Wednesday, 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…

First, I was washing the dishes and knocked a heavy skillet off of the counter. The handle was pointed downward and the tip of it speared my toe like a blunt sword.

The good news is, the x-rays showed a clean break. The doctor says six to eight weeks before it heals but I say four. I’ve been instructed to stay off of the toe as much as possible and to keep it elevated. I was scheduled to perform in Brooklyn Tuesday night and had to turn the gig over to Ben Godwin because it was too painful to stand for any length of time. It’s a little better now but it still hurts to walk more than a few feet. I had to move the car yesterday and just the short walk to the car, driving the car (which is a stick shift and requires the use of both feet) one block and the short walk back home had my toe throbbing for the rest of the night.

Then TTT breezed into town. He’s been on the road with TRS. They were in town for a special one-day performance and left for Japan Wednesday morning. Poor thing, he was so exhausted when I saw him. I don’t think he got more than three hours of sleep while he was in town. I guess that’s the price of being a rock star. It was nice seeing him. He’s definitely larger than life.

I have the first dates of my west coast tour lined up for the beginning of June. My initial plan was to go to Paris in the Spring but since Spring is right around the corner and I don’t have any dates confirmed yet, I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I’m working with a booking agent now who has been lining up performances on the west coast for me, with two set already. That will be fun. I’ll rent a car and start in Northern California and drive to Southern California, stopping along the way to perform.

I spoke with BPA yesterday. “I’ll come to NYC and do some grocery shopping for you,” she said when I told her about my toe. It’ll be great to hang out with her in New York. She showed me such a nice time while I was in Philly and opened her home to me and DVC. She’s definitely good people.

In the meantime, I’ll stay off of my toe, catch up on paperwork, start working on new songs, learn how to use my M-Audio Black Box, eat, maybe gain a few pounds… The possibilities are endless.

While I was performing in New Rochelle for the Habitat for Humanity benefit, I met a drummer/percussionist who’s part of a trio. I gave him a copy of the CD and he played it for the other members of his band. They want to be part of my band, so they’re learning the material and I think I’m going to use them for my big concert in April that I’m planning. “I don’t mean to sound like a fan,” he said, “but I really love your music.” “That’s great,” I said. “I only want to work with musicians who are really into the music.” Otherwise their playing has no life, I think.

During my brief stint with Columbia Records, I had a nine-piece band. I don’t think the band was feeling the music. I wasn’t even feeling it. I was writing songs that Columbia was telling me to write to tracks produced by a non-musician and hating them, so how could I expect the band to be feeling them? Anyway, the musicians would just clunk through the songs for every show, which made my job of attempting to sing them with conviction even harder. Those songs are good songs for what they are, but I will probably never sing them again.

I really love the songs that I’m writing and singing now. I’ll also be recording some new songs over the next several days and will have an EP ready for The April Concert. I decided to name it that after my sister, April, who passed away. Ordinarily, I do something on March 29 of every year to honor her birthday but that’s not possible this year, although I will make her favorite dessert, peach cobbler, on that day. Then I thought that an even more perfect thing to do would be to have a concert in her honor and to name it for her: The April Concert, since she was my biggest fan. I'm going to have a couple of other bands that I love perform as well.

Now all I have to do is get the funds together, book the space, rehearse with the band, write and record the new songs… So much to do, so little time!

More soon...

© Daughter of the Sun. Reprint by permission only.

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 every 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. 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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