What an awesome night...

Lisa Dee and I went to see Evangenitals gift from the Lord and bassist (among a multitude of other instruments-player) Keith Lubow play with Deborah McColl at South Pasadena Music. Her tunes were sweet and deep and philosophical and heartbreaking and when she crooned "it's raining, it's raining, but we're connected now" my heart did in fact break open and the tears began to flow. It was such a beautiful set I had to water it like a flower. :-)

The next song, she announced, was co-written by her and her lover, soul mate, and guitarist of 15 years (Keith's dad, guitarist Patrick Lubow). They started the song a month before he died, and they finished it, together, she said, a month after he died. Gorgeous. Lovely. Love. Straight up Rumi and Shams. I dig it.

You can download the song "We're Connected" for free, here: We're Connected mp3.

Post-show, I went back to Keith's mom's house (she and Deborah are both huge fans and supporters of the Evangenitals) and we ended up having an impromptu all-requests Evangenitals hootenanny, with Keith and I on dueling guitars. I, of course, am no match for his ludicrous multi-instrumentalist abilities. It's awe-inspiring how many different things he can play: bass, guitar, mandolin, banjo, trumpet, trombone, ukulele, harmonica... and that's just what was available in the room! I'm sure there's more.

Accompanying us were violinist Andrea Baker (formerly of Evangenitals pal-band Shaped Like a Gun! Small world!) playing the mandolin, her husband (a composer who's name is totally escaping me) playing the uke, and James Graham, mandolin-player and vocalist for Deborah McColl, plucking around on the banjo. Nashville guitar genius Gary Talley of The Box Tops was in the room and listening... however, he was on to drinking wine and off of playing for the night.

We did a ton of Evangenitals songs, including a bad-ass version of The Hole with Keith on the Trumpet, and some really awesome covers of June Carter's "Tall Lover Man", Johnny Cash's "Long Black Veil" (with 4 part harmonies!), and Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". Good times, and such an honor to get to hang out and harmonize with such incredible musicians.

(FYI: There's actually a pretty dope video of Keith, myself, and Evangenitals drummer David Hurlin playing the new Klezmer-punk version of The Hole atop The 1 Second Film's Road to Oprah bus with iJustine and Brookers here: Evangenitals, iJustine, & The 1 Second Film.)

At 2:30am I sold an Evangenitals CD to a nice man visiting from Australia who said that my vocal stylings reminded him of one of his favorite Australian vocalizing twins, from the band "Johnny Cash Converters" in Melbourne, which is a clever play on words in Australia, where a "Cash Converter" is a sort of high-end thrift shop, he explained. The fact that I am the June Carter in the premier Johnny Cash tribute band Cash'd Out made the associations even more aligned. Then he showed me some Australian currency, which is beautiful, and it even has a little plastic see-through window in it. Transparency in Currency?!? Whaaaat?!?!

My Evangenitals heart was stretched all over the nation tonight, though, as guitarist Henry Bermudez was up in San Francisco playing with Unpopable (one of his many awesome bands) at the wedding of balloon artist Addi Somekh, and David Hurlin is in Fairfield, Iowa getting indoctrinated into a new job at the soon-to-be-launched awesome music site 3mix.com and playing some gigs, tonight's with the Jefferson County Green Band.

The gang will all be back together soon, however, for the Evangenitals Family Hootenanny at Molly Malones on Tuesday September 9th. Hopefully a bunch of folks will come out, as every show I get to play with this current collection of Evangenitals is a spiritual experience and I have a feeling the 9th is going to be a new height of sublimation. It's a feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeling.

In other news, I'm officially, thoroughly, and totally addicted to Twitter, so if you find yourself wondering what I'm doing just about every second of every day... I'm doing my damndest to share it. The MICRO-blogging is, I realize, having an effect on my MACRO-blogging, though. After giving mini-updates all day long via text message, sitting down and committing to a full testimonial of the day has proven rather difficult to muster the enthusiasm for. It seems, however, the trick is to have more ludicrously awesome nights like tonight which make me want to share the love and link every single person place and thing that I encountered for the world to see. I'll do my best to say yes to more of these experiences and keep the news a'flowing.

In the meantimes, however, you can totally follow me on Twitter. :-)

p.s.
You can follow David Hurlin on Twitter, too. :-)

p.p.s.
I love you. You know who you are. Yes... YOU! :-)

I'm having a quiet day today. Talking is one of the worst things for the singing voice, I hear, so I've been resting my throat all day, as much as possible, with silence.

Communication continues via my newest addictions: Twitter and text messaging. I just upgraded to "unlimited text messaging" with AT&T so that I don't get screwed with charges. I have no idea how many texts I've sent this month, but I'm sure it's a lot. Hundreds and hundreds. I've got my Twitter hooked up with my phone now, both to post and to read other people's posts IMMEDIATELY via my cellphone.

The Twitter thing really took off for me during my last mini-tour with Cash'd Out. Suddenly I was plugged in and wanted to share all of the random, mundane, bizarre, whatever occurrences, thoughts, and goings ons of my travels with my "followers"... it's twisted, it's weird to me, and I'm having a really good time exploring this new realm of openness and banality.

The urge to Twitter is becoming automatic and reactionary. Yesterday, while stopping for a pee break while the Evangenitals were busking with the Collaboration Foundation on The 1 Second Film's Road to Oprah bus, I went in for the wipe prematurely and surprised myself by peeing on my hand. Immediately I wanted to Twitter, "Accidentally peed on my hand!" I thought better of it, though, and figured I'd keep that intimate accident to myself. Today, however, I had second thoughts. If I'm really going to give over to the Twitter phenomena for the time being, methinks I should truly GIVE OVER to it. I am reminded of David Hurlin's wife's first Twitter: "about to take my good morning dump" and am encouraged to be more honest about what's REALLY happening.

And what is really happening? That's is the question! I am having heavy philosophical/spiritually driven thoughts about my true nature and purpose lately. I am asking the universe what my purpose is and waiting for the answer.

In real-time, I am sitting on a porch watching my African Leopard Tortoise "Mr Turtle" just BE in tortoise-time. Right now he is struggling to crawl over a brick wall and his short legs are kicking in the air as his heavy shell teeters in the balance. He won't give up until he is over the wall. Eventually he gets his big 'ol shell on top of the wall, peers over the drop, and simply plummets to the ground on the other side. It is not graceful. There is much struggle. He really seems to enjoy it. No matter how many times I put him behind the brick wall, he keeps working at it until he can find a way over it. Free to explore the yard, to bask in the sun, to hide under a bush, to make a run for it down the driveway, to eat the clover, to stretch his legs.

It is a simple thing that makes me enormously happy, watching Mr Turtle the Tortoise walking around finding little things in the yard to eat. Tiny pink tongue visible between chomps from his sharp beak.

Right NOW he's making a run for it down the driveway toward the street. Must put him back behind the wall. Second verse, same as the first. :-)

micro-blogging, via Twitter, has had a serious effect on my macro-blogging, via Blogger and/or any of my other various blogs, be they on LiveJournal, Myspace, Wordpress, etc.

communicating piece by piece, bit by bit, i'm limited to mini-thoughts, and not having any mega-dish sessions of writing about life love feelings goings ons etc.

everything limited to 160 characters or whatever fits in a single sentence ADD burst of not too much information. something chatty and fun.

i did, however, have a 3 and 1/2 hour conversation with a very sad 21 year old girl last night while eating homemade vegan curry. that felt like being of service to humanity.

i am so grateful that i have a boyfriend that i adore who is an amazing cook and has the softest most touchable skin i have ever felt.

when i was breaking up with my ex he put a curse on me... it didn't come true!

blogging, for me, is the place to be embarrassingly un-deep. as if the world wide websurfers were invited to read my high school journal.

i didn't keep a journal in high school... only a highly coded date book/calendar which would, via symbols, remind me on which days i did which drugs and what sex acts and with whom. these were the key facts of my existence that struck me as "worth remembering"

once, in high school, i took (stole) all of the thermometer's from chemistry class, brought them home, broke them open, and made myself a glass full of mercury. i played with it often... spilling it on the rug and picking it up with my bare hands. as far as i know i am fine.

there are so many projects that i have started and haven't finished. i am feeling a call. the call.

a sound/image struck me today:

my relationship with god = a jolly game of marco polo. i say "marco" and wait for the response. a sign comes. "polo". i move one step closer.