fatrockstar

I don't do a lot of public posts because most of what I write here is either private or for a very limited audience. At some point in time it became very unwise to be an open book online, and I retreated accordingly. You can still find me if you want, because I'm okay with being found, but I keep my public and personal thoughts separate on the internet.

My band released its third studio album this month. We're pretty psyched about this, because if you listen to this and then listen to the first album it's like night and day. We've learned so much as musicians, artists, and producers since 2009, and it shows. I'll admit that I wasn't as excited about this project at first because I'm so used to writing about things that boil deep under the surface and it had to grow on me a bit. I know now that I was just being a diva, and this is probably the album that gets us some well-deserved positive attention. We'll see.

If you still check back here from time to time I encourage you to click on over to the CD Baby website and listen to some sample tracks. Heck, maybe you'll even buy yourself a CD or two. We just submitted our digital distribution info and should see this album on iTunes in time for Christmas! Yay!

So... there it is. And here's a link.

I don't blog as often as I used to. Heck, if you wander around LiveJournal for a while you'll see there are a lot of accounts that haven't been updated in months -- that includes personal and community accounts. I couldn't tell you how many of those were still active on a private or friends-only level.

My last public post was in December when album #2 came out. Everything else has been under lock and key for very good reason. Without revealing too much I'll tell you this: I went through a pretty dark time this Winter. It wasn't until my birthday in March that I actually took the first step in doing something about it.

The band still practices once a week. We've been adding some covers to our songbook so we can play longer sets and maybe a few parties or corporate events. As far as new songs go there have been only a few that I think are worth recording, but I am my own worst critic in that department. Ron went through our rehearsal archives and found another album in there somewhere. To be honest I haven't had much I've wanted to write about. I am blocked by the inability to truly express myself without repercussion and a dullness in my imagination for songs that are more entertainment than art.

I still live in the house I bought with my ex back in '05. Now that I'm in a position to refinance my horrendous mortgage I'm finding myself dreaming at night of other, more interesting and charming places to live. The ex's needs chose this house. With him gone it's kinda dumb for me to stay here if it's going to make me go broke. We'll see what the refi terms are -- being able to make a few changes could make a difference.

Martha is not Grady. She does not snuggle and is afraid of nothing. She will, however, lie on the floor with her paws up so you can rub her belly. I really wish I knew what she was trying to tell me, though, because she never shuts up. I feel like if only we could get past that communication thing we'd be golden.

My hair is getting really long. It's still candy-apple red, but these days I have more pink at the temples. Once in a while the roots get long enough I can make out my natural color. Still too much silver, so I color everything red again.

I roll in waves. Some weeks I'm very content and others I just want to go on a long drive alone somewhere. My life is not horrible. There are people I miss and hope to see again. There are songs I need to write. Until then, I am still posting entries here under lockdown where the search engines won't bother them much.

If you have a blog or another web presence I should know about please tell me where to find it in the comments. Everything is screened since I have no idea who actually checks here outside of LJ anymore.

I have determined that whatever is causing my sore throat is INSIDE this house. I don't know what it is or how I can pinpoint it, I just know that my throat is sore to the point where singing is difficult and I often have a dry cough. In addition to that I am also suffering from super-dry sinuses and my eyes are intermittently on fire. This overall pain and discomfort is very frustrating because I know my dad would like to hear from me and I also have a gig on Sunday afternoon to sing for. I can't have long conversations with a glass throat.

All this started to escalate after PAX, which is also when temperatures broke 80 here. Now that it's rainy and in the 60s I thought for sure it would calm down. Noop.

It's not Martha, either. I was having this problem before she came to live with us and it hasn't become worse by being near her. Is it a moisture thing? I'm worried that if I turn on my humidifier and I'm wrong it could make everything worse. I have a huge fear that my crawlspace, which I have not ventured into for a Very Long Time, is a biosphere all its own and has finally outgrown the space beneath my house to infect me with its alien micro-organisms.

Speaking of Martha, she is painfully adorable. She is also painfully codependent and follows me everywhere, chirping at me in her squeaky little meao. I am concerned I will end up with two cats anyway, which will upset me, but I don't want to traumatize an animal with endless hours of loneliness she doesn't want.

So far we haven't really established a Grady-esque rapport. The only things that really come through are LOVE ME and WATCH ME EAT. We'll get there, I'm sure.



I pulled a white corset out of the dark corners of my closet and decided I was going to fuck with it. Why not, right? I spent $40 on it for my wedding back in '02 and have worn it maybe once since. At first I considered spray painting it red and doing the WW motif, but that's way too predictable. Instead I ripped off the tacky lacy trim and am painting it a lovely royal blue. Maybe I'll add some new trim if I have something worthwhile here in the house, but for now it's drying in the garage.



My new washing machine arrived this week and will take some getting used to. Instead of standard washing machine noises this one sounds like it's heaving during the wash cycle. I honestly thought for a moment that it was going to vomit my clothes all over the interior of my laundry room. That would have been terrifying.



I've been thinking about my former in-laws a lot lately. I put away Nate & Karen's wedding party photo a long time ago, but the last family picture they sent me is still up on my wall along with photos of other family members I don't get to see very often or at all. I'm pretty sure a lot has changed since the last time we heard from each other. The more time that passes the more awkward it seems to reach out and say hello, but life goes on. I don't want to make things uncomfortable for the Blues. Despite my ex's past behavior, I still love them and want them to be peaceful and happy.



Has anyone using Netflix seen The Hard Times of RJ Berger? I finished season 1 and loved it. Season 2 isn't available for streaming, which sucks, but I'm digging it. Word to the wise: I like strange television. My recommendations are not solid.

The band took a hiatus... accidentally. We had three weeks of no rehearsal for one reason or another (illness, work, family emergency) and just got back together this week. Funny how now that we're back in sync and I'm finding the energy to book shows again everyone is going on vacation. We won't play another show until late August. By then we will have released album #2. I guess it all works out.

I guess for a while there I was starting to burn out on music. I had no time or energy for booking, people don't offer us shows out of the air (except for SeaStar, and we love them for that), and nobody else was stepping up to do it in my place. You guys might think I'm this super-cool musician lady with a record and an awesome stage show, but to the Seattle scene I'm just another squawking hack without a draw. Worth and talent are hard to prove without the crowd to support it. I needed those three weeks to regroup and figure out my head.

I realized I wasn't using my free time wisely enough. I downloaded apps to my R2, researched portable recording gadgets, re-prioritized the things that brought me peace... Most of what I needed was here all along, I just had to find enough calm to remember where I put it.

In the real world I have credit card information on Reverb Nation and SonicBids to update, features on my Yamaha keyboard I need to learn how to use, and a couple of songs to clean up arrangements for.

Here is where we are
How many years since we've grown apart
I'm on the opposite end of the world in a hundred ways
And I'm so not the same

I do miss Grady. This morning I was by the mantle where his urn sits and I thought I heard him in my head. «Hey,» he said, «I'm coming back you know. I don't know how, but I can feel it. And that thing you were worried about? It won't happen. Have the tuna ready for me, 'kay?» I'm not sure what that meant, but it is true I've been considering another animal. When I'll follow through on that I couldn't tell you.

So... I'm around. I'm making music. We're looking at playing outside the city a few times this year. My Etsy store will get updated in the next week or two. It'll be great. You just wait and see.

Come early for dinner, stay late for music. We go on at 7pm.

I can't believe we're going to have NINE songs on the new record! Right now I'm butting heads with Ron over the level of the vocals in comparison with the rest of the tracks. He puts them at a volume where it seems like the instrument tracks are an afterthought, which doesn't sit right with me. It sounds... off somehow. I understand that the band has my name on it, but the songs still need to have balance. If the vocals are too loud I can't market the song's mood to film and television as easily. We're working on it. The head-butting isn't that severe.

Other than that the tracks sound AWESOME! How awesome? So AWESOME I have to write AWESOME in ALL CAPS! I'm particularly proud of Woman Wonder and can't wait to upload it to share with the world. With people (and bands) abandoning MySpace at a record pace, I was at a loss for where I could share it easily. YouTube was in the plan, but now I think I might go with SoundCloud.

As for shows, it looks like we're confirmed for the Skylark Cafe in West Seattle on April 17, and we'll be playing The Comet with SeaStar on May 15. Once I know more about the rest of the lineup I will post Facebook events on my band page. Mark your calendars and come on out -- the more people we have coming to shows the more shows we can do, dig?

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I wasn't going to, but I ended up at the 9th Annual Emerald City Comicon this weekend. It was twice the size of the convention I attended two years ago. I was a little amazed at how much it had grown. A friend of mine who comped my pass back in '09 had graduated from booking the venue to driving celebrities to and from the airport. I got to talk to him a little bit in hopes of having him listen to Woman Wonder and tell me what he thought of it. I'm still working on getting my thumb drive back from him. Oh well.

There were lots of cosplayers there, but the masquerade sucked hard. Two jerks got up on stage in street clothes and called themselves "Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne," and what passed for Steampunk was just a bunch of Victorian outfits in brown and brass. Maybe I needed to be closer to the stage. The kids' division stole the show, though. This is what happens when comic book geeks multiply.

While I was there I spent a lot of money. My first purchase was a Blue Lantern Power Ring from the Graphitti Designs booth. A whole spectrum of Lantern Corps is still a relatively new concept to me, but I like it a lot. My ring holds the power of hope and lights up like a BAMF, yo. I probably would have bought a t-shirt from them, too, had I not spent all my time gallivanting about the exhibition hall.

I ended up buying a lot of artwork. Cody Vrosh caught my eye with his technology and fantasy inspired illustrations on wood and watercolor paper. I ended up buying prints of "The Thieving of the Music Hat" and "If we're to escape with our lives, we must put our differences aside." His booth-mate was selling original screen printed shirts, so I picked up a Gasmask Squirrel scoop-neck top from her. She doesn't have any of the style I bought online, but the design (along with the rest of her work) can be found at her Etsy shop, Binary Winter.

Because I met her at the 2009 ECCC (and made paper stars with her at her booth), I tracked down Erika Moen to see what she was up to. Last we spoke she was writing and drawing DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary. She wrapped that up in 2010 and teamed up with a writer for her new comic, Bucko.

Sharing the booth with Erika was Dylan Meconis, author and illustrator of Family Man. As she handed me a bookmark with her main character's image on it she and her assistant gave me a brief description of the graphic novel on the table. I loved the drawings but was lost by the story, so I bought her prints of two main characters as Tarot cards. They're awesome! I just need to find frames for them...

Amy Mebberson had a booth in Artists Alley and was selling original drawings from her collection for $20 a pop. By the time I screwed up the courage to buy my favorite it was already gone, and a gal with a resume like hers doesn't do commissions cheap. I will have to be content with either attempting to draw something awesome myself or enjoying her Flickr stream.

Ken bought me an adorable 5x7 Wonder Woman print by Jennifer Cox. She's got an impressive selection of prints for sale at her Etsy shop that includes non-superhero fare as well. He bought for himself a 5x7 of Thor that the artist describes in detail on her blog.

I'm running out of steam here for complete descriptions, so I'll sum up with some links to ECCC vendors and exhibitors I thought were worth telling my friends about:

Wondermark Comics: I wanted very much to buy their Engineering t-shirt, but they had run out of my size. Darn.

Gin and Comics: The handout from this booth included strips that featured a Wonder Woman Snuggie. Heh.

Giddy Girlie: Peg People!

WereGeek: Lycanthropy meets nerdiness.

True Cat Toons: TRUE comics about real kittehs, written by their hoomans, drawn by Roberta Gregory. Find them on Facebook!

Rhapsodies: "Join us in a comic strip about life, love, accounting, progressive bookstores, and the divine power of jazz!" How could I not share that?

And last but not least, Monster Commute by Steam Crow. Originating from lovely Spokane, Washington, by music veterans from the era of Grunge.

This is a big week for me. I am not only going to be PERFORMING live music, but I have also marked my calendar to GO SEE live music. These two events are ones I really want you to consider attending, not only because I will be there, but because live music is a lot of fun and keeps you young and interesting. It also doesn't hurt to sit down in a dark room with a cocktail while you nod your head rhythmically to some great tunes.

Oh, and THIS IS MY LAST WEEK AS A FREE WOMAN before my new job starts on Monday. If that's not incentive, I don't know what is.

Come see me at Big Daddy's Place in Woodinville on Thursday 10/21. I'll be sharing the stage with Ethan Freckleton's band, and for some reason he gets a lot more dancing girls than I do. BRING DANCING GIRLS TO MY SHOW, DANGIT. It's our last confirmed show of the year and we'll be debuting a new song, so hire a sitter and come out to see us. Here's the FB event you can invite yourself and a bunch of friends to: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145558248815828

On Saturday 10/23 I will be going to the Shanty Tavern in Seattle to see three great bands play: SeaStar, Blue Star Creeper, and Below Blackstar. Ever since playing with SeaStar and Below Blackstar in July, they have become good friends -- hooray for musician networks! -- and Blue Star Creeper has been around long enough for us to have some awesome friendships in common. It's a good variety of sound, and the Shanty is a venue I've been wanting to play all year and need to scope out. Come check it out with me! Details are at this link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148132445218876

We recently ordered more copies of our EP "Short Story" in CD Baby Download Card format. The upside to download cards is that they're easy to transport, easy to use, and totally eco-friendly (no jewel cases)! The only downside we could find was that without the physical copy there were no liner notes to look over while listening to our music and learning more about the band. I think I may have found a solution.

Introducing...

Liner Note Cards!

Pictured here is our prototype - the download card may be attached differently in the final design.


The disc design is on the front of the note card. On the back (not shown) is the CD Baby logo in gray. Inside you'll find the download card and our liner note art and text, modified to fit the printable area.



These Liner Note Cards are available exclusively at our shows with the purchase of a CD Baby Download Card, so keep an eye on our show schedule and come on out to see us!

Wynne C Blue & her Troublefakers' next show is Sunday, September 19 at O. O. Denny Park in Kirkland, WA, 1:00 pm. Rain or shine, it's all-ages and FREE.

Be sure to catch us at Tiger Lounge a Go-Go in Georgetown on Friday, September 24 at 9pm. $5, 21+

Donnie's mother passed yesterday after a long battle with lung cancer. Service for her is Friday, August 20, in Ohio.

Thanks for all of you who sent good thoughts to Donnie and his family during this time.

To whoever is in charge out there,

Please watch over Donnie and his family during this difficult time. Give them strength and let them know they are loved. Reassure them that above all, they are truly blessed. They are in your hands.

amen/so mote it be/so say we all/abracadabra,
Wynne

p.s. I was never very good at this prayer stuff, so if this request isn't clear please let at least this much be: Send good to Donnie. That is all.