Monday, December 06, 2004

Entry #139

I just got back from the New York Burning Man Decompression party! It was really fun. THANK YOU TO ALL THE VOLUTEERS WHO CREATED SUCH A GREAT PARTY! Ooh, I am sleepy! Let me see, what were some things that I saw at the party that I can convey to you?? I saw some of my friends there all dressed up (or undressed) having a smashing time, there was this room that had all these blown up giant balloon-like things~ real big plastic bags I guess, and people were jumping on them and rolling to the floor and laughing.. There were a few jesters, some clowns, a lot of people dancing, a lady in an amazing costume made of shredded paper; I mean, she was awesome! The paper was sticking out all shredded from head to toe. Dave, from my band, went to the party with me dressed as a giant orange and red chicken with a Papa Smurf hat! I wore my favorite costume; an elvin creature with an amazing royal blue wool top hat from the 50s and, do you remember on Bewitched, her mother, Endora? Well, my eyes were Endora eyes tonight; very cat-like! Oh, and there were good fire-spinners on the stage downstairs spinning to good dance music. It was a fun party. I went expecting nothing and I was very pleasantly surprised.   Goodnight New York!   Jessica  

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Entry #138

Tonight I sang back-up vocals at Carolynn Blacks cd release show at The Bitter End. It was totally fun! Eric Schwartz was also singing harmony vocals with me and he is a really good performer and singer. Carolynn is a gem. I bought one of her girlie tee shirts! It is cool. I will wear it too!  If any of you are wondering why I write everything out instead of saying, Im or its well, it is because this computer program does not recognize apostrophes! It puts boxes where they should be so I have to write everything out the long way& I do not speak this way however, only when I write in my online journal.  Now that was a fun show tonight. Carolynn is moving to Wisconsin (home of That 70s Show~ my favorite show on TV!) It is 4:18 am and I am just now winding down for the night. Did I mention that I love it here in NYC? I love Brooklyn too. I really enjoy LIVING in Brooklyn and working (playing music) in Manhattan. I think it is a perfect balance for now. Uh-oh, I just had a really big yawn, I think it is getting very close to bedtime. Ooops, there goes another yawn..   Good night or good morning; which ever may apply,   Jessica Star  

Friday, December 03, 2004

Entry #137

Hey peeps! Tonight we played at The Knitting Factory and it was a fun show. THANK YOU TO ALL OUR FRIENDS WHO CAME TO THE SHOW!!! You people keep us in business and I hope you know how much we appreciate you coming down and rocking out with us! We debuted the song Maybe and the Annie Lennox song Bitter Pill tonight. Both went well. People love cover tunes. I could see it in the eyes of the listeners. Songs that are even a little familiar make people happy. Yep, originals are our business but mixing it up with some tasty covers is a very good idea. We had a guest star tonight; Dave Luther! Thank you saxman Dave! He sat in with us on Baby Blue and Stay Together. He really sounded great. I got compliments on his playing from the audience. It was really nice too because right now we are without a lead guitarist so the sax really livened it up.   All my best to you,   Jessica  

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Entry #136

Happy post-Thanksgiving! I hope you all ate and ate and ate and remembered to be thankful! We went to Jersey and spent a few days out of the city vibe which was much needed. Now we are back in Brooklyn and it is Sunday. We start the week on Sunday night most of the time because it is a little hard to relax when you know tomorrow is Monday. I am more awake at night anyway so, here we go! I think I could go without watching or being around a TV for about two weeks. I have had a little too much lately. That is a sure sign that we have been taking it easy though. I am up on all the TV shows.   This week we are playing at The Knitting Factory on Thursday night! We are going to do a new Janis Joplin tune and an Annie Lennox song. We keep expanding our set list which is great. We are without a lead guitarist right now but I do not mind. Now Guido, our keyboardist, can solo all he wants. On Saturday I am going to sing back up with Carolynn Black at the Bitter End for her cd release party. Carolynn is a powerful singer. I sang back up vocals on her new album so this will be fun.   Does anyone else find it eerie that all political conversation has completely died??? Yeah, yeah, I know we had our so called election (yeah right) but just like that, everyone shuts up about all of it& Just a little too quiet for my liking. Now we are preparing for Chanukah and then Christmas. That is all I have to report right now. Come to my show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     Jessica  

Monday, November 15, 2004

Entry #135

I recorded on a Reggae song tonight! The artists name is Hylton Buckford~ he wrote, recorded and made famous the song Johnny Too Bad, back in the 70s. It is a Reggae-Ska song that was in the Jimmy Cliff movie The Harder They Come. Well, he rerecorded that song (which I did not sing on) and had me do a duet with him on a song by Johnny Nash called, Hold Me Tight. It is realllly groovy! Nice stuff. I love it here. I get so much work with my music. I am very blessed. It is 5:20 am and I am still buzzing from the recording session! I got driven home at 3 am! We recorded at Richie Canattas studio (Billy Joels sax player on every album). I am real happy. This week I was so busy! I was on TV on Monday, had sushi with a friend of mine and then went to a recording studio out in Williamsburg on Tuesday, Wednesday I did a cool photo session on my roof in Brooklyn overlooking the island of Manhattan and then had my show at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, Thursday I stayed home ALL DAY and knit a sock! Friday I sang back-up for a friend of mine, Tom Hopke, at the Cutting Room, Saturday we partied like ROCKSTARS at the Fat Boy Slim concert.... A nice Burning Manesque evening... and Sunday evening I recorded on a Reggae track! Yep, how long would it have taken me to do all that in Cali? Hard to say, but here it is so fast that even doing all that in one week leaves you feeling like you did not do a whole lot with your week! Whew! Eating it up! ~Jessica

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Entry #133

Tonight we played at The Bitter End and the show ROCKED!!! Thank you everyone who came out! The energy in the house was very electric. I took some cool pictures with a friend of mine from back in Northern California today up on our roof in Brooklyn with Manhattan in the background. It was pretty early for me to be up and rolling but I made it work& Okay, it was 1pm! Yeah, yeah, I am a late nighter and a late riser so what are you gonna do? I need to be fully charged at 11pm when I am on stage so I make it a habit to work the late shift and burn the midnight oil! I have always loved being up when all the rest of you are asleep. It is very quiet and I get a lot of creative things done.  To the lady who tried to share my mike with me tonight; sorry I had to kick you off the stage. It was not personal it is just that I do not hand my microphone over to anyone when I have a show and to be on stage, you have to be invited up. You do not just get up and reach for the lead singers microphone. I know it might have seemed like a good idea at the time and I hope you are not sore about it but hey, I have been asked off of other peoples stages before and you know what? They were right; you have to be invited up or else expect to be kicked off.  For those of you who just tuned in; yep, a revved up audience member jumped on stage and reached for my microphone tonight and I kicked her off the stage in the middle of the last song and then proceeded to sing the second verse! Whoo! I have played my share of biker parties.  So, this Friday night I am singing back-up with Tom Hopke at The Cutting Room at 7:30pm and this Saturday night we are going to see Fat Boy Slim and dance to our hearts content!  I sang back-up on Carolynn Blacks new album and I will be singing with her at her c.d. release party at The Bitter End on Saturday, Dec.4th! She has some great songs. We did Angel From Montgomery as one of the tunes on her album. My former bassist, Dean Zucchero, is the producer on her new album.  Tonight, my friend Sheri Wagner came up and played lead guitar on Baby Blue! She was FANTASTIC!!! I loved having her up there with us. Thank you, Sheri.   Jessica  

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Entry #130

Greetings once again! I just played music and got interviewed on the television talk show, "The New Yorkers"! I played, "Arizona" and had a good time talking with the host. It went by really fast and was actually fun! It is going to freeze tonight for the first time this season. Besides still being in shock about the supposed election, things are going good for me. I got asked to do Aaron Braunsteins radio show this Wednesday afternoon before our Bitter End show so that will be fun. Aaron is a total character. I hope you readers are doing good and feeling alright. Jes

Monday, November 08, 2004

Entry #129

Well, Kerry did not win did he? You can only guess at how this news has affected me and the other New Yorkers... Hmm,"North-Easterland". That has a very nice ring to it! Tomorrow I am going on a TV talkshow called ,"The New Yorker"! I got the call today and I am jazzed! I have been playing outside in Union Square lately and I really enjoy it. Brent played with me last week and we rocked! We play at The Bitter End in three days, this Wednesday with the full band. That will be nice. I always really dig playing with the band especially after I have done a few solo gigs. It is nice to hear the band play all the rest of the sounds! This Saturday is the New York Burning Man Decompression Party!!! If you check the photo gallery on this website, I have completely changed the pictures and have added some from this year at Burning Man. For those of you who voted for Kerry, I hear you... For those of you who voted otherwise, hey, it is a free country and hopefully it always will be.   ~Jessica Star 

Monday, November 01, 2004

Entry #128

Tomorrow is the election! John Kerry will win. We play at The Bitter End next week on Wednesday the 10th. Our show at The Knitting Factory was a total success! We had a great crowd~ thank you everyone who came out!     ~Jessica Star  

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Entry #127

Greetings from Brooklyn! The leaves are changing and the weather is getting cold. I can see more apartments as the trees are losing their summer foliage. Last week I was live on the air here in NYC on WBAI 99.5 FM with Evan Ginzberg. As synchronicity would have it, my guitarist, Kevin Chisholm showed up for the same show because he was playing live on the air with another guest, Carlton Smith, who is a fantastic singer and performs often at B.B. Kings. So, Kevin surprised me and played guitar along with me for my 15 minute segment! We played Arizona, Firewalk, To Laugh, and to start the show the d.j. played Baby Blue off of my Dragons Lair c.d. The station has a listening audience of 200,000 and I proudly put a word of encouragement and victory to Senator John Kerry and John Edwards!!! The station also happens to be very liberal and supports both candidates strongly.  My band is learning some new songs of mine; The River and Sweet Candy. We are branching out. The River has a sort of East Indian feel and is in a ¾ timing while Sweet Candy has a reggae feel. Soon well be playing at The Knitting Factory!!! That is going to be an exciting show. We also got another booking at The Bitter End for Wednesday, November 10th.  Other Star happenings: I have been scoring BIG TIME at the local Brooklyn stoop sales! What are stoop sales you might ask?? Ah, they are Brooklyns equivalent to garage sales but since most of us do not have garages, we bring our unwanteds out on the stoops and sell it to our neighbors! The flea markets here in the city really have not impressed me at all. They are too expensive and have a lot of imported new things. I like flea markets or stoop sales where people are just getting rid of their things because they do not have the room for all that good stuff~ cheap prices (Im talking about one dollar) and cool clothes that fit me! I am on a rampage, I know. I am starting to knit again too which is something I adore. I put it away after I finished my fantastic Celtic orange jacket at Burning Man (okay, I only stopped for about a month) but now I am on to socks! Yep, nice hand made socks! I think about music and new songs while I knit. It is very calming.   Remember to VOTE!!! If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem& Ah, you have heard it before..   Love, Jessica    

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Entry #126

Greetings! It is now feeling like fall here in Brooklyn. I wrote a new song called," The First Day of Fall" and it reminds me a little of Simon and Garfunkel. We came back from Burning Man about two weeks ago and life is starting to fall back into place. Burning Man is a VERY different place than regular reality& You would have to have been there to understand. I will just say that on Saturday night, the night of the burn where they light the 40 foot tall man on fire, we were walking around after the man fell down and I looked around& Everything was lit up; all the art cars were lit up and driving around, 35,000 people were reveling and sharing what they brought to the desert. All around us things were lit up and going off! Music, cyclones of fire, more fire, a lot more fire, laughter, and more reveling& This was my seventh year on the playa and it was a lot mellower than previous years. I'm pretty sure it was just me that was mellower but the whole Burning Man experience felt calmer and less crazy. There were a lot of kids there this year. I bumped into a bunch of old friends from Northern California and that was very cool! I feel like the desert was harder on my body than I remember it being in the past. So now we're back and my music is rolling. Our next show is in a little over a week at The Bitter End on Wednesday, Sept. 29th at 10:30pm! I like it there. The people who work there and book the shows are kind to musicians and I really appreciate that! After that we're playing at The Knitting Factory! We'll be there on Monday, October 25th, I think around 9pm or so. Tonight I'm going with a friend of mine, Sheri Wagner, who is a lead guitarist and singer, over to Makor to see the film, "Festival Express". It's a documentary with footage that was shot on the train that went through Canada with Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and many others. It was a festival that went by train! Every stop was a concert (pre-planned of course) and boy was there a lot of partying! That's all I've got for you this morning (afternoon for you farmers) so, I'll write again when more exciting things happen! Jessica Star

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Entry #125

We played at The C Note for The Howl! Festival last night and it was really fun. Kevin Chisholm played with us for the first time on stage and rocked the HOUSE! We did not have Guido play last night due to he was traveling this weekend and worked very early in the morning today but we will have him at the next show AND Kevin! The band sounds GOOD! I am really happy about it. Brooklyn is beautiful right now with everything in bloom and lots of green everywhere. I rode my bike around Prospect Park the other day and got my poi swingers out and started practicing with them. If you do not know what they are, they are what fire dancers use before they light them on fire! This woman that I met made me the most beautiful jean jacket! Well, the jacket was from The Gap but I gave it to her along with one of my Jessica Star stickers and she painted my logo on the back of the jacket in silver, metallic blue, and red and it says Jessica Star with a cool red music note! Thank you Janie!!! So far this week I sang at our friends wedding on Sunday, rehearsed with my band and sang at The Cutting Room jam on Monday, and had our show at The C Note on Tuesday! Good week so far!!! Today is a bit of a chill day I think although exercise might be in order at some point, maybe a little knitting& Yes, more than likely I will be knitting before the day is through. All my best to you!!! Jessica Star

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Entry #124

Tonight I had rehearsal with my band and Kevin Chisholm joined us on guitar! We play tomorrow night at The C Note at 11pm for The Howl Festival. I cant wait until Burning Man!!! That is really all Im thinking about at this point. Burning Man starts in two weeks and I practiced spinning today. Spinning with these ignitable things on chains that are really cool at night when theyre on fire! Fire spinning!!! So, Im very sleepy as I write, Im not going to spend too much time editing this piece! Tonight after I rehearsed with my band, I went to The Cutting Room and sang, Summer Time at the jam. It was fun although I went on REALLY late! I got home around 3am.   We ate gulash and beer tonight at the corner Austrian food place! Yummy! Seriously delicious food. Alright, goodnight Gracie.     Jessica  

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Entry #123

  Hello my furry friends! I just had the nicest weekend. As I type, just know that my nails are really long and they have been deemed, Jersey nails. Yep, I got a pedicure and decided to put the long acrylic nails on for our friends wedding. They are very comical and pretty and I want to keep them for a little while. Of course, this means I will not be playing any guitar. Ah, its a different mode. Ill just be a singer this Tuesday! We play at The C Note for the Howl festival.   Life is good. This weekend we stayed at The Hilton in Jersey and went to our friends wedding at a place called The Manor. What a nice weekend. Hilton is a nice cushy hotel. I sang Lets Stay Together with the wedding band. They were really good. Ive never seen a band do what they did. They were hooked up to a computer and I think some of their music later in the set was partially off of the computer but I cant say for sure. It was very cool though. They were kind of space age! If you Respekt musicians are reading this; you rock! You really got us dancing!   Im excited to play with my band this Tuesday. Kevin Chisholm is playing lead guitar with us now. It is going to be a really fun night as we revel in the festival energy of Howl! We go on at 11pm&     Enjoy your summer!   Jessica Star  

Friday, July 30, 2004

Entry #122

Hi yall! I just watched John Kerrys speech for his acceptance of the Democratic nomination for the Presidency! He is awesome!!! Yep, Im voting for John Kerry and John Edwards. If you look into the heart of someone who wants to be a leader, you can tell where theyre coming from. I think that is crucial in a leader. If a leader is coming from a place of service to others and helping the greater good, using their hearts in their decision making, that is the key. I felt that Clinton used his heart as well as his brain. On the other hand, you can feel it when someone is lying. You can tell when someone is using words to manipulate and get the best for only themselves while stealing from everyone else with no regard to the welfare of the future which is what Bush has done every time Ive heard him talk. I cant wait until Kerry is President! He will turn this Nation around and help bring peace and respect back to our country. Michael Moore is going to be filming the voting process in Florida!!! I love him! Ha! Make sure they dont finagle the voting process again! The key here is that once Kerry is elected, we who care about our country and the world in large cant go back to being complacent. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. You cant give the government and the President all of the power ever again. We as citizens HAVE to play our fair share of the role in government. Even if the only thing each of us does is making sure were registered to vote and then go and vote with your heart and mind. It sucks, yes, we dont want to focus on that boring stuff but when we fall asleep at the wheel, accidents happen and people who dont have our best interest are left holding the wheel and make decisions that dont have our best interests in mind. I never wanted to have anything to do with politics but these last four years have been so devastating for the majority of Americans that I have to pay attention. I have to be involved or else Im part of the problem.     Rock on Old Glory!!!   Jessica Star (Stars and Stripes!)