And the rest of August went something like this.

Strawberry ice cream flat root beer float.

Both ingredients are remnants of social gatherings I've had here at my bachelorette pad, and there's no decent way to get rid of them... so I've merely deferred to the indecent methods.

Speaking of indecent, hellooooooooooo not updating my blog for a month.

Here, before you read on, click "play" on this song I wrote. Then you can listen and read at once. It'll be magical.

Click here for lyrics and stuff

What happened in that time?

• First paying gig since May! Or so I believe, since I haven't yet received a check. If I don't, I guess I volunteered to play background music for a dinner party. (I guess it's not really in good form to report publicly that I haven't been paid yet, but, that's just the thing... here's a transparent look at how I'm growing from my experiences. /tangent)
  
• Played for the Delaware Friends of Folk coffeehouse. It was their second round of performers for the Delmarva Folk Hero contest. Michael said I should do it, so I did, and I did my darndest and I just didn't make it. Reasons I'm not disappointed: there's a lot of good performers in the area, I can't win everyone over, and I planned and played my absolute best. Anyway, I ran into my fellow FAWMer and songwriter Aaron Nathans, which was kinda cool, and I got a taste of how the open mics are run by the Delaware Friends of Folk. Plus I met a ton of cool folks, which I always try to do wherever I am and it's always a good time. Michael & Erin's duo, the Honey Badgers, were finalists from the first round so they'll be playing at the Delmarva Folk Festival in October. Yay!
  
• Played at Mojo Main's open mic a couple of times, which was snazzy. One night I brought the dulcimer onstage, which was pretty fun. ^^ Oh, my snapshot was also in the local paper... it's not in the online version, but they wrote an article about some of Delaware's open mics, and Mojo Main was featured (of course!). In my own humble estimation - this is one great open mic. I've played/run a few in my time...
  
• I lost all my guitar students. Yep. So. There's that. I know my role as a guitar teacher, and if I've got beginners I generally expect that they will discover more of their musical identity while studying with me; once they know who they are, they might find another teacher or program that fits better, or they might decide that a little bit is enough for now. As long as the decision's what's best for the student and the student's family (and as long as it's not because I stink), I'm a happy teacher.
  
• The timing of it, though, is impeccable... which is to say, I'm not sorry to have a little of my time back to focus on what I'm doing, at least for now. Looking into the fall is like looking into a smoke-filled room. Fragments and bits of opportunity are drifting around and it's hard to say what's going to happen. Some exciting and new stuff's over the horizon, though.
  
• Also I finally joined ReverbNation. Michael told me to do it at the end of July and I told him I'd look into doing it the next week. Better late than never!! I don't know how the rankings work but somehow I shot up to #19 for Newark, which is quite strange.
  

So, yep. Ready for September. The end of summer means fewer hours at work which means greater hours for music!! :)

So this is cool - I'm on a podcast?

Remember that set I said I kinda accidentally played last Thursday at Mojo Main?

Apparently you can listen to it here: GraffitiRadio.com

Normally I really don't enjoy listening to myself, but I'm a minute or two into the first song and... it just sounds like I'm having a great time. Yeah, I'm making mistakes because it's Michael's guitar and I don't normally play steel string and I couldn't adjust the strap because it was too difficult and unfortunately all my guitar-playing friends are giants compared to me and I was getting over a cold so my vox mess up but... FUN!!!

The setlist is comprised of:
5 Stages of Infatuation,
The Horseshoe Crab Song,
"the war song" (no good title),
Automatic Toilet Song,
and Half-Decent (with Shane on drums)
...and COFFAY!

Anyway, the reason you can listen to this recording is because Graffiti Radio set up the show and was broadcasting it live. So I guess when you can do that sort of thing, it makes sense to record what you're broadcasting and put it up as a podcast. Huge big shoutout to Graffiti Radio for letting me go on - you folks are completely awesome!!! And thanks to Michael for being the ninja go-between-suggestion-guy.

If you've got a couple seconds, also listen to the other sets - folks did a great job that night!

Whoosh!

The last four days were a whirlwind. In fact, life from this point on until late August is going to be a complete cyclone.


(from toothpastefordinner.com)

A damselfly just landed next to me! So pretty. I'm outside enjoying my porch. It would be a much nicer porch if I had a couple beers and some friends over. Instead, I'm blogging and eating chocolate. Whatever.

Anyway, enough about domesticity. Back to the adventure! Because, as we all know, there is no adventure in domesticity. Which is something that has rather been affecting me in not a good way. Twice in the last week, I've had to truncate adventures due to my nice domestic lifestyle of having a job and a house to take care of.

RARGH

But anyway. I truly am grateful for what I have. Which is chocolate. And a blog.

OKAY, musics!

Thursday, I grabbed a five-song set at Mojo Main, rather accidentally, by which I mean, I didn't mean to. By which I mean, I showed up to hear the Paper Janes and Battleshy Youths and all of a sudden I'm onstage killing time until Glen shows up to drum for the Janes. Thanks to Michael for sneaking that in, all ninja-like, and for letting me borrer his guitar.

Friday, I show back up at Mojo to much suspicion. "Weren't you here last night??" "Yeah, I stayed overnight and ate something I found on the floor for breakfast." Anyway, that was fun. I like matinees at Mojo Main. This time, there were even some people there! Afterward, I got to scootch down Main Street to hear the Paper Janes play in the dark at Central Perk. ^^ Seriously, more shows should be played during power outages, just sayin'.

Saturday, down to the Dupont Nature Center for Peace, Love, and Horseshoe Crabs 2011. Shane was gracious enough to accompany me on the djembe. (He also helped to put a dent in the buffet table, which I think was much appreciated since they had WAY TOO MUCH!.) I missed the daytime portion of the festivities, but I had an awesome time singin' and playin' and carryin' on at the silent auction/dinner/benefit portion. The assistant superintendent of Lums Pond drafted a team of backup singers & dancers for the Horseshoe Crab song. ^^

Sunday, I actually didn't play anywhere, believe it or not.

Monday was Mojo Main's open mic, again, the best open mic in Newark, DE... I busted out a few songs that I don't ordinarily play. In fact, one I've hardly played at all since I wrote it for FAWM 2010.

And Tuesday was a lovely Palk Basement Show, where Michael and I played a pretty-good rendition of "Peter." I love that song. I really do. I honestly didn't practice at all before we went up. I should consider doing that sometimes. Unfortunately, I had to miss the last band 'cause I was basically a hot mess between feeling miserable in the stomach region, and therefore not having eaten, and then all the other life that was happening and me feeling bad and guilty for things, and I just felt like it would be a better idea for me to go home at that point.


So that's what I've been doing. This is actually my last week of teaching lessons for a month... work is promising to get really rough in the next month, and I'm just taking a little breather so I can focus and do things like... sleep. I do like teaching guitar. I only like teaching under certain circumstances... I've never been enamored with public schools. The idea of bringing homework to grade is so repulsive to me. I'd probably be the best teacher ever, actually.

Work is going just fine. I JUST got the summer concert series ALL booked up as of this week, so I'll start promoting that soon.

I gotta give a shoutout to the community of folks I've got around me right now. There are just a lot of musicians around me with really good spirits. I really am looking forward to seeing what is going to come out of this, 'cause I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

Tetris on Dulcimer

Here's me messing with the mountain dulcimer, playing the Tetris A Theme. I don't think you're supposed to hold the instrument that way, but I wanted to have fun, goshdarnit!

The dulcimer is actually a really beautiful instrument and I enjoy experimenting with it to see what it can do.

---

Last night was Mojo Main with Shane. Here's a video of his performance, which went over really really well:



You can hear someone at the very end yelling "400 BABIES," which I loved. So. Much.

My own set was fantastic! We killed "Half-Decent." I think it was about 76% decent, in fact!!

---

What can you be looking for in the near future from me? Hmm. Mostly I'm expecting to be real busy with work, and to be trying to recuperate from whatever illness is currently inhabiting my trachea, so, I don't know. You'll get a post about Peace, Love, and Horseshoe Crabs, for sure, and then it's hard to say. Sorry in advance for falling off the radar for a little while!

Mojo Main's first Tuesday acoustic matinee

So... I guess I was the groundbreaking act for Mojo Main's acoustic matinees on Tuesdays. A few folks got to hear it, too! Honestly, I'm not being snide... I need more experience in front of a mic. I know it. So I was very happy with how it turned out - really low-pressure for me, I gave a performance I was pleased with, and I had a real bonafide gig. And it started on time. :)

The acoustic matinee idea seems like a great fit for the place. No cover, an hour set for folks to do pretty much whatever they want, and people eating dinner. Win.

Games & Gigs

Real quick, because I should definitely be in bed...

Wednesday, 3/30: Played at Mojo 13, along with the Paper Janes. Luckily a small audience of our friends amassed, thanks to no help from me, goodness gracious... I'm bad at this. How did I ever get to be a performer who didn't like her own performances enough to invite people to see them? Lord help me.

Saturday, 4/2: Played at the Barn's talent show, dressed like I was in the circus, had a ton of fun. I had the chance to play a couple of my family-oriented nature tunes. (They're not exactly suited for a bar crowd, so I'll take whatever opportunity I get.)

Monday, 4/4: David Bessent's videogame, MAwCiMs: Arena, came out on Kongregate. I had the privilege of writing the music for this awesome game.

Also, I played Mojo Main's open mic. Stefan Wolfe came along for the ride, showcasing his mad skillz at total improv. I covered "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz and had the whole place clappin'.

Tuesday, 4/5: I'm playing Mojo Main's very first acoustic matinee. Website says it starts at 7, booking agent says I play at 6, I say I'd better be done by 8 'cause I have other stuff to attend to! (Stupid of me to schedule something on kinship night without a contingency plan for kinship itself, which is hosted in my house. I made the broad assumption that the show would in fact occur at the time that the booking agent said it would. Right now, I doubt significantly that my assumption is correct, but God is good and He'll see me through this little snafu.)

A'course, my buddies The Paper Janes and Battleshy Youths will be playin' at the University of Delaware at the same time, and I would have liked to go see them, but such is life.

Saturday, 4/9: I'm playing Lums Pond State Park's Family Camping Weeekend. Assuming it doesn't get cancelled because of rain or something like that. Because right now, the forecast is rain for a week, no lie.


That plus my music students equals a very very busy two weeks. The honest confession: along with job stress, I'm starting to feel a little worn out. (Have I mentioned I haven't even done my taxes yet?) I'm working hard, playing hard, not sleeping, and not having a lot of feelings of success right now. I used to have said feelings a lot, it's just recently they seem to have up and vanished. It'll get better. I know. God is good. Even when (especially when) you just start to feel "blah."

Mojo Main's Open Mic

Well, heck with taking time to regroup. We went out to the open mic today. I've never minded doing things on my own, many times preferred it -- but dang, it's also just plain nice to wait your turn in good company.



Michael took this one of me playing one of my new FAWM tunes. I returned the favor by getting his performance of David Ford's "State of the Union" (warning: a couple f-bombs dropped)



That looping stuff is pretty crazy. The idea of amplifying myself with a pickup is still pretty much a novelty for me, so stuff like this just seems so beyond me. I was really impressed by the end where he actually ditches the guitar, almost gets the strap caught on his head in the process, unwinds the mic cord from the stand -- all while singing the last verse. Good stuff.

Mojo's open mic is great. All open mics are a smattering of good to bad, but Mojo Main's tends more toward great to decent. It was a good crowd. They reacted well -- the audience at Mojo Main generally does keep at least one of two ears on the stage, which I think is probably not real typical of open mics that happen in bars. Plus Spanky's got my back with calls for "ONE MORE SONG!!" from behind the bar, on some nights. I haven't really tried any of the others in town, but I also haven't heard any of the other musicians even mention other open mics in town. (It is, however, a small town.)

Hoping to play Arden's open mic later this week. I played there in December and I've been tryin' to get back ever since. Arden's a musician's open mic - meaning folks are listening to you with all available ears because it's a community pooling together for community's sake, and art's sake, instead of musicians plus whoever wanted a beer that night. It's not publicized. They have no need for publicity; my impression is that they already have all the talent they'd ever need, and they're being pretty gracious by allowing non-members to slip in on the program. But I think that's just how they roll. I love Arden since that's my contra-stomping grounds, plus it's a beautiful area tucked away near the city and I love the community they have there. Reminds me a little of Takoma Park, MD, which I loved very much, apart from a little countryside nostalgia. Despite Newark being a college town, there's nothing like Arden in the town proper.

At least not yet.

FAWM post #8: EPIC WIN (with Michael Natrin) and Valentine's Day

I just love this. I just love this. I can't say how much I freakin' love this. Yeah sure, it's not perfect and I botched a few things, but hey, who gives a crap when you have SO MUCH WIN.

(Hey, check out the rest of Michael's FAWM songs! They're awesome!)


A few short minutes after I saw this for the first time, I stopped spazzing out and headed over to Mojo Main for another fabulous open mic. I was betting on getting a spot near the beginning on account of it was Valentine's Day. It's probably Newark's best open mic. I don't really say things are great unless they really impress me, so rest assured: IT'S GREAT.

And I was right about getting a spot near the beginning, which was good. I thought to myself, hey, self! You could, like, go home if you wanted, and get some sleep!

And then I didn't leave 'till like 1 AM. I have this notion that being a singer-songwriter is pretty much not conducive to sleeping ever. And I am comfortable with this. Except for when it's 8 AM, at which point I am too busy telling myself what an idiot I am for staying out late again.