Waiting in the Wings

*sigh*

I hate waiting.

Right now I am waiting for a few things....waiting for a particular gig to fall into place; I've been phone-tagging with the manager of the venue, and it doesn't seem like she doesn't want to reschedule - only that she is slightly overwhelmed by her new position of event planner!

I'm also waiting to start sessions with my Dream Team. I go into the studio on the 25th, and that means, for now, I am cooling my heels.
Someone whose name I won't mention knocked my guitar over and broke a couple of strings, so I can't even practice - it's driving me crazy! I need to make some money, like, yesterday.

I'm waiting for the link on my website to be made active so that people can buy my new CD "Close Your Eyes" there. I'm so happy that it's finally done!

"...watching the world and it's winners go by/I'm waiting for my turn to fly..."

I've been waiting many long years to record my music and see where it could take me....I guess I can be patient a little longer.

But only a little!

Call Me Softly

MrT the producer was here most of the day on Friday....we looked over all the music for the new album and did a fair amount of discussing and arguing over some of the songs.

One of my favorite songs to perform is "Call Me Softly" which is on the album "Close Your Eyes" and will be on this one as well; it is a love song with a very classic melody and a powerful message - when you love someone, you want your love to reach across time and space and difficulty to comfort and cherish them, no matter where they are.

Because I wrote this song with a specific situation in mind, I chose to paint a picture... in the first verse, the woman sees the man she loves when he was a child, being abused and treated badly, and she longs to have somehow been there to comfort and hold him, even though she didn't even know him then.
It is an emotion I have often felt about those that I love; when I hear about some way they were mistreated, even if it was long ago, I wish I could have been there, and so that verse was special to me.

*sigh*
However....as MrT pointed out, the first verse doesn't really fit with the second verse, which is much more direct, talking about the man waking in the night thinking he hears her voice, only to discover the bed is empty. He said that is a much more powerful picture, and the other verse must coincide.

I protested that if people saw the video, it would make perfect sense.....but of course, I know, as a songwriter, if you have to explain what the song is about, it isn't a very good song!

At first, this song wasn't going to be on the album at all; we had more than enough material, and this song is already on 'Close Your Eyes'.
But with the sort of sweeping, gorgeous arrangement and production that he does, this song could be so moving, so powerful....neither of us could resist the idea of doing it together.
So I am faced with a re-write.

Re-writes make me nervous! I am always afraid I cannot come up with something that will match the original flow. But in this case, it is especially hard, because the other verse packs such an emotional wallop, I don't know if I can do it again. This song came to me in the middle of the night, I sat straight up in bed and wrote the whole thing down without even pausing, and I'm a little afraid to try to edit. Can I possibly write something that I can feel when I sing it, the way I do the original?

I guess we'll see.

Musicians!

Tuesday night I met some of the musicians that will be working me on this new project.
I was pretty nervous, but MrT the producer introduced me all around. There's Ty, the quiet drummer who looks like a muscle-y Care Bear; Jimmy, the lawyer/funky guitar player who might actually know more blonde jokes than I do; Jerry, the intense, brooding Other guitar player (I've actually heard some of his work, and I confess, it makes me weak in the knees), and Mark, the upright bass man. I've heard there is also Gary, the oh-man-that-is-so-sweet jazz trumpet player, but he was not in attendance.

It was cool - we sat around in Starbucks, looking like an entourage for sure....we couldn't have been more obviously musicians if we'd been wearing dark glasses and Doc Martens.

Actually, a couple of them probably were wearing Doc Martens, and I didn't notice, because I was too scared! I wasn't, though - I was wearing high-heeled black boots with buckles up the sides.
Uh-huh, I'm practicing to be a huge star.

We are supposed to start sessions in a couple of weeks, if all goes right - I can't believe this lofty dream of mine seems to actually be coming true, all of a sudden!

I hope I don't start being a self-absorbed jerk.
Hmm. I don't feel like one.

Beginnings

Well.

I'm often embarrassed, truth be told, by the contents of some musicians' blogs.
So often they are either heaps of far-too-personal confidences involving the exact location of their new, drunkenly-acquired tattoo and the number of mojitos they consumed the previous night, or else they are so boring and lame that it forever rips the veil of happy illusion from our eyes to read them.
I could cite a certain celebrity's blog which is supposedly written by her revolting little dog, but I'll refrain.
Just this once.

Perhaps I'll be just as silly here - I do hope not.
Perhaps if I begin to maunder on in too-revealing fashion you'll write to me and set me straight.
Or just send a letter bomb; either way, I'll take the hint.