we wrap up tracking my/our/the album "tree of series" this week - nine days in the studio, 15 songs, all performed live (the way music should be, ya know, with sick sweet energy and juicy vibe, all the ripe nectar drippin from the core)
i thank the following people for helping to shift and shape the sonic forms in my head onto tapes and hard drives: YA'LL NEED TO KNOW THE MONSTER BAND - russ flynn, wes reid, xander naylor, and javi santiago - they are sublime, each in their own right. go buy their albums. much gratitude to saxophonist josiah boornazian and trumpeter brandon sherman; kristin hoffmann for the sub/conscious singing bowl (no one will know and everyone will feel); the lovely back-up vocalists kim foxen, melissa johnston, and tara stephens; my fierce manager liza lee at inherent artists music management; and an extra special guttural roar for the king of the mixing board, sir pete thompson of hoboken recorders.
just you wait now
Recording the full-length at Hoboken Recorders, an old leather factory. Amazing space with such a chill vibe. You can't help but make profound music in this joint. Lucky Javi has a Steinway Parlor B grand piano, Fender Rhodes, and Wurlitzer 200A. Damnnnn.
Amazing night, great crowd.... Don't we look sweet? (thanks to steve cohen and molly pankok for pics!)
"We forget too often that our lives are just fictions, that this human life of ours – abstracted from the land, abstract in itself – is not grounded in reality, but in drama, illusion. Our lives are no different from dreams, a scattered blur from one meal to the next, from one conversation to the next, one megaplex, one strip mall, one coffee cup, one beer, one fix – a ceaseless drifting from sensation to sensation, a constant sating of the base desires.
We are raised in this “reality” so its contours are invisible to us. We see each moment but fail to see the unifying thread – the alienation of humanity from nature, the ills of domestication, the dependence of humans upon technological death machines to survive and a growing inability of these generations of young humans now in possession of the planet to connect to it in any living way. We have lost our ability to experience the grander trends as revealed through the almighty Moment. We cling to our petty satisfactions as a paddler fallen from a canoe clings to the rocks. We do not dare to imagine a life without pizza, ice cream, microwaves, transportation, convenience, comfort, ease.
The 21st century has been too kind to us so far. It holds new horizons for us as an übersoul and as an überspecies, but it remains pregnant with disaster. There must be wars, Great Wars, which span all frontiers, in which all are embroiled in conflict: the inner war spilling out into our long-abandoned commons, opening up doorways between men and women to converse freely, tearing down walls between minds and bodies, flesh and the soul. Bottles will be uncorked and men in pajamas will run terrified and bouyant through the streets. If there is not madness, there will be blood, midnight rivers of blood rushing mad like the Mississippi through the markets of the world, stampeding through those who stand still, toppling those who once towered above the meek and lowly, lifting the strong and light, buoying them up on its terrible tide …"
- Hudson Spivey
Gather around the fireplace at LIC Bar's Carriage House for this holiday show featuring the 3 wise women of song: KRISTIN HOFFMANN, NLX, and STEPHANIE CARLIN. Come early - there is a free buffet offered, compliments of LIC Bar!
LIC Bar is located at 45-48 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City, Queens.
Adbusters annual "Buy Nothing Day" has persevered for years as a a silent movement from the magazine's small but fiercely dedicated fan base. This year, it's different. This year, I am filled with love and pride as Occupy Wall Street encompasses this mantra into their formula for a new lifestyle, thus giving it a chance to bloom into a international movement. Here's what Adbusters had to say:
"You’ve been sleeping on the streets for two months pleading peacefully for a new spirit in economics. And just as your camps are raided, your eyes pepper sprayed and your head’s knocked in, another group of people are preparing to camp-out. Only these people aren’t here to support occupy Wall Street, they’re here to secure their spot in line for a Black Friday bargain at Super Target and Macy’s.
Occupy gave the world a new way of thinking about the fat cats and financial pirates on Wall Street. Now lets give them a new way of thinking about the holidays, about our own consumption habits. Lets’ use the coming 20th annual Buy Nothing Day to launch an all-out offensive to unseat the corporate kings on the holiday throne.
This year’s Black Friday will be the first campaign of the holiday season where we set the tone for a new type of holiday culminating with #OCCUPYXMAS. As the global protests of the 99% against corporate greed and casino capitalism continues, lets take the opportunity to hit the empire where it really hurts…the wallet.
On Nov 25/26th we escape the mayhem and unease of the biggest shopping day in North America and put the breaks on rabid consumerism for 24 hours. Flash mobs, consumer fasts, mall sit-ins, community events, credit card-ups, whirly-marts and jams, jams, jams! We don’t camp on the sidewalk for a reduced price tag on a flat screen TV or psycho-killer video game. Instead, we occupy the very paradigm that is fueling our eco, social and political decline.
Historically, Buy Nothing Day has been about fasting from hyper consumerism – a break from the cash register and reflecting on how dependent we really are on conspicuous consumption. On this 20th anniversary of Buy Nothing Day, we take it to the next level, marrying it with the message of #occupy…
We #OCCUPYXMAS.
Shenanigans begin November 25!"
“We are an exceptional model of the human race. We no longer know how to produce food. We no longer can heal ourselves. We no longer raise our young. We have forgotten the names of the stars, fail to notice the phases of the moon. We do not know the plants and they no longer protect us. We tell ourselves we are the most powerful specimens of our kind who have ever lived. But when the lights are off we are helpless. We cannot move without traffic signals. We must attend classes in order to learn by rote numbered steps toward love or how to breast-feed our baby. We justify anything, anything at all by the need to maintain our way of life. And then we go to the doctor and tell the professionals we have no life. We have a simple test for making decisions: our way of life, which we cleverly call our standard of living, must not change except to grow yet more grand. We have a simple reality we live with each and every day: our way of life is killing us.”
| — | Blood Orchid by Charles Bowden |
The word "God" has been twisted into a nasty word by nasty religions. But really and truly, "God" is another word for your divine inner peace-strength, your self-esteem, your confidence, and those fleeting moments of enlightenment that make the suffering worthwhile. Sharon Gannon wrote the following. I urge you to not take this lightly, for it is the most important lesson one can learn.
We only really have one job in this life and that is to find God. Since God dwells within each one of us, we had better get inside as soon as possible, if we want to find what we are looking for. Run for cover; seek the solace, which is always waiting for you inside. Don't spend too much time out there looking around trying to find it. Valuable things, the important things that we think we have lost, are always found in the least expected places, the last places we would think to look.
The storm is coming-it might already be raging and you just haven't noticed in a while, or you might even consider yourself well aware that the storm is occurring but you think it is like the weather and there is nothing you or anyone can do about it. You think things just happen to you, the world is coming at you and you are a passive victim of circumstances, sometimes fortunate, sometimes unfortunate. You have heard optimistic people say that peace and love are possible. But the world is in such a mess, shouldn't we or somebody do something about all the violence, misery and unfairness in the world, first, before we go inside and sit down cozy by the fire with a cup of tea?
Everything you see is a projection coming from inside of you. If you don't like what you see out there, the best way to change it is by doing your best to change the inside first. If you want the world to be a peaceful place, you must be a peaceful person, before you expect others to be. Once you have found the inner peace-the inner joy inside of yourself-you are able to move in the world from a place of spiritual activation. You embody that which you want to see in others and the world. God is the source of that inner peace and joy; joy is the nature of God, and you and God are one (that's the meaning of yoga). When you act from that serene inner reality, you can then see the world realistically: you stop blaming others, you stop being angry, judgmental or upset with others and instead you find creative ways to increase your inner joy. If instead you search for God (peace, love, happiness, joy) outside of yourself and try to find happiness and fulfillment in things, situations and other people that appear separate from you, you will eventually, but inevitably, become disappointed, disillusioned and perhaps even cynical. When that occurs you will lose your faith in life, feeling that it has no meaning and there is no lasting happiness or joy to be found.
Often times it takes a violent storm for one to seek shelter. There are many accounts of people who have gone through a traumatic experience-an accident, the death of a loved one or a serious illness-which instigated a mystical or transcendental realization, forcing them to go inside and reevaluate the purpose of their life.
Okay, so you're convinced that it is important to go inside-you have answered the why of the situation, but what about the how? How do we "go inside?" Patanjali says, Give up and take refuge in God (PYS 1.23). But that brings us back to where we started, because we don't know how to find God. Patanjali of course gives meditation as a means to find the inner Self, as does Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. But what if I'm a person who has a lot to do, I have children and a job and not much time, and I can't seem to meditate long enough or good enough to begin to feel that inner peace, then what-am I destined to be lost and unhappy? Is there something else I can do? Yes! Krishna says, Keep doing what you do, but remember me while you are doing it (BG XII.10). You don't have to divide your day into spiritual activities at one time and mundane work or entertaining distractions at other times; all of your life, every moment, can be a spiritual practice, if you can remember God.
I once heard an interview on the radio with Alice Coltrane or Swami Turiyasangitananda, which was her spiritual name. The interviewer was asking her about her prolific musical accomplishments and had cited a list of many recordings she had done and performances that had happened or were scheduled to happen, as well as a recent book she had authored. The interviewer then said, "You have been so busy, how do you keep it all together and get so much done?" To which Alice responded in her characteristic voice, which was so slow and serene, "I only have one job and that is to get to God, and that is a full-time job!"
-Sharon Gannon
Nothing fun happens on my bed except late-night recording sessions with too much hi-end and lots of reverb. Enjoy these two demos of some good stuff to come.
"Body of Lead" demo (August 23 session) by stephaniecarlinsucks
"Being" (((ramble demo))) by stephaniecarlinsucks
101 backers (6 are not listed).
$5,215 and 104% funded.
Holy, holy crap. Thank you.
And come party.
Kickstarter Celebration Party
May 28, 2011 8pm - midnight
Abigail Cafe & Wine Bar
807 Classon Ave
(at St Johns Pl)
Free ($10 food/drink min)
Featuring the sounds of:
Fifth Nation http://www.fifthnationmusic.com
Redlight Cinema http://redlightcinema.net
Spiff Weigand http://spiffwiegand.com
Cherisse Bradley...
and myself.
KCK.ST/YEEHAWSTEPH c'mon babes.... run the mile with me.
Pre-gaming for three sets at the Montauk Music Festival 2011, I decided to use the last 16% of my MacBook battery recording beach car rehearsals. Sure enough, the footage from the actual show at Montauk Music Festival was too loud and obnoxious, filled with me yelling at people and then sobbing in the corner.
NINE DAYS LEFT on the Kickstarter. Toss over a couple bucks here: kck.st/yeehawsteph
A simple youtube search will show that there are a lot of good covers of this song out there.... Madeleine Peyroux, Metric, Benji Madden (huh?)... there's also that beautiful secret one of Taylor Eigsti out there in the abyss.... I just wanted to add one to the pile.
Prospect Heights Patch published this article today about the Kickstarter campaign. Ten days left, ya'll! Thank you for your 60% support. Not to be greedy, but I lose all the money if I can't get the other 40%. We're in the home stretch!
http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/prospect-heights-songstress-finds-modern-way-to-fund-album
Trying out a snippet of the new "Toxic" arrangement for the first time. Now if only we can swing it....
Stephanie Carlin (vocals) // Greg Lewis (piano) // Carlo DeRosa (bass) // Dominic Rubano (drums)
19 days left to get cool rewards in exchange for funding steph's album: kck.st/yeehawsteph. we need you.
filmed at Kumble Theatre for the Performing Arts, Brooklyn, NY 06 may 2011 credit: ulf backstrom and charles jones
Seth Godin posted this today:
What's the point of popular?
You'd think that it's the most important thing in the world. Homecoming queen, student body president, the most Facebook friends, Oscar winner, how many people are waiting in line at the book signing...
Popular is almost never a measure of impact, or genius, or art. Popular rarely correlates with guts, hard work or a willingness to lead (and be willing to be wrong along the way).
I'll grant you that being popular (at least on one day in November) is a great way to get elected President. But in general, the search for popular is wildly overrated, because it corrupts our work, eats away at our art and makes it likely we'll compromise to please the anonymous masses.
Worth considering is the value of losing school elections and other popularity contests. Losing reminds you that the opinion of unaffiliated strangers is worthless. They don't know you, they're not interested in what you have to offer and you can discover that their rejection actually means nothing. It will empower you to even bigger things in the future...
When you focus on delighting an audience you care about, you strip the masses of their power.
I gigged over in Lancaster, PA a few weeks ago and sat down with Jason Mundock of the "Around the Wood Stove" podcast series. Jason and I had a very thoughtful and thorough interview about "the Agony and Ecstasy of" and the upcoming plans for the album. For my thousands of Pennsylvanian admirers, the interview will be aired on Saturday May 14 on WPAZ in Pottstown, PA at 9:30 a.m. - you can listen to the station's audio stream here http://www.wpazradio.com/.
On a side note, holy crap, the Kickstarter is 43% funded at $2,125. Amazing.
22 days. Fuel the Fire.
UPDATE - best piece of hate mail from this video: "alright b&*$h i really didnt mind it until song for terrorism !? what the f*#k do you know to say anything yu dumba*( c*&t a poorman was killed today under the power of a nasty man that is CONTINUING to plan your doom as well so good f&kkin luck thinkin how yu do when it all calls for judgement the man yu support isnt gonna digg yu outta hell goodbye yur terrorizing with yur badjudgement unto others for personal gain do something productive nd make something real or yu'll never find true security f*&k offf"
rehearsal 4/28 - burn (ray lamontagne doodle) <-- soundcloud
Noodling around in yester's day, I found myself unable to sulk because the very ordinary couple sitting next to me at the coffee shop were ordinarily arguing, something about pedophilia and mission statements, I'm not sure, the man had a hoodie on and the lady kept saying "I am not kissing you, ugh" except it probably should have looked like "i am, lyke, NOT KISSING YOU, lyke what the hell, fuck." She said her first kiss was in a closet.
Anyway, I went home because ordinary-looking whiny 20-something ladies piss me off, so I went home, so I played Ray LaMontagne's "Burn" four hundred times in my kitchen. Then I recorded it over and over again until GarageBand crashed and my harddrive was full. Then I didn't bother to compress or mix it, and posted it on this blizzog.
If you like it, you should just listen to it over and over again or give me $10 on my Kickstarter, or do both.
26 days left. Fuel the Fire.
The innocent mistake that keeps us caught in our own particular style of ignorance, unkindness, and shut-downness is that we are never encouraged to see clearly what is, with gentleness. Instead, there's a kind of basic misunderstanding that we should try to be better than we already are, that we should try to improve ourselves, that we should try to get away from painful things, and that if we could just learn how to get away from the painful things, then we would be happy. That is the innocent, naive misunderstanding that we all share, which keeps us unhappy.
- Pema Chodron, "The Wisdom of No Escape"
welcome to my "blog," where i will proclaim insanely impractical ramblings for you to amuse yourself with.
things i will not talk about in this blog:
- what i ate for breakfast
- charlie sheen
- republicans
- the playboy-themed bar mitzvah i went to this weekend
- rebecca black
- williamsburg
things i will talk about in this blog:
- music. lots of music. also, music.
- hot shows by hot artists in the hot city of new york
- dudes i hook up with and why they're irritating
- republicans
- why (1) individualism is dead, (2) capitalism has failed, and (3) democracy is a hoax
- how to get zach galifianakis to take me to bed
- unexplainable commonplace miracles
- art
GO TO THIS SHOW Spine-tingling musical lover-duo Fifth Nation debut their new CD tonight at BAM Cafe, Brooklyn, 9pm. Free.
