Truly, the most unoriginal thing I could say today, I know. But what else? I hope that all of you had a relaxing day nursing your hangovers, hee hee. I’m happy to say that I hit the champagne just hard enough and felt pretty great, if a little tired, today. Mike and I are still in Michigan, and we had the pleasure of playing 2008’s Twilight Ball to benefit the American Cancer Society last night in Novi. The ACS is certainly an organization I support, and it feels good to do what little I can and donate my music and my time to such an event. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the other bands sounded great and were incredibly nice. I’ll try to post some photos after I get them. Thanks much to Keith Pople of Huckleberry Groove (and The Frontmen!) for having us, and thanks to all the crew and all of the fabulous musicians for a great night. Michigan knows how to rock it.

As for the rest of you, I hope you had a great night either out on the town or on your couch (sometimes that’s really the way to go), smooched that someone special at midnight, and felt filled with hope at what this year might bring. I have this feeling it’s going to be very full year for me, and I’m excited to see how it unfolds. Happy New Year!

I had a lot of lovely musical pre-Christmas gifts this year. First off, I received a lovely writeup in the feature “This Woman’s Work” on the great female-centric (woohoo!) music blog Womenfolk. Thanks to Robbie McCown, the mastermind behind the blog. (And I owe her even more thanks, because it seems like the post has generated some more bloggy interest out there on the internet!) The post, linked to here, actually went up a couple weeks ago, right before I had another warm fuzzy pre-Christmas gift in the form of my holiday show at Hotel Cafe! The band, including Tim Young, Branden Harper, Mike Chiaburu and Haviland Stillwell, really gelled. We had a fabulous time and a great audience who were really troopers to make it out in the monsoon-like weather. Reportedly, they had a great time, too!
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I have been busy busy lately, in part because I moved - just downstairs in the same building, but a move is a move. And you have to pack boxes even if you’re going to unpack them after carrying them 100 feet. To be honest, the boxes aren’t unpacked yet, but I’m still moving forward with plans for the Hotel Cafe show on December 15. I’ve been picking out some favorite holiday songs and working on an original holiday song. Also, my oh-so-lovely and talented friend Haviland Stillwell will be making a special appearance at the show, so we’ve been getting together to get ready. It’s been so long since I’ve sung with someone else like that, and I really can’t wait! I dropped by the Hotel Cafe today, and they were putting up a giant Christmas tree that I think will get everyone in the proper spirit. More news to come, and I sure hope to see you there!

Mike and I had a GREAT time at the NACA conference this past weekend. The showcase, while scary (hello, big red digital clock with five minutes counting down in front of you) went so well. We decided to throw in a cover of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and while I couldn’t see the audience in the blaring spotlight, I could hear them singing along the whole time. Fab. We played a short version of “Comfort” (which we really could have done fully…I write short songs) that went over well, too, and our booth was swarming at the start of the “Marketplace” (we had a booth, as you’ll see below). I don’t have any official news to share yet, but I certainly hope to have some college shows for Spring ‘09 posted soon! Read the rest of this entry »

No, I’m not going to grad school. I’m going back to college - kind of. Actually, I’m just hoping to get booked to play at a bunch of colleges, which will be more fun than writing papers, I think. (Well, I actually liked writing papers…ah, nerddom.) In hopes of achieving my back-to-school dreams, tomorrow I’m attending the NACA (National Association of Campus Activities) conference right here in Southern CA. I was picked to play a showcase (yay), so Mike and I will be playing a couple songs tomorrow for college booking folks, who are mostly students or their overseeing faculty.
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Can you believe it? That it’s really really real? I actually got goosebumps just typing that title.

On Tuesday, after volunteering at the polls for No on Prop 8 (which I CANNOT believe passed - that’s for another blog), I came home and got ready to have friends over. I admit that I was rather nervous about the whole thing, particularly as we watched the early results came in…but then came Pennsylvania. I started feeling that an Obama win was really possible. After that, I got a little distracted by entertaining our guests, all in really high spirits and talking over the TV. But suddenly things got quiet, and everyone was trying to read the tiny numbers on the screen. “Is that 284 electoral votes for Obama?” someone said, followed by someone saying, “No, I think it’s 254…” And we were all squinting and wondering if it could be true. Suddenly it flashed onto the screen, at first so quickly that we all thought we were dreaming, “Obama elected President.” After a moment of disbelief, everyone started cheering. I started crying, not exactly bawling, but not just teary eyes, either. I just kept thinking about everyone I had seen work SO hard, and so tirelessly, and, as my mom said of the people in the Florida office where she volunteered, “always with smiles on their faces.” So much positive energy seemed unstoppable, and, as it turns out, it was.
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Mike passed on this lovely little Michael Penn ditty called “The Count of Pennsylvania” to me today. Do listen to the whole thing by visiting Spencer’s Blog. He sings “…it’s rising up, a high tide/stretching out so far and wide/the line is long but worth the ride/so get in on the landslide/get in on the landslide”
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Most of you in LA and even across the country know that the Hotel Cafe is THE place for LA singer-songwriters to play, so I’m really excited to play there for the first time. I’ve got some new, original holiday songs and will be pulling out lots of other fun songs…so come on down, we can make it a sing-along. I’ll keep you posted on any special guests and other details as they come.

Francesco of Sunway Clothing videotaped my performance there in honor of World Peace Day, and I (ok, Mike) just discovered the video on YouTube! I also discovered that I really talk with my hands a lot. For context: right before this, I’d played a brand new song that (the very kind) Francesco really liked. You’ll have to wait to hear that one, though.

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 the AES 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!