Back in February, just days before I left for my 2 month Spanish Immersion trip to Colombia, I did an interview with Ellis. It was my second interview on the show, and my first phone interview and I generally am a nervous wreck at phone calls, especially when I don’t know the person I’m calling. It went really well (although I did have a little bit of trouble getting the exact songs I wanted to play in the right order ), we ended up talking for over half an hour about all sorts of things. It was actually the official release day for her latest album Break The Spell. (You can download or stream the interview here)

So I missed the concert, but I begged my husband to go and at least get me a CD. He ended up going to the whole show, and when I asked him about it he said he didn’t want to tell me anything. I finally dragged it out of him that it was an AWESOME show and he didn’t want to tell me about it because he didn’t want me to feel bad that I missed it.

Then this summer when I went to the Rocky Mountain Song School, I found out that Ellis was one of the teachers, and she was also available for mentoring sessions. I bee-lined it for the sign-up sheet as soon as it was put out because I knew I had to meet her in person, and she only had 4 slots.

My first class that week was a guitar class, which ended up being a little beyond my skill set, at least in that I couldn’t keep up in the moment with the rest of the class. And then ALL the doubts came rushing in – “See I told you that you weren’t good enough to be here! You should just go back and stay in your tent the whole week!” sort of thing.

Luckily my mentoring session was right after that. I sat down with Ellis and told her I was the one who interviewed her from Fairfield and she thanked me for it again, and then asked what I wanted to get out of the session. I said I wasn’t quite sure but just knew I liked her vibe and wanted to meet her in person. And then I told her about the guitar class just previously and pretty much burst into tears.

She told me that every person – student and teacher alike – at the camp was feeling the way I was feeling, or had felt that way before, or would likely feel that way at some point in the future. Which was a huge relief to hear. We went on to have a great conversation about lots of things relating to the artistic gremlins that everyone deals with, and some strategies for dealing with them.

It was really a perfect way to start the week, to have my confidence breakdown right away, and get some great, supportive words of wisdom directly after that to help me get my head on straight for the rest of the classes.

A couple days later I met her manager Terri when they did a “Musician Think Tank” class to talk about different strategies for musicians to make money and survive the touring world. Terri is just as sweet, supportive and down-to-earth as Ellis, but she also has a very focused, no-nonsense mind that makes her a perfect moderator for those kinds of conversations and ensures they keep moving along and questions actually get addressed instead of lost in vague/creative/artistic land.

All of that is to say really, that I’m SUPER excited that both of them are coming to Fairfield this weekend. Ellis is doing a concert on Saturday at Cafe Paradiso, and then Ellis and Terri will be doing a workshop on Sunday! Here’s the workshop info (email me at LyricalVenus at gmail dot com for more details):

Host: Steve Cooperman
Location: Bonnell Building
107 1/2 S. Main St., Fairfield, IA 52556 US
When: Sunday, November 30, 2:00PM

You are invited to spend an afternoon with singer/songwriter Ellis and booking agent/artist Terri Mazurek, who will be sharing their advice and ideas on the business aspects of making music in a workshop entitled “Making a Living Making Music in the 21st Century.” The workshop takes place on Sunday, November 30 from 2 to 4 pm at the Bonnell Building in Fairfield. The cost is just $20/$15 for students. Topics include: how to set direction for your music career, how to find an audience for your music, promotion and marketing ideas, and how to plan/book your own tours. All levels of performing musicians are welcome, from those just starting out to touring musicians. Since 2006, Terri and Ellis have been the official business instructors at the prestigious Rocky Mountain Song School. Their workshops help creative artists to get on friendly terms with the business aspects of making music. They tackle music business challenges with humor, optimism, and compassion. Gemma Cohen, who was part of a large contingent of Fairfield musicians who attended this year’s Song School, says of Terri and Ellis, “I’d pay to just hang out with them!”

But of course, before all that, you can hear from Ellis and Terri LIVE on the Lyrical Venus Radio Hour! Just tune in to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM here in town or kruufm.com online worldwide, Tuesday from 9am-10am.

Official Ellis Website

The Coffee Song at Rocky Mountain Folks Fest 2007:

How Would It Be:

Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the videos.

Oh my dear friends and fellow music lovers! I have had some busy times and some more busy times are ahead. I just got back from a trip to Seattle to see one of my dear friends graduate from Naturopathic Medical school. (And she did it while having 3 little boys! The oldest is 5. A true wonder woman!) It was also a mini reunion with a few of my other dear friends – we all met in our first year of college 11 years ago and have managed to get many of us together every summer since then. It’s always a short, sweet and precious time that I look forward to each year.

And the very night I arrived home, rehearsals started for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in which I play a Wife. They are doing it summerstock style, where everything is crammed into all day sessions in just two weeks before we start dress rehearsals. I’ve never done such a thing and it’s quite intense, so I’m not sure how much time and energy I’ll have for blogging in the next couple of weeks. But never fear, it’s only a temporary thing, and I may end up doing more little quick posts like this, because the music really does feed me, and I’ll be needing those boosts!

So if I was doing this right, I would do a bunch of research and tell you all about how wonderful Sara Groves is, but all I have to offer at the moment is this beautiful video my mom forwarded to me. Sara wrote the song inspired by a trip to Rwanda, and if it doesn’t tug at your heart and give you hope at the same time I’m not sure what will.

Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the video

Gorgeous right? Here’s Sara’s website if you want to go find out more: http://www.saragroves.com

I can probably credit much of the beginning of my love of singer songwriter music to Dar Williams. I think the other portion of credit goes to a whole bunch of fabulous ladies at Lilith Fair in Atlanta, including Sarah McLachlan, but that’s a whole other entry!

I was first introduced to Dar’s music by this boy I had a crush on in college. He was from the East coast and had heard her out there. He could play guitar, which was probably a big factor in my initial attraction to him. Dar’s song Iowa was of course a big hit at our little college in the cornfields and we often requested that he play it (although he once changed the words from “I’ve never found a way to say I love you” to “I’ve never found a way to say I like you” in subtle hint that I was not quite his type – ouch. He really did try to let me down gently, and I have him to thank for several song inspirations and the Dar introduction, so it’s all good).

College was also where I started learning to play guitar myself. darwilliams.net had a super nice tab/chords page and much of Dar’s music was simple enough for me to play. Some of her less easy stuff was the big motivating factor to finally learn some B minor chords.

After college I had a brief stint of living in Boulder, Co. While I was in Robb’s Music Store I saw a black and white poster printed on blue paper for a Dar concert at the Boulder Theater. I was broke, my roomies didn’t want to go and I had beg one of my co-workers to at least come in a little early since no one would swap shifts with me at the juice bar. I got there just in time and ended up sitting in the very, very back of the theater. It was totally worth it. I soaked up every minute, every note, I was in pure bliss, including the opening set by Catie Curtis.

When the show was over the theater emptied out pretty fast, but a few people were hanging out in the lobby looking like they expected her to come out, so I bought a CD and my very first guitar case sticker that said “We Find Magic Everywhere” (line from The Christians and the Pagans) and then patiently bummed around, even after several people gave up. Sure enough, Dar eventually came out. I was shocked at how small she was physically, compared to how much she radiated on stage. When I got to her at the table, all I could do was put my hand over my heart and say “Thank you!” and pray that she understood even one fraction of the gratitude I was feeling. I can still remember how she signed the lyric booklet of Out There Live on the white space of the picture of her arm.

This the email I sent to one of my friends after that first concert:

Wed, 17 Oct 2001. I just got back from a Dar Williams concert and it was AWESOME!!!! I love getting to see these powerful women perform, it’s so inspiring. Any good performance reminds me that I want to offer something to the world too, and hearing someone with similar experiences, issues, desires or feelings makes me feel that my voice is valid, and could actually inspire as well. Woosh! Too many things rushing through me right now.

The desire to create and connect, the frustration of knowing I don’t have the technical skills to communicate what’s on the inside to the fullest extent, the pure happy high of being in the presence of an amazing artist…

Sigh!

I’m still working on those technical skills, but in the meantime this blog lets me, in my little way, contribute to the sharing of some pretty inspiring voices with the world.

The thing that got me thinking about Dar Williams in particular tonight was this contest they are running right now for people to host pre-screenings of her new live concert DVD. People who host screenings and then put up photos/reviews of the event are entered to win a guitar signed by Dar. OH. MY. SHEESH. How exciting would that be? (I’d probably write an entry about it on par with Ingrid Michealson’s excitement at being featured on Zach Braff’s MySpace page.)

I already sent in my questionnaire. Fingers crossed. If nothing else I am very looking forward to when the DVD is available for purchase. Dar is very fun to watch live – she tells the most amazing stories, and it’s fabulous to see how her imagination works!

If you are new to Dar, I definitely recommend you check her out:
Official Site
Fan Site
MySpace
Dar on iTunes
Dar on Amazon

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