Guitar Virtuoso Pens Song for Shea Stadium

Posted on Oct 4th 2008 3:00PM by Joe Tacopino
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When guitar shredder Marnie Stern needs inspiration for her explosive arrangements, she need look no further than her own backyard. On her new, verbosely titled album 'This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That,' the Manhattanite pays homage to the home of the New York Mets with an ear-splitting roaring opus called, well, 'Shea Stadium.'

"I try to make [my music] as anthemic as possible and as uplifting as possible," Stern tells Spinner of the song. "I had been watching a lot of baseball movies like 'The Natural,' and I started picturing Shea Stadium. It evokes the feeling of an actual game."

The tune, which features Zach Hill's machine-gun drumming and Stern's usual fretboard gymnastics, is just one of the turbo-charged tracks on Stern's new album. Now, about that title.

"Zach came up with the title," Stern explains. "We were mulling titles around and then he came up with this Alan Watts quote." The British philosopher was famous for bridging Eastern and Western aesthetics, but don't expect Stern get all academic about it. "It's not supposed to be some intellectual thing," she says. "The reason I like it is just to say, 'There's no boundaries, everybody's good -- just keep on going, everything is gonna work out and be alright.' That's what I took from it."

Mets fans can probably take some comfort in her suggestion.