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January 20, 2009
Current mood: working
Category: Life
WARNING: THIS BLOG IS CRAZY LONG.... I MEAN IT
Where to begin, where to begin... Alrighty everyone, so lots and lots to catch up on, I am way behind here in the blogosphere but I am going to get to typin' cause there is much to say, as usual. I hope y'all had a great Martin Luther King day yesterday. Today is a historical day with the inaguration of our 44th president, Barack Obama. I turned the TV on this morning and flipped to NBC to watch the Today show (as I do everyday... ps, I met Matt and Meredith after Idol which was very exciting for me, The Today Show is my fave. It is my way of keeping up with it all... news, politics, entertainment, fashion and beyond... love it) to see the coverage of all the inaguration excitement. It is a big day... I have to give props to all those folks who braved the cold and the crowds to actually be there in person. I admit I am not one who is real stoked about being in the cold , so I am happy to enjoy the majority of events on television from the comfort of my living room in which I can control the temperature to my favorite 78 degrees. I'm a little pathetic I know... but hey... cool for the people who are cooler than me that don't care what the temperature is because they get to be a part of history in the making!! Honestly, I'm not the most political person, but you know, it's great to see the Nation coming together... YAY America!
Up next, well so let's talk about this little duet "Life is Okay"... okay, so a while back, around the end of the tour actually Michael Johns was talking about this soundtrack he was working on for this Shaun White Documentary. And one day he picked up a guitar to show me this song he wrote that he thought would make a good lil' duet that kinda fit my style and asked me if I was interested... I thought it was really catchy , and really nice of him to ask me, so of course I said, sure! A little while after the tour, he called me up to remind me about it, I hardly knew the song, but we went into the studio, I learned it and with in a few hours we put down the vocals. Shorty after I got to hear the master, I showed it to my family and they loved it, but it wasn't ready to be released yet. Quite honestly I wasn't exactly sure when it was going to come out, or to what capacity it would be used. So with the craziness of everything over the last few months, it had kinda slipped from my memory. Then last week I was surprised when I recieved several comments and messages about how much everyone was loving "life is okay"... then I found out that it was released on MichaelJohnsOnline.com. I was SO excited to hear such a positive response from everyone. I know you all have been patiently awaiting new stuff, and I have been unpatiently waiting to show you new stuff... so in the meantime, it is super cool to have this original duet with my talented Austrailian buddy, Michael Johns for you all to feast your ears upon. Supposedly there have been a few people in the southern states who have heard the song on the radio... woohoo! This is excited, so if you love the song, request it and let your local stations know your into it! You never know... Also, I believe as of yesterday, you can now download the whole soundtrack on itunes!! So if and when you actually get done readin' this ridiculously long blog, go get it!
On to Namm... What is NAMM? It stands for the National Association of Music Merchants. Basically it is this HUGE music convention where all these different vendors come together at the Aneheim Convention Center here in Southern California and it quite literally attracts thousands of music types. And let me tell ya, the music types are a real colorful and diverse bunch, they come in all shapes and sizes. If you are into people watching, this is the place for you! Wowsers, I think I pretty much saw it all. Some of the attire choices that people were sporting made me chuckle, and this is why I love artists... out of the box.
This was my first NAMM show experience. I actually very fortunate to have an endorsement from Yamaha for their amazing keyboards and pianos. And with Gibson for their legendary guitars. These instruments are my tools, very important in the process of creating these songs from the ground up, having such quality is a blessing. So I went to NAMM to go visit their booths. So I stopped by the Gibson booth, and when I arrived, I had no plan on singing anything, after a long week of writing, recording and talking, my voice was wiped-out. Sure enough, first they they asked me was "so are you gonna sing something?!"... uh huh, well I shouldve know...you should always be prepared to sing something, so I performed with a very rhaspy voice and shaky hands I played the guitar and sang "you're so vain", which I haven't played in ages, but it went just fine. Then they informed me that it was going up on their website...woo.. alright... keeping it real:)
I am a little bummed because I missed out on two amazing artists who happened to be there before and after I was there. Just the day before I was there, Brian Wilson... kids, if you don't happen to know who Brian Wilson is, he's the genius behind the Beach Boys, and if you don't know who the beach boys are... well then thats a whole 'nother blog, I could go on and on, and I do. Anywho, he was at the Gibson Booth to sing a few songs, one of which being "GOD ONLY KNOWS"... quite possibly one of my favorite songs of ALL time. As a matter of fact, I'm sad that you all didn't see this, but I sang "GOD ONLY KNOWS" in my last round in Hollywood Week. This also happens to be one of Paul McCartney's all time favorites. Yeah, it's just incredible. So I missed Brian Wilson, AND.... and, long story short, I also missed Alecia Keys over at the Yamaha booth, she did a live podcast just after I had left. Alecia Keys is a such a stand out modern day talent whom I really respect. All in all, NAMM was quite the experience!
Now if you read my previous blog, then you would know about my somewhat unrealistic goal of writing ten songs in one month. Now for Stevie Wonder this would be a slam dunk... a walk in the park, the man wrote one, maybe two songs a day. But for me, it's not so easy. Especially during this phase of figuring out all the many aspects of my career. It certainly has been challenging thus far. I have spent everyday writing, recording and doing meetings. So last week, I was sitting at my little writing set-up with my new yamaha keyboard...( yep, I finally have something to play on, I'm really grateful for that.) and I was sittin' there for a few hours with not a smidgeon of inspiration. Wow, I about went crazy, when it dawned on me, Brooke you need to fill the inspiration well... because apparently it was all dried up. Peep's I'm workin' a lot, the stress, the go-go-go, the decisions, the pressure I put on myself to create on demand... it was all getting to me. So I got in my jeep and first thing I did was drive down to the park. The pwatist in me was running on all four cylinders and it was time to give it a break. So I walked around the lake, and I stopped here and there, near the stream that ran under the bridge, and I just sat there and "let it be" for a change. After my walk, I decided I still wasn't ready to get back to work. The day was too good to waste staying inside. I wanted to truly experience the beauty of California Winters, 80 degrees in the middle of January (please don't hate me). And Since I was feeling the need for inspiration and I got a little spontaneous, rolled down the windows, opened my sunroof and drove down the 101, through the canyon and onto the PCH and headed to... the beach.
The Ocean is my happy place of peace. When I moved back to LA quite a while back, I used go down to the beach every Friday after school... I would sit on the sand with my ipod and a pad of paper and a sharpie and draw, write, listen to music, listen to the waves, stand on the shore and let the cold waves wash over my feet and it was just... perfect, even when life was not. Well, I don't live real close to the beach anymore, life has taken a crazy turn so I don't have much time for my happy place of peace. So I parallel-parked my car on the PCH and walked up and down the pier, which sits on a backdrop of a clear blue sky and calm water that spans as far as the eye can see. The ocean is almost unfathomable, like that line "I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean"... I really do. It kinda puts everything back in perspective. I am just a little thing in this big world.
I walked down underneath the pier, and took off my tennis shoes to walk in the sand. I had my keys and my iphone in my pocket, I remembered that I had just downloaded Ray LaMontagne record, so I popped in my headphones and started listening... this was just ideal for the beach, breezy, soft and so easy to listen to. The dudes voice is unbelievable, go take a listen. So then I parked myself on the sand and found a small stick which I used like pencil to draw pictures in the the wet sand, I love to draw. Drawing was my first love... I used to sit around and draw Mickey Mouse for hours until I had it perfected, and then I would trade my drawings for pencils in the fifth grade. Little did I know my love for drawing would evolve into a love for music. Again, I'm an artist and art is just this vast intangible (is that a word?) thing that I love, regardless of the medium. I felt like I had maybe stopped the clock for a while and just enjoyed being in the moment, I drew lots and lots of pictures in the sand... and thankfully I had my iphone so I could document the experience... I snapped a few pictures, see below:)
Well truth be told, I do not have that super power of stopping time (oh how I wish), and the sun started to sink lower in the sky, and I realized I would be sitting in some pretty crappy traffic if I didn't get a move on. So I took one last deep breath of the salty ocean air and walked back to the car. It made me sad to leave, but I definitely found what I was looking for, some inspiration and rejuvenation. Luckily I made it back home in minimal traffic, back to the "valley" and back to reality. I truly can't remember the last time I had a day like that... kinda like a mini-vacation, but in a strange way it was exactly what I needed to do to break free from my block. Good news is, I woke up the next day and just as I turned the corner to pick up a hair brush, this great idea hit me like a ton of bricks, melody and lyrics. I ran over to the keyboard and started to really work it out, it's not finished but it's close. So moral of the story is... we must be inspired. You know what I mean jelly bean?!
I know your wondering, how can this get any longer... and if you are still reading this... well then you deserve a prize. But I don't have a prize, this last little thought. Ya know, life is good...sometimes really good, and then shoot... it's bad... pretty stinkin' bad. I'm going through some good and bad times of my own right now, we all are. And really you can't have one with out the other. But when you average the good with bad, in the end you realize that all in all...
LIFE IS OKAY.
and that is okay!!
THE END, I PROMISE.
Current mood: working
Category: Life
Where to begin, where to begin... Alrighty everyone, so lots and lots to catch up on, I am way behind here in the blogosphere but I am going to get to typin' cause there is much to say, as usual. I hope y'all had a great Martin Luther King day yesterday. Today is a historical day with the inaguration of our 44th president, Barack Obama. I turned the TV on this morning and flipped to NBC to watch the Today show (as I do everyday... ps, I met Matt and Meredith after Idol which was very exciting for me, The Today Show is my fave. It is my way of keeping up with it all... news, politics, entertainment, fashion and beyond... love it) to see the coverage of all the inaguration excitement. It is a big day... I have to give props to all those folks who braved the cold and the crowds to actually be there in person. I admit I am not one who is real stoked about being in the cold , so I am happy to enjoy the majority of events on television from the comfort of my living room in which I can control the temperature to my favorite 78 degrees. I'm a little pathetic I know... but hey... cool for the people who are cooler than me that don't care what the temperature is because they get to be a part of history in the making!! Honestly, I'm not the most political person, but you know, it's great to see the Nation coming together... YAY America!
This was my first NAMM show experience. I actually very fortunate to have an endorsement from Yamaha for their amazing keyboards and pianos. And with Gibson for their legendary guitars. These instruments are my tools, very important in the process of creating these songs from the ground up, having such quality is a blessing. So I went to NAMM to go visit their booths. So I stopped by the Gibson booth, and when I arrived, I had no plan on singing anything, after a long week of writing, recording and talking, my voice was wiped-out. Sure enough, first they they asked me was "so are you gonna sing something?!"... uh huh, well I shouldve know...you should always be prepared to sing something, so I performed with a very rhaspy voice and shaky hands I played the guitar and sang "you're so vain", which I haven't played in ages, but it went just fine. Then they informed me that it was going up on their website...woo.. alright... keeping it real:)
I am a little bummed because I missed out on two amazing artists who happened to be there before and after I was there. Just the day before I was there, Brian Wilson... kids, if you don't happen to know who Brian Wilson is, he's the genius behind the Beach Boys, and if you don't know who the beach boys are... well then thats a whole 'nother blog, I could go on and on, and I do. Anywho, he was at the Gibson Booth to sing a few songs, one of which being "GOD ONLY KNOWS"... quite possibly one of my favorite songs of ALL time. As a matter of fact, I'm sad that you all didn't see this, but I sang "GOD ONLY KNOWS" in my last round in Hollywood Week. This also happens to be one of Paul McCartney's all time favorites. Yeah, it's just incredible. So I missed Brian Wilson, AND.... and, long story short, I also missed Alecia Keys over at the Yamaha booth, she did a live podcast just after I had left. Alecia Keys is a such a stand out modern day talent whom I really respect. All in all, NAMM was quite the experience!
The Ocean is my happy place of peace. When I moved back to LA quite a while back, I used go down to the beach every Friday after school... I would sit on the sand with my ipod and a pad of paper and a sharpie and draw, write, listen to music, listen to the waves, stand on the shore and let the cold waves wash over my feet and it was just... perfect, even when life was not. Well, I don't live real close to the beach anymore, life has taken a crazy turn so I don't have much time for my happy place of peace. So I parallel-parked my car on the PCH and walked up and down the pier, which sits on a backdrop of a clear blue sky and calm water that spans as far as the eye can see. The ocean is almost unfathomable, like that line "I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean"... I really do. It kinda puts everything back in perspective. I am just a little thing in this big world.
I walked down underneath the pier, and took off my tennis shoes to walk in the sand. I had my keys and my iphone in my pocket, I remembered that I had just downloaded Ray LaMontagne record, so I popped in my headphones and started listening... this was just ideal for the beach, breezy, soft and so easy to listen to. The dudes voice is unbelievable, go take a listen. So then I parked myself on the sand and found a small stick which I used like pencil to draw pictures in the the wet sand, I love to draw. Drawing was my first love... I used to sit around and draw Mickey Mouse for hours until I had it perfected, and then I would trade my drawings for pencils in the fifth grade. Little did I know my love for drawing would evolve into a love for music. Again, I'm an artist and art is just this vast intangible (is that a word?) thing that I love, regardless of the medium. I felt like I had maybe stopped the clock for a while and just enjoyed being in the moment, I drew lots and lots of pictures in the sand... and thankfully I had my iphone so I could document the experience... I snapped a few pictures, see below:)
I know your wondering, how can this get any longer... and if you are still reading this... well then you deserve a prize. But I don't have a prize, this last little thought. Ya know, life is good...sometimes really good, and then shoot... it's bad... pretty stinkin' bad. I'm going through some good and bad times of my own right now, we all are. And really you can't have one with out the other. But when you average the good with bad, in the end you realize that all in all...
LIFE IS OKAY.
