January 2012
23 posts
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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!
“Worthiness, in very simple terms, means I have found a way to let the Energy...”
– —- Abraham
(Thanks to Sharon Bousquet for posting this one on Facebook!)
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110!
Yep, tonight made 110 performances since June! I didn’t take any pictures because my phone was dying and I wanted to be sure I had enough juice to call for a ride home. Lucky for me, my roommates stopped by after they went to a show (& right before I went on), so I didn’t even have to call.
I did my 3 songs & Justin who runs the sound said, “Wait, was that three? I was...
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107 - January 12th - Backroads
Tonight my roommate Havilah was playing an early short set with Billy Masters at Romeo’s.
My other roommate was on tour and left her car here, so I was able to get from Romeo’s to Backroads in time for the open mic.
This is a crappy cell phone pic of a super awesome band that played at Backroads called Rixon:
They are awesome, go check them out: http://www.rixonmusic.com/
...
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WatchOh hey, when I was home my brother helped me burn some little 5-song demo CDs to sell at my concert and I decided to put the songs up together on Bandcamp too! With pictures and lyrics and stuff (click each track on Bandcamp to see the page with the individual picture, most of them are photographs that I took). Three of the songs are things I recorded at home on my computer, a couple were...
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Back in the Saddle
Tupelo Honey, studio dog extraordinaire!
OK, I’ll admit it, my first few days back in Austin I was pretty mopey. I missed my husband. I missed my friends and family. I missed having a car. I missed my kitchen. Plus it was dark and rainy and cold. And there were some scary attacks over New Year’s that made me a little nervous to go out much.
On Monday I had my first group band...
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Oh Me Oh My Oh...
…look at Miss Ohio.
If you’re reading elsewhere, you may need come to the blog to see the video.
Yeah, I keep thinking of blogging, and every time I think of it, that line pops up for some reason. Doesn’t bother me really because it’s a damn good song, I’m just not sure why exactly it keeps coming up. Maybe it’s being back in Iowa, and all the talk of the...
4 Years of Lyrical Venus Radio! →
Wowzer, I started my radio show 4 years ago! Thanks to the internet I’ve been able to keep sending my shows to the awesome solar-powered KRUU from wherever in the world I happen to be, which I think is pretty darn cool. Check out my 4th birthday post over on LyricalVenus.com
The show has definitely given me the impetus & inspiration to work on my own music, so hooray!!
December 2011
9 posts
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So This is Happening!
I have some Austin blogging to catch up on, but I thought I better post this to start getting the word out. Hope you Fairfield peeps will come have a sweet after-Christmas night out and hear some songs! (I shall be posting more about it soon methinks!)
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Countdown to 100: 1 - Flipnotics
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #100.
Lisa Kettyle plays a mean uke! And her outfit happens to match the venue. :-)
Perhaps one of my favorite open mic stories to tell is about the sign-up process for the Flipnotics Open Mic. Probably because it’s the most dramatic. It’s pretty standard that sign up is...
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Countdown to 100: 2 - Backroads
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #99.
Raul writes awesome songs and can play killer mashups.
All right, I admit the first time I walked into Backroads earlier this summer with Amy Z, I was a little nervous about the place, especially because there were pool tables on a raised area behind the stage. Would I get knocked...
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Countdown to 100: 3 - OPA! Coffee & Wine Bar
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #98.
I’ve been telling the Texans all Autumn long that they don’t actually know what cold is. Back in Iowa, they’ve had snow already and have been wearing winter coats for a while. Tuesday night was actually, definitely cold here in Austin though. There was frost on...
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Countdown to 100: 4 - Baker Street Pub
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #97.
It was a dark and rainy night when I set out for Baker Street… OK, that’s cheesy and ominous sounding. Or it might be ominous if it wasn’t so cheesy! But it WAS dark, cold and drizzling when I headed out for the bus last night to go back to the Sherlock Holmes...
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Countdown to 100: 5 - Pecan Street Brewing
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #96
photo by Mike Shirley I suppose it’s time for a couple of small confessions.
#1) Not EVERY one of these performances I’m tracking has been an actual open mic per say. But the majority of them are, and it’s a lot easier to say “100 open mics in Austin since...
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Countdown to 100: 6 - Fair Bean Coffee
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #95
photo by Amy Zamarripa Tonight I set out to catch the bus at 4:45, expecting to be at Fair Bean just a few minutes after 5pm. There have been a couple times in the past few weeks where one of the scheduled busses just doesn’t seem to show up - two will pass by in the other...
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Countdown to 100: 7 - Kick Butt Coffee Triangle
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #94.
There are two Kick Butt Coffee locations but both are a little bit far North for me to get to either on a regular basis. I had a Groupon to the Triangle location that expires at the end of the month so I figured it was doubly worth going on Wednesday. I made sure to get there early...
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Countdown to 100: 8 - Whip In
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #93
photo by Amy Zamarripa
When they say “Keep Austin Weird”, Whip In is maybe one of my favorite examples. Perhaps it’s because it was the first place I saw a show in Austin when I came down to check out Rubicon Recording Studios in February. Two of their slogans are...
November 2011
17 posts
Doing It Right: Jonathan Byrd
photo by Rodney Bursiel
Jonathan Byrd is a kickass songwriter with a wicked sense of humor. I always, always open his emails even if he’s not touring anywhere near me because he writes these killer welcome/unsubscribe messages at the beginning and usually ends with some great road story after posting his tour dates. Talk about someone doing it right. The one today inspired me enough to...
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Countdown to 100: 9 - Baker Street Pub
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #92
I bundled up in layers when heading out to Baker Street Pub because it was actually cold, (not the slight temperature dip that seems to freak many Texans out), and the open mic is usually outside. I was quite relieved when they decided at the last minute to do it inside, because...
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Newslettery Update: 100 Open Mics! December Show...
Dear Friends, Fans and Fellow Music-Makers,
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are still enjoying your holiday weekend! I have so many cool things I want to tell you about that I broke it down list style!
1. 100 Open Mics in 7 Months
2. Two Big December Shows
3. Home for the Holidays
4. Thank YOU!
1. 100 Open Mics in 7 Months
Most of you have probably heard by now that I am on...
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Countdown to 100: 10 - Fair Bean Coffee
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is # 91.
Photo by Amy Zamarripa Friday night was low-key & sweet, just a few of the regulars for the day after Thanksgiving at one of my favorite open mic venues - Fair Bean Coffee. After a lovely Thursday of traditional Thanksgiving festivities with my cousin and her friends, it was...
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Too Legit to Quit
Photo by Amy Zamarripa
I got an email from my producer today saying that one of my heros in an independent, nationally touring band said “yes” to playing on my album. After squealing the news to one of my best friends who was on the phone when I got the email, and then texting my husband and my roommate, I flopped down on the couch in the living room. Tears welled up in my eyes as...
Bliss Joy Bull: What if...? →
blissjoybull:
The Rut, & the Way Out
Post written by Leo Babauta.
You’re in a rut, and you can’t get unstuck.
Motivation is a resource that seems harder and harder to come by these days. You’re mired in malaise, you’re unexcited after a slump or a break, you’re in a dull 9-to-5 routine.
Any of these…
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“We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us...”
– E.E. Cummings (via thatkindofwoman)
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“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It...”
– Rumi
Milestones
1) I wore out a capo & had to buy a new one! I mean, it’s been years, but wow, I didn’t know I could do that.
2) My guitar has scratch marks on the pick guard and surrounding it. I’ve been playing the darn thing more! And with a pick, so you can hear me.
3) I’ve done 76 open mic/showcase type performances since June. When I got here in May, I couldn’t even...
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October 2011
9 posts
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Living the Questions
Last Saturday I went to the Texas Book Festival with Jana & her friend Heidi to see Terri Hendrix & Lloyd Maines performing in the music tent. I’d heard a lot about Terri over the years from Jana’s blog, played her songs on my radio show and I even saw her perform about four songs or so at a benefit in my first month or so here in Austin, but this was a full hour set.
I...