Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Entry #73

  It’s Tuesday evening here in the big city and we just ate some of the most delicious home-made soup! It was Caribbean stewed chicken with vegetables!!! It’s getting cold here and it’s definitely the Fall so, soup is ON!   I’m singing on Halloween night in Westhampton at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Theater with Frank Latorre and The King Bees! Westhampton is beautiful and it’s always good to get out of the city for the night. I’ve been out there three times I think, and I haven’t seen the beach once! I haven’t seen the ocean here on the east coast at all yet. There are surfers out here and everything! Hopefully, now that it’s fall and the leaves are changing, we’ll take a trip and check out some parts of Upstate New York, maybe go up to Maine…I love traveling!   Did I mention that Lucinda Williams listened to the cds of mine that I got to her and she liked my music?!?! Isn’t that cool! I saw her on TV last night playing with her band and she was great! It’s funny how, for at least five years now, I’ve felt like I was (using thumb and index finger for measurement) this close to really “making it” in my music career! Brushing shoulders with musicians and actors that are doing what I want to do and are where I see myself going…I think it’s God’s way of letting me know I’m on the right path and to have FAITH!!! I DO have faith! I have MUCHO faith! Faith brought me here to NYC and keeps me here when it gets tough.   I really do love it here! I’ve been here for a little over a year now and I must say that I’m extremely proud of myself. There’s so much to do all of the time and you really could be out every minute of the day and night very easily. A friend of mine just gave me a hint that “the doctor says” one night out and one night in~ this keeps us from getting too tired and burning out! B vitamins also help, along with sleep!   May we all find complete fulfillment in this lifetime!   Jessica Star  

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Entry #72

Star-date October 22nd, 2003… Last night I sang and played solo at the East Village bar,” The C Note”. It was a very magical night with friends! Thank you to Greg Bernhardt for bringing his posse! I had a great time and once again remembered why I love to play solo. The audience were making rhythms on the tables and clapping hands. The bartender was (and IS) a musician and has played in my ol’ stomping grounds of Santa Rosa and Sebastopol! Go figure! I come all the way to NYC and the bartender used to play The Old Vic (that’s a venue/bar in Santa Rosa)! Life is funny, spontaneous and magical if only you see it that way!    It’s getting colder here and the sparse rain tonight held a hint of winter snow... I’m reading a good book called,” Arrows of the Queen” by Mercedes Lackey. It’s the first of a trilogy that I got at a used bookstore that sells select books for $1 each!   Signing off,   Jessica 

Monday, October 20, 2003

Entry #71

   It’s Monday evening and we are chillin’! Yesterday I sang out near Westhampton at a Golf Club for a wedding with The Bobby Nathan Band! Yep, I’m a wedding singer! Four weddings so far! I remember seeing a farce business card for Huey Lewis and The News about eight years ago when I was rehearsing at Hun Sound in San Rafael with my band, Huey Lewis, Santana and other Bay Area rockers used to rehearse there also, well, there was a business card on the board in the office that said, ”Huey Lewis and The News~ available for weddings, Bar mitzvahs, and private parties”. The reason I knew it was a joke is that I don’t remember any way of contacting them!    So, tomorrow I play solo at the C Note in the East Village here in NYC and then on Halloween night I sing with Frank Latorre and The King Bees at The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Theater! I look forward to both shows! You know, in the story,” The Tortoise and The Hare”, the rabbit was definitely faster but the turtle completed the race or, journey!   Keep on truckin’ little turtles!!!   Jes    

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Entry #70

Where to start? I have a job now working in an upscale shoe store that also carries handbags and jewelry. It’s close to our apartment so that is a very good thing. It’s funny, on one hand I’m happy that I’m making regular money and know that it will be coming in and on the other hand, I’m so tired after I work that I have very little energy to do anything else. Compromises, compromises…Yes, I’d love to say that I’m about to go on tour opening for Ani Difranco or Joan Osborne but, if I am, I don’t consciously know about it yet! Ani is playing here in NYC on November 21st and 22nd and she does have two opening acts! Both are male musicians I think. If you don’t know who she is by now, by all means, go to her website and get acquainted!   You know, a lot of things I see in life really turn me off! I spent my teenage years in the head-set of a punk-rocker and part of me is still there! There must be a name for this state of mind! It’s just that, here I am, working my way into the “entertainment business” and most of the things I see, hear, and experience of this business are so disgusting! Am I here to help make it more quality? I am not the kind of singer or artist who will do “anything” to make it. I think a lot of what separates artists or “personalities” that you do and don’t see is ambition. Ah, I’m rambling! I guess there’s just a lot of singers out there right now who wear less that prostitutes and, if you saw them on the street that’s exactly what you’d think they were. What does this say to all of us? To make it big you have to look like that? That is gross to me. Let me be very clear about this; Prostitutes are working men and women and that’s their job and that's great, I don’t think that singers should have to look like prostitutes! What happened to the bards and minstrels?  I love sexiness, femininity, playfulness, and strength in women but to me, when I see almost ALL of our female “pop-stars” looking the way they do in magazines, I think that’s not helping women’s equality! Do we know The Goddess? She's multi-dimensional, to say the least! I’ve had men say to me, on this subject that they think the women are expressing their sexuality and it’s their liberation and things like that and when I talk to women, they mostly say that they feel the young female artists are pretty much just doing whatever they think it takes to get in the spotlight. Alright, you go girls! All the more power to you and your cause if looking that way is what makes you feel right! If not, consider making an effort to curve the pop culture, to bend it in a way that benefits our culture.. Pop doesn’t have to be trashy and low. Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens were pop music back in the day. I love them. I love their images is more like it, I don’t know who they really are. Ah, life is a stage! Okay, enough ranting!   Jessica “the very opinionated” Star 

Monday, October 13, 2003

Entry #69

Well! Today we went to a convention at the Javitz Center here in the city for the Audio Engineering Society. Bobby and Joanne Nathan had a ProTools plug-in that they were showing at their booth. It was cool and interesting. We went to the party for the convention tonight, thrown by Fletcher at the Lakeside Lounge in the East Village. Anastasia was singing with Bobby, Joanne, Eric Udel, Richie Cannata, and some other musicians and Ed Terry, Lauren and I were up there on stage doing some singing! It was fun and there was an open bar! The East Village is pretty cool late at night although pretty much everything was closed except for San Loco Taco! Yum, yum!   That’s all for now!   J Star  

Friday, October 10, 2003

Entry #68

Well, Good afternoon! I had a bit of a rough ride earlier in the week, my right eye got infected and I stayed in bed all of Monday afternoon and Tuesday, just sleeping. Luckily, sleep is very healing and now I’m almost all better. My musical appearance at Joe Franklin’s Restaurant got cancelled due to the fact that they had to put another comedian in the line-up and the show was already too long. So, this was the second show as of late that got cancelled and they were both with a comedian line-up. Alright, no more bookings where I’m supposed to sing between comedians-this obviously doesn’t work! So, I was feeling down about it and my eye was infected~ I didn’t feel very inspired to say the least. I slept for two days and now I feel better. In fact, I remember a few people telling me that when you first get to New York City, that the city gives you energy and when you’ve been here for a while it takes your energy. I’ve been here for about a year and I was feeling like instead of opportunities opening up for me, they were barely opening and then canceling and closing. I came to a certain realization that sometimes it’s successful to just stay where you are and not run to a “safer” environment or an “easier” lifestyle. Even though there were no outward signs of success or moving forward with my music career, just the fact that I’m still here is for me, success. To me, it’s more than success for my music career, it’s success for me as a person to not run. Y’all should check out Sheryl Crow’s website! I adore her as a musician. She’s probably the closest to what I envision myself becoming publicly. Sheryl, Lucinda Williams, Joan Osborne, and Ani Difranco are some of the women musicians out there that I respect!   I sincerely hope you enjoy these journal entries~ I’m a pretty candid person and I like to share the journey with those who will listen.   May all your best dreams come true!   Jessica Star  

Monday, October 06, 2003

Entry #67

Hey y’all! I’m so tired! It’s Yom Kippur today. I’ve got my right eye closed as I write this because I’m sooooooo sleepy! But alas, I felt like writing. Two nights ago, Lucinda Williams played down the street at The Beacon Theater and I watched her tour bus go by and went and hung by the backdoor with the stage crew from the theater. Her tour bus is so nice! There’s at least two~ one for her and one for her band. It was very educational to watch the scene as the show ended and she was about the first person out of that backstage door with people on either side and in back of her. She looks very petite, like an urban cowgirl. I was impressed. “They” say that it’s prudent to be around people who are doing whatever it is that you want to do. As far as I can tell, Lucinda is doing what I want to do~ touring around the world playing her music with her crew on her tour busses! Rock on Lucinda!!! She has copies of my cds now and maybe she’ll come to my website and read this entry! Lucinda, if you’re reading this, thank you for living it! I imagine that what you’re doing with your life and music is and was your dream and I thank you for going for it for so long! You make it easier for people like me to visualize ourselves doing it! I want to open for you! Alright, just rock on sister!   Jessica!  

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Entry #66

Okay, okay, I ranted a little too hard on the last entry.. Don't kick the guy. I just learned a good lesson. The lesson is that I need to be more picky about the gigs I accept and know what I'm getting into before I sign up to do it. I really didn't like the experience I had last night at New York Comedy Club. I was hoping it would be cool and a fun and HUMOROUS night but, alas, you can't force comedy. I take back the part of the last entry where I say," if you see him, kick him"~that was kind of mean. I did however feel that way at the time of writing it.. That episode was a little hard on my spirit but, I okay now! Little Miss Sass

Entry #65

New York Comedy Club was a bust! They Suck! They told me,once I got there -on time- that because I didn't bring anyone, I couldn't play! I said,"Are you joking?" and he said,"no" so, feeling about as uncomedic as possible, we decided to leave.. A friend of mine showed up with her boyfriend to hear me and they said,"you can play because a red-head showed up to see you" and I decided that they sucked and whoever the red-head was, she could come with us somewhere else to have fun! We got my red-headed friends money back and the owner then proceeded to insult me! I told him to "Fuck off! You're an Ass!" and we left! Then, two more folks showed up to hear me! They called from the cel phone and I told them,"Get your money back and meet us on the corner!" So, me, my boyfriend, and four of my buddies went drinking! We had a MUCH better time at the Irish bar! New York Comedy Club sucks the big one! You know, I really think that people who say stuff like," New York is harsh" and," It's tough in New York" and the likes of sayings such as those are people who had an experience like I had last night with that dick club owner and didn't have any positive experience here to balance it out.. I've had MOSTLY possitive experiences here with one or two negatives. I'm lucky! I never should have agreed to play that gig! I'm learning! There was absolutely nothing in it for me! I spent money on that gig and lost money! Ah well, we live and learn right? By the way, The ASSHOLE club owner of New York Comedy Club is named Steve Errins~ if you see him, kick him! Ha!   Jessica Star don't mess with the artists!