Music and Friends

It's stuff like this that makes me sad that I will only be at Purchase for two more days.



A little song that Miss Laurie Anne Creus and I collaborated on. Laurie wrote the melody and tagalog words and I added harmonies and the English translation.
:)

Rediscovering Love

The joy of performing was reawakened in me this weekend.

For so long I have felt forced. I have been so focused on healing and finishing my work that I had forgotten how much I love what I do. How much I love music. I love hearing it, feeling it and giving it to people. The most amazing thing about any art form is that it has the ability to reach so many people at once, and it means something different to each individual. No two people hear a song, or see a painting or dance in the same way, and in a performance, when I'm up there I get the chance to speak to every audience member uniquely. I can carry countless messages, messages that I don't even know I'm sending out. I become a vessel for something bigger than myself. 

I am so lucky to be able to create music every day, to live an inspired life. 

Downtown Cabaret was last night. It made me remember why art is so important. It connects strangers, shoots straight to the heart and lifts us from reality for a little while.

Here's a clip of one of the songs that shoots straight to my heart. My Mama used to sing this to me as a lullaby when I was little.

Downtown Cabaret Update!!

My performance has been moved to 9:15 on Saturday, April 30th.
Check out this page to see the full performance schedule for both nights: http://www.facebook.com/pages/DownTown-Cabaret-2011/206712756015749

Performances take place between 5PM and Midnight on Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th at Gallery 151.

Come check out the great talent from Purchase college!

Here is a video of a few acts from Purchase. (Sean McVerry, Me and Joe Endozo and Kelsey Byrne.) Joe, Kelsey and I will all be performing this weekend.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11324287

Downtown Cabaret

This weekend is Purchase College's Annual Downtown Cabaret. I am very excited to be a part of it this year.
The Cabaret is a two night festival that takes place at Gallery 151, a funky art gallery in Manhattan's lower east side. Music starts at 7:00 PM and continues until Midnight on both April 29th and 30th. The lineup is an eclectic mix of singer/songwriters, bands, choirs (gospel and acapella), jazz bands and sound design. Student artwork will be featured in the gallery and there will be two collaborative dance performances. One of the dances is going to be set to my song "Alice Unraveled". I will be singing live while Breegan Kearney dances a solo. I am very excited to see what she has choreographed, we are supposed to meet this Wednesday and rehearse.
I am also performing a set on Saturday night at 10:30 PM. Joe Endozo will be accompanying me on guitar. He always plays the right licks, he has a great ear for counter melodies. It's so fun performing with him.
Here's a sneak peak of one of the songs I will possibly be performing this Friday!

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter weekend!

Camomile Honey Poached Salmon

Camomile Honey Poached Salmon with a side salad

Microwave Gourmet!

I've been getting pretty creative with my meals lately. Trying to infuse new flavors into my food so I don't get bored. This was definitely one of my favorite microwave creations to date. The camomile and honey lightly sweeten the salmon complementing it's naturally buttery lightness for a healthy and quick dinner!

Here's the recipe:

Camomile Honey Poached Salmon
-one 6 oz Salmon Fillet (mine was frozen but I let it defrost fully before seasoning it)
-about 1/4 c strongly brewed camomile tea
-Spices: cinnamon, ginger, sea salt
-Honey

Directions: Season your salmon with sea salt, cinnamon and ginger. Place the salmon in a microwavable container with a lid. (I used a long, shallow tupperware) Pour the camomile tea over the fish so that the tea covers the bottom of the container and the salmon rests in the shallow liquid. (Do not drown your fish!) Drizzle some honey over the salmon (I probably used 1/2 T), cover the fish with the lid (leaving a small space for air to escape) and pop it in the microwave for 4-6 minutes or until the fish is cooked (depending on the thickness of your salmon).
Simple, nutritious and tasty!
Enjoy!

Album art!!

The deadline for my new album is coming up quick, so last night I sketched up an idea for the cover art.

Check it out:

It's not a finished product but you can get the idea. 

The Album will be titled "Bad Shark" and will feature nine (if I counted correctly) original songs.

We go into the studio again today. I'm so excited to start putting the finishing touches on the tracks.

Yesterday James and I wrote a really pretty violin line for tumbleweed and today my guitarist Joe and I will be finishing up the guitar parts.

I'll update on our progress soon!

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather! I love spring! :)

Back to work

Well, spring break is over, I'm back at school and hopefully ready to get some work done. I had a nice break. I love being home and I tried to give myself as much of a rest as I could. I still am exhausted though. I have a massive energy deficit that is probably going to take most of this summer to fix, but that is what summer is for I guess. Now, however I have to get some projects finished.

I've got my album with James of course, which needs to be done by early May. That doesn't give us much time at all. We still have so much to do, recording instruments, I have to do more vocal takes and parts need to be written. Yikes. I can not believe how quickly the year is moving.

I also need to get more work done on the "Alice Unraveled" project. It's just so much transcribing, and I am miserably slow. I'll just have to chip away at it.
Mike's been hard at work on the arrangements. He sent me a demo of the song "Rose Petals" a few days ago and it is absolutely haunting. I'm really liking the direction the music is taking. Mike and I make an interesting team, we have very different styles and ways of approaching music but I think they are meshing into a really unique sound. His beautiful, dark arrangements give me momentum and keep me excited about the project.

All this plus my regular classwork seem to be endlessly piling up around me, and I've got my health to worry about.
I am happy to say though that my new paleo diet has been going excellently. I've had about six pain free days in a row which is pretty incredible. I have been slowly gaining strength and energy and I am really enjoying red meat! This diet has opened up a whole new palate of flavors to play with.