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I was a child of showtunes, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond. It wasn't my fault. My mom did Community Theater. I knew all the words to all the songs and wasn't embarrassed to sing them loudly in the audience, even as the shows were playing to a full house. But wait, it gets worse with adolescence. I faithfully listened to the cheesy love song station. You know the one, with the heartfelt dedications playing bands like Journey and Air Supply. I can still hear it now…"Secret lovers, yeah, that's what we are…" In eighth grade I had a boyfriend that introduced me to my first really cool band, The Cure. Finally something I could get into. Of course I didn't give up "love songs on the coast," I just also had a Robert Smith poster on my door. Imagine my parent's confusion. Like my mother, I too loved the theater. I immersed myself in it. Musicals mostly, but my highschool career also included some fine dramatic acting...or so I thought. All the while I was always singing. My brother, who is now my biggest fan, was famous for running through the house screaming at me to "SHUT UP!" Very inspiring. I was that girl in highschool that would sing the theme song at the formal dances. I remember there being a lot of Lionel Ritchie tunes. It was during those years that I composed my first songs. A Joan Jettesque song along the lines of "I Hate Myself For Loving You," but mostly love songs and my personal commentary on the state of the world. A sample, "We've got to join hands with one another to make this world a better place to be…" Yeah, I know, but give me a break I was only 14. It was in Los Angeles in 1996-97 that I really started writing. Again, pretty terrible at first but something told me to stick with it. I was singing with my first band, Shag, which included Raymond Richards (Idaho Falls) and Steven Martini (actor/writer/director extraordinaire). We did mostly Leonard Cohen and Mojave 3 covers, and during that time I was inspired by anything and everything I could get my hands on. The next year Shag disbanded and I rounded up some friends and started playing out with my own material. At the time I had just picked up a guitar and was struggling just to learn cords. I was petrified, but it was my dream, so I played any LA clubs and cafes that would have me. At this point, let it be known that although I still had (and have) a soft spot for cheesy love songs, I was also listening to a lot of music of all genres and thoroughly enjoyed learning and discovering new artists and styles. Some of the most influential included Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, The Pixies, Ani Difranco, Richard Buckner, Cat Power, Patty Griffin, Fiona Apple, and of course, The Cure. The influence of such a wide variety of music was apparent in my writing. I found a comfortable mix of pop, rock, folk, blues, and country and sang my heart out over it. When an opportunity arose in early 1999 to do some recording I jumped on it and out came Paperdoll, a 3 song EP. I was lucky enough to work with John Ferrante (Mariposa), Voodoo Llanes (Twin Six), and Robert Jolly (Maxfield Rabbit, Article 7). Then, almost out of nowhere in December of 1999 an opportunity came up to move to New York. Within 3 weeks I was living in the East Village. New York, and the East Village specifically was an amazing place for me musically. I owe so much of that to the tight network of really great people and talented musicians living and playing faithfully in the East Village in and around the Anti-Folk scene. Every Wed you would find us at The Raven Café and every Mon at Sidewalk Café trying out our new songs, gaining confidence, learning, crafting. Both my songwriting and guitar playing skills increased dramatically. Which was of the utmost importance, because I was playing solo (as I do mostly today)…just myself and an acoustic guitar. I played everywhere, going back and forth between New York and Los Angeles. Another recording opportunity arose. This time producing a 4-song EP entitled Five & Dime with the help of David Gould (Bootleg Remedy/Electrolites/Folk Songs for the Afterlife), Taro Baugham (Paleface), and Liz Pierson. This recording explored the country side of my songs with banjo, mandolin, fiddle, organ, etc. New York lasted one wonderful year. And then came San Francisco. I was able to jump right in to the music scene in San Francisco. I got involved with DivaBands a San Francisco based collective of female performers and recording artists. Keeping up with a busy show schedule, I made it out to LA and NY as often as humanly possible. I won a songwriting compilation competition with Technoplay.com. I was also accepted as a performing member of Folkfly, an acoustic series, designed to bring some of the Bay Area's best independent solo performers to various venues in San Francisco and the amazing Indiegrrl (www.indiegrrl.com). In October 2001 I went down to LA and albeit quickly recorded my first full-length CD, The Milk, this time with Aaron Espinoza (Earlimart/The Ship studio), Kyle Kirstner, and Alex Kimmel (Two-Dog Garage). The Milk was released in early November, just in time for the DivaBands Southwest Tour through CA, AZ, NM, and TX. The tour was extremely successful and led to the complete inability to stay put anywhere for too long. In September of 2002 I decided I couldn't be away from New York City any longer and prepared to move my life across the country once again. Before I left I stopped in Los Angeles and recorded 6 songs with Kevin McCormick (Jackson Browne/Keb Mo/Melissa Etheridge) that I released as an ep. I got to New York and decided that music simply needed to be a full-time job. Currently I spend my time touring the US and writing new material, and when I am actually home in NYC, playing with a band that includes Peter Imbres (No Name All-Stars) and Eli Schneider (No Name All-Stars/ Timesbold). In May of 2004 we released the thirteen song album, Caller Seventeen (which also included drummer Brian Wilson of the Johnny Dowd band) and are touring behind it as you read... Come catch a show...we'd love to meet you! | |||
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Other artists from Earth Austin Willacy Stoll Vaughan Karen Rockower | ||||
Uncommon Ground Past Show Dates | ||||
| 2004-10-24 (1299 days) | Shelley Miller | |||
| Vanessa Peters | ||||
| Dani Linnetz | ||||
