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Bessie Pearl's Ledger

Posted on June 1, 2010 with 0 comments

Kal Miner article


 


Again, it's been a long time between posts. I guess my blogging world has moved over from music to food! It's not that I am not doing music anymore, I am! I am working on a couple of different things (album ideas!), playing the regular monthly gig at 55 Bar and enjoying a beautiful place to practice in our Harlem apartment (which I love).

I'm also writing (& cooking) Bessie Pearl's Ledger, taking a class in Children's Book Illustration, also taking a class on Dreamweaver, interning at 3rdWard (where I am taking the classes), working back with the lovely Lotta Jansdotter, reading and generally trying to keep myself as artistically inspired as I can.

Bessie Pearl's Ledger just got a lovely write-up in the Kalgoorlie Miner. Kalgoorlie is a gold mining town in Western Australia - it is where my Mum's side of the family are from. I am so excited about this article!!

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2009 wrap-up

Posted on January 20, 2010 with 0 comments

Well, it has been a while since I last posted. I didn't mean for that to be the case! But, as usually happens when life happens, things got in the way. And here we are at the beginning of 2010 and my head is not quite here with us in the New Year. But it will get there, it always does.


2009-year-of-singing was a tough year. Musically & personally, it was a year of great ups-and-downs. Not just for me, but for the people around me too. It was full of challenges in places I didn't expect to have challenges!


I didn't sing as much as I had wanted. I put a lot of effort into trying to find gigs, writing to so many venues (over and over and over and yes, over) often-times with no response. But, I set up gigs in Perth, Melbourne, Esperance, New York, London, Iowa City & Chicago. There's some big cities in there! I should be proud of myself, and yet instead I think of places like San Francisco, LA, St Louis, Portland & Sydney that I never heard back from. Places that didn't even write to me to say, "No, we don't want you, we think you suck!". But, I don't think I suck (or maybe I am just an imbecile banging her head on a wall in doing this? Where does this blind faith come from?), - I just think I didn't find the right places. And that's ok, I will try different places this year. Because I am not giving up. It's not about the blind faith or some sort of stoic determination, it's just because it is what I have to do. Shit, not even what I *have* to do, just what I do. Music is just what I do because I want to.


In 2009 I also wrote, I drew, I made art, I read, I played a little guitar, and I worked really hard on the thing I love.


Yes, we came back to NY. I love it, but I feel sick! I am super-duper excited that I got my old job back (see what I mean by back where we started?), but it is now only part-time - which gives me more time to work on my own thing, and not so much money to enjoy NY (which is greatly enjoyed with some cash!). I thought about getting another part-time job - waitressing, bar-tending, retail, office, anything - but everything makes me feel sick. Really sick. Nope, I gotta stick with this. I don't know what I am doing, don't know where I am going, have no direction & get dizzy when I start thinking about what to 'do next' (really, it becomes physical - my head swarms with all the things I am 'supposed to do' - get an agent, record deal, publishing deal, practice, write more, do covers, or not, what genre am I? where do I belong? Should I try and tour? How? How do I become someone's support act? Who should I try and meet? I get STUNTED!!!). So, I am trying to just sit here, and tell myself to write the best new album that I can. That is all that is important for now. I can try and get gigs ONCE A WEEK! I don't have to be attached to the computer every second updating blogs, EPK's, Facebook, Myspace, Reverbnation, SonicBids, Twitter, etsy (oh yes, believe it, I started an Etsy store!), 'fixing' my website aaaahhhh!! I am gonna go insane!


But I feel like this year music is going to change for me again. You know those years? I remember when I went through starting to play originals after singing jazz standards for many years. I was scared that people wouldn't like it, that they wouldn't get it. I have been thinking lately about trying to please audiences more, reaching out to a bigger and wider audience, and what would they want from me?  But when it boils down to it, I can only be myself. I don't know what I am doing, except being me. I don't know how to be anything else, nor do I want to be. Sometimes I am happy, sometimes not. Sometimes I write happy songs, mostly not. Sometimes its jazz, sometimes not. But, I can tell you one thing, it is all me, baby!




So, what do I want to in 2010?


Sing.


Cook. (I started a blog called Bessie Pearl's Ledger, all about recipes from my Great-Grandma, - and am having the BEST time).


Write.


See more of my friends.


I think I just might be able to manage that! I hope you'll join me as I write about it along the way!




Happy 2010!




xx n


Missouri Auction

Posted on August 9, 2009 with 0 comments

I love the way the auctioneer sounds so musical - it definitely doesn't sound like this in Australia. It sounds really Americana-esque to me. Almost like you can hear where the music would have come from.


Click blog title to view video!











An Iowan Summer

Posted on July 30, 2009 with 0 comments

I have been having a lovely summer in Iowa. For starters, I got to see the tassling cornfields by way of an old-school barnstormer bi-plane (an open cock-pit airplane). It was so awesome! Of course, in the excitement I forgot my camera, but I'll include a pic of me, and the plane, post flight. I think you can just about see the exhilaration on my face (and relief that I made it back down!). If you ever want to take a bi-plane flight, check out these guys, American Barnstomers


They were following around the RAGBRAI crew. "RAGBRAI?" I hear you call! Yes! It is a bike ride ACROSS Iowa. Not just ANY bike ride, but The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Not a race or anything, just a bike ride. It takes 7 days, 400-somethin' miles from the Missouri River in the West, to the Mississippi in the East. Every night the cyclists stop in a different town, and party, I believe. It's a different route every year and THOUSANDS of people do it! I think I might do it next year. I might (note: WILL) have to start training, I think. But I do believe that it will be more manageable for me than the New York Marathon, which I was inspired to *want* to do after my friend ran by me as I spectated last year, cup of coffee in hand, just after I rolled outta bed in time to catch her. There's no way I would do that though, I hate running. But biking, I like that. If anyone wants to get a team going, you'll probably inspire me to actually train!


We also went to Rutledge Flea Market, (the auctions are amazing at this place - I am going to post a video soon - believe me, you must watch it!), Balloons over the Mississippi, the Lee County Fair Demolition DerbyKeosauqua State Park. We didn't get to go to Trek-Fest (at the future birth-place of Captain James T. Kirk) - very nearby here, nor the Iowa City Jazz Festival which I completely forgot about it, which is really quite pathetic, as it is really awesome. (pit-crew of course!) and to the "beach" at


Iowa is great!


As you can probably tell, there's been no gigs! And it has been lovely to relax for a little.


OK, I'm going to (finally) sign-off now! I'll post pictures from the Iowan Summer below. Seeya later, Nerissa PS. Don't forget the July special - you've got one more day to download those free songs (that you can't even buy if you want to!) or get the albums for really cheap if you want them!


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American Barnstormers

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Balloons over the Mississippi

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Lacey-Keosauqua State Park "beach"

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Lee County Fair grandstands with an awesome sunset!

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I felt particularly like I was in a movie with this rainbow over the corn fields.


Celebrate Brooklyn I miss you!

Posted on June 23, 2009 with 0 comments
Well, I can't really complain too much. I have seen some amazing concerts at Celebrate Brooklyn over the past 8 years. I shouldn't really whinge. But I will. I have been. I will continue to do so, probably. This year's lineup is mint, and I will be especially sad to miss this Friday's with Blonde Redhead. Just like I was sad to miss Goran Bregovic, and will be sad to miss the rest. I am not even going to look.... In the meantime, we went fishing on the Des Moines river and I 'pole fished' for the first time ever. Let me tell you - river fishing is VERY different from sea fishing. Yes, that means I caught nada... but it was so nice. Maybe I'll go on Friday..... (but if you're in Brooklyn you should go to this....) FRIDAY JUNE 26th blonde redhead olof arnalds The vaunted NYC underground sensualists Blonde Redhead have shape-shifted from dissonant noise explorations to ethereal, dreamy pop over the course of their career, always inspiring intense devotion from their fans. PopMatters [...]
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