Why house concerts are rad and you should host one... really.

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Why house concerts are rad and you should host one... really.

I’ve played well over 100 house concerts over the past several years and no two are the same. I’ve played to audiences of anywhere from 3 to 80+ people. I’ve played big, lavish, 3-story houses and tiny A frames where I still have no idea how we squeezed in 20 people. Inside, outside, daytime, nighttime, rowdy, reverent… Here’s what they have in common though: there’s something about playing in someone’s home that fosters a deeper connection than a public venue can – both between me and the audience and between audience members themselves. It’s special.

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The Gift that Keeps on Giving

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The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Can a breakup be a gift in disguise? While the wrapping on mine was utter shit, it was still the best gift I ever got. Opening the box was the opposite of fun, but inside was the realization that I didn’t deserve what I’d just been handed. I didn’t know what I’d been putting up with until I wasn’t putting up with it anymore.

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Learn to Forgive: Ouchy but Necessary

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Learn to Forgive: Ouchy but Necessary

This is a hard one, and it takes a while. In fact, it doesn’t just happen one day and then it’s done. You don’t get bonked on the noggin by the forgiveness fairy and immediately commence to feeling groovy. The hurt or betrayal you felt doesn’t just magically dissipate, but you can learn to soften around it rather than letting it fuel your anger and harden your heart. Time really does heal. Not in the same way time allows a physical wound to close. But when it comes to emotional wounds, time allows for some perspective to develop that you couldn’t possibly have when you were still pulling emotional shrapnel out of your tender places.

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It's Not Loves Fault (Don't Let the Darkness Win)

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It's Not Loves Fault (Don't Let the Darkness Win)

It would be understandable to not trust again, not love again – decide the whole thing was for suckers. Who wants to risk getting hurt again, right? That’d be a valid choice. But that would mean the heartbreak won. The darkness won. The one who left won. Fuck. That.

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How to Survive a Break Up with Fire

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How to Survive a Break Up with Fire

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." - Maya Angelou

 

That’s hard to do, especially if you tend toward Sister Mary Sunshineness like I do, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. There’s something to be said for seeing the good in people or the potential in people even when they don’t necessarily see it themselves. But there’s just as much to be said for trusting your gut, drawing healthy boundaries, and recognizing that while something may be shiny and pretty if it’s concurrently really hot and hurty it probably burns BECAUSE IT’S PROBABLY FIRE.

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Music Mastery vs Music Snobbery

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Music Mastery vs Music Snobbery

There’s a marked and crucial distinction between not liking something and dismissing it as lesser art. Yet I’ve heard SO many musicians put down music they don’t like. That gets under my skin like a frickin’ chigger.

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How to Survive a Break Up with Paper and Pen - Getting Over a Break Up - Pt. 4

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How to Survive a Break Up with Paper and Pen - Getting Over a Break Up - Pt. 4

Getting left behind is a deep, jagged cut. When someone decides “I’d rather be without you than with you,” there is a deafening loneliness and bone-chilling sadness left in the wake. It’s really hard not to believe you must have failed somehow for someone to be making that decision. But it’s not necessarily so. Sometimes people just can’t see past what they think they need and it’s actually not about you at all. It’s far easier to see that in hindsight than while you’re still icing the bruise of being dropped like a hot potato, but hang in there. Hindsight WILL come. You just gotta get to the hind first.

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"I think I'm angry... is that ok?" - Getting Over a Break Up - A Step by Song Guide Pt. 3

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"I think I'm angry... is that ok?" - Getting Over a Break Up - A Step by Song Guide Pt. 3

"I think I'm angry....is that OK?"

That was me on the phone with my therapist a few days after the bomb dropped. The dust had settled, the initial shock had worn off and suddenly something welled up inside me like “wait just a fucking minute….oh HELL no.” Since anger is not something that had ever come naturally to me, I wasn’t sure what to think. Hence the call to my therapist, who laughed heartily and said “Yes – you should be angry right now. It’s healthy and appropriate. If you
weren’t angry I’d be worried.” So I ran with it.

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Singers Are Musicians Too

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Singers Are Musicians Too

Have you ever heard someone refer to singers as “not real musicians”? Yeah me too. Grrr. While it’s possible that someone was an asshat, it’s also possible they were simply ill-informed. So in the interest of diplomacy, let me ‘splain a little bit about the aspects of music mastery that make a professional singer.

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People's Voice

Kira the backup singer is in Hollywood for first Lynda Carter show tonight. (Yes, I'm singing back-ups for Wonder Woman in case you missed that fun factoid.) Meanwhile, Kira the artist got an email saying "Attention" (from the new record, yay!) is a finalist in the 2015 International Song Competition. There's a "People's Voice" winner in each category, in addition to whoever the judges choose. I'm in the Performance category. If you'd like to weigh in, I'd be most grateful. Just click the red button I've conveniently hyperlinked just for you cuz I'm nice like that. OK gotta warm-up and run through a few tunes before soundcheck. More soon! xoxo

Monday Funday

My day started with chasing escape artist cat around yard TWICE in my pj's before I'd even had coffee. Monday morning has just redeemed itself a bit with the arrival of this in my inbox.

How To Get A Gig: Jammies

Today Kira the singer-songwriter woke up at Folk Alliance in the Wonder Woman jammies she got for Christmas. Fast forward a few hours to when Kira the back-up singer got a call to do 6 dates with Lynda Carter. Can't make this shit up, guys. Now off to play showcases til 2am. #fai2016 #manifestingviajammies

"3 AM" Is Funded!!

HIT THE GOAL!! WAHOO!! Massively grateful to everyone who stepped up and supported this campaign - old friends, new friends, out of the blue friends, friends of friends.... really beautiful to learn how this project is inspiring people, even people I knew through the guy I wrote the record about (some of whom had no idea we'd split up....over two years ago... *crickets*) But that's another blog post entirely, and one that will probably require whiskey. Right now I must get back to work. Liner notes ain't gonna write themselves. More soon, stay tuned.

NEW ALBUM!!!! *Sounds Trumpet* Join The Team!

MY NEW ALBUM, "3 AM", IS DONE. WILL YOU JOIN ME IN BRINGING IT TO LIFE??


I've waited a long time to type that sentence at you. Most of you have been right there with me, along for the ride that led up to me writing and making this album - I can't type THANK YOU in capital enough letters. Now we get to celebrate and make this sucker go BOOM. (If you've just recently joined us, have no fear - you can come to the party too!)

Trash Day

Sometimes ghosts sneak up on you. You don't see them coming but out of nowhere they have their hands around your throat and you find yourself surprised by tears...tears you thought were long dry. But then you walk out onto your front porch and the cold air hits your face and the sight of a gentle blanket of snow covering your front yard (and its 9-foot robot guarding a Texas flag like the centurion...yeah I've been on a Dr. Who binge) stops those tears in their tracks and restores your soul.

Tears. Love. Hope.

What do I cry for?

I cry for you. I cry that I had you and lost you. I cry that you lost you...and I lost me. I cry to think maybe I never knew you. Maybe you never meant it. I cry at surrender lost to fear...blown away in an afternoon storm. Vows and tears flowing down the edge of the street mixed with rain and oil and brake fluid...dying love clinging to dead leaves, gasping for breath it can't find.