Israel Trip

I am putting my travel diaries of our adventures in Israel on my personal blog...if you're interested it's found at http://hannahs-philosophies.blogspot.com
Han

Believe!!

I think one of the hardest parts of being a musician is believing in what you do. For me, most of the time, inbetween gigs I have this attitude of like..."I'm such a terrible musician who do I think I am doing this professionally"...The best of us feel this way. I heard about one of the best guitarists in the world coming off the stage and falling down on his knees and saying to his opening act..."forgive me for playing so terribly!!!!" The opening act was about to also fall on his knees and say "I'm not worthy"...he was totally amazed at the guy's talents. We are such wacky people, us musicians. Most of the time when I practice at home I feel like I can't do it, it just ain't good enough...or I worry about being so nervous on stage that what I can do at home in my living room will never become a reality when the spots are on me up there... O well...I guess it all comes down to just trying our best to be convinced that we've got something special and at least to act like it on stage...and to try to have fun doing it.
The worst thing is other musicians...always trying to show each other up, look better than the others. I'm sorry but that's the last thing we all need, we need to help each other feel good about what we're doing, even if it's not our style...and even if we were so smart that we could hear the other guy make a mistake on stage...man...don't we all make mistakes?...and if I decide to live off of my music and be poor then the least we could do is build each other up and not tear each other down.
Toodles!

New York!!

Well it's been a long time since I've written...they say it takes 20-30 days to start a habit and I guess I never got it going. But alas I'm back...along with one habit that did stick...no sugar! Yes, Dieter and I have been off sugar for 26 days, yippee...and we're feeling great. In December and January, there was not much going on besides the holidays and a few little projects here and there. In December and January I finished a homemade "worship project"...just for fun in my mini home studio. It was fun. I peaked out on a few songs and didn't notice it until I had burned everything on CD...duh (I'm blaming it on the sun shining in that made me not see the peak light)! But otherwise it's ok. My CD, Obvious is in the midst of be pressed...as far as I know the graphics arrived today, which means they should be here in a few weeks. It was crazy figuring out which logos go where and how to get the license for GEMA and and and... The people pressing it are totally cool. I am getting 500 CDs (not including GEMA license) for 637 Euro...and the service has been great. They're called TMK Medienproduktion...based in Cologne.
The coolest development...besides a few up and coming gigs...is a trip to New York! I will be there the first week of March to sing backings on Billy's newest CD. I am so excited to get to see the music scene there. Billy told me that he saw Norah Jones in a little hole in the wall café for absolutely free..he said it was totally amazing. I'm hoping for some similar experiences.
I'm playing on the 8th of February at an open session in Mannheim..then there's another gig planned for Penecost Monday (here that's a public holiday). Just forfeited a gig tomorrow with Billy in Karlsruhe :-( because I'm sick (I guess the sugar free lifestyle hasn't completely made me immune to everything). I've been waiting to get my CDs to start booking gigs, so that's why it's so few. I've got a tour planned for September/October and a trip to Israel soon too...
Life's great...and loads of fun!

Long time no write

Well...it's been busy. Last week was my 30th birthday and we threw a huge party. We were pleasantly surprised by an arrival there of a full band full of musician friends who provided 30 minutes of live music. Lots of really cool and groovy gospels...some kind of wonderful, etc.... Great! Just finished composing 3 new songs...last night I recorded the first, written about my grandfather who just passed away. He was only 75 but accomplished so much in his life...quite a hero really. The song is called (duh!), "Hero". The other two songs are about different stuff...one is for a friend who has cancer, the other is about this great nonprofit organization that takes care of kids and families in Armenia, Romania and Albania. It is called "Village of Hope" after one of the projects they have going over in Armenia.
This organization is booking at least 12 gigs for me in 2006 which will be totally fun in places with a quiet atmosphere (probably churches) where people listen to the music. We are calling the music "songs of hope"...that was there I idea, and it has quite a ring to it if you ask me.
I also got an email yesterday from a Swedish songwriter who is looking to cowrite. Quite fun...we'll see what comes out of that.
Today I'm off to my guitar lessons armed with "Kling Glöckchen" and "Rudolf" to teach the kids. Hope y'all have an exciting day ahead of ya too!
Toodles...

Gig went well

The gig in Karlsruhe was great...the atmostphere was good...the people listened somewhat (more than I expected in a café). The percussionist I played with did a great job and we had a blast! A few little things weren't so nice with the event organizer, but through it I learned how to handle the next gigs better. The drummer and I had a cool idea of planning a musician's jam weekend. That would be totally fun...so we're trying to find some musicians who have it enough together to answer their emails and let us know if they're interested... I guess I'm one of the few musicians who likes to write...but I'm a songwriter, so, it makes sense, doesn't it. Since then the week has been slow. I have guitar lessons today, one of the students' parents isn't paying so I'm trying to decide how to best deal with the situation. I haven't been practicing that much the last few days...gotta get back on it, cause we're planning a huge party on the 10th which has been keeping me busy. Anyways...gotta go, toodles!
Han

Gig day

Well, it's gig day. We had some change of plans...I am doing the whole gig since Billy had a family emergency and is in the states. It's good for me though, we musicians gain and grow from every bit of experience we can get on stage. I'm all practiced up and feel ready. Today I just want to practice a bit with the sound system set up since I want it to be as close at possible to the real thing. When we get there I'm hoping for a smoke free atmosphere, maybe some free food and drinks, a crowd that actually listens (lots of times they don't amazingly enough)...so we'll see. Other than the practicing and the gig itself, I'm planning on totally taking it easy so I can be totally relaxed when I get there. BTW, yesterday was Thanksgiving and also our first snow here in Heidelberg. We had dinner with a big group of people...I was one of the few real Americans there, but it was totally fun and the food was truly authentic. I made sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing...other people made the rest of the food needed to make Thanksgiving complete. We ended saying what we were thankful for and all of the countries represented at the table sang their national anthems (that was interesting)...I closed it off by singing a song about being thankful to God for all He's done.
Toodles!
Han

Fresh New Week

Well...the weekend was really crazy...we did this seminar at our church for the music leaders there. We had a total blast doing it...lots of creativity, team building, music and FUN. It was a pilot run for us so they were able to help us with loads of really valuable feedback. So...yesterday instead of recovering I was bouncing all over the place...at a friends house to talk and pray, shopping, cleaning, babysitting the neighbors baby and then finally practicing with Billy for our Friday gig at kashu in Karlsruhe...we're both doing a 50 minute set...me mostly from my CD Obvious, him from his newest unpublished CD Blues from the Gospel (hope I got that title right)...wonderful stuff. I also finally got a hold of a mandoline (borrowed from Billy) for the first time and had a blast trying it out (it ain't so hard)...much to my dismay though, my husband picked it up (he plays violin) and could play it way better than me...I never realized he was THAT gifted...just kidding...so maybe we'll get some family jam sessions going. Sooo...today I'm going to teach my guitar kids "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter...great song and easy for them to play...then tonight I am looking forward to finally getting to really crash with my hubbie.
Toodles!
Han