Sunday, September 10, 2006

It’s almost midnight and here I sit in front of my computer still. I didn’t go out today. I don’t know if it was cold or hot but I do know that it was sunny because I sat near the window as I worked, so that I could feel the sun on my skin. I thought briefly about going to the local Internet café to work but couldn’t motivate myself to get out of my pajamas.
I’m pretty much out of groceries, which means I’ll have to go out tomorrow, although I’m not going to stray too far from home, considering that it’s September 11th and I’m afraid that some person who’s looking to get attention will decide to release some poisonous gas on the subway or something equally horrible.

I received an email today from a woman who’d visited my site. “Oh, by the way, “ she wrote, “I saw you site...WOW...you are asking for trouble! The nudie shot with your guitar is suggesting way more than music!!! I'm not judging you, honestly, just trying to help! I've been in the music business for over 20-years and there is NO WAY any label I work with would sign you if you are publishing naked photos of yourself BEFORE you get signed! Wait with that photo, wait until you're famous and THEN release it...then you're scandalous! If you put that out there now, you're going to attract evil men who will try to take advantage of you. Sure, you may be all grown up but you have a lot to learn about this business, I'd like to help you...I'll keep you in my prayers and share your music with who I can but only if you take tha naked photo off the internet!”

She sent a few more emails after that and with each one she seemed to get more and more angry that I wasn’t taking her advice and removing the photo, even going so far as to call me “stupid” and to say that from now on I would have to pay her for advice. I hadn’t even asked for her advice or that she share my music with anybody. I don’t even know who she is. Her name drew a blank on Google. It’s sad that people are so filled with distrust and anger. I don’t even know this woman but she’s already decided that I’m stupid and delusional because I posted what I consider to be an artistic photo of myself with a guitar on the Internet. Funny that she seemed to be so concerned about my falling into the clutches of some evil man, when the only evil energy I’ve received so far because of that photo has been from her. Ah, well. You can’t please all of the people all of the time. Hopefully I won’t hear from her again.

I went down to Greenwich Village to see my friend Nicky Alrica perform at The Baggot Inn. It was a fun-filled show and the audience was really into the performance. I got up and sang one song with Nicky, which was tons of fun, ham that I am! And it was great to finally see her performing with a band. Every time I’d tried to see her show in the past, there was drama. First she was at the China Club, they had ropes outside and were making people wait forever to get in. When I finally got in, I discovered there were only a handful of people inside. There were far more people outside waiting to get in! Over an hour past the time she was supposed to perform, they told her she couldn’t go on because there weren’t enough people inside! Scandalous! Then she was performing in the east village. I tried to go and see her but there was a major storm that night and I was stuck on the subway for about an hour because of track flooding and finally gave up and went back home.

As I was about to leave to go downtown to the Baggot Inn, the phone rang. It was one of my MySpace friends calling to ask if I would speak with her niece who, as it turns out, is one of my youngest fans. “She’s very sad,” my MySpace friend said. “Could you please speak to her for a minute?” Of course I took the time to speak with her. She just started kindergarten and I’ve been promised a photo of her in her school uniform.

I’ve been asked to compose a few pieces for a documentary. I submitted one composition already and I got a call on Friday from the producer saying that everyone loves it. The documentary is going to be submitted for entry into the Sundance Film Festival. If it gets picked up (and I think it will because, from what I’ve seen, it’s very good), that will be tremendous for me! I stayed in today and worked on a couple of pieces for it. I have a rough of the documentary on DVD.

I had a radio interview the other day. It was fun. I got to talk about myself for almost an hour! I don’t think they’re going to use all of the conversation but however much of it they use, as Grace Jones said, there’s no such thing as bad press. Especially if it’s free! It’s going to air on October 12th. I’m so excited! I’m still waiting for the music video to be completed. I guess it’s good that it’s taking a while. That means they’re putting a lot of time into it – I hope!!!

I went around and took some New York photos, so that I can have them to look at in case I start missing New York. I don’t think that’s going to happen but you never know!

More soon...

© Daughter of the Sun. Reprint by permission only.

August 20, 2006 - Friday night was my performance at The Alphabet Lounge. There was a nice turnout, although about one third of the people arrived almost at the end of the performance. More...

July 7, 2006 - Yesterday was my show at The Talking Stick. I thought I’d get some photos of my performance but unfortunately TDJ arrived just as I’d finished my last song. I only performed a few songs. More...

July 3, 2006 - I’m in my own bedroom at TDJ’s apartment. My own little slice of Heaven. I’m sleeping on an air mattress on the floor in what is technically TDJ’s office/recording studio but who cares. I have my own bathroom and I can sleep as late as I like. More...

June 30, 2006 - I think I’ve worn out my welcome with NAP. Fortunately, I spoke with TDJ yesterday and his other houseguests have departed, which means that starting today I can stay in his extra bedroom. He’s my only friend in California that I haven’t met through MySpace. More...

June 24, 2006 - So I’m in Los Angeles, the city of broken dreams and make believe. I’m staying with a wonderful family, thanks again to MySpace. NAP is a singer, a wife and the mother of two absolutely adorable (and exhaustingly rambunctious) children. More...

June 8, 2006 - I am loving life right about now. I’m in Northern California in a little town near Sausalito with a population of about 200. I posted an ad on Craigs List saying I was willing to exchange administrative services for room and board and, lo and behold, I got two responses the very next day. More...

May 8, 2006 - I am loving life right about now. I’m in Northern California in a little town near Sausalito with a population of about 200. I posted an ad on Craigs List saying I was willing to exchange administrative services for room and board and, lo and behold, I got two responses the very next day. More...

May 3, 2006 - I just got in from playing in the subway station. I like the F line at the 23rd Street station... More...

April 24, 2006 - I found a numerology site and, according to their calculations, I’m at the end of a cycle. I‘ve past the harvest and I’m about to lay down new seeds I guess to prepare for the coming Winter. More...

April 10, 2006 - I’ve been spending a lot of time online, working on my MySpace page, making new friends through MySpace as well. By the time I get to California, I’ll already know lots of folks there. More...

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. More...

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...

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