News.
11.12.10 : Go west, young (wo)man…
Finally back on the road without a parachute or relatives to stay with or anyone to help me with the long drives, load-ins, merch sales, tear-downs, load-outs, or… anything! Wait, did I say “finally”???
I decided to finish the tour by myself to save some money and also to see if I could just do it without any help. The ultimate Loner Test. So far I’m passing. My only concern is that the car will break in the middle of nowhere and I’ll have to sit in the dark, alone, waiting for AAA, imagining zombies coming out of the woods to eat my brains. Other than that, I am pretty sure I’m going to make it to the end of this tour safe and sound. I’m in Madison right now, about to head to La Crosse. These are my old stomping grounds and it feels so nice to be back. Like putting on an old pair of jeans that still fit perfectly, even if they are a bit out of style.
After these next couple shows, I start to head west. That’s when I’ll know that the end is near, and it’s time to really figure out my next steps and start to plan for them. Right now, it looks like I’ll be playing a handful of shows along the southern states in December, on my way back from California to my parents’ in North Carolina for the holidays. I will post those details very soon! Other than that, I’ve been thinking about places I might want to move for six months or a year, while I write songs for the next album and save some money to pay off debts. Originally, I was planning to move back to Los Angeles, but now I’m considering the Northwest, maybe Seattle. That would put me closer to a lot of people I love, including Beau(!), and I’m sure the gloomy weather would help me write some killer emo songs! HA
What else? Well, I’ve been coming up with some really exciting ideas for the new EIY mission, and I think after I get home I’m going to have enough ideas to take the website and the movement to the next level. I’ve finally realized what the goals for the EIY movement need to be, and where it fits in the industry, and who the philosophy represents and cares about. I can’t wait to start writing about this stuff and fixing up the site to support the new plan! There might also be plans for a spring tour that would just be for EIY meetups and workshops in local music scenes all over the country. Keep your fingers crossed and I will keep you posted!
ALSO! If you’re coming to any of the shows in the next couple weeks, I will have the Tour Fundraiser SHIRTS and POSTERS with me at the merch table, in addition to the remaining CUSTOM PAINTINGS. Everything else is now unavailable, so get your hands on this stuff before it’s gone too! I am sooooo touched by everyone’s generosity and contributions on this tour. I could not have made it to this point without your ongoing financial support. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have invested in me and I will remain invested in you, in the music, and in my mission behind the music, in return!
If you are using that Ping thing in iTunes, be sure to follow the official G,NA artist page! Very exciting stuff! CLICK HERE to launch it.
Time to head to La Crosse to play The Warehouse — one of my favorite venues in the world!
Love,
Sarah
10.22.10 : 22 Shows, 22 Days
Despite having one day off, I’ve managed to squeeze 22 shows into the first 22 days of this crazy solo Volvo tour. I’ve already been to Canada once, and now I’m about to get on a plane and go back for a weekend at the Halifax Pop Explosion festival. I played a back yard in New Mexico, an arcade & toy store in St Louis, an Indie Week kick-off party in Toronto, a living room in Stratford, a high school in Northport, and CMJ in New York. I’ve had two great EIY meet-ups, seen dozens of familiar faces from years past, cemented friendships with people I met this past summer on the Warped Tour, made enough money from donations and the shows to pay for gas and food to get me from Los Angeles to New York City, and have slept on about 20 different couches. I’ve averaged about six hours of sleep per night, and four hours of driving per day. So far, so good. SO far. SO good.
I’ve had a couple of moments that have made me question why I’m doing what I’m doing, and whether or not what I’m doing is good, or matters at all. So many people are in bands for self-serving, narcissistic reasons, to feed some craving they have for attention or adoration. I admit that when I was younger, there was a bit of this in my subconscious reasonings for playing music. And really, what’s the point of being in a band that puts out albums, plays shows, or goes on tours, if not for these selfish reasons? It’s one thing to play guitar in your living room, or record songs for posterity; it’s another thing entirely to put all this money and energy into trying to get in front of strangers and use your music to get people to like you or give you money. (I’m in the middle of a rant and have decided not to stop; forgive me.) If there is a demand for it, then it makes sense to supply the music to people. But most bands are simultaneously trying to create AND supply the demand, which seems weird to me. It’s not like launching a company that makes screwdrivers, because everyone needs screwdrivers, so the demand already exists for your product and all you have to do is figure out how to make your screwdrivers better than the next guy’s. But do people need Gardening, Not Architecture? I don’t know. Could they grow to need it? Yes. Can I make a better electro-pop product than a lot of other electro-pop bands? Absolutely. But I’m still, constantly, questioning my motives for trying so hard to put my music in front of people.
That aaaaaalllll being said, I’m definitely achieving the goals I set for myself on this tour: to revisit the cities I played on Warped this summer, to hit the cities where I made friends on the 2009 tours, to revisit Canada, to sell merch at every show, to play some bigger venues, to play festivals like CMJ and HPX, to have EIY meetups and stay connected to that network of people across the country, and to stay in the black from week to week. Musically, I have pretty much hit the ceiling with the current live show, and can’t really improve it without new songs and a new presentation. I’ve decided that this will be the last tour with the light wall, if for no other reason than that it seems to be developing some glitches (even robots eventually die). If I can take it overseas in 2011, that would be great, but the US and Canada won’t be seeing this specific light wall ever again, after the end of this year. I’ve also decided that it’s time for a new album — way past time, probably — and I’ll be focusing all my time and energy on writing and recording those songs between and December and… February? March? 2011. And with a new album will come new ideas, new inspiration, new imagery, and maybe some new faces. I’m glad I’ve taken this long to start thinking about that, because it means I’ve been more focused on the journey that has brought me to this point, than on worrying about what lies ahead or whether or not this is going to work as a long-term plan. Hopefully, in that time, I’ve managed to create a demand for the music I’m making, so that putting out another album and continuing to play shows and sleep on peoples couches will not be in vain.
I’m looking forward to the next 35 days, and the next 100 days, and the next 365 days of The Great Experiment: Gypsy Life. Right now, I have to get on a plane for Nova Scotia.
Love,
Sarah
09.21.10 : The Fundraiser is LIVE!
Hop to it!
10% of proceeds will be donated to Cocoon House in Seattle, in memory of my beloved friend Sara Cornis.
♥ ♥ ♥
Sarah
08.03.10 : The sidewalks are watching me think about you…
I found out last night that one of my best friends passed away in a tragic car accident. She and I have been through so much together, and it will be impossible to replace her in my life or in this world. She carries so much of me with her to the other side. I am in shock and I don’t know when it will hit me. There are so many events and emotions that we experience enough times in our lives that we know what to expect and how it will feel when certain things happen. But death doesn’t happen that often, so it is a totally surreal thing to try to process, especially when the person is close to you.
My friend was an incredible energy source in my life. She was full of light and everyone wanted to be around her. She was not afraid to be herself and she was honest in everything she did and said. We had such an amazing friendship. We met when we were 20, and immediately fell in love. We threw basement shows together, went on adventures together, made each other mix tapes, and spent endless hours listening to music, talking about life, and encouraging each other to live out our dreams. She introduced me to The Weakerthans, which is still one of my favorite bands of all time. She was one of the only people in my life who always pushed me to play my music. She was constantly telling me I needed to get back on the creative path, and she was my biggest fan. I still remember all those afternoons in my first apartment by myself in Madison when she would over and force me to play and sing my latest songs for her on my acoustic guitar. Very few people have gotten me to play my songs for them one-on-one — before or since. She and I supported and trusted each other; we shared everything and kept no secrets between us.
She eventually moved from Madison (where we met) to Seattle, where she became a social worker, helping troubled kids get on the right path. She took a year off to travel the world by herself, something I can’t even imagine trying to do, but she did it and she won the hearts of everyone she met along the way. She stayed with me in LA before and after that trip, and I got to see how nervous she was going into it, and then how confident she was when she got back — having achieved and surpassed her goals, and having learned so much about herself in that year.
Though we didn’t see each other or talk often enough after we both left Madison, the connection remained strong, and I knew I could pick up a phone and call her anytime, and it would seem like no time had gone by at all. Thanks to G,NA, I was able to tour to Seattle a few times in the past couple years, and spend some time with her there. We got to have some of our inspiring talks, and catch up on all the latest stories from each of our lives.
A few days ago, she texted me to ask if she could bring some of the kids she worked with to Warped Tour to see me play. I told her of course, and that I missed her. I will never get used to the idea that I can’t pick up a phone to call her, but now more than ever I am inspired to live my life to the fullest every day, to be true to my calling, to never take anything for granted, and to head into each new adventure with determintation and a smile on my face.
Sara, I love you, I thank you, and I will always miss you.
