Blog

Full Circle, first part posted!

This is good and long. There are three parts, and they’re all about an hour in length. I apologize for the truly terrible audio quality. 🙂 We salvaged what we had from the live stream cameras.

This first part of the concert footage contains Sherry’s introduction, Betsy’s concert set, Bekah’s concert set (plus her surprise guest, her brother Ryan Kelso), and brilliant ASL interpretation by Autumn and Jenny of Dancing Hands Productions.

Thanks to everybody who helped out at the show, everybody who came to listen, all who lent Sherry your support, and everyone who listens!

Fly Away Home

The sun is coming up in Seattle as my partner and I wait to board our flight home. We’ve had another wonderful visit with friends and fans in the PNW. It’s been a pretty exceptional reunion up here, and we’ve got several more of the same sort planned at home in the South as the holidays continue. Color me happy.

I got a chance to play music with Bekah Kelso, Betsy Tinney, Ryan Kelso, Sunnie Larson, Clint McCune and his buddy Aaron, Geli Wuerzner, and Sharon Knight & Winter, all in the same trip. I’ve linked those artists and their fabulousness if you want to start clicking and checking them out. Some of our collaborations were planned, others were entirely spontaneous, and all were delightful for me, and I suspect for just about everybody else who was in the room at the time. Thank you, bandmates, fans, family and friends!

If you were not in the room during our big concert on Nov. 22nd, and especially if you were watching the live stream when it failed, keep an eye on my Youtube channel – I’ll be posting the archived video from the live stream (including the songs in my set that didn’t get broadcast at the time!) over the next few days.

Love, Food, Gratitude – a totally intentional rhyme

Thanksgiving week was all over extremes for me, but they were useful ones.

Just after the big SidheHaven concert, my final scheduled show of the year, our hostess Sherry packed me and Bekah and the boys and herself off to the seaside for a two-day retreat. Almost as soon as we got ourselves situated in our little vacation house, I pulled a muscle in my lower back- something I’ve never done.

All of you who deal with chronic back pain, or chronic pain of any sort? Respect.

I have been physically incapacitated very few times in my life, and so I have next to no practice at it.

So there I was, on the floor, suddenly, unexpectedly and completely dependent upon my friends. And of course they stepped up. Especially Bekah, who’s seen me at my worst more times than I can count, took extra time to love on me, despite having her hands full of and with the adorableness that is two-year-old Kaius.

I had a moment the next morning, after a blessed Tiger Balm enabled nap, when I turned my head on the pillow and saw a tugboat crossing the Sound – I felt like a girl in a story who’d been sent to the seaside to convalesce.

My condition is much improved today, despite tweaking whatever nerve got pinched AGAIN last night after our big group dinner, but I would not have made it back to sitting up straight in a chair without the people who care about me.

On my wee scale, it’s been a week of epic love, epic gratitude, epic food, and unexpected crappy pain.

But I am blessed to have hundreds and hundreds of incredible people in the world with me, and I am blessed to have their love and affection, as well. In the midst of turmoil and justifiable unrest, I feel that I’m standing strong. This is almost entirely because of the people I personally love and trust.

I got to make an absolute vat of fluffy mashed potatoes for about thirty of my favorite people yesterday. I got to share and witness statements of deep gratitude, I got to feast, and I got to help clean up. And when my little injury made it necessary for me to just sit down, two of my heart-brothers immediately sat down with me, checked on me, and held my hands.

This is how my community rolls, and we are Not in the norm.

I wish that we were.

Welcome Home, now with visual!

Audience member Deb Alverson got a pretty great video of our first performance of the “Welcome Home” song last Saturday. Here it is!

That’s Bekah singing next to me and playing djembe, Betsy on cello on my other side, and Bekah’s brother Ryan Kelso playing his pretty cajon drum.

Thanks to everyone who played and sang, everyone who watched and sang, and everyone who shared with me this last concert on my schedule for 2014. Definitely feels like I’ve gone out with a bang!

Welcome Home!

Last night’s relaunch concert for SidheHaven and its community near Olympia was 100% divine. Bekah Kelso and I wrote a new song together for the occasion, and our first-ever performance of it last night was verrrrrry well received. We’re working to get it recorded now. Please enjoy the lyrics for the time being. Thanks to last night’s crowd for a brilliant debut, and thanks to Betsy, Ryan Kelso, Autumn and Jenny for adding their own mojo to this new piece at a moment’s notice!

WELCOME HOME (the SidheHaven song)
Lyrics/music by SJ & BK 2014

Drive through the tunnels of green ’til the pavement ends
Where you can’t see the lights of the city when darkness descends
Under the watch of the mountain, we make our way
Let out your laughter and offer it up to the Fae

Weavers and dreamers out under the stars
Walking the mystery right where we are
Follow the firelight, follow your heart
Know you belong here, right from the start

Welcome home
Let the magic happen
Here we stand
In our own backyard
Hand in hand
Oh we started something
Bless this land
Let your heart recharge
Well, Welcome home

An Easy Autumn Tune

I’m home tonight in my little backwoods retreat, under bright November stars. All of my friends are doing amazing things (WindyCon, I’m looking at you), and I am only now recovered from last week’s FaerieCon East, which was delightful. Sharing the stage with Betsy on cello, as in all the best of my dreams, and with new friend and drummer Ken Om Crampton, was soul-filling and heart-lifting. I am so glad to know those two, and their friendship will help me get through my no-touring Holidays time, when I’m hunkered down, visiting family and finishing new song mixes at home.

I spent some time tracking a new song yesterday and today, my first recorded collaboration with Bekah Kelso since the Ember Days film score. Bekah is incredible, and you should absolutely support her newest project, Bekah Kelso & The Fellas, based in San Antonio. They recently blew up the San Antionio Music Awards for the second year in a row, and little wonder. The song I got to write with Bekah this fall is a tribute that ties in nicely with the next bit of news on my list. It’s a theme song for one of our favorite places. Read on.

My last scheduled performance of 2014 is one week from tonight in Washington state, and it’s gonna be a killer- I’ll be sharing stage time with Bekah, Sunnie, Betsy, Sharon, Winter, and Marcos. This’ll be the first time this particular group of all of us has ever done a concert all together, and the cause is absolutely one to celebrate. Thank you, Sherry, for bringing us all home to Sidhehaven once again! See my tour page for more info.

It’s been a big week in the news. Entirely justifiable unrest and struggle continues in Ferguson, Missouri. Walmart employees have initiated their first sit-down strike ever. The latest round of US elections came and went, and we’re all still here. We now know that it’s not only possible to land on a comet, but also to hear that comet singing.

And in news which will surprise no one at all, I am the Firebird.

Firebird’s Child by Kirk Lanier Photography

Also a faun and a hawk and a general shape shifter fairytale kinda girl. Many thanks to Kirk Lanier for putting me in front of his lens again!

Faun Sooj by Kirk Lanier

Shape Shifter Sooj by Kirk Lanier

All Sweet, No Bitter

Ten years in, I know that music is going to be my business for life. Not just because I’m essentially job-proof for anything un-artsy at this point, more because this is where my heart is, where my spirit is most lifted, and where my soul gets fed. It’s rarely easy, but the rewards balance out all the fatigue, stress, and frustration. Really, they do.

It’s days like today that remind me how true this is, days like today when I must turn down a truly spectacular and fun opportunity in order to keep my word to equally fun bookings that were already in place.

Witching Hour

You may or may not have read my blog post from several weeks ago, marking the changing of the seasons and my thoughts about having a real live home of my own for the first time. 🙂

I’m traveling again this week.

On the bus and the train that took me north out of Boston this morning, I was reminded how much I really do love to travel, how much I love being on the move.

The fall colors helped to remind me, of course. New England is taking her time with the beauty of the trees this year. Halloween will be here in just a few hours, and yet even up in Maine, where I’m spending the weekend, the dance of the leaves is far from over. Everything is vivid and vibrant still, not yet gone to the starkness of wintertime.

This time of year has always made me happy. There is a definite tingle in the air that I do not feel at any other time. I didn’t know what to call it when I was a child, but I felt it then as well. There’s always magic in the air, all year, but for some reason I find it easier to feel in the Autumn. Times of transition, perhaps, allow the zaps to crackle more assertively, more noticeably. Some say the veil is thinner right now, and I wouldn’t tell them that they’re wrong.

I’ve had a quiet and restorative season at home, but I get to round it out on the road, visiting friends and performing near Baltimore and DC, and I am absolutely thrilled. This is how I know I’ve rested enough: I’m happy being on the road at this moment, every moment. Victory.

The crew and I are hoping to get some pumpkin carving in tomorrow. If our efforts prove successful, I’ll post photos.

The Halloween Online Studio Tour is up for one more week! Visit the tour or go directly to my trick-or-treat page if you prefer. I’m donating 20% of my sales this month through the tour to Turpentine Creek Big Cat Refuge in Northwest Arkansas.

Shows this month and more

My tour schedule is very light this month, with just a few fun events in Tennessee and Arkansas, starting tomorrow!

THIS WEEKEND
Oct 16-20 2014: Summerland Grove’s Festival of Souls 2014
Meeman Shelby State Park, Piersol Group Camp
910 Riddick Road, Millington, TN 38053

S. J. performs at her home festival once again this Samhain, courtesy of Summerland Grove, along with DJ Tempest, Buck Potter, and Tuatha Dea – a wild Tennessee tribe born of family and synergy who mix the best of ancient and modern music into something new, primal, and unforgettable.
Guest speakers this year are Priestess Clark (Nancie Clark of SOTEC) KY and Byron Ballard (Folk work and Hoodoo). Check http://www.summerland.org for event details and schedule. S. J.’s concerts this year are at noon on Friday and Saturday! She will also appear as part of the Dragon’s Gaze Fire Troupe’s performance on Friday night!

NEXT WEEKEND:
Oct 24 2014, 7pm: Poets Scrounging
Gallery 360, 901 S. Rodney Parham Rd, Little Rock, AR 72204

S. J. will throw down with fellow local poets and performers at this companion event to Gallery 360′s Artists Scrounging art show. You can, too! There is still time to answer the open call if you’d like to be part of this event! See below for more information.

 Gallery 360 is accepting registration for Poets Scrounging, a spoken word open mic sound extravaganza.  Oct 24, 7pm, we will throw our usual open and free to the public party with food an beverages at 900 S Rodney Parham, Little Rock aka Gallery 360. The evening will feature local poets and performers with something to say!
HOW TO PLAY: 
1. Register at gallery360poets@yahoo.com With your name, email and contact phone 
2. Include an example of your poetry or work in your email (Sound magicians call Jay at the Gallery 360 for tech requirements) 501-663-2222 
3. Check your inbox for the lineup and details-we will stream live! 
4. TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS 5. Deadline for submission is Oct 22.

ALSO NEXT WEEKEND:
Oct 26 2014: 2-8pm: Conway Pagan Pride Day – Free Outdoor Concert!
Simon Park, 800 Front Street, Conway, AR 72032
S. J. performs as part of Conway, Arkansas’ first ever Pagan Pride Day event! Admission is free, and people of all faiths and philosophies are welcome. Teach tolerance; choose love over fear! Come on over. Vendors, food, and music will all make up part of the day’s list of awesome things. Special thanks to Sheldon, Allison, and the rest of the Conway Pagan Pride Fest team!

Next month I’m performing in Virginia, Maryland (woohoo, FaerieCon!) and Washington state before the Thanksgiving holiday.
All the tour details are on my tour schedule page.

OTHER NEAT STUFF:

-Wonders, my most recent record, celebrated its first birthday on October 15, 2014! Happy birthday, little one!
Listen here: http://music.sjtucker.com/album/wonders

-Matt Hawk- good friend, Lost Boy, and illustrator extraordinaire, is working on a Munchkin-like card game he hopes to market to game stores! I have personally played this game, called Widdershins, and I recommend it! Here’s the project!

Little Worlds Colliding

Confession time. I’ve had a wonderful mind-vacation over the past couple of months, indulging in a new and fierce Monster High doll obsession. 🙂 It was Sirena Von Boo, the ghost-mermaid hybrid doll, who started it for me. Then, I looked into the doll line’s rather intelligent use of mythology, and Sirena started getting a lot more company. Then I had to get the dolls who are obvious musicians (Catty and Casta are hanging out in my recording studio, looking fabulous), and well… There’s a doll shelf in my future at this point, and I’m not the least bit ashamed. 😀

I believe Tumblr would call this a partial Shelfie.

I realized how deep into the fandom I had truly gone over the weekend, when I was browsing a Halloween store and found myself wanting to cheer on a wee trick-or-treater and her mother for ruthlessly hunting the perfect Frankie Stein costume….and I knew exactly which character/doll/costume they were talking about.

Then I started thinking about how cool it would be for this little girl and all sorts of other kids if they could meet all the brilliant cosplayers I’ve met. And then, how neat it would be for little kids to meet all of the wonderful geeks I’ve met, of various dedications and genders. And then I jerked my own reins, because I realized that even starting that conversation with a random mother and daughter in a random Halloween Store in central Arkansas would be more complicated than I wanted it to be, and possibly frightening for the two of them. 🙂

But I can dream, right? And I can keep giving a cheerful thumbs-up to all the awesome cosplays and trick-or-treaters I meet?

I forget sometimes that my world of conventions and festivals, music, fire, feathers and fun is not the world that everyone lives in. Tell you what, though: I never knew until I got adopted by bunches of facets of fandom how good it would feel to know that we don’t have to grow out of dressing up, Halloween, theatre, and so many other wonderful things. We don’t have to grow too old for those things. Too old, or too serious, or too sad. We don’t have to let them go. They’re still ours. This is one of the things I can always count on to keep me going.

So here’s to all of you, no matter what year you were born, who are planning to go all out on a costume this year, whether or not it’s for Halloween. 🙂 Here’s to those of you who are going all out for your kids, for your fandom, for your friends, or most especially for yourself. You’re awesome.