hello friends!

spring is doing its best to get in this city. the trees are sporting buds, still grey from the gobi sands, but it’s the little tiny detail that brings me such joy. i’ve been internal for the past few months, just resting up and readying myself for now. as the creative juices start to circulate, inspiration and little muses come to visit me in the forming moon, in the morning dawn’s pastel paintings across the sky, in the realizations of love and light as i walk thru beijing’s old hutongs with my ipod on shuffle…all kinds of new musical melodies crawl  and instigate more song.

as a musically-prone expressor, i am mainly concerned with the funding of my next recording. home recordings don’t cost so much, but still, there is a bit of money required to really transform the magic into mp3. as i have been spring cleaning my house, i have become highly aware of the hundreds of cds sitting in storage in my 2nd bedroom. the potential of the sale of my cds is just money waiting to be invested in to the next creation. so i decided to do open my heart and book a few solo acoustic shows in venues where the audience can comfortably listen to my songs in the raw, and i will talk about where it comes from, why it’s here and how it sounds. i figure this is a good way to sell my 2nd bedroom’s stock, as well as express and share myself in a wider world.

as a songwriter that writes many autobiographical lyrics, i realize how stark naked my life appears. it’s not fear that comes up with being so exposed – mostly it is joy for the gift to share experiences with you. many emails and comments come from all around the world in such grateful words that i am encouraged to continue sharing in my journey. in my daily life, i am meditating, grounding myself, practicing the goodness as i continually pull my ego back into the present. thoughts and hopes, wishes and will draw me away from the present moment, which, in truth, is all we got. thoughts of what has happened just direct the present to the past. wishes and what ifs just drive the spirit into a possible future. it’s all illusion.

so as i go thru the cycle of deluding myself about possibilities, the cycle of how long it takes me to return myself into the now is taking less time. so my new material is sort of “snap shot” ish – the songs i have written bring alive moments i am experiencing. my latest is a slow raggamuffin song about my babylon. oh, it pleases me so! finally i have a reggae song that talks about walking to my babylon. *the luxurious garden city that dwells inside*

my shows coming up include
April 10, Saturday Night, 930pm at The Orange Tree. This bar is reasonably new, in a modern courtyard. It boasts 3 rooms, an outdoor courtyard, as well as a roof top terrace (which should be open by my night there). Good beers – Beljians and English and apparently reasonable food (I didn’t try it). The seating is cozy and comfortable. Perfect. I’ll play 2 sets.

April 18, Sunday Early Evening, 7pm, at The Bookworm. The Bookworm is owned by longtime Beijinger from the UK, Alex. She has tons of books here for sale, and hosts author talks, writing clinics and live music. I recently stocked my CDs there – so just as at The Yoga Yard and Natooke, you can purchase my cds here. I’ll play 1 long set or 2 sets (I haven’t decided what’s gonna work best).

May – almost halfway to SHUNYI – The Orchard is a LOVELY organic orchard/farm situated a little outside of the city, on the way towards Shunyi (a popular expatriate BJ suburb). Many people that live out that way are excited about this show…Jess is finally broadening her performance horizons…

Late Summer – Europe – electronic, acoustic and jazz happenings for Jess…

Year End – Argentina (Buenos Aires)

The posters (appear below) are available if you have a highly populated-eye-contact place you can hang my beautiful photo-performance posters….email me JESSMEIDER@GMAIL>COM

Until my next blog…be well…love and light*****JESS*****

http://www.media.asia/newsarticle/2010_01/MG–Make-the-Difference–China/38642?src=mostpop

a couple of weeks ago i got called by tv/radio guy to sing a jingle. i’ve not done any work for them for about 2 years. he sent me a bjork track and asked if i could sing this high. i said, yes, that’s in my range.

i had no idea the guy wanted me to sing exactly like the bjork song. i got there and was challenged to the max. bjork’s vocal rang is quite high, and she can sing in her “chest” voice at a note where my voice is already “head” voice. (my chest range is low) after an hour and a half, i had really pushed my voice into another dimension, and i was obviously hurting myself. the guy suggested he lower the key down 2 wholesteps so i could really wail it like bjork does. so we did that, and then he shifted the key back up, making my voice sound a little bit “not” like my voice because the timbre had increased.

after we were done, i said to him how much i admired bjork, how i had so much appreciation for her vocal gongfu. it really got me in touch with my own gongfu. alot of thought to the dantian (core). the funny bit is, the guy asks “oh, do you know this singer?” i said, “you mean, you don’t know who bjork is?” (please note he had completely ripped off the song note for note) “no, is she quite famous?” he asked with fear in his eyes. “yes, she’s VERY famous. this song is very well known,” i said. i could see his mind stirring about the copyright laws. i left the studio…and now this commercial is playing every 5 minutes on primetime chinese tv for MG Cars.

anyone know bjork?