girl named Sam's blog

We're rolling into my favorite part of the year now, SUMMER! I don't know why, but the heat and the sun just really makes me happy and gets the wheels turning.

Big thanks and love to everyone who was there (in body and/or spirit) at my Hastings Hardback Cafe gig last Friday, and double-love to everyone who bought a copy of the new EP! I had an awesome time and you guys are definitely the greatest!

I've been bouncing back and forth, writing new stuff and revamping old stuff, and so far so good. My newest single, "As Well" is climbing the charts for Singer/Songwriter Female on OurStage.com, so if you get a chance, I'd love your vote!

I've also been working hard on some music videos, both collaborative and solo, but I'm afraid I'll just have to tease you with that for now...but stay tuned, and I'll let you know ASAP! I can promise that it's shaping up to be some fantastic stuff!

Thanks again to everyone for all their love and support as I make my way (stumbling, fumbling, bumbling) through this exciting time! I look forward to getting better and better each step of the way, and I'm so glad to have you with me!

I've spent the last week pretending like I know how to work the internet and now you can find me on Facebook! Just search "girl named Sam" and become a fan!

Reverbnation also pulled a miracle and had working widgets (after weeks of trying) that i posted all over the place with my new selection of songs.

I've made the resolution that tomorrow I WILL drop off a CD and contact information at Hastings to see about playing in their coffeehouse sometime soon. Don't ask me why I've put it off so long. I think I just have a self-defeating fear of failure or perhaps just ridiculous procrastination.

Got a shiny new camera today, so maybe updating pictures is next on the list! Or maybe actually shooting some video! Oh dear God, that would be fantastic if my computer would cooperate.

Tons of stuff to dream about and reach for in this next week. I'm giving myself a deadline of Friday to write and record and new song, because if I don't keep this momentum I might never get it back. Wish me luck!

Okay, this is the part where I sneak in the back door of the blog, buy it some flowers, and promise never to leave it so unappreciated ever again.

Overhauling the designs for the LJ, fixing tags, going to insert lyrics as they are completed, and some pictures from each respective gig. Hopefully a lot more pictures and more "in depth" stuff to bring it all together. It really makes me sad how mistreated I've left this thing, but I'm just terrible at the nitty gritty internet details...which is all about to change. Whether it is a successful change remains to be seen, but I'm really going to be giving 110% to this cyber stuff instead of trying to fumble through it as an afterthought.

Reverbnation widgets still aren't working with me, but I'm going to keep wrestling with it. I think the studio file I uploaded might be too massive so I'll probably replace it with some new acoustics and upload it again.

Right now I'm doing a sneak peek of my studio tracks on my Myspace page  so I'd highly recommend taking a listen. They'll be taken down on Friday and replaced with a new slew of acoustics. I'd really love to hear people's thoughts on the new studio tracks since they're so different from my normal indie-acoustic.

And for all you cool kitties out there, I'm all Twitter-iffic now! Come follow me! 

I'll be back-posting all sorts of goodies in the next 24 hours, so be sure to check. It's going to be a legit blog by the time I'm done with it, I swear!

The evil giant monster that is the RPM Challenge is over and done with! I have never been so happy to see the end of February! I won't be sharing the links since I consider RPM more of a brainstorming process, and especially after I caught a cold and recorded several tracks in a dying rasp, I'll be keeping the RPM tracks as rough drafts to hide in the back while I work them up to par.

However, several very good songs came from it and I will be putting them on Myspace and Reverb in the next week or so. I'm probably going to try to stretch it out over the rest of the month so look forward to that. The WaterWorks Entertainment version of "Live Like Kings" is going online late Thursday or early Friday so expect massive widget spam. The song has also been entered in the Female Songwriter category of Ourstage so wish me luck on that (or cruise by there and vote for it)!

The next two weeks is full of traveling so my music and internet will be minimal...that is to say this blog will remain woefully un-updated, but I'll have better reasons for it. I'm hoping that after a solid 28 day musical spree this sort of mini-vacation will let my brain air out and come back with some good new stuff.

Just a reminder that (in the scientific sense at least) I am still alive and well. Hope everyone is the same or better. Peace and love and all that jazz.

Hey
Can't hear your voice
Over all the noise
Inside my head
 
They
Spoke love for you
While they fed you to
The lions instead
 
And they kiss your cheek
And they stab your back
And hypocrisy's
The newest black
 
Cuz we all fall
down
Drowning with the weight
Of this world
Broken boys
and Goodbye girls
Yeah we all fall
down
Never know when it's
enough
we Do our best
To self destruct
 
Hey
Can't see your face
Blinded by the haze
Of people's words
 
Stay
Awake with me
The sweeter that I dream
The more it hurts
 
And the music stops 
And they don't believe
And they worship gods
in magazines
 
 
Cuz we all fall
down
Drowning with the weight
Of this world
Broken boys
and Goodbye girls
Yeah we all fall
down
Never know when it's
enough
we Do our best
To self destruct
 
Everybody needs
To feel
Like they're part of something
Everybody seems
So happy  
With feeling nothing
Everybody pleads
to be one
Face in the crowd
One face in the crowd

Cuz we all fall
down
Drowning with the weight
Of this world
Broken boys
and Goodbye girls
Yeah we all fall
down
Never know when it's
enough
we Do our best
To self destruct

you say my shade is bright red
like a stop sign
intended
for catching the eyes
of dangerous creatures
 
you call me chum, but not as
any friend would
your love taps
do me no good
just making me weaker
 
I make wide circles
In the deep
Trying to keep my head
Above these
Emotional waves
You make wide circles
Show your teeth
Going to
find out
just how
good
I taste
 
you're silver sleek, the barrel
of a shotgun
you swear you'll
be protection
while put to my temple
 
you come in close, but not as
any embrace
the look that
covers your face
Is nothing that's gentle
 
I make wide circles
In the deep
Trying to keep my head
Above these
Emotional waves
You make wide circles
Show your teeth
Going to
find out
just how
good
I taste

I've been incredibly productive over the last week, but I'm starting to feel the drag a bit. Lucky for me, there are still corners of the internet I can spam my stuff out to, so I don't feel too lost. I need to post new songs to my Reverbnation page. I don't think I've updated in months. I have big plans to upload the studio cut of "Live Like Kings" though, which is going to be so delicious I think people will forgive me (at least that's my hope).

Going to be trying to get in touch with some venues in the next few weeks about some shows. Of course this all depends on my schedule, my confidence, and the cosmic alignment of the stars. It's not that I'm scared (okay, it is, but not entirely the only reason) so much as my schedule is so crazy I don't want to be the jerk who asks to play and then tells them that weekend isn't available. So wish me good luck and good scheduling opportunities!

I need more friends on Myspace, but I am just terrible at this whole networking thing. Mostly because I hate trying to be friends with people I don't know. Which I realize is the stupidest issue ever, especially since I'm trying to reach people I don't know. It's just an issue I have. But I'm working through it slowly but surely (cruising through my nicest friends' lists and friending all their nicest looking friends) so hopefully my Myspace won't be so lonely anymore.

Fantastical things still on the horizon! Hopefully I'll remember to blog about them!

Things have been crazy in such a great way that I haven't had time for my blog. That should be a good thing though, since if things were going crazy bad I would have posted giant rantings on here.

The Lonewolf gig went better than expected (which isn't saying much, since my expectations were in the toilet). Turns out I can cover Paramore's "Misery Business" just fine...provided I don't forget the words. But I got to test-drive my new song, "Stupid" and it sounded pretty good. Got a low-quality video with my parents' digital camera and looking to upload that sometime soon (ie: as soon as Vista stops sucking).

RPM Challenge is going well, even though I have no songs recorded. I just feel like I have this great musical steam engine thing going. Which makes absolutely no sense, but is a great mental image, no? I posted the lyrics to "Stupid" on my RPM blog and people really seemed to like it, which pleased me to no end. I have a two more songs that *hopefully* will be done tonight. Holy crap, it's like I'm a songwriter or something!

Also, at the gig I ran into an old friend from high school who plays guitar for another local band, Bugota. He offered to let me open for their CD release party next month at the Oasis. WOOHOO! The only downside is that Charles was completely drunk when he said this, so I'm going to have to get in touch with him and remind him of his binding verbal agreements (maybe remind him with my fists if necessary--you don't tease a girl like that!).

AAAAAND going to be recording some studio stuff in the next few weeks. More information on that as it unfolds *mysterious pose* but should be incredibly exciting!

Wearing out bandages
In all of the places
Where I kept my fingers crossed
 
Added your name to the list
With faith and trust and my first kiss
All the things that I have lost 
 
But Hush now
This is my favorite scene
Hush now
This is where I scream
 
 
You
Always leave me needing more
My
Heart's on the cutting room floor
And we
both Know how this movie's gonna end
Never mind
Just rewind
Watch me fall apart again
 
Keeping my heart on my sleeve
Doesn't mean anything
When no one gives a damn
 
We were a perfect fit
In Every way except
For everything I am
 
But hush now
This is my favorite line
Hush now
This where I cry
 
You
Always leave me needing more
My
Heart's on the cutting room floor
And we
both Know how this movie's gonna end
Never mind
Just rewind
Watch me fall apart again
 
But hush now
This is my favorite scene
Hush now
This is where I scream
 
You
Always leave me needing more
My
Heart's on the cutting room floor
And we
both Know how this movie's gonna end
Never mind
Just rewind
Watch me fall apart again 

Bending me backwards
Til I snap
Starving to death
I beg for scraps
Of your affection
But I Come up empty
 
Making me sick with
Your appeal 
Keep me just close
Enough to feel
Your frozen shoulders
Turn and forget me
 
I know
I've felt this before
 
It's not so much
That I'm addicted
Not that I am
Masochistic
I'm just a fool that thinks
The next time will be different
Not so much that I can't stop it
Just completely idiotic
I keep on hoping
Things will end up like I want it
There's really nothing to it
Sometimes love is blind and stupid
 
Dragging me down
Until I'm done
Every word
I say is one
more thing to twist up
And Use to your liking
 
Swallowing tears
and bitter pills
Giving me glances
that could kill
me where I'm standing
but I'm still trying
 
I know
I've done this before
 
It's not so much
That I'm addicted
Not that I am
Masochistic
I'm just a fool that thinks
The next time will be different
Not so much that I can't stop it
Just completely idiotic
I keep on hoping
Things will end up like I want it
There's really nothing to it
Sometimes love is blind and stupid
 
So go on
Leave your footprints on my heart
And tear me apart
Yeah go on
I'll ignore the deja vu
And keep letting you

It's not so much
That I'm addicted
Not that I am
Masochistic
I'm just a fool that thinks
The next time will be different
Not so much that I can't stop it
Just completely idiotic
I keep on hoping
Things will end up like I want it
There's really nothing to it
Sometimes love is blind and stupid