200909.12
Comments (0) Hey there. 
I asked my web guru, Candice, to add a page for me to keep you updated on the big and little things – concert news, CD developments, and general ponderings along the way. So – here’s our kick off!
Last night we played the House of Blues Voodoo Lounge on the Sunset strip (we being songwriting collaborator & guitarist Dana Bisignano and percussionist Alan Bruni). The view over Los Angeles was just breathtaking. Kind of wished we were facing the windows so we could take it all in while we performed! Saw some longtime friends we hadn’t seen in a while and made a few new friends, though. Really great time. And finally, we got some decent shots of my smurfy blue hair – freshly dyed this past Monday.
On the news front, well, there’s a LOT going on! Thanks to the encouragement of our writer’s group host, Michael Lynch, I’ve decided to release another a capella album. Since a number of my songs get a rough a capella recording during the songwriting process, most of the cuts already exist; it’s just a matter of remastering them and cleaning them up for public consumption. That process is always a little …well, chore like. I’m much more of a poet than a producer, and I often wrestle with whether to keep cleaning up the tracks with retakes or to just keep the early takes that have flaws, but also have more emotion and depth because they came into existence in the earlier, more raw and honest stages of the songwriting and composing process. I might be calling on some of you for feedback once I start sorting through and mixing down files. Mostly I’ll just need you to tell me ‘It’s fine as it is! Leave it alone!’
That project will be all my own work, I believe, but I’ve also got a number of great collaboration projects on deck. Judith de los Santos (www.JudithOnline.com) and I have been talking for a number of months about doing an EP together of our works. And after our gig with Ginny Owens at Denham Farm over Labor Day weekend, she’s said she’d like to record her own rockin’ guitar version of Here Now! Dude, she rocks on it, too! She adds so much texture and punch to it, it makes you want take out your ponytail holder and bang your head.
Dana Bisignano (www.DanaBisignano.com) and I have also been long talking about our EP together. A number of our stronger collaborations are already on iTunes (Stop Thinking About Me and Welcoming), but we have about 4 other solid songs ready to be recorded fully and mixed. Hoping to tie up that EP, and Judith’s, before year end. Some of you might be excited to know we’re releasing it on AmieStreet.com first! That means the first few hundred people will be able to grab it for free! The a capella project will also likely debut on AmieStreet, even if it’s only half of the album.
If that weren’t enough, I’ve also been doing some vocal work for Mike Shapiro (a film composer also credited at Michael Gordon Shapiro, www.MikeMusic.com). We’ve been slowly but surely conquering his piece ‘Santa Monica’ for…I won’t tell you how long. But the final mixdown is coming; he just keeps getting booked for so many musicals and films he’s hardly had a moment for his own work – which isn’t completely a bad problem to have! Nonetheless, we’re looking forward to sharing that track with you …sometime soon. 
(Also, Mike is the creator and artist behind the Joe the Circle comics – http://joe-the-circle.com/comic/?cat=16. I have been *dying* for the right moment to share that link with you!)
I’m so blessed to be working with everyone of these guys (and gals). Please be sure to check them out at the links above and on their individual Facebook pages (simply search their names). They’re all wonderfully talented and genuine people you’d do well to know.
Well, that certainly seems like enough for one entry, I’d say. I’m sure if I’ve left out some earth shattering piece of news, Candi or some of you will let me know. I did mention that I have blue hair right? Check. We’re good to go then.
Natalie Nicole
Themocracy