Remember how we had to do that promo video for Kollaboration NY? You know, this one? So I have the wonderful opportunity to be able to re-live the Kollaboration experience again, this time with the folks orga
nizing Kollaboration Acoustic 3 in L.A. at the end of August. Of course, the promo video is needed and sin
ce I'm all the way out here, it's posed a little bit of a challenge for me. After helping the gang record an acoustic version of MJ's "Heal the World" (I played some keys and sang a few lines), I had to videotape my part and have it sent over to their side of the country. Yeah, not an easy task?
Thanks to the help of Dave Shaw and his cameraman Mike, we managed to get a few shots in order. A few were interesting (see below, from my sister's sneaky Blackberry camera)...and there were some pretty views of NYC from the Western side of the river:
So, if there was any doubt that this would turn out to be a gig-crazy August, I've just been informed that my performance at the NY Songwriter's Circle is confirmed for August 4th. The musical madness continues!
:) All kidding aside, I'm glad that August will be full-swing of gigs! It'll be back to that onstage rush, at least for the month. Will you come and join?
Copies of the album will be available, if you haven't already picked it up from iTunes or Amazon... or all those other digital distributors. Thanks for supporting independent music!
*UPDATE*: Hey guys! There's less than 2 DAYS left in the competition! I'm currently at #19 and I could use all the help I can get staying in the Top 20! Please sign up and listen to the songs while you can! More details below. :)
Hey Friends!
I've entered my song, "Home To Me" into OurStage.com's JetBlue Live at T5 competition! The Top 20 Artists chosen will have a chance to duke it out for a spot on Terminal 5's stage.
This would be, as you can imagine, SUCH an amazing stage to play on. Please visit http://www.ourstage.com/contests/3140-jetblue---live-from-t5 and log in (it's free.99) to vote! Here's the catch, though: You won't be able to vote for one particular song. You have to rank the songs they give you, four at a time. There are over 400 songs submitted and mine is currently #23. I'll need to stay in the Top 20 by the time the competition is over in two weeks in order to have a shot at playing Terminal 5. So, after you log in, click "Judge" on the top panel and then enter the JetBlue Live at T5 competition. When "Home to Me" gets onto your player, please rank it #1, so the ranking can go up on the song!
It's a great way to kill idle time while at work and hear some great new music in the process. Please note that all songs are required to be acoustic and not have drums on the track.
Thanks so much for reading this far, and for your help!
It's been a long time coming, but a friend had long requested this song be posted along with the full version of the story and the lyrics. I guess I've recounted this many times at shows, but I will say it here. Isabelle was my "grand-mere" when I lived in Switzerland for a time. She was a widow who had loved her husband very much, and bided her time living the simple (but sweet) Swiss life...tending her garden, cooking, keeping house. In many ways I felt that I was her preoccupation, to make life a little more fulfilling. She truly was a grand-mere - she made sure I had everything I needed for long trips, she made breakfast every day and even put together dinner parties for my friends (one for Thanksgiving, too, which they don't even celebrate), she taught me French and took great pains to help me perfect the language after dinner every night, she drove me to places every once in a while, and if I didn't tell her where I would be, she would sometimes get frustrated with me. She took me to art museums and theatre events with friends, sometimes even driving hours to get to an exhibit - Basel, Lausanne, Geneva.
Sometimes I would catch her staring out of her window, over the vineyards and towards the Jura mountains, stroking her one-eyed cat Pepette's fur while nursing a cup of mint thesan that rested on the coffee table. I knew in these moments that she was missing her husband. And even though her children sometimes visited and she had adorable grandkids, she didn't feel complete without him.
Anyway, that whole story is part of the inspiration for this song. I tried to capture that melancholic sentimentality and that feeling that life had somehow passed someone by, though not necessarily in a negative light... but just that this is how life is many times, and that it's wasn't easy for me to feel connected to her life because of my age and because I haven't been through much of what she had. Somehow, I guess, writing this song was a cathartic way to try and make up for that disconnect.
"Isabelle" (by Alfa Garcia. Copyright 2008.)
Isabelle waits by the window, her eyes meet the sky in the afternoon glow.
She sees the sun even before it comes when the mountains give it away.
Down past the street is a church and a vineyard
when she was a child she'd run through.
Now she sits still while I play on piano
the sun no longer moves.
Isabelle, tell me again.
Oh, I remember your stories so well.
How could I ever know?
For you the world lives on in echos.
Often I'd find her asleep in the garden
the one-eyed cat slept by her feet.
And in a moment she'd rise and the old woman watched
The sun took my hair, she'd say
"Colors are what make a girl, and this world is so fragile so hold on for life.
You have the heart of a child." And I understood then that she was mine.
Isabelle, tell me again.
Oh, I remember your stories so well.
How could I ever know?
For you the world lives on in echos.
Here where the sun meets the sky
I can hear your lullabye...
"Cherie, toujours je t'aime. Pourquoi il n'y a rien de toi?
Je reste toute seule
La nuit et l'aube
c'est moi sans autre... jusqu'a la fin du monde..."
June came and went, and there were 8 days of sun and many days of rain... it was a challenging month for me, as I settled back after a week of West Coast freedom and realized that the gap between work life (aka the Day Job) and music life (aka the Better Job) is really a gaping hole waiting for internal combustion.
I had the chance to speak with an old friend and somewhat successful songwriter/performer last week over dinner at the Stage Door Diner in midtown. He told me what I have increasingly come to feel, but of which I am still admittedly afraid. All that's left for me to do, he said, is take that leap. Do music full-time, or at least, make it the dominant part of every day. It's been on my mind ever since and I've gotten the opinions of a few folks. Everyone's been supportive. I guess the doubt really comes down to just me.
It isn't easy coming from the background, family and experiences I come from and just let go. I know they're no excuses. But it's like the "principle of wing-walking" that my IR professor used to bring up in class (as I recall, he gave me the lowest grade I ever got on a final in college). If, ever, you were to find yourself on the wing of an airplane, maybe you could tell me if this one's accurate. . . but it goes to say that the "principle of wing-walking" is the reason why people don't change course immediately; why they are afraid to make the next step and would rather stand still, where it feels remotely secure. The funny thing is, if you're walking on an airplane wing, you're not secure at all, are you? :)
The good news is, I'm starting to pick up my guitar and just play again...so maybe those creative juices are coming back after a year. The bad news is my voice has never been 100% since I got back... so I'm up against a challenge on this one.
