2010 Gigs so far... (Warning: Rambling is involved)

Just got back from a trip to L.A. where I played a show w/ Mike Isberto (my collaborator this coming weekend in Kollaboration X at The Shrine! Huzzah!), and also played at the Lunar New Year Festival in Chinatown. It was quite a trip... one that started with rushing straight from LAX to a taping of Kababayan LA for LA 18 tv, and ended with a marathon 5-hour songwriting session with Mike. We had been having a hard time writing our song for Kollaboration X between the miles...FYI iChat has a lag, which doesn't bode well when you're both trying to play guitar and sing together. :-/ So getting together those few hours was really needed. Me and Mike have really had a great time hanging out... even though we were a little bummed we couldn't have our own slots for Kollab (we were told we either had to compete against each other for one slot or perform together), it turned out to be a fun experience and collaboration anyway! :)

This past Friday I had a show at City Grace Church on Sullivan St. in NYC. Me and Jon held it down as a duo, since Dave had a last-minute taping in Budapest... I should probably have mentioned that he's a film guy. :) ha.

Before L.A. (stick with me, here), was a show at Best Buy in Chelsea, that had a pretty solid turn-out. Not to mention, The Kennedys showed up to support! For those of you who don't know, The Kennedys are a NY-based folk duo (husband/wife) that have really been making a name for themselves in the national folk scene. It was pretty awesome that they came out to check out my set!
To help publicize the Best Buy show, I did a really late night (like, 1 am) interview at WHCR 90.3, "Thermal Soundwaves" with Cee Truth and Kevin Lawrence (pictured above).

Prior to that, I had a benefit music/art show for Haiti at someone's apartment in the city. Yes... someone's apartment. :) It was big enough to fit nearly 200 people between a few hours... but it was loud! The crowd volume was a challenge at first, but there was something cool about having a bunch of people gathered on fold-up chairs and sitting on the floor, just listening to the songs despite all the ruckus in the back of the room. It's like you're in on your own secret, and working to put your ear to everything being sung. It ended up being one of the most fun gigs of the year so far.

And before that, I kicked off the year's shows with a band gig at The Stone Pony, as the feature for their open mic. We had a pretty solid performance, I thought. We're hoping to play there again soon...

... wow, that might have been confusing, me going backwards, eh? Woops. Haha... for whatever reason, my head's in a jumble and I'm barely in blog-writing gear. So, forgive me for this random rambling.

I know it's almost March and I haven't blogged properly about what's been going on with music this year. It's not even that things have been especially busy (cuz they're pretty much as they usually are, haha). But I'll try my best to do a better job at it! Hoozah!

That whole Taylor Swift debacle

So by now I'm sure you've ALL heard about that whole Taylor Swift pitch issue, when she was onstage with musical great Stevie Nicks and basically botched her song as well as Stevie's classic song. I didn't watch the Grammys, but my voice teacher convinced me to YouTube the performance (he seems to think it's a conspiracy, TS winning 4 awards despite barely being able to carry a tune).

Anyway, I'm not here to Taylor-hate. She's actually a fascinating character, and her winning big at the awards, coupled with the few performances I've seen of hers (all of which, I'm sad to say, were less than stellar) has me mulling over what the hype around her is all about. She may have played her "damsel in distress" card a few too many times, with the whole Kanye thing, the jilted-lover lyrics in all her songs, and now people coming to her defense about the whole Grammy incident...but... people are still going to buy her records, and be astounded that she writes her own songs (even though Lady Gaga does too, and - even if I don't always like her - she can actually carry a tune...not to mention, if you're looking for a 20-year-old who writes her own phenomenal songs, try Laura Marling instead!), and come to her defense after every painful performance. And I think it's simply because she captures our imagination.

Live performer, she is not. And I am in the camp that believes those rewarded with a Grammy should be real performers - in the studio and onstage - but, I'll admit, she strategizes her pop persona well. I don't particularly think she's very sincere onstage (she was still outshone by a motionless Stevie Nicks, in my opinion, even with as much flair and big hand motions she put into her presence), the signs of insecurity with her voice are all there... but her songs are about love, heartbreak, pining for the football captain - all things that a certain demographic can totally get with. Put that together with super-polished music videos that present her as the dolled-up damsel-in-distress, or the pained high school geek; make the viewers see themselves in the character she plays and voila...it's a formula for longevity, at least in the fickle teen market.

It definitely helps that she looks a certain way. I'm sad to say that her big win shows just how far a pretty face will really get you. Lady Gaga, who I don't think is very pretty but have more musical respect for, definitely deserved Album of the Year, considering all the hits she had out of that CD. But alas, this is why the Grammys has lost so much credibility with other musicians in recent years.

Moment of peace

Hey you guys!
Geez, I really need to blog more often, don't I? It's been busy, but no - that is no excuse!
What have I been doing? Well, after playing the release show, me, Laura and the guys had our final gig of 2009 cancelled due to snow. So, I pranced off to Europe to let off some steam for New Year's, then came back feeling very refreshed! So far I had a show at The Stone Pony with the band - what a kick-ass venue! And then at a house show benefit for Haiti, an event that was really inspiring and successful too! Organized by the lovely Cate Song (www.catesong.com).

Anyway, one of my goals for 2010 has been to get better on my cover song game. Full disclosure: I have never been a big cover-song person, mainly because the whole reason I started songwriting was because I never felt like I was all that great at sounding like other people. So, yes, this whole songwriting thing came out of an insecurity! And it's taken me much further than I thought it would, but now it's time to be gutsy and face those fears. So, if I stick to my guns (and I hope you guys will keep me encouraged even if I wimp out) ... I should have more cover songs up. Right now I have that Grammy blitzkrieg Taylor Swift's "Love Story" stuck in my head . . . HINT.

To the friends I met at Carnegie Mellon - thank you SO much for your comments on this blog, and I am extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to meet and speak to all of you. I'm thrilled that my speech helped you feel a little bit more inspired. I hope you continue to follow all your dreams, and not let anything get in your way. I'm working on your song... it's almost finished, but still needs to be polished. The words written in your index cards have blown me away... I never imagined such a simple project would move me so much. Stay tuned, I'll be e-mailing y'all soon. :)



Much love,

A