Great video of Anais Nin talking about art and writing.
112 - Flipnotics
Photo by Amy Zamarripa
Another fun night at Flipnotics!
I actually ended up heading down way early to hang out and get some work done, needed a change of environment to change up my focus, so I got there somewhere a bit after 5pm. There was a great happy hour set with a boy from Alaska with lightning fingers who could sing the blues like an old soul and played slide and mando and resonator and filled up the tiny room and beyond with his voice. I can’t remember his name and it’s not on the Flips calendar, but it was amazing.
Somehow even with getting there so early, I ended up #18 on the list. I could feel the minute I stepped out on the deck that it was going to be one of the super mad dash nights for signups. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t make my bus home or at least have to zip out the minute I got off stage, but luckily Apatua said I could get a ride home, so it ended up that I played to pretty full room and got to stay till the end and hear all the rest of the great acts.
We had a super huge storm a couple nights ago, with thunder so loud and close that it woke me up a little after 2am, so rain has been on everyone’s mind. Flips is a great place for sing-alongs because everyone is paying attention, so I got the whole room singing for Rain Song.
Adding to the fun of the night, Lisa had an event to go to, so she asked Amy Z to fill in for the second part. I’m curious to see if more people come out to Fair Bean tonight and join the Facebook group now that they’ve heard more about it!
Songs: Rain Song, Wings
111 - January 25th - Backroads
First day back at the open mics after a bit of a break due to major allergy attack! Felt a little bit rusty but it was so good to be out playing again. Connected with a guy Brian and we went and jammed out on the patio for a little while, it was cool to hear him playing lead on my stuff, finding some harmonies, and he even knew what my tuning was on Jonah - apparently it’s something the Rolling Stones use a lot?! Who knew? Not me! :) I tried to harmonize a little on a few of his tunes out there on the patio since I sure as heck wasn’t going to be able to play any sort of lead on the spot, but I’m nowhere near as skilled as the gal he had singing with him for his set, she is amazing and they sounded great together!
Raul (the host), talked to me about the possibility of me doing a residency there in a couple months, basically I’d hold down the musical fort one night a week for a month. I’m excited for that idea, seems like a lot of cool stuff could happen with that. Will keep you posted with developments!
It was a little bit of a slower night, maybe the rainy weather kept people in? Anyway, I got to play twice.
Round 1: Rain Song, Anchor, Keep Telling Me, Split in Two, Jonah’s Whale.
Round 2: Shoreline of Alaska, Sister’s Prayer, Wings.
I think I understand those stories now, where someone sneaks over the witch’s wall for greens, these look delicious!!
100 Performance Guitar String Earrings
So, I changed my guitar strings shortly after coming to Austin in May. I can’t remember exactly when it was, but somewhere in the 70-80 range of performances, people started asking me what I was going to do to celebrate when I got to #100.
I realized that I hadn’t yet changed my strings, and thought it would be cool to play them for all 100 performances and then turn them into jewelry. It would be something both inexpensive yet super cool and very meaningful! I did a search and found this cool Etsy shop that gave me some design ideas.
After open mic #100, I put new strings on so they’d be shiny for both my Rubicon Showcase and my 45 minute set at Crow Bar a few days after that. So I had my earring strings ready, but the only problem was my jewelry making supplies were back in Iowa. Then when I was there I was super busy. Then I couldn’t fit the pliers and a few other things in my suitcase coming back, so I had G send me a box, which I finally got on my birthday, so I finally, finally made myself not one but two sets! I love them!
Round
Teardrop
It’s subtle, but I love that you actually can see the fret marks on the strings if you look closely. Worth the wait. Yay!
Birthday!
Yesterday was my birthday!
I was a bit under the weather. Not entirely sure if it’s a cold or cedar allergies but either way, I stayed in and kept things low key.
My friends in Iowa sent me flowers and balloon!
My roommates brought champagne and cupcakes!
I think this is going to be a good year.
Hooray!
John Mayer on defining your expectations & why doing so is the difference between happiness and unhappiness.
This is pretty cool, a photo from my concert at Cafe Paradiso was chosen as the photo of the week for my college alumni website! :)
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