Being a Musician Today...

What amazing weather... It is on days like these that I am happy to be a musician. Most days, I get to make my schedule and do what I want when I want to. And so this morning, I got to go to the beach. I am already back in the city, I feel like I have had a full day already and the best part is that after I am done with the work I want to catch up on, I can go out again, check out some live music, and keep enjoying the weather.
Paul (Umbach) sent me a new version of one of the new songs, "Man", with the awesome playing of Matt (Wigton) in it and I am so excited about it. My work is to say what I like and don't like, what needs to be changed or added, and since Paul always does an amazing job, I pretty much have nothing to say... Tough life!
Of course I have my ups and downs like everyone else in every industry, but today, I am happy to be a singer-songwriter, living her dream in New York City...

Musicians On Call

I went to play my monthly volunteer night for Musicians On Call tonight. I think it is a wonderful organization. I am always amazed at what a huge difference a little bit of music can make in someone's day. It just takes them some place else for a couple of minutes and they are always so thankful. Some like to chat a little bit too. Usually, at least one person per night advises me to try for American Idol...
Each evening has a different vibe in the hospitals as well. I played in the oncology department and tonight was the most emotional that I have ever experienced. I always worry very much about trying to be as uplifting as possible but it seemed that tonight everyone was pretty mellow... A few people that I played for started crying and I was mortified. The guide that was with me tonight (there is always a volunteer guide to lead you from room to room and introduce the program) was a cancer survivor and a former patient of that hospital. She told me that sometimes it was good for people to cry and let their emotions out in these terrible times and that music was a good trigger. I hope she is right.

Great Weekend!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Mine was great...
I played my first house-concert on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun! Everyone was so nice and thought it was a fun concept.
I am looking forward to doing it again!

I went to see the movie "Valentine's Day" on Friday... I can't help it, I like romantic comedies! :-) It was fun but I was a little disappointed by the fact that it was really copying the movie "Love Actually", which is one of my favorite romantic comedies; so it was lacking a bit of imagination.

My Valentine's Day was perfect and just what I wanted...

I am ready to take on a new week with a lot of energy and positivity!

Much love to all!

What next?

Well I am back in New York and happy to be even though I had a wonderful week last week in Nashville. Paul is really a wonderful musician and producer and I am excited to go back to get some more work done really soon. I am actually listening to my new songs right now and I am very excited about them, I can't wait to have them all finished to share them with all of you and hear what you think! What I liked about being in Nashville, recording and writing all day, was that I didn't have to think about anything else. Now I am trying to get back in the swing of things, always thinking of what to do next...

Nashville

So I am in Nashville... well more precisely, in Franklin, at Paul's studio. I am having a blast working on some new songs. We are getting the drums recorded right now on a couple of songs. The funny thing is that the drummer we are using, Ben, is really good friends with Jason and Matt (my drummer and bass player) and we didn't even know it! Small world...
Is it ok that I am super excited about my new songs and I can't wait to play them for you!!
Well I'll keep you posted. :-)

writing

So I have been in a writing mode these days... which means that I actually take time to sit down and write. And even when nothing comes out of it (at least nothing that I would want anyone to hear...) it feels good. I tend to forget that writing for me is a good therapy.
The reason I have been focusing on writing is that I am going to Nashville on Monday for a week to meet with Paul (Umbach; he produced the first 3 songs on the EP); we have a few co-writing sessions planned with some great songwriters in Nashville and hopefully we are going to get to record some new songs!! I am very excited about that. I will keep you posted on how it is going!

TAXI COVENTION IN LA - NOVEMBER 09

My weekend at the Taxi Music Convention at the Westin LAX in Los Angeles:

I have seen the palm trees of LA and the Pacific Ocean!!!

Well, not that much because honestly, I spent most of these few days in the hotel with about 2000 other Taxi members.

If you don’t know what TAXI is, it is an organization that is sort of a middleman between musicians/songwriters and industry people to create opportunities for both sides and once a year, they organize this massive music convention in California for their members and their guests. The people who attend get the opportunity to attend many panels and seminars that educate them on all the different aspects of the music industry, from tips about hit songwriting, to how to be your own publisher, to the best techniques for recording etc., as well as getting the opportunity to meet hundreds of other musicians and songwriters and to also meet some of the leaders of the music industry.

It all started Thursday. I arrived at about 3pm (local time) at the hotel and had already started meeting some other members on the shuttle from the airport. I am always noticeable with my guitar; people always talk to me when I carry it around. The registration was supposed to start at 5:30 so I thought I would have some time to eat something, (I was starving, having forgotten that non-international flights make you pay for their disgusting food, so I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast) but when I arrived, a few hundred people were already lined up. They had planned everything: snacks, pillows, foldable chairs… Obviously, they had done this before.

I quickly checked-in, and decided to look for food anyway. I knew that my crankiness would only get worse in the line. That is when I realized that I really was in LA and that the only restaurants in a walkable distance, were McDonalds, Taco Bell, Subway or Pizza Hut… all my favorites… So I had to go with an overpriced panini from the restaurant’s hotel, at which I ran into my friend John Battaglia, who was one of the panelists this week-end, and I then quickly got in line. I couldn’t figure out where it started and where it ended until I realized that it went all the way out into the hotel’s parking lot, looking like a never-ending snake… So I got in line, ate my sandwich, and met Bridgette… Waiting in that line was not nearly as dreadful as I had imagined it. We were all in the same boat and everyone was making friends with their neighbors, Bridgette went to get me a tea while I saved her spot and the veterans were sharing information with the newbies… My only regret is that I forgot my camera.

The convention officially started on Friday morning with the interview and unbelievable performance of Jeffrey Steele, one of Nashville’s most successful hit songwriters. He wrote some of the biggest Rascal Flatts hits like My Wish, These Days and What Hurts The Most (the latter I found out this week-end became a huge dance hit in the rest of the world!... very strange to hear it that way) and many other hit songs. He sang us a medley of his most famous ones and was incredible.

I then spent the day attending panels, taking in interesting information in certain and fleeing others (they are not all that great…)

Friday night, I met Matt and Aaron, two really cool and funny New Yorkers. We had dinner together at the hotel and then went on to play some songs together. I taught them a couple of my songs, one of which we played at the open mic the next evening and it was a big success… I mean, the 15 people who were still left at 11:30pm really liked it… ;-)

During the weekend, I also got the opportunity to talk with some industry people, get some really positive feedback, give out my CD to a lot of people, and I almost ran out of business cards.

All in all, it was exhausting but a lot of fun.

Sunday night and Monday morning before my flight, I was lucky to have a couple of my good friends I hadn’t seen in a long time and who now live in LA come pick me up and take me to Santa Monica. I walked on the pier and on promenade on Sunday night and saw a dog show off his skate boarding skills. At that moment, I wished I had a video camera… I was the cutest thing I had seen in a long time.

Monday morning, I got to walk on the beach in Santa Monica. I have never seen such a long beach. It was beautiful.

LA, I will be back.