Sunday, April 2, 2006

I can’t believe it’s April already. The year is nearly half done, although some more optimistic than I am at this moment in my life would say the year’s barely begun. It just seems that time is marching along faster and faster each year. An old woman told me that the older one gets, the faster time goes by. Pretty soon, I’ll blink and a week will have passed.

I totally missed the whole excitement of spring this year because of my toe. Ordinarily, I would have at the very least gone to Central Park and marveled at the buds about to burst forth heralding in the spring but since I still can’t walk more than a block or so without pain, I missed the whole parade and now the daffodils have come and already the tree that sits in the lot across the street from me has light green leaves bursting forth from its limbs.

Today was a perfect day for taking a long walk and stopping in a restaurant to have a delicious Sunday afternoon brunch. Instead, I stayed home and finished my spring-cleaning. Every now and then, I glanced out of the window at passersby with their light jackets, as they strolled along soaking in the sun. Today it’s officially three weeks since I broke my toe and I’ve pretty much had enough. I’m determined to be back in the saddle by next weekend.

Thursday I had to go to a luncheon and I just couldn’t wear my clunky shoes because they severely limit my outfit choices. So, being the somewhat vain creature that I am, I put on my boots with the sensible heel and toe and took a taxi to Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street to the luncheon. My plan was to take the taxi right up to the entrance of the building. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that because a bicycle messenger crashed into a pedestrian on the very block that I needed to get into.

Both the cyclist and the injured pedestrian were laid out in the middle of the street so the taxi had to let me off on the corner instead of right in front and I had to walk farther than I’d anticipated. The luncheon lasted a couple of hours and then I had to walk a block and a half before I was able to get a taxi to take me back home. My toe was throbbing by the time I got back inside and I was so glad to take off that boot.

All in all, though, I think I’ve been behaving myself and not overdoing the walking on my toe thing.

The other night, I went to see a band perform. I asked the guitarist what they were called (nobody introduced them) but he wasn’t sure, although he was sure we’d met before. “You gave me your card,” he said, “about a year ago. You were doing, umm… …something.” “I’m sure I was doing something,” I said.

The band was fabulous so I gave him my card again because I’d love to have them play for me but he probably won’t use the card this time either. He seemed a bit of a space cadet.

I started a new song today, tentativeley entitled Insane. I have the chorus done. Now all I have to do is come up with the verses.

I've decided to have the CD release party at Salon because I love the space and both times that I've gone there (for my birthday celebration and again about a month ago just to dance, dance, dance), I had a wonderful time. The promoter of the dance parties at Salon and I started an email correspondence and, before long, we were planning the party.

Tomorrow I have a couple of errands to run, so I guess it’s back to the clunky sneakers for the next few days at least. Maybe by next weekend I’ll be able to wear some different shoes. At least now that the weather’s warming up I may be able to wear something open-toed.

I’ve connected with a new booking agent. He books acts like Floetry and Erykah Badu. I’m hoping that he can book me to open for a band like that. I have to put together an electronic press kit to send him. I have no idea how to do that but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Because I have to.

More soon...

© Daughter of the Sun. Reprint by permission only.

March 23, 2006 - Not much new to report. Still laid up with my broken toe. More...

March 16, 2006 - What a week it’s been! A broken toe, post-Philly drama, TTT came into town, west coast tour in the works, April concert to plan, new band. More...

March 10, 2006 - It was a pretty smooth drive with almost no traffic even though we left the city at 5 o’clock. We reached Philadelphia at about 8 o’clock. It reminds me of a lot of other small towns I’ve been in, like Troy and Albany. More...

March 8, 2006 - This evening I’m off to New Rochelle to perform at a Habitat for Humanity fundraising event. I’m taking CDs, which I will autograph and sell and donate half the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity. They’re going to New Orleans to rebuild some of the homes that were destroyed by Katrina. More...

March 2, 2006 - I am so over the cold and ready for the Spring. It’s hard to believe it’s right around the corner. The groundhog saw his shadow last month, which supposedly means Winter is hanging around a bit longer but I remain ever hopeful. More...

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. More...

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, an 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. 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...

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