Saturday , February 25, 2006

Another late night… What else is new? I performed at Bellizzi’s tonight. Two sets. I ran through my entire arsenal of songs and even threw in a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s song, “True Colors.” I don’t really like doing covers but the woman who hired me for the night asked me to and you have to give the people what they want, especially when they're paying. All in all, it was a good night, even though my voice was so tired by the last song that I barely was able to squeak through it. Everyone came up after the show was over to say how much they enjoyed the music, which made me feel very good of course.

Everyone at Bellizzi’s was so incredibly nice. After dealing with cynical and untrustworthy New Yorkers, I almost felt as if I was in the town of Stepford. The owner of the restaurant made this incredible seafood concoction, which was absolutely delicious. There were several different kinds of wine (none of which I partook of since I never drink alcohol when I’m performing) and all kinds of cheese and bread and antipasta. I could certainly get used to that kind of treatment. And I got paid! Performing outside of the city is the way to go! Of course that money is going right back into the till. There are lots of things I need to have done, all of which cost money. One of those things is to have my CDs professionally duplicated so that I’m not spending hours burning CDs and printing out and applying labels and CD inserts before each performance.

I couldn’t believe how incredibly cold it was outside when I left Bellizzi’s to get into my car. Fortunately, I was parked right in front of the place. The woman who organized the event invited me back to her house for a cup of tea before I hit the road. She and her husband live just a few blocks away from the venue, so I agreed. Her husband quickly fell asleep on the sofa while she and I listened to British pop/rock from the seventies and talked about music for about an hour and then I got into my trusty jalopy and headed home.

Bellizzi’s is right off of the Saw Mill Parkway in Mount Kisco. The Saw Mill is a very dark and windy road and the high beams on my car are very temperamental. They decided not to work on the drive up, so I had to stay behind other cars that were traveling the same way or I couldn’t see more than ten feet ahead of me. Fortunately, they worked most of the way home. The only problem I had with them was they wouldn’t turn off until I got back to the city practically, which wasn’t so much a problem for me as it was for the cars in front of me, which meant I had to keep speeding up and passing everyone on the road so that I wouldn’t blind them with my high beams. Still, I love my car. It always gets me where I need to go and back, with no problem (other than temperamental high beams). Can’t ask for more than that from an $800 car.

I went to the Mason Hall Thursday night for a screening for three independent short films. One of the producers and the emcee of the night asked me to come and sing a few songs in between films, which I was more than happy to do. I sold some CDs and met some interesting people, one of which is a marketing person who’s going to help me get some college radio airplay among other things. That will be a tremendous help. I also gave my card to a woman whose film was featured. She said one of my songs would be perfect for a new film she’s working on.

I also have a guy on board who’s going to be helping me put together a national tour. He and his fiancée are based in San Francisco but that’s something that can be done from anywhere, with the help of the Internet. He’s putting together a list of venues and is going to email it to me over the next few days.

I have a show booked in Philadelphia in March, quite by accident. The woman who does the bookings thought I was based in Philadelphia and I thought she was based in New York. We were corresponding via email several times before I had an inkling she might not be in New York. Not that I mind; Philadelphia’s only a couple of hours away by car. I’m going to see if I can book some other shows there around the same time and maybe hang out in Philly for a few days. Why not? I’m footloose and fancy-free, as my grandmere used to say.

Wednesday I started my exercise routine again, which so far just involved pushups and leg lifts. Thursday my pecs were so sore that I haven’t done any exercising since Wednesday. I’ve promised myself that tomorrow I’ll do some more though because I really want to fill out a bit more. I’m kind of hungry now but I don’t want to eat anything too heavy or I’ll have weird dreams, so I’m just going to have some black beans and quinoa and a small salad. I can’t wait to go grocery shopping and get some real food in here.

I have quite a busy week ahead of me. Tomorrow evening I’m going to a potluck dinner and Art for Change meeting. Monday I’m performing at Otto’s Shrunken Head (I love that name!). Tuesday I’m going up to New Rochelle to meet the Executive Director for Habits for Humanities to discuss the performance I’m doing for them on Thursday. Thursday I have the Habitats for Humanities performance in the evening. Somewhere in the midst of all of that, I still have to go grocery shopping, do laundry and clean my apartment. Oh, and get some sleep. Maybe.

I hired an intern. I’m really excited about that. He’s a leftie who plays 12-string guitar as well as electric! He was scheduled to start on Thursday but his grandfather passed away and he had to travel to Atlanta for the weekend so he’s going to start next week instead. I’ve given up on NDR and the whole Woodstock band thing, although I’d still love to live in Woodstock. NDR totally flaked on me; hasn’t returned any of my calls. I think he’s having romantic issues, poor thing. Love (or something disguising itself as love) will do that to you, if you let it. Hopefully, the next time I get caught up in it, it will be kinder. I don’t have time for romance right now, as nice as it might be. I barely have time to love myself.

More soon...

© Daughter of the Sun. Reprint by permission only.

February 19, 2006 - Another all nighter… My plan was to get into bed by midnight at the latest but I wound up staying up and setting up my page on MySpace. It turns out there’s another artist with my name (Setra) who’s already on MySpace so I couldn’t use my own name. I had to sign up using Daughter of the Sun instead. It took a while to upload the music and the photos, once I figured out how to do it. More...

February 16, 2006 - Hurray! The snow is almost gone! Just the way I like the snow. A lot of it comes down, it stays for a few days and then it melts and is gone; and not a moment too soon. I ate the last of the food today, which means I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I haven't weighed myself but I have a feeling I've gained at least a couple of pounds. More...

Snow - I have about five days’ worth of food, and I’m prepared to hibernate until the snow melts. My car is parked across the street but I don’t know which mound it’s under. It was kind of nice being home alone and doing whatever I wanted to without having to answer to anybody or even speak to another person. I turned off the ringer on the phone and just spent some time with myself. More...

Guero's - I just got in from Guero’s. What a night. First off, it turns out they didn’t have a PA system, a amp, a microphone or microphone stand so I had to pack up all that stuff and take it with me. I lugged it all a block and a half to where I’d parked my car Monday evening and when I got to the parking spot where I’d left my car, my car was nowhere to be found. More...

MTV Comes - The MTV folks came and went Monday. It was all quite fun. I was up and dressed by the time they arrived at 9:00 AM. “We have to film the entire day,” they said and they made me put my pajamas back on and get back into bed. Then they filmed me getting out of bed, going into the kitchen and having my first glass of water for the day. They wanted to film that twice so I had to drink two large glasses of water before it was all said and done. More...

MTV- I sent off a CD and letter to MTV for their Made series. Sunday afternoon I got a call from them saying they want to film me for their “A Day In the Life” series. More...

Insulted - I got a call from a woman today who books acts at a café in Montclair, New Jersey. She wanted to know if I was interested in performing a short set of about 3 or 4 songs at her café on Tuesday. Not only was she not offering to pay me but she wanted me to buy an entrée while I was there. I was highly insulted. More...

January 13, 2006- I’ve been in bed all week with the flu. Not my idea of the best way to start off the new year but I suppose it could be a lot worse. As a matter of fact, I feel almost completely better. Just a little tickle in my throat, which means I won't be going to the movies over the weekend and making everyone in the theater hate me because I'm coughing every few minutes. More..

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