzero Singalong at Art Shanty Projects

It's seems appropo to release the list of songs we sang at the Subzero Singalong (Saturdays, January 21 & February 4) at Art Shanty Projects on the day Mni'sota is digging out from a deep snowfall!  

You need good SNO SHANTIES* to sing while you shovel, don't you?

Here's a list of the Shanties we adapted with some of our favorite verses. Go to the link to see all of our verses and to let us know if more verses found you while on snow duty! 

• We'll be Alright (as the Blizzard Rages On!)
• ... if the house is snug & warm
• ... if the pipes don't freeze & burst!
• Well, a snow day off of school wouldn't do us any harm ...
• Way Hey! Scrape and Shovel! (riffing off of Drunken Sailor)
• What would we do without our shovels?
• Is it Day 1 of a snow emergency? Is it Day 2 ... Is it Day 3?!?
• Are the wipers frozen to the windshield?
• Heya Ice!  Heya Snow!
• When I was a child my mama told me / There’s No bad weather, just bad clothing ...
• Old man Blizzard ain’t scaring no one / We lived through Halloween 1991!
• Away! Haulaway!
• The city says the flakes must be gone one day after snowfall / Away, Haulaway, we’ll haul away snow / Push it heave it shove it chip it, just be done before nightfall / Away, Haulaway, we’ll haul away snow
• When you shovel please make sure you bend your knees to save your back / Away, Haulaway ... / Please don’t lick the flagpole if you wanna keep your tongue intact / Away, Haulaway...

* Shanties are work songs so a group, say on a ship, could work in time together. A leader would spool out the first line and everyone would echo it back.

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Here's other songs we sang

Snow Shanties #4: Way Hey! Scrape and Shovel!

Good Trouble, with our punny friend Karen Martinson, rewrote some classic sea shanties* for our landlocked Mni'sota winters. They were shared at the Art Shanty Projects festival during the Subzero Singalong this winter 2023 and were a hit!

Central Mni'sota is about to receive a foot or more of snow this week. So, we thought it's a good time to release these for use beyond the Art Shanty festival. Enjoy!

Four shanties were re-worked. Here is the last one!

* Shanties are work songs so a group, say on a ship, could work in time together. A leader would spool out the first line and everyone would echo it back.

--
Way hey, scrape and shovel

Chorus
Way hey, scrape and shovel!

Way hey, scrape and shovel!

Way hey, scrape and shovel!

Early in the morning!

Verse 1
What would we do without our shovels (x3)

Early in the morning?    Chorus

Verse 2

Snow Shanties #3: Away! Haul Away!

Good Trouble, with our punny friend Karen Martinson, rewrote some classic sea shanties* for our landlocked Mni'sota winters. They were shared at the Art Shanty Projects festival during the Subzero Singalong this winter 2023 and were a hit!

Central Mni'sota is about to receive a foot or more of snow this week. So, we thought it's a good time to release these for use beyond the Art Shanty festival. Enjoy!

Four shanties were re-worked. Here are numbers two and three!  

* Shanties are work songs so a group, say on a ship, could work in time together.  A leader would spool out the first line and everyone would echo it back.  

--

#3 - Away, Haulaway,

Away (ho!) Haul away, we'll haul away together
(Away haul away, we'll haul away SNOW)
Away (ho!) Haul away, we're bound for better weather
(Away haul away, we'll haul away SNOW)

The city says the flakes must be gone one day after snowfall
Away, Haulaway, we’ll haul away snow
Push it heave it shove it chip it just be done before nightfall
Away, Haulaway, we’ll haul away snow

Away (ho!) Haul away, we'll haul away together
(Away haul away, we'll haul away SNOW)
Away (ho!) Haul away, we're bound for better weather
(Away haul away, we'll haul away SNOW)

Slush, sleet, powder, blanket, dusting, flurry, what a mess

Snow Shanty #2: Heya Ice! Heya Snow!

Good Trouble, with our punny friend Karen Martinson, rewrote some classic sea shanties* for our landlocked Mni'sota winters. They were shared at the Art Shanty Projects festival during the Subzero Singalong this winter 2023 and were a hit!

Central Mni'sota is about to receive a foot or more of snow this week. So, we thought it's a good time to release these for use beyond the Art Shanty festival. Enjoy!

Four shanties were re-worked. Here is numbers two!

* Shanties are work songs so a group, say on a ship, could work in time together. A leader would spool out the first line and everyone would echo it back.

--
#2 - Heya Ice, Heya Snow!


Heya Ice, Heya Snow!
Heya Cold, Let the Wind Blow! (x2)

(When) I was a child my mama told me
(There’s) No bad weather, just bad clothing
Layer up warm as the temperature shifts
(And) Dig our cars out of the snowdrifts

Heya Ice, Heya Snow!
Heya Cold, Let the Wind Blow! (x2)

Polar Bear plunge gives you bragging rights

Snow Shanties #1: We'll Be Alright!

Good Trouble, with our punny friend Karen Martinson, rewrote some classic sea shanties* for our landlocked Mni'sota winters. They were shared at the Art Shanty Projects festival during the Subzero Singalong this winter 2023 and were a hit!

Central Mni'sota is about to receive a foot or more of snow this week.  So, we thought it's a good time to release these for use beyond the Art Shanty festival.  Enjoy!

Four shanties were re-worked.  Here's the first!

* Shanties are work songs so a group, say on a ship, could work in time together. A leader would spool out the first line and everyone would echo it back.
--

We'll Be Alright

Chorus

Let it snow…..as the blizzard rages on!

Let it snow…..as the blizzard rages on!

Let it snow…..as the blizzard rages on!

As the blizzard rages on!!

Verse 1

We’ll be all right if gather round and sing 

We’ll be all right if gather round and sing 

We’ll be all right if gather round and sing 
As the blizzard rages on!!     Chorus

Verse 2

Jan 21, Feb 4: Subzero Singalong, A Community Sing on Ice with Good Trouble

Dates and times are set for the Subzero Singalong: A Community Sing on Ice at Art Shanty Projects (ASP) at Bde Unma/Lake Harriet!  

There will be community sings every Saturday in the village Town Square at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 1:30 p.m.!  

We are delighted to be one of two community singing proposals selected for this year's festival and collaborating to make a strong  "Let's Sing Together!" impact!  

• Good Trouble (us!) will be leading songs on Saturdays, January 21 and February 4.
• The amazing Sarina Partridge will be leading on January 28 & February 11.

Jan-Feb 2023: Subzero Singalong @ Art Shanties on Bde Unma

Good Trouble is delighted to be part of the Art Shanty Projects this winter!  

Don't know what the Art Shanty Projects are all about?  Let us tell you!

Art Shanty Projects creates a temporary community on a frozen lake centering art, whimsy, and weird winter experiences in Minnesota.  From the ASP About page:  

Since 2004 Art Shanty Projects has created whimsical, weird and joyful winter art experiences for grown ass adults and kids of all ages. Inspired by pop-up ice fishing villages,

Labyrinth Updates

2016 has been filled with labyrinths more than ever before ... Here's a skinny chronology of what's happened so far and what's coming ahead:


Walking the labyrinth at Wintermission.

• Jan-Feb 2016:  Invited to make a snow labyrinth for the Friendly Streets Initiative and their Wintermission event at the planned site for the Rondo Commemorative Plaza. 

The huge snowfall from the previous week melts during an incredible mid-winter thaw!  Oh no!  Brainstorm a stanchion-based rectangle design from materials from Ax-man that also can multi-task as dreams and concerns collector. 

• Mar-Apr 2016:  Submitted poster session proposal to The Labyrinth Society's annual meeting based on the Wintermission labyrinth.  It is accepted!



Two little people walk at the Backyard Farm Fair

• Apr-May 2016:  Invited to install a temporary labyrinth by The Trust for Public land at Frogtown Farm's Backyard Fair. 

Adapting Tom Vetter's Flower in the Seed design, I develop the stanchion based labyrinth idea from February and add pennant flags for more presence.

• Jun 2016:  Submit a proposal to Springboard for the Art's Ready Go mobile art tools to continue developing the stanchion based labyrinth idea.  I find out in a couple of weeks if it's accepted!

So, what's ahead?
* Prepare my poster and handouts for The Labyrinth Society gathering, make travel plans for Houston, TX, and go!  (Sept-Nov 2016)

* Attend Veriditas' labyrinth facilitator training in North Carolina.  It occurs to me that if I was going to install and facilitate labyrinth walks, it might be a good idea to get the stamp of approval by "the experts." (Aug 2016)

* Bring Field of Reflections to fruition if my Ready Go proposal is accepted!  (Jul-Aug 2016)

* Round up financial support. (Now) Although I'm hopeful about receiving a scholarship to attend training and the poster presentation comes with a stipend, I need to raise more funds for travel, lodging, and registration.  And if the Ready Go! proposal is not accepted, I already know I want to move forward with the project and will need to raise funds to buy material and commission an artist to create a centerpiece (intrigued?  more on that later!).  Would you be willing to consider supporting me in one of the following ways?

• Hire me to install a labyrinth (either the simple rectangle or Flower in the Seed design) for an event at church, workplace, or family/friends gathering.  Since I already have the materials, you pay for the setup/teardown and time facilitating during the event. 
• Or hire me for one of my many other interests: 

1. a Full Voice workshop with friends, family, or co-workers (ask me for details!)
2. a 1:1 Full Voice lesson,
3. lead Dances of Universal Peace for an event
4. lead community song at an event or worship service or team building session
5. facilitating other community art projects for your neighborhood or organization
6. providing music for funerals, weddings, other services, and events from the piano and organ bench, voice, flute, baritone ukulele, shruti box

• Contribute to my GoFundMe.com campaign. 

Thanks so much for reading my Labyrinth Update!  It's an exciting time and I'm grateful to have you along for the company!

Can't beat them? Join 'em!

What do you do when your snow labyrinth attempts are thwarted by enthusiastic dogs, aloof or single-minded strangers who walk through your design (and not on the path you've created)?  Is the only answer to give up and not make one? 

Nah. You gotta work with it! 

This winter the walkers in my neighborhood have cut across the church yard as the aloof mailman and the hungry teens walking to Chipotle in the Village. It's funny. In past years I've seen their paths encounter the labyrinth path and they go around. This year not so much. Over New Year's I was walking on a frozen lake with friends' dogs and well, you can imagine their enthusiasm for being outside. 

So, what did I do? 

With the dogs, I realized two things. 1) I wasn't gonna be able to distract them away and 2) their tracks and my tracks are completely different! Unless the dogs were rolling around in the snow (and thankfully they weren't!), the trail I was blazing would be clear enough for anybody walking on the lake. If they could navigate the lakeshore, they could figure out and keep to the human path if that was their choice. In the picture below a 7-circuit classical is farther out on the lake (and harder to see) to the left of this noodly spaghetti spiral labyrinth. 

As for the church yard, short of putting up signs of invitation (which crosses my mind lots; I just get stuck on the wording:/), I realized this is just another classic public art design issue: knowing your site, how it's used, and deciding what kind of statement your installation will make as there are times to be harmonic and times to push the dissonance. 

Here I wanted to be harmonic so I incorporated the cutting paths into the walk to the labyrinth entrance and cut the number of circuits from the standard 7 to 5, so the modified Classical design would fit the smaller space. 

The design is now on a diagonal and seems more intimate. Previously the entrances were off the sidewalk and aligned with the cardinal directions. There's a few trees to the left of this picture which I previously thought were part of the "gateway" and now seems to act like privacy shield. 

I would love others to walk it and share their experiences.