Hi, Mischief makers. 🙂 Summer zooms along, doesn’t it?
Here’s what I’ve got cooking this month.
THIS SATURDAY, July 6 from 3-9pm, I’m performing in BOSTON at a Mini Block Party and birthday celebration, hosted by and for the lovely Melissa Kaplan! The event is at Melissa’s home, so send her a message if you’d like to attend: tamsin1@comcast.net
I’m giving my concerts with the Heather Dale band this week a big push- we are performing Four times at the St. Lou Fringe Fest in St. Louis, starting tomorrow!
This is a *completely* new show for all of us, and we’re honored to get to share it with you. The nature of a Fringe fest is that we only get a crowd if we tell our people what’s happening.
Tickets and badges are super affordable, and you can come and see us on Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday at 6pm, Saturday at 1:00pm, or Sunday at 6pm.
We’re at the same location for each show:
ANNONYarts at Sartori, 3003 Locust Street, St. Louis, MO 63103
Click on the “Tickets” and “badges” hyperlinks up there to grab your part of the action, OR just come straight to the show! Fringe volunteers have badges and tickets right there at the door for you. The badge is your event pass, required to attend any Fringe show, and it costs $5- kids under 12 get badges free! Tickets for all of our shows are $10, and the fest lets us keep it all!
If you’re on Facebook, you can help us boost the signal! I’ve created Facebook Events for all four shows: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We’re busy posting art (thanks to Matt Hawk!) and photos as we get ready, sharing our excitement and giving you sneak peeks. We hope you’ll check those out, for sure.
2013 on the road is being very, very kind to me, you guys. Thank you for being part of it! Major news for now: Ryan and I are safe in L. A., looking forward to BayCon in SF this weekend! New shows confirmed for the next few weeks include house concerts in Reno NV and in Corvallis OR. I’ll be posting the info for those two shows on the Tour page shortly. I’m hoping to stop in Ashland OR around June 1st as well, waiting on confirmation.
Hello, my favorite people. 🙂 I hope you’re having a gorgeous springtime thus far. It’s raining like crazy at my house today, but we’re hoping that the clouds are getting it all out of their system: we’re hosting a wedding tomorrow on the beautiful property where I’ve gone to ground, lovely Camp Timberlake! Cousin Whitney is marrying her beau Stephen, on the bridge of her grandmother’s water garden. And it will NOT be raining.
My gone-to-ground period is coming to a close very soon. I’m about to pack up my songs and my heart again, to get back out on the road, and come to see as many of you as I can. Here’s what’s in store for May!
LITTLE ROCK, AR
Saturday, May 4 2013 7-10pm
Dance Party Benefit for the Center for Artistic Revolution
with Big Bad Gina!
Unitarian Universalist Church of Little Rock
1818 Reservoir Road
Little Rock,AR 72227
Get tickets now:
http://tinyurl.com/cbxltgm
I just got all of the info posted on the “Buy” page, everybody! Order your copy between noon CST 4/10/13 and 12:01AM on Monday 4/15/13, and I’ll autograph it and ship it myself!
S. J.’s first film score, for indie film Ember Days, hits hard and takes no prisoners! For the first time, S. J. shows her producer chops on something bigger and badder than her usual folk and fun! Showcasing lush new instrumentals, goth-industrial elements, and even a shadow of dubstep here and there, this album also features new songs by S. J.’s friends Bekah Kelso and Alexander James Adams, composed exclusively for the film. What’s the sound of Greek gods, Faery queens, and fallen angels all getting tangled up in each other’s dirty work? Feast your ears on Ember Days and be inspired. Listen for free at the download page!
Since Facebook is standing up for Marriage Equality today by passing around this image, courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign…
I thought I’d put on my red hood again, and start asking around the forest whether anyone’s seen any wolves lately.
One of the cool things about being a creative person is meeting and collaborating with other creative people.
A couple of years ago, my high school buddy Sean-Michael Argo clawed his way back into my sphere of awareness, like the Creature from the Black Lagoon that he is- Sean makes movies. Bloody, gross, low-budget movies. I hadn’t seen him in thirteen years, and we agreed that it was time to do some catching up. (This was long before Ember Days & the album that followed, of course.)
One day, we took ourselves up to Mount Rainier with an expensive camera, a borrowed rapier, and some of our favorite people, to film a trailer for a movie we still haven’t gotten to make together- a retelling of Red Riding Hood.
It’s been done. We know that. It’s been done with Red as a strong female protagonist with revenge on her mind. We know that. It’s been done with a little bit of Steampunk. We know that.
But we’re still hoping that, one day, whether or not it actually becomes a movie (a photo series, a novel, and a concept album are also strong possibilities), we can tell this story the rest of the way.
So here’s me, running around on a volcano with a sword, wearin’ the red. Sharing with you today in honor of Human Rights and Marriage Equality. Music and VO by me, rapier graciously lent by Torrey Stenmark, camera assist by Rhake Winter, editing badassery by K’ Wiley, gripped by Rainbow Rex, directed by Mr. Argo.
You can read Sean’s version of the story at his blog.
I still have that coat. (smile)
A word or two about bad reviews and how to process them, specifically geared towards other creative people, whether we’ve met or not.
Take it or leave it: this is advice I’m trying to give to myself right now, first and foremost.
I am sensitive, and I get upset easily: SO not a bodhisattva.
But it’s all good.
It really is.
Here we go. Starting with a few facts.
The number of happy reviews I’ve seen in ten years of recording and touring and performing full time: countless hundreds.
The number of unhappy reviews I’ve seen: three.
You can guess which ones I’m trying to let go of. (wink)
We all do this. We all get bogged down in the things that make us sad or angry or disappointed. Especially when we see them in print. Especially when they are delivered in response to something we’re proud of.
I should take comfort in the fact that I have so many more good reviews than bad ones, right? But so often the internal susurrus kicks in and starts saying things like, “well, what if that’s because only two people had the balls to tell you what they thought when they didn’t like it? What then?”
In the wise words of Ben Deschamps, f*ck ’em.You cannot please everyone all the time. That’s not why we write songs or poems or plays or stories. We get creative because we *have* to, because it beats and burns inside us all the time, and it’s better for everyone if we let the Muse out to have her way.
You can’t please everybody.
You have to please yourself, especially where your own art and your own creative pursuits are concerned. I know how selfish that sounds, but it’s true.
It’s your choice whether you send your art-babies out into the world and let other people have a chance at reacting to them. It takes guts.
There’s a limit to letting your creativity run rampant. I recognize that. But it’s not like people on my level can afford to go into work- be that art studio, writing desk, or recording studio in this case, take every drug they can find, and spend tons of time and money just messing around for days to capture whatever comes out (see producer Bryan “Chas” Chandler’s opinion of the sessions for Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland). We really do make an effort to craft our words and our work, to make sure that it’s going to go out into the world and be palatable to someone besides ourselves. I know I do.
There’s a limit to everything.
Seriously though, if someone just hates your stuff and s/he’s honest enough to tell you so, that’s a blessing, especially if you consider that person a friend. It means s/he trusts you not to stop speaking to him/her/per when s/he speaks his/her mind.
But don’t let it ruin your day, certainly not your life.
No one, friend or foe, has that much power over you. Don’t give it to them.
I give myself this piece of advice right now, as well. I’m no Jedi Master where letting things go is concerned, quite the contrary.
I have had a reviewer, who was also a friend of mine, worry that I would stop speaking to him when he published a review that wasn’t glowing and effusive.
I straightened him out about that as soon as he told me so.
His review was full of constructive criticism, and he still gave me pretty high marks, even though he wasn’t in love with the work in question. I was thrilled. Besides, it wasn’t like he was calling me names, or saying that my work was an insult to the entire world of music. Far from it.
I will always be grateful for the honesty of those around me, where my work is concerned.
Even when it stings.
The trick is to take what’s useful from the stinging bits, and then, let the rest go.
Right now.
Just flush it down and forget about it, like so much poop.
It gets easier. Just like potty training.
Maybe the reason I’m not good at this yet is because I haven’t had to practice much.
Maybe the balance is about to shift because more people are hearing my music now than ever before.
Maybe a couple of people love everything I’ve done, except for one song.
So be it.
Some people will tell you that any press is good press.
This is true.
But you don’t have to let someone else’s reaction influence you, not if it isn’t useful intel.
Take the bad reviews and turn them around- see the blessings in disguise if you can. If so, nourish yourself with them, and move on to the next big thing as soon as possible.
If not, if it’s just a bunch of name-calling, and it’s clear that the reviewer was predisposed not to dig what you’re doing, delete that sh!t, and move on to the next big thing as soon as possible.
You have my permission. I’ve got your back.
We’re all mad here, and it’s okay.
Keep doing your thing. It’s all right.
Never, never give up.
Love you.
New website, new blog thingy, figuring stuff out, don’t mind me. 🙂