About 3 years ago I went to my regular weekly jazz show in the picturesque “houhai” lake section of Beijing. I sit down at the bar and say hi to the owner of the club, Lao Li, and he plops down this huge CD with my face on it. “I found this in the Wangfujing Bookshop today. I didn’t know you had this CD!” I was quite perplexed.

I opened it up. It has a picture book about 10 pages long of me. Jessica Meider, Suddenly in 5 Seconds.

I remembered in 2006 I was commissioned to sing a project of famous Chinese old “Pop” songs in English. My extremely fluent in Chinese friend, Dave Moser (the first guy I ever played jazz with in Beijing) had extracted the essence of the songs and translated it in to English. The album was marketed to Chinese people interested in learning English through music. I had sung this project in a couple of hours, was paid and on my way. Completely forgot about it.

Click here to check it out: http://www.yesasia.com/us/suddenly-in-five-seconds-china-version/1010904152-0-0-0-en/info.html

I’ve decided to start video’ing myself playing songs. This one is new. Wrote it at the end of April…still has a few bumps that naturally smooth out as I get used to playing it.  Enjoy….Share…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvclAN4Wv3k

it has been a long time forming, always changing. it started just with me, playing a guitar and belting out my material to audiences. then i met kim salter, one of maybe two women playing percussion in all of beijing (and probably china) and sarah vossler started singing background vocals. good times. then along comes zac courtney to step in for kim on percussion-y things, and his brother tristan joins us on upright bass. a tastey treat!

a few weeks ago i had a housewarming party, and juggler federico moro was performing while i played guitar and marie-claude played accordian. we immediately incorporated this into the show.

my dream is to promote true creative expression on stage thru art. art of the body, the mind, the word, the soul…this includes art in all its forms, and depends greatly on who i meet along my road. very special people appear…

our biggest stage at the moment is yugong yishan club, which has featured the likes of jose gonzales and many other mainstream acts that pass thru beijing. the stage is well-lit, well-placed, and there is plenty of seating to take in the show. our next gig is listed under the “upcoming gigs.”

enjoy!