Hella Stella

A strange thing happened the other week. My BH and I were in Hartman's picking up some grub, and I bumped into an old friend from, get this, KINDERGARTEN.

We were in class together from kindergarten to grade 8, I think. We grew up in the same neighbourhood, knew all the same people, and then came high school, where we parted ways. I don't think I had seen him since.

So here he was in Hartman's, having recently moved a block away from where I'm living. It was too cool. After a few weeks of laziness, we are finally getting together for a bite. I'm hoping I can locate one of my ancient yearbooks to bring along. He was one of the few people who was always kind and sweet in class. Grade school can really suck sometime, you know? Kids can be mean little shits. Not this one, thankfully.

On a different note, would you believe that I am still getting letters from people who heard the Vinyl Cafe broadcast?? Some from friends, but most from total strangers. It sounds like a lot of people bought the album off iTunes and Amazon, although I have yet to get the numbers. I'm itching to see that invoice. Not for the money necessarily, since I make a sad penny off iTunes, but more because it will give me a more accurate idea of who heard the thing.

I've got quite a few gigs coming up in the next few months. Oct. 1st I'll be at the University of Ottawa for a fundraiser. Then it's the OCFF conference, which I actually wasn't going to attend this year, due to a lack of funds. Thankfully, one of the rooms I'm playing is sponsored by the Blues Festival, and they are covering part of the costs for the weekend. Then it's the Elmdale (I know there are Elmdale fans out there.... Come on out!) on Oct. 29. Toronto comes up quickly on November 14, and lastly, Wakefield on November 28.

That's a lot of shows. I should probably book a rehearsal or two.

Some very cool things came out of this weekend's broadcasts:

1. I was invited to play in the Yukon by someone who heard the show! Hey hey! I'll pursue it and see if I can swing it. That would be a pretty cool adventure if it doesn't break the bank.

2. Sold a bunch of music online. I won't have the exact numbers until my next statement update, but I'm excited to see how it went overall. It sure won't make me rich, but maybe it will buy my BH and I a hot dinner date.

3. Was contacted by my old music teacher who heard the show... I've been trying to get back in touch with her for YEARS, to no avail. Now we get to have tea and catch up. I credit this woman for making me into the singer I am today, so it's pretty cool to be chatting with her again. Turns out she's now a registered holistic nutritionist.

4. Saw my music site traffic spike. I got visits from places like LA, Washington, Japan, New York, Seattle, Texas, New Hampshire, Minnesota... As well as all across Canada. Pretty crazy. I was trying not to think about the fact that the show would be playing in the US as well, but the stats reminded me.

5. Got e-mail from family members all over the place, my favourite being a message from my slightly crazy communist aunt. She's slightly crazy, but I like her that way. She said my voice was "waifish" but "dangerous at the same time," which is good, because that means I'm "messing with gender norms." Good to know.

6. My BH made me the World's Greatest Scrambled Eggs (suggested by Julia's hubby, thanks!). He later made me onigiri, which I think he has finally mastered. SO GOOD. We spent a large chunk of the weekend eating and drinking, including a charming dinner at Zen Kitchen with some local bloggers. Cheers to Hannah, Julia, Milan and Real Grouchy!

There were a variety of other highlights, but this would be a very long post if I went into each one.... Basically, it's been a really memorable weekend, and I'm very pleased with how things turned out.

Funny, but a similar thought keeps popping into my head: I'm so glad that I went into debt for this album.

No, really.

I hate debt, yes, but making this album slowly and professionally is the only reason it's still carrying me today. It's been three years! Three years since that CD release party. As much as I would love to be able to record again soon, I'm thankful that I have a quality album under my belt for now. Thank goodness I over-spent, gave countless hours over to the studio, went a year on low sleep and funds, and was such a tight-assed bitch about the details.

Three cheers for throwing caution to the wind!

I listened and it was great!!! No more nerves now, baby!

It was so fun that I'd have to say my only complaint was Morty's ass. We were listening in bed, and Morty was super gassy. Every five minutes I'd hear "ffffft" and then I couldn't hear anything anymore because I was too busy trying to breathe. Silly Morty. He didn't understand why we were so excited.

But other than the air quality, I'm thrilled with it. Those of you who came to the live show may have noticed that they cut a song out of the final broadcast... But that's cool, because we knew that might happen to accommodate the timing of the show. Such is radio.

YAY!!! PARTY TIME!!!

(ps, thanks for all your support, blogging peeps. you are all much appreciated)

The first CBC broadcast of my concert is tomorrow at 9am.

My BH and I are going to hang out in bed, drinking tea and eating pastries, if I can remember to buy some tonight. I am so insanely nervous, I can't even tell you. My music site traffic is already spiking, so I'm really interested to see what happens tomorrow when I get some new visitors. I'm already making CD sales from the increased stats!

Facebook has actually been really useful for getting the word out. It's neat to see how many people are going to try and tune in or download the podcast... Although I keep raising my eyebrows at folks who write on the event wall to say they are "too far away to attend" or that they "don't live in Ottawa." I'm going to guess that they didn't read the invite.* It's radio, darlings. Heck, apparently it's even going to play in parts of the US! I have relatives in Florida who are going to tune in.

Florida. That is so fucked up. I am so damn nervous. As my cousin Brian says, "I sure hope we didn't suck!"

Anyway... I need to get my mind off this broadcast before I hurl my anxious guts out.** What else can I talk about? I know... Food! Appetizing!

STELLA'S BREAKFAST DILEMMA

(disclaimer - this will not be as exciting as the radio musings. it's about breakfast, which is exciting in a different way.)

Today I made my first truly successful omelet, as part of a rather elaborate experiment to see what kind of breakfast I should be eating.

My favourite breakfast when I'm on the go is toast with jam or honey, and a cup of tea. Unfortunately, this doesn't fill me up. I'm always hungry again by 10:30, and end up eating my lunch at 11am. That leaves me the rest of the work day without food, and predictably, I often have a big food headache by the time I get home.

One way to solve this is for me to pack more snacks in my lunch.

Another way is to have a more filling breakfast.

My BH and I have been eating steel cut oats for breakfast this week, which keeps me full until 11 or 11:30. Much better than toast, you'll agree. Not perfect, but much better.

So how do eggs fit into this?

When I have eggs as part of my breakfast, I stay full until well after noon. That surprises me, because I am usually always hungry. Unfortunately, I don't really want eggs every morning, and more often than not, I sleep in too late to make them. Something to work on, I guess. I'll have to expand my egg repertoire. Or my snack repertoire. Or both.

Anyone have any suggestions for quick but filling breakfasts? I'm open to trying new things... (preferably something without meat).


Okay, I'm signing off. I'll try and post something after the broadcast tomorrow, providing I haven't wretched all over my laptop.


* Just to clarify: I have no problems with people not being able to attend an event... I only make it out to a tiny fraction of events in this city. But I do read the invite before talking about it on the event wall, because if I don't, I look silly.
** Little known fact! When I was a kid, I was admitted to emerg because I had made myself so nervous, I was doubled over with stomach pain. They thought I was really sick until they realized I was just nervous about going to someone's sleepover party.

So here's the deal. I'm giving myself a year to get in awesome financial shape.

Yes, it's a little (a lot) overly-optimistic, considering how tight things are around here, but I've crunched the numbers and I think I can do it. My goals are pretty simple: pay off my post-album loan (yup, it's still there), pay off my credit card, be balanced by next spring.

I've got several motivating factors pushing me, other than simple common sense.

I'd like to have a clean slate when my BH finishes his degree so that we can tackle his student debt with the ferocity of a rabid mountain lion when he starts working. I can't do that if I'm still paying off my own loans.

I'd also like to have some wiggle room if I want to record another album, which will hopefully have some grant money attached to it, but still. Albums always have unexpected hiccups and I need to be able to manage them. I also want to be able to record even without grant money, although the thought of producing another self-financed behemoth makes me want to cry.

I'd like to buy a house someday, and I'm not going to get a great mortgage if I'm dragging debt behind me on my way to get approved.

I'd like to go to Japan next year without having panic attacks about money every time I take a train. That's a really stressful way to travel.

This is my grand plan. Let's see if I can do it. Jesus, it already feels like I have a giant countdown clock looking over my shoulder. I figure that I'm never going to accomplish this without being really aggressive, so aggressive I will be. Grrrrrrr.

Also, hallelujah, the Vinyl Cafe is going to play one of my songs on their show this weekend!!! I love them with the fire of a thousand suns. I actually feel a bit guilty that I don't have a shiny new album to offer them, but I think it speaks well of the old one if they're playing it two and a half years after the release.

Three cheers for the CBC! They make this whole songwriting thing feel really damn rewarding.

People don't usually call me in the morning hours, probably due to the fact that I am not even remotely a morning person.

Naturally, when my cell phone rang as I was squishing peanut butter onto my toast this morning, I assumed something was wrong. Not only that, but the phone was ringing with Heather's special ring tone. Something's wrong, and Heather's in trouble, said my sleepy brain. Disaster! I was already planning how I would save her while I rifled through my jean jacket to locate the phone.

In fact, Heather was fine. No need for a rescue plan. She ordered me to turn on CBC Radio 2, and BAM! There I was! They were playing one of my songs!

This is so much more awesome than a badly-planned rescue operation, I thought to myself (the fact that I was even thinking this proves how much I am NOT coherent before 10am).

"I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS SO COOL!" Heather exclaimed. "YAY TOM ALLEN!"

Yes! Yay Tom Allen! And yay for Heather, without whom I would have had a boring tea-and-toast start to my day.

On a completely unrelated note, the washer and dryer are installed. My BH expertly hooked them up, with only one minor water explosion and swearing fit. Good thing too, because I am shit at fixing machines. My next experiment will be to see whether proper facilities will actually remove some of Morty's hair from my clothes. I'm beginning to wonder if my last washer just pushed the hairs in further.

I heard my song on the radio and it was highly exciting!!

It came on just as I was walking home from work. The reception on my MP3 player was atrocious, but I heard my name and picked up the first few lines of Sleeper before the static took over.

Moments like that make me feel okay about having album-related debt. Debt is temporary. Music is not. I can deal.

It's also nice to see that people are actually looking me up because of the broadcast - my stat counter has picked up folks from all over the country finding my music site by typing in various badly-spelled versions of my name. Happy!

I would like to chat more, but there are complications:

- the screen on my BH's computer is on the fritz and I can barely see what I'm typing

- my nose collided with Morty's tooth a minute ago and I'm bleeding (it's nobody's fault... we headbutted trying to get comfy on the couch) (he has a sizable head) (and giant teeth)

- my BH has fallen asleep beside me and Morty is cradling his ass with his paws.... I must get a picture before it ends!

- the bleeding nose thing

Yay! Yay! Yay!

I just got an e-mail from a producer friend at CBC Radio... And word on the street is that my song I am a Sleeper will be played on Rich Tefry's show today at EDIT: I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN Ottawa time (Maybe 5:05pm?). Is that a national show? I think it might be.

THE EXCITEMENT.

It's been a while since my stuff was played on CBC. Last winter there was a crazy rush and I lost count of where it was played, but then, radio silence. Har. It's very nice to know the radio peeps are still listening. Maybe one day I'll even pay the album off! Imagine!

Hey, that reminds me... I promised a post about songwriting, didn't I? Sorry TS, it's coming.

I'm just so dang excited about this CBC thing that I can't think of anything else to write.

Done and done.

DISCLAIMER: There's always a chance the playlist will change, so my apologies if I'm getting all crazy about nothing. Hopefully that's not the case. :)

An eventful morning.

I woke up (late, fuckity fuck), steamed some tofu and mushroom dumplings for lunch, and took off with my banjo to CBC. I think the interview and songs went well; I have my own criticisms of my performance (as usual) but I'm very pleased with the whole process. And yes, I did do an impression of Morty on the air. Good Lord.*

It occurred to me at the end of the CBC interview that I might have made it into today's version of Metro, and sure enough, there I was! I'm actually really proud of this article. I like the way it's written and I don't sound like a goof in the quotes. I sound like a Serious Musician (who may or may not grunt on live radio when asked).

Then I checked the Bitch website to find that they reach their target. Fricking awesome.

I've read a lot of comments about how if the magazine if having trouble, it's just not going to stand up to the big bad world of publishing. That's a good point, and worth discussing, BUT. A lot of small publishers/radio stations/businesses actively engage their audiences' support and have that to thank, year after year, for their survival. I donate to a small list of such places (like CKCU FM) and I'm proud to lend a hand if it means they get to keep doing what they do. In the case of Bitch, I think it's safe to say that writing about feminism isn't ever going to rake in the big bucks. Still, I think it's a publication that is worth having around, and I will gladly help out to show my appreciation.

So. My apartment is a mess. Like, it's gross messy. I've been trying to figure out why it gets messy so fast when I realized... We don't have a dryer, and because we are two adults with a drooly puppy, we do a fair amount of wash. This means a lot of drying racks, especially because it's been raining so much lately. These racks end up in every available corner, and they clutter up the house like you wouldn't believe. My project in the next few weeks will be to devise a plan to better organize my drying system.

I'm actually really excited to tackle this. Dorky? Yes. You would expect no less of me.

Last night I met one of my favourite poets ever. We have been communicating via e-mail for almost a year, but we didn't meet until now. She is every bit as charming as I imagined and I seriously debated getting her to sign my favourite poem of hers. Then we got distracted by wiggly Morty and crunchy tofu, so maybe I'll bug her about it next time... Thanks Erin B!

Speaking of wiggly Morty, I promise a picture update soon. I have some great shots of him looking like a depressed Jedi knight.


*It's also kind of exciting to see my (music) stats spike after going on the radio. Which reminds me... I should probably bring more CDs to Compact Music.