Living on Gigging

Last year, around this time, I was just moving into my new house. The second house I’ve lived in, the third abode with a home studio space. I wrote about this process of making design decisions here. And then I realized I was out of my league, energetically speaking, and hired my good friend Emma to help me optimize this new space.

You can read what I wrote about Clearing The Energy, and Why You Need An Emma here.

I lived with my home studio, set up by Emma, for almost a year. (And still included the original sound treatments I made myself, which I wrote about in 2010 – read here!)

And recently, my husband has been home a lot more. I mean, we share that workspace like it’s a real live workspace, minus the espresso machine. Continue reading →

Half a year ago, I hosted a webinar for musicians about communicating your brand with the help of DiscMakers (maker of CDs and merch for indie musicians). The people who signed up for the webinar ended up on my mailing list. Not the mailing list for my music fans, but the one I have for musicians who are interested in growing their careers and may be interested in what I have to say.

After all, they signed up to listen to me talk for an hour. Continue reading →

I always knew being a woman in the music industry would mean having to fight harder, avoid creeps, and stand for myself in a way I wouldn’t have to in other industries or jobs. A few weeks ago, the topic of women in the music industry came up again as I read this article called “Dear Creepy Men of the Music Industry, Please Stop” written by my friend and collaborator Ari Herstand. I left a comment on the Facebook post… summed up, I stated why the article was hard for me to read: there was no real-time responsibility taken. We can complain about how men treat women in the music industry, but in reality, we are not taking the right actions to shut it down. Continue reading →

If you’re a musician, you’ve probably thought about going to the Grammys then wondered “How do the Grammys work?”. Whether you’ve watched them for the performances or for the awards, whether you’ve dreamed about winning one, or simply wondered what it’s like to be there in the presence of the top musicians in the country, then you’re not alone. I’m all of the above. Continue reading →

Permission is a funny word. Like I’m some little kid asking permission to go to the bathroom, or to have a cookie, or to stay up late. But we are often stopped in our own cycles of self-defeat and self-doubt, usually because we haven’t granted ourselves permission to actually break the cycle, moving out of our comfort zones.

It sounds almost obvious, like the advice you got years ago that you shrugged off until it came back to bite you in the ass and really sunk in. This happened to me last week and it’s why I’m writing now. Because Permission (with a capital P) can come from an unexpected source, so maybe, just maybe, I can be that for you. Continue reading →

About once a year I get into a deep funk. God knows why, but it’s there. And luckily, three years ago, I rediscovered my love for musical theater and allowed it to cure said funk. And it works. Every. Single. Time.

In general, I am a ham. Additionally, I was the co-president of my drama club in high school. I had forgotten all about that until I got married and moved from Manhattan to an outdoorsy town north of the city. One day, looking out my studio window to see if my neighbor was getting her mail [so I could time the retrieval of my own mail to overlap with hers and thus have human contact], my husband said “in the city, that may be people-watching, but here, it’s just creepy. You should go make friends”. By doing what? Going to a yoga class? Hang out at a coffee shop and approach strangers and ask them to be my friend?

And then I saw them… Continue reading →

I’m on the Grammy’s ballot…

And now for the first time in my life, I’m reaching out and pitching my new record… not to my fans, not to music supervisors and film producers, but to my colleagues requesting they consider my music for a Grammy. Other Recording Academy members. Music producers, songwriters, labels.

I always wanted a Grammy. Up until I was 30, that was THE dream, and the only dream. And I knew it was a one-in-a-million kind of dream. All of my passwords were along the lines of “grammyorbust”. When I turned 30, lots of stuff shifted and I realized this industry and this career is a process and if I don’t enjoy it soon, it’s gonna kill me. So I let go of the Grammy dream and started being a real working musician, and loving it Continue reading →

A little update on this blog, the word “gig” and what it is for me, and what I hope for it can be for you (plus an exploration into allowing curiosity to lead you back to your passion).

Living on Gigging

I started this blog, Living On Gigging, over 8 years ago while I was touring the United States and Europe, promoting my records, singing my songs, and trying with all my might to gain the love of strangers. It was a half-decade of trying to put myself on the map of humanity in the only way I thought I knew how.

I lived gig-to-gig.

Dating was dismissed as a distraction.

I spent much time saying “yes” to whatever gig I could get, playing to a lot of empty rooms, traveling in lonely car rides, and operating with eye-on-the-prize focus (which came with a complete set of big ole blinders).

One could say I was flailing. There was a lot of trial and error. Continue reading →

I’m starting to understand how the ever-elusive energy plays a bigger role in my life than I thought. In a recent post, I shared about my recent experience of moving houses. I was desperately trying to set up my next (and hopefully “forever”) workspace with positive energy, differently than I had in the past. Weeks after my husband had unpacked and organized his mountain guiding business’ space, I was still stuck in creating my ideal writing, recording, and working space. While I never considered myself a hoarder or a messy person, I thought maybe it was time to clear the clutter. Continue reading →

It’s Monday at 6:37 am and I woke up to an email, like I so often do, with a link to a new blog post by one of the writers I read. Derek Sivers had just posted part one of his “Do This: Directives” on creating a fulfilled life. I didn’t click on any links, I just read the article, taking it for face value. While reading, I had moments where I thought it must be April Fools Day or an Onion piece. Other times I was nodding my head. In other words, I was a bit confused and taken aback. My initial reaction was that this was a bold piece of writing, which I applaud. It was also mildly dangerous, egomaniacal and for being such a broad list, I thought it was missing some key “directives”.

But then I clicked on the link that set the whole thing up. It’s the only link Derek asks you to click on (all the other links passively direct you to past articles). And he sets it up as such: he’s read so many books to help move forward and has essentially taken the key take-away points and put them into directions. Not necessarily real actions to take, but do’s and don’ts of advice boiled down from others’ opinions, research, findings, stories, and ideas. Continue reading →

Living On Gigging

Women in the Music Industry and #ShutItDownRealTime

What’s in a Gig? Letting Curiosity Lead

What’s The Best Business Branding Tool? Female Empathy.

A Day In The Life of A Music Maker

16 Quotes To Get You Outta Bed

Home Studio Workspace: an Update

That Time A Hater Called Me “A Pathetic Rip Off”

Women in the Music Industry and #ShutItDownRealTime

How Do The Grammys Work? Here’s a look inside.

Give Yourself Permission

How Musical Theater Cured My Funk (and why every singer-songwriter should try it sometime)

Grammy or Bust

I’m on the Grammy’s ballot…

What’s in a Gig? Letting Curiosity Lead

Living on Gigging

Clear the Energy: Why You Need An Emma

Creating A Fulfilled Life – Do This Instead