Sunday, March 11, 2012

Dinosaur BBQ show

The show was very fun! That place was swarming with people. We played from about 11pm-1am. Then I drove an hour to Jersey and picked up my sleeping three year old and drove another hour home. I went to sleep at 5am!!! Whew! It usually takes me a while to unwind. I ate BBQ from the Dinosaur and watched funny shows. I did take a video of the show so hopefully I’ll be able to add it to the video section of my website.

Good night!

Monday, February 27, 2012

The faeries have spoken!

I will be playing two major Faerie Festivals this summer!!! One on the east coast and one on the west, this creating my dream of being bicoastal!

NY Faerie Festival June 29th-July 1st
http://www.nyfaeriefest.com/
and
Faerieworlds in Eugene, Oregon
July 27th-29th
http://faerieworlds.com/
(I’ll be playing on the Neverworlds stage)

These are both weekend camping festivals with music, magic, parties at night and most of all, EPIC FUN!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Dinosaur gig!

Come one, come all!
Come hear us ROCK!!!
Jessica Star and the Jason Rosen band
at the Dinosaur BBQ
Friday, March 9th
10-1am
Dinosaur BBQ NYC is located on the corner of 125th St and 12th Ave, Harlem

Jessica Star

http://www.jessicastar.com

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I just had the best day

I had a whole day to myself. I played music, played more songs, and made soup… Awesome day!

Monday, January 09, 2012

New headshot!

Photo by Darin Chumbley
http://doitdigitalphotography.com/

Friday, November 11, 2011

Tonight I sang at the Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem!

Tonight was awesome. I sang with Jason Rosen on lead guitar and vocals, Antar Goodwin on bass, and Tomo on drums. What great musicians! They’re a very tight band because they play together all the time. It was really fun singing to their grooves. We played from about 11pm to 2am. I love the night life. The people that were at the Dinosaur are just, nice. Really nice.
It felt so good to rock and wail for three hours!

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Faeriecon!

Oh my!
We just went to Faeriecon in Baltimore, Maryland. I had so much fun. Seriously. Geez! What is it? A gathering of Faerie culture, art, music, clothing, pointed ears, dancing… Wow. I felt right at home.
As some of you know, I’ve been trying, for years to figure out what path to take as far as the direction of my music. A few years ago, I felt that I’m Country. I do love new Country music. It’s part of who I am. I’m a multifaceted being. I have been focused on writing and recording Country and love the new music I’ve made. But part of what’s been concerning me is that alot of the music I’ve made and that’s on my albums is more ethereal. I’ve felt sad that in choosing to focus on Country, I wouldn’t be able to play songs that I’ve written and love that are more Faery Rock.
This weekend has helped me figure some stuff out. I asked my son, two and a half, should I play Faery music or Country? He said,“both!”
So, happily I will tread the Faerie path.. My song,“Traveling Minstress” actually came to me from the Faery beings around or in a plum tree. It’s one of my very favorite songs.
The joke is that I’m sure it’s obvious to those who know me. So, there you go!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

My X Factor audition

Yes, my little boy handed me a flier for the X Factor audition last Saturday. He’s two. We were at the Jersey mall getting sunglasses and they were promoting the show with a karaoke booth. My son walked right up, grabbed a flier and came over with daddy and said,“Mama” and handed it to me.
I spent the week preparing. Figuring out material and practicing.
All of that while being a mom to a two year old; thank you family for helping out so much this week so that I could go follow my dreams!
I woke up at 3 am on Wednesday morning, the day of registration and 4 am on Thursday, the day of the audition.
The actual audition was all of about 45 seconds.  I sang my original song,” What she is”. I figured that showing them exactly who I am is the way to go. Otis Redding said “just do you”.
I wore my rock and roll finery and had freshly gotten my hair done copper red. The man listened and then he said, “That’s gonna be a no for today.”
I have mixed emotions about not getting at least into the first round. This is what I do, I’m a singer. They’re looking for something that they did not see in me. Someone said to me recently that I was probably better off for not getting a different audition a while back when I auditioned to be the new lead singer of INXS. I think of these moves as the chance card in Monopoly.
Ah well, two days of my life spent in Newark, NJ. I met some really cool people in line the day of the audition. There was alot of camaraderie. To me it was like a musical circus! You should have seen the many women in their mini skirts and platform heels. I saw no less than two fully picked out Afros on beautiful women.
I hung out with Daniel from Bachelor Party. Super cool. If you read this Daniel, NICE STAR SHIRT!!! And these two thirteen year olds and one of their dads. They were so fun to wait with. Any of you get a golden ticket? Did you drink out of the chocolate fountain?
Well, I did have a great time all in all. And Tiger. Punk rock singer hooper. I enjoyed talking with you at 7:30 am. Did we get on the news?!?!
Back to plan A,

Jessica Star

Monday, February 21, 2011

Time

I'm blown away at how fast time goes by! I say this because I just realized how long it's been since I've written! Shame! So, I've been interested lately in Suzi Quatro and Joan Jett. Inspiring women of Rock.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Full moon

Mmm, yep it's a full moon out there tonight! So, I've been going through old papers from 2005 and all the napkins with partial song ideas, business cards of various musicians and people I've met since I've lived in NYC and even came across all of my mementoes from our trip to Amsterdam! So I've been reflecting on my path and where I am now and all the decisions that led me here. Pretty cool. I also keep journals which I find very helpful. Nice to look back and see what and who was important to you at different times. Like cards of people that at the time I had big hopes for working with only to realize we didn't click or other people that casually gave me their email addresses and they became really good friends and still are. Right now I'm hanging with my cat who I found about five months after moving here after a recording session in Harlem... At the time I knew I couldn't just leave her there so not knowing if I could keep her or not, she came home in a box, on the bus. Eight years later she's still this magical and amazing being who loves it when I sing and play guitar. Ah, you guessed it; it's my midnight ramble. Just keeping in touch from the Big Apple! Jessica Star

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Dino gig this Friday!

Yes, this Friday the 19th I’ll be returning to the Dinosaur BBQ with Jason Rosen on vocals and guitar, Tomo on drums and hopefully The Mighty Antar on bass!
And I, I will be singing…

Look at previous entries for the time and location of the Dinosaur.

Jessica Star

Friday, October 29, 2010

Just saying hi

It's almost Halloween! The weather is getting chilly and just a little spookier than usual. I have my second to last slide guitar class tomorrow at the Jalopy Theater but way before that we're going to a five year olds birthday party! It's a costume affair and his parents are Burners like us ( we go to Burning Man) so I'm sure there will be no lack of festivities. This is another picture taken by my friend Darin Chumbley at my last show at the Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. Happy Halloween, Mwah ha ha ha ha!!!! Jessica Star

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

More slide guitar class!

Hey people! I had another slide guitar class at the Jalopy Theater last Saturday with Ernie Vega. He's a good teacher. We're learning a song called, "Keep your lamp trimmed and burning". It's in open D tuning which is from the low string to the high: D A D F# A D. I'm excited to listen to the original version of the song. It's a dark sounding gospel kind of song. I got my pictures that my photographer friend, Darin Chumbley took at my last Dinosaur BBQ show! The photo at the top of the blog is one of many that he took. What a transformation to have a baby and then somewhat return to your original state. OK, so I may never be at my original state again but hey, I made a really cute little guy! I've been going to ballet class at the Mark Morris Dance Group here in Brooklyn and really loving getting back into dance. I think my next venture will be either modern or contemporary jazz. Dancing used to be my whole life until I was 22 and turned it all into music. Hmm, maybe I'll bring acting back in? It's just fun! There are so many things you can do here in NYC. Alright, goodnight. Jessica Star

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Ballet and guitar classes!

Thursday I took ballet class at the Mark Morris Dance Group here in Brooklyn. Very cool and fun class. Y'all know I used to be a very serious ballet/modern/jazz student? I danced very intensely from age 14 to 23. That was in Portland, Oregon. Then I moved to Northern California and just switched over to music full time. So now, 18 years later, I'm dusting off my ballet! I'm also taking finger style guitar picking and slide guitar classes at the Jalopy Theater and School of Music. I never wanted to go to college after High School but now I'm in the University of Jessica Star right here in NYC! Adult education rocks. Jessica Star

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Early Fall

I'm still living in Brooklyn with my husband, baby boy, three cats, two banjos and four guitars. I've been taking a slide guitar class at the Jalopy Theater and School of Music with Ernest Vega. He is a really great guitarist! We're learning different open tunings. I try to just write about musical stuff here on my site but I've been experiencing a whole new dimension being a mom! Talk about challenging... It's a steep learning curve. Definitely makes you put your priorities in place. I feel like I'm becoming a butterfly but right now I'm in the metamorphosis stage. Alot of songwriters refer to their songs as children. Well, Joshua actually is a child and he is by far the best creation I've made. I think he'll be a better musician than me too! If he wants to be. I've been taking drives upstate and it's so green and beautiful. I crave clean air and wilderness. I'm from the woods basically and I've been living in NYC for almost exactly eight years! EIGHT YEARS!!!! I thought I'd be here for two! Ha! At two years being here I had just barely begun to understand this place. Someone told me that NY will show you what you're not. It really does. People ask me all the time what kind of music I play and write so the question has been one I ask myself frequently in attempts to give my elevator speech," folk-rock", "country-rock" ... And then people say to me, " you're a hippy. Everyone knows you're an Earth Mama".. So, maybe I play hippy rock. Now I'm smiling:) hippy rock!!!! HIPPY ROCK!!!! I write as my family sleeps amid the constant noise that is NYC... Good night to you, Jessica Star