Where does my head end and my toes begin?

Ah, moving. What a curse and a blessing.

I moved around a good amount as a kid and I always loved it. Claiming new territories, creating a whole new universe with new sheets, fresh paint, and a new view out the bedroom window. It always felt like a reinvention, though unless we moved to a new town, no one else saw it that way. The process of packing is the shit-suck part, but arriving, unpacking, and exploring your new digs and surrounding areas is by far and away the best. Change. It does a body good.

I have not only moved from (617) to (781), but I moved into a house instead of an apartment. I love apartments, I grew up in one till I was 8; when I would see my dad on weekends, etc. he was an apartment dweller too. Apartment=City. Sarah loves the city.

I might be among a modest few that moves into a house and first thinks ‘Jesus Christ this is a lot of space, I’m trapped’. I was thinking of all the wires and currents inside the walls. The pipes that brought water in and took it all out. The weeds in the yard, the hedges that needed to get trimmed, the heat I had to pay for, the sidewalks that needed to get shoveled, all of it felt suffocating. But the thing is, I’m actually not responsible for any of it. I don’t technically OWN the house, I only rent…. but still….. I live there with one other person, and he DOES own it. I can’t be a schlep.

Needless to say, I am getting used to it. There are still buses that go by outside my front door, I can stay up late and blast my stereo and no one cares. I can bang on the piano at 1am and no one cares. I can walk downstairs naked and do my laundry and no one cares. I don’t even need quarters! I have lots of sun in my room, a first after 9 years of near-cave living on first floors. Overall, it’s good. I needed to do some adjusting, but I like it.

At the same time I have been moving I have also started doing pre-production for The Album. I think I mentioned this before, but I’m so fucking psyched about working on this. It has been such a long time coming, and the planets are finally aligning (hopefully). Peter Moore (Count Zero, Blue Man Group, Think Tree) is producing my record, and so far we have laid out a general idea of what we think the songs should sound like. I have been a fan of Peter’s for a very long time; I have even mentioned his shows and talents a few times in these blogs. When listening to his music you are very aware that under these pop songs are nuanced complexities, arrangements, and sound design that normal humans are not capable of. He is not a normal human. He is a musical machine, a robot with emotions and desires. I have never met anyone so musically talented at so many different aspects of music. My brain hurts just watching him think.

In the studio I can very easily get talked into over-the-top, but I am consciously telling myself ‘no’. This record is about the songs, and it will be delivered, at its core, by Matt and I. However, hopefully, with a little help from friends, it will have nuances of strings, and bass, voices, and organs. I really don’t know what the fuck this is going to sound like, I just know I’m so happy and so ready to do it. And I’m so happy that Matt and Peter are my partners in crime for this.

I will give updates as things roll.

I have read some books recently that were wildly entertaining.

Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates- Tom Robbins.
Finished it. It’s a great book. Great characters, wonderfully unique story and perspective…what you can usually expect from Mr. Robbins.

Water for Elephants- Sara Guer
This was a page-turner. Not necessarily an eloquently written book, but could not put it down. It follows the days of a circus worker in the 1930s, and it’s also a love story of sorts. It’s like reading a gripping movie; you can’t wait to turn the page to see what happens next.

Music:

Joan as Police Woman- Real Life.
I bought this CD a month or two ago and wasn’t super amped for it. I thought it was ok. For some reason when I moved into the house I started to play it again and give it another try. I love it. I listen to it all the time now. The production is subtle and effective, there are guest spots by Joseph Arthur and Antony, and the vocal harmonies and accents are AWESOME. I love it.

Ok folks. Will write more as things come to pass.


Xoxo
~sarah

away we go

I have tried to write blogs for the past two months, but I don’t know where to begin. Mom was right, if people are happy they don’t call. At least I don’t.

In the past two months I have moved my house and belongings, saw the Richard Serra exhibit in NYC (astounding), rehearsed like a motherfucker, wrote a song that I love, ate lots of great food therefore gaining some poundage, agonized and exalted, saw Rufus Wainwright and Morrissey (both shows were life changing), and while doing all this I have tried to wrap my head around this feeling of lightness. And not an unbearable lightness, but a serene lightness where you have to remind yourself that you are in a moment and not just watching a movie. I am happy. I’m pretty sure that I am happy. No, I am happy. And I’m busy. And that’s my favorite. It’s a good time to make a record.

I’m pretty sure that it was 2003 that I recorded my first album. Up until that point, I barely performed in clubs or went out to see shows. I was a yellow dandelion, fresh and young, not ready to send my seeds around as far as they could reach. The album I recorded was sweet and aurally interesting. Lots of people donated their time and I was very humbled by their interest in the project. The album, though favored by some, lacks songwriting skills and is focused more on the overall sound. There are tons of layers in almost every track; the piano is a flourish and not a main component. If I knew how to imbed a photo, and if I had the photo, I would put up my high school picture as a visual representation of what that album sounds like to me. Imagine me with long hair and a faerie necklace.

Sad but true.

It is now 2007, and after many stops and starts my album will begin it’s recording process at the end of the month. I will be enlisting friends that I love and respect to play on it and to help record. I’m so fucking psyched. I’m so fucking psyched! I’m so fucking psyched!! I love these songs, in fact I love too many of these songs and have to somehow cut some out of the picture. That was always my plan, but now looking at the list I am sad that some of these won’t graduate to this album. But maybe they’ll make the next one. In 2015.


Ok….
The St.Vincent record ‘Marry Me’ rocks the house. She’s super supreme awesome. Every time she has come to Boston in the last year I have been out of town. Hopefully not next time.

I’m reading ‘Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates’ by Tom Robbins. It’s pretty great. You have to be in the right mood to read Tom Robbins, and luckily I was. I had wanted to read this book for along time, but I didn’t want to read a book about a triangle and a tomato. This book actually has a storyline with real people in it, and to top it off, the characters are awesome. *as a side note ‘Jitterbug Perfume’ by Tom Robbins is one of my favorite books of all time. Check it out.
Before Sunset is not as good as Before Sunrise, I don’t care what anyone says. Ethan Hawke used to be cute, naïve, and cocky. Now he’s just a bad actor 70% of the time, and a really good actor 15% of the time. The other 15% is TBD.

Oh, and if anyone has any connections as to how I could record a song INSIDE one of Serra’s pieces, I will kiss you a lot.

Until next time.

Xoxoxo

~sarah