The lineup of artists playing with me at The Stork Club next Wednesday, February 22, exemplifies the variety of talent you can find in the Bay Area.  In addition to my synth pop loops, there will be indie pop music played by the very talented Gabby La La and her new band, Snow Angel.  Gabby La La is a multi-instrumentalist who has shared a stage with the likes of Les Claypool.  I admire both her music and her fashion sense; she achieves in real life what I can only aspire to in avatar form in Second Life.  Her new project, Snow Angel, is wonderfully melodic with dreamy harmonies.

Following Gabby La La will be Silent Motif, an ambient electronica trio lead by Robert Keller.  I have seen them perform online and it was mesmerizing.  Each band member was decked out in a glowing shirt, giving them an otherworldly presence that was reinforced by music that created alien soundscapes ranging from ethereal to cacophonous to (not quite) dance music and then back again.
 Watch Silent Motif’s online performance 

Ending the evening is Ziva Hadar, whose soulful pop reminds me a great deal of Nora Jones. Ziva, whose music combines several genres including pop, jazz and blues, has been creating a buzz in the Bay Area music scene for the past year or so.  She’s just released an EP, Just Another Night.

Finally, I recently had the honor of sitting in on a rehearsal with Debora Iyall and her band.  Best known as the lead singer of Romeo Void, Ms. Iyall has just released an EP, Singing Until Sunrise.  Having grown up in the golden age of MTV, I vividly remember watching the videos of “Never Say Never” and “A Girl in Trouble”.  Her lyrics and presence always seemed far more powerful and subversive than many of the mainstream female artists who claimed to be just that.

The songs on Singing Until Sunrise and Stay Strong, her full length CD released in 2010, have a much different energy than her work with Romeo Void, but the lyrics are still powerful and rich with imagery.   She is playing with Storm Large at The Red Devil Lounge tomorrow evening.

My resolutions for this year include trying to stay positive, getting more sleep and exercise, practicing more and complaining less.  Oh, and I resolve to be photographed while looking ridiculous more often, too!

Holidays 2011

New Year’s Eve

First show of 2012!

So I started doing some research on ways to combat winter depression.  Here are some of the tips I found:

-  Eat lots of fruits and vegetables:  The vitamins will give your immune system a boost and the carbs will give you energy. Bananas are particularly good because of the fiber content and they contain dopamine,  a hormone that improves your mood.

- Get some light: Sunlight helps our bodies produce vitamin D and serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate the  central nervous system and digestive tract and is thought to contribute to a feeling of general well being.  Because of the shorter days,   some people benefit from daylight lamps to get the light their bodies need.

- Exercise:  Any kind of exercise can lift your mood, but yoga in particular has some moves that target the pineal gland which helps regulate the production of melatonin, yet another hormone  that helps balance the mood by keeping the body’s sleep-wake cycle in check. A quick side note here,  I found a yoga program on Netflix’s streaming library that targets depression.  This was ideal since I did not have to leave the house for a class;  the idea of leaving the house seemed exhausting. However, yoga can be difficult to do properly from just an instructional video, so use your best judgment.

All of these tips are good, and other than the daylight lamp, are things everyone should do to stay happy and healthy.  I have a few more personal tips that may be helpful to others as well.

- Music: My safest drug of choice, music is the ultimate mood-altering substance for me.  Upbeat music made me feel angry, and Christmas music made me feel even more depressed, so I tried some ambient electronica/chillout music. I recommend Soma FM’s Groove Salad should you need some mood boosting grooves to pull you out of the doldrums.

-  Wallow in your depression creatively:  Make something.  Make something dark.  Use your depression as the ultimate shield against disappointment.  You expect nothing, so anything you create will be better than expected.  Oddly enough, this philosophy works well for me in times like this.   This is what I came up with.  Certainly not my best work (I hope) but it made me feel like I accomplished something and also conveys my feelings right about now.  For the record,  the music was recorded many years ago,  I only put video to it.

- Engage others in an activity, if only electronically:In the thick of my listlessness, I didn’t want to chat with anyone in person or even in real time online.  It all required too much effort.  My husband, never shy about commandeering my iPhone, downloaded Words with Friends without my consent and then challenged me to a game.  For the most part I hate games, but I’m a sucker for word games.  I reluctantly gave it a try.  The back and forth and the need to re-engage my brain actually drew me in and in doing so, pulled me out of my mood.  Plus, I couldn’t help but feel pretty good about myself when I scored 60 points for the word “hamlet”.

I will say I’m feeling much better these past few days and am now looking forward to Christmas.  More so, I’m looking forward to getting past the whole holiday hoopla, so I can move on to 2012.  In the meantime, have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Nette Radio, an internet radio show dedicated to promoting unsigned female artists, is hosted by Annette Conlon.   Annette has combined her passion for music with her desire to make a difference in the world by putting together benefit shows once a month at The Talking Stick in Venice, CA.  Any artist who submits music to Nette Radio is invited to play a show, and that’s how I came to be traveling down Highway 5 on a Thursday evening with my friend, Gina.

Taking a road trip sans les enfants is a bit hedonistic, so I was particularly glad the show I was playing was benefiting the Los Angeles Veterans Hospital.  That helped balance out the guilt.  Gina had suggested we stay the The Standard, a cool hotel in downtown LA. I had no idea how the hotel was going to tip the scales of hedonism versus altruism way over in hedonism’s favor.

We had an easy drive down to Los Angeles and pulled into the parking lot around 8:30 pm, except I couldn’t tell if this was actually a hotel or a disco because even with the car windows rolled up I could hear the thumping bass of dance music coming from inside the lobby. People in club wear milled about outside while the valets helped us unload the car and take our things inside.  As far as I could tell we were checking into a nightclub.

Once we had our room key we headed up to the 6^th floor.  Despite the party in the lobby, the red carpeted halls were deserted. “We need a big wheel to ride up and down these halls like in The Shining,” Gina joked.

Our room turned out to be quite spacious with a 70’s minimalist flare.  Two mattresses sat atop of dais, a phone sat on the floor between them.  One of the mattresses was just a foot or so from a plexiglass wall which turned out to be part of the shower stall.  Upon further inspection of the sparse, European style bathroom, there were two floor-to-ceiling shower curtains that made up the shower enclosure.  The see through shower wall gave me pause, but upon inspection of the mini-bar I realized my suspicions were correct.  In addition to full bottles of Patron Tequila, and splits of Veuve Clicquot champagne, one could also purchase condoms and scented candles, all at moderately outrageous prices.  Spontaneity is expensive.   It would appear we were staying at The (One Night)Standard.

The Bathroom

Gina and I were starving so we decided to head up to the roof where there was food and drink to be had, but first we had to go back to the lobby and get a wristband to prove we deserved to be on the roof.

I'd like to be under the sea in The Standard's Biergarten in the dark

The rooftop bar provided an amazing view of downtown LA.  There was a pool, cabanas and a large lounge area, all very crowded.  Due to extreme hunger and the need for immediate gratification, we chose the Biergarten.  Yes, I said Biergarten. Nothing says downtown LA like a good liter of Hefeweizen and a bratwurst.   We sat at a white table surrounded by an ivy draped trellis, astro turf beneath our feet, 80’s pop music sung in German blaring from a nearby speaker, and for no reason we could discern, a movie projected on the wall of the parking garage across the street.   It was sensory overload-a-go-go; completely surreal, like Disney World for drunken hipsters.

After our boozy, greasy repast, we headed down the street to catch the remaining few moments the Downtown Art Walk, did a bit of shopping at a nearby bazaar and then headed back to the hotel. I wish I could say we then turned in for the night, but we didn’t . . .  “Early the next morning” describes both when I went to bed and when I woke up.  It doesn’t get much rougher than that.

We shoulda been sleeping!

I spent most of Friday morning recuperating, and then finally pulled it together enough to set up my equipment and practice while Gina went to the hotel gym, which is apparently just as surreal and kitschy as the rest of the place.

Actual photo of Gina's workout. Check out the wristband.

We lunched at The Abbey in West Hollywood, where everyone was fit, beautiful, and potentially famous, before braving the late afternoon traffic over to Venice.  I couldn’t help but feel star struck driving down Santa Monica Boulevard through Beverly Hills, although some of the awe was buffered by not moving more than 15 miles per hour for most of the trip.

I arrived at The Talking Stick a little after 6 pm.  My good friend, Erika, and her family were already there, having made the two hour trek up from San Diego to catch my 25 minute set.  Having both Erika and Gina there to show their support made me feel truly blessed to have such amazing friends.

Erika and her BoyZ!

The Talking Stick is a nice coffee shop venue with a full stage, PA and fun ambience.  The tables filled up quickly and I was up first.  One of the biggest challenges I face in my life is learning to speak up for myself and ask for things I need; in this case I needed more of a sound check than the other performers.  The others were using acoustic instruments, save for a keyboard player using the venue’s keyboard.  My electronic instruments are a bit more dynamic than the average acoustic guitar.  When I hit the Roland sampler to trigger the drums for Fulcrum at the beginning of my set, the beat crashed through the PA in an auditory assault, causing everyone to cringe and jump.  This was not my first time to cause an audience to cringe and jump, and sadly it probably won’t be my last.  Still, I lost a bit of confidence right away, which never makes for a great performance.  I did my best to pull out of it and put on a good performance, but my vocals felt off, and when I got to my final song, Fan Fic, the Roland sampler gave me more volume level problems.  In a button-mashing panic to get things under control I screwed up the beat.  I really should have stopped and started over again, but I pressed on, embraced my failure and sang like I didn’t care.  Gina claims it worked, but I wasn’t so sure . . .

On stage at The Talking Stick

You can watch it all here on Nette Radio’s Ustream channel, as it was broadcast live.

The other performers were very good: Gypsy and the Merry Mystics played some beautiful acoustic rock that incorporated two guitars and a keyboard player who doubled on flute; Ann-Marita used soulful country music to tell stories of her incredible life, having found her way to America from Norway by way of Australia; and The Red Herring wailed out some blues with punk rock rawness on acoustic guitar and harmonica.  The Conlons, comprised of Annette and her husband, Doug, finished the evening with joyful Americana music that showcased soaring harmonies and thoughtful lyrics.

I also picked up a cool Susan Nichole bag which was auctioned off as part of the fundraising for the evening. It was money well spent for a good cause.

Gina and I left the Talking Stick around 10 PM and the night was still young.  We went back to downtown LA and walked around LA Live for a bit looking for a place to eat.  We settled on Trader Vic’s and enjoyed some tropical drinks with our food.

Mai Tai me up, Mai Tai me down!

On the way back to the car we came across a tent city.  Thinking it might be an Occupy encampment we moved in for a closer look.  It turned out to be people camped out for the “Twilight:Breaking Dawn” Red Carpet event that was taking place on Monday.

Occupy Team Edward

A small percentage of the 99% does this kind of thing

After that we were back at The (One Night)Standard.  Gina and I both enjoy photography (which is not the same as “Photography, know what I mean?  Wink Wink Nudge Nudge”) so we wanted to make use of the spectacle that was The (One Night)Standard.  Camera in hand we went on a photo safari of the 70’s kind:

Vintage organ in the lobby

And made a friend who was feeling the vibe of The (One Night)Standard something fierce:

After our friend was escorted out by his friends, we continued with the photos:

The next day we woke up late-ish, grabbed some breakfast and hit the road by noon.  I’ll admit I felt just a touch sad that I’d had no brush with fame during the visit; no coincidental chain of events sent Michael C. Hall into the Talking Stick for a soy latte just as Fan Fic began, where his eyes would meet mine as I deftly hit the “sexy serial killer” trigger on my Roland.  . . Nope, didn’t happen, but  a Pennsylvania girl can dream.

- Donated supplies to the Occupy San Franciso base camp.

- Eaten wasabi coated roasted seaweed. Yum!

- Been amazed at how well my 4 yr old can swing on his own.

- Completed 7 videos to accompany my live performance at El Rio on Tuesday October, 4th (7 pm sharp, in case you are wondering).

- Engaged in melee combat with 4 other fighters, all of us armed with bokkens.  I was defeated in every single round.

- Completed many loads of laundry and dishes.

- Practiced music for my El Rio show and also the show I will be playing in Second Life tomorrow afternoon.

- Promised my 11 yr old that this afternoon when he gets home from school I will play the level of VVVVVV he created.

- Hiked up Mori Point and marveled at the color of the ocean.

- Read about an Oklahoma woman, a mother to 11 children, who is now attending  Harvard and thought to myself, “I should be doing more.”

“The songs on this album are pretty catchy, despite some obvious deficiencies in Sutor’s equipment — she apparently produces everything herself, using loops for her live show. Sutor’s voice has a sweet, little-girl quality that recalls disco divas of the late-Seventies.”

Read it all here!