The good and the bad always comes together, eh? I thought I had my weekend all planned out, but then I was contacted by Performer Magazine. Looks like I was selected after all to perform at their booth this weekend at theAES conference(AES, for you non-nerds out there, stands for Audio Engineering Society). This follows perfectly with the little MIX appearance yesterday! Being a nerd myself, I think I will like these people. Though I'm playing by myself, Mike and I both get to go to the conference, now. And since he is a bona fide, college-degreed audio engineer, too, I'm sure he'll be in audio heaven. If you happen to be at the conference, look for me at the Performer Magazine booth and say hi!
The problem with being self-employed is that it sure doesn't come with benefits. I've seen too many terrible things - like cancer - happen to people my age or barely older (or younger), so I don't believe in going without health insurance. Many of my friends in LA, who work as freelance musicians or writers, simply go without. Today - and I won't go into the yucky details - I've been put into a position where I'm potentially without insurance, and have spent the whole damn day up to this point applying for a new health plan. It's confusing enough when you have to choose between plans your employer might offer, which I've done, but when you're starting from scratch, it's completely overwhelming. You pick the plan you think you can afford but then find out they don't cover brand prescriptions, or maybe the doctor's visits aren't covered, so you start all over again. And then you could very well be rejected, and you're back to scratch, and you feel that you've been punished for any health problem you've ever had. Literally. Like I'm sitting here wishing I didn't have asthma, not because it's a health problem, but because it might interfere with my ability to get insured. Read the rest of the blog...
Hello all! We all love MySpace, but over the next few months I'll be making an effort to transfer more content over to my website, so that you've got one central place to learn about music news, to read about my crazy adventures in La la land, and - this is new - to read some of my semi-political rants. I've been saying I want to blog more, and not hold anything back, for a long time, but I'm really doing it now - I've written 3 in the last 24 hours!
This is the first one. I'll be posting most of the blogs, but you'll have to click on over to my home page to read them all. Or you can just go to my website now, and set up an RSS feed so you get any new posts first! And make sure to comment early and often! :) Without further ado...
First off, welcome to my new bloggy website. Now you can find all my ramblings right here on my home page! As you can see, I've broken it all down into categories. I spent some time today transferring a lot of my old MySpace blogs over here, which was a nice trip down memory lane. I think my favorite one might be my first tour blog, which looked back at the crazy road trip that got our spring tour started.
I found out today that Ryan Freeland, the fabulous engineer/mixer of my album (plus those of artists I idolize, like Aimee Mann, Joe Henry), has been featured in the October issue of MIX magazine. Check out the article! Like the gracious guy he is, he mentioned my name in the interview. Thus, I too am in MIX magazine. Read the rest of the blog...
I've been a bit quiet recently, mostly because I've been traveling - some travel was for music, and a lot of it has been with and/or to see family. I am in fact about to take off yet again, to Romania this time, to meet Mike's family. It's something we've been wanting to do for a long time, and I'm incredibly grateful to have the flexibility to do it right now. When I return, I'll post some photos from ALL of my summer/early fall travels - a little retrospective montage, if you will.
As far as music goes, I'm trying just to appreciate the ebb and flow of everything; moving towards making new music. I've been taking in some good music over the last few days; with shows at Largo where I saw/heard Grant-Lee Phillips, Jon Brion, Joe Henry, Loudon Wainwright III, Van Dyke Parks, etc. Mike and I got to catch up at the LWIII show last night with Ryan Freeland and Jay Bellerose. I'm so grateful to be friends with both those talented guys. Ryan introduced us to Loudon, who was very nice - and very funny, as one might expect.
And I've also been writing more, and practicing more (just wait 'til I rip those guitar solos! My friend and guitar teacher Tim is actually going to hold me to doing at least one on this next album). The plan is, after I get back from this next trip, to just get into writing and demoing the album for the next few months, then get into the studio. Plans change, but that's mine, for now. But I'll have lots of eye and ear candy to tide you over 'til next year's main dish...I will have..drumroll please...a brand-new T-shirt come October, and I'll also be doing a lot more YouTubing and blogging on a slightly revamped website. So get pumped for the fall!
I'm sure that in October I'll also be appealing to your political side - and if you don't have one, it's time to start developing it. I truly believe that this country is on the brink of a major change - and wherever you stand on what that change should look like, you need to make your voice heard. It's a tremendous gift that we're given in this country to be able to choose our leaders and speak our minds freely, and the percentage of people who actually take advantage of that gift is just abominably low. So DO IT!!!! REGISTER AND THEN VOTE VOTE VOTE! Well, technically voting 3 times is illegal...so just vote the once, eh? :) But you get what I'm saying. U-S-A! :)
But for now, my friends, I bid you "la revedere" - good-bye in Romanian. See ya soon.
a little love from the UK - new blog review!
Current mood: sassy
Sometimes I feel very young, sometimes really old...old, because despite the fact that these days my laptop and I are inseparable, I know that 'kids' just a few years my junior are SOOOO much more immersed in the world of the internet and technology, and much more deft and savvy about the whole shebang. Case in point: there are tons of music blogs out there that we never really got my CD out to, and I've just set about correcting that. When I say just, I mean I started yesterday. And, BAM! A fab little blog has written me up already, one from the UK, no less, with a very cool name.
Let's just say I called in sick to last week's blog, the one I kept meaning to write...Mike and I had a wonderful time in the Pacific Northwest, but ultimately both came down with icky colds (no fault of the region's - I think it came back with Mike from Michigan, in fact). I loved Portland and Seattle and want to go back as often as my car can take it, frankly, but the whole tour is, in this fast-paced blog world, old news. But I WILL take a quick moment to thank Courtney Jones for her support at one of our shows and to congratulate her on her fantastic CD release show, which I was able to attend while in Portland!
SO - the really up to the minute news!
Check out my first-ever music video, for my song "Swansong":
Thanks to Nate Lipp, director, and Rachel Simmer, editor, and the following people who helped out: Todd Bauer & Melinda Davidson Mike Chiaburu Rich Mayerik Daniel Stewart Derek "D-Bone" Reckley Amanda Blide Zach Lipp Mike Sanders David Garcia Dan Stott & Lacey Huszcza Tracy Penn Marcella Dover Whew - I think that's everyone, but if I'm missing anyone, comment and call me a jerk and let me apologize. :)
I used to blog about my LA experiences a lot, which people seemed to find fairly entertaining. I suppose when I was an idiot getting off the bus at the wrong place and getting into altercations with people at the 7-11 ('member that one, folks? if not i'll tell the story again), that was funnier than my current routine, which is more, well, routine. However - every day I notice quirky things, some of which seem uniquely LA and even uniquely my neighborhood and some that I'm sure we all recognize.
Some choice moments.
Even the mind-numbing data input project that I'm doing part-time right now has its good points. I came across these two names, which read this way when displayed in first/last format: LITTLE RICHARD WHITE GUY Ha!
My favorite overheard coffee order of the week: "double iced cappuccino, decaf, with soy milk" Let's hear it for over-complicating matters! I've started to think that coffee ordering is becoming a new art form, and now I want to figure out just how intricate it can get.
I saw a guy today on a bike, talking on a cell phone. And I'm not talking bluetooth (that's a whole other thing - then it just looks like crazy-man-on-bike-speaking-to-himself), he was holding it. I wonder if that's still legal...anyway, 3 cheers for him and his managing not to fall off his bike while having what clearly must have been an important conversation. I have enough trouble with both hands on the bars.
Today on my walk I also passed a minivan whose sliding door was wide open, and spanish-language music was pouring out. Clearly at the end of some hardcore picnicking, a man and woman were hoisting a cooler up into the car - well, the man was. The woman was just belting out the song on the radio with reckless abandon. I mentally gave her props for her lack of inhibition, but then I smelled the alcohol on her breath (from 10 feet away). Let's hope her man was driving. This, right before I passed the very serene Buddhist monk on her (yes, her) walk. Hmmm.
And, my favorite, which makes me want to go back to the Silver Lake reservoir area more - the sunburned shirtless man who reads the newspaper while walking really fast! He was one of the best characters in my own personal LA story when I first moved here. And he's still goin' strong, just as toasty, speedy, and well-read as ever.
Currently
listening
:
Underdog Victorious
By
Jill Sobule
Release date: 2004-09-07
clear channel's NEW featured me - happy 5th of july!
Current mood: chill
Category: Music
I was contacted recently by Clear Channel's NEW! program and told that they'd be featuring me. This morning I woke up to find that the article had been posted on a bunch of Southern CA radio station sites - including 104.3MyFM, Hot92.3, 102.7KIISFM, and 98.7StarFM. Who knew I'd ever be featured on a website for a station called "Hot" anything! Ha ha. I'm pretty thrilled. Check out the feature here.
Tonight, I'll be playing at Welcome Cafe in Redondo Beach. It does feel a bit strange to be playing a show when I would otherwise just be consuming grilled faux-meat products and drinking beer, but I'm pretty excited about it. The address is on the Pacific Highway, so I think this is a winning situation. Fourth of July weekend on the beach! Damn, if only I'd learned some Jack Johnson covers in time...oh well. Hopefully the acoustic sound is close enough to the surfer vibe.
I'm getting more and more excited for our adventure in the great Northwest. I love Seattle and I've never been to Portland. I LOVE playing in new places! I've got the shows posted on the page here and on my website. Spread the word!
We're filming the last missing piece to our music video tomorrow, and our designer is working on a t-shirt, so there will be more fun things to put out into the world soon. There's lots more I've want ed to blog about, so I might just have to do a catch-up retroactive blog soon. I hope you all are having a tremendous holiday weekend.
on the new zealnd thing: ha ha. big is stretching it...but mike tells me, because he likes to search the internet for the randomest statistics ever, that my aimee mann contest entry video is...drumroll please... currently the 90th most viewed music video today in new zealand. thank you new zealand!
but actually, this contest is pretty fun. people seem to be digging it, and favoriting it, and telling their friends, which is, i'm told, the way this whole internet thing is supposed to work.
if you haven't watched it yet, feel free to weigh in and tell me what you think.
I'm actually kind of quoting Aimee Mann in that title...which will make sense in a second.
So, this is how a day in my life (right now, anyway) goes. I'm working part-time for a few weeks, so I vowed on Tuesday night that I would wake up early Wednesday, work out, eat a nice breakfast, then go to work, come home, maybe go for a hike, make a nice healthy stir-fry(I'm sort of trying to detox from tour food), come home, clean, practice guitar, go to bed at a decent hour. But, of course, Tuesday night was our double header of record store visits - Aimee Mann did an in-store at Amoeba and Sam Phillips was afterward right across the street at Borders. How could I NOT to go both? And then one thing led to another and we wound up getting home kind of late. And I was so excited to see them both, and I met Sam Phillips and she was adorable and so kind (and I made Bruce's The Promise Liveblog again kinda just by being there! Crazy. He's also very kind and I was excited to meet him in person).
Anyway, I digress. Wednesday was a slew of failures. I woke up way late, didn't work out, and went to work too late, snarfing down a pastry on the way - which was later followed by a tamale at the farmer's market, because who had time to pack a lunch? Which was followed by, well, cheesecake because there was a birthday celebration at work. So much for detox. I got home around 6, later than I'd meant to, and Mike told me that we should submit a video to this Aimee Mann contest we found out about - pronto. I actually did set up a YouTube account, they tell me, seven months ago and but had not submitted a video before (are you seeing a pattern with me and intentions here?). But we recorded it right away, very simply, and uploaded it....and uploaded it...and then Mike made it smaller...and uploaded it...and uploaded it...needless to say, stir-fry time had come and gone, and when the video was finally up hours later we were ravenous and decided to get calzones from across the street. I ate the whole thing.
So I was late all day, didn't do any cleaning or practicing, and ate too much - holy carb overload, Batman - BUT I did enter the contest, at the same time finally joining the rest of the world on the whole submit-a-video-of-yourself-on-YouTube thing. I generally feel that I look like extremely silly on camera but YouTube is pretty fascinating. And this is really no exception, although I love love love the song, and Aimee, and I'm happy to have given it my best shot. If you want to check it out here I will not stop you.
And if you visit my YouTube page, you will see a lot of great videos - nearly all comedy - well really all comedy - in my 'favorites' section. I had some time to kill while waiting for my video to upload. See paragraph 3.
I'm getting back on the blog wagon, I have decided. Mike told me today he kind of misses my 'crazy LA people' and 'crazy public transportation' blogs, and I will do my best to get back on track. I make no promises, though. You know how it goes with me.
excited
sassy
chill
amused