Finding Your Inspiration

Some people would call me crazy.  I had a job in the music industry that I really did enjoy but I chose to leave.  The company was awesome, my bosses and coworker were awesome and our clients were awesome.  So why would I leave?

To this day, I’m not sure anyone at the company truly understands how difficult of a decision it was for me to leave.  But it was something that I had to do.  I was feeling myself burning out quickly between working at Apple and managing bands.  I knew that if I kept at the same pace I was going, it wasn’t going to be pretty.  So I had to make a decision.  A decision that to this day, I have not regretted despite losing The Lumineers only a few months after.

The thought was to have one job that could pay my bills while pursuing my ultimate career goal - managing bands.  After losing The Lumineers in March, I’ve had to pull myself out of that heartache and get back on my feet ready to move forward.  And several times I’ve fallen over realizing I wasn’t yet ready to make that move, despite thinking I could.

I realize sometimes it’s not a matter of being ready but finding the right inspiration to keep you pushing through the negative thoughts that begin to fill your mind when times are tough.  And maybe it’s about finding your “partner in crime” instead of pushing at it alone.  Who wants to go about anything tough all by themselves?  And I’m not talking about my future husband, that will come in time.  I’m talking about finding my business partner!  It’s going to happen.  You watch and see.

I’m feeling the inspiration beginning to flow through my body again and as I drank my coffee this morning, I let it start taking affect as I begin the process of moving my blog to my own domain.  It’s not ready, so don’t leave me here just yet but if you want a sneak peak....

I’m off to RUN! 

Source

"Smashed in my car window, didn't touch the stereo"

Sometimes it’s easy to still be a bit bitter over everything that happened.  Sometimes it’s hard to not still feel a bit burned.  But all of this aside, they are amazing musicians who deserve to witness their dreams come true.

I’m talking about The Lumineers.

Whether you know the past, the history involved or not, today it doesn’t matter.  Not one bit.

The Lumineers are back on the road and when they came to LA on Monday their van was broken into outside of the La Brea Tar Pits and a good chunk of their gear was stolen.  They were one show into their tour.  The good news is despite having lost the bass guitar, cello, the acoustic guitar and some money, the band pushed forward and found gear to borrow for their show later that night.  And for their show at Hotel Cafe Tuesday night.

Despite using someone else’s instruments, the band still sounded good.  They couldn’t be kicked down, but rather inconvenienced.  I talked to them about it before the show and they were in fairly good spirits.  They were (and still are) thankful for everyone who has offered up their support, their instruments and their kind words.

Last night was the first show of theirs I’ve paid to get in (aside from a few here or there in NYC where I pretended I was just a fan to up their numbers...you know you’d do it too).  And while it may have been a little slap in the face that I’m not a part of the band that I used to be, last night it was okay as I wanted to support the cause and the efforts to keep them on the road.

After the show, I hugged the boys goodbye and promised Wesley I would share their story and spread the word.  For the most part, all they lost was “stuff” but I also know there’s a bit of heartache for the stolen acoustic guitar.  It belonged to Wes’s mom and he’s written many songs on that thing.  It’s more than just “stuff” but there’s sentiment and a history.

If you haven’t, I still can’t recommend enough how you need to check out The Lumineers.  And if you want to help support the cause, buy a CD, attend a show or offer your instrument for them to borrow as they pass through your town.

Below is the band’s statement about the robbery in LA sent to their concerned fans:

"smashed in my car window, didn't touch the stereo" - lyrics from "Slow It Down" which is on our forthcoming album...
yes, i have been robbed before - that line was about Brooklyn.

yesterday, in broad daylight, The Lumineers van was broken into, this
time in LA.   most of our instruments were taken... some of the things
were worth something monetarily, some were invaluable like my mother's guitar.  wrote a lot of songs on that guitar.

but the lyrics up top are a lot less about what was stolen, and a lot more about what they can't take.  you cannot take the music.  that can't be stolen.  we proved that last night and will continue to do so.

so we'll be playing the rest of this tour with borrowed instruments - thank you to those who have lent a hand and thank you to those who have donated money to replace what was taken.  immediately following all this there has been a steady outpouring of support - and all we feel is gratitude.

thank you for helping us... because of your generosity we can press on. if you have not yet donated and wish to, you can do so here: www.thelumineers.com

We will keep updating the site as more info becomes available.

Thank you so much,

Wes, Jer, Neyla and Terry
The Lumineers
www.thelumineers.com

“Smashed in my car window, didn’t touch the stereo” - if I could find "Slow it Down," the above referenced song on Youtube to share, I would.  So instead I'll share one of their newer songs "The Dead Sea."

**UPDATE: The band set up a fundraising account with PledgeMusic today if you'd like to donate and get a 'thank you' gift in return.  You can access that page here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thelumineers **

Music Monday - The Lumineers

Today it hits close to home but I still want to share... 

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I used to manage a band called The Lumineers.  If you’ve been reading a bit, you also watched as I lost the band.  But despite everything that happened, they are my friends and amazing musicians.  So when they came to LA last week, I knew I needed to go to their show at Hotel Cafe and was pleased when they invited me to attend.

I’m sure you can imagine the roller coaster ride that I went through emotionally but it was still really good to see them and of course, hear the music!  They are amazing musicians, but you will never truly experience the band unless you see them live and that’s just how it is!  (Though temporary stand-in bass players should be left out until they can enjoy the music as much as / as close to the rest of the band as possible).

Anyway, while the band was in Seattle in June recording their new album with a producer, it doesn’t sound like it will be released for awhile, so for now, I leave you with one of the new songs, The Dead Sea which will be stuck in your head after you watch this video.  Enjoy!

Apology from a Foodie

Let me start by apologizing for my delay and lack of posts these past couple of weeks.  With school and some crazy stuff at work leading to 10-12 hour days, I come home mentally and physically exhausted so I pour myself a bowl of cereal for dinner and go to bed.  If I have even a bit of energy, I try to do some studying.

Today was another one of those days.  I generally have Wednesday’s off but some scheduling things required me to work today.  It’s sad because I miss my favorite yoga class but I guess I’ll feel better about it come paycheck time.  But man, I’m realizing how burnt out I am and how much I just need a “normal” week to refresh and recharge myself.

I went to see The Lumineers play at Hotel Cafe last night and the show was good and the crowd was definitely into it, but as you can imagine, there’s a bit of awkwardness, as well as hurt feelings on my part.  They are amazing musicians and despite it all, still people I consider friends, so it was good to see them for sure but it definitely made for a bit of an emotional roller coaster on my part, especially as I was driving home.

So with everything, I decided I had earned to buy myself lunch today.  So I did!  And I went to one of my favorite places around work to grab a sandwich - Bay Cities Italian Deli!  I’m sure I’ve written about Bay Cities before, but it is quite the happenin’ spot come lunch time on the West Side and I’m thankful I work close enough to walk there and back on my lunch break because parking is a nightmare!

Anyway, I got my usual “Veggies Only” sandwich, which has cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, black olives, and avocado spread on the best Italian loaf you could ever taste! Mmm, Mmm....

If you ever find yourself on the West Side of LA (particularly in Santa Monica), log yourself onto baycitiesitaliandeli.com and place a sandwich for yourself.  You surely would not regret it!

A Moment You Wish You Could Relive - Day 23

I’m stumped.  Is that bad?  It’s not that there aren’t moments I want to relive, because I have some great memories that I would love to relive but at the same time, if we relive those moments over again, are they really as special the second time?  That’s my fear.  Instead I look forward to creating new memories that I’ll carry with me forever.  But for the sake of this topic, here are some amazing moments in my life, in no particular order (and of course I know there are some escaping my mind purely because I want to write about them right now):

-Trip to Paris with my parents and sister

-Every trip to Disney World

-Receiving my acceptance letter to Berklee College of Music

-Performing with my best friend Tracey at the variety show our junior year of high school (every performance we did together was awesome but this was the first one and we blew the world out of the water.  I will never forget how big our smiles were that day.  Not sure if I’ve ever smiled that big before.)

-Graduation college (not graduation itself...I passed out and hardly remember it, but the act of finishing my college education).

-Packing up my life and moving across the country, getting stuck in Utah (I never want to relive Beaver City, Utah again!)

-Every moment I was able to prove my singing abilities to someone (whether that be my vocal teacher, choir director, the rest of the choir, or other people singly).

-The night I went into NYC with Ida to see Wesley Jeremiah for the first time to gauge my interest in management.  Now they’re The Lumineers and as they say it, the rest is history.

-Every time I see The Lumineers live it reignites the fire to push them to the success they deserve and spread the music the world needs to hear.

-Being a “junior” bridesmaid in my grandma’s wedding - how many people can say that? 

-Three words: THE. COPY. CATS.  (For those of you not in my family, this was the band made up of my sister, cousin Drew, cousin Shawn, and myself.  We rocked!)

-Standing in front of the door at my grandma’s old house staring at my mom and aunt after eating my ice cream and realizing I lost (and apparently swallowed) my first tooth.

-The “jean shirt club” - an extension of the copy cats

-Being in love

Okay, so that last one I do hope to relive at some point.  And I know it’s not a moment, it’s a feeling.  But that feeling led to so many amazing moments and memories just because every minute with that person was never long enough but was full of happiness.  Nothing beats that feeling.  And all I can do is hope that I stumble upon it again one day. 

A Photo of You and Your Family - Day 17

Would you believe I don’t actually have that many photos of my family on my computer? The ones that I do have are older and from when I made my sister a photo book before she joined the Peace Corps.  I wanted to make sure she had plenty of pictures (new and old) to remember all of us and share with the people that she met.  Sometimes older pictures are fun and there’s no rule saying I had to use a current picture (aside from the fact that my parents, sister and I are hardly in one place at the same time more than a day or two a year - if that!) so photo ops don’t really occur that often.  And, let’s be honest, I’m pretty terrible at remembering to take pictures...oops!  Anyway, here are a few for your eyes to enjoy! :)

This picture is old and kind of awful, but possibly the only picture I have in iPhoto of the 4 of us together.

We're crazy.  What can I say? :)

My aunt and cousins from Missouri (minus one who was probably off playing) and my Grandma’s sister.

Can you say SUPER old?! This is from my high school graduation.  It looks sunny now but a few hours later, mid (outdoor) ceremony, it started to downpour!

My aunt and cousins came up from Texas for a visit and one of my dad’s other sisters and his brother came over.  It was a photo op that doesn’t happen to often.  Beth wasn’t around so Dad Photoshopped her in...kinda. 

My sister and I at her going away party with the super awesome cake I made of Africa.

I checked Facebook this morning and this was at the top: http://barbarapartment.com/video/2011/02/09/the-lumineers-ho-hey-round-2-2/

 (It's a video - it's okay to click the link!)

All I have to say is that I love my job.  :)

I’m currently in this “purging” stage.  I’m trying to rid my apartment of things that I don’t need and don’t use.  Rid my closets of clothes that don’t fit or that I don’t wear.  Rid my life of people who create a negative atmosphere or make me feel bad about myself.  As part of this, I’m going through old magazines that I’ve been holding onto.  I always save a magazine for an article, recipe, etc that caught my eye on first glance but let’s be honest, we never go back and read it or make the recipe.  Instead, we forget why we saved that magazine in the first place.  My new thing has been to one by one take these old magazines to the gym with me.  If there’s something I want to hold onto, I fold the page over, rip it out when I get home, and recycle the magazine.  It’s been fun.  Last night I was ripping out some of the folded over pages in a copy of ‘Real Simple.’  I always forget the magazine starts with a quote, sometimes just something fun but often something to inspire you, or get your brain thinking.  Today, I want to leave you with this quote that caught my eye and I had to set aside:

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past” - Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams (August 1, 1816)

Your Favorite Musician and Why? - Day 13

This is not a black and white question.  It’s not as easy as the question lays itself out there to be.  Anytime someone asks me this question, I often go into a world-wind not knowing what to say.  How is that even possible?  A girl who has devoted her life to music and she doesn’t even know who her favorite musician is? Fail. Total and complete fail.

I could go on about why I think I am this way, but honestly it probably wouldn’t make much sense or would get really boring - aka it doesn’t matter.  What I can tell you are the musicians who are being played most in my life right now.  Yes, I am changing the question.  This is my blog, I can do that!

So without further ado, here is my list of the music going to my ears lately:

-Mumford & Sons

-Cold War Kids

-Florence and the Machine

-Arcade Fire

-The Lumineers (duh!)

-Neon Trees

-Thriving Ivory 

-Augustana

-Temper Trap

There’s also a ton of other stuff that hits my ears everyday, both new and old, but these are the things that have been going on repeat while I’m at the gym or just chilling out at home. 

What have YOU been listening to? 

A Song to Match Your Mood - Day 8

This is a fun one, I like it. :)

It was kind of a difficult one to come up with, yet at the same time pretty easy. 

The song I chose is called “Flowers In Your Hair” by The Lumineers.  I’m sure it seems silly that I chose to do a song by the band that I manage, but I can’t help it.  Their music hits me on so many levels, which is why I feel like I’m such a great person to work with them - I can really get behind the music and they won’t just be “another band on the roster.”

This lyrics is the song remind me of growing up, something that we face everyday yet it’s also just a fun-loving song that makes you want to get up and dance, bob your head or stomp your feet.  It represents life and love - “the beat in my heart.” 

Enjoy this video from the ‘Bar Bar Apartment Sessions’ in Portland, OR in September 2010: 

http://vimeo.com/15010706

ALSO, I can FINALLY announce that I received a promotion at work!! The anxiousness can finally subside and we can celebrate!  I not only received full-time, but I got the position I wanted a few months ago but couldn’t get due to my limited availability at the time - office admin!  Basically this means I am no longer working on the sales floor, but rather taking on duties that allow me to support the entire staff.  The people that I work with are pretty amazing so being put in a position to support them, is very exciting for me!