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I was a nervous wreck, the few days before hitting the stage at Wild Tymes . This Bar is MADE for live music…the tables and chairs are facing the stage, in nice little scattered corners, big comfy booths and a Wild Outside Cafe, right in downtown St. Paul!  . . . I started my drive to St. Paul early, because after 3 years of chatting with Tom, from the Whiskey Sournotes it was high time I met the man! So I finally got there…for those that know me, I have a CRAPPY Sense of direction, and Tom ended up meeting me at a gas station a few blocks away, since for some reason…my google maps was off…or I was… We sat in his apartment, in wooden chairs, across from each other with the perfect table, sharing some beers…our guitars in our hands…Tom is a Crooner…the kind of music, that no matter how the world might look to you or how down our lives can get….it’s instant happiness .. like christmas in a can, like Frank Sinatra sitting at the table…..it was incredible.  After a few hours….we got in our cars and I followed him to WILD TYMES and we had enough time for a quick bite…..Wild Tymes has a sandwhich with chicken and cucumber with this absolutely to DIE for dressing on it..with sage in it and feta cheese…WOW my mouth was dancing!!!   He introduced me to some other musicians…one who had a sweet cane that he used to walk with…..of course, my BATON twirling years (don’t laugh) came rushing back and I quickly found out after a half a dozen twirls…that it just wasn’t like it was, when I was 8….the cane went flying and as I picked it up, I hear a quiet applause from another table. I’m thinking ‘Ooo cocky eh?’ .. and as I turned to look….16 years came at me like a freight train as two room mates of mine from the past…sat there, looking Fantastic!!! I think I hugged them for half a moon….Eli and JoeL. Eli left for New York to pursue his acting many years ago, we said our goodbyes and his former room mate and I shared his old place, for a bit…they have not changed much over the years, Eli now an Instructor for Theatre …WOW!!! Both of them happily married with beautiful families….My head was spinning!!! Read more

Wrote this song out of a general perception and point of view on how people tend to look at an artist…lots of word play…recently recorded song…thought I’d experiment with a recent video…ya know…maintain and all that lol Looking forward to your feedback! suzenjuel.com for Calendar and updates

I’m excited! Collaborations are always a good thing, and in the era of technology, we have so many opportunities to reach out and connect with people that live oceans away from us. A few years back, I started to dual stream with a friend of mine in Second Life, ‘Ricardo Sprocket’ or Rich Petko. He had introduced so many musicians from around the world, to some simple ways to dual stream…meaning, that everyone who is tuned into the stream we use to broadcast a live performance, hears us as if we were in the same room. In fact, often that is what newer people in Second Life think…Eventually I was hooking up with various musicians for the dual streaming…I would perform and they would do a lead guitar while I played or harmonies on vocals.

The first person on the stream…gives their stream info. to the 2nd person on the stream. That person, is the main Broadcaster. The first person begins and the 2nd person hears everything as if they were in the same room. However, the first person can not hear the 2nd person. Make sense? It’s actually much simpler than it sounds. Anyway..more opportunities came along outside of the realm of SecondLife. Phil Rossi, Linus Radford and currently am dual streaming in second life with Tukso Okey who plays a MEAN Acoustic Blues! We do this every Thursday at Living ROom #13. The benefits of this include reaching a bigger audience. Their fans come to see them, yours come to see you…imagine the possibilities with this!  The 2nd person on the stream is the one who can record the stream, live…that way you can listen back to it and hear what the other person is doing…it only gets better!

Boris Van Luger, a musician from Switzerland that I met about 2 years ago on TheSixtyone.com and I have been working on little things, ideas here and there. About a month or so ago, he asked me to write something for a video he was working on ‘Stories from Pain’ and so I sent him some words..which he used at the end of this video…and now, it’s “lover”…a song I wrote a couple years ago…This guy is pure genius, no doubt about that, and we talked about the song Lover. Thinking how great it would be for Boris to do his version of my song…a couple days later, in an email was the song…Lover-retake. I was in awe..No words..he wrote “Put your vocals on this and send just your vocals back to me, I will do the rest’…WOW. Now I wasn’t quite expecting this…So it’s the newest project here with me. Not that it’s hard for me to lay down a vocal track, but it’s doing my own song, to someone else’s interpretation of my song…it flows just like my original…but Boris put some very sweet sounds in his retake, Big bending lovely guitar sounds among other instruments..percussion etc.

BIG Gratitude here…and how the whole world can connect through social media websites such as T61. Reverbnation. Youtube and now UVUMI.com is sweet as well! (I like it MUCH better than T61). I just wanted to share that. I realize I haven’t been keeping this updated as of late, and I thought I’d fill you in on some of the tastier things that have come my way. My hopes and goals here, are to continue such wonderful collaborations. Making music is my passion in life, writing lyrics and the biggest compliment ever, is when another  musician, wants to do your song.  There are about a half a dozen musicians doing their own interpretation of my song Lover…and each one brings a certain sweetness to how they do it. Such BIG LOVE to them for asking, and for taking it to a whole new level of perception.

I’ll keep you posted, and perhaps even upload part of this completely remarkable experience…there is more to come.  If you get a chance, stop by Living Room #13 for Dirty Thursdays at 4pm PST (SLT).

Much love, peace and bright pretty stars!!! -

-Suzen

Lay Down in Mercy

Take a listen!  You can purchase FULL CD (13 songs) here!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=1095777

Been Busy…been buried in things.  I feel like I’ve racked my head against a brick wall for WEEKS and MONTHS even, until finally I found an old program I downloaded over a year ago…..I used to work in Mental Health, and I would spend every other weekend, taking care of the mentally challenged. Basically I had a A LOT of time on my hands, so I downloaded ‘Gimp’ a program much like Photoshop, just a bit of a different lingo. I was a bit frustrated with it, back then. Or perhaps I just lacked patience. Anyway, I pulled it back up and decided to mess around with it, and well….needless to say, I’ve been lost in it for about a week now.  I’m quite impressed!  So I’ve taken my paintings, the ones hanging here, in my studio now, surrounding me, and put them thru the wringer of my imagination, and WOW…..

This is a drawing I kind of, sketched out, for ideas, on how this program works, what Can I do? What does this do? What’s this? and so on and so on…….so this is something I drew, put through a grid, with burns, with circles, with curves and fractals…and whatever the lingo might be. Here, you can find more http://www.etsy.com/shop/SuzenJueL.

My Family has been here for almost 3 weeks. It’s CRAZY! I’m not used to being around a lot of people, I’m a bit reclusive and I rather like it that way.  So it’s going to be non stop, once they leave, to go back to Georgia, my other son is joining the Airforce as well, just like the one that has been visiting….So another son of mine will be living with us, temporarily, til he goes to Texas for basic Training, in January, THEN my brother in law, is going to  move in with us. Times are tough all around, and it’s the right thing to do. HOW my sanity will hold up, is entirely another story. Stay tuned!

This is why I bury myself in things I can get my ‘creative flow’ out…inside of. My madness. It’s my own kind of madness. We all do what we need to do, to get through life’s  bends and curves, jagged lines and steep hills….ya just never know where it’ll take you.

Meanwhile, I’ve put up a display of some of my art at Living Room #13 as well. I’ll be messing around with that from time to time, adding new things…til I burn myself out on it, and it becomes useless to me, for awhile, until again, one day I rack my head against a wall, until a few bricks come loose, and allow me to peek into another realm, and something else, grows…..

A few years ago, I had gone to Georgia and laid down on a giant trampoline, my friend and I…the sun was so warm and there was quite a bit that was going to take place in the coming few days. Musicians from all over the world, would be gathering for a weekend of performances, food, laughter and campfire jams.

Late at night, a handful of us had gathered around a campfire with various colored guitars and went around in a circle, playing with each other, listening to each other, and I had heard someone singing Hallelujah. I had heard it a couple times before, but for some reason, it really had an impact on me. Perhaps it was the moonshine, or maybe the full moon, but my ears were absorbing every sound, every breath, every  note.

Recently…I had spent the weekend with a girlfriend not too far away. We cooked, laughed, told stories, played guitar and just did the silly things we often do when we get together.  On the last day I spent with her, I took out her little trampoline and jumped up and down on it, wishing I could back flip in her modest apartment, and I plopped down on it, just laying there, immediately being taken back to Georgia, back down on the trampoline, looking at a beautiful blue sky.

Last night, I was flipping through channels on the television, and a Rufus Wainwright documentary came on.  I decided to watch a bit. I had been introduced to Rufus Wainwright’s music when I watched a film called “I’m Your Man” it was about Leonard Cohen, who is the writer of the song ‘Hallelujah’ a song I’ve decided to learn, after my trip to Georgia.
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Refinished

I realize the title makes little sense…but neither do I, always make sense. Sometimes life is a bit abstract. Our thoughts make no sense, but if you look close enough, you see the sense in it, perhaps because it only applies to you.

As I age, life changes in big, unexpected ways, as do the lives of others. Our experiences are our own personal story.

This is along the lines of my thinking, which I believe will play a big part in the content of the New Release.  Life has a way, in the world of an artist…of coming through in colors and sounds, different textures of emotion…karma, the web of  life, the quality and value of our experiences, that make us who we are, complete.

I still struggle with a FRIGGIN title for this new cd…I’ve had some ideas, but they didn’t Stick hard enough…perhaps something will. When the Universal flow is ready, it’ll find a way to seep into my head.

Big thanks to all of you who purchased the Limited Edition.  I am mailing those this week and thanks for your Patience, as I have had a few Delays in getting them ready, more of ordered, than I was prepared for!!! So this is a GOOD Thing, it just backed me up a few days… I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I really want to add some unique things to your CD Packages.

Tonight…I’m performing in the Virtual World of “Second Life” (TM) at my Living ROom #13.

(you can find the location and time on the calendar, on this page)

It’s a place I’ve been working on constantly adding new things, taking away old, but the wonderful stage, and the fantastic, laid back atmosphere is always there. Lots of you are not in second life ™ and another handful of you are.

It’s an amazing virtual world, where performers from all around the globe perform WITH each other, as well as our solo Acoustic Sets.

Live Musicians, perform songs, right from their own living room, into a world in which you can hear in, and virtually see the 3d Environment, be a part of it, experience it.

PS if you join Second Life (TM) Give yourself some time to get used to it….it takes awhile. You can find me under ‘JueL Reseistance’ if you ever join into the digital metaverse!

Hope you all have a fantastic week, do something really great for yourself, and someone else. And always…show the wonderful respect, people deserve..it always comes back to you!

Peace!

-Suzen JueL

Little Insanities

A long time ago, I wrote a song called ‘Little Insanities’…one of those songs I really never performed at all, and attempted it, during a show in Second Life(tm).

It was written in about 1994, as I reflected back at some ‘madness’ in my life and tried to make sense of it all…and it didn’t necessarily make sense, neither does the song… unless, perhaps one has been in such a place in life.

I’m posting it here as a sample of what will be on the Final Release CD… Those of you that have purchased the Limited Edition, will also have this song on their physical copy. Thank you, for all your support!

So it only seems appropriate for this Halloween, to put up a song that reflects, probably one of the scariest times in my life…. This is not the final recording, it’s quite raw and rather simple….

Thanks for listening

-Suzen JueL

This was filmed in Second Life….by Robert69 Little…