How do I even begin…First I’m just very grateful for so many things happening with the direction of my  music. I’ve learned, over time, that the BAR SCENE is a lot of fun, but it never was my style. One of my favorite places I’ve performed, was Eddies Attic in Georgia and I’ll tell you why, because it was focused on the Musician and their Original Works. This is so very very important to what I do…tell stories, lyrically charge up, create images, cause something to stir around.  So meanwhile, back here in Minneapolis, there are places I’ve played like The Loring Bohemian Cafe, and The Fine Line Music Cafe etc…All focused on the music, the musician, the art of it all.

As I have always loved this type of performance, I’ve still been getting bookings in local bars and also through my travels to other parts of the country. As the evolution of my career turns and twists, I’ve met some amazing musicians…. Steve Kimmel being one and Steve Crooks, being another, that I have had the pleasure of performing with, in my own home not all that long ago. Both such seasoned and accomplished musicians and both such an honor to perform with.  Since this, Steve Kimmel who also works with Heart of the Beast Theater has been generous in giving me two tickets to a show near the end of March, where I will have the honor of doing a very short performance.

The University Avenue Project

has been kind enough … due to the request of Wing Young to perform a 30 min set

at the Dancers Studio in St. Paul! 

REALLY looking forward to this, since I was asked to do this, a couple weeks ago.  One of the photos, featured my song “Don’t Let it Die”…in a series that Wing Young had featured in St. Paul, on a 40×40 foot billboard, along with other local musicians from the Twin Cities, and considering how many brilliant minds reside in this great city, it’s an honor to have been chosen.  If you are from the area, I hope you find a chance to make an appearance. I will be performing at 5:30pm….

I’ve been collaborating with musicians still, and still have several works in progress with Boris Van Luger that I’m looking forward to completing.  I am currently working on my latest CD as well….although funds are necessary, this is also a work in progress.  I do accept donations to help fund the release, the hard copies as well as getting the digital copies heading in the right direction, iTunes, Amazon etc…these things are not free. I would love to get into a studio at some point, and also I’m dealing with two very slow computers, and hard drives that are filling up very quick with the higher quality recordings I am doing in my home studio. I’m also paying for my website as well as my stream, so that I can broadcast. My guitars both need the frets redone and a few minor adjustments to keep them in good working order.  For those of you that have donated, you are such a wonderful help in contributing to what I Love Doing and what I have an insatiable desire to continue doing. Keep it coming, every thing has a place with my passion in life, and everything is in dire need of upgrades and repair from time to time.  You can donate anytime, just by going to my website Suzen JueL . We are also working on membership benefits, to those who care to do a monthly donation…I’ll keep you posted on that!

Secretly, someone informed me that I was a ‘preferred musician’ on the Second Life Grid. Now truth be told, I forget myself, often, and often feel frustrated with where my  music goes sometimes and where I perform. I was pleasantly surprised to find I was listed as ‘one of many favorites’….as well as 9 other FANTASTIC Musicians….it’s not a contest and it’s not about who is BEST, it’s just about being a favorite, for whatever the reasons may be. For example, I LOVE Grace McDunnough, one of the other favorites, according to the poll Hamlet Au who has been covering the SL Music Scene since I can remember.  Took me back to some of our first interviews, over 5 years ago!  SO if you get a chance to check the article out (linked on Hamlets name) and you’re feeling the love, feel free to give me your THUMBS UP!!! I appreciate all the support I get from my fans, and feel free to pass it on to your friends, I’ll never have enough fans, but I will always be grateful for everyone of you, your support has always been well taken and so much appreciated!

this is what happens up north, in the middle of nowhere haaa

I have been flying by the seat of my pants for the past few weeks just preparing for the House of Flames van to pull in my driveway…which it did, on Saturday! Along with several friends that I’ve met all through the awesome gift of music that we all share. Steve Kimmel, Steve Crooks and Robin Hill-Sheridan all showed up, along with Debe Wise, from House of Flames.

Debe was here about 5pm in the Giant House of Flames van, which certainly seemed to attract the neighbors attention, more than once I saw their faces pressed up against their windows. Debe came in and I introduced her to my nieces,  brother in law, husband etc….and of course, my little zoo of furry critters. Debe doesn’t like rats much…didn’t take long to discover this.  She had her camera in hand and started taking photos of my studio all the while telling me how very much it reminded her of the Virtual Living Room #13… we talked a lot, went through some of the things that’ll take place, on Jan. 25th when she does the live video cast…WHICH I am ONLY Beginning to get nervous about!!! I know it’ll be fine, I just stress more about  ’will the wide screen make me look um…wide?’….’what if my cat jumps up my leg and starts his little singing rampage he goes on from time to time?’….what if the internet crashes, what if we can’t all fit in my studio, who’s coming..what will we eat…will people in second life BE THERE? will anyone Watch? What if no one watches….what if no one shows up…..’ and the list…goes on   … and on….   and on…and I remind myself that 90% of what one worries about NEVER HAPPENS….that’s why meeting up with everyone on Saturday made this whole experience much more relaxing.   On Top of THIS normal stress…my voice is pretty much gone…another worry..this one being the 10% that DOES happen…the high top range of my voice sounds like a cracked up canadian goose…..I’m good and rhaspy with my original songs and hopefully won’t Crack or Wobble when I perform this evening….I already have my remedy in a hot steamy mug with lots of local natural honey in it, mmmmmmm.

House of Flames will be running the live media feed as well as Wirecast! This will be broadcast into the Virtual Living Room #13 … those in attendance at the Virtual LR #13 will be able to see the live Media Stream, which will  be broadcasting my live concert in my home studio…because This is How it Works, this is what I do, this is how I do it….and that’s what the point of Debe’s study is…Virtual Musicians in the real world….

You can read more here

A Study by Debe Wise (Flameheart SoL in SL) will be wrapping up it’s final phase at Living ROom #13.  I’ve been a part of this study for a couple years and it’s all about Musicians in SL using the web, and media and SL vs their real life….In my case, I’m a musician in both worlds…

Feel free to show up early, the entire show will be broadcast Live from my Home Studio in Minneapolis, into SL so Anyone, anywhere can watch….something I rarely do, and am truly looking forward to!

Debe Wise has a PHd at the University of Colorado and is finishing her 200 page dissertion to present…featuring virtual artists and their real lives……..

http://suzenjuel.com for more information on calendar etc…..

FOR THOSE Watching OUTSIDE of second life

Copy and paste this URL for Broadcast…check your time zones

Open a browser window and enter this url:

rtsp://video.slserver.com:8130/live.sdp

Deb took some video of Saturdays jam with the Steves… JueLink

I’m still in process of finishing my CD and also working on some unique styles of a few originals I’ve done, with Boris Van Luger, and again it’s turning out to be a really incredible trip through these large vast spaces, that bring our music into the same room…you can check out some of Boris Van Luger’s work on his YouTube page. Little projects like this, are always good for the soul of my inner muse and with so much going on right now, my inner muse is quite busy!

Living Room #13 has kicked off again for the 5th year of Naked Acoustic Sessions! I have a great line up for Jan. 26th and for all my Euro Fans, it starts EARLY in the day and the first musician is a french musician…one of the first to ever play at Living Room…One of my favorite things to do, when I have some moments to just transport around the grid…is check out who is new on the scene, and often go to hear some of the favorites that I rarely get a chance to hear!

Please join the links above and around this page and share with someone today! It’s going to be a VERY LONG day for this chica here, woke up Very Early… If you are not In Second Life it’s free to join…

Last but not least, check out Steve Parry one of those Soul SOothing songwriters that simply quiets my soul when I listen… I’m honored to know his music and his personality through small chats about music and will be working on some sketches for him once this week settles back to normal…I’ll keep you posted on this, and other little projects that come along and tickle my starving artist soul!  Speaking of Steve, he also recommended staring an art page, and WHY I haven’t is strange enough, usually I think of those things. So I did!!! JueL ToneS … Now I must go forth and stir the soul inside, play with the kittens, create some food and stay relaxed If you see me wandering around with a starry look in my eye…feel free to startle me out of it!!!

ONE LAST THING!!!

1000 Avatars! Do check out Gracie’s place in SL and her 1000 avatars! I was thrilled to have been asked to be a part and spent a couple hours at her place several weeks back while she took photos of several people around me…when it came my time, I did what I’m best known for from  back in the day…Naked Musician Style!!!

It sure is one of the strangest processes …. writing a song. I’ve been feeling the ‘brewing’ of it for some time, and sometimes I find myself putting my life into various categories and themes…in order to fit the ingredients…brewing in that mental pot.  .  . So I rearrange a few things and try to somehow tap into that …scent…like when you make soup, and  you have to continue tasting, until it’s just right…however it begins, is the base for what will become of it.                 .   So I finally get it. The song that stays in my head.  Seems to always be a sign of ‘what will stick’ with listeners, if it sticks with me, and it won’t leave my mind. This lyrical loop starts to happen and it can go on for days.

I like to think of what inspires a song. It’s one of those things I don’t often realize, until I hear the playback. Every time a song starts, from the first note on, I’m recording. I like to come back to it a number of times and see what direction it wants to go, what progression works best for the lyrics or perhaps even inspire some lyrics.  My new song started out as finger picking…I love the melodic flow of finger picking, soothing to me. Lyrics just came with every note, little words here and there until finally several loosely written verses were out. I walked away, came back a few hours later, and something had changed, and the verses re arranged themselves according to shape..sound. (This is where my synesthesia often becomes very crazy strong) Once the ‘shapes and sounds’ mark themselves visually, the rest of the words just start to fill in.  Then…I walk away again  (it’s a process of sorts haa) and come back….Now the finger picking style has gone away and turned into a crazy slap rhythm and the entire vocal pattern changes, gets rounder and warmer…after that it’s a matter of seeing which style best fits the content it inspires.  Once again Dirt, Earth and those types of themes seem to carry the strongest lyrical pull, and it’s puzzling to me how themes become so prominent in songwriters.  It takes some listening to hear a songwriters theme, and it can often change, but more like branches off the same tree, or at least from a similar garden!

I’m anxious to see where it takes me, and then give it it’s first ‘appearance’ in the array of the pages…see what happens.  There have been a few songs I’ve written in the past few months, but once I write them, they’re done, they leave, I often forget them, tuck them somewhere….not for any reason that I know of…Until Songs that Stick happen…and I’m NOT tucking it away and I become obsessed with it, it keeps banging on the door of my mind, spilling in new lyrical ingredients, changing the tone, the scent while I just let it become, what it will become.

…

Life has been an unforgettable ride as of late. 2010 was just spectacular in so many ways, as mentioned earlier, Social Media played a big part in connecting all kinds of era’s of my life, into one page, called Facebook.  I find this TOTALLY DISTURBING on one level and incredibly mind blowing at the same time.  As a child…we called each other, or just went over to each others houses to play, to listen to music…we formed our groups in life, found our forever friends, lost what we thought was the only thing we had, and gained better in the long run. We connected, we looked at each other when we spoke, we wrote letters by hand, pressing our names deep into the paper. We drove from one side of the state to the other and across borders and into other countries, we traveled to hear music…..and well, so much has changed. SO MUCH!  I’ve always had my life in compartments, era’s, times, events and experiences mark the time line, not necessarily ‘dates’….there is the Sue ‘era’ the Suzi ‘era’……the Suzen….there is life before marriage and life since being married, there is geographical marks all over….the Public, the Private etc…..It all has a ‘slot’ in my memory….the theme often carrying strong words and memories with it. The early 90s all my songs were about shoes and angels…this is when I knew this person and this person had a HUGE IMPACT and life went on and we forget and forget and fade….Until Facebook…and Someone you haven’t Forgotten, however you’ve somehow gone your own ways in life, there they are, after 10 years, or 20 and in a few cases even More!  Some of the meetups and phone calls with the ‘ghosts and angels’ of my past were disappointing…realizing time certainly did some serious numbers on us…or them or me.  Other times it’s like stars fall from the sky and love fills the shallow spot all over again, sometimes soulmates, the best of the best, well they just don’t go away. Mine are back….2011 sure is going to be a SPOTLIGHT….I’m constantly coming to terms with various realities and it just gets easier and easier to do. The lessons are page turning fascinating for me and I’m looking forward to sharing some of those with you, my readers…friends etc…..

On that note. I’m done, until my next mental leak…..Peace