back in los angeles and work to be done...

Back from an east coast tour, and getting ready to head up north for the Rockrgrl Seattle conference, I'm happily ensconced in Los Angeles developing these wonderful living room sessions @ The Mint, ., PLUS producing 3 more tracks with Holly Light for her upcoming album, and preparing for Dina Gathe's album on 2nd Dec. Both artists are extraordinary Females On Fire artists and I have had such a pleasure working with them. Check them out at . Welcome all the new fans from ITALY who joined my email list after the story was printed in La Republicca. Wow that was a cool day of receiving sudden enews sign ups! for the story in Italian. So, where to begin. Well coming off the road is kind of draining. One gets rather fragile being back in one's nest egg, because we tend to live on adrenalin from one city to the next. To be frank, when I got back to l.a, after 5 weeks on the road, i was sick as a dog, laid up in bed for at least 3 days and then another 7 to get over a cold and cough. weird. mind you, the weather has changed here in sunny california, to blistery, windy, and rainy. weird again! i've been working on this whole "freedom" thing and really enjoying wyne dyer's book "the sacred self". it's one of his earlier books where he's starting to delve into the idea of "removing the ego" and "becoming the observer". a lot about quantum physics, with a lot of spirituality and creativity mixed in. i noticed in my performance at the Mint last week that i had a total out of body experience, similar to what i'm reading, where i felt like i was observing myself from above, at a distance. the performance was way more energized, and completely left of center/quirky. don't know if that's a good thing, but i felt uplifted and the set became a performance happening in itself. we are at the Mint again Sunday night. i'm really enjoying this club, with the new decor, management, and awesome cuisine. the whole "living room" vibe works. very nice. well, more later...

from NY to Boston and over it: a life of freedom

"In my world, nothing ever goes wrong". This is a little ditty i learnt from a Wayne Dyer book, specifically "Your Sacred Self - Making the Decision to be Free". It's a wonderful read, and a timely one at that.

I have often wondered why I become lethargic. People comment to me often by saying that I have incredible energy, that I have the ability to spin so many plates, and do so many things. But I will acknowledge that all of that comes at a price. I get tired. I can get sick too. I have spent the first 3 days of returning home to Los Angeles, to home, in bed, completely sick with the flu. I have not seen sunlight since Boston, when I got on a plane to come home after 5 weeks on the road. I look within to discover what that is... getting a sore throat, sniffles, a head that won't let up with lots of banging. It's like my body is asking me to stop, slow down, and meditate. To go inward, find the silence and enjoy nothingness. Deconstruction.

Then, my first day out of the womb, I was resurrecting, re-constructing, celebrating and a week on I can now find clarity, reflecting over the last few weeks. It's time to write. It's time to write a lot. I'm going to write songs (I am half way finished a good one called "Freedom" which is in fact about breaking up with a lover... funny how that is ;). I'm going to write a second book about touring, about discovering the journey; I'm going to write articles. And writing online on this blog that has served me well for years... I'm going to write a film script. I'm going to write my diary!

Freedom is my new word in my consciousness. I wrote a new Food For Thought today at www.warriorgirlmusic.com/motivation. I write, "Being the observer doesn't mean we no longer care about the process. No, what it means is that we don't let our mind, our thoughts, our emotions or our worries get in the way."

freedom....

so back in my little room with a view, i look back on the tour and reflect. It was a magical time, nearly 5 weeks on the road, and so many wonderful and new people in my life. Hundreds of artists, songwriters, dreamers, sharing with me their visions and goals in workshops, at conferences, at gigs, on the street, on the phone, via email. I am so blessed to be part of the infrastructure that is the revolution.

Highlights? New York's Cutting Room with Coole High and Tah Phrum Dah Bush was an amazing happening, as a creative being. It wasn't hugely populated but I felt we were performing to a thousand people. They kicked off the night with some rapping about the realness of it all, where it's at as artists, doing it our way, The way. Then they lent their beatbox personalities to my first song on piano, Naked. It really felt naked, stripped to the essence of the beat, the vibe, the sensuality. I want to do more of these cross over shows, stretching the boundaries of style, thought, human consciousness. I'm planning on doing just that with J Walker here in L.A where he did some spoken word last night and brought quantum illumination to my mind and heart in our "living room sessions" at the Mint. This place is perfect for the environment we are creating, for all artists to gather and participate in conscious thought and flow. Plus the food is great!

Back to NY. It was a weird moment for me to be back in NY the second time within the month, and not really want to be "in" it so to speak. So I stayed out at Carol's place in NJ, sat in the spa and thought about the meaning of singlehood, and my private journey, and wondered why I loved touring so much. Loved may not be the operative word. I got a little road weary. Never too late to change direction, I say. But hey wait, Boston was coming.

Toni and I took the Fun Wah bus from China town and headed up to my favorite city of the month, Boston MA. Filled with students, artists, attorneys, people with always two dogs, cafe lattes and a nice fashion style. We stayed with Chris again, like I did last year, and enjoyed playing his piano, playing with His two dogs, and eating his Lindt chocolate balls he couldn't hide from me in the fridge. I talked at Berklee School of Music on the Tuesday and I just couldn't believe, once again (pinch me please) how inspired I was to share stories with the students and just talk at this hugely famous music school. Peter Spellman is a spirit man and apart from being a top notch music business author, he runs the Creative Development Center there, where he hosted my workshop. I have to thank Peter for the Newsweek story too. By the way, La Repubblica, Italy's top newspaper (like the NY Times I guess) has just republished their version of the Newsweek interview (in Italian of course) and oh my god in two days I've had almost a hundred new sign ups on my mailing list from Italian fans. That's just so impressive. There really is no end to the fabulousness of the Internet. My friend Jennifer, who I am currently staying with in Pismo Beach and about to go surfing with  her (my favorite) plus talk on her 101.3 Coast radio show on Friday (that's just so I can justify the trip ;), thinks its so extraordinary to be known worldwide and yet be completely under the radar. The dichotomy of fame,... no fame.

Boston to me was like living a Sydney life in the U.S. I didn't get to see beaches per se, but i saw the harbour and felt the culture and I really dug it. It was my third time there and this time I really got to know it and literally walked 5 miles a day going from A to B. We stayed in South End so it was a great walk through the backstreets of brownstones, up to Boylston Street where Berklee is, then down the fashionable Newbury Street for coffee and fashion, into town across the Commons and into the banking world, then back across to South End. I made circles every day and felt fit. We represented Songsalive! at Nemo Boston, which is a fine music conference, and I spoke on the women in music panel with Madalyn Sklar (Go Girls Music) and Ariel from Ariel Publicity and more. THAT was a great discussion. Women? Men? let's just be Artists! Leave the gender out of it!

By Oct 1, I had realized that I had been away since Sept 1 and it was time to go home. I had dispersed the extraOrdinary life, living an ordinary life in a non-ordinary way. I sold books, I sold a piece of my soul but I got a lot of soul food in return. The troubadour is simply that, a wandering creative soul. I expect nothing more, and certainly nothing less, than the opportunity to create and share my creativity.

tonight I am at peace. I'm about to go surfing. Now that's what I call creativity!

italy: la repubblica

go figure!! todays paper in italy! apin off from the newsweek article. some journalist has cottoned onto my interview and decided to make a new story for the repubblica, which is like the new york times!