Marian Call profile picture

Marian Call

About Me

CD's/MP3's at iTunes and CDBaby.com

Marian's first CD, Vanilla, and new new album, Got to Fly, are available to purchase at CD Baby , iTunes , and most of your other favorite online retailers.


Stream whole tracks for free at mariancall.com , or at imeem.com .

The Song of the Month project is completed, and all twelve tracks are now available as a digital album. Thanks to all who helped to make it a success! Popular tracks from the Song of the Month project include:
I Wish I Were a Real Alaskan Girl
So Far Away (written by Carole King)
We're Out for Blood (a.k.a. the Zombie Cheerleader song)
Whistle While You Wait
Princess Cupcake
100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man...and more!

Great Reviews: I am the anti-Britney.
"Marian Call gave one of the best house concert performances we've ever had here at Whole Wheat Radio. Not only did she fully engage her audience with graceful ease and humor, but she truly stunned them with her vocal quality and control. I seldom receive phone calls the day after a performance - but Marian was so well-received that several people called to thank us for having her. We've had over 35 nationally touring performers in the last 3 years at Whole Wheat Radio ... no one made a more lasting impression on an audience than Marian Call."
- Jim Kloss, Whole Wheat Radio . (To hear the concert he's referring to, click here and scroll down to the links to the house concert by Marian Call. Free to stream or download.)
"...If I were a betting man, I would put my money on Marian Call. Vanilla is a Certified Desert Island Disc, and any other awards or monikers you can think to throw its way. It's the best thing I've heard thus far in 2008, and is one of the three best debut albums I've ever heard. Remember the day and time when you first heard about Marian Call, and get on the bandwagon soon. This star is going to burn bright." - Wildy Haskell , music reviewer & pop culture blogger (Wildy later named Vanilla his 1 release of 2008, out of over 600 new indie releases that he reviewed -- for that article, click here .
For concert and tour information, check back here or subscribe to the e-mail newsletter by hitting send (comes with a no-spam guarantee).
If you want to be really cool and host a concert in your home or business, I am still indie enough that we could make that happen! Your friends will think you're cool if you host a house concert or set up a radio interview for an artist like me. Write to me with any crazy concert or publicity ideas you might have. I've played at pool parties, bonfires, and barbecues, with rock bands, jazz bands, and early music ensembles -- and I'm waiting for a chance to add a bat mitzvah to the list.

Vanilla is looking for good homes with friendly people: cafés, record stores, galleries, bookstores, tapas bars, radio stations, any little retail venue that has good vibes. Do you have a favorite place you go when you're down and lonely? Would Vanilla like it there, too? Write to me about it. Good music and good people deserve to find each other.


The specially-for-Browncoats album Got to Fly is now available! You can only get the CD from Quantum Mechanix, the company that commissioned the album, and there are only 1000 signed CD's available. As of this writing, very few are left! Click here to order the CD now. Even if the CD sells out the songs will always be available digitally at CDBaby.com , iTunes, Mariancall.com, and other online vendors.

I've gotten into the habit of playing Shindigs, Conventions, and Firefly meetups while I'm on tour. If you're having a meetup, or you want to, just write me anytime. I'll be playing a Browncoat meetup in LA on April 11th, in San Diego later in April, and at CSTS screenings in Austin and Dallas in May. Also, if any Anchorage or Alaskan Browncoats want to get organized, I'm happy to help provide a reason and resources!

Saffron Song: The original award-winning ode to Yo-Saff-Bridge, that fabulous nympho thievin' wench from Firefly, is available through Nimbit (on MarianCall.com ) for your downloading pleasure. "Vera Flew the Coop," "Dark Dark Eyes," "In the Black," "The Volvo Song," "Early is as Early Does," "Sugar Sugar Sugar," "Written on a Rainy Night," and "It's Good to Have Jayne on Your Side" are also Firefly songs -- some are on the new album, Got to Fly, though many of the best tunes can only be heard live in concert. So get out to one soon!

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/30/2007
Band Website: http://www.mariancall.com
Band Members:

Hi! My name is Marian, and I'm a lexiholic. I like singing in my car. And out of my car. And in other people's cars. I am a Nerd -- not the techie engineer-y kind of Nerd, not the fantasy sci-fi gamer type of NNerd, but the loquacious luddite NPR-loving unemployable liberal arts type of NNNerd who will save up for a second typewriter and a theremin. I like dessert, except for tapioca. I carry a kazoo and an A440 tuning fork on my person at all times, just in case. I like solving problems and writing songs. I like shooting awesome photos with Brian Adams -- www.baphotos.com -- and collaborating with other artists and musicians across all disciplines. Generally speaking, I aim to misbehave.



If you love the music, tell someone!



<[Note to MySpace Bands: I only accept friend requests from bands if they are 1) Alaskan or 2) if they come with a personal note. If I've turned you down in the past, just send me a note and I'll be happy to have you join the fun.>]


My band members are the many, many voices in my head.

I also play with a very fine crew of musicians in and out of Anchorage: Nathan Levine on upright bass, Jordan "Six Cookies" Shindle and Kyle Harrington on guitar, Adam Stewart on fiddle, Rama Ishaya on piano, Colter Lemons on drums and percussion, and others who hop in and out. When I'm not recording in my basement, I work with engineer Ryan Brownell at The Garden Recording Studio in Anchorage.



Here's what I'm doing right now:

Influences:

I don't know that I influence anyone as of yet, but I'm sure someday I'll manage to get a song stuck in someone's head for so long that they call me an influence. Or a mild form of torture. In either case, I'm happy to help.

I had one idea about my childhood musical influences, but my parents had another. With their help I've drawn up a more truthful list than I would have published on my own:

Joni Mitchell
They Might Be Giants
Beethoven
Paul Simon
Ella Fitzgerald
Weird Al Yankovic
James Taylor
Gilbert & Sullivan operas
Stevie Wonder
The soundtrack of Les Misérables
Ogden Nash
Dr. Seuss

Sounds Like: The play-by-play commentary for lower division psychological/spiritual wrestling matches. Usually between Me, my Self, and I. Primarily narrated by an overeducated, underexperienced, extremely enthusiastic vocal contortionist. If you're looking for artist comparisons, Marian Call sounds a little like this:

The love child of Joni Mitchell and Jason Mraz gets a little tipsy at a party hosted by Pink Martini and winds up staying out all night carousing with Ani DiFranco, Erin McKeown, Fiona Apple, & the Ditty Bops, only to be arrested for double inflections, odd instrumentation, and irregular phrase lengths by Sufjan Stevens and Regina Spektor.

(All of the above comparisons provided by fans. I hope to someday be as cool as any of those guys -- but sound less and less like them, and more and more like myself.)
Record Label: I'm allergic to labels. And ladles. And tables.
Type of Label: Unsigned

My Blog

In which Marian Offers More than Ever Before

To finish off my 6-month western U.S. tour successfully, and to help compensate for some unexpected very hard times, and because so many of you asked how you could help: here's the game plan.  I aske...
Posted by on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:17:00 GMT

Welcome to LA! No, you can't park here

I think a brief reintroduction is in order, since so many good people -- the sort with fabulous taste in wall decor and cool sunglasses -- have been dropping by my messy virtual pad lately.I'm tryin...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:51:00 GMT

Im Number 1! At least somebody thinks so...and my mix CD for 2008

I am top of somebody's list! O frabjous day!Wildy's World, a blog that reviews 500+ indie releases per year, decided that Vanilla merited the 1 slot for 2008. I'm more than a little flabbergasted. ...
Posted by on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:03:00 GMT

On homelessness & the holidays

It's Christmas!  Oh boy.  Having been a musician since birth, Christmas to me means a few things:1) Lots of gigs2) Lots of fun3) Lots of stress4) A pilgrimage back to WashingtonOn most of my pilgrimag...
Posted by on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:31:00 GMT

In which Captain Kevorkian and the Quesnel Destroyer take on Canada

Marian Call totally schooled the Al-Can last month.I say "schooled" because I have driven the Al-Can before, from south to north. And that time it schooled me. On my first trip, in a trusty old Toyo...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:16:00 GMT

New Album: Got to Fly!!!!!!!! Songs for nerds like me

I HAVE A NEW ALBUM! And it's a very special one, for a group of very special fans who have fed and housed me and given me many, many stickers, T-shirts, and lanyards, and even my treasured rain stick....
Posted by on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:56:00 GMT

The Song of the Month Project: complete!

This is a one-topic blog so that I can link to it. There, you've been warned.(But Marian, shouldn't all your blogs have been that way?) (thpppppbt.)It's already been a year since I released my first...
Posted by on Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:19:00 GMT

12 Simple Steps to Indie Cred / Fundraiser Details

I've been taking a month or so to work on my Indie Cred. I understand that Indie Cred, or "Independent Credibility," is very important -- I learned that from Jennifer Lopez, who writes so compellingl...
Posted by on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:07:00 GMT

Firefly, BSG, Waiting for Guffman, and my own filmic adventures

Good things are happening. I'm playing at a sci-fi convention in L.A.("Huh?" say some of you. "I'll be there with my tricorder on!" say others. "Awesome!" so say we all.)Quantum Mechanix is the sour...
Posted by on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:18:00 GMT

Anchorage Rocks. What do I name my bus?

Lemme tell you something about Anchorage. This place rocks.Pardon my soapbox, but I have to say this. If you live in Anchorage and you're not going to concerts, start. Now. It's the absolute best ente...
Posted by on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:10:00 GMT