YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST TIME (IN THE PNW)

(May 08, 2013)

I am heading up I-5 from Seattle to Portland. Don’t worry, I am not driving as I type this. I am sitting in a Bolt Bus, which has wi-fi. And 3-prong plug ins at every seat! How civilized. Out of the window across the aisle to my left the sky is grey, the cedars and pines are fuzzy with mist. Out of the window directly to my right, the sky is bright blue, dotted with only a few fluffy white clouds, and the trees below them represent a brilliant array of greens as they stretch towards the glowing sun above. It’s a funny visual, this split screen in real time.

Behold, the Pacific Northwest! One of the last territories on the “collect ‘em all” scratch off road-trip map of the US that I keep in my mind… When I landed in Oregon last week it became the 41st state I have visited, and my show in Seattle, WA on Sunday marked the 42nd.  I got into a college here in Seattle. I was tempted to move here. My mother kept looking at the map, saying “One more time, here is Georgia… and heeeere, all the way up heeeeere is Seattle. Georgia. Seattle. Georgia. Seattle,” pointing with gentle emphasis. On Sunday I told the crowd at my show that it almost happened, I could have moved up here! We could all already be old friends. But I didn’t, and that’s how life is. A series of small decisions that pile up on each other and create your present situation.

In the 4 years since I have become close friends with Raina Rose, we have talked frequently about touring together up here. We even got close and blocked off some time on the calendar for the November of 2011, but then someone got pregnant (hint: not me!) with a due date of November 6th 2011….so the tour was scrapped for a much higher purpose!

And that is how it came to be that I had never set foot in Oregon or Washington until last Thursday. I met Ellis Paul at the airport and spent the weekend traveling, opening for and singing with him. We had a blast! The schedule was intense! Seriously. I always think I put myself through the wringer, but since he only tours on weekends, he puts himself through a week’s worth of wringer in 4 days! The gigs were long and full and fun, often followed by a night cap or visit with the venue owners, ensuring that there was no time for sleep until at least 1 am.

Friday and Saturday mornings we had to drive 250-300 miles in the morning (on 5-6 hours of sleep) to get to the next town in time for noon-time radio interviews and performances, followed by a couple hours down time and another late-afternoon radio appearance on both days. Seriously, by Saturday I was so delirious that I started singing “Rainbow Connection” on air (you can hear that at this link, if you’re curious).

And THEN it got crazy! After a wonderful show in Eugene on Saturday night, we packed up the car and hit the road around midnight and pulled into Portland around 2 am. By 7 we were back in the car, heading north to Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle where Ellis had a family show at 11 am (soundcheck at 10). I drove this leg and put on some boring podcasts in hope that he might catch a little more sleep in the front seat, as I knew that he’d actually have to work at that show and all I had to do was sit cross legged in the audience and make animal noises.  I had never seen him to a kids show before and it was a lot of fun. The kids in the audience were obviously familiar with his children’s records, and he was really interactive and respectful with the kids, while making aside jokes to the adults that went over the littl’uns heads. It reminded me of going to Barry Louis Polisar concerts with my siblings when we were little.

After getting lost in the parking lot (think Spinal Tap but folk-style) we drove the final leg into Seattle. Since it was my first time in town, Ellis took me to the legendary Pike’s Place Market where I got an incredible view of the Olympic Mountain Range and saw the guys throwing fish at one of the market stalls! We then went out for sushi, which gave me enough energy to introduce Ellis to the world of tea and crumpets, which gave us both enough energy to drive to the home of our host for the evening, where I immediately found my guest bed and slept hard until showtime.

I should mention that the weather on the trip has been amazing — after years about hearing how gloomy and wet it is in the PNW, I landed during what the locals tell me is an “unusual” bout of clear blue sunny skies. Personally, I’m pretty sure that the weather is always like this and they just spread rumors that it’s rainy all the time to keep people from moving here :-)

After Ellis left on Monday, I got to spend a couple days visiting with Jenn Grinels (my dear friend and musical hero who moved here about 6 months ago) and we had a blast! Yesterday we went to her local dinner, coffeeshop and gym, and then we met some friends for take out and beach time. Yes, beach time! I learned that there are beaches in Seattle (so did Jenn, she didn’t know). We went to this great Carribean food shack and got sandwiches to go and followed our friends to an honest-to-goodness sandy beach full of ecstatic northwesterners who were barbecuing, playing frisbee and soaking up the last rays of sunshine before it set behind the mountains, as if they were afraid it wouldn’t come back. You would have to count us among the ecstatic; we spread out a tarp, poured some wine and chatted till the yellow face was long gone and one of us had to confess to being cold.

I ended my time in Seattle this morning with a visit to a spa. I know what folk singer can afford spa time? Well, through the magic of the internet, I was fortunate enough to become acquainted with the fine folks at HydroPeptide, the skin care line that I have been using, loving and talking all my friends into trying for the past few years. Since they are based in Seattle, I asked if I could come tour the facility where my favorite potions are made and they offered to help “keep my skin healthy from tour” with a little facial love. HELL to the YES! Wow it was much needed. There was probably dirt from three time zones in my pores…but not anymore! (Yes, I know I am being girly, but given the fact that I live in a car, often making do with the absolute minimum of clean laundry and have more than once had beer and cardboard pizza for dinner, you are going to have to bare with me on this one :-)

I got to meet with a representative from the company and tell her how much I love their products (I seriously do, one of my bests from high school owns a spa and got me hooked on their products a couple years ago). We had a nice lunch and then I hopped on this bus, still feeling glowy from the ultra-decadent facial (and the glorious sunset last night). I heart HydroPeptide! Whoohooo!

The best news is that my time in the northwest isn’t over! Now I am heading up to Portland, where I will meet up with Raina and EMMETT (her adorable 18 month old baby boy) and the three of us will tour together for another week. Shows coming up in Portland, Corvalis, Eugene and Bellingham.  This bus is getting pretty close to Portlandia, but before it gets all the way there I’m going to try to figure out how to post some pictures from the last few days’ travels…

Thanks for staying tuned!
Please keep in touch :-)

xoxo

~becca   

<p><img alt=”image” height=”400” src=”http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/8720856715_9bf0329cbe.jpg” width=”400” /></p>

<p>This is what Portland looked like when I stepped off the plane on Thursday! All green and sparkling and moss and blooming and beautiful!

I’ve always heard that the coffee up in the northwest is gourmet and I must admit…even though I quit drinking caffeine last year, I have been treating myself to decaf soy/almond milk lattes daily. Kinda silly, I know, to drink a latte that lacks caffeine and dairy and therefore has none of the properties of an actual latte but it’s definitely delicious and better than nothing :-)

Would I ever get used to looking out the window and seeing this? Oregon is pretty…

Sunday morning song time with Ellis Paul! All I had to do was sit cross legged on the floor and make animal noises, it was a pretty sweet gig :-)

Just another Monday morning in Seattle

Baby birds! Living in the wind chime on Bill Lippe’s porch! Too precious….

Sunset on the beach in Seattle!

EPILOGUE:

In the time since I started writing this post, this bus made it most of the way from Seattle to Portland. The driver came on the overhead to tell us that he was pleased to announce that we were ahead of schedule and would be arrivi—- wait a minute. I have to pull the bus over. I am sorry, he said, but I have to pull the bus over. 

Turns out, the bus didn’t want to be ahead of schedule, so it overheated. We are now stopped on the side of the road, waiting for directions from the main office. 

Perhaps the mellow vibe of the northwest has permeated to my core (or maybe it was the amazing facial this morning), but I am feeling very relaxed about this. The driver is being helpful, informative, apologetic and kind. The passengers are mostly being cool about it, although a few of them clearly just want to *sound* like they are being cool about it and quietly grumbling to each other about various schemes to demand free travel vouchers from the Bolt Bus company (quoth Woody Allen: “This food is so terrible! And the portions are so small!”). There is also one young-ish girl sitting in the back, talking very loud smack on her cell phone, oblivious to all the eye rolling around her. I just want to bonk her on the head with her phone and ask her if she realizes how lucky she is that this is her biggest problem right now.

My fellow travelers are filing back onto the bus, smelling of gas station hot dogs. The bus has begun moving again, limping to the nearest mechanic shop where we will be rescued by another bus. Time marches on, the world continues to spin and the weather continues to be relentlessly beautiful.

Thanks again for following along in my travels. 
Never a dull moment!
xo
~becca

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT!
(April 23, 2013)

I’m very excited to announce that in a week I will be leaving for my first ever tour in the Pacific Northwest! Not only is this my first time ever touring in this region, it’s actually my first time visiting at all. I’m stoked to cross Oregon and Washington off of the list of states I have performed in (they will be numbers 41 & 42, respectively). I’ve been looking forward to making it to this part of the country for YEARS, and I think now I have lined up not just one but two tours that will make it worth the wait: first I will be opening for and performing with the inimitable Ellis Paul and then I will team up with Oregon-to-Texas transplant Raina Rose, who happens to be one of my favorite living songwriters on earth. It’s going to be an amazing two weeks!

If you’ve got a moment, please help make this maiden voyage a success by sending word to your friends in Oregon and Washington — text message, email are all effective. I’ve also heard that the dream of the 1890’s is alive in Portland, so carrier pigeon or pony express might also get the job done. However you are comfortable communicating, PLEASE let your friends know that we’re coming in town and that you think they’d enjoy the show. Here are all the dates:

5.2 The Alberta Rose *
Portland, OR

5.3 Unitarian Center *
Ashland, OR

5.4 Cozmic Cafe *
Eugene, OR

5.5 Lippe House *
Seattle, WA

5.9 Salon 13 +
Portland, OR

5.10 The Laurelthirst +
Portland, OR

5.11 Harris Bridge Winery +
Philomath, OR

5.12 Mother’s House +
Eugene, OR

5.15 The Green Frog +
Bellingham, WA

* Opening for Ellis Paul!
+ Co-Billing with Raina Rose!

Thanks so much for reading and helping to spread the word!
If you’re going to be at one of these shows, drop me a note in the comments and let me know which one/s — I’ll keep an eye out for you!
xoxo
~becca

with Raina Rose at Guero’s on Wednesday, March 13 2013

SXSW REDUX
April 1, 2013

Ok, so it’s been a couple weeks since the crazy swirl of SXSW ended, but I still want to re-cap what little of it I can remember for you.

First, for the uninitiated: SXSW is the heavily trademarked acronym for South by Southwest, a giant music conference held every spring in Austin, TX. Allegedly it began a few decades ago as a meeting of independent record labels and musicians, but the conference I have been attending on and off for the past 6 years is something of a corporate carnival. Case in point: from the street, walking from one showcase to another, I saw LL Cool J on a jumbotron, performing a set to a crowd assembled beneath a 50-foot tall inflatable Doritos vending machine.

During SXSW, every enclosed space in Austin becomes a venue. All bars and nightclubs host music at practically all hours, and there are also shows in restaurants, cafes, record stores, parking lots, office buildings, hotel rooms, clothing shops and everywhere in between. The official conference hosts lectures, panel discussions, a trade show floor and thousands of official shows every night (there are 100 or more “official” venues hosting music from 8 pm - 2 am for 5 straight nights).  All this official fun is kind of expensive to participate in (limited access begins for around $400, full access costs $800 or more), but that’s ok because there are TONS of unofficial shows all over town.  Unofficial shows are not allowed to use the aforementioned SXSW trademark, and are technically unaffiliated with the conference. They are usually free to attend and most bands that play official showcases also play unofficials, so even without expensive credentials you can usually see all the bands on your wishlist. There are also tons of corporate parties happening - companies like Redbull, Converse, Target, etc host parties day and night, trying to promote their brand by providing food, booze, music and fun to crafty conference goers who are in the know.

I’m always a little unclear about what my goals are in attending, but since a ton of fabulous musicians and industry professionals of all levels flock to my backyard once a year, it certainly seems in my best interest to at least try to participate. After years of attending various networking events, I have concluded that trying to meet people, schmooze, network, etc is all lame. Catching up with old friends and exploring new music, however, is awesome. So in recent years I have focused my efforts on supporting the performances of people i love and getting recommendations about bands to check out. I focus on the music and let the business take care of itself. Or not. But either way I see some awesome shows. Let’s take it day-by-day…

WEDNESDAY:

Carrie Elkin & The Sea, Sea and Nels Andrews at the annual Comboplate Booking party at Guero’s (a seriously fun unofficial day party that raises money for an Austin soup kitchen every year). I had to leave before The Birds of Chicago, which was a shame. 

THURSDAY:

I had breakfast with my good friend Moldover, who is a bad ass electronic musician/songwriter currently based in San Francisco. 

He and I parted ways and I met up with Raina Rose and Drew Pressman to go see Nicki Bluhm at the SXSJ party in the parking lot of the San Jose. There was a makeshift flea market set up and Raina and I bought new dresses just before the show. We also advised Steve Poltz in some key pearlsnap shirt purchases. Afterwards I wandered out to lunch with Steve and his band, where his bass player John recounted in vivid details the Dave Grohl keynote speech he had seen that morning… I have since watched the speech online and I’ve gotta say that John’s re-telling was impressively spot-on.

After lunch I walked to Raina’s house and hung for a bit before we all packed in the car and drove into the heart of downtown to play a show together at a bar called Logan’s with the magical Lex Land. This show came together last minute but turned out to be a lot of fun. A bunch of friends came out to support, including my friend Charles who then came show-hopping with me for the rest of the night. Raina and Drew were kind enough to schlep my gear home for me so I wasn’t saddled with it all night, and on our way to the car we met some guys launching a mobile photobooth business — they literally had a photobooth hooked up to a bicycle, pedicab style. Raina had the good sense to ask if we could get in and take pictures, which we did. It was super fun!

Charles and I then walked on the madness of 6th street for a little bit (6th Street is sort of like the Bourbon Street of Austin, and SX is its Mardi Gras, minus the open containers). It was shoulder to shoulder people, you could almost lift your feet and just get dragged by the current. We ended up at a space I had never seen before called The Palm Door where we saw Pearl & The Beard (who BLEW my MIND!) followed by Gregory Alan Isakov (who was quite wonderful).  Pearl & The Beard’s set, someone to my left shushed the audience audibly when the band stepped off stage to perform a cappella — i turned to smile my appreciation towards the shutter and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was someone I knew: Dan Molad, a great drummer who I went to college with who is now playing in the super buzzy band Lucius.

We ducked out of the Palm Door and headed across the street to the Hilton Garden Inn where Carrie Elkin was performing on the 18th floor at midnight as part of the official Red House Record Label showcase. Earlier in the evening, while I was performing at Logan’s, her longtime partner Danny Schmidt proposed to her on that same stage during his showcase (in song form. TOO precious). The room was still crackling with magic and excitement and I was really happy to get to hear her sing again. 

After Carrie’s show we headed back to the Palm Door where we heard Dan Bern, one of my favorite living songwriters, close the night out with an awesome 1 am set.  I was pleased but not surprised to bump into David Berkeley, a wonderful New Mexico by way of Atlanta/San Francisco/Corsica at the bar. After the show Charles, sweet wonderful Charles, drove me home and I fell deep into sleep just a few minutes shy of 3 am.

FRIDAY

Friday started early! I had early morning coffee with Monica Hopman of Thinkpress Publicity, who helped me spread the word about Circus Heart last fall. After that I headed over to the Chateau Something Fancy for a really cool annual women’s brunch — there were ladies there from all over the country who work in all fields of the music industry. 

From there I walked over to an outdoor park in downtown Austin where my alma matter, Berklee College of Music, hosted their annual alumni showcase. It was a really fun event, though it occurred to me on the walk over that I had basically signed up for a college reunion that I was going to have to sing at. I began to get nervous, which is a little atypical for me — honestly, since performing on The Voice I haven’t found many performance experiences scary (not that singing on TV gave me confidence, per se, but it definitely clarified the difference between singing to be judged and singing for an audience that is just out to be entertained). For some reason, however, I got a little nervous about this show, especially when I realized I was performing solo between two really loud rock bands… Then I got onstage and remembered: singing is what I love to do. And I don’t care what anyone thinks of me :-)

I had a lot of fun! It was a great set, and a wonderful reminder of why I love what I do. When I got off stage, I was greeted by my friend Sanjay Kothari, who is on tour for the first time with the Songs for Kids Foundation; they are traveling for almost a full year performing at every children’s hospital in the US. I’m very proud of him and had fun showing him off :-)

We left downtown for a little bit and stopped at my house to visit and rest before heading back into the fray for my sweet 9 pm showcase at a local coffeeshop. After that we wandered the streets a bit, barhopped and watched an impromptu group of college students start a rowdy jam of 90’s hits. At 11 we saw Steve Poltz play at the Hilton Garden Inn (same room where I had seen Carrie Elkin the night before and, I realize now, where I saw Ed Sheeran play an acoustic set at 2 am last year). If you’ve never seen Steve Poltz play live, you owe it to yourself to check it out: I’ve never seen a performer more fully in the moment. He is completely comfortable in his own heart and it shines outward in every performance. Sanjay, who had spent almost every day of the past 2 months performing at children’s hospitals, was completely lit up by the performance. It’s always fun to see someone you love enjoying a set by a band you love, but this was even more fun than usual.

SATURDAY

Saturday started with the Folk Alliance showcase at Threadgills, which was a wonderful opportunity to see a lot of bands that I know and love: Doug & Telisha, Amy Speace, The Howlin Brothers and a few more. I played a fun set at 1 pm, packed up in a rush and headed over to The Whip In to play my last set of the conference at 3. It was great to see friends at both shows, and nice to be done performing. I had an ambitious itinerary of music I wanted to spend the rest of Saturday watching and listening to…but after getting dropped off on South Congress, catching half a Steve Poltz show (I left after a dude the size of a refrigerator drunkenly passed out behind me, knocking into me pretty hard. Seemed a little extreme for 4:30 pm) and a bit of Lissie’s show at the SXSJ extravaganza, I walked over the Raina Rose’s house and spent a few hours chatting with her, playing with her baby and eating take-out that a friend brought over (turns out that when you have a baby people bring you food!). So I ended up missing some of the music I had planned to see, but the change of pace was nice.

From there I ventured out to the East Side of Austin, where I hunkered down at The White Horse to see Wood & Wire, a bluegrass band that some of my friends are in…I hadn’t seen them play a proper show before and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. No matter how you feel about bluegrass, I highly recommend that you check them out — their songs are a lot of fun and their live show is a party. During the show I sent out a snarky tweet that the front two rows of their audience was all ladies, probably due to the heart-throb status of all of the band members…but I say good for them! Anyone who can get a bar full of college girls enthusiastic about traditional acoustic music is doing something very right :-)

That was where my night ended. I drove myself home and slept deeply, satisfied that I had enjoyed SXSW to the max extent that I possibly could. Sunday after SX is always a nice denoument; a few showcases still going on, meetings and visits with folks who didn’t want to fight the crowds at the airport. I filmed a performance and interview for Secret TV and then had dinner with the incomparable Jackie Indrisano (this is our second year eating together on the Sunday of south by, I think we’re starting a tradition). I capped the whole thing off with a margarita party with all of my friends who were still in town — it was a marvelous gathering and a great way to end the crazy week. 

I have clearly gone on much longer than I meant to about the madness that is SXSW. If you think you’d like to come to Austin in the spring and cram a year’s worth of music (and walking…and drinking…and talking…) into 5 short days then you should come hang out next year! I’d book your hotel room soon, though, things fill up fast!

Thanks for following along in my travels :-) Hope I get a chance to sing for you in person soon!

xoxo

~becca

PS: Here are links to some of the musicians I name-checked in this blog, and others that I got to see during the conference. I suggest you make yourself a nice playlist with all these fine folks on it! You won’t regret it :-)

Carrie Elkin

The Sea, The Sea

Nels Andrews

The Birds of Chicago

Moldover

Raina Rose

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers

Steve Poltz

Lex Land

John Craigie

Pearl & The Beard

Gregory Alan Isakov

Danny Schmidt

Doug & Telisha

Amy Speace

The Howlin Brothers

Lissie

Wood & Wire

Robby Hecht

HOME! SWEET & SALTY HOME!
(March 7, 2013)

So happy to be home! I can’t believe it has been so long since I have written in this blog. Actually, wait. Yes I can. Let me just catch you up by saying that things have been fun! The holidays were a blur, as they always are. January was nice — I played a weekly residency in Austin with delightful Raina Rose, and also travelled to NC for some fun shows. After the residency ended I toured up through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Spent the evening of the super bowl in a cozy cabin in the Ozarks watching Downton Abbey. I think I even took a bubble bath. Spent a couple days hiking and window shopping, played a few more gigs and got back to Austin just in time to pack up and fly to Toronto for Folk Alliance.

Folk Alliance was incredible, as it always is. Imagine 2000 touring musicians and their enablers crammed into a hotel several levels fancier than any of them can usually afford to stay in for 4 days and nights…It was a seemingly constant rotation of mind-blowing performances, exhilarating late night jams and inspiring conversations. (If you’d like to simulate the experience from home, make yourself a playlist that includes David Berkeley, Tim Easton, Birds of Chicago, Steve Poltz, Nels Andrews, Robby Hecht, CR Avery, Devon Sproule, Phoebe Hunt, AJ Roach, Natalia Zukerman, RJ Cowdery, Doug & Telisha, 3 Penny Acre, Ana Egge, Corin Raymond, Connor Garvey, Anna Vogelzang, Jonathan Byrd and Antje Duvekot. When you get to the end, go back to the beginning. Don’t dream of sleeping, and restrict your diet to coffee, peanut butter crackers and whiskey. That should get you pretty close, anyhow :-)

After Folk Alliance, I hitched a ride with Brad Yoder down to Pittsburgh, where I met up with Jann Klose for a 6-day blind tour (he and I had never met each other and, although we became very close friends by the end of it, at first it definitely felt awkwardly like our booking agents had set us up for a 144-hour long blind date).

I flew home to Austin on Monday and I have been scrambling all week to get unpacked and ready for SXSW. I’m doing lots of work on booking future tour dates, mostly to distract myself from the fact that I only have two shows this month and things will be pretty lean for me until April. Funny - when I am on the road, I long for days off, stretches of time that I could spend home gardening, visiting with friends or writing songs…but when those expanses of time appear, I anxiously spend the minutes trying to book shows for the future. Years of being a hungry touring folk singer have trained me to associate activity with prosperity, and it’s hard for me to be home and not gigging without fearing for my livelihood. Note to self: work on that.

One of the things I DO love about being home is having control of my own kitchen. No more Wendy’s Apple Pecan Chicken salads for me! (err…this month, at least :-) Nope, I’m picking veggies from the garden and breaking in my new food processor. First thing I made was a round of Nutritional Widsom’s Chocolate Brownie Bites (which I prefer to call Chocolate Salty Balls…so much more descriptive). Next, I decided to challenge myself by combining that recipe with Mary Agnew’s No Bake Peanut Butter Pie. The result was super delicious, and after posting a pic on Instagram, I decided to post the recipe for all to see. Enjoy! And if you give it a try, let me know how it goes.

Hope this finds you well and that our paths cross soon!
With peace and love,
~becca

CHOCOLATE SALTY PEANUT BUTTER BANANA BITES!

CRUST Ingredients

2 cup walnuts

2 cup dates

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 tablespoons cocoa

several dashes of sea salt

2 teaspoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons dried coconut flakes

CRUST Method:
Add dates to food processor and process until very crumbly. Add walnuts, vanilla, cocoa, salt, coconut flakes and coconut oil and process until the mixture is thoroughly blended. Then transfer to an 8x8 inch glass dish. Using a piece of wax paper or parchment paper (or your fingers!) smash mixture into pan and pour desired filling on top, or refrigerate until ready to use.

FILLING Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup peanut butter
4 1/2 medium extra ripe bananas
3 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 tsp salt
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted

FILLLING Method:
Blend everything together very, very well. Pour into prepared piecrust and freeze until firm. Remove from freezer, thaw slightly, cut into small squares. Serve OR re-freeze squares on a cookie sheet. One re-frozen, they can be stored in a tupperware and make convenient little bite-sized sweet treats!

SHOP LOCAL & AWESOME!
(November 28, 2012)

My personal goal for the holidays this year is to give gifts that are either handmade, locally produced or antique and nifty. I’m doing this because

a) I think stuff like that is more charming and personal,

b) I think it’s a fun challenge and,

c) Yes, largely because I’d like to spend my hard-earned money supporting local artisans and business owners.

If you’re interested in taking this challenge with me, I thought I’d clue you into some artisans and small-business geniuses that I plan to support with my gift purchasing power this season.

SPOILER ALERT: If you are related to me, and/or on speed dial in my phone, it is entirely possible that you will receive one or more of these items for Christmas. You have been warned.

In no particular order:

MAKE STUFF TOGETHER: 24 Simple Projects to Create as a Family
by Kathie Sever (yes, wife of Matt Sever, aka Matt the Electrician. She is also the brilliance behind the handmade Ramonster Wear clothing line, who was just hired to custom make a shirt for Matthew McConaghey to wear in a movie. Again). This is a great gift to give to parents! Or kids :-) 

CLICK HERE to find it on Amazon!!
CLICK HERE to check out the awesome western wear site!

FOOD IN JARS: Preserving Small Batches Year Round
by Marisa McClellan. I love this book! I love everything I have tasted that has come out of this book! This book would be a great gift for anyone remotely interested in cooking or canning, or just plain good food writing. I have spent many nights on a couch mere feet away from the Philadelphia kitchen where these recipes were tested and lovingly photographed. I highly endorse everything about this book, CLICK HERE to check it out on Amazon! GREAT DNA ALERT: The author of this book is sister to one of my favorite people/musicians on the planet, a one miss Raina Rose. More on her later…

YOKOO
DA-YUM am I proud of her! I knew the brilliant mind behind the YOKOO empire in a former life, when she worked a job that she hated and spent nights knitting in her adorably photogenic apartment.  When she walked out of there because she thought she could make the finances work running her Etsy shop, I remember thinking about how that was sort of like me putting my stuff in storage and hitting the road fulltime…and how scary that was. I’ve truly enjoyed watching her pioneer a couture knitting movement, with write ups in Vogue and other fancy fashion magazines. As of today, she has her own handmade line at Anthropologie! Whoa. But you should check her out on Etsy — http://www.etsy.com/shop/Yokoo

CHANDLER THE ROBOT
I met Meg briefly when I was on Season 1 of The Voice with her sister Dia. As soon as I saw Meg’s line of weirdo robot jewelery I was in L-E-R-V. The website and line have both expanded a lot since I first started following her, and I’m guessing this is a sign that she is getting the recognition she deserves for her truly high-quality artistry! These pieces are fun, funky, gorgeous, extremely well made and very affordable. Great for any cool girl you know, and many guys too :-)
Check it out — www.chandlertherobot.com/

ROGUE DE LA VOGUE
It is quite likely that if this Etsy shop weren’t run by my super cute younger cousin I would have no idea it existed, because it is WAY cooler than I am :-) That being said, I really want one of these denim jackets with the shoulder spikes (even though I would totally injure myself wearing…worth it!). The pieces in this store are all vintage/upcycled/modified with great taste. Great gift for any of the fashionable young (numerically or emotionally) in your life. Check ‘em out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/RoguedelaVogue

CUT PAPER ART BY GRACE PARK
Grace is an extremely talented musician who has recently begun making her living as a visual artist — she creates extraordinary pieces of out cut paper that look like vivid, intricate paintings. If you want to track down one of her pieces, best place to start is with her profile on Deviant Art. You can send her a note through that site or on FB to discuss purchasing a specific piece. I also know that her work is currently on display in San Marcos, TX. I’ll update if I find out the exact location….

MUSIC!
Lastly but not leastly, music always makes a great holiday gift! Remember, you can’t stuff a stocking full of MP3s! Here are a few songwriters that I LOVE who have beautiful/recent albums that would make cool gifts.

• Carrie Elkin

• Nels Andrews

• Raina Rose

• Jenn Grinels

• AJ Roach

• Alexa Woodward

• Robby Hecht

• The Milk Carton Kids

• Danny Schmidt

• Carsie Blanton

• Shannon Wurst

When buying music from an indie artist, it usually benefits the artist the most if you purchase straight from their website. After that I would recommend CD Baby and then, if you truly can’t find it anywhere else, Amazon.com. Just a thought.

OH! And I’m still selling all my records CHEAP at www.loeberecoveryact.wordpress.com, please check it out if you get a chance :-)

Thanks for taking a moment to read this blog — if you have any other suggestions about websites or craft fairs where handmade, local or antique gifts can be found, please post ‘em in the comments!

Hope this finds you well! xoxo

~becca

PS: The photo posted above was taken at a shopping mall in Dallas on Friday…at 1 AM! Let’s avoid the madness and support small businesses, y’all! Wooot!

I am so proud of my friend Raina Rose. She is truly an artist of the people and for the people; her Kickstarter currently has 562 donors who have contributed $17,984 towards helping her create what I believe will be one of the best albums of 2013. The reason these numbers are significant is this: no single donor has contributed more than $360. The average donation is currently $32. Raina’s music is poetic, playful, soulful and sexy. It is important to people - not just rich people, but all people, and nothing says that as clearly as this Kickstarter campaign.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rainarose/raina-roses-brand-new-record-a-family-affair

I believe there are a few more donors out there for Raina, lurking in the shadows. Maybe they’re waiting to see what happens with the project, or maybe they haven’t heard of it yet and are waiting for you to share the URL on your Facebook page, or send it their way via email. Whatever the case may be, listen up: you have a little more than 24 hours to reserve your copy of this album at a remarkably low price, and to claim the creative reward of your fancy. Do yourself a favor and bring this music into your life: it is beautiful, it is real and it is for all of us.

Mind Over Money
November 11, 2012

A week ago this morning I walked outside and saw that the window of my car had been smashed. At precisely that moment, I realized to my horror that I had left my purse, full of important identifying documents, banking information, objects of sentimental importance and, oh yes, the past several days worth of gig money on the floor board of my car the night before.

“How on earth could I let this happen?” you might ask (I did). All I can offer as an explanation is exhaustion. I have been away from home since September 10th, in which time I have driven over 9,000 miles and performed dozens of shows in almost 20 states of the country - including two last Saturday night. When I parked the car at 3 am, I locked the front doors and immediately began pulling gear out of the back seat (guitar, overnight bag, laptop, chargers, toiletries, etc). I made sure all the doors were locked and went inside, where I collapsed, slept deeply for about 5 hours, and woke up to find my window smashed. I simply hadn’t thought about my purse since I got out of the front seat and began collecting gear to take inside. I’ve run through the scenario repeatedly in my mind for the past week, and all I can say for sure is that I would not have let that happen on Day 1.
54 days is a long time to be on tour.

The shows on Saturday night were a blast, albeit slightly stressful/hectic. It was a hometown CD Release Show, and in addition to the usual nerves associated with wanting to put on a great show in my hometown with a band I only play with 2-3 times per year, I had also decided, for the first time, to add a second show (meaning I was responsible for selling twice as many tickets).

The venue had also, on about 24 hours notice, added two “emergency” shows for Brandi Carlile, one of my very favorite touring songwriters, who had suffered a few costly cancellations that week due to Hurricane Sandy. In addition to my sets at 7 & 9:30, the venue was now also hosting Brandi and her wonderful band at 2:30 and 11:30 (which meant there was a lot of setting up and tearing down of gear throughout the day).

Although everyone at the venue was incredibly well organized and respectful, it was still a stressful day.  Throughout my sets I was aware that the clock was ticking, and when my second show was over the lobby and bar of the venue were so crowded with incoming fans for the Brandi Carlile show that most of my fans and hometown supporters took off immediately to avoid the crush of people trying to get the best seats for the late show.

Once the pandemonium had died down, I realized with dismay that I had sold about 10% as much merch after the second show as I had after the first, although there had actually been more people at the second show. Things like this happen — I often joke that in my line of work, the only thing you can count on is that you can’t count on anything. Money comes and goes in mysterious ways, and you can never be sure of what you are going to earn at a particular show until it is in your hand. It is not for the faint of heart. I don’t normally mention about this sort of thing, but I bring it up now because it comes into the story later…

I stayed for Brandi’s second show and had a wonderful time. I believe her last performance in Atlanta was at a 1200 seat theater called The Tabernacle, and her fans were treated to a beautiful, lively, intimate performance in which she told stories and played requests for about 90 minutes straight.

I left the venue with mixed emotions — I always love playing at Eddie’s Attic, and I had a great time seeing Brandi’s show, but I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that I had not gotten a better opportunity to sell my wares after my hometown CD Release Show. I shook off the funk over burgers and milkshakes at the Majestic Diner with my friend Lizzy. She had an early bus to catch, so we headed to the condo we were staying at for the evening where, as I mentioned early, we unloaded the car in a hurry and went straight to bed.

Lizzy was actually the one to discover the broken glass. “Oh my God…” she said, as I trailed out behind her, lugging all the gear I had carried in 5 hours before. The next few hours were a flurry of phone calls; cab for Lizzy, police, credit cards, banks. My dad. He lives about 45 minutes from where I was and I called him just because I needed a friend to hold my hand and help me make sense of what I was dealing with.

The first emotion I dealt with was fear; there was a lot of money in that purse, my last several gigs worth, and all of it was already allocated in my mind (I had to pay the band, bills, rent, etc). I also felt violated, as anyone who has been robbed has experienced. Mostly, though, I was very angry at myself for being so careless. My gas tank was almost empty and I had $0 in my possession, so my dad gave me a crisp twenty for gas and we each headed back to his house in our separate cars.

On the drive, the numbness in my head began to clear and I had a very loud realization: my gigs the night before had been wonderful. The audiences were the perfect blend of reverent and rowdy, generous with their energy and incredibly engaged. The band, with whom I had only been able to rehearse once prior to the show, was thoroughly prepared and brought creativity and vitality to our live arrangements of the songs on the new album. We were tight, and I felt more comfortable performing with a band than I can recall having ever felt before. My voice, which has been suffering some fatigue on this tour, felt well rested and free. I had a great, great show. Two of them, in fact.

I had lost sight of all of this after the show and allowed my memory of the experience to be clouded because of money. Money that was now gone. I could have been paid twice as much by the club, or half, or sold twice as many CDs and none of it would have mattered because it was now all gone. All I am left with is the memory of the experience and no one can steal that from me.

And it was wonderful.

I know we need money to survive, but the theory I am working with this week is that maybe we do not need it the way we think we do.

***

Thanks for following my journey! I am deeply grateful to the members of my community for making it possible for my to pursue my passion in life. I just re-read the sentence a few times…It’s truly staggering. Thank you for being part of this adventure with me.
xoxo
~becca

PS: I’ll write more about this later, I’m sure, but for now I want to point you to a link: www.loeberecoveryact.wordpress.com. I’m selling CDs super cheap before the holidays to try to make up what I lost in the theft! Please check it out :-) xoxo

SWALLOWED BY THE SEA, Live with the amazing PS22 Chorus!

TAKE ME BACK TO PS 22!
(October 23rd, 2012)
Circus Heart Tour, Day 43

I am 8,000 miles and 43 days into my Circus Heart CD Release Tour. Traveling this distance, and for this much time, is definitely challenging and can honestly be a little mind-numbing. At the beginning of the tour, I resolved to do as much sight-seeing and side-adventuring as possible, to soak up as much of the terrain I’d be traveling through as possible. So in addition to the work and daily grind of lugging gear and slinging songs I have, in past 43 days, skirted the borders of Mexico and Canada, dipped my toes in the Pacific Ocean, driven up the historic Pacific Coast Highway, sung in the wedding of two of my dearest friends, learned how to play slot machines in Nevada, seen the Aspen trees in Colorado for the very first time, crossed the Missourri and Mississippi Rivers, sampled gourmet meatballs in Manhattan and peeped some glorious autumn leaves in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont.

So far so good, yes? But today I did one of the most incredible things I have done in my life: I sang with the PS 22 Chorus in Staten Island, NY.

PS 22 is the largest public school in Staten Island - 1200 students, kindergarten through 5th grade. Their 5th grade chorus has become the stuff of legends, as their charismatic young director posts videos of them singing soulful covers of an interesting array of modern and classic pop/rock tunes online. Their Youtube videos have gone viral.  Last year they performed at the Academy Awards. And on Oprah with Katy Perry.

I have been a huge fan of their Youtube videos for the past several years. Last spring, when I saw a video of them singing with my good friend Alexa Woodward, I worked up the nerve to email chorus director Gregg Breinberg to introduce myself and let him know I’d be in town and would love to meet the chorus. Luckily for me, it turns out that he was a fan from my time on The Voice, and he invited me to come sing with them.

I met them in the auditorium today at 4 pm sharp, with no idea what to expect from the experience in person. I walked in to find the kids seated in folding chairs, facing their teacher Gregg (‘Mr. B,’ as they call him) who was sitting on a piano bench at the front of the room, playing guitar. The kids were boisterous and started spontaneously clapping as soon as I walked through the double doors. Mr. B suggested that they sing something they had been working on for me, so I sat on the stage at the front and watched in wonder as Mr. B strummed a few chords and the frenzy the kids had just been whipped into dissipated instantly.  They closed their eyes and began to bob their heads, unconsciously swaying to the beat while they sang “Wonderwall” by Oasis.

Technically, they sounded wonderful but what floored me was the emotion behind it; so naturally assured, ethereal yet plainspoken, effortlessly blended in precise harmonies. As the song ended their eyes opened and they grinned from side to side, watching each other as they all immediately began clapping and cheering. This is how they ended every song they sung all day.

The next half hour was goofy and fun. Mr. B “auditioned” me for the choir in front of everyone, and decided I would fit in nicely with the alto section. This was a major identity shift for me, as I always sang soprano in choruses growing up. “That’s ok,” he said. “You could do both, but we would want you in the alto section. What happens, kids, to your voice as you get older?”

“Lower!” They all screamed, “It gets lower!”

He winked at me and sent a student off to grab me a lavender PS 22 Alto shirt for the 2013 school year.

Before we began singing again, we let the kids ask some questions, and there was an endless stream of hands shooting up in the air with questions, questions and more questions. What is it like traveling so much? What is your favorite place you have been to?  What was it like being on The Voice? Did you get to meet Cee Lo? How did you get onto show? Did you sing in the chorus when you were in school? On a scale of 1-10, how scared do you get when you perform for people? What is the first thing you ever sang? Why do you like to sing? If you could travel back to any time in history, when would you want to go to? Do you have any talents besides singing?

At this point, I showed them all how I can bend my pinky finger straight back, flat against the back of my hand, and they shrieked and screamed and covered their eyes and all tried to do it to their own pinkies. I became immediately concerned that someone would break their hand.

Luckily, Mr B suggested that we start singing at that point, so I pulled out my guitar and we jammed together on my songs “Swallowed by the Sea” and “Mercy” (at this point I would like to mention that Mr. B is an amazing piano player).

As I mentioned earlier, I have been on the road now for almost 7 weeks. I’ve played dozens of shows on this CD release tour, and I’ve probably sang those songs hundreds of times. I can’t describe how incredible it felt to hear them get new life coming through the hearts, minds and lovely voices of these incredible singers. Yes, I got kinda misty. Yes, I tried to hide it. I think I succeeded too. Mostly, I was just having too much FUN to get caught up in sentiment!

Since we ended our jam time with my song “Mercy,” (not exactly appropriate for kids, but one of only a few on the new record that doesn’t overtly mentioned boozy sexytimes or some equally inappropriate topic), we decided to pick things up and play through a couple cover songs that they’re currently working on. Mr B pulled up soloists and they treated me to their renditions of “Titanium” and “Dynamite.” I don’t know those songs very well, so I tried to compensate by dancing. Hopefully those videos do not surface.

And just like that, it was over. Two incredibly happy hours had flown by. The chaperones began reading off lists, separating the kids into groups to be returned to their parents. I wasn’t ready to leave, I was dying to talk to Gregg, to bombard him with questions about the wonderful work he does with the chorus. I had one question burning on every lobe of my brain…’How?’ How is this possible? How do you do this? What is your secret?

The amazing thing about what Gregg does is that he does this with different kids each school year. It’s not a matter of having a couple stellar soloists, or magical water that somehow makes a particular group of 5th graders freakishly good singers… The fact is, children are FULL of this beauty, joy and creative energy and Gregg has the the right mixture of musical talent, charisma and enthusiasm to help them express it. He gives them a place to channel it, a vocabulary with which to develop it, and tells them that they are great at it. Both the language he uses speaking with them and his attitude towards them are empowering and respectful.

It all very much reminded me of a woman named Suzanne Shull, who happened to be my middle school music teacher. She made sure that there were guitars and keyboards available in the music room of our public school for all students who were interested in learn on. On Friday mornings she came to school an hour early to teach a guitar class to any kids who wanted to learn to play. She would take the time to learn and teach me the songs I wanted to know, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be doing music professionally if it wasn’t for her. We are still very close, and as I sat observing and participating in Gregg’s class, it made me excited to call her and tell her that I’ve discovered another one of her comrades.

The last thing I stammered to him is that I hope he’s getting recognized for the incredible work he is doing, and he laughed and said that they have been “heaped with so much praise,” they couldn’t possibly need anymore. I know that they’ve got 49 million views on their Youtube channel, and have visited with Oprah, President Clinton and Carrie Underwood just in the past year, but I think that there is yet more to come. In a time when arts education is getting slashed all over the country, Gregg has taken actions that are exactly the opposite. He is just one man, but he has chosen this time, this place, this group and he has created a space that brings art into the lives of dozens of children and families in his community, to say nothing of millions of music fans world wide, every year. I don’t think I’ll be truly satisfied until he wins a Nobel Prize :-)

I think there’s video footage from my visit coming soon, but in the meantime, please check out the PS22 Chorus Blog — subscribe to their Youtube channel, check out some videos, leave some comments. I dare you not to smile :-)
Bulletproof,
~becca