Monday, April 24, 2006

I found a numerology site and, according to their calculations, I’m at the end of a cycle. I‘ve past the harvest and I’m about to lay down new seeds I guess to prepare for the coming Winter. Didn’t I just finish with Winter here in New York? Although, a hibernation of sorts does sound good right about now. A nice long rest on a tropical island somewhere, catching up on sleep, food and other areas I’ve been neglecting.

I’ve been loving MySpace. I must spend at least twenty hours a week on it. I’ve made lots of cool friends in New York, California and even friends in other countries. I’m just afraid they’re going to start charging for it, now that they’ve got tens of millions of people hooked.

I went to an Internet café in Harlem the other day, where I had lunch while working on my laptop. I've decided that I'm going to have Carrie Bradshaw's life, minus the relationship drama. I can't imageine being whisked off to Paris and set up in a fancy suite in Paris, having my days free to do whatever I wanted, all expenses paid, and complaining.

I finally found someone to make the CD copies for me. I thought I had one place but when I met with the guy, he’d changed the prices. I could have sworn he’d given me one price and it turned out to be almost twice as much as I’d expected to pay. This way it’s costing me about a dollar a CD for everything. I have to drop off the master and artwork tonight. Glad to have that taken care of finally. At least I hope it’s taken care of. I hope I don’t get there this evening only to have him change the price on me. Somebody may get hurt. And it won’t be me.

I started on a new song yesterday. I was speaking with MRMCS and I asked him about Blue, a Neapolitan mastiff he dogsat for a friend. I absolutely loved that dog and I want at least one in my dream house. I stayed at MRMCS’ loft in East Harlem until I found an apartment. He gave me a little space there to call my own. I had to climb a ladder to get into it but it was like a medium-sized bedroom up there, and so cozy. Blue would sleep at the bottom of my ladder. The first night I slep there and I heard Blue plunk himself down at the bottom of the ladder, I thought, “Oh great, I’m not going to get any sleep at all with that dog down there snoring.” But just the opposite happened. Every time I awakened during the night and heard him down there snoring, I fell back to sleep secure in the knowledge that nobody could get past him and up the ladder to me. I slept like a baby the entire time I was there. It was during the summer and when it was really hot outside, I’d fill a big bucket with water and squeeze in some Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap. I’d put a big towel into the water, wring it out and rub down Blue. He loved it. He’d flop over onto his back while I washed down his stomach and he’d almost purr.

Well, I asked MRMCS how Blue was the other day, MRMCS said he’d passed away and I thought, Blue was such a great dog, there ought to be a song about him. So I’ve decided to write an ode to Blue. Never a beast so loyal and true.

The California trip is coming along. I have five shows lined up so far and hope to add lots more onto the schedule. I’ve also been meeting lots of cool people in California through MySpace, so it won’t even be like I’m going to a place where I don’t know anybody.
I’d hoped to have a video online by now but I’m still waiting to get the last footage of the show I did in Philadelphia so I can send everything off to have it converted at the same time.

MRMCS’ girlfriend VKS flew to San Francisco to pack up her apartment and move to New York to live with MRMCS. She called me and asked if I would fly to San Francisco and make the drive back across country with her. “It’ll be fun,” she said, “a road trip for just us girls!” It sounded like a lot of fun but unfortunately I had too much work to do here to even think about taking her up on that offer. Well, a couple of days later, I was awakened early in the morning by MRMCS. “VKS was in a car accident,” he said when I answered the phone. At first I thought he was joking. He has a sick sense of humor at times but I thought that was a bit much even for him. Turns out he wasn’t joking.

VKS fell asleep behind the wheel and ran off the road. She woke up and panicked, trying to adjust and over-adjusted, turning the car into a spin. Then she really panicked and tried to re-adjust the steering, making it even worse and the car started to flip over. After flipping about five times, it finally stopped, landing upside down. She had to climb out of the passenger window and climb up a hill where someone saw her and called 911. She broke her C2 vertebrae, apparently the same one that Christopher Reeves broke which left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Her doctors feel hopeful that she’ll regain full use of her limbs but right now her movement is severely limited.

Sure makes me appreciate every single day that I’m alive and in full control of my limbs. You just never know how things might pan out from one day to the next. One things’ for sure, I’m going to make sure that I am well rested when I start on my road trip in California.

My neighbor ADD made lemon meringue pie, so I’m going upstairs to get a slice and then work for a couple more hours before hitting the sack.

More soon...

© Daughter of the Sun. Reprint by permission only.

April 10, 2006 - I’ve been spending a lot of time online, working on my MySpace page, making new friends through MySpace as well. By the time I get to California, I’ll already know lots of folks there. More...

April 2, 2006 - I can’t believe it’s April already. The year is nearly half done, although some more optimistic than I am at this moment in my life would say the year’s barely begun. It just seems that time is marching along faster and faster each year. More...

March 23, 2006 - Not much new to report. Still laid up with my broken toe. More...

March 16, 2006 - What a week it’s been! A broken toe, post-Philly drama, TTT came into town, west coast tour in the works, April concert to plan, new band. More...

March 10, 2006 - It was a pretty smooth drive with almost no traffic even though we left the city at 5 o’clock. We reached Philadelphia at about 8 o’clock. It reminds me of a lot of other small towns I’ve been in, like Troy and Albany. More...

March 8, 2006 - This evening I’m off to New Rochelle to perform at a Habitat for Humanity fundraising event. I’m taking CDs, which I will autograph and sell and donate half the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity. They’re going to New Orleans to rebuild some of the homes that were destroyed by Katrina. More...

March 2, 2006 - I am so over the cold and ready for the Spring. It’s hard to believe it’s right around the corner. The groundhog saw his shadow last month, which supposedly means Winter is hanging around a bit longer but I remain ever hopeful. More...

February 25, 2006 - Another late night… What else is new? I performed at Bellizzi’s tonight. Two sets. I ran through my entire arsenal of songs and even threw in a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s song, “True Colors.” I don’t really like doing covers but the woman who hired me for the night asked me to and you have to give the people what they want, especially when they're paying. More...

February 19, 2006 - Another all nighter… My plan was to get into bed by midnight at the latest but I wound up staying up and setting up my page on MySpace. It turns out there’s another artist with my name (Setra) who’s already on MySpace so I couldn’t use my own name. I had to sign up using Daughter of the Sun instead. It took a while to upload the music and the photos, once I figured out how to do it. More...

February 16, 2006 - Hurray! The snow is almost gone! Just the way I like the snow. A lot of it comes down, it stays for a few days and then it melts and is gone; and not a moment too soon. I ate the last of the food today, which means I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I haven't weighed myself but I have a feeling I've gained at least a couple of pounds. More...

Snow - I have about five days’ worth of food, and I’m prepared to hibernate until the snow melts. My car is parked across the street but I don’t know which mound it’s under. It was kind of nice being home alone and doing whatever I wanted to without having to answer to anybody or even speak to another person. I turned off the ringer on the phone and just spent some time with myself. More...

Guero's - I just got in from Guero’s. What a night. First off, it turns out they didn’t have a PA system, an amp, a microphone or microphone stand so I had to pack up all that stuff and take it with me. I lugged it all a block and a half to where I’d parked my car Monday evening and when I got to the parking spot where I’d left my car, my car was nowhere to be found. More...

MTV Comes - The MTV folks came and went Monday. It was all quite fun. I was up and dressed by the time they arrived at 9:00 AM. “We have to film the entire day,” they said and they made me put my pajamas back on and get back into bed. Then they filmed me getting out of bed, going into the kitchen and having my first glass of water for the day. More...

MTV- I sent off a CD and letter to MTV for their Made series. Sunday afternoon I got a call from them saying they want to film me for their “A Day In the Life” series. More...

Insulted - I got a call from a woman today who books acts at a café in Montclair, New Jersey. She wanted to know if I was interested in performing a short set of about 3 or 4 songs at her café on Tuesday. Not only was she not offering to pay me but she wanted me to buy an entrée while I was there. I was highly insulted. More...

More Journals