Highs and Highs

I am mostly in a good mood this morning. Lots of good things. The only negatives are that I'm really, really tired and I have a headache that just keeps getting worse and worse. It's starting to make me sick to my stomach. I hate that. Of course I think they are related. And I really don't think anything but sleep will fix it. I love my job but I don't think they'll let me sleep at my desk.

Last night I played at a new venue, the Universal Bar & Grill. It was a cool bar. Very old school, unlike lots of the trendy, up tight bars here in LA. I felt comfortable there. Red leather booths and red velvet wallpaper. And a crowd of regulars that really are regulars who probably spend most nights there like at cheers. And though they were regulars, they welcomed all of the musicians like good friends. It was awesome.

The set went well. I'll post the careful constructed set list at the bottom for those of you who are curious. There was no music or tv sounds to compete over. The crowd was attentive yet laid back. Even the bartenders seemed to get into my music. That's a good sign. I was happy with my performance and the flow of everything. People seemed to respond well to the songs. I can't wait to go back.

My other high point since my last blog is that I got a friend request on my myspace. I went to check out their page. I usually do before I say yes. Not that I say no often but partly to actually meet the person I'm going to say I'm friends with and to make sure it's not almost porn. Anyway, I go to their page and they had uploaded my song 'Einstein in a Skirt' to their player! That is so exciting!!! I'm so happy that someone would like my song enough to put it in their player. :) That's awesome! If anyone else already has one of my songs in their player or uploads one, please let me know. It is a huge compliment and I would want to send you huge amounts of thanks. :) So exciting. :)

The Wisdom of Loretta

Woohoo! It's time for some speed blogging today my friend. Here are the hits for today!

Booked a second new show at a new venue in the Valley! Psyched that it was at the time and date that I really wanted. Bummed when hours later I got bumped to a later time. Still psyched about the venue. It's a cool little restaurant that usually has jazz. One night a week they do singer/songwriter stuff. It still has the cool jazz atmosphere though.

Got a rejection letter/email for a song I tried to place. Man. These hit me seriously hard. At least they are 'keeping me on file for later.' I sure wish that didn't sound so much like 'don't call us, we'll call you.' I'm supposed to send these out more often?! Are you crazy? Who would volunteer to walk up to people and say 'Please hit me in the gut as hard as you can. And I'll thank you for it.'

And yet I'm still a little positive. Not about the songs I pitched. I guess I should 'pitch' them in trash next. ;) But I've been working on a new song this week and it is lifting my spirits. I mentioned earlier that I wrote the lyrics back in May. Actually, my songwriter friend Jason Riggs (www.jasonriggs.com) is my partner in commiserating crimes. We go back and forth through email about songwriting, especially on the hard days. I had listed to him some conflicts I had in myself and he said I should turn them into a song. So I turned them into lyrics and added a couple more. But I haven't felt a melody for it.

This week I decided it was the right time to make it happen. And it did happen. And now I've been humming it all day long. Take that rejection email! 'Don't You Oppress Me!' as said by Loretta in Life Of Brian. (I like quoting that one a lot.)

Happy Easter!

I am so busted. I didn't write on Friday. In my defense, I thought I would be at work a full day and they ended up letting us go early. Will I complain? No. Did I have lots of work to do like write a blog that I left undone. Yes. My apologies.

Happy Easter! For those of you on the edge of your seats, yes, I said all of the rosaries. Somehow I thought that at the Easter Vigil I would see a heavenly light upon me, hear angels sing and know that I did it right enough and it's all covered. That did not happen. I suppose this is part of that Faith thing. Fine. If that's the way you want to play this thing, God, fine.

Easter itself was a beautiful day. Maybe that was my 'confirmation' of a job well done. For those of you not in LA, ha! It was 80 degrees and the sky was clear (for a change.) It was one of those days when I finally understand why people will put up with the traffic. For it to be a beautiful warm day in March. This is the LA I signed up for.

I walked on the beach with my sweetie for hours watching the waves. We even saw dolphins in the distance! I stopped by my favorite bead store and they were having a sale, half off all strands! No way! :) We had lunch at a new Chinese restaurant (no it wasn't Christmas, it was Easter.)

Back home I worked on a new song that I'm pretty sure will be unveiled at Sunday's show. I'm pretty excited about it. I've had the lyrics written since May of last year. Yes, some songs take that long. Some don't. Last week I played a song that I had written just a few days before. But I wanted this one to be special so I held onto it for a long time. Now it will never measure up the greatness I have placed on it in my mind but at least I can finally sing it to you.

And the day was finished up with eating an Easter dinner prepared by my sweetie, yes he cooks too, and my cousin. :) I have nothing cool to say. I'm just basking in the niceness of this day. Still, even a day later.

Happy Easter to you and your loved ones!