The Undeniably Various Ventures of Ginger Leigh

Ginger Leigh's End of the Year Letter

2009-12-23T07:50:00.001-08:00

I'd like to thank you for a spectacular year in music. Many of you have been incredibly supportive - coming to multiple shows and buying my CD's. I know that in this economy, it isn't easy to enjoy luxuries or take part in too many recreational activities. But I think we all agree that music soothes the soul and can take you away from the daily grind.

I've had a busy year, sometimes I feel like I'm running in circles, sometimes I feel like it's all blast-off to the next bigger and better thing. Either way, it's been all about making music for you, about finding new fans, about growing in my creativity and about trying to survive in this business that is often barely sustainable. But all-in-all, I've succeeded in my endeavors and I have to thank you for being a part of it.

A HUGE thanks to those who pitched in for my guitar! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I've also had the joy of watching and supporting my friends and colleagues as they too press on in their dreams and goals. Many of us are releasing new records and working hard on our careers. Rock on, Sister Wendy Colonna, Sister Shelley King, Brother John Pointer and so many others.

As you know, I recently recorded the live CD, which doesn't even sound like a live CD! My goodness, the engineer, Chris Burns, did such a good job that it almost sounds like a studio recording. The band was fantastic and I look forward to playing more shows together. I'm most proud of this CD, as it is one I have dreamed of recording for quite some time. It's upbeat, fun, and full of joy. It is now available at
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/GingerLeigh
and soon to be on iTunes and other download outlets.

I've also been involved in other business, such as supporting Jane Reece in her interior design projects.

I've always had a love of decor and architecture.

The music comes from my mother's side of the family (http://www.theconessisters.com),

My Love of home design comes from my father's side - he is a custom home builder

(http://www.elangrouphomes.com).

Working with Jane to make these homes beautiful has been so much fun! If you've watched any of The Adventures of Jane and Ginger, you've seen some of these projects to which I refer. http://www.janereece.com and http://www.janeandginger.com

Speaking of other business, I have had the joy of designing many websites and other graphic elements for clients such as the Nancy Fly Agency artists (Bruce Robison, Del Castillo, Patrice Pike, Warren Hood and others), the Venetian Hot Plate in Port Aransas, Debra Watson, Wendy Colonna and more.

As a small child I wanted to be a visual artist and a singer. I guess we are we who are from the day we are born....

I'm currently involved in an equity raise for an incredibly unique and highly recognizable international restaurant/bar launch, which when comes to fruition I will watch grow with pride. This has been a new experience for me and I love being involved in business. Perhaps I should go get my MBA!

This year has been full of many great things and many great disappointments. But having your support and the love and direction of some very close friends, I still put one boot in front of the other and I charge laughing in the direction of my dreams. I hope that watching me through my music gives you the courage to do the same. Many of you don't know it, but it is because of you that I find a large portion of my courage to forge on.

I woke up this morning and decided that I would like to find a way to spend a year writing a book, or rather finishing a book I began years ago. Time to put on my thinking cap and to set out to structure a plan of attack on that one. Any advice?

I wish I could write this "Thank You Note" to each and every one of you individually, but that could take some time! Know that I mean every word of what I say and it is directed to the individuals in this group and to all of you collectively. Thank you for asking others to get to know my music and to purchase it. You feed me. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read all of my messages (I know, it's often too much). Thank you for choosing to come to my shows even though there are so many to choose from. Thank you for staying in touch.

I wish you a beautiful and safe holiday and a fantastic New Year!

Much love,
Ginger Leigh
(The G Leigh Mafia Boss)

Against all odds comes an outcome

2009-10-12T07:13:00.001-07:00

My eyes are a tad blurry this morning either from the fake-eyelash glue that I didn't quite get off last during last night's washing, or because of the Jamison shots that landed on my stage last night and then miraculously jumped into my mouth, or from the fact that I finally went to sleep very late in the morning hours and couldn't sleep in this morning because I am in desperate need of an apology for last night's blatant robbery of my showtime.

About a month ago I asked for a slot specifically at the Saxon Pub in Austin for a live CD recording. I was given a 3 hour slot that is typically filled by Austin's all-star cast band The Resentments. I wanted the Saxon Pub for this recording because it holds a legendary history of music and because I knew I could capture contained audience interaction with the band. It was perfect! An early Sunday evening show from 7:30 to 10:30 with Paula Nelson following. My audience, my band, my friends and I were all geared up for a night of amazing music and it was going to be recorded for everyone to hear whenever they wish! I also hired a videographer and a photographer so the entire thing would be documented visually as well.

At about 2:00 yesterday, while rushing to find a new pair of jeans for the show, I received a phone call that a big benefit concert was moving from an open-air venue to the Saxon Pub due to rain. Everyone who had been on the Saxon bill dropped out, except for me, of course because it was a big night for me with tons of work put into it. The guys in the band worked hard on the music too. I wasn't about to postpone. I was told that the benefit show would work around my schedule and my needs.

I was given the phone number of the person heading up the benefit show (we'll just call him Frank), but instead, I ran directly to the Saxon Pub to have a conversation in person about how this would work. It was about 3:30 and the Saxon was already filling up with people; of course it was, the line-up was incredible! Papa Mali, Vallejo, Del Castillo...I mean that's a great bill! So, I found Frank and we stepped outside to talk. He was very thankful that I was being so flexible. But in all of my flexibility, I made very very clear demands or requests I should say: 1) That starting at 6:30 and ending when I finished, every person who walked through the door would be asked "Are you here to see Ginger or for the benefit?" and 2) that although I would be willing to shorten my set time, I was guaranteed the time I needed to record my songs twice and to sound check properly and 3) that we could start as close to 7:30 as possible. The benefit ticket price was $15, mine was $7. All the $7 folks would go into the "Ginger envelope" to insure I would get paid for my people. I also mentioned that it was possible I would lose people since the parking lot would be full and potentially the house too crowded. Frank kindly offered to pitch in a little extra to help out in that case.

So here's how it went down. There were a lot of people there before I started, but luckily still enough room for my fans to find seats. That was all smooth. I had John Covington with me to help run the stage. The guy mixing the CD, Chris Burns, was there to make sure the recording gear was rolling. My merchandise sales gal, Dawn, was set up just fine. The videographer and photographer were all ready to roll. I happily greeted fans, friends, and family as they arrived. It was just about 7:00 when I was originally guaranteed to get the stage for a 30-minute set-up and sound check. The band was waiting at the stage door with gear, when I was told there was another artist to perform before we could go on. Ok, we'll wait. No problem. Being flexible. Audience was flexible. Everything was cool.

We finally got the stage closer to 7:45. All of my musicians, excluding the drummer, had multiple instruments to play last night, so they needed to make sure all of them were set up properly. I have some technical stuff I run my microphone through for effects and because we were recording, we were splitting the line (no need to understand that). Frank was eager to get our show started. He stood on stage and kept asking me if we were ready. No we were not. We were supposed to have 30 minutes to set up. But the push was on and we were rushed - so much so that my split line wasn't even working and there was no time to fix the problem. Issue #1. (Side note, I don't blame Frank one bit for wanting to move it along. He had a lot on his own plate. He wasn't being a jerk, just needing to make his thing flow. We were all working together...)

For those of you who are not musicians, try to imagine that when you are on stage with all the sound coming from the instruments, it is INCREDIBLY important that your personal monitor - the speaker that plays back what you sound like - is set properly, especially for the singer. If you can't hear what you are singing or playing, you have no idea how you sound, if you are on pitch or what. It's like going deaf in the middle of a song (OK, not THAT bad, but you get the picture). So we were rushed into starting the show...The first song, "Come On Funny Feeling" was one that I was most excited about recording. It's been on my list of a song to record since the first time I heard Rodney Crowell's version of it. I couldn't hear a friggin' thing! I mumbled through most of the lines, I couldn't hear the guitars. I was requesting more monitors. But I was thinking "It's OK, we'll cut it again once everything is fixed! Just have fun and give this audience a kick ass show, G!" But in the back of my mind I was thinking about the multi-track machine capturing all of this and it was slowly falling apart. It was like the front part of my spirit was saying "Woo hoooooo! What a great audience! What a great time to perform!" And the back part of my spirit was in slow motion watching this opportunity be stolen by the need for the next band transplant to get on stage. I could feel the tension from the group doing the benefit. I could feel the band feeling the tension. But more than that, I could feel the love from the audience, and THAT made it all wonderful and there were some spirit-moving moments on stage.

So we made it through a handful more songs when I looked up at the red digital clock numbers SCREAMING at me "9:08!!!! 9:15!!!" and so on. Toward the end of the set list (which I had already cut short), I announced we would take a very very short break and come back to re-cut a couple of songs and then we'd give the room and the stage back to the benefit. Just before that happened a saw a man from the club approach stage right. He leaned in to tell me we couldn't take a break and do what we were promised we could do. I threw a hand up and relented.

We wrapped the show around 9:30 without re-cutting any of the songs I had hoped to re-cut.

However, as I am typing this, I am watching and listening to video from last night...and let me say .. there is some amazing stuff here! What a stellar band and what a fun audience! Really kickin'!

But after the show when I was handed a measly sum of cash from the door, my night was shot. This thing costs a lot of money to put together. I heard from a friend that when he and his date walked in the door guy automatically asked him for the $15 each (the benefit price and not our agreement). Luckily my friend told him he was there for me and paid the correct amount, but how many people who came to see me just paid what they were told without realizing that money wasn't for me? Gggrrrr.....

Miss Jane Reece was taking care of things and made Frank pitch in a little more money, so that helped, but crap! It was so frustrating how my big night was totally twisted. I lost an hour and a half on stage and probably 50% of the cashflow I should have received. So, when I got home, I grabbed my guitars and was close to wanting to put them in the trash and go flip friggin' burgers for a living! It's hard enough as it is to be in this business. BUT....I love it! So I put those precious Martins where they belong and sat down to a glass of wine. I vented for a while. I tried to watch some TV to shut my mind down. I finally slept for a few hours. And now, like I mentioned, am watching the video and it's pretty friggin' killer! We certainly blew off some steam on stage last night. I can tell that the tension was releasing through the notes, through the beats, through the whiskey.

All in all, I believe we captured a great product, although we will need to record a few of the songs again. Why not? So, I guess I'll be calling the Saxon folks and asking for another shot at it. Will you be there again? Or maybe we'll just release the stuff we got and let it be...Because it really rocks after all!

I hope that the benefit benefited well and that I gained some new friends and fans last night. I'd like to thank Lisa for her contribution. I'd like to thank the talent on the stage with me: John Pointer, Mark Williams, Kris Brown, and Frank Favacho. I'd like to thank Tom Zinn for shooting photos and Alison White for shooting video. I'd like to thank Dawn for selling merch. Thanks to John Covington for running the stage and the sound along with Richard. Thanks to Chris Burns who will be mixing this mess. Thanks to the Saxon Pub and to "Frank" (even though I wasn't a happy gal for a bit - he's a cool cat). Thanks to Jane for squeezing a little more cash out of it. Thanks to everyone who has already purchased the CD and in advance to those who will. And THANKS to the audience for being there last night and joining me in the music.

Onward and forward we go.....

-G Leigh
(PS, thanks also to Femme Metale jewelry for the peacock necklace! Didn't it look good with my Love. necklace? Woo Hoo!)

My Buddy Rochelle and the Warriors of RoBoobia!

2009-10-02T14:21:00.001-07:00

I went to the bank today and every employee was wearing pink. Even the guys who looked like they were horrified to be in pink, wore that color with pride! I actually love a man in pink.

Anyway, I digress. The point I am obviously NOT getting to is that they are wearing that color because it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. And I'll tell you, I am all too aware of this issue.

A few years back I was on tour with Patrice Pike; just the two of us, no band, no trailer full of gear, just our acoustic guitars, an ipod, a schedule and my big red Suburban. We played shows all the way up through the Midwest. We played Minneapolis, then headed to Chicago. My best friend since junior high lives in Chi-town and was waiting patiently for our arrival at the Speakeasy Supper Club where we were due to play. Pike was on the phone with a good friend of hers, Rochelle, who was coming in from St. Louis to the show in Chicago. I told Kelly to look for the woman who looks like Uma Therman. Rochelle is easy to spot!

They enjoyed some cocktails and conversation, hitting it off immediately while waiting for the Big Red Gas Guzzler to pull in.

We had a great time! We all spent the night after the show at Kelly's house and had what-felt-like a teenage slumber party.

The following day, with very little sleep, Rochelle, Patrice, and I headed out to St. Louis where Ro was co-hosting a house concert for us. All went beautifully, and an instant connection was developed between me and Rochelle.

Patrice and I had a couple of days off so we spent those days with Ro in her apartment, exchanging stories of her days as a missionary in Bulgaria and my days as a touring musician in Italy and elsewhere. She spoke to me in Bulgarian, I spoke to her in Italian. With a woman like Rochelle, who has incredible intuition and instincts, language is not even necessary.

Rochelle speaks all languages with her hands. She is by far the most healing massage therapist I have known. My first Rochelle-massage-experience was on one of those nights in St. Louis atop her massage table in her apartment just before Patrice, Ro, and I sat atop said table, strumming and harmonizing Ray LaMontagne songs. It may have even been that night that I looked at those Uma-Ro eyes and said "You belong in Austin, Texas."

It seemed like only months later, Rochelle was packed up and leaving old St. Louis behind and quickly establishing herself as one of Austin's top massage therapists. Not only did she establish herself quickly, she is also a massage therapist to a lot of local superstars! She knows how to work those guitar-aching muscles back into shape! Her client-base wasn't the only thing that became loyal. Her friendships grew quickly and deeply. Rochelle is loved by many!

And many of those friends were there for her when she chose to run her first marathon a few months back. It was such an exciting moment when she came around the bend, full of life, so determined, so graceful, so proud of herself, as we were!

A few weeks ago, I was following Rochelle's visits to the doctor. She had done a self-examination and found something peculiar. The doctor did a biopsy and it turned out that she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Rochelle is in her early 30's and is more fit than ever before! They caught it at an early stage, so that's a good thing. Rochelle is one of the strongest people I have ever known and she will win this battle. Not only will she win it, she will then go on to empower more women than she ever has before. That's Rochelle. She's an inspiration, a healer, a giver of life.

As I listened to her on the phone tell me, only a few hours after she had received the diagnosis, that she wasn't afraid, that she was strong and healthy, that she would educate more women, I thought to myself "Would I be that strong?" I don't know and I would prefer not have to find out. She was so full of courage and life during that phone call to me. Only toward the end did she cry. But she cried out of gratitude, not sadness. She told me "I'm standing on Congress looking at the Capitol building. If you had not encouraged me to move to Austin and I had been somewhere else with this diagnosis, I would feel so lost. But here, I know I have the best support group. I have family. I am surrounded by love."

That's my girl, Rochelle!

If you would like to be a part of Rochelle Poulson's journey, please befriend her on Facebook. Please follow her blog www.navigatorgaia.blogspot.com. Please schedule a massage! http://www.rochellepoulson.com.

Or below there are two ways to help out financially. You can make a donation and/or you can purchase the wristband "Warriors for RoBoobia"! It takes a village to fight this kind of thing. Our village is called RoBoobia! Please join us.

Donate
email
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8362689

web

Buy
email
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8362550

web

My Gawd, where has the Summer gone?

2009-09-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

It seems like only yesterday that my life merged with Jane Reece's! There was an immediate connection. You know, especially girls know, that friendships and relationships of all kinds develop very quickly. Guys can dig other guys pretty quickly, but they don't go to the potty together when out at a bar or don't have sleep overs or go on trips together right away. And they typically don't cry on each others shoulders after knowing each other for five minutes and telling their own life stories in their entirety. That takes some time for dudes. But we gals, oh, we're instant friends, aren't we?

There is a line in a Rodney Crowell song that I intend to record. "The funny feeling comes when you're in love with everyone"....I am that girl. Jane is that girl. I just love people so much and we meet all kinds of them everywhere. I'm almost finished reading "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young, which is found in the Christian section of bookstores. Now, I don't subscribe to religion, but this book is fantastic! It paints the most loving picture of the all-time most thought about story of the Trinity...of the whole, loving Jesus that I believe has been twisted around some through many years of organized religion, political abuse, and the human struggle for power.

But that's not my point in mentioning the book. I mention it because I relate to a very strong topic in the book: Relationships are built on LOVE not power, not judgment. You can love a stranger just as much as you can love your lover or your father or your best friend. It might be a different kind of love, but love has a vast definition. It comes in many forms, my friends. Jane and I go out in the world and love each of the people we encounter. I love every one of my fans who come enjoy my music. I love everyone, except for maybe George W. Bush, but hey, I'm only human. Eeeehhhhemmmm.....Sorry for that.

Anyway, I hope you have love in your lives. I hope you find yourself full of compassion for others and I hope you find a way to limit your judgment. We humans are a beautiful mess and will always struggle. But at least we can try.

Enjoy the Jane and Ginger videos...full of silly life stuff, love, strangers, friends, travel, and simple life blunders.

Wishing you an endless well of love,
Ginger Leigh

The July and August N2 Magazine feature: Hedda Layne

2009-07-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hi my friends! As some of you know, I write a music article for N2 Magazine (http://www.n2mag.com) .

This month I wrote about Hedda Layne and her new release, 4Play.

Here is the uncut version of the article:

Hedda Layne – 4Play
Dear N2 Music Lovers,

June was a punch-packed month for me, on the road as always, working, playing and enjoying the warm weather. But as all Texans know, it’s only getting hotter! And this Summer is hotter than ever with the new release by Hedda Layne. 4Play is perfect for Summer fun. Play this record in your car on road trips, at a backyard BBQ, an evening cocktail party, or on your boat.

“The Truth Will Set You Free” is the repeated lyric in the first full length song on Hedda Layne’s newest release, 4Play. Here’s the truth, Dear N2 Readers; Hedda’s new launch is a blast! It’s a spacey, ethereal, positive, sexy updated Xanadu, painted with Hedda Layne’s colorful Liza Minelli-Barbara Streisand vocal styling. There’s a happy vibe to this recording in the vein of Swingout Sister or Everything But the Girl. The compositions are grand, fun, bold and playful. Each piece has its own climax into an unexpected surprise – I intended to be redundant there – Surprises are unexpected by nature. There is an extreme to which you find the unexpected in Troy Lee’s musical execution on every single track. You will be surprised!

I’ve followed Hedda Layne’s music for many years and own every record and single she has released. And there are many. Hedda and Troy are prolific for sure. And never mind that Hedda Layne’s unique presence leaves you awestruck. Before I first knew of Hedda, she and Troy Lee lived in Seattle. I asked her to tell me a little more about that experience.

“Seattle was a great experience. We met such a diverse community of people and performed in some pretty interesting (and historical) venues. It was a beautiful place but the rainy weather can be a bit trying for a Texan. Additionally, Troy Lee and I have been performing together for 16 years. We are both Texas natives and during our musical career together we have performed everything from acoustic jazz (guitar/vocal duo), jazz trio, big band, blues/rock, cabaret, ambient lounge to dance just to name a few styles. . . We have yet to try polka - but it's never too late. . . wink. We have lived and performed in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Austin in addition to Seattle.”

What battles are you up against playing your style of music in Texas?

“Because we have been doing cabaret, lounge and dance it has been difficult. It's great living in Austin with all of the music here, but it's been hard to break through to the main stream audience. The dance music style actually forced us to play in dance-oriented venues where the sound constraints can be quite difficult to deal with. The gay community has totally embraced us though. . . LOVE THEM!”

In the past few years in Austin, Miss Layne has been known for her dance club music and performances, with heavy beats and highly-effected vocals. The new record, 4Play is a leap in a different direction; a soulful dream. The track “Hold On to Love” recalls some of Hedda’s more recent releases, but is not a heavy dance club tune. It is a soft, sexy dance groove, great for getting lost in the simplicity of the journey of “holding on to love” while moving your body and singing along. The entire record is like that. It’s a musical sedative, but will NOT put you to sleep. Rather 4Play is a fantasy, an Annie Lennox-type story-telling journey. “Don’t Want it to Stop” is a swanky, slow, sophisticated Bassanova that you relax to with a gin and tonic in hand. And then expect to be taken to yet another place with “Love Who You Are” which opens with Troy Lee’s gentle classical guitar beneath Hedda’s feminine melody which brings visions of Miss Layne sitting atop a stage prop of a half moon in a Broadway theater. The hit song on 4Play is “Stay” which I had received an advance copy of during the process of recording. I immediately put it into my own compilations of my favorite music. “Stay” is a powerful song. It’s a slow gospel love song about a woman with a broken heart, mustering all her strength to beg her lover to stay. The song in and of itself is a little movie reel; you can place all your own characters into the epic scenes of “Stay”. The vocals are huge bellowing out the emotional and vulnerable command (or is it a question?) “Stay with me.” Hedda Layne opens up her voice in this song like no other. You feel her lungs, her heartbeat, her arms in the air like a prayer or a Hallelujah.

I’d venture to say it is difficult to follow a song like “Stay” with other songs, but Hedda Layne and Troy Lee manage to do just fine by adding “Movin On” with stunning backing vocals and then a short “Reprise of Beautiful Day”, which is the answer to the very first thing you hear on 4Play. But this reprise kicks in with beats that yet again make you feel nothing but happy!

The bonus track, “Mahalo” at the very end takes you all the way to Hawaii and convinces you once again that Hedda Layne could easily succeed on Broadway. 4Play is one of those CD’s that if you listen to it in your car, before you known it, you look down and you’re driving 90 and already missed your exit long ago. You are swept away with this record.
What was the biggest challenge with recording 4Play?

“Packaging 4 years worth of original music into an album we feel is representative of where we are - and where we are going - was the biggest challenge. This one is still electronica-ish, but stripped down to create more of an organic sound. Doing all of the back-ups the good old fashioned way was really fun for me and having a live brass section was great. Yet again, we have embarked on a new sound while still staying true to our positive lyrics, Troy's quintessential musical arrangements and my vocal stylings. Let me add that Scott Linton has been a writing partner for the past 4 years. He writes most of the lyrics. We are a grand team!”

4 Play is to be released on July 1st. It will be available on iTunes and CD Baby and Hedda Layne will be looking forward to continued airplay on satellite radio and various licensing distributors. As far as performances go, they have decided on taking a summer sabbatical while developing a formative plan to scout for new venues appropriate for their new style. The upcoming shows will be listed on their new website which will be launched on July 1st!

Bravo, Miss Hedda Layne and Mister Troy Lee! You continue to amaze the world with your musical accomplishments.
N2 Readers, take action now: www.heddalayne.com

My Drew Smith Article in N2 Magazine, June 2009

2009-06-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hello N2 Music Lovers,

I hope you took action last month and purchased Gavin Degraw’s and Kellye Gray’s music! I enjoyed sharing their music with you and hope you are now devouring their songs as you read this month’s article.

In the past month I have been on tour in Italy, back to Austin, on the road again back and forth to Houston and various other spots on the map. After tens-of-thousands of miles, I know a lot about road touring and one of the most important things is the music playing on the car stereo. I listened over-and-over again to Drew Smith’s latest CD, Drew Smith’s Lonely Choir.

Drew Smith just returned from his own road tour with his full band. We spoke on the phone today about the difficulties of touring. The logistics. The time spent. The unexpected low turn-out. The unexpected packed house. For the leader of the band, it’s a hard job, but with all of it comes the joy of playing live music with your favorite band-mates on stage night after night until the ensemble becomes so tight that the last show is exhilarating and flows like second nature; you are exhausted, you are excited, you are sorry to leave the road, you are ready to get home to record the next record and play your home stage.

We are blessed to live in Austin with so many great venues, the likes of which (Momo’s, Saxon Pub, Continental Club) you will find Drew Smith and his band dressed in suits and ties making melodic pop music alla Paul Simon and Van Morrison, complete with punchy horn sections and all.

Smith was highly influenced by the above mentioned artists along with others like the Beatles, but the most obscure influence is Harry Nilsson. The first track on Smith’s latest release titled “Nilsson Sings Newman” is a reference to one of Smith’s favorite records by Harry Nilsson on which he sings all songs written by a young undiscovered college student named Randy Newman. Smith’s song opens with a bouncy piano and follows with a catchy beat, simple and open, and is topped off with vocals full of personality and a seemingly positive edge.

All of the records Drew grew up listening to have left a strong mark on the music he writes and creates today, not only in their vibe and melody, but also in the way he chose to record the songs. In today’s studio world many of us work with digital media, thus allowing virtually as many tracks to record on as one could imagine. Drew, instead, chose to work in East Austin at Infinity Recording Studios which records in an old fashion way directly to 1.5 inch tape, limiting the recording down to 16 tracks and fewer opportunities to make mistakes. Analogue sound is warm, organic and makes you feel like you are listening to a record that could have been recorded back when Drew and I were in Middle School. Drew Smith’s Lonely Choir is a timeless piece of simple genius. The record (and I call it a “record” purposefully to say it isn’t like many modern CD’s which are often a collection of singles, rather than an entire journey) flows like a classic. You don’t want to skip over any songs. You are comfortable listening all the way through its consistent sound and groove. He sounds good. He feels good.

Drew Smith, more than anything, is an artist, a song-writer, a muso with an ear for tasteful tunes and he is surrounded by top-notch musicians at all times. Have fun listening to Drew Smith. You will leave this CD in your player non-stop and you might even put songs like “Nilsson Sings Newman” or “Follow Me Down” on repeat. They make you feel good. Follow Me Down, Down, Down….is the simple catch in the chorus, but I say let’s follow Drew Smith UP, UP, UP.

Let’s work together to be a part of Drew Smith’s musical journey. Visit him online at www.drewsmithmusic.com or catch him live in the Austin area.

(Photo Above By Ed Verosky | www.veroskyphoto.com)

Article 1 of N2 Magazine Music Review by Ginger Leigh

2009-05-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here is the uncut version of the article I wrote in May's edition of N2 Magazine (A Guide to Culture in Central Texas - Temple, Waco, Georgetown, Cedar Park, etc).

Dear N2 Readers,

Welcome to the first edition of N2’s Music Section! I’ll take a brief moment to introduce myself and then we will move on to two uniquely different and equally fascinating artists, Gavin Degraw and Kellye Gray.

I am a musician; a professional touring and recording artist. I am highly and often inspired by other artists, not just only the music they produce or the shows they execute, but also by their varying business strategies in this ever-changing entertainment industry. I believe in being a member of the music community, working together with other artists to help promote our music, our shows, our love of a common jewel which is MUSIC. Without music, society is without flow, rhythm, a secondary – but incredibly important – language of emotion, romance, societal, political and familial conflicts and journeys. You too can be a member by purchasing new music online or in stores

With instruments like itunes, myspace, facebook and our own websites, the playing field has opened up to vast sea of tiny CD outlets for anyone to sell and shop for new or old music. I intend to share music with you in the hopes that you will be inspired to be a part of the musician’s journey.

In this article, I will introduce to you two artist who have very different stories; one being on a major label, the other being independent. Gavin Degraw is one of the artists who manages to reap the rewards of being signed to J Records (Clive Davis’ baby), with hit songs such as “I Don’t Want To Be” and “Chariot”. Kellye Gray is an artist who has worked on her music career for 25 years, having been on a label which began beautifully and ended poorly, and who today releases records independently, thanking daily her angel investors and her informidable strength to carry on. Both of these featured artists are lucky in their own ways and have managed a level of success which I encourage you to applaud and support.

Gavin Degraw
I sat at my desk with the Blackberry pressed hard to my ear hearing the kind and intelligent voice of Gavin Degraw on the other end. He is a busy man at the moment on a national tour supporting the release of his latest CD, Free. I started my 40-minute phone interview with Degraw by asking him the question, “Tell me 5 musicians you have playing on your iPod.”

Chris Whitely (whose song “Indian Summer” is featured as the opening track on Degraw’s new CD), Martin Sexton (whose tone I can hear in Degraw’s music), Donnie Hathaway, Pavarotti, and Dwight Yoakum (who Degraw says “Gotta give a shout out to my buddy Dwight!”)

He obviously has a wide span in his taste for music, which is also apparent in the way his records stand alone in their varying genres. His first release titled Chariot (2003, J Records) was more pop/soul, then his second release, self-titled, Gavin Degraw, was much more rock, and now his third release titled Free is more soul, bluesy, stripped down, mature. Each album is fantastic in its own unique way, but I have to admit that his newest release, Free, is by far my favorite. I feel this CD is for a more adult audience.

I was introduced to Degraw’s music a few years ago by three young pre-teens. Coming from their direction, I assumed Degraw to be a young pop star. I continued to hear his hit songs played on pop radio through the years and today. I asked Degraw if it was his intention to release his first album to a younger audience. “I didn't design [Chariot] to be anything but identifiably me while being held under the wing of a record company. As a musician, you will know which producer to work with. The Producer has a stamp, almost more than the artist. The producer[Mark Endert] balanced out his task at hand- taking a new artist and bringing him to the forefront of popular music, while satisfying the artist...Mark did a great a job.“

The bigger poppy production of his first record undoubtedly did its job for Degraw. Chariot was certified platinum and yielded three gold singles: “I Don’t Want To Be,” which soared to No. 1 on the Top 40 radio chart, “Follow Through,” and the title-track, “Chariot.”

Degraw certainly changed direction in his recent release. In the title track, “Free”, Degraw says he is pointing out his own extremes, the way that he battles himself, his opposing characteristics, which everyone has. “I want to be free, release this weight of self-criticism onto something more important, more valuable to my life. You become consumed and imprisoned in your own mind.” While listening to Degraw explain this song I remember something Fitzgerald wrote: “Intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." Degraw is an intelligent man and Free will make him a longer-term major-label artist; quality setting him on his path to legendary status. It is sure to bring to his career a shift, or maybe simply a growth, in his listenership – at least it will bring in a 30+ audience. I wondered how he got away with releasing a more mature record under the “wing of a major label,” when to my understanding the machine prefers to continue branding an artist under one sound, one style, holding on to the same demographic every time. Degraw replied, “Even younger than 30, there are plenty of 18 year old high school kids and freshmen in college who are looking for this type of music and this style, less-is-more type of thing....Itunes makes this type of production more commercially viable. [It’s] the public's opportunity to revolt against the conveyer belt of mass-produced music. All the people making marketing decisions of all industries target the same people....It's not a small group of people...why not make something good and don't HAVE to sell it. Let people who are interested find it!”

Awe, yes, says Ginger Leigh! Let people find it! Viola’! Make the music you believe in and hope that people find it.. And I applaud his courage to change and to take risk. He describes his first launch onto the scene with Chariot as like being that glass pitcher of Cool-Aid running through the wall. He was breaking down walls, getting some attention from the start. With Free, he hopes to maintain what he already built, while branching out to reach other people. I agree with Degraw when he says that music shouldn’t be about a demographic, a tribe, but about taste and similar interests. He spent only 2 weeks in the studio recording Free, hoping to create a sound without big production bells and whistles, without over-thinking the recording, but staying true to the songs. In my opinion, he succeeded. Free is the kind of record I can gift to both my father and my niece. The music is luscious and spare, authentic and raw holding up this man’s rich vocals and intimate lyrics.
Learn more at www.gavindegraw.com

Kellye Gray

Make the music and let people find it! Find THIS, my friends….Kellye Gray, the magical jazz vocalist who can sing with – and often beyond – the best of the best. From the first note you hear from Gray’s mouth (or should I say Gray’s lungs?), you are stopped in your tracks. You can practically cut through Kellye Gray’s vocals with a butter knife; so thick, luscious, creamy, rich. The first note makes you wait, makes you hang on for the next note. That tiny nanosecond feels like a lifetime, as if it’s the first time you have ever heard music. And then she soars, and you soar with her.

My favorite song of Gray’s is her rendition “Everything Must Change” which has a different meaning for everyone. Whether it makes you think of your own children growing older or how society must adapt to social shifts or something about your own life’s journey, Gray makes this song her own and yours. She sings it from such a personal place that the intimacy she shares with you feels like she is putting a sweet spell on you by singing a message right into your ear.

Gray has released 7 records, the most recent being KG3, Live form the Bugle Boy. I have also played the Bugle Boy a number of times. It’s a sweet listening venue in the least likely place – La Grange, Texas. The owner, Lane Gosney, makes certain that the audience doesn’t chit-chat during the show and even asks you to turn off your cell phone. If you have Kellye Gray on the stage, there need be no distractions. You won’t want to miss a moment of her live performance. Even though you missed this show at the Bugle Boy, I’m sure there will be plenty more opportunities, but in the meantime you don’t have to feel left out; you can get the CD! This tiny venue not only offers a special listening experience, but they record the show and hand the results right to the artists then and there. Kellye tells me that on this special evening, she and her guitarist and bassist hadn’t played together in 6 or so years. She handed the guys her music charts and off they went to spontaneously bust out some of the most sensual, exciting and true jazz music heard today, opening with Summertime and ending with “If You Never Come to Me”. They left the Bugle Boy feeling high off their performance. A number of months later, Kellye met up with the guitarist who asked about the recordings from that night. Gray hadn’t even listened to them. Upon his suggestion she later did and decided the night was so magical that she would release the music to the public.

This is one of the most fascinating parts to being an independent artist. You can release whatever you want, whenever you want. There are no labels to answer to, no marketers shaping your artistic content. Gray has only one CD that was released on a label years ago. Although it sold over 75,000 copies and Gray was reaching the top of her world, the label turned on her and the deal ended in a lawsuit. Even though Gray escaped the mess unscathed, she does not maintain the rights to the recordings, which I understand are often found on eBay and other online outlets for quite a high price.

I have known Kellye Gray and her music for quite a number of years. I have always admired her vocal ease and her massive stage presence. Her body is her instrument. Her voice is her brass. Her lungs are her drum. Her arms are her strings. Her eyes are her spotlights. You immediately succumb to her wishes, like being entranced by her body’s orchestra, while feeling your own sense of empowerment. There is no wimp inside Kellye Gray, only a leader and a super-powered chanteuse.

One of Gray’s best albums to date is Live at the Jazz School which I have had loaded onto my iPod for a long time and now sits next to KG3, Live from the Bugle Boy. Like Gavin Degraw’s recent CD, Gray speaks about the essence of the music. She releases live records because she too hopes to stay true to the songs themselves without them being over-produced for the masses.

We discussed Gray’s life path to music and the jazz paradigm in general at my dining room table where I conducted our recent interview for this article. Ironically, over dinner, wine and conversation my iPod on shuffle chose out of thousands of songs to play Gray’s music a handful of times, as if the iPod itself was enchanted by her presence in the room. Gray’s personal iPod spins the likes of Miles Davis, Fiest, dZihan&Kamien, Suba and Shirley Horn, a personal friend to Gray.

Kellye Gray found her voice around the age of 5 or 6 while cruising around in the backseat of her mother’s T-bird while her sister used to encourage her to sing Barbara Streisand which she did with ease. But Kellye didn’t go into music in her youth; instead she studied theater at university and later became a stand-up comedian working alongside the likes of Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison. As a young child, her life was interrupted by her parents divorce at the age of 5. Her mother remarried a man who adopted Kellye and became her father and was her jazz influence. When Kellye couldn’t sleep at night, she would sneak down to her father’s record collection and put the needle down to the likes of Sarah Vaughn and Thelonious Monk. The jazz music would help her sleep and if you asked me, it sunk in so deeply and ultimately formed the singer in Gray that we know today.

When her mother and new father divorced, she and her sister were sent to a Texas State School. In the 1950’s it wasn’t easy for a single mom to get a good paying job and the State of Texas determined her mother’s income as unfit for raising children. This terrifying experience of loneliness and confusion made a strong survivor of Miss Gray. She was bound to be expressive in life, which she first adapted to the stage and then comedy and later, in her 30’s to jazz performance.
When Gray was 24 her mother passed away. She moved to Austin for a shot at a new life. One day an acquaintance asked if she would sing a song he had written for a big show. She agreed, having used her musical talents for a few years in more of a theatrical way in her recent past. But Kellye had not yet used her jazz voice in a show such as this. 800 people waited in the audience for the show to begin. She was told at the last minute what the form of the song would be! She was terrified. Before walking out on stage, she exclaimed “I have no idea what that means! What do you mean by chorus, by solo?” The reply was “You know, SOLO on top of the music! Like Ella [as in Fitzgerald]!” Gray recalls that moment when she was “at the end of the diving board, I just had to throw myself off.” And that she did. She opened her mouth, her lungs, and her memory of the records playing in the night when she was a child, and let it all out. At that moment, she knew this was her calling. Music, Jazz Music, found Kellye Gray in a frightful moment of spontaneous performance in front of 800 people. And she has never stopped singing since.

Kellye’s entrance to the world of Jazz began there and continued by her own will to succeed. She worked Piggy’s Jazz Club on 6th Street and ultimately found her way onto local stages 2 or 3 times a day, 7 days per week. She grew to be a name that could sell out the Paramount Theater on Congress Avenue.

But like anyone’s career, there are big moments and lesser known moments. Gray eventually moved away from Austin to work other jazz scenes. Many years passed and she came back to Austin to find that she lost touch with many of her local fans and that there isn’t much of a jazz scene left. This is why Kellye spends half the year on tour all over the world, performing concerts and conducting vocal seminars.

If you ask me, Gray is only now getting started. The twenty-odd years she has been performing have laid the ground work for a woman who is primed to rise again. I asked her if she would be willing to sign a major label deal if it were to land on her desk today. “Sell out? At this point in my life? ABSOLUTELY! I’ve done my own thing for all these years!” With the forthcoming release of “The Best of Kellye Gray” let’s hope it gets in the hands of someone who can take her to the next level. I doubt she’ll actually have to sell-out. Her authenticity is the appeal that today’s industry is seeking. If Gavin Degraw can release a stripped down, honest, small production record, then there is no reason why Kellye Gray can’t sign a major deal that will release her as she is – an old-school jazz vocalist who delivers dreams to her listeners inside the spaces between her ever-lasting notes.
In the meantime, the ever so beautiful KG3 Live at the Bugle Boy is available online and in regional stores. Go get it!
www.kellyegray.com

Houston Music Review

2009-04-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.houstonmusicreview.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=764&Itemid=1

Ginger Leigh - Mucky Duck - Houston, TX
Written by Eddie Ferranti
Mar 31, 2009 at 08:00 PM

Image One thing I've noticed since I just hit the "double nickel" of life, 55, is that my passion for covering live music is growing but my ability to handle school night gigs is weakening. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hitting weekday shows, but as a critic I'm much more alert shall we say. So when Rosie & I popped out this evening it was to see Ginger Leigh at the Mucky Duck in Houston. We had crossed paths last October when she shared the evening with Wendy Colonna at Almost Austin House Concerts. She really got my attention that night and I vowed to see her again.

Well, it took almost 5 months to do it, but it was well worth the wait for sure. Girl hits the stage apologizing for running late and also sets the ground rules of sorts. "I like it when y'all talk to me, just don't heckle my ass!" Great start in my book. If you've ever had the pleasure of seeing fellow Austinite Patrice Pike handle a stage, imagine adding two shots of whiskey and a jalapeno and you have Ginger Leigh ! Or as she stated how they say it in Italy: "Ginger LEG". Classic. GL kicked off the show with a cut from her latest album "Don't Be Shy" which came out last October. "Lover" came right at yo ass big time. She followed that with a request from sweet lil Darla who handles the CD sales for her (and Patrice Pike) which was called "Time to Move On". Both opening numbers featured foot stompin' rowdiness that was a pleasure to behold. She slid into a rarely done number "My Life" and then a very original "Sugar in My Coffee" which featured use of foot pedals to create "background" singers using her own voice. Easily sounded like at least 2 folks were on stage. Nice touch.

Ginger then showed her loving side by doing an acapella number by request from a woman in the crowd who had never heard a song done that way. She chose the classic "San Francisco Bay Blues" which has been covered by the likes of Phoebe Snow and Eric Clapton. Leigh then rolled into a tune from her old band Ginger & Sarah called "After a While", which had a nice branch off singalong of "Knockin on Heaven's Door" sandwiched inbetween. "Its Your Voice" is a redo for her redone on "Don't Be Shy". It showcased how captivating this woman can be. It was the next gesture that stood out to me for what Ginger Leigh the person is.

A group of ladies yelled out a request before the break for "Charge Laughing". GL said that is always her show closer and to please stick around for the 2nd set. Well come to find out, the ladies were a group of teachers that had to leave because it was literrally a school night for them. Miss Leigh promptly changed her whole gig around and played the tune stating the repect she had for the teaching community in today's world. Ginger can be a bulldawg (in a good way) and she's definitely in charge from start to finish, but inside is a caring sweetheart of a girl. THIS is a good thing to me. The 2nd half rolled with highlights like "Rain Down" with Ginger busting balls left and right. The rarely done cover tune for her of "In These Shoes" was totally bad ass. Having the crowd join in the "Wah Wah Wah" horn noises was classic indeed. Then a disaster turned to gold when the power went out and GL just handled it like a pro and bustin' into a Concrete Blond cut called "Vampire Song". As if planned for killer effect, the power came BACK to the mike halfway thru the tune and she continued to stray back and forth from mike to no mike. You had to be there to feel how cool it really was!

She reached back again for "Glory Days" and a gospel backgrounded "Don't Be Shy" with echo backing that worked to perfection. "Holy World" followed as she took a glass of wine from a woman she tagged as MISS TAXI CAB ! Had me rolling............"Mexican Man" ruled and ended up with "A Little Ditty" ! I know I sound like I'm slobbering all over this perfomance, but it just felt that good to this reviewer and Rosie. If some a-holes would of shown some more respect and shut the hail up, the gig would of even been stronger in my mind. All in all, this venture into doing something on a work night was beyond enjoyable. Get off your ass folks and go support these fine musicians-like Ginger Leigh- who have to pay the bills, too. Music is an escapism for me in this rat race we call life and when somebody like GL comes to town again, I'll be on her like white on rice...............God Bless Ginger and you, too!

A very cool article about G Leigh

2009-03-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

http://chicgalleria.com/women/2009/03/ginger-leigh.php

I like the layout and all, so I figured, I'd just give ya the link instead of copying it here.

How's everyone derin'?

I miss you.

-Ginger Leigh

A wonderful evening off. A wonderful evening on.

2009-02-21T08:43:00.001-08:00

Hello folks!

If you are not familiar with Austin - shame on you - but it's a fantastic city, growing like a weed...or in my opinion a Sun Flower or a Rose Bush or something quite more lovely (lovelier) than a weed. When I came here back in 1993, I was fresh off the plane from having lived in Milan for a few months. I was terrified that there wouldn't be any good coffee. At that time in the most parts of the U.S., coffee was still watery brown tasteless stuff. But thank god, Little City coffee shop was here and brand new on Congress Ave.

Well, today, goodness, there are a million fabulous coffee shops and restaurants and bars. But many people who have lived here for a while regret this massive city growth. I can understand. I miss Liberty Lunch. I miss Les Amis on campus (which is now a freakin Starbucks!). But, there's also something so beautiful about this baby town turning into a major metropolitan area. I happen to love the sprucing up of downtown. I love the condos, I love the eateries, the shops, the style. Austin still has all of that charm it once had, it's just having a make-over, but the heart is still here. And I hope that the City Council focuses on keep the music scene alive and thriving. HELP!

I had Thursday evening off. Jane and I were invited to drink and dine at the Four Seasons hotel here in Austin. It still has that fabulous established hotel feeling and it seems they are excited about the W Hotel coming to town. (As am I...the W Hotel is always so fiiiiiiine!). Anyway, I have had drinks many times at our local Four Seasons lobby bar. It hasn't changed a bit as long as I have known it. But what I didn't know what that the downstairs restaurant, Trio, has been completely updated. They did a fabulous job! Our dinner was wonderful and creative. The wine was beautiful. Luckily, I didn't see the tab, but however much it was, it had to have been worth it. The staff was more than pleasant. The atmosphere was sexy, casual or dressy, whatever you prefer. We sat eating Tenderloin and Truffle Fries, next to Senator Harry Reed and his Secret Service folks. After dinner, we took dessert outside on their hip and sweet patio facing Town Lake (or is it Lady Bird Lake?).

The conflict for this restaurant/bar is finding the balance between an exclusive hotel environment and an open-to-the-public space. It IS open to the public, but finding a public who wouldn't...say...bother the Senator...is very important. I refrained from talking to him about the Stimulus Package.

So, if you are looking for a romantic dinner or a bottle of wine in a private, mature, beautiful place, try Trio at the Four Seasons! That was my night off. Thanks to our host for an evening of being treated like Princesses. Mmmmm...I love being pampered.

Tonight is my night ON. I love pampering my audience with an hour and a half of joy via music. I play tonight at Momo's Club in Austin, where the stage is big and the venue is warm and inviting. It has been a while since I have played full-band in Austin, so I hope for a strong and happy audience for whom I can entertain. And let's just hope that I am "on" for my night "on". (And Marie will be on stage too, playing percussion, along with Stew on Keys, Perry on Drums, and Kris Brown on Bass! I love that!)

In the meantime, I am watching this dreary wet cold weather swing on through town (WAIT, there's the sun!). One of the great things about the venue, Momo's, is that there is an outdoor patio. When the weather is ugly (rarely), they usually close the big doors and everyone if forced inside. As a performer, that's not so bad - that way people will be closer to the stage, and hopefully listening a little more attentively. But as a patron, I think it's the patio that is part of the draw to Momo's, especially if you are a smoker. So, I'm watching the weather dance around this morning. This is Austin...we might have Winter and Summer all in one day.

Mmmmm.....I love it. I've been away a lot in the past few years. It's nice to be home, getting to know this city again.

Be in touch, my dolls.

-G Leigh

The Sun should warm you

2009-02-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

She is bright, brilliant, one full bust. Hotter than the desert sands midday in August. She blinds your eyes and upon your shoulders she rests. You feel no weight, only her touch upon chest. The chilly breeze battles her, and your skin lifts; little bumps of joy where this war with Sun and Breeze exist.

You are awakened to the bruises under your eyes as the Sun shows the restless sleep in disguise. Or is it that she hasn't removed her makeup the night before, after vodka cocktails and midnight hor d'ourves?

She questions herself, this scene around her. Its beauty, its lust, its twisted candor. Dragging her or lifting her into a conversation with God. The water froze in the night, but gone with the Sun. She is here to melt it like she melts your blood. A lover of you, the world of love.

"My lady, you're a tramp," says the Sun to the Breeze. And I giggle having mistaken that she was talking to me. The Breeze replies "Have dinner with me." But the Sun regrets that is an impossibility. "I will be on the other side, my dear. You'll have to talk to the Moon, I fear." I raise my hand to ask if I can speak, and offer to cook for the Moon and the Breeze.

Time is passing as the yellow glow descends behind rooftops, chimneys and broken limbs. The Breeze stays with me for flowing Vodka and Cotes du Rhone. The Moon approaches chivalrous, we curtsy alone.

Garlic, Tomatoes and Olive Oil, we three we feast. A menage a trois, before I sleep. Eyes so tight, to the Moon so long. I will cheat on you in the morning with Sun.

-Ginger Leigh

A cold quiet morning

2009-02-04T05:38:00.000-08:00

I could hardly sleep last night - my neck all bent up from unfamiliar pillow. Half way through my half-slept night I almost braved the 17 degree weather to go to the car and grab my frozen pillow from the back. But in half-sleep and warmth, I couldn't muster the courage.

I finally gave up on sleep because the neck pain made me too stiff and simply got out of bed early. With two layers of sweatpants and two sweaters and an overcoat, I stood in the chill, coffee cup in my bare hands, and watched the nothingness of morning's solitude.

Funny how the nothingness of solitude is packed full of muchness. At first glance, there seems to be nature in frozen paralysis and that's all. At second glance (and with that striking feeling of only 17 degrees on your face) you begin to wake up and see that in this space, where no human is roaming except for yourself who is standing in it, there are at least living things that seem to breathe; trees with broken limbs from last week's ice storm, bushes man-cut to the shape of a triangle, grass struggling to turn green as winter struggles to pass.

The picture becomes clearer - although silence is about you, no cars, no yapping dogs, no tap-tap on the keyboard, no phone ringers - you hear the slight buzz from the electrical wires, you hear the hot tub churning, a bird shakes a tiny limb and in this stillness, it's almost orchestral and alarming. There is fullness all about you. The steam from your coffee cup is bold enough to elevate into the still and it creates waves in the air. You think you see the ivy climb the tree trunks in a race to get to the top. Your thoughts seem too loud, they are fighting for the spotlight above the silence which almost seems loud in-and-of-itself. You are not alone on this frozen, silent morning. You are among everythingness and you remember that you are part of its beautifully unique tapestry.

Good morning, my loves, good morning.

-Ginger

Video blogs and time flies

2009-01-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the Undeniably Various Ventures of Ginger Leigh have been very adventurous since my last blog (I'm a slacker!). I opened my blog and couldn't BELIEVE that the last time I wrote was October. It's now January. It's now 2009. Do you remember when you were a child how the days seemed to take forever? Summer months out of school were longer than life. Heck, one day in school felt like a decade. Do you remember adults telling you that time goes faster the older you get? You couldn't believe that, or even understand it. Well, now that we're in the game, it seems as though everything is on 24X fast forward. One day passes like it's a moment in time.

My adventures since October have been many. From releasing a new CD (Don't Be Shy), to celebrating the election to multiple travels across the country in a car or a plane. I've been to Italy and back. I've helped do interior design projects with Jane Reece. I have built numerous websites (see my new one www.gleigh.com). I have designed numerous musician posters and information sheets. I have moved back to Austin. I have moved into a house. I have played countless concerts in countless cities. Oh, the life of a Rockstar and a multi-tasker.

Life is good!

Sorry I haven't been on the blog. I will try to catch up! But in the meantime, you can catch up with me by watching these adventurous and fun video blogs from the last few months of life.

And if you'd simply like to catch up on music videos, here ya go!

Enjoy! And please be in touch! I like to hear from you.

Ciao ciao - Ginger Leigh

OOoooh the Chill

2008-10-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present to you the wonderful, the marvelous, the ever-so-chilly first cold morning of the year here in Texas!! S'wonderful..S'marvelous...

So why am I sitting outside, typing? Well, I just love cold weather. Every October, I get this extreme urge to hop on a plane and visit New York City, but no. I am in a place so opposite from NYC that I can't even imagine the big city right now. It's peaceful here in the countryside in Texas, just outside of Austin. A storm came in late yesterday afternoon, the sun still shone, the leaves, orange in color, drifted - no, more like fled - from the trees at a sideways slant while a small, but lovely, amount of rain fell upon the winter rye seeds on the lawn. Stop. And. Smell. The. Rain.

Have you taken a moment from your day to witness the beauty? Have you stopped and taken a moment to witness a plastic grocery bag fluttering in the wind? What a movie.

Life feels as if it is indeed as fast as a movie, especially the older we get, especially with the advent of more and more technology, especially in the last few days of an election that could quite possibly shape a future in such a way we haven't seen since the 60's. I wasn't even here for the 60's, but it is an iconic era, a decade full of unrest and war and nasty politics. Sound familiar?

I feel relieved. I early-voted and chose a man I believe in whole-heartedly, Barack Obama.

But I don't intend on blogging today about politics or money or anything in particular. There is really no intent, no plot, no subject matter in this blog. I just wanted to say hello and to remind to you take a moment today, each day, to breathe and feel your blessings. Hear the music. Dance dance dance to your favorite dream and keep love alive in your life.

Oh, one last thing that has little segue to my above chit-chat, except for maybe the fact that your home should reflect your love of self, love of community, and love of feeling safe and comfortable in your abode. Check out this designer: http://www.janereece.com

Hoping all is beautiful and well for you all. I hope to hear from you. Tell me how beautiful you are.

Love, Ginger Leigh

I will travel. I have traveled.

2008-10-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

The first time I lived in Europe was back when I was 15 on an exchange program in southern Germany. I had the great pleasure of visiting Berlin on that trip, just after the Wall fell. It was incredible! We drove right through Check Point Charlie without stopping, into East Berlin where the scene was utterly different from the West side. Old cars were carcasses on the side of the road, buildings were in disrepair, and in the middle of all this sitting like a diamond in a trash heap was a government palace which we visited. We left our shoes at the door and were provided little booty socks, which were quite fun for sliding inconspicuously from large chamber to large chamber on slick marble floors, as if the kings of Communism could eat well right from their glistening surfaces. I was 15. But I saw how unfair it was that the rest of Easter Berlin be so destitute while this place was obviously ravishing the wealth of the country.

We then visited parts of the Berlin Wall that were still standing. I still have a piece of it. Somewhere in someones collection of history might be a chunk of the wall with my own name scribbled upon it in Sharpie, having resided there since 1990. But on all chunks are the blood of so many who failed at their escape from tyranny.

The next time I lived in Europe was in 1993 when I lived in a small apartment in Milan, in the middle of a bustling city, where beggars begged for heroin money and where models pranced in couture, skin to bones, as if they, like the heroin addicts, hadn't eaten in decades. I was 18.

Since then I have spent a great deal of time assimilating myself into the Italian and into the European culture in general. I don't walk the streets with a backpack on my shoulders and a camera around my neck, speaking English loudly above the crowd, sliding around on booty socks in palaces. Rather, I have learned the languages, studied the behaviors, and learned the proper ways to eat, drink, and be a part of their lives there. I have lived with a family of left-wingers in Rome, who owned a restaurant that allowed people to pay what they were able. Yes! People would come to eat delicious foods and pay would they were able to pay! Beautiful artwork hung on the walls, people from everywhere (Africa, Italy, South America, England) worked in the kitchen, in the restaurant, tending the bar. There were the wealthy, there were the artists, there were the poor, doctors, film-makers, police officers, struggling immigrants; all enjoying the flavor of humanity and community drawn together by social pleasures and something of a sense of basic human bonding.

While living with them, I also studied Italian Language, Italian Film and Theater with a group of young American students from the University of Texas. Our classes were conducted from a small theater built into the backside of a massive fountain over-looking all of Rome from the top of Gianicolo - one of Rome's 7 great hills. To get to class, I took multiple buses from one side of the ancient sprawl to the other. I was 20.

I spent more time in Italy after I graduated from the University, upon decided to take my music to the old continent. We based ourselves in Italy, where we knew the culture and language well. I had an apartment in Flornence with former singing-partner, Sarah Dashew, where we hardly stayed, as we were typically on the road in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy. We were there for many months at a time, which also lent itself to our having to utilize all the national services, such as Emergency Rooms, Post Offices, Banks, Doctors, Dentists, Mechanics, Pharmacists, Mass Transit, you name it. I have lived in their system.

I also stayed for a number of months in a small town in Umbria called Umbertide. I had the pleasure of staying in a castle on top of a hill there, which overlooked kilometers and kilometers of sunflower fields which would bend like an army toward the sun as it rose on one side of the horizon and sunk on the other. Staying in a small room settled high up inside the castle was somewhat scary, actually. This place had been built in the 900's and spirits wandered the halls; at least it felt that way. After watching the sunflowers bow their pretty little uniform heads to the sleeping sun, it always felt as if the old family who settled that castle came out of rest and lived on inside those walls, wishing I would go away.

This castle was being used by a foundation set up by one of the members of the Corning family (as in Corning ware cooking goods). It was a highly-esteemed international program for the arts. Basically, artists of all mediums were invited, hand-selected, to apply for the program. A jury of highly-critical judges would then decide who would win this opportunity to stay at the castle, fully paid for, for a number of weeks, where they could isolate themselves and work on their art. Every night for dinner, we would settle at a large outdoor table under a canopy of grape vines, where the cooking staff would bring the most delicious meals and bottles-and-bottles of local wine to the table and some of the most fascinating conversations would ensue. I was hardly equipped to join in, but I did my best by asking questions when I needed and by inserting only my thoughts and opinions where I felt most confident. I could hardly keep up with this collection of eccentric talent. "I'm not so sure how this came to be. This big big world and little ol' me...."

Just before I stayed at the Castle, I had spent 2 weeks in Paris, where I played at a venue called The Chesterfield Cafe, which hosted American bands for a stretch of 10 shows. I had arrived early to Paris in order to catch Madonna in concert. Yes, the great American Icon was to be putting on quite a show in Paris, two days before my shows were to begin in a small, but well-attended venue off the Champs Elise. Prior to the beginning of my residency at the Chesterfield, I was hosted by a stranger I knew through a friend who I knew through a friend. His house was on the outskirts of Paris, which meant I had to travel by many buses to get to the center of town.

One night when I waited at a busy bus-stop in the suburbs, I sat alone with my bag to me chest, ignoring people around me, avoiding eye-contact. An Arab man took me by surprise by suddenly throwing his face, like a fast ball at mine. He spewed hatred at me in his language, so close to my nose, almost as if he were going to kiss me violently. He was yelling at me, spitting on my cheeks through his hissing. I hadn't said a word. I hadn't provoked anything. I was just sitting peacefully, waiting for the bus. I was shocked! What was I to do? I looked to the others around me to see if anyone would intervene. The people stood still as if nothing were happening. As a matter of fact, most of them stepped outside of the little glass bus-stop box. Fight or flight entered my body. I stared him down without a word. I stared him right in the eyes, never showing an ounce of fear. He took his cigarette and placed it a centimeter from my cheek and I stared him down, peacefully, calmly, without shame, without provocation, without violence. Inside, however, my heart was racing. I scanned the area and noticed a glass bottle near my feet. I planned in my head that if I had to, I would grab it and hit him over the head. AS IF! I am not sure if I could have, but I had to think quickly. Instead, I just stared him in his dark eyes and didn't move, didn't utter a word. I was saved by my patience AND the bus. It arrived, I swooped my head down below the burning cigarette butt, beneath his arm near my shoulder and got on the bus, leaving him and all of his anger behind. I finally took a breath and when I arrived at the stranger's house, I locked the doors behind me as if I had to imprison myself from the strange big world outside. I was 26.

Madonna's show was fascinating! I ended up going twice, just me, by myself in a crowd of thousands of screaming fans. Didn't they all know that she was MY pop star? Ha...Without jealousy, we all adored her innovative performance with admiration and excitement. All one people, cheering at the dazzle of lights, dancers, costumes, thumping bass and energy. Yes, I thought, unity!

A few weeks later after I had played my shows at the Chesterfield, I went to Italy by train, having hidden my earned cash in a pouch strapped to my pelvis, zipped up tightly. I still have a photograph that we took on self-timer showing where we hid the goods!

We went directly to the castle. Phew. Safety. Isolation. Peace and conversation.

Later that month we took an extended weekend vacation to Barcelona, Spain. It was early September; beautiful weather, long strolls in Gaudi's wonderland park, night-jaunts down Las Ramblas, eating tapas at 6 and dinner at midnight. We rented a car and drove up the Costa Brava to a tiny fishing village where we stayed in a simple, but luxurious boutique hotel. One morning I woke early to get a massage. When I left the massage, I saw two burning World Trade Center towers on the television screen and a small crowd of Spaniards in a daze as they watched the flames take lives. I ran upstairs, woke up Sarah, turning on the BBC. The rest of that day is all of our own personal history.

We flew the next day back to Italy and went to the castle, where all the artists from all over the world sat, like the rest of the world, in front of a television as it flashed scenes of dismay and projections. Should we return home? Should we stay put? Suddenly the conversations amongst the eccentric at the table beneath the grape vines shifted dramatically. I think the spirits also joined hands and bowed their heads along with us.

The world was with us. I was there, in the world, outside of the US. Since 2001, I have continued to travel despite the two wars (one precedented, one not). I have seen the attitudes change. I have traveled in the south Pacific and I have lived in Europe under Bush Senior and the first Gulf War, through Clinton, through Bush Jr and his wars. I have watched the western world embrace us, as individual Americans, and I have watched them drop their heads in sorrow and shame at America's current administration. I have personally encountered some sort of hatred more than once in Paris specifically from Arabic men. I have been close friends with Arabic people. Iranians, Iraqis, Africans. I have loved and been loved by Italians, Germans, French, British, Austrians, Swiss, Spaniards. I have walked the streets of Rome, Milan, Paris, Barcelona. I have eaten at countless dinner tables in homes, in restaurants, in plazas and piazzas.

I am nothing special for that. Many people have been to many places far beyond my experience. But when considering that out of 300 million Americans, only 14% of them have a passport (Sarah Palin just got her very first passport), I think that being a person who has been so close to other cultures, I can say that the following article has great meaning. I have only shared with you a small sliver of my travel experiences; good and bad. I have seen compassion in people's eyes in a small fishing village in Spain on September 11th, 2001 and beyond. But following the invasion of Iraq, things changed from compassion to disbelief. Read the following article from the Guardian in England. Spread the word about this very important part of the big equation. Believe me, it's true:

An article that offers a British/European view of the election.

Excellent piece from the British publication Guardian:

"If Sarah Palin defies the conventional wisdom that says elections are determined by the top of the ticket, and somehow wins this for McCain, what will be the reaction? Yes, blue-state America will go into mourning once again, feeling estranged in its own country. A generation of young Americans - who back Obama in big numbers - will turn cynical, concluding that politics doesn't work after all. And, most depressing, many African-Americans will decide that if even Barack Obama - with all his conspicuous gifts - could not win, then no black man can ever be elected president.

But what of the rest of the world? This is the reaction I fear most. For Obama has stirred an excitement around the globe unmatched by any American politician in living memory. Polling in Germany , France , Britain and Russia shows that Obama would win by whopping majorities, with the pattern repeated in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America . If November 4 were a global ballot, Obama would win it handsomely. If the free world could choose its leader, it would be Barack Obama.

The crowd of 200,000 that rallied to hear him in Berlin in July did so not only because of his charisma, but also because they know he, like the majority of the world's population, opposed the Iraq war.. McCain supported it, peddling the lie that Saddam was linked to 9/11. Non-Americans sense that Obama will not ride roughshod over the international system but will treat alliances and global institutions seriously: McCain wants to bypass the United Nations in favour of a US-friendly League of Democracies. McCain might talk a good game on climate change, but a repeated floor chant at the Republican convention was "Drill, baby, drill!", as if the solution to global warming were not a radical rethink of the US's entire energy system but more offshore oil rigs.

If Americans choose McCain, they will be turning their back on the rest of the world, choosing to show us four more years of the Bush-Cheney finger. And I predict a deeply unpleasant shift.

Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change. Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves. For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start - a fresh start the world is yearning for.

And the manner of that decision will matter, too. If it is deemed to have been about race - that Obama was rejected because of his colour - the world's verdict will be harsh. In that circumstance, Slate's Jacob Weisberg wrote recently, international opinion would conclude that "the United States had its day, but in the end couldn't put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race".

Even if it's not ethnic prejudice, but some other aspect of the culture wars, that proves decisive, the point still holds. For America to make a decision as grave as this one - while the planet boils and with the US fighting two wars - on the trivial basis that a hockey mom is likable and seems down to earth, would be to convey a lack of seriousness, a fleeing from reality, that does indeed suggest a nation in, to quote Weisberg, "historical decline". Let's not forget, McCain's campaign manager boasts that this election is "not about the issues."

Of course I know that even to mention Obama's support around the world is to hurt him. Incredibly, that large Berlin crowd damaged Obama at home, branding him the "candidate of Europe " and making him seem less of a patriotic American. But what does that say about today's America , that the world's esteem is now unwanted? If Americans reject Obama, they will be sending the clearest possible message to the rest of us - and, make no mistake, we shall hear it."

Well-Done, Tim

2008-09-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hello there -- I'm on a mission here to inform my readers about the current political situation, as if you need my help. You're intelligent people, I know. But the more information and thoughts I can spread around, the better. This is a crucial time for us in America.

Beyond politics, I want to let you know that the new CD is only about 12 days away from being in my hands (and the hands of those who pre-purchased). I'm thrilled! If you want to hear samples, there are a couple of songs up on the website http://www.gleigh.com and on my myspace http://www.myspace.com/gingerleighband. If you have a profile, feel free to add the songs to your own profile. At least the music can help us escape some of this outrageous political time.

This is brilliant -- Spread this around. Well-said. So important to take time to THINK. So many people just blindly fall prey to the celebrity or the media clips...ugh. This is a tad long, but well-worth reading. - Ginger

http://www.timwise.org

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.” 

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals. 

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. 

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful. 

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist. 

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.” 

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt. 

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America. 

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced. 

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden. 

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain… 

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Added thoughts

2008-09-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

I received a blog comment regarding my latest blog....So I have some more things to say about it.

A) I do NOT think that all Republican ideals are wrong.
B) I do NOT think that all Democratic ideals are right.
C) I do NOT think that ALL REPUBLICANS are bad people.
D) I do NOT think that ALL DEMOCRATS are good people.

We all have to keep in mind that the game of politics is slimy, no matter what party you align with. But, the point in my last blog was about how well the Republican party has manufactured its identity, using behind-the-scenes tactics, by involving itself with illegal activity or by allowing itself to be aligned with dictators or countries with major human rights abuses, but then turns around and tells the American public that it's the "Christian" party.

And ya know, this also happens in Decmocratic administrations. President Clinton really pushed for trade with China -- a country who breaks severe human rights codes and who does not give freedom to its people. And now that very country owns us!

But the propoganda in running a campaign is so incredibly transparent! I mean, McCain's speech the other day was full of it! For example, he said "My opponant will close trade opportunities. I will open more trade opportunities!" Well, that makes no sense: a) Obama has advisors on his staff who worked in the Clinton and Bush administrations who advise him on China Foreign Affairs policy...people who PUSHED TO OPEN THAT TRADE! and b) If the Republicans want to act like the only Christ followers and the "true American Patriots" in this political arena, then stop giving our jobs to foreign countries who do not have democratic freedoms, do not have freedom of religion, do not have laws in place to protect its citizens from executions and the such...Stop telling us that if we don't support the war, then we are bad Americans and bad Christians. People, we have to start thinking about this! THat makes ZERO sense, but that propoganda has worked for years! They purposefully infiltrated the church community in this country so that they could tap into a well-organized and large group of people. They strategically did that! Strategy for winning....now we have millions and millions of church-goers who believe that to be a good Christian is to be a Republican. Hello??

Back to "My opponant will close trade opporunities"...Obama wouldn't stop trade with China. We're so deeply involved with them, we owe them trillions of dollars, and they manufacture all of our goods now. But the vast majority of Americans just hear the words "I will open trade, my opponant will close it!" They don't dig deeper. And political campaign advisers KNOW that the poeple will not think about it. They KNOW that asking Palin to the be the VP would strike a chord with people begause she is so dynamic and beautiful! Hell she was a beauty queen in Alaska for goodness sake! I mean good for her and good for her that she is so well-spoken and intelligent! But if the ol' Pres (assuming he wins..god help us...), kicks the bucket, Palin would be running this country??? HEllo! I don't care about having a dynamic speaker...I want a president and VP who are well rounded human beings with a ton of experience (which, granted, McCain certainly does have), but who also want to help us here in the U.S., regular folks. I believe that McCain will tow the Bush line too closely and that just doesn't work for the vast majority of the people in this country. The top one percent have made a lot of money in this administration, and the rest of us are drowning. So, I just can't stomach a McCain/Palin presidency.

And in my last blog I said "If McCain wins, I'm off to France for free health care, etc..." In the comment by a person about this, she says that the health care in other countries is so bad and you have no choices and it's not as good as ours. In India, maybe. In Mexico, yes. But...

Have you watched Sicko by M. Moore? You should if you haven't. Of course anyone doing a documentary has a point to make, and he certainly makes it without showing the other side's defense, but I tend to believe what he shows in the film.

I have actually been in hospitals in other countries (in Europe and down in New Zealand) and the care was excellent, the hospitals are VERY clean, nice, modern, up-to-date, efficient, actually quite nicer than ours and it cost us about $30....and that included the E.R., an I.V., medicine, everything. We had to go in an ambulance in New Zealand to the ER and I think we paid $130...that's because we weren't citizens of the country. We would have paid NOTHING if we were citizens of New Zealand. But as a citizen of the US, without insurance, that would have been well over $2000 in our country. So...I think the idea that Canada and Europe or places with socialized medicine receive worse care and have no choices is just propoganda --- which makes my point about how little we know about what goes on behind the scenes (i.e Lobbying, Political Hit Men, Insurance Companies, and so on...and it happens in BOTH paries). This has been the norm for a long long time, and seems like it happens more under Repub administrations...It's run so privately and secretly. UGH!!!

Obama has a few former lobbyists in his campaign staff, but he is more-than-anything reaching out to people outside of Washington: acedemics, professionals, and the so forth. I hope that if he wins, he is able to function more in this capacity than being forced to function the way it has been all of these years...Anyway, I'm getting off the subject.

Anyway, back to health care outside of the US...

I am a US citizen, but almost always wait to have my annual check-ups and dental work until I'm working overseas. That way I can actually afford it and it's just as top-notch as here AND I had an entire phone book of doctors to choose from...

Now, I do have to say that the Italian service and facilities are a tad third-world, but a lot of their systems are. But that's ITALY specifically. Even still it wasn't too bad, just not as good as say Germany, Switzerland, US, etc. As a matter of fact, the hospital facilities in Italy were like going to a ghetto clinic on that "other side of town" here in the U.S., but the hospitals in Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, were like going to something like Grey's Anatomy minus the drama and the one in Switzerland was an awesome building, architecturally. The people were smart, helpful, knowledgable and they were REAL DOCTORS and NURSES. The propoganda we hear about how awful health care is in these countries is a riot! It's almost as if Oz behind the curtain up there on Capital Hill makes us imagine roaches roaming the halls, scattering at the feet of some Frankenstein-esque nim-wit so-called-doctor with one eye and fecal matter on his hands. Let me tell ya, there aren't many hospitals in this country that I would feel comfortable licking the floor (not as if I go around and lick floors on a regular basis), but the ones I've been to in other countries like Switzerland or New Zealand...well, if I had the urge to lick a floor, I'd do it there and not at many other places I've seen. I'm not dogging our system of hospitals, because we do have top-notch facilities and some of the best doctors in the world, for that I am so thankful! We really do -- as long as you can afford it.

Anyway, I wish more people could get sick in Europe and have to head to a hospital! Ha...no no, I don't wish illness on anyone! But take it from a person who travels a lot and trust me when I say...I KNOW THAT THE SYSTEM WORKS VERY WELL over there, as it is here. But these specific foreign systems take care of the people without burying them so deeply in debt that they can't really afford to live comfortably anymore. I don't know if we can ever change our health care system to make it more affordable for our citizens. And no I don't want it to lower in standards. But if you really know about the systems in Scandinavia, Europe, England...the standards aren't any lower than ours. The choices are actually there. And they do some great medical research. It's just silly for us to think that private equals better. That's not always the case. But lobbies and marketing firms, alongside some politicians have done a great job making us believe so.

I LOVE AMERICA so much and wish we could get back to a more honest approach to taking care of our citizens and I wish that we could shake off all of the slimy politicians (on both sides of the isle) and start to believe again in those who want to lead us. I happen to believe in Obama and I hope you do to.

Ciao - Ginger

Transparent McCain Chess Move

2008-09-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

History and Future are having a wrestling match (or is it a waltz?) atop the mound of a freshly dug grave that houses America's Constitution and its bright and inspired founders. Oh how they must be turning in that grave, clinging to those hemp-papers, wondering what the hell happened to the leaders who are "leading" us so far estray.

I just read the most incredible article in August's Harpers Magazine which speaks about how militant the young Republicans were in the early 1980's. These buttoned-up smarties lead by Gordon Norquist and JACK ABROMOFF (A federal judge has sentenced disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to four years in prison. Associated Press Today) took an entrepreneurial approach to Republicanism/Conservatism which has been the downfall of that party and our entire political system at large. I mean, really...they got money from private donors to fund their organizations that were all set up to do things like defund Liberal organizations and programs, set up to back "leaders" (actually terrorists or dictators) like Jonas Savimbi in Africa (google him), and to organize themselves to obliterate (not hold hands across the isle) the left or any other opponent. There was the organization called International Freedom Foundation with joint leadership in South Africa - which held a conference in that country joined by Savimbi, Nicaraguan Contras, Afghan mujahedeen, and American tycoons. When the general public and Congress began questioning the relationship with a nation supporting Apartheid, rather than back away from that relationship, Abromoff and clan instead starting to tarnish the reputations of those who took issue with Apartheid (Nelson Mandela, Ted Kennedy for example). Another fine example of this is when the Iran-Contra scandal happened in 1983-84. If you don't recall what happened, it was basically that Reagan's CIA was waging a secret war on the Sandista Government in Nicaragua - claiming they were "commies". In 1983, the Democratically run U.S. Congress cut off funding to the CIA for this project. I mean, we were technically at peace with the country of Nicaragua, so secretly attacking their government wasn't really justified, nor ethical. Anyway, Oliver North didn't let that stop him, rather he sold arms to IRAN and used private donor money to send weapons to the Contras (a gorilla group against the Sandistas). Folks like Abromoff and another severe cut-throat slimy lobbyist named Spitz Channell hopped on the opportunity to make some serious coin! Channell himself became an incredibly wealthy man when he involved himself in raising these funds. I believe that out of $12,000,000 about $2.5 mil of that actually made it to the hands of the Contras. He became the top fund-raiser in Washington. His favorite targets were conservative, wealthy widows. He showed them a video about the Sandistas in Nicaragua made by Ollie North himself. Preying on their fears worked! And it still does! Even later, Abramoff made more money by selling the Ollie video tape to a large number of supporters. This was even after Oliver North got in so much trouble and all was exposed.

It's just slimy. And it's all for profit. And still is. But the strange thing is that all of these players called "The Sons of Reagan" are still in the game, many of them behind bars, some of them in highly appointed or elected positions, or some still lobbying and consulting Right-wing politicians who call themselves God-fearing Patriots. I wonder if anyone has noticed that scratchy wool rubbing on their eyeballs. I mean, how can you NOT?

McCain claims to be an outsider, anti-lobbyist, honest guy. Well, he might be a nice man with a beautiful and patriotic story, but that doesn't give him any distance at all from these Republican Operatives who still work the scene today. He claims to be anti-lobbyist but has 40 "former" lobbyists in his campaign staff. Obama, granted, has a couple as well. You pretty much cannot function in D.C. without them. But McCain pretends! He constantly pretends. I don't know about you, but it seems to me mighty clear that he is playing chess with this election. His sly move bringing in Palin as his V.P. nominee wasn't so sly to me. It was outrageously transparent. And the odd grin on his odd face at the announcement was almost that of a man visiting a strip club for the first time. He didn't look as proud as he looked mischievous.

And the media!! THE FREAKIN' MEDIA is eating it up! If I sided with Republicans, I would be heart-broken at this move. But I don't, so I'm not heart-broken, more annoyed, flabbergasted, dumfounded, floored, and down-right offended by his decision. She's probably a great person, but is a worthless choice for V.P.

Now, to give us all a little laugh and a little cry, watch this video:

Watch the commentators at work. And we the people of America have been falling for this crap for so long. When does it stop? When will it stop? If McCain/Palin take office, I'm heading to France. Wanna come get some excellent and free health-care anyone? Want to run and hide your face anyone? Nah, McCain can't win this thing...no chance in Hell...OH WAIT I forgot, many people on his campaign staff are from the Bush group. He might just be able to swindle this deal. We shall see.

Between now and November, we must peacefully revolt by speaking out. We also must honor our rights as Americans and vote for the finest person at the stump, Barack Obama. I'm not saying he or any other Democrat is perfect by any means, but just point out ONE Jack Abramoff, one Oliver North, one Karl Rove, one G.W. in the Democratic party that has been so instrumental in raping Americans of their integrity, privacy, wealth, education, jobs, health, sanity, and I will sit down and listen. Then I will study and educate myself, because I DO believe in personal responsibility. It is each of ours and collectively we have to take action.

God Bless America!
-Ginger

History and Today

2008-08-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

Top of the morning to ya, World!

It's been so long since my last blog, and every time I write one (so rarely, sorry), I believe I promise to write more frequently. But as I spend the minutes of my day, like pennies in a slot machine, they get lost so quickly and are no longer to be recovered. I spend them daily on projects such as editing audio tracks for my soon-to-be-born new CD, on designing websites (see http://www.wendycolonna.com/), on graphics for other clients, on song-writing, on updating schedules, sites, on communicating with friends and family, on walking the dog, on drinking wine while working late into the lateness of the late evening, on editing video, on booking more shows, on booking airline tickets, on booking time to book things, on praying that the next adventure is lucrative, enjoyable, fulfilling, beautiful and fun! And I spend fleeting seconds in hopes that maybe I'll run into Madonna or Oprah or Hillary or someone who lights my fire...not likely, but possible! Ha ha...

This morning I had a funny memory. It was 1996 and I was on a plane to London for a visit for the first time. I had flown through London a gazillion times, but never stayed to wander through it's lively and expensive streets. For a brief moment on the plane - maybe right when the first miniature bottle of wine was placed in front of me on my tray, maybe when an insipid meal was unvailed before me, maybe before closing my eyes in a vain attempt to sleep - I saw a flash behind my eyelids of a moment of meeting Patsy! No, not Cline, that wouldn't make sense, but THE PATSY ... you know...Joanna Lumley from Absolutely Fabulous.

Back in 1996, I was addicted to Ab Fab on Comedy Central. And Patsy is the hoot of all hoots. And she's British...so there's the connection, I guess. But you see, there are tons of celebrities in England, and you see...I typically don't get excited about celebrities. I have met a bunch of them. I have interacted with them. They are just people. So I'm not typically a celebrity-seeker, nor do I lose my cool. That's silly.

So anyway, there was that half-minute-fleeting-thought about Patsy. And then it was gone, over, done. Maybe I dug my tiny little knife and fork into my tiny little piece of fake chicken, or maybe I turned my head a half-inch to the right to try to snuggle up to the head rest on the upright airplane chair. It was gone. Nothing to it. I would have forgotten all about the imagined Patsy-encounter.

BUT...we spent a few days in London at a friend's apartment next door to Morrissey's house (as in The Smiths). We wandered the streets, ate the best Indian food ever. After a couple of days of that, we took a short train ride out to Bristol to meet a friend who lived there. While waiting at the train station for him to retrieve us, guess who I saw! Yep...you got it. Patsy Cline! No no...that would have been her ghost (God rest her singing soul). I saw Patsy, as in Ab Fab Patsy. Where was Eddy? Joanna Lumley stood with friends, saying their good-byes! Under normal circumstances this would have been no big deal for me. Wow. There's Patsy. How cool. Blah, Blah, Blah...But in this case, I just about fell over. Why? Because I had that moment in the airplane. It was as if it were a random preminition.

I really wish I could find the photo that we took together. I look like the BIGGEST dork, with the BIGGEST smile spread across my face, and she looks very annoyed. She was kind, but irritated by my stuttered "You are absolutely....um...I...uh...well...um...hilarious!" Duh, Ginger.

Anyway, that's one of the many celebs I have met, but that time I behaved like a mumbling fumbling fool...again, not because of her, but because of the fleeting thought on the plane and that it came true! Weird, eh?

So, today I will take heed in my thoughts. I will pray that a strong, fleeting thought arises in my head that comes true later - like, um Susan Serandon will join us for dinner tonight, or um...the winning lottery numbers flash before me .. or um ... Barack Obama invites Hillary to be his running mate...or um...that we shake hands and give each other hugs and have world peace.

In the meantime, while waiting for the next preminition (god, I hope there have already been some. The Patsy one happened 12 years ago!), I will go forth with my business, my music, my wonderful life. And I will expect to hear from you.

Love love love,
Ginger Leigh