A long time has passed since my first plans to record the new CD….I would say…the Crazy Ride I’ve been on is finally Over, but I know better than to ever believe life just settles down, when we want it to.  The Swings of HIGH and low are a pendulum in my life, that will always swing, back and forth, up and down.  However, for now I feel as if the last song has been written and the CD is on it’s way to the emotional aspect of studio time. Of course STUDIO TIME for me, means a lot of track recording, listening, recording, listening and then arranging it all, as if it were a story, each song, a new chapter in the book of experience.

I’m calling the CD ‘ DiRTY CRiMES’, something of a theme that has had it’s way with me over the past year or so.  Some of the lyrics are pretty bold and aggressive just dancing on the edges of some rather disturbing images (that is….a matter of thinking and perception of course)…. The easy part is writing the songs, the hard part…is living through…what I write about, and getting through…..it always comes with a price.  My mother said to me the other day ‘ Sorry you had to go thru ‘this or that’..and I found myself responding with… “Noooo, it’s all good, ya gotta go through the sad low low’s in order to write a song!”   It’s like a t-shirt a friend of mine gave me in the Virtual world that said “Break my heart so I can write a song”….I wore that with a big crazy grin, knowing how true, yet how absolutely funny it is, how many of us songwriters……write our songs.

I finished ELEPHANT GIRL and it’s up on nimbit.com as well as a couple others…great site for selling either Albums or Single Songs…they take a small percentage,  but what site that’s good, doesn’t   as far as ‘selling songs’……..I’m quite sure I’ll be putting the new CD out on CD BABY this time…..I have the other 2 cd’s on itunes/amazon … however songcast.com charges a $6 fee a month…and for what???? I ‘ll decide later on whether or not I’ll keep the ‘songcast’ account…or move my cd’s from there, to CD baby..who also sends them to itunes etc……….

Always looking for new ideas, music sites and opportunities to produce, perform, collaborate……….and thanks for those of you who have made some fantastic suggestions to thoughts I’ve posted on my Suzen Juel and Suzen JueL facebook  (the second one is the fan page….do hit LIKE if you haven’t….all my fans ROCK MY WORLD!!! https://www.facebook.com/suzen.juel (regular facebook)    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzen-JueL/45430674299 (FAN PAGE)……

Enjoy your week and I”ll keep you updated through the lovely pages of Facebook…and of course here…..I need to find some original art work for the cover of ‘DiRTY CRiMES’ and perhaps a few other fun things I may throw in………..

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.

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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

Good day everyone! Some of you might be aware, that this page is going to change soon, as Graeme is working his azzz off on making this more geared towards the ideas I have, and he has…which are collaborating quite nicely, I must say!!!

I took a little break from songwriting for awhile and suddenly seemed to get spit on  by my personal inner muse, who decided it was time to break the dry spell and pop out a few new ones…and after writing these new pieces, I realized a new theme was unfolding…and has been for quite some time…it’s just I don’t always notice these things, as they take their time, weaving themselves into my soul.

Rides. Rides, and more rides! Hangin’ On For The Ride, Did You Enjoy the Ride, Nothing Like I had with You, and He Wore Me Out….those are the new additions to my songs, and I must say, it’s probably the first time I’ve been pleased with all of them. Bluesy type feel, heavy lyrics, vocal stretches that are a bit new to me, and well….more guts than I’ve put into my music in awhile. I guess age has a few benefits eh? We really start finding our voice as we get older…perhaps wiser as well.

Bruce Springsteen once said “An artist/musician must always be troubled by something, that’s how the writing continues’… I agree 100%, sadly…but it is true. I once put on my profile “Always at a crossroads’ because I always am. I’m always contemplating the next step, always wondering what direction life will take me next. Sure I believe I make my own path, and my path is in the hands of my muse..she never lets me down, never never never…although when she disappears for awhile, I do get a bit worried, I mean, she is the essence of my soul, she is me, she is a vessel for me, inside me…and inhales those wonderful words and textures that surround me, or that I may sometimes miss. It’s more like absorbing a bunch of colors hoping that they’ll come out as a new color, and when they do, it’s truly the gift of the day for me! And when they don’t, well, nothing wrong with a little mud in my music eh?

And getting back to the TROUBLED BY SOMETHING statement, HELL YEAH! I’m always troubled. I’m used to this. It is as much of my life as breathing and I don’t have a clue what it’s like to live a life of never worrying or never contemplating. I must say though, it is nice to have those days where nothing bothers me. I think we hide things under our surface sometimes…so they can age, ripen, and eventually fall into our bowl of mental soup. If the ingredients are just right….or maybe I should say ‘just write’…well then it’s done…whatever creative thing my soul is cooking up, must come out somehow…be it a song, or a drawing, a painting, or just a random thought that I get to write down, to chew on at a later point. All little gifts my muse delivers…sometimes they make no sense, then another gift comes, and another, and eventually I see it as I am meant to see it and it all makes sense.

Troubles can come in the mOst unusual ways!!! An old friend from the past, raises their head, someone you may have forgotten….and they bring into your life, a little swarm of memories, some good, some not so good…and there comes more lyrical emotionally packed sentences…phrases, pictures and eventually a finished product…of sorts. Troubles can also come by allowing your mind (GOD HELP YOU IF YOU DO) letting your mind wander in the wrong direction, creating scenarios that will never happen…it’s a fun little mental game for a few minutes, but dwell too long and well, you just gave your mind some CRAP you don’t think you need….but the mind or our muse has a beautiful way of taking all the CRAP OUT of our minds and creating something fertile, something useful, something beautiful!!!

The New songs will be on the cd I am currently working on. This will be my 4th ‘professional CD’….and of course, who knows what ‘random’ number it is…I’ve made quite a few CD’s and recordings over the past 25 years or more…I mean, well, I shouldn’t say a few….I can’t recall, there have been many and I am thankful for my lil muse for being so complex and amazing.  Just realize that when I refer to my inner muse….it’s me, I mean, don’t be thinking I’m all crazy that way…..then again, I guess that’s already been established…nothing plain or ordinary about me, but that doesn’t mean I’m a freak show either!! Just a little off the beaten path, I suppose.

There is a lot going on this summer….and I encourage you to keep checking out the links I’ve put up on the side, for new music, updates etc….

My fan page on facebook is the primary one that I use and I would be honored if you would like to Join it !

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129165623776368#!/pages/Suzen-JueL/45430674299?ref=ts

Adding to the rest of all this…my passion for bird watching has kicked up full notch!!! I have quite a few pics in my Bird Folder on Flickr.com/suzenjuel if you care to look…I have several nests on my house and the barn swallows of summer have begun their brooding and nesting…it’s quite amazing, watching them. I also put a bird feeder out in my garden….a few birds came the first few days..a.nd after a full week, they emptied it out. NOW…..I have to refill it every other day!!! I guess WORD OF MOUTH works even in the Birds Lives….. Feel free to Spread the seed of my music around…that is if it inspires you in any way, or makes you feel good, or anything… send it off to a friend.   CD’s are on itunes and this website as well…please, don’t take my music for free, it doesn’t help me one bit. This is my career and it’s what I do. This is my livelihood , whether it brings in copious amounts of cash (can’t hurt to dream) of $10, it’s all put to good use, trust me!!!

Have a fantastic week all of you and thank YOU for reading me again!

-Suzen JueL