art-musings

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2010-08-26T16:07:00.001-07:00

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new video from WomensRadio featuring artemis remix from Orbits

2010-02-26T10:18:00.000-08:00

new video describing the great community building and services for women provided by WomensRadio.com - music is from the Artemis Orbits album: Charming Gun - The Charmed Mix by Eric Hawk and Bo Blount :)

Rehearsal #1

2010-02-25T03:24:00.000-08:00

hip hip hooray, we're officially making noise...getting ready for the CD release party at Harlot on March 25 with RTFM Records, Groovera and WomensRadio - as well as our show at Swig on April 1 with Below Zero Beats...happy hours are so nice, we prefer to throw them twice...

so...tonite we had our first real rehearsal of 2010 - woo hoo! in the past, we've used Logic during our live shows...we're in the process of moving over to Ableton Live which gives us soooooo much more flexibility with each song - we can loop & effect sections, stretch out and generally amuse ourselves much more thoroughly within this new paradigm...

also terribly exciting is the fact that we have a new band member, Daniel Durrett, on Live & KP3 looping + fx. Daniel is also a solo artist and i'm sure you've heard the RTFM gang tooting our horns about his gorgeous new release 'Hello, Inner Sunset'. and of course, it wouldn't be a proper party without our trusty wunderkind Daniel Berkman...he's still hovering a few inches above the ground with his plethora of toys - well, actually, he's currently experimenting with pretending he is just a guitarist. we're quite happy to have him play whatever he pleases, frankly. anyhoo, D squared & myself had a fabulous time dipping our toes in the pond together for the first time tonite. lovely chemistry and lots of snickering & giggles, and of course endless hugs from the wonderful fuzzmeistress Nala.

here are a couple video samples, straight from the living room on Cole and Haight...

just getting warmed up with a little improv:

(Daniel D was clever enough to record a live stereo mix...here's an mp3 just for you)

and a sneak peak at the curly tail-end of Auralei:

onward and upward, my friends...

birthdays n bliss

2010-02-17T02:06:00.000-08:00

happy belated valentines day! and happy belated birthday to the Auralei EP! as you may have noticed, it's been a bit of a prolonged birth process...she's been up on the bandcamp site for a couple weeks now (though you'll notice we've now switched the artwork to the lovely version created by AM Radio, which we've used for the first run of physical CDs)... she went live on iTunes and Amazon on the 14th as scheduled... but she's not yet available at CD Baby because there's been a series of small delays with getting the CDs pressed and shipped. but joy of joys, i've just learned they'll be arriving tomorrow! so very soon, this little journey through the birth canal will be complete. we'll be sure to let you know when the tangible little cuties will be available - we'll also be offering them through the Bandcamp site...we're whipping up a variety of packages to offer, so please chime in by commenting below if there are goodies you'd like to see. our brilliant creative minds have so far come up with...um...t-shirts :) - maybe some with the AM Radio design, and some with Keith Crusher's design...i have a couple other nifty ideas i'll spring on you in a bit. for now, we may be limited to things that can be created on-demand due to our teeny-weeny-microscopic budget...but we're voting this will change very soon...

speaking of spare change, we're also getting creative about how to fund the fund-hungry aspects of finishing the full-length album Body of Glass, and have been recently turned on to the magic of Kickstarter for helping indie artists of all stripes gather the resources to realize their visions...it's a really neat concept and platform. the trick is, right now the ability to start projects is by invite only...so, if anyone has an invite lying around gathering dust, we'd be most grateful to put it to good use!

fun happenings lately...airplay in Austria and Bremen, Germany this week, and featured as the breakthrough artist of the week on Below Zero Beats...also a nice feature in Kimberly Wilson's podcast, Tranquility du Jour. that was a lovely surprise - her blog is one of my faves...of course, there's also the launch of the brand spanky new Groovera site...which is gorgeous if i do say so myself...congrats Groovera!!

also caught an awesome performance by Return to Mono and special guest Divasonic at a super-secret-warehouse party in San Francisco over the weekend...RTM played mostly stuff from their new album, and boy is it tasty!!

another treat is the new single Divasonic and i have been tinkering away on together...grrrl power!! having so much fun...can't wait to give you a peek, but she'll have to simmer just a bit longer...

oh yes...i meant to share some bliss. for valentines day, i made what has been lovingly dubbed Paradise Pie. it's based on a recipe i used to make years ago, with a couple new twists... i thought i'd share the recipe with you, it's a wonderful tofu-based "cheesecake" - believe me, if Keith likes it and it's made from tofu, you can be pretty sure it's well-disguised tofu!!

but first, the tempting visual representation:

Paradise Pie:

Candied rose petals (this part takes the longest! maybe took me 1.5 hours...but would probably be quicker if you used normal sized roses rather than the mini ones that grow in my garden):

2 large egg whites
1/2 c sugar
petals from 2 organic roses

whisk egg whites in a small bowl till foamy. with a pastry brush, paint both sides of each petal with egg whites, sprinkle both sides with sugar. dry on nonstick rack (i used wax paper) at least 6 hrs or overnight.

The crust:

1.5 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c hazelnut oil (or almond or some other yummy nut)
1 tbsp sugar (optional)

it's your basic graham cracker crust - mix all ingredients well, press into a 9" 2pie plate.

The pie:

3 c tofu (i used silken)
juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tbsp)
1 tbsp rose water
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses (can be bought at an international or Indian/Middle Eastern grocery)*
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c hazelnut oil (or almond etc)
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp whole cardamom seeds (removed from about 5 green cardamom pods)
pinch of salt
a few pistachios

*if you can't find pomegranate molasses, you can use 4 tbsp of lemon juice instead of 2 tbsp, and a full cup of sugar instead of 3/4 c...

put everything (except the pistachios) in a blender and mix till creamy smooth - can add extra liquid at end if needed to make tofu smooth. pour into pie crust and bake at 325 F until set in the middle. cool to room temp and then refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. top with rose petals and raw unsalted pistachios.

enjoy the bliss!!

p.s. we had our pie with a bottle of Francis Coppola Diamond Claret...it was yummy. i'm no wine expert so perhaps some will snicker at my wine choice, but hey, i just trust my taste buds :)

p.p.s the little squares in the picture are the beads that Keith made for me, which will eventually become a bracelet...they're little picture frames with images from the film Blood of a Poet by Jean Cocteau...one of my all time faves...

p.p.p.s more exciting news about CD release party and other live show dates in the next day or two...but first...off to dream i wander...

rabbit rabbit

2010-02-01T03:56:00.000-08:00

this image is by Android Jones - i'm utterly awed and inspired by his stunning and shamanic digital art...

happy february! lots of excitement this last couple weeks...we won first place / top score at the latest Test Press listening event at Pyramind for Colfax's remix of Here and Now, off the new Auralei EP (which is still available at a discounted price through Feburary 1st at the bandcamp site - that's today!)...we were surprised and thrilled, to say the least. the panel judges, Kat 010, jaswho and Spesh, were fabulous and gave really thoughtful and constructive feedback on everyone's tracks - and there was tons of really fantastic, well-produced music - not a bad track in the house. there's something great going on lately in the San Francisco music scene...feels like kind of a magical time to be romping around these parts...

we're busybees getting ready to throw a little listening party / CD release event for the Auralei EP plus the new releases from Colfax and Daniel Durrett - Tape and Hello, Inner Sunset are my two current favorite albums and seem to have become the regular Sunday morning ritual at the RTFM Records homefront...usually there are also copious pancakes, eggs, coffee and much bouncing round the room involved...like this morning, for example...

so i'm curious and would love your thoughts - what kind of celebration should we have? would a simple listening party/happy hour type event inspire you to put on your fancy knickers and come bump elbows and iPhones with a room full of giddy musicians? or is a live performance what you really crave? it might take us a little longer to put a full show on, as we're all making the hodge-podgy transitions from writing and producing new albums to realizing them in the live performance setting...or perhaps there's a middle way - a mostly-listening event with a few (maybe 2-4) songs from each of us...so there's lots of time to say hello as well as do a little toe-tapping, pad-scratching and knob-twiddling...what do you think? would love to hear your comments below...

the Auralei EP release date is 14 Feb...we're just now getting the physical CDs ordered - how many little glitches can pop up between getting finished artwork ready and actually being able to place an order? apparently nearly two weeks worth...but never fear, those little puppies will be in our hands in a flash...

on to other exciting news...Divasonic and i have just a couple aerial tissu classes left before the end of the series. it's totally addictive though, so i'm sure we'll be back for more mindbending lessons in how to tie oneself up in knots and swing from the ceiling. we're also working on a track together (loving it!!) which will be featured on the upcoming full-length album Body of Glass. also had a great music exploration / dive down the rabbit hole day with Daniel Durrett this weekend...started writing a new ditty inspired by an old radio he's modified to make some pretty awesome sounds...started layering those with lots of vocals, some acoustic guitar and beats...came up with a sweet little music bed - we'll see what blossoms out of that one!

marcelle_hi will be playing artemis music today at 2pm and 9pm eastern time on her tweetcast - what a creative way she's come up with to share new music via twitter...speaking of which, i just became a dj on blip.fm - you can hear what's floating thru my ears there or by following me on twitter...

also, was tickled this week to reconnect with our friend Tracey Moberly at the Foundry in London, which was one of our favorite venues on UK tour in 2005 - we were also guests on their Late Late Breakfast Show - (if you weren't tuned in five years ago, you can relive the memories, including the unforgettable Wormlady here). Tracey is working hard to save the Foundry, which is scheduled to be torn down and replaced by a giant gold hotel - the travesty!! - and also has been doing much work to support the arts and community in Port-au-Prince Haiti over the last several years. she returned from her most recent trip just prior to the tragic earthquake, and has set up a Foundry Haiti Fund to support relief efforts...she and Kirsty Hawkshaw are also putting together a compilation CD to raise funds for Haiti...more info on that soon!

oh, and i recently joined the gang at Women's Radio Music Review, which is the music review section of Women's Radio - this is a wonderful bunch of folks doing great things for women in music, art, and all walks of life...

ok, pillow calling...

p.s. - join my fanpage on facebook for late-breaking updates and random thoughts....

has it really been a year?

2010-01-28T01:26:00.000-08:00

wow...here i am thinking i am talking to you all the time, but apparently it's all in my mind. it's not that i have nothing to say...i have a million things to tell you and ask you and i'm never sure where to dive in. how about here. the new Auralei EP is finished...the music is finished and polished and mastered to a lovely sparkle. the official release date is 14 february, but if you are clever enough to be reading this little ditty, you will have discovered you can find it already on our bandcamp page....for a discounted price until the end of January. the artwork that is currently there was meant as a temporary sketch, and will soon be replaced by a lovely design conjured up by our deeply talented friend AM Radio - if you've never visited Second Life, meeting him is reason enough to venture into the unknown...

of course, the "temporary" artwork for Auralei, which was whipped up by our very own everyday hero Keith Crusher, is a gem itself...we're quite tempted to do CD runs of both versions of the artwork just for kicks, but may have to wait till the tooth fairy drops by to double our budget (if you happen to bump into her, tell her she can find us here)...in any case, we'll put both versions to good use...

which reminds me...i'm curious - what kind of goodies do you like to scoop up from your favorite artists? do you like vinyl? a spiffy one-of-a-kind art print you can frame and put on your wall? a lovely pillow you can fluff up for your boudoir? i was thinking - the image of Auralei comes from a piece of fabric my grandmother gave me which was given to her when she was young. the fabric has panels with different lovely ladies printed on each one, and i was thinking of using one or two of the Auralei panels to create handmade pillows...i might have to be coaxed into parting with them, but i've always wanted to do something with this beautiful fabric rather than it being tucked away in a hope chest for eternity... there are all sorts of little treasures i'd like to conjure up and offer...but i also like to know what you like. hmmm?

also, if you are listening to our music and get a creative bee in your bonnet, don't be shy...let us know what you've been inspired to cook up, and we'll put it on our fan page...photos, videos, drawings, cookies...as an old friend liked to say - the world's the limit, the sky is your oyster...

well...the land of nod is calling...i spent the afternoon with keith at Muir beach, doing another round of shooting for the 'Ella' video, which is being expertly crafted by singer/songwriter/artist extraordinaire Nicky Cairney...a little promo clip of this hand-drawn animated treat can be found here, there and everywhere...anyway, it's funny how a day by the sea is both energizing and sleep-inducing...not sure if it's all those negative ions, or the multiple rounds of falling into the sand (no i've no stunt double)...i haven't fallen that many times in one afternoon on purpose since i played Luisa in the Fantasticks in high school.

so much more to say...so many goodies on the grill...but for now...

here is Keith's Auralei design (we'll save AM's until birthday time):

nite nite...

SEVEN - upheaval

2009-01-12T11:00:00.001-08:00

in the narrow hallway
talking to julian lennon
about how his father's songs moved so many
sister calls me to the bath
it is overflowing
tiles are breaking
room begins to tremble
waves get stronger
until the house is nearly
jumping up and down
mother is there
panic in her eyes
tell her to take long deep breaths
and my highschool best friend
we're holding onto walls
but the waves only get stronger
until finally the house begins to fall
over and over
wall becomes ceiling
ceiling becomes floor
structure collapsing
we're all trying
to fall gracefully
not be crushed
i catch mother
help her fall onto a soft mattress
finally the motion subsides
can't go upstairs
stairs are upside down
i'll be a good scout
try a window
make an escape
we've landed in the neighbor's garden
their house didn't move at all
i wonder how
our lights are still on

SIX - the things you do for me

2009-01-11T01:23:00.000-08:00

my apartment is small and dusty
but you are filling it with color
and light
"see how fast i've unpacked for you?"
you smile proudly
reds and pinks and oranges
dozens of pretty hanging mobiles
twinkles and chimes
so many in this tiny space
i bump into them as i walk
we'll move some toward the edges
clear a path
maybe
but for now
you press me up against the wall
and kiss me
not the fleeting teasing kind
to keep me waiting
a real kiss
sweet and deep
full of color and light

on the other side of my front door
is a bar full of rusty cowboys
singing folksongs

now i am on a hill
a man is strangling me with a rope
i breathe so shallow to make him think
but an hour passes before he believes
i am dead
waking up
takes fifteen minutes
before i catch my breath

FIVE - the faster you crash the less it hurts

2009-01-11T00:54:00.001-08:00

roulettes and parlor games
everyone is winning
you went ahead to the party
i stayed behind to paint my face
even though it's only afternoon
i left the door open just a crack
thieves came in
i chased them back with my
double blade crescent knife
but it's not enough
they're in again
greedy
taking all of everything
not just what they need
one is pouring wine into glasses in a cardboard box
so i give him the bottle
earlier
mother and i are flying
hanging on to a flying cane
she is behind me
but also in front
and by my side
we go through walls
not by magic but crashing
the faster you crash the less it hurts
and there are many walls
she is not used to this height
this speed
i tell her to hold on tight with her hands
but relax her shoulders
focus on the green of trees
and brightly colored houses
far below

FOUR - coming down

2009-01-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

falling and falling and falling
faster and faster as i drop
makes me dizzy
i hold my pillow close
if i rip it open
would it be a good parachute?
no time
ground speeding closer
but there is water
if my aim is true
it will break my fall
brilliant blue
just a stream now
once a lake
grandmother's cottage was here
mother spent her childhood summers
laughing in this sunshine
i splash down
current is fast
i can barely swim against
find the side
sink my fingers into rich brown dirt
pull myself up to the grass
naked now
a man stands on the other shore
blushing to see me
i search for the perfect green dress
there are so many here
scattered among flowers

three - 1890 vs ?

2008-12-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

feathers and powder and lipstick
dresses
primping and preening
like a peacock for the camera
hundreds of dusky photos
always the same sweet
half-smile
i am a good girl
i am not normally like this
but i am so hungry
for love
kisses and a/c
fizzy cold remedies
just lie quietly
don't worry
i won't give you too many
all at once
i know how your heart can be
piles of drawings
are these my aunt's?
is grandmother here?
luxurious wealthy
can afford to be slovenly
making things hard to find

i just want to trace the lines

whisked away by a winter wonderland

2008-12-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

well i've been remiss in my dream poetry posting these last two days...but i have an exceedingly good excuse. my car got kidnapped and buried by a blizzard atop a mountain where i was visiting my friends ruth and paul...and the power went out...and i didn't get any sleep anyway so i have been a bit dream deprived. but not SNOW deprived. what gorgeousness! if one is going to get stuck on a mountain, it might as well be decorated with the lost frocks of ten gazillion snow fairies. and i must say, a nice long hike through the snow in the woods up the ridge does a body good...

TWO - impressionism

2008-12-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

(photo by kcrusher)

phone keeps ringing
i keep slipping
sliding
falling out of bed
so i know i am not awake

cats running crazy
kali climbing curtains
puck leaping gleeful across the lawn
i scold him merrily
for staying away so long

someone made a mess in the kitchen
blender won't work
i turn it on
and tv goes from
black and white
to color

now i am in school
office ladies
clucking and chattering
snickering at me
for getting what i want
by being sweet

blond tim
my junior high crush
puts his arm round my shoulder
walks with me
'a little older?'
he asks
'a little colder'
i reply

under his other arm
a potted bush
long stem white roses
he bends one flower to my face
i breathe it in
no scent
he says
the cool soft petals
make most exquisite paintbrushes

108 dreams

2008-12-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

(this is the bird on my toe in the artwork on the cover of gravity...)

i am really loving the 108 nights 108 dreams experiment. so much so that i think i will also post my own contributions here as well...

the first poem i submitted yesterday:

ONE - bird heart

cowboy biochemistry professor
teaches a renegade class
on how to fly
glasses of wine
videos of clouds and sky
playing over and over
till we are immersed
i practice
with one foot anchored
so not to fall
finally
i let go
and i fall

and fall

until i remember
that tiny feeling in my chest
which with softest focus
i expand

and expand

till it keeps me afloat

i wonder if this is why birds' bodies
are all heart

a new world

2008-12-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

i seem to be about as consistent with blogging as with almost everything else in my life...except...well...hmmm. music??? i do crave more consistency even there, but i do keep going...even if slowly at times. when it's the "slowly" part, i try to remember that quote i heard from one of the great jazz men, which one exactly escapes my steel sieve mind at the moment (maybe Charlie Parker?), but he said (probably in completely different words) that sometimes we must set music down and go live life, because if we're not living life, what have we got to write about? well my heart and mind are full to reeling these days, so believe me, i'm writing plenty. i'm currently on song number ELEVEN (!!!) for the new album...maybe even twelve...and yes i'm counting a couple that are mostly complete in my head but i haven't actually sung them into the microphone yet...

i did a workbook called the Artist's Way several times many years ago, and it really changed my creative life...one thing i remember from it (other than bookshelves full of 'morning pages') is that we have to remember to 'fill the well' - like our creative ideas are like fish in a pond, and we've got to keep feeding the fish and stocking the pond...well, one thing that stocks my pond is...um...fish...i LOVE them. betta fish especially. i've been keeping them for so many years now i lose count. one betta in my personal long lineage who stands out for having the longest life is Gurgi...he lived for five years, which from what i understand is quite unreasonable for a betta! wish i could find a pic to post...but my current bettas are Monet, (seen above, and named by my friend Ana) and the latest addition to my little family, Pinky. i may have to get another betta and name him The Brain. here's Pinky in his new biorb world:

i'm totally in love...and finding ridiculous excuses to spend more time in the bathroom, which is his new kingdom...hmmm...may be time for another bath...

oh, i'm really excited also about a creative experiment my dear brilliant acupuncturist artist friend jena has begun, called 108 Nights 108 Dreams - the participants write down dreams as poems and post them...108 of them. as they come. i wrote down my first one this morning. i love this brilliant little experiment. a lot of my musical inspiration comes from dreams, and i've been lazy about mining them for jewels lately...this is a great excuse to un-lazy-fy myself...and the poems that have been posted so far are beautiful...

lately, instead of worrying about all the things that slip through my fingers, i am trying to amuse myself by watching the pretty patterns they make as they fall...

anand

2008-07-13T02:38:00.001-07:00

anand is the hindu word for bliss…simple happiness that can’t be bought or borrowed, but simply comes when one is quiet enough to notice it softly creep in…that’s a good description of what i feel here in india. only two more days till this chapter of the adventure closes and the next begins…can’t believe how the time has flown by. it’s hard to put into words what i’ve found here. a hint of a glimpse of my mind wrapping itself around a perspective, a way of living so radically different from my own, and yet so familiar it’s like stumbling upon a favorite old pair of shoes i never knew i had…as comfortable as if i’d worn them every day of my life, but startling me with colors and textures i didn’t know existed before now. or, simply, anand. i think my favorite part of my first sojourn to this magical place is the new musical journey i’ve embarked upon since i arrived. i didn’t even know i was looking for it. but here it is, dancing before my eyes and enticing me to dive deeper. it’s like something in this place scans your soul the moment you arrive, and before you know it you are being showered with precisely the gifts meant for you. but that seems to be the way of things when you are on the right path…

mystical mysore

2008-07-02T02:01:00.001-07:00

well, my partner in crime, my soul sister and world traveling yoga buddy lynn hodgins has just left mysore to return home to ireland and her baby girl sienna..i’m sad to see her go, but very happy that i got to romp around with her for two whole weeks! and i get to spend two more weeks in this magical place. mysore is an amazing place to meet lovely people from all over the planet. after two weeks, i feel like i am just settling into the rhythm of life here…it would be very easy to stay here for a few months! one month is barely enough to scratch the surface of india, but then i knew that when i made my plans…i will surely be back again, and probably sooner than i imagine. today i had my first bansuri lesson, with Ravi Shankar Mishra. my new friends Laura and Karen invited me along to their lesson, and what a treat and an honor! Ravi is an enormously talented musician, and it was such a pleasure to meet him and his beautiful family. i look forward to getting in as many lessons as i can before i leave…as with yoga, time spent practicing with the teacher is precious…so much inspiration, this place! i’m drinking it in…even a little dose of india is a feast for the soul…

mother india

2008-07-02T01:38:00.000-07:00

have been in mysore a few days now…getting used to the upside down time and used to all the new sounds and smells and sights…somehow this place feels like home, and not at all as shocking as i expected. i think mysore is a very gentle introduction to India – indeed there is chaos and smoggy rickshaws and cows passing you on the sidewalks as well as sharing the road…and i saw a mother pig and her posse of piglets barreling down the street at full squeal this morning as i sat outside the vedic astrologer’s home reading yoga mala counting butterflies and recording insane bird songs interspersed with chainsaws and car horns…but still, the unlikely chorus is sweet music to my hungry ears. mysore is an amazing place to make fifty new friends from twelve corners of the earth in the space of as many minutes. everyone here, foreigners and locals alike, are so lovely and friendly and welcoming. not at all the intense overwhelm i was preparing myself for… i find this place feels very much like home. and yoga…what is there to say? it’s why i’m here!

blissed out in bangkok….or…long live the king?

2008-06-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

the first impression i had upon reaching the bangkok airport…other than, wow, these folks know the right architects to hire to build a stunning port of entry…was the feeling that i had just entered an ancient dream. not that having traveled 22 hours and having reached the stage of sleep deprivation where one’s mind begins having random conversations with itself and the ability to discriminate between coherent thought and its obtusely tangential meanderings becomes sufficiently disintegrated as to cuisinart the two into a confusingly lovely blur has anything to do with it…but it did feel like a hearty few of the trillions of atoms that have been traipsing about the biosphere for untold millennia, hitchhiking from body to body to eventually catch a lift with my own, woke up in bangkok and recognized a place that seemed very much like what must have been home around six thousand years ago, give or take a few hundred lifetimes…of course this feeling was reinforced by the landscape i drank up on the way into the city itself…decrepit shacks and smatterings of neighborhoods possibly constructed solely of garbage, intermingled with beautiful old temples and brightly painted houses and a voracious swampy jungle of vines and flowers poised to at any moment swallow up the whole delicious mess. and as we slowly approach the heart of bangkok, the chaos gently crescendos into a full cacophony of jumbled sounds and smells and colors and disjointed dancing fragments of memories…it’s a mild assault on the senses, but probably just an echo of what will greet me full frontal in india. in any case, i love it. i live to travel, and every time i do, i remember why.

maid in taiwan

2008-06-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

well i've begun my adventure to the far east and beyond...guess it's more like around the world in 69 days...anyway for now i am delirious and dreamy eyed and sleep deprived in taipei and enjoying the lovely strange dr. seuss trees that seem to be a shade of green i've never seen...i even saw an airplane with three hello kitty smiling faces painted on the side...maybe i should be staying here for more than three hours!

next stop: bangkok!

speaking of good chemistry...

2007-09-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

i think my brain must have come preloaded with the organic chemistry program. it's odd how much i dig this stuff...like diving down a crazy rabbithole to the center of the universe to watch how it's all colliding and vibrating and wiggling about....and it really is! well it's a good thing anyway that i am seeming to have a knack for this stuff, cause it looks like i've signed myself up for much more in the months to come. when i think to myself, what is an artist doing turning herself into a scientist??? i remember what my friend berangere said - "Being an artist is a state of mind, and I think that true artists are very curious people, which makes it more likely that they will investigate the world in all kinds of different ways....Being curious (especially the feminine curiosity) is a great quality but as in many creation myths of the world it can lead the protagonist and the world astray. It is also important to have a plan and be focused." very true. she's a smart and very interesting cookie, that one.

anyway, for now, finals are OVER!! and i'm now faced with important, life-altering decisions like, do i go for a swim now or later? eat that yummy piece of la bete noir chocolate cake before dinner or after? watch princess mononoke or start reading the golden compass again...(oh my goodness i am so excited they're turning it into a movie!!)...whatever shall i DO?? go see some music at my favorite new cafe delta of venus? i'd love to play a show there actually...i mean, who wouldn't want to play a venue with a name like delta of venus?? i met my new friend maggie there today, she's a peach. she's been here little more than a week and has already planted her garden...gotta admire that.

well, it's off to a thousand and one slacker lack-of-activities with me...i'm sure this phase won't last more than a couple minutes...i can't seem to sit still for long...gotta make things happen...tinker with reality...but for now, rest and dream...

september spring?

2007-09-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

i'm gonna burst i'm so happy. just wrote a new song to a track from my dear friend mijo. hypno started with a track from mijo too...this song gets me right to the core, just like hypno. gooooooood chemistry. so funny for new life to spring forth just as the leaves start to fall...but that happens all the time...guess that's when i dropped in meself! anyway the track is called september, or loving eyes, and i can't wait to get it recorded. i think i've sung it like a million times today. making it very challenging to be a good little study bug preparing for finals. finals shminals i've got a new song!! gosh that feeling just can't be beat. like when you hear a song for the first time and you totally fall in love with it so you listen to it nonstop for a week....well i suppose it's exactly that. but even more mindbending because somehow it flowed in through you. what a lovely gift. school is still wonderful stimulation of a totally different sort...i think it's really good to get the ol' noggin firing on all cylinders. speaking of which, i have a new car (well new to me)...thanks to my star of an uncle...instead of replacing a fence he grabbed this candy apple red 1989 honda prelude, sunroof and all...i find an excuse to drive it somewhere every day, even though there's really nowhere to go and i ought to be riding my bike...but i can't help it...it's the sunroof...and it's so.....red! i named it terrapin. cause for the whole week before this car popped into my life i had terrapin station stuck in my head...what a crazy lovely song...anyway, i think it's funny to name a car that goes zero to sixty in six seconds after a turtle.

well i'm inspired...i could probably babble all night but i will be good and go bury my brain in the wonders of protein structure...who knew hemoglobin was such a twisted creature?

till then...or maybe sooner...

artemis
http://www.artemis.fm
http://www.rtfmrecords.com
http://www.magnatune.com

dazed and hazy

2007-07-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

had the most lovely time hanging with the band and our dear friends john and jan buckman, heroes and heralders of the future of independent music and founders of my favorite place to share and discover wonderful noise, www.magnatune.com - they are awesome people, great buddies, and definitely not evil!!

jan has totally got me hooked on second life - i think i've found an even more pleasurable distraction from school and reality than bathtubs and old movies...well i'll have to think about the bathtub bit...but anyway, hung out in SL with jan today and had great fun windsurfing, hangliding, flying about, trying on butterfly wings and prancing about in the flowers...here's a pic of us at the campfire on one of jan's islands which are lovely...she's done a faaaaabulous job of creating her little corners of the dreamscape...

speaking of school, i've crossed a great milestone there too...i failed my very first exam EVER! what a way to make a splash my first quarter at UC Davis!! as any good explorer knows, one must explore both the top and the bottom to get a true perspective of the big picture. besides, like my friend nancy says, failures are way more interesting than success cause you learn a lot more from them...true true, but i'm still glad i got an A on the other midterm i took that day!

it's strange and challenging and wonderful embracing this new school life...and as always, no matter what i do i'm always questioning myself along with the rest of it...trying to keep that in a good balance with just diving in and enjoying the ride...i think as an artist or anything else for that matter it's essential to be constantly evolving the way we explore the world and express ourselves...might as well learn as many languages as we can while we're here and say preposterous things in all of them...

hurrah for interdependence!

2007-07-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

maybe that's part of the problem, eh? we think we're an in-dependent nation when we're living in an interdependent universe...gotta give as much as we get...fill that nagging emptiness with a big breath instead of a big mac...and a big ol' chuckle at our own silliness and folly. crazy kids we is...stumbling around the earth tripping over each other maybe not such a bad thing to fall to the ground...get a little dirt under our fingernails...remember where we come from...

fireworks sure were purty tonite...do so love being here in this roller coaster world...put my hands up scream real loud laugh till i cry till i laugh till i cry...

oh my GOODness! has it really been a year since i said hello? and then some? naughty naughty...time to blow the world a sweet kiss...

xoxo

be-in here now

2006-04-25T01:08:00.000-07:00

the 14th annual digital be-in was a fantastic event - our first bay area show since UK tour was a ton of fun and a whole bunch of great folks crawled out of hibernation and shook loose the cobwebs...

my card reader isn't working so i can't post my pics yet but here's one i found on the be-in's blog

i'll post some more photos as soon as i can get the card to give'em up...

ciao fur meow