Sooj

Stolen Season Album Art!

I’m excited to show you the graphics that Kevin Wiley did for me for the Stolen Season CD release. 🙂 Kevin always does swift and gorgeous work, and he’s really pulled out all the stops this time! He and I have worked together for over ten years now, and I’m so glad to have his help with graphic design once again.

Art contributed by Elizabeth Jordan Leggett (she’s up for a few Hugos, so be sure to check out her nominated pieces if you’re eligible to vote for the Hugo Awards this year!) and Chaz Kemp, both of whom are fine people who are a delight to work with.

Photos contributed by Kirk Lanier and Sandra Buskirk, both of whom are amazingly talented, and who know talent in turn when they see it.

I’ll have pre-orders up at the store link as soon as I can! For now, feast your eyes, and if you haven’t listened to the pre-mastered mixes yet, you may do so at this link whenever you like! The art is under the cut for those of you viewing this post on my “Welcome” page. Just click “more”.

Hippie Pocket is Go!

Ginger Doss has been one of my favorite people since we met in 2005.

She’s also been part of all of my album projects since then, whether as my engineer and production advisor, or as a mixing consultant from far away when we can’t work side by side. She’s not just a friend to me. She’s a guru, confidant, voice of reason, collaborator, and a soul-sibling.

She’s taking some time in Houston to create a new album now, and rather than raise funds for it using existing crowdfunding platforms, she’s going entirely grassroots!

Check out the project at this link, and watch her pitch video below.

One of the tracks from her most recent, previous album:

Spinning, Dancing, Grinning

I’ve written two new songs in the past week. 🙂

That’s such a wonderful feeling, and even typing that sentence feels good.

I love writing and singing songs, and my entire world, inside and out, is a better place when I get to do those things.

Some of my colleagues are participating in #FAWM this month. I am not, but I have started a song-a-week commitment with a group of peers. It seems to have kicked me up even more of a notch than I thought it would!

I ranted a little bit on FB yesterday, very mildly, in response to a meme which implied that you cannot be both an adult and a musician. I was probably already predisposed to take that a little hard, because I’d been doing tax math for my bandmates and myself all afternoon, and math makes me cranky. I was doing adult stuff. In support of my music career, and it wasn’t fun. And if being an adult means you can’t play music, I think I’d better not be an adult. But I already know that I am one, who plays music professionally. Not everybody achieves adulthood two weeks before their 35th birthday, but I think I’m good.

There are people in every field with a work ethic. There are people in every field with no work ethic to speak of. There are people in every field, 9 to 5 job or not, who are somewhere in between, who do their dead level best as often as they possibly can. The best way I see to proceed is to show each other mutual respect– I don’t judge my friends who hold corporate jobs any more than they judge me. It’s harder to treat strangers that way, but I believe we still ought to try. It can be as simple as not posting or sharing a meme that cuts somebody down or generalizes them for having one career path or another.

Anyhow, the good news (besides the fact that the math actually made sense and was good for us all) is that I got the cutest new song out of it all- cute to the point that I was giggling and grinning immediately, all grumpiness forgotten.

I’m hoping to put up a little video of this one soon, to balance out the seriousness of my last video song post. Here are the lyrics, for now.

Call to Creative Collaborative Action!

One of my friends is calling for submissions for a chapbook!

We’ve got a mutual word-sister who’s always ready to drop everything and help the people she cares about, whether or not she’s met them face to face yet. Elizabeth inspires me, goes to bat for me, and works her tail off in law and in writing, whether it’s spec poetry, fiction, or legalese. She is editor, attorney, Lost Girl, monster girl advocate, and wordsmith goddess.

What she needs, and what Alexandra Erin’s anthology-to-be will hopefully bring, is help fixing her shoulder- fixing it despite the fact that her insurance only wants to cover physical therapy (debilitating in this case), not surgery (better-making in this case).

Check out Alexandra’s post, and send her something tasty if you wish! You may also send a money donation if you’d prefer.

Adventures and Appreciation

I’m starting on a new adventure this week, thanks to the lovely Bekah Kelso: a song-a-week project. Random writing prompts arrow into my inbox once a week, set to explode if I don’t deliver the goods by midnight of the following Sunday. The first prompt came in this morning, and I’m super excited! I’m hoping for good things for all of us who are participating in this.

Surely it’s auspicious to try something you’ve never done before on a day we celebrate the light. Sweet Imbolc to all of you who mark the holiday!

I spent last weekend at a small convention called Conflikt in the Seattle area (chin up, Seahawks fans, it’s all good). It’s a filk convention, attended and run by people who believe strongly in the spirit of supporting anyone and everyone who has a song to sing, no matter the subject or genre. Before you roll your eyes and fall back on whatever mental picture you may have of what a filk convention is like, just hit pause on that for a second. I don’t often have the time to attend any kind of con just for fun, so this was a rare treat for me. And it was worth it. You won’t believe the weekend I had.

-I and my bandmates got interviewed by a lovely musicologist last night.

-I taught a two-hour workshop on how to raise your awareness of the energy that music can create, how sound can change your immediate environment, and more. As many people as possible stayed all the way to the end. Those who stepped out did so because there were other things going on that they, themselves were scheduled to contribute their own music to. In spite of the fact that I’ve taught this particular class many times, I learned new things right along with my participants.

-I didn’t have my own concert this weekend, but I didn’t mind at all- I ended up guesting on bass, guitar, and vocals with all sorts of talented people, including several of my favorite human beings on the earth. Some of it was planned and rehearsed. Some of it was 100% last minute. All of it gladdened my heart and sent the quality of my day off the charts of Good.

-I heard plenty of songs and performers for the first time, well worthy of following and enjoying. (PDX Broadsides, I’m lookin’ at you!)

-I got a random chance to help someone learn how to play one of my own tunes, AND hear them pull it off in rehearsal!

-I sang on stage with my colleagues in ways I was afraid to try in the moment. I sang on stage in ways I’ve been afraid to try for a couple of years, while my voice has been shifting and changing and resettling, and my instrument held true. So true and so strong.

-I watched one of my dearest musical peers give everything he had, and then give even more, to the community that loves and attends this type of event, and I saw his magic spread through people, inspiring them and encouraging them again and again.

-I led a themed song circle of my own on Friday evening, and was pleasantly surprised to find it packed to the walls. All participants got a kick out of the theme and did wonderful things with it.

These are just the top few highlights, and only from my personal experience.

Heather Dale once described filk as “the music of us”. It’s the music of people who fiercely love the things they love, and who will celebrate those things by writing, singing, and/or sharing songs about them. It’s the music of people who dedicatedly record, chronicle, and applaud every single concert they attend or offer, no matter what happens. It’s the music of a community who loves and supports every one of its artists AND its amateurs (amateur is a word of love, not a word of derision) for life. For life.

I had such a wonderful time this weekend. 🙂

News and Concerts

I sent a big message to my email list just now, with the rundown of all my upcoming concerts for the coming month. Click here to check it out!

Perhaps the coolest bit of news I can share with you is this:

I got a preview disc from my mastering engineer via FedEx this morning!!! This means that the CD version of Stolen Season is that much closer to being real!

I’ll be opening up pre-orders as soon as we’ve got all the art and audio approved, hopefully early next week. Watch this space!

Here’s the digital version of this beautiful critter if you haven’t heard it yet.

<a href="http://music.sjtucker.com/album/stolen-season-unmastered-digital-release">Stolen Season (unmastered digital release) by SJ Tucker</a>

1157 (‘Til It’s Over)

Potential trigger warning for nuclear holocaust, PTSD, and bad dreams. If you’re already having a crummy day, come back to this later. <3

Turns out that when I have a nightmare, it’s not about giant robots or giant sea monster dinosaur leviathan kaiju, a la Pacific Rim. It’s about getting nuked, and not being able to hold my loved ones tightly to me as it happens.

This was precisely the content of the last bad dream that I had. It’s been several months, and I had forgotten about it. I remembered it Thursday evening when my partner told me the Doomsday Clock had been set to 11:57 (as in PM, with Midnight being crisis o’clock for humankind) by its keepers, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The realities of global climate change, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and tech problems such as hacking of government entities prompted the new setting, or so I have read.

I did not actually know that the Doomsday Clock was a thing. Now I’m mildly obsessed. At least obsessed enough to write a new song almost immediately. I’m not the first. Not even close.

I don’t usually write songs that frighten me, but this one is the essence of turning one of your nightmares (one that isn’t necessarily far fetched, to be exact) into art. I’ve posted the lyrics below. I’m hoping to post a quick acoustic video as well, even though the arrangement for this song in my head is heavily electronic. (Lyrics under the cut)

A (Spiritual) Revolution Worth Having

Boosting my song sister Summer Osborne today, she of the heart (and pipes) of solid gold! Check out her new project-to-be!

The Days Ahead – Concerts and News

I’ve got some lovely things planned for the coming weeks in the Seattle area, Little Rock, and Oklahoma. 🙂

Jan 30-Feb 1: I’ll be attending Conflikt 2015 in the Seattle area with my Tricky Pixie bandmates! Alec is toastmaster, I’m teaching a workshop AND leading a cool/spooky song circle, and we’re all jamming with our friends, on stage and off!

Feb 6: Betsy‘s new band, In Like A Lion, will play their monthly first Friday concert at Soulfood Cafe in Redmond, WA – one of my favorite bands on one of my favorite stages. Odds are reasonable that I will be invited up on stage at some point. 😀 This show will stream live online!

Feb 7: Tricky Pixie has our first big concert of 2015 in Kenmore, WA! Get tickets and info here!

Feb 13: Betsy and I will share the stage with the delicious Wendy Rule at Soulfood Cafe. For Friday the 13th. Cuz that’s how witches do. 😀 This one will stream live online! More info here.

Feb 21: Home again, to play for my friend Kelley’s art opening at Gallery 360 in Little Rock! I decided to give Kelley a present for my birthday, because she’s lovely and brilliant and should have improvised jazzy guitar stuff to pair with her art.

Feb 27 and Feb 28: I have two little shows in Lawton, Oklahoma – my first time performing there! Hostess Mary at the Curious Goods emporium has been a delight to work with, and Pagan Radio DJ Pam McAfee is our sponsor! NOTE: Feb 28 is sold out, but Feb 27 still has a few tickets left. Grab them before they get away!

Today I’m home, catching up with Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps as we roll up our sleeves to start a writing retreat together! Some of you will recall Heather and Ben’s delightfully successful IndieGoGo campaign last year which raised funds for the production of an original touring show, a folk opera of sorts based on Arthurian legend. That’s what we’re set to work on writing together this week. We are quite literally by the lakeshore here, so if the Lady of the Lake shows up to participate, we’ll have lots of stories to tell. Wish us luck!

Do it for fun

Last weekend I went to Memphis for a couple of days to play music with friends for fun.

Wacky, right?

I spent a good deal of time jamming and visiting with the members of Grasping Thin Air, a band full of talented people I like, most of whom I’ve known for years, who are also pretty much in it for fun.

GTA’s guitarist, my friend J. (who fed and housed me like royalty for the weekend), was particularly thrilled to get to press play on the live-action jukebox that was me. He’s known me since well before I struck out on my own as a performer, which means that he knows songs I haven’t touched in ages. Naturally, those were the ones he asked to hear.

I’m pleased to say I was glad to find that I still know how to play them, and I didn’t lose track of the lyrics any more than I do with my newer songs. In the course of eight hours, I got to revisit “Face-down“, “Baba Yaga“,”Stickit“, “Tori Day“, and even “Shake”, none of which I can recall having on a setlist this decade. And it was so much fun.

I had no idea how much I needed to just sit and sing with friends. It’s not as if I don’t do so frequently, but this time was particularly nourishing. Maybe it was getting to hang out again with songs I wrote when I was in my early twenties, and finding out that I still love them, enjoy singing them, and can pull them off just fine. It just felt good. It felt a little like hanging out with the girl I was- and finding out, to my joy, that she was still here with me, strong and brave as ever.

So don’t be surprised if, as a result, you hear me pulling out a lot of goodies from Haphazard (2004) and Tangles (2005) at my concerts this year. I have been given a gift and a reminder: sing what’s fun, sing for you, and don’t discount your early work. Treasure it and let it out of the treasure chest when it feels right. 🙂

This post is dedicated with love and gratitude to Leif, J., Ashley, and Lauren (and Wilson and the girls, too).