June 20, 2008
In addition to doing CD release shows in North Carolina and Mississippi, I performed in Fayetteville and Little Rock with some wonderful musicians I'd played with last summer. So I knew I liked Arkansas, but I really fell in love with it after six hours of shooting a music video in the town of Russellville. I've been wanting to try something like that for a while, and the opportunity finally arose. The setting was a former schoolhouse now the living space of the director, Hans, and his family. Here's a photo of the main room where we did most of the filming. The natural light coming in through those long windows was a lovely sight. Between takes and set-up, they let me go to the guest room where I could relax on the four poster bed and take a nap. I was treated very well, and as a result it made my first experience of making a music video quite a pleasure.
July 4, 2006
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1Earlier this year, I began performing at Downbeat Café in Echo Park. I’d been looking for a venue to play on a regular basis close to where I live, and I’d heard of this place as being a jazz/blues café. So I worked up some new material and dropped off a demo with the owner David Berryman, a native of Austin now living in Los Angeles. He let me start playing there since he had a ‘soft spot for countryblues.’ The Downbeat sits near a busy intersection at Sunset Blvd on the east side of the city not too far from where Echo Park meets Silverlake (where I live). It’s common to see twenty and thirtysomethings sitting outside the café discussing a movie idea or to see someone with a laptop editing a screenplay. Some people just come to eat a sandwich or get some coffee, and some come to hear the music. I enjoy this gig, which rolls around every other Monday evening, and I don’t mind getting lost in the hustle and bustle of the goings on in the café. It’s a low key place to try out new material. I enjoy playing solo, but it’s also been fun to have guest musicians sit in and bring out a whole new element to the music making. One of my favorite songs to perform that came out of playing at the Downbeat in recent months is ‘Stars fell on Alabama,’ one of Billie Holiday’s trademark songs. I have tried to make this my own, and in a sense it has come to represent where I am right now, except it’s the other way around, the alabama—or the mississippi, in my case—has fallen on the stars.
Photo Captions
- with Matt Overholser
- John Milan
- with Bliss, freelance writer (to see her blurb in Pasadena Weekly, click here)
- with Amy Farris
April 10, 2006
I was honored to get to participate in the cd release party of Songs for Sixty Five Roses at the end of last month in Chapel Hill, NC. The day of the concert, a few of us met up at WUNC for a live broadcast on “The State of Things” (an mp3 of the show is available for download). I’d met John Howie, Jr. before from sharing shows when I lived in North Carolina, but I’d never met Greg Humphreys. I’ve been a fan of his band, Hobex, for some time now and their record, Wisteria, is one of my favorite things to come out of the area. I was reminded just how nerve racking it can be to give answers to questions in a short amount of time and still say something significant, but Frank was a pro and put us at ease. I did flinch when he cut in during Greg’s song to say the goodbyes and thanks—but Greg was a pro, too, and just kept on going. Way to go, Greg.
I covered Harrod & Funck’s “Lion Song” for the Sixty Five Roses release. Jason Harrod and Brian Funck have been friends of mine ever since we were in college together in the early 90s. I’ve been a fan of their work since that time, and this song of Jason’s kept finding its way into my set list, so it seemed the right one to record for this project. And Brian and his wife, Sara, are now my neighbors in Los Angeles! (Apologies to Jason and all for goofing up the lyrics on the third verse on the radio show.)
At Cat’s Cradle that night, I played “Lion Song,” “Under the Moon,” and a new one called “Wedding Day.” Then Greg Humphreys came up and joined in on “Stars Fell on Alabama” and “In the Bounty of the Lord,” (the latter of which Nic Brown jumped in on, too). I came back up a little later and sang with Greg on “My Heart is a Radio.” I was a kid in a candy shop with all these wonderful musicians in one room. Big thanks to John and Amy Plymale for spearheading this whole benefit.
June 8, 2005
I just returned home from doing a couple of shows in Greensboro and Durham, NC. It was good performing back east again, and I was touched by the familiar faces in the audience. On the ride back to Mentone I couldn't stop listening to M.Ward's 'Transistor Radio.' I love these songs, especially 'Hi-Fi' and 'Paul's Song,' the latter of which strikes me as a take on being a traveling musician. There is such a nice vibe on this record. It's as if the musicians stopped by after dinner to say hello, and M.Ward says, 'Hey, you wanna play some music?' (Of course, if it sounds this natural and effortless, the musicians are probably great.) And that kick drum is oh so sweet. I've enjoyed being back in the South this summer. I like taking walks on the trails near our cabin. It's also fun to record music here because the sounds you might associate with a humid, woodsy place come through on the recordings: bugs, rivers, trucks passing on the highway. I wish there was some way to get on tape the way it smells here after a rain.
May 5, 2005
I signed the visitor register today at Sallie Howard Memorial Baptist Church in northern Alabama. A man named 'Larry' had come in earlier with 05-05-05 next to his name. So I wrote the date next to my name the exact same way. I like that the little chapel stays open all the time. The door is unlocked for whoever to come in whenever. I stood between the two rows of wooden pews and sang a few lines from 'Precious Memories' and 'Where Could I Go but to the Lord.' It had a nice sound to it, and I thought it might be a good place to make a record. Little Jack didn't seem to mind being there either. He likes a new room to look around in, and since we were the only ones there we took our time. The place smelled kinda like moth balls, an otherwise unpleasant odor but here it seemed okay — an indication perhaps that someone was taking care of the place.
October 29, 2004:
Jack Holley was born July 31, 2004. Giving birth to him was one of the coolest, most intense experiences of my life. We delivered him at our apartment here in Los Angeles, CA (intentionally) and then afterwards ate reuben sandwiches from Canter's Deli, brought to us by our friends Brian and Sara. An amazing day it was.
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May 22, 2004
It seems appropriate to talk a little about being pregnant…
Well, to start, when I tell an audience at a performance that I am pregnant, they CLAP. This caught me off guard at first, but by now I have come to expect it, and very much enjoy it. It’s just one way that the world is on your team and wants to be a part of the process. People go out of their way to accommodate me... I had a woman in Morrisville, NC give me a free upgrade on my rental car just because I was pregnant and "needed the extra room," she thought. I get phone calls from hosts of dinner parties who ask, "Are you craving anything in particular?" And I get to say, "Well, yes, you know a filet would be nice, and some leafy greens, but hold the garlic, if you don’t mind." Just last night, my husband and I stopped by to see a friend a few minutes from our house, and by the time I left I had polished off his chocolate mint ice cream, and he encouraged me to eat it out of the carton. So that’s the kind of thing you get away with when you’re pregnant, and I can’t say I have minded.
In the first trimester, I had a wave of musical inspiration and wrote several songs, some very directly related to having a baby. I really loved those first couple of months because it was all so new and mysterious. I felt like I was being let in on a wonderful secret, and it made me feel womanly and quietly elated. Of course, being pregnant is a very common, ordinary thing (I mean, it's been going on for thousands of years...), but somehow that didn’t take away from the miracle and magic and newness of my being pregnant.
I am now in the third trimester, and the bigger I get, the more I realize that there is no escaping the fact that I am, and will continue to be, the recepient of unsolicited advice and stares. Honestly, I haven't really minded this very much. I mean, I'm in LA, so the advice can be entertaining. In many cases, I am grateful for these anecdotes because, unlike some, I haven't read every book under the sun about carrying a child. I am intrigued with the glances and stares from strangers, whose faces convey a curious mixture of awe, fear, and wonder--particularly in the men. The girls and women, I find, are usually just endeared to me. One day recently, I was walking my dog at a park near my house, and a group of teenage girls were up the hill a ways from me. One of them blurted out, "Hey lady, are you pregnant!?" I nodded. She then said with no trace of irony, "Oh, that's such a beautiful thing." And then, "Is it girl or a boy?" I said, "Don't know." She said, "Good luck, lady."
MUSIC listening:
Erin McKeown Grand
Daniel Lanois Shine
Antonio Carlos Jobim Wave
The film music of Thomas Newman
Garrison Starr Airstreams & Satellites