Romi and Sari Lightman, aka Ghost Bees, at Ragpickers, Winnipeg, Aug 11 2009. Dallas Ludwick photo

Review and photos–Ghost Bees at Ragpickers, Winnipeg, Aug 9 2009

– text by eugene osudar/photos by Dallas Ludwick

in a beautiful setting
in a splash of light
amidst a sea of dark
Sari sits on a guitar case
on an old wooden stage,

her eyes on her twin,
their eyes always in
communication, an
unspoken language,
in perfect harmony.

Romy sits on stage’s edge,
dress buttons popping open
through every song.

Ragpickers, it’s so very hot,
fans whirrrrrrrrrrrrrring as
unfolding beautiful things
are, when sirens
sing songs about
Vampires and bloodier,
tumbling births, plucking
heavy metal strings on
a mandolin (Romy) and
guitar (Sari) and the voices.
Justin from Fall Horsie,
too, some percussion,
some keyboards, guitar,
a magical addition to
the lullaby that ends
the 45 minute,
6 song set.

fellow travelers
storytellers
minstrels
metal players
comedians

“they’re so funny,”
Dallas whispers.
we’re ghost whisperers.
Ghost Bees choose
not to mike the evening,
it’s voices and acoustics.
enchanting harmonies.

whirring silence.

Ghost Bees at Ragpickers in Winnipeg, Aug 11 2009. Dallas Ludwick photo

we’re listening,
sweating,
closely, silently,
sitting on the floor
on chairs, standing.

you can hear the clicking
of the camera as
Dallas takes
40 magical
pictures,

and sends
15,

there’s only
magic here.
in Ragpickers
in the Ghost Bees
in the pictures
in the stories,
weird coincidences
strangely euphoric
meetings
and revelations.

the first song, is a story.
when the Lightman twins
were subletting an apartment
in Berlin from a prairie boy.
and Sari admits (with
difficulty) that she broke
a sculpture of an
Egyptian deity.
this makes her dream
nightmares and uneasy.
and inspires a new song
played only a couple of times,
about the deity, the jackal-headed
god who weighs the heart
of the dead
and determines its
worthiness to continue
on in peace, or be
fed to the alligator head
god.

that’s a Ghost Bees song.
Sari’s apology song.

so new an apology.
it takes a couple
of minutes
for the players
to find the tune
and voices
in their perfect
harmony. but
then it happens,
and when they
play
it more in front of
an audience, it’ll
find it’s magic
from the very
beginning.

Vampires Of The West Coast,
i know women
who melt and gush
with every unfolding
detailed telling
of my vampire stories.
the twins have found
the
perfect expression
of vampires and their
erotic delights
in this song.
the suckling and bath water
the thighs opening
inviting eyes
and neck, bleeding
beautiful body
eyelids ready to be kissed
lightly
supple, staying
forever kiss.

the sisters tell the story
from the Regina Folk Festival
and a workshop about
Vampires and Empires
with Chad VanGaalen.
a disaster, an old folkie
shaking her head at them.
none of the oldsters
understood. they were
freaked out by the Ghost
Bees and Chad Van.

the third song
is a metal song.
well, metal Ghost Bees
stylin’
a song for the new CD
sometime in the fall.
they’ve conjured an image
of metal. Troll metal.
Sludge metal. it’s Ghost
Bees metal. the lyrics
certainly are The Metal
of another age,
a Renaissance Metal.
Witch Metal. Burning at
The Stake Metal.
Pyre Metal, melting
alloys, red hot soul
metal.
their idea of metal
comes from a  cousin’s
band, they have aliases,
like Valcore. the song
is about drinking from
the fountain of youth
and everybody dying.
Now, that Is Metal.
Prog metal really.
played on mandolin,
acoustic guitar
and keyboards
and Renaissance
voices. what can be
more metal
than that?

the 4th song.
Sinai, the birthing
mother song.
haunting, gorgeous.
and a story precedes,
about The Wacky Wizard
and a group of old folkies
who make their own instruments
and how burned out Sari felt
from all their touring until
she found the fire in these
folksters. The Wacky Wizard
makes lutes from three kinds
of wood and plays with magic
every day and every night.

and these young minstrels
find fire
in the wizard musician.
he’s a gatekeeper
someone they had to meet
to re/energize.

funny, how that happens.

the 5th song
is for all the witches in Manitoba
and finds inspiration from
home, Nova Scotia,
because there are so many
witches, at home.

Sari wants to go swimming.
it’s so hot.

and the song for the witches
leads into the lullaby,

Justin’s voice works
wondrously
here
with the sister’s
harmonies.

Ragpickers
is the perfect setting
for Ghost Bees,
quiet
and wooden
it’s old,
vintage clothes
everywhere.

packed.
enthralled
audience,
loving.

75 or so.
on a very hot
Tuesday night.
in August.

Ghost Bees at Ragpickers, Winnipeg, Aug 9 2009.