Austin Songwriter Bliss

The City I Live In: view from the park/bridge

Our Garden

(I eat fresh greens from it every single day!)

My Update:

I am on song 28 of my "30 Songs in 30 Days" songwriting extravaganza. It is going well, although I have more cover/medley's and re-worked old songs that I originally anticipated, it is okay. And this is why I allowed myself those things. I have a showcase on January 31st at Flipnotics, and I'm excited to share many of my new songs and see how they go over. It is always interesting seeing which songs draw in the listener, and which seem to repel attention. It is often not what I would have guessed, which is why I am so lucky to get to "practice in public" at coffee shop gigs. :)

I love living in Austin, it's true. The sun is out and it is warm most of the time. There are beautiful parks and a huge trail system throughout the city. I am surrounded by fabulously talented musicians that are actually nice enough to talk to a rookie like me. People go out to listen to live music all the time...which means there are people listening when I play out!

It has been fun holing up and working on songs, geeking out, and meeting others who also geek out about words and encourage me to new levels as a songwriter. I'm not sure if I am getting much better...but I'm enjoying playing with words, songs, and noticing what works and doesn't. Maybe someday I'll write something reallly good. *fingers crossed*

Here are some of the places and people I have been enjoying lately:

Let me introduce Thick Red Wine and Daniel Park, two of my songwriter friends. We are meeting up for regular songwriter "support groups" and I just think they are the greatest. Thick Red Wine played at Whole Foods on Thursday and tore the place up with his humorous and edgy R&B hits. :)

3 Penny Acres was in town and since they were super involved with the songwriter retreat the Crooked Crow Songwriter Group converged for a house show. They cover a Johann Wagner song, so he got up and played it with them. I love these folks- they are the cool older kids I want to be like. Teach me your ways, great ones!

Another cool family of songwriters/musicians: Mandy Rowden, Cass Brostead, and the Whiskey Church Crew (a fun sunday night gathering at Hole In The Wall).

That's all for now, folks!

Progress & Co-writing

It is hard to gauge progress as I work day to day, cleaning houses and then coming home and spending hours in front of my computer doing some combination of the following: writing, procrastinating, corresponding, recording. I can't seem to practice these days except for playing new songs a couple times before recording and uploading rough versions on soundcloud.

I figure if I do a little bit of this every day, I will be okay. I have a 1.5 hour solo gig at Flipnotics tomorrow, so I am hoping to spend some quality time practicing this afternoon. Tonight I have a friend from New York coming into town for the weekend... so we'll see how much I get done. It will be good for me to take a break and get out there and enjoy this town. Yay visitors!

While cleaning houses is working for now, I am excited to work toward being a booker and assistant to artists. My work with Havilah has felt very natural and mutually beneficial, and I'm excited to continue to explore artist support as a viable career option. It makes sense, as I spent so much time doing advocacy-based counseling with people in crisis. Working with eccentric artists will be nothing after that!

I co-wrote a song with the fabulous Mandy Rowden (http://www.mandyrowden.com/Who_the_hell_is_Mandy_.html) the other day and it was a whole lot of fun. She is super inspiring to me. She plays pretty much every instrument decently to well, has a great voice, and plays out every night of the week when she wants to. She also leads a female empowerment group called Girl Guitar, where she teaches female folks how to play guitar and sing in a supportive and wine-filled environment. It's a lot of fun!

I played at Havilah's going away show the other night. She's been coaching me (vocals, stage presence, etc) and I can already tell it is helping a ton. While this picture may not reflect those changes... I like it so here you go:

Austin Artist Life

To kick this blog off, I want to share a few photos of some of my favorite places in Austin (not all photos taken by myself!):

View of the city from Ladybird Lake, which has a wonderful greenbelt trail all around.

Lake Travis, which I spent 2.5 weeks exploring while housesitting.

A cool abandoned beach party house. The beach has moved about a mile away due to drought.... CRAZY :(

And now... on to my update! Today I shadowed Havilah Rand and Darden Smith at the "Be An Artist Program" (http://www.dardensmith.com/?page_id=22), watching them teach a lessons on creativity and songwriting to elementary students. I am excited to be working closely with Havilah as she takes on some of the Be An Artist Program while Darden travels and expands the program. I am hoping that perhaps someday I will be able to help out with this program. I think every kid deserves to hear that they ARE artists, and that they can do what they love, follow their passion, have a fulfilling career doing what they love, and nourish themselves using art as an outlet. LOVE IT!

Afterwards, Havilah and I met to discuss all the wonderful projects we are working on: yoga retreats for musicians, songwriting classes in Bellingham and Austin, and expanding the Be An Artist Program. I am so proud of Havilah for all her artistic pursuits, and excited to be learning as I work with her and moving closer to my dream of making a living as a full time artist.

I feel so blessed to live here. The weather is so beautiful (sunny and 70 again today!) I want to start taking more pictures of Austin and sharing them. I'm sad to say I have barely taken any since I've gotten here. I miss my BellingFam and our constant adventures and extensive photo-documentation!

View of the Capitol from South Congress

Funky shops on South Congress (there are tons of neon signs, food trailers, vintage clothing shops, and fun outdoor spots to get a drink and listen to music).

Song a Day Daze

I am one week into my song a day challenge for January 2012, and it isn't easy. I spent hours today working on 3 songs to catch up to my daily goal (I've been writing every day, but hadn't recorded them.) Now I have 7 songs up on my soundcloud account... rough and rocking!

Go figure that writing 30 songs in 30 days would be harder now that I actually have some songwriting theory, techniques, and "advice" as to what types of songs people want to listen to! I am struggling every day because I want to write good songs. I can't just sit down with the intention to write a good song, and then write a good song. The pressure is too great and it kills my creativity. Rather I am just writing songs- seeing what feels right and what doesn't.

I also have not made a video this week. I moved closer to town this week and started my new job (which isn't shitty, even though I do scrub toilets!) I find myself exploring Austin and taking video clips as if I am recording clips for the travel channel. I hope to post something in the near future sharing my explorations (and also helping me learn how to edit better!)

I now live in a house full of active young women. My room is the largest and feels like my own little studio The room has 4 windows and looking out into the garden. There is a private bench outside my room, and I can sneak out the biggest window and enjoy the garden without having to walk through and around the house. It is easy to want to shut my door and hide away and write/read/record...but I have been going out more, catching up with friends, networking, and figuring out what it means for me to live in Austin. It is funny to consider all my expectations of what it would be like to live here.

Now that I am settling down with a home and a job, I feel the travel bug. I realize I don't want to go to school any time soon (although I am very interested in massage therapy school when I am ready for it). For now, I want to live simply, play music, take weekend adventures as I can, and pay off the debt I currently have so that I can take longer trips without monthly payments weighing me down. By the end of 2012 I should be debt free and my phone contract will be nearly over. :) I envision touring and playing music, as well as traveling for pleasure. I am reading "Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts and feeling inspired to reach new levels of simplicity and saving in the name of travel. http://www.vagabonding.net/

That is all for now! Today I am exploring south austin with a friend, going to Whiskey Church at the Hole in the Wall, and going for dinner at the home of my Zeitgeist friends. Should be an adventure!

<3 Daisy

30 Songs in 30 Days

Here we go.... I am writing 30 songs in January 2012!

I have uploaded my first video on youtube and soundcloud. I think I will put all the songs on soundcloud, and make videos as I feel inspired (with the goal of at least one per week).

http://soundcloud.com/daisyoconnor

http://www.youtube.com/user/DaisyBe7

Thanks for listening!

<3 Daisy