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