november 17th, 2002
today is the birthday of chris fix who was born one year less one day before me and a guy named rich kowalksi whom i met in lake bluff last evening. happy birthday to both of you. having a birthday is a mixed blessing. warren the guitar player enlightened me to the fact that when one has a birthday the good fortune is that one gets to have a birthday, and if it happens to be unattached to any particular medical intrusion or unfortunate life circumstance, then one should be damned appreciative. okay, aside from the obvious i'm-not-in-a-coma-nor-am-i-missing-limbs gratitude one feels regularly, one is still perplexed by the fact that one is no longer 21.
october 7th, 2002 11pm
i'm really miffed at ben and jerry. their chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, which could be so darn enjoyable, is ultra yummy until you get to just below the first inch. at that point, any decent amount of chunky-doughy stuff is pretty much non-existent and all you're left with is a bunch of vanilla ice cream and the occasional lousy chip of chocolate. it's especially annoying when you offer to share your pint and dole out the top (since no one expects the you to take the first scoop, of course) only to get shafted with the bottom layers of what any ice cream lover instantly recognizes as plain vanilla. one could buy multiple pints, take out the real stuff and either throw out the rest, give it to charity or find some benevolent soul who'll accept the latter inches of what is alleged to be a whole pint of full-on cookie dough. but the people who want just vanilla in the first place probably wouldn't be the people you invite over and taking out your labeled pint of chocolate chip cookie dough with the only evidence of any cookie dough completely missing would be treachery. life can be so unfair.
9 september 2002
the workshop with lori carson was great. i'm so glad i did it and i will use her teachings over and over. she is also an inpiration just to be around. it was so worth the whole plane-to-the-car-to-the-ferry-to-the-car thing. i met the coolest people and didn't feel too old, being ten years their senior. two weeks later i went to la and had the direct opposite experience. business talk about music and lots of bullpuck people with phony non-jobs. it was weird, but i played four gigs (if you include an open mic at highland grounds with my two gal pals) and i secured the lawyer i liked best. it was productive and fun to be in a hot mastering suite at capitol. all in all, not a drag, but not my favorite place to be. i liked seeing the talented people i know there and playing with scott bennett and brett simons. i also got to hang with sari and she she and my sis from san fran. i have to admit that it was almost a little exciting to be let in to the coolest hotspot because we knew someone at the door. normally i eschew those circumstances. the highlights were: eating most meals at urth cafe, my favorite food establishment, and riding bikes along the pacific ocean.
4 june 2002, 9:31pm
i always wonder about the generations to come and how smart they will be. i know generational differences are readily apparent between the two males in my home. and just the older people and the younger one here. it's obvious. i've been going through websites, artists' websites and reading lyrics. michael from norway told me about dan bern and i saw liz phair's site, as well and sheryl crow's. now i love sheryl's music, but her site is loaded with so much corporate b.s. it's weird. she's an artist, no doubt, but at a price. i like her new record. i admit it, sugar gum pop rock really appeals to me. maybe because i was raised on go-go's and monkeys. in fact, i have been listening to the best of the monkeys and phair's whitechocolatespaceegg for a week now. they are similar. today we almost finished our first eleven songs to shop. but we didn't. i go to new york this week to see the sights and sounds on broadway. and visit davie c. who will bring parka. parka, who i set up with davie and they've had the three year love affair now - or maybe it's almost four this fall. they even went to italy together. we have mice. well, one in particular. he is such a little vixen, maybe he's a she. she sat on the countertop this morning staring me down. i didn't know whether to get a broom or a pale of water, so i went back upstairs and cleaned stuff. fekker.
today is the 7th of may.
gosh i've waited a long time to connect musically. connect with the right players, the right writing, the right people to hang out with and i'm thrilled lately to find myself in amazing company. i'm lucky. it's taken awhile. sometimes i wish i knew all this ten years ago when i started. but i was really an actor then and not a musician. i guess i just turned into more of a musician these last months, or couple years. i find i get tired sometimes. i work my butt off. i really do. i love to do it. i'm strange. i stay up late many nights working on songs, especially if i've just seen a good band. i have to take any time i have. sometimes, though, i just sit in the tub and read a good novel. i am going through all of jd salinger's work right now. i also spent about an hour online last night reading every one of liz phair's lyrics. someone i respect told me she is loaded with narrative. everyone has their secret online spots. mine are definitely the homepage of rickie lee jones ( www.rickieleejones.com ) and various mostly unknown female artists. tonight patch and i are going to be around actors again. it's nice to be with but not among sometimes.
ummmm.....it's march like 25th. so tonight i will have seven songs done from the cd and i will send them around and see what happens. i've had a lot of gigs and just when i thought i had this week off, i realized i am doing two jobs with brother brother thursday and friday nights. yes, i am now officially a backup slut. but i get to do it with shana and some great musicians and the music is cool and challenging, oft "musician-y," so yum. i had a photo shoot with my pal blair last week and it went well. i'll post some of those this week. wow, life is too good. i'm starting to book new gigs and i've been getting a few emails about navy pier. looks like some folks really enjoy seeing us there and that makes me feel good. we love that gig. i think it's the best gig in chicago actually. nice people, great sound, beautiful landscape. and it's free. we always have fun there. i'll be booking lots this summer so come check us out. i have 12 new original songs that we've just recorded and i'll be adding some great old covers when we play our four or five hour sets at the Pier. not too shabby. we'll see what happens with this second record, but i hope to have some on hand by june. i think you'll like it. otherwise, i am really working hard lately - on my writing, recording, singing chops, piano chops. however, i think i've pretty much given up on the guitar chops. not even ten years and private study can turn my awkwardness into a cohesive guitar sound. i was actually banned from playing acoustic on my own record. but i do play wurly and piano all over the place. even some string parts. i will practice the acoustic a lot before my uncommon ground gig in april, but i've got my eye on a nice blonde electric which could add a whole new dimension to my fretboard failings.
today snows and it's february 26th making mincemeat out of mice. or something. i've joined a jobbing band for real. the one thing i always said i wouldn't do. i guess i did it because i do it anyway, and i don't necessarily hate it. i mean it's singing. for a living. it's playing music at aparty or an event and making someone happy. also, i'm sure to learna lot from doing it with this band. they have a definite soul thing happening and it's not about swinging for the older folks. well, maybeit is but. still. i went to gymboree today with the little one and ikept thinking, well, i am the only weird mom here. why is everyone sonormal? then i started to depict the fascinating imaginative worldsthe other moms might live in: maybe one's a dominatrix on the weekendsbut she has to shuffle the kids to soccer first; another might be astripper or a part-time psychic. maybe some of them practice wicca oreat vegan. then i'd be nearly normal. after the class, i saw a womanat whole foods who carried her flugel horn and wore unmatched socks.intellectual type - crooked glasses, disheveled hair - and i was sopleased. even if she wasn't foreign, she shifted the timbre of the placewith her uniqueness. in a sea of addidas and gap hats, this one swamoutside the organic aisles of cumquats and avocados. i liked her instantly.i tried several times to make contact with her, but she was so weird,she hardly noticed other humans. she reminded me of my aunt mary a little.without the knowing smile. then i realized i'd probably be disappointedin her if we spoke. she was best kept as that bizarre chick by the deli.my whole image of her would probably falter if we actually met.
january the 31st, 2002
man! icannot wait to take this vacation with my friend silje and then patchand the family. it is hard-earned. i did a showcase this week whichwent well and i saw some of my regulars, which always makes me feelgreat. i get a lot of support in that regard. there's been a littletoo much singing this week: i think i've done five lead vocals on tracks,a bunch of backups, a jingle and the gig on tuesday. my voice is tired.today i did the vocal on "hold on," and i was trying to singemmylou style and i think it worked. i can't quite do emmylou the wayshe can, but i adopted her broken tone. it's cool, because vocally,on this cd, i am "borrowing" from some greats: ani difranco,emmylou, rickie lee, alana davis, lori carson, joni. it doesn't mean i can sound like them; it just helps the quality of the character to relate another artist to the lyric. hey, borrowing a thing or two fromothers is nothing new. at rickie lee jones' last chicago performance,i asked her how she wrote "we belong together" and she actually played the entire lick she shoplifted off of some 1950's obscure hit. the words and melody were exactly the same! and, you know, knowing thatmakes me like her song even more. after this cd, i'm going to have to get the masses of children's songs in my head out onto tape. or protools as it were. they're driving me nuts! everything is a damn song when you have a kid! (oh, spoon, spoon, i wish i were a spoon!) also, greg kolack intrigues me with the proposition of doing a rock musical. always wanted to try it, ever since i played the mom in "tommy" at northwestern. anyone can write one of those things! what is it, a story and a few melodies? pie.
