Ballad of the Merch Girl

Thanks, Conrad!

On Song Contests, Competition, and Judging Art

I've been meaning to address this thought since last weekend but I've been knee deep in packing boxes. As of Thursday I will have to be completely out of my place, so phew! No more time to procrastinate. I'm kind of sick of updating my Facebook status with something involving boxes, packing, or re-locating said boxes to a new place...but that's what's on my mind so that's what you FB peeps have to see. Anyway. The Songwriter's Serenade Contest in Halletsville turned into a really fun weekend. It was part of the larger Fiddler's Frolic competition, where I guess fiddlers from across the nation gather to...fiddle. It was cool. I was selected as a semi-finalist so I was one of 20 writers that performed Friday. The top 10 on Friday moved on to Saturday. I did not make the top 10. That's a weird feeling because as an artist and writer I vacillate between "I AM AWESOME" and "MAYBE I SHOULD GO BE A BARISTA SHUTUP JANA" and then there's the between nitpicky things like "you should be practicing," "you should be making money," "you should do something with that song," "don't tell me what to do with my art," "I am cooler than that dude/girl/hamster over there," and other sundry and not very pleasant thoughts. I also have genuine emotions that run more like "I am so happy to be here," "this is such a cool experience," "I'll do better next time," "judging contests is subjective," etc. It's a giant mind mess, really. All of us who write or compose or play out constantly spout the mantra that Art is Subjective and hey man, what works for me might not work for you. But then we throw ourselves at the mercy of songwriting judges just in case what we do works for them. And then we try not to be jealous and jerky when it's not. It's a weird process. I guess my ultimate thoughts on the whole thing are that there ARE some solid criteria for a good song, and those can be judged. Period. My thoughts on Halletsville are that my performance was not my A game. I didn't show up in that way that day. I played "Paper Rock Scissors" which I believe is an A game song. When you don't perform up to the standard of the song, how does that get judged? (That's a rhetorical question). Long blog post summed up: I'll keep entering these things, I'm pleased with my reaction to not winning (i.e. no crying and screaming haha), I will improve my head game for competitions such as this, and in the process I always meet new and interesting writers. Win. (And watch out next time cuz heads are gonna roll heehee).

Holy Kerrville, Batman

Firstly, my Easter gig in New Braunfels was lovely and full of good folks and Katie sang my song "Ritalin" because she rocks it and it was so good. Thanks, Katie! All right. So in case you're not familiar, the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Contest is "the thing" to enter if you are a singer-songwriter. Every year. Rain or shine. You send in your 2 songs and then in April, you check the New Folk Finalist list. You kind of check it with maybe one eye shut and one squinted toward the screen because there's always a morsel of hope. This was my second time entering. So yesterday I squinted at the Kerrville site and did not see my name and was not surprised because there are people like Lucy Wainright Roche on that list. (I love her, go see her). So then I kept reading about what happens and then there on the site it says: "In addition to the above finalists, we selected regional performers to appear at the BALLAD TREE to sing one of their songs." And then I saw THIS: Woooohooo! I got a little giddy. And maybe told everyone I know. And announced it to the whole lobby at Red Leaf. And I'll be toasting with Adler & Hearne in Winnsboro this weekend when I open the show at their lovely venue Crossroads Music Co. Even neater. And I get to play my tune on the same day that Susan is playing her main stage set at the festival. Neatest. So this news doesn't ultimately help me pack boxes or send out emails, which is what needs to be done this morning...but it's nice to hum to in the background.

Pinky Fingers

The iPhone as a Songwriting Tool

Ok I'll stop the iPhone love gush one of these days but I've had mine less than a week so this is allowed. Here's why this thing and all it's magical little apps you can download are awesome. Today I'm working on a new song... 1) I pull up some words I had jotted in the notes section this week. None of them actually got used this round but oh well. 2) I emailed some buddies from the phone to fact check a scenario for me...as in, "This line makes sense, right guys?" Jamie nearly responded with a spreadsheet and graph because she's so on it (she's an editor). They said I was in the affirmative. Phew. 3). I use Biblical references sometimes. So I pulled up the app that contains every version of the Bible...in several languages even. Did a content search of the whole thing and pulled up a story about Joshua to make sure I had it right. 4). Then I downloaded a rhyming dictionary app to get some help. 5). Then I decided to take a photo of my large piece of paper and blog it. All from the phone. The only reason I left my bed was to get cereal. Thank you Apple. But you don't get royalties. Yet. Blogged from Outerspace

Live Version of "Fortunate" up on Myspace

Check out a live track from my weekend in Port Aransas for the Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines workshop last month...we did a show that weekend and my tune was "Fortunate." That's Lloyd doing the introduction. Hear it on Myspace, yo! (And if you dig the tune, probably my favorite version so far is on Youtube with Susan Gibson and Marian Brackney jammin' along at Artz Ribhouse in Austin). (And if you really, really dig the tune...get your copy of The Early Year. Woot!)

Life's A Song 2008

Well this took me a while. I seem to be wandering between solid internet connections all the time, and it took me 3 days to get 13 photos uploaded to Flickr properly. There's no excuse. Needless to say, the Life's A Song workshop with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines was a great experience and I met and re-met a lot of great folks this year. Not a bad way to spend a birthday, either. I got play some of my new tunes for Terri that are possibilities for EP 2, and the feedback was definitely useful. The jams were awesome, even if it got cold enough to make us move inside and away from the campfire. I didn't think it got cold in Port Aransas. (In my mind if you drive that far to a coast, you're pretty close to Jamaica. My mind isn't very geographically accurate, however). Here's some photos...and while you look, go to Terri's Myspace page and listen to her new tunes! Some from her new retrospective album and some from her Christmas EP. "Bring 'Em All In" has been a favorite of mine at live shows for quite some time... Cruising around Port A... Lloyd and the dobro go together like PB&J. Campfire Jam! Inside jam! Terri harmonicas it up. I recorded "Switzerland" with Lloyd being his kickbutt producer self. So there you go. If you have any interest at all in the craft of songwriting, I encourage you to attend a workshop like this...get yourself on the list for Life's A Song or check some of the other ones across the country. They're good for you.

Another year older...

And wearing a wiser t-shirt. More workshop today! Much fun and much learned so far!

And so it begins...

Yeah, I get to spend my birthday with Terri and Lloyd and a bunch of fun people. Score!

To Port A!

Time for the Life's A Song workshop, folks. My good buddy Kate Hearne and I are going to drive down to Port Aransas in oh, about 20 minutes and get our songwriting on. Very excited! Reports from the scene, of course. I have all my cables wrapped and chargeable items charged.

Tracking the Early Year: 12 Hours By Car

It is 750ish miles from Austin to Albuquerque, and that takes 12 hours to drive if you're doing right by the speed limit. I'm not one for stopping anywhere to stay the night, so I just do the whole thing in a day. That thought informed the chorus for this one -- some days Albuquerque feels so far it might as well be across the Atlantic. Then again it's nice to know a 2 hour plane ride will get me there, too. The rest of the song is a true instance of coming out in about 2.5 hours on a Saturday morning with much coffee and Garageband to keep track of things. I'm pretty sure none of it existed before then. I remember feeling exceptionally accomplished for it being 11 AM on a Saturday when I finished it. It was the first song we tracked for the record, and when it came time for some percussion, Dan thought quarters would have a ring to them...so somehow he compiled a handful of quarters and I stood there for the entirety of the song dropping quarters back and forth from hand to hand. A few made it to the floor, but mostly I was an adept quarter slinger. It makes me think of a ghost walking down a hallway. The banjo added a nice vibe to the whole thing. Lyrics: i am numb, i am numb two shots per feeling is my rule of thumb and i am tired, i'm so tired of being the one who sets wind to the fire it is thin, wearing thin life is a butterfly stuck on a pin i am still, i lie still behind enemy lines and i have taken my pill 'cause i don't know where you are two hours by plane means twelve by car that is the way we are twelve hours apart by car here i am, here i am spilling my soul on a string and a can can't you see, can't you see? i always thought maybe you'd be good for me but i don't know where you are two hours by plane means twelve by car that is the way we are twelve hours apart by car every day looks the same if the sun makes it up then i'll be ok 'cause every day looks the same if the sun makes it up then i'll be ok 'cause i don't know where you are two hours by plane means twelve by car that is the way we are twelve hours apart by car Words and Music by Jana Pochop © 2008 Patient Grasshopper Music (ASCAP)

Tracking The Early Year: New Mexico Boy Part II

(Part one of this non-saga lives here). "New Mexico Boy" was pretty fully formed by the time I was playing it out a lot, but it's actually gone through a few major "renovations," if you will, to get it to the version you hear on The Early Year. It's a long song. It has five verses. That's indulgent, but I like them all, so I wasn't going to chuck anything out. It got its first facelift when I was at the Life's A Song workshop with Terri Hendrix. We got some one-on-one time with Terri to go over whatever we wanted, and I played her this song. She had the same assessment about the length. At that time the chorus was: Drunk on Friday, home by 2 AM Mass on Sunday, bread and wine again You wonder who's your saint Cuz sure as hell you ain't Does confession to the Mother bring you joy New Mexico Boy? When you sing that 3 times, it makes your long song even LONGER. Terri drew some lines through the "saint/ain't" lines and said that's what needed to go. She was right. But I still LOVED that line. I went over that with Dan and he suggested those lines could be moved to the bridge, which at the time was kind of taking up redundant space: Airport's running out of planes Scared you won't wake up the same Airport's running out of planes So not only do I have this really long song but I'm REPEATING myself. Right. A little cut and paste and we ended up with what you hear now: Airport's running out of planes Scared you son't wake up the same You wonder who's your saint Cuz sure as hell you ain't And it worked, and it was all there, and the choruses were shorter, and the heavens parted and birds sang. Well, in my mind, anyway. This songwriting stuff is hard work. New Mexico Boy Lyrics superheroes, superstars live so far from where you are where crazy things fall from the sky but nothing's shown you how to fly cruise all night and sleep 'til noon tortillas, juice, and old man gloom spread butter on your daddy's bread turn off the news, go back to bed drunk on friday, home by 2 am mass on sunday, bread and wine again does confession to the mother bring you joy? new mexico boy no history you care to claim no county kickbacks in your name just a pack of dreams rolled up your sleeve to make it big you'll have to leave drunk on friday, home by 2 am mass on sunday, bread and wine again does confession to the mother bring you joy? new mexico boy airport's running out of planes you're scared you won't wake up the same you wonder who's your saint 'cause sure as hell you ain't cinderblocks like hollow hearts stacked up in piles along boulevards a fortress in your own hometown but this ain't china, walk around no this ain't china, walk around drunk on friday, home by 2 am mass on sunday, bread and wine again does confession to the mother bring you joy? new mexico boy Words and Music by Jana Pochop © 2008 Patient Grasshopper Music (ASCAP)

Tracking The Early Year: Blonde on Blue

(Go to Jana's Myspace page to hear this track!) "Blonde on Blue" was the harbinger of all the songs to come for The Early Year. It came together from a bunch of pieces of things I had lying around for a while, but in a very present, descriptive way that made me think, "Huh." Sometimes you surprise yourself when you finish a song; this was one of those cases. It informed the rest of my writing for this record and continues to do so, because I appreciate the honesty and descriptiveness of the moments in the song. The vibe was brought on by a tuning I had just learned/stolen from Susan (who says she learned from Ani DiFranco...share the tuning love!) -- EBBF#BE. Try it, you might like it. It's got a fantastic sound to it. Then came the riff, then came the melody, and there we were. The whole thing is yet another fictitious story from my head, but I feel like a lot of the detail is stuff we've all actually experienced. Passenger seat, cigarette ash glow out the window, stopping for gas and coffee, all that road trip stuff. The chorus was inspired at first by the image of blonde wheat fields and blue sky -- prominent things in my vision of a road trip because so much of my life's road tripping has involved New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas. "Scorch on sun" was actually a bit of a placeholder line in my head when I first played it for Dan, who promptly identified it as his favorite...so it stayed, and now I love that image, too. Weird how things spill out and you're not quite sure they will stick until you try them on someone else. Lyrics: I am sitting on the starboard of your only way back home There is weed and rocks and turnstiles that we have to get around The rearview mirror betrays you, oh my god I hope it does me too Something in this breakdown's bound to show just how bound I am to you I could fall in love If only I could follow through The minor ways I operate, they are shifting with your hands And all I care is you come with me while this world and I take each other in Orange friction ash on air from smokes that pass the while Keep one mile under the limit, your passenger is volatile I could fall in love If only I could follow through Like ink on paper, scorch on sun You on me, blonde on blue I am an editor of tongues you say, I always skip my turn And these scratched out words I am telling you; they are making my lungs burn Oh forgive my innocence and my array of messed up starts We'll find ourselves a redemption town, we'll meet our Maker's Mark I could fall in love If only I could follow through Like ink on paper, scorch on sun You on me, blonde on blue I think I am useful I'll take good notes along the way I'll prove that 2 stops for gas and 3 for caffeine is all we need anyway I could fall in love If only I could follow through Like ink on paper, scorch on sun You on me, blonde on blue Words and Music by Jana Pochop © 2008 Patient Grasshopper Music (ASCAP) Track Info: Jana: vocals, acoustic guitar, Backpacker guitar, banjo, piano, bass Daniel Barrett: background vocals

Tracking The Early Year: Paper Rock Scissors

(Check out the player over to your left on the blog or go to Jana's Myspace page to hear this track!) "Paper Rock Scissors" went through quite a few formations before getting to its finished form. I was taken with the playfulness of the game itself, except usually when people play it there is something at stake, giving it the potential to have important consequences hidden behind the simple "1-2-3-go." My favorite part about this song is the layers it has were unintentional when I wrote it; I don't sit around thinking about how people are going to interpret things...but after talking it through with a few writer friends, it's like this tune is a disco ball. It reflects very differently on different points of view. Nifty. It's the first song I wrote in the DADDAD tuning, which is fun as all get out. I stole it from Patty Griffin. When we tracked it, I got to bust out on the snare drum and tambourine...and previously I had requested to Dan that there be hand claps somewhere on the record. Dan decided if a track was going to have them, this was going to be the one. We clapped through the whole tune twice, making for a total of 4 sets of hands clapping. ("What is the sound of 8 hands clapping?") That's also the only instance of anyone but me playing an instrument on The Early Year...it was good to have a hand clap buddy! For the guitar track we went for a smooth Duke Levine-like vibe because...Dan and I both love us some Duke Levine (he plays for Mary Chapin Carpenter a lot. A lot). Lyrics: Took an offer for a ride to Amarillo It was 23 miles by a drunken crow Be careful who you talk to when you roll down your window And you can't call home Cause I'm from great plains and greater superstition And my mother I know - she is a very good Christian Between church bell chimes and late night dimes I never really was Now paper beats rock and rock beats scissors And the note on the table cut me to slivers And I quote God in the middle of the night When I say, "Let there be light" Started asking around 'bout where the circus went I got pointed to a prophet in a Bible tent And the preacher leaned and the people cleaned Down in the river with the water and the lye So I got held up for the winter in Wichita I guess something didn't read on the radar It said "Jesus saves" on family graves But I knew they didn't always intertwine And now paper beats rock and rock beats scissors And the word on the stone broke me to splinters And I quote God in the middle of the night When I say, "Let there be light" Get down into the cellar The storm will blow over, the storm will blow over Everything's gonna get better The war will blow over, the war will blow over And now paper beats rock and rock beats scissors And the word on the stone broke me to splinters And I quote God in the middle of the night When I say, "Let there be" Paper beats rock and rock beats scissors If the book is so good why can't we deliver? I quote God in the middle of the night When I say, "Let there be light." Words and Music by Jana Pochop © 2008 Patient Grasshopper Music (ASCAP)

Tracking The Early Year: New Mexico Boy

This one makes me smile because it kind of brings a neat story full circle for me. Susan Gibson was nice enough to sing background vocals on this tune, and by now you all know she is one of my favorite singer-songwriters and has been since I was in college. We met in 2001 when she played in my Music Appreciation class. I was a freshman thinking about majoring in political science but secretly wanting to find a way to be a musician (and had been doing as such since about 5th grade). There wasn't a whole lot of example around Albuquerque of songwriters who toured and recorded on a sustainable level. Success to me meant a record deal and VH-1...which was totally out of reach. But THEN...I see this songwriter perform in my class who is making the music business work as a career without selling out to MTV, and who is writing honest and brilliant lyrics with a powerful guitar style. Um, hello? I was smitten. Suz came back to New Mexico a few times over my college career and we got to know each other a little more, and when I moved out here to Austin she offered her help countless times to this very green-behind-the-ears kid new to the scene. She didn't have to do that, but she did. Lately I've been her Merch Girl and have gotten to see parts of Texas and the USA that I probably would not have for a while otherwise...and I'm psyched to be able to do my part and work the merch table magic. When I opened for her during a couple of tours of New Mexico last year, I would always request a little harmony love on "New Mexico Boy" because she made it sound fantastic...so it was a no brainer to preserve it for posterity on The Early Year. Thanks, Suz, for everything. Shucks.

Loveliness from Mary Chapin

I love this tune!

A Music-ful Day

Phew. I have that happy tired feeling when you know you did your job well but it took a bunch out of you. I spent a lot of the morning rehearsing a new tune because it's a co-write (my first "real" one, I think) and I know the parts I wrote really well, and am having to internalize the other lines a little more. Fascinating. Cheat sheet. I also have a wild hair on a new chord and picking pattern, and today brought some workable words...so there's something new in a holding pattern. I spent a chunk of the afternoon trying to flag it in. We're still circling the airport on that one, but I like where it's headed. Who knows. Then I had a voice lesson. We sang "hee hee hee" over and over again and I learned about where your "hee's" should come from. Not your throat. Stop that. Then there was the gig, which was very fun. And since Year 2 of Folk Music Grad School is shifting into focusing on "outer" stuff...like performing...Red Leaf's new Stage Performance teacher came to see my gig. She took notes. That was a little nerve-wrecking, but she's way cool and we meet tomorrow to go over her notes. It's perhaps best we are meeting right before my next gig so I can apply her thoughts to the show. (Her name is Jess Klein and she is awesome and you should totally check out her music, and I hope she does not mind me blogging about her because I just did!) I don't know if part of the outer training will be how to haul a PA around without breaking a sweat, but I could use that class, too. Yay summers in Austin! I'm so ready for fall. And thus ends my random day.

San Angelo to Switzerland

I'm off to be Merch Girl in San Angelo tonight, kids. In the meantime...here's a tune too new to be on EP 1, but I am pretty set on having it on the next record. It's my $20,000 History/Poli Sci degree at work! Switzerland from janapochop on Vimeo.

Be Intrigued.

I had some words tumble out the other day and I think they might be a chorus of a new song, but I'm not sure where they're going. All I know I like the words, the vibe, and the cadence. Bottom line, whatever my pen inked out is intriguing to me, and now it's like a fun scavenger hunt. That's what songwriting should be to the songwriter each time; intriguing.

Blonde on Blue

How I got the visuals for Blonde on Blue...

The Last Time This'll Happen

It's always nice to have goals, and I'm going to go out on limb here and publicly state one. I got my ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) statement in the mail today. You know, the one where it tells you how much cash you've earned off all the times your songs are played everywhere (radio/TV/etc.) As you can see, I'm not exactly rolling in it. I'm rolling in nothing, actually. Which is not a shock as my previous demos are not registered with anything, nor have I tried to get them any sort of airplay. This next year, though...new music. New rules. Watch out, ASCAP. Get your number crunching digits ready.

Wednesday Night.

Usually Wednesday is my night of Red Leaf and voice and business mentoring and check-in time until laaaaate. Really late. But alas, Dan is rockin' with porterdavis at Folk Alliance in Memphis, so I get the Wednesday off. I used it to work on an instrumental I came up with on the looping pedal. It's not ground-breaking, but it is making me more comfortable with looping. I want to be gigging with that pedal by the summer. Here's to goals! My business partner, Josh, is at the hospital right now...he's going to be a Dad! I claim honorary aunt-hood, because I do that. I'm a pro-aunt already with all my nieces and nephews, so I can handle another, haha. Yay! At my guitar lesson we were messing around with chord voicings and such and Kevin happened upon the Peanuts theme "Linus and Lucy." So now I can play the main part of the theme. I'm not sure when that will come in handy, but I'm pretty sure it will one day. I love that song. Time for bed.

On Songwriting.

The key to songwriting - in terms of writing something other people want to listen to - seems to be: - make it general enough that a group of people can identify with it. - make it concrete and specific enough that it's meaningful to you, because the people listening feel that. Simple, right? Right.

Another week = another weekend over

Weekend was good. Yes. I have been taking care to get enough sleep lately, which is kind of hardcore on my part. I figure I have plenty of whacked out sleep schedules in my future that now is the time to take advantage. That meant passing out at 9ish on a Saturday night. Lame. Does it count if I woke up at maybe 2 AM? But then I went back to bed. But I got up early this morning so it balanced out. I got to help a good buddy record a demo yesterday morning on the Mac. These suckers are so handy. Plug and play, for reals. I also did it in ProTools, which was nice to have the confidence to mess around in that program a little more. Both yesterday and today I decided to take a little bit more care of Writer Jana, because I haven't really worked on any songs for a while. I know it ebbs and flows but it's good to stay in practice. I journaled a little and I hope to start keeping that up again, and I think maybe I finished or almost finished a new song today? It's a combination of about 3 songs I have been trying to finish for months, so maybe they were just standing around awkwardly at the Jana Songwriting Dinner Party, waiting for me to introduce them. I'll try and be a better songlet hostess in the future.

Sorry New York City posted on Myspace

A little demo action for you -- amazing what you can do with just the external mic on a Mac and Garageband. This one came out of the Morning Writing sessions -- a 5:30 AM hello. It's not gonna fit on EP 1, but it might very well show up on 2 or 3. So you can say, "Hey, I heard that demo back in '08." Aught-Eight, as I like to call it. Sorry New York City on Myspace.

iPod blawg no. 3...something's a'brewing

I woke up this morning with the song I am working on stuck in my head. That's a good thing...stickability is key.

Cheatham Street: Songwriters' Class of '87

On Thursday night I headed down to San Marcos, TX to Cheatham Street Warehouse -- a legendary Texas venue where people like George Strait and Stevie Ray Vaughn got their starts. It's also where an astoundingly diverse and talented group of open mic-ers from 1987 re-converged on Thursday to swap songs and celebrate their beginnings. So who were these '87ers? A rundown: Terri Hendrix: You read this blog. You know Terri. She was great. Lloyd Maines jammed with everyone in the circle, too. Note: we had awesome seats behind Terri and Lloyd, and since it was in the round...every photo I took contains the head of either Terri or Lloyd...sometimes both. :) Bruce Robison: When he's not performing all over the country himself, his songs are being cut by the likes of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, George Strait, and the Dixie Chicks. Not too shabby. Bruce Robison...and Terri's hair. James McMurtry: He has fabulous words and stories in his songs. Why, here's one now. John Arthur Martinez: He was on the show Nashville Star, and has a fabulous voice and a traditional sound. John Arthur and Hal...and Lloyd's head. Todd Snider: He lives in Nashville now, and had the crowd in stitches with his great storytelling as well as his awesome songs. Yay! Hal Ketchum: I listened to Hal on the radio back in the 90's when I was first getting into country music..."Small Town Saturday Night" -- great song. I never knew he was from around here. His voice is perfect. Everyone kind of joined in on other people's stuff when they felt like it...Terri played a couple of mean harmonica solos, Lloyd played a new baritone Tacoma guitar and it sounded excellent. Kent Finlay, who owns Cheatham, presided over the circle and played his great tunes as well. He must be extremely proud to have fostered so many accomplished writers. He's always kind to me when I head down to San Marcos to the open mic. Kent is one of a kind! So...I'm hoping we don't have to wait 20 years for another reunion, but this one did quite all right by me. A birthday, a short New Mexico tour, a successful JP Project No. 2...it's a good way to end the month. Happy December, y'all!

j.Po Thots: Songs are like newborns

jana: thoughtfully perusing the menu of life since the 80's. I'm not sure when it's cool to take a new kid out for kicks for the first time. I hear they're suceptible to all the germy things floating around in our world, so new parents often keep the kiddos at home for quite some time. Then again there's the thought that the more you expose yourself to, the hardier you'll be because you're used to it. As my mom says, "A little dirt never hurt anyone!" Same goes for songs. You don't want to screw something up the first time you perform it live, but there's that inevitable difference of putting a new piece out there in public versus the safety of the bedroom wall. I tried out a couple of new things last night at my gig, and the audience seemed to dig them. (Jana's definition of "dig": no one ran screaming in the other direction). I left out a few words, but hey. No one had heard them before so it wasn't a big deal. They weren't sitting there going "um, that was supposed to be 'burn down the FUSE, Jana'." Now that these new ones have been officially broken in, I think they're ready for more outings. Time to get a stroller and maybe some wipes!

Sameness.

I read this in a NYT interview with Arthur Frommer, the dude who does all those travel guides that are oh so handy for going somewhere. Q: What has been your greatest discovery while traveling? A: The sameness of all people, all over the world. From the mother of a Masai family in Kenya to a young couple in Japan to an Egyptian teacher living on a houseboat, all people have the same basic concerns and deal with the same human problems that we do. I think that's why songwriters are necessary. They point out how we're all the same.

My Credo

Alan Paine Radebaugh is friend of mine who happens to be a kickbutt artist and good at just about anything he touches, so he makes jewelry and composes music when he's not like...painting fantastic things. Check out his website, you'll see. Anyway, I got my hot little hands on a copy of Alan's latest musical composition (probably because I'm special), and he begins with a Credo -- a short and sweet statement of what he believes in. It's beautiful. I wrote to tell him so, and that I thought it would be a good idea for every artist to begin their albums with their current life's Credo. And since it is 2 AM, I added in what my current Credo would be: I will not get tired of rice and beans Ever Well maybe I will But that's ok, I need to buy gear. Right. Not going on the new album. But I do have a real song I have been working on lately that I think might be my Credo. It goes like this: Put a new star on the flag For this brand new state I'm in It came in messy like a flood It's going down sweet like cinnamon And from here on out, this is how I am I am constantly in free fall Thanks to gravity and tides and words And the only one that gives me any weight at all Are the words And from here on out, this is how I am It's not done, but I hope it will be some day. What's your Credo?

j.Po Thots: Songwriting Frequencies

Tuned in...or trying to be. Greetings from the Dallas airport. I have watched 2 flights depart to Albuquerque, but apparently am not cool enough to be on either of them...hence I wait. And blog. I've heard many theories and explanations of how one writes a song, and I think two things hinder any kind of concrete study: a) it's different for everyone (how cliche, but true) b) most of the time, songwriters don't know where the heck it comes from anyway. Well, I mean...there's the "formula song" made for radio that is polished and henpecked into perfection. That's an art unto itself and I don't take issue. I would like to try doing that sometime, though it might make me cry on the first thousand attempts. Then there's that...other thing. The muse? The subconscious? Luck? The other day I was doing some really repetitive tasks, assembling packets of paper. Large ones. I have the paper cuts to prove it. I'm thinking along, minding my own business, when this line pops into my head. It was a pretty cool line. Now, I've had this happen enough at this point to know I need to stop and write it down or Jott it to myself (a great service for leaving yourself voicemail notes and things -- it transcribes them for you and sends them to your email! Or you can listen like a normal voicemail. Or you can download thesound file online. Jott is golden...but I digress). So I grabbed a pencil and scrawled it and went along my merry way. That line, from where I'll never know, is currently sitting as the first line of my new song, which is a pretty big responsibility for a line. BUT WHERE DID IT COME FROM? Why did it hit me then? I always quote Mary Chapin Carpenter, who was quoting Bill Monroe when she said she kind of picks songs "out of the air." I always loved that analogy. I've adapted it to my own brain, and lately I've been trying to write more...but when the songs are out there and I am here...what does "write more" mean? I've decided I'm like a radio, and my writer's brain can learn to scan frequencies. Now, the more frequencies you can scan the better, so that means I need to be constantly exposing myself to other forms of art and stimuli of that nature...different genres, new writers, the whole shebang. But it's not just the purposeful scan that brings up those good first lines. It's kind of being in tune to the scan...at all times. When you're driving, when you're assembling large amounts of paper together, when you're taking a walk or writing an email. I do think that as a writer, I am learning to be more in tune with the scanning for a larger amount of time. Maybe one day I'll be adept at plucking those gems out of the air like Bill Monroe and MCC. Or perhaps I am just hearing voices, hehhehheh.

A Key to Songwriting: Marshmallows in a Field

Over at the Nancyland blog, I discovered some enchanting photos of marshmallow harvesting as well as an insight into what the job of a songwriter is: it's to put two thoughts/pictures/ideas together that don't normally go together...and to have them relate to your life, or life as a whole. To make people go, "Huh. That makes sense." Or at least, as in the case of the marshmallows, be a dang cool image. Some of my favorite images from songwriters I enjoy: "The alarm still rings at 5:15; the day goes off like a rifle." - Kristyn Osborn (Love Goes On) "Trying to make myself breathe, it's an emotional dry heave." - Susan Gibson (Anything to Keep From Crying) "What can I compare you to? A window the sun shines through, or maybe the silver moon. A smile rising. The magic of a fading day, satellites on parade, a toast to the plans we've made to live like kings." - The Weepies (Take It From Me) Tonight Joseph stood out in the yard, as Debussey played from the kitchen Celestial companions 'til morning's first lark, shone overhead and he listened And who was that shadow there by the gate, who was that there standing guard It was only loneliness, and loneliness waits, and ideas are like stars." - Mary Chapin Carpenter (Ideas Are Like Stars) Technorati Tags: marshmallows, songwriting, writing, marychapincarpenter

j.Po Thots: Songs are like Grapefruit and Ketchup.

I have discovered the joys of grapefruit. Only this week, really. I have always thought them to be too tart or squishy or...off-color to be edible. They're not quite orange on the outside and inside they are what can best be described as a fleshy-pink. I always thought that anything that is pink and triggers my sour face was not worth my time. However, browsing the produce aisle after having read an article about grapefruits being the Best Thing Ever and Full of Fiber and Nutrients and Other Things with Capital Letters...I caved. And I liked it. Where have you been all these years, grapefruit? Why have I not been sectioning off your tangy spheres of loveliness for the past two decades? Then I decided that I wasn't ready before. The same thing has happened to me with coconut and rhubarb...both things used to make me scrunch up my face in that annoying kid-way (the "I just KNOW I don't like it, ok?" way) and refuse to eat whatever was baked by mom. Coconut had that weird texture to it (the way I was raised, coconut grows in little shreds as far as I'm concerned) and rhubarb? What IS it anyway? Again with the tartness, and the green color...that's not pie material, I thought. Now I can't get enough of either. (Coconut rhubarb pie? Interesting. Try it when I'm home, Mom!) You know this is going somewhere, right? I'm no food blogger, even though I read a bunch (my favorites: poco-cocoa (a fellow Austin blogger), Vive Le Vegan!, Everybody Likes Sandwiches, and Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan). But I digress. I think as a songwriter, you definitely grow into new realms and perhaps outgrow others. I got over hot dogs and Kraft singles cheese sandwiches because I found other things in the world that offer more taste and complexity. Song-wise right now, I can't even really stand to play some of my older songs. Some songs were written about a time and place so foreign (and maybe unpleasant to an extent) that I would not cry if I never played them again. But I will always take requests. :) I also feel that right now, thanks to Red Leaf, thanks to living in Austin, thanks to having more time because I'm not in school...I am challenging myself in my writing and playing. Stretching those fingers as well as my lexicon (or sad lack thereof). It's a good thing, but it's a long process. Just like adapting your tongue to curry after ketchup...there's a learning curve but it's definitely worth it. After that...can you go back to ketchup? Can you re-visit old songs that aren't YOU anymore? Sure. I think there's a time and a place for every song as a writer's library grows. Some grow with you, some are outgrown...but every now and then it's nice to have that documentation of a certain time in my life. And it's nice to go back...kind of like having a hot dog at a picnic on the lake in July. You wouldn't order it at a restaurant, but the hot dog is part of the overall experience. For the time being, as I work on writing more and prepping for a new record...you're going to get a tasty, tasty mixture of curry and ketchup my friends. Oh, and grapefruit. Ruby red. (Photo courtesy of uncommonmuse!) Technorati Tags: songwriting, muse, writing, grapefruit, austin, jana Powered by ScribeFire.

j.Po Thots: Songs Are Like Pants

The new "j.Po thots" photo. Because I look like I might be thinking. Deal with it. Work with me here. Everyone's got a favorite pair of pants. Mine happen to be some I wear for pajamas with a big "LOBOS" down the side...one of the few ways I exhibit some alumnus spirit, and only then with utmost decorum. However, they haven't always been my favorite pair and judging by the fact that they are sweats and it is summer again (translation: HOTT), I'm going to shift my pants allegiances pretty quickly. That's fine. It was nice while it lasted, right? Some songs are like that. They get outgrown, or the circumstances in which you began singing them (or wearing them...in winter...with school pride) change. Your POV shifts, and sometimes...the songs don't shift with you. That's when I begin that process of eliminating things from my set list. Some songs just don't fit anymore. On the flipside, some seem to grow and adapt with me without me having to change the words. That's how I generally tell the keepers from the "nice try's". I have a friend who is very easy to get to know on the outset...she's great with people and easy to talk to. I was shocked to learn one day that she doesn't really consider you a "Friend" until you've been through a whole year together as acquaintances, because she realizes she changes with the seasons and her friend group does too. I thought that was very wise. Some friends are just summer friends...your moods align for a while and it's good, but it was never meant to last. Some are there for the long haul, even when it's the most depressing day in January ever because the holidays are over and the snow is gone and it's just grey and April is SO. FAR. AWAY. (That's just me and January, though). So maybe I have "keepers" and "nice try's" and "after Labor Day" songs? I guess the only solution is for you, dear readers, to come to every show, track every set list in excruciating detail, run some numbers, and get back to me. I'll be shopping for summer PJs.