Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Entry #156

From a conversation with a new friend; "You must be a very concious person to see the beauty in others. Yep, life is a real challenge eh? I love living my dream. So much to say on that topic! It is hard. It is easy and it is hard all the time. Even when I lived in N.California by the beautiful ocean and went to the beach all the time, it was easy and it was hard. Balance seems to be the thing to strive for. I think we are all born with a dream and it is our responsibility to develop it and build our lives in a way that helps us to live our dreams. Tricky stuff though, really. Then you have to make it look easy! Good luck! They say the world is completely upside down as far as honor and truth getting hidden in the background and selfishness and materialism being the attributes that get applauded. Good luck listening to your inner guidance!"   keep your sense of humor or, develope one fast!   Jessica Star

Monday, May 09, 2005

Entry #155

Hey cats! My goodness, it is SO beautiful here right now with spring doing its thing! Today I played in the subway at Jay Street in Brooklyn. I like the Brooklynites. I played in Penn Station last week without any amplification and that was silly. Actually, it was humorous watching all the people running this way and that for their trains as I was singing and playing in this huge space where no one could hear me. Someday I will laugh at all these experiences. Rock on, rock on, rock on!   ~Jessica  

Monday, April 18, 2005

Entry #154

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Entry #153

Greetings from Mt. Shasta, California! I have been in California since last Tuesday and spent the first half of my trip down in Sebastopol. I had a great show on Saturday, April 2nd at the Ace-In-The-Hole Cider Pub. So many of my friends were there! It was a big reunion for a lot of people and a send off party for a woman named Kishma (spelling?). Kishma is moving to NYC and it was perfect that I should come from there to play music for her send off. We had an after party at Alan Watts house with just a hand full of people and it was really fun. Gregg Tilles, my former long-time guitar player or, I guess you could say he is the guitarist I play with when I am on the west coast, played lead guitar and ROCKED! Alan Watt played bass with us and gave us the most needed bottom end; thank you Alan! Paul Human opened up the show for us with very interesting music; very haunting and mystic. I could easily see Paul playing a show in the village in NYC. Thank you Raven and Bruce for the beautiful posters that we put all over Sonoma County and for the great advertisement in the Bohemian! It had been a long time since so many people all in one audience had loved me up! This was ten years of friends gathered in one venue! I play this Friday up in Ashland, Oregon opening for Kan Nal; that will be a fun show. I am thoroughly enjoying my time out here in Northern California. I guess it is spring finally in NYC! From the mountain, ~Jessica Star~

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Entry #152

Hey, two journal entries in two days; not bad! I played in the Jay Street subway tonight and my friend Helen Gassenheimer joined me on the violin and sounded fantastic. She sang with me too and that was like hearing an angel. I have met so many interesting people while playing down in the subway. There are a lot of musicians in New York. Tomorrow is our show at the Bitter End with the full band. I will be in Northern California next week. I am so excited. The beach is calling me; the one where I wrote The Ocean. I was thinking about spinning fire down there at night with some of my friends. I have been practicing my poi spinning getting ready for this summer. I want to be able to spin fire and do all sorts of new moves. Do you know how excited I am to be in Sonoma County? REALLY EXCITED!!! We are going to party. ~Jessica~

Monday, March 21, 2005

Entry #151

Hey fellow travelers! This is my birthday week. I am digging it. I played in the subway tonight for two hours. Singing in the subway is good training for being on tour. The subway is so loud when the trains are coming in, passing by, or leaving and then there are the announcements and train horns; in between the trains sometimes the subway is pretty quiet and my voice really carries. I sing in between the sound and the silence. All of the noises down there blend in the music I make. The train wheels rock in a rhythmic roll and tonight, I was playing Dragons Lair and a subway horn was blasting and it happened to be in the right key for the song and it happened right at the instrumental part. There is magic everywhere you go. We play at the Bitter End this Wednesday night, March 23rd; That will be my last gig before my birthday (which happens to be on Easter) so we are going to have to make it a very, very good one. ~Jessica~

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Entry #150

I am going to California!!! I have a show set up in Sebastopol for Saturday, April 2nd from 7-10pm at the Ace-In-The-Hole Cider Pub! Yeah!!!!!!! Yep, I am really excited. I will be out there for two weeks relaxing, going to the beach, spending time with my good friends, and going to the mountains to rest and be re-inspired. It is snowy here in NYC and still winter. I added some new pictures to the gallery page of my site and changed the link for buying cds so you can get them from CDBaby which is really easy and efficient.   Next week we are playing at the Alphabet Lounge on Thursday night for a two hour extravaganza! We have a bunch of new songs (covers) and Tom Hopke is going to play lead guitar with us. On Wednesday, March 23rd we are playing at the Bitter End at 10pm for a one hour set of rocking originals. It is late and I am signing off.   All my best to you,   Jessica Star  

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Entry #147

Groovin along on this ship called life.. I played in the subway yesterday and the day before to all the passersby and I remembered that one of my first inspirations for being a singer/ songwriter was a street musician named Rick from my Portland, Oregon days; This was in 1990 or so.. Rick played his guitar and sang in front of what used to be The Metro which was a cafeteria of sorts right downtown; it was the hip spot to be. I used to listen to Rick play and thought it was so cool. I think that was about the time that I got myself a guitar and started making up my own songs. Well, as I was playing in the Jay Street subway in Brooklyn last night, I saw a young kid looking at me and really checking out what I was doing and I thought to myself that maybe I am his Rick! Maybe he will be inspired to play music and find himself crooning to the passersby in some city somewhere& Rick was in Portland, Oregon and now I am in N.Y.C., maybe that kid will go to Europe or Chicago! It is starting to warm up here weather wise only to get cold again. The weather is all freaky these days& Let us not forget the tsunami that killed so many people the day after Christmas. I got a message on my email that had been forwarded about how the Guatemalan Elders are asking people to pray for awakening and planetary healing and peace or many more events like the tsunami will happen as Mother Earth tries to awaken her children out of the devastation we are wreaking on the planet~ her skin. Jessica

Friday, February 04, 2005

Entry #146

      Tonight Guido, Brent, and I played at Orchids for our friend, Greg Bernhardts baseball teams party! We did a trio thing and I MISSED OUR DRUMMER! Yes Dave, we missed you tonight! We were all VERY conscious of keeping time& Mama Cassie herself came up and did a duet with me on Me and Bobby McGee as we both love to sing those Janis tunes. I was singing through her mike tonight and it was a GOOD ONE. It is pretty funny to go from the subway and singing with the sound of the trains to a trio gig in a lounge with the same kind of microphone Frank Sinatra used, to playing Janis Joplin rocking tunes in an East Village bar and then back to the subway acoustics& Major expansion for my brain!     Cheers!   Jessica  

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Entry #145

Today was an extremely productive and creative day! I wrote a song for 3 hours this morning, played in the subway, rehearsed with my band, and checked out the venue we're playing at tomorrow night. I am pooped! It's late and that is really all I have to say. Jessica

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Entry #144

I auditioned to be the new lead singer of Inxs! Yep, they held open call auditions at CBGBs today; well actually this morning and I went! I sang Left with the Queen and played guitar and I also sang Half Moon (not by Janis Joplin but, made famous by her). It was fun. The guys from Inxs were there auditioning us as well as Barry Barnett who produces a bunch of shows for CBS including Survivor. Cool huh?! Half of making it in show business or in life for that matter is just showing up. I showed up and did my very best at what I do. I have been playing a lot down in the subway so I felt really on as far as my presentation and my guitar playing. I met a bunch of very interesting people who were also auditioning. They came from all over; Hawaii, the Bronx, D.C., upstate New York, BROOKLYN! I did not feel nervous; I just focused on entertaining them and making eye contact with the camera. They were also filming the audition for a show that they are creating for CBS so I might get on TV!  This week members of my band and I are playing at a party at a place called Orchids. I look forward to going back to New Mexico in June. Our friends are getting married! I wore the vest that I got there today for the audition. It is such a beautiful vest; I probably wrote about it somewhere in this journal.. It is leather with fringe and beadwork and bone. I love it. Alright you who is reading this! Life is good over here although very cold and snowy. I wish you much happiness!   Jessica  

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Entry #143

Tonight was our Janis Joplin Birthday Tribute Party at the Alphabet Lounge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, you rock all you cool folks who braved the bitter cold, wind and snow tonight! Band~ oh the band; you guys are awesome. So tight, groovin, tuned in to each other. The audience was DANCING! Yep, right here in New York City (don't tell anyone), they were shaking their bodies and having a good time. I put up a picture of Janis with three candles and a shot of Southern Comfort right at the edge of the bar& The picture had her tongue sticking out and she looked like she just drank some Southern Comfort so, people dipped their fingers in the So Co and touched it to her tongue! I started it! Hey, the girl was thirsty! We had a great time playing for you all, thank you SO much for celebrating that crazy loving white blues singer from Port Arthur, Texas! Thank you to Meredith Blis for lending her beautiful vocals to Mercedes Benz! Thank you to Linda Stout for her entrancing vocals and guitar opening the show for us& You are really talented! Ah, to bed& Love, Jessica

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Entry #142

Greetings from Brooklyn on this early Thursday morning... I suppose the farmers are just about to get up and start the day. I am finishing my day. Today was beautiful. I left the house at 6pm, rode the subway to the Jay Street station and set up to play acoustic for the second time this week. I played for two and a half hours to passing people in transit and then I continued on the train into Manhattan and had rehearsal with my band for the Janis Joplin birthday tribute show we are doing next Wednesday. The songs are coming along nicely. Tom Hopke is playing lead guitar with us and he is going to sing and play Wind Cries Mary by Jimi Hendrix. So, after rehearsal I went to the Alphabet Lounge to give them posters for the show and check out the venue and equipment. I hung out with some Dub musicians after that and then made my way back to Brooklyn on the subway and played a few songs on the way home. This is a very interesting and fun part of my life. I am digging it. Happy New Year! Jessica Star

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Entry #141

Happy New Year!!! We just flew in from a fantastic time in Santa Fe, New Mexico.. I really like it there. In the day time it looked very brown and dusty but at night it took on a completely different hue. There certainly is a lot of energy from the ancient people that inhabited that region, heck, they are still there! We went to a great party at our friends house out there in the middle of nowhere with about 15 people on New Years Eve. We had an outdoor fire and unlit fire-spinning, DJs, great food, wine, conversation and a little snow! Now we are back at home in Brooklyn, recovering from the long flight back and the late nights partying with our friends.  My next show is Wednesday, January 19th from 9-11pm at the Alphabet Lounge in the East Village of NYC. It is Janis Joplins birthday and we are going to have a party for her and play all Joplin tunes that night!     Peace, love, and satisfaction in 2005,   Jessica Star  

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Entry #140

Greetings on this lovely and very cold Tuesday night. We played the Red Lion for the first time this evening in a show sponsored by City Canyons Records and Go Girls Music and it was really fun. Thank you, Trebor Lloyd of City Canyons Records for supporting independent music and for having us on the great line-up tonight& We had David Luther join us on the sax and it gave the band a real nice sound. We actually played ALL THE SONGS on our set list! The Red Lion has a digital clock over at the sound booth facing the stage so you can see how long you have for your set, which I found extremely helpful and pretty funny. The band sounds really good right now. I feel like we are ready to record a new album. This is the last show for the year unless something comes up before then. Our next booking is our first show of 2005 and it lands on Janis Joplins birthday, January, 19th. We are booked at The Alphabet Lounge and we are doing a Janis Joplin Birthday Tribute concert. I look forward to channeling Janis for an evening. Last night we rehearsed from 9-11pm and then I went up to The Cutting Room for the Monday night jam with Richie Canatta. It was a good jam! I got up and sang Summertime with Richie on Sax, Roast Beef Joe on the keyboard, and Kenny Soule on the drums. I have played with Kenny and Roast Beef in previous bands and they are both great players. We swooped through the room with sound and feel. That is such a nice venue. I love the lights and the high stage and the largeness of the room itself. I had a great time last night followed by a great show tonight. I am very blessed, this I know. Tonight was the last night of Chanukah which we celebrated. We lit candles every night and said the prayers. It is a really nice ritual and apparently there is a giant Menorah in Central Park at the 72nd street Bethesda Fountain. I met Carmela, the woman who created it, last night at The Cutting Room. There is a giant angel in the fountain and Carmela saw birds sitting on the angels wings one day when the sun was shining behind it and to her, the birds looked lit up and that is where the idea came from to create a Menorah. All my very best thoughts and wishes to you, Jessica Star