Sample Me
Generally when a song of mine is sampled (or licensed for advertising) I want to make sure it doesn’t taint the integrity of the copyright by incorporating (or associating it with) something vulgar or offensive. Other than that I’m pretty open to giving it the thumbs up. In fact a while back my co-writer’s publisher turned down a use for “What a Girl Wants” in a Tampon ad. Truth be told I wouldn’t have had a problem with that. After all, what more could a girl want than a tampon when she needs one? It’s only natural. 🙂
Weekend With My Wifey
My husband Adam annointed Suzan Koc “my Wife” a number of years ago when I had asked him to choose between this dress or that one or something like that. Actually I think I wanted to know if my butt looked flat in a pair of jeans. He told me his opinion. And then I questioned it. So he said…”Why don’t you ask your wife.” I knew exactly who he meant.
Abbey Road Revisited
If you’re an uber Beatles fan like moi, having a peek inside Abbey Road has got to be on your bucket list. And feasting your eyes on "Studio Two" where their most iconic songs were recorded would be the cherry on top. Right? Well, sometimes luck is on your side.
Rotten To The Core Strikes Again! 💟
In a culture where songs are here today gone tomorrow, a songwriter has come to appreciate (more accurately cherish) a lasting copyright, or as we call them, “evergreen songs,” — ones that seem to keep regenerating and replenishing themselves. This is one of those moments.
Chrissie Hynde Revisited
To have someone who is perfectly capable of writing her own iconic material, someone you’ve put on a pedestal your whole life, someone who’s blazed the trail for so many women, make a choice to record YOUR song is a songwriter’s dream.
Bicoastal
Last week as I s-curved across Mulholland Drive, top down/wind in my face (in a Don Henley song), appreciating Los Angeles for all its curves and waves, knowing it’s where my village is, my zen, my professional community, I asked myself for the first time since I moved west if I could move back east. NY is better for my mind. LA is easier on my bones. What’s a girl to do?
Harmony
Do you remember where you were the first time you heard “Your Song?” I do. I was sitting on my friend Hope’s bedroom floor when she put the needle to the vinyl. I was like…What was that? Where were you?
Fan-Girl
I don’t know for sure if Todd is God. Someone put forth the idea a long time ago and it stuck. But even if he’s a mere mortal, Something/Anything, the double album that brought me multiple eargasms when I was young and my heart was an open book, will be embedded in my psyche forever.
Album Update
Sometimes you can’t beat a scratch vocal. There’s something about the first moment you step up to the mic and it’s so fresh and real. I’m never going to be more honest than when I’m not thinking about it. I feel it with my bones.
Have Guitar Will Travel (hopefully)
Bart Herbison, Executive Director of the NSAI, was instrumental (no pun intended), in getting a law passed which made it mandatory that all musical instruments be allowed onboard commercial aircraft. THANK YOU, BART. No more being forced to check your guitar only to find it in more than one piece at baggage claim. Things happen. Even in hard cases.
The Sound Of Silence
I was supposed to be writing this blog from the sky while on a plane to London. It was going to be about how excited I was to record 3 songs for my album with Phil Thornalley. I started packing a week ahead of time for the trip. But God says “Ha” at the most curious times.
NAMM
The first booth I encounter is a dude demonstrating a new vocal auto-tuning technology. He explains to onlookers that the singer riffing into the mic, whose voice is being “auto-corrected,” might accidentally ‘discover’ a melody she didn’t even mean to sing. And ta-da! Hit song by accident. Imagine that! I want to raise my hand and ask, what about an idea? Doesn’t a song need an idea?
Road Trip: Destination Phoenix
This Friday it’s destination Phoenix for me, for 2 performances of Confessions of a Serial Songwriter LIVE! The last decade in the music business has been a long strange trip (no pun intended) and my one-woman hour of humorous observations about HOW it's changed promises to be an entertaining evening for those who have shared the struggle as well as for those who are simply curious about a world they know nothing about. I’m looking forward to the drive.
GRAMMY Dreams
Glory is spotty for most of us in this business and a little recognition now and then is mood elevating. After all, our peers are letting us know our contribution made a difference. Why else do we do what we do if not to move others with art? Acceptance feels good and the energy IN it gives us fuel to continue our journey. That matters.
Spotify Secret Genius Awards
In light of Spotify coming to the table and negotiating a more equitable distribution of income with the songwriting community, Michelle Lewis and I, after receiving personal invitations, decided we’d go to the awards show this year. She called a babysitter, I got eyelash extensions, and off we drove to the Ace Hotel for what turned out to be an interesting evening…
Becoming Curator
Something not so coincidental happened recently because, I believe, the Universe has been witnessing my Renaissance with music: Pandora asked me to be a curator — that’s a songwriter, producer, blogger, or music enthusiast with a desire to connect with their followers through well, music.
I definitely have a desire to connect. :)
Thank G*d For Music
Today, whether you’re deliriously happy or morbidly miserable, Thank God for Music. Whether you’re afraid to go to yoga or your place of worship Thank God for Music. Whether you found your true love or lost the only one you ever had, whether you’re welcoming your child into the world or burying a friend, whether you’re still waiting to hear your first single on the radio or celebrating your fifth #1 Thank God for Music. Turn It Up!
You Can Take The Girl Out of NY But...
Years ago The Big Apple was a budding songwriter’s dream. It set my synapsis afire. It still does. I wrote a song on every corner.
Reconsidering Nashville
I seem to fit in better now. Maybe Nashville has changed. Or maybe I’VE changed. Or maybe I used to try too hard to fit in. Now I’m comfortable just being myself. Maybe that’s the key to life in general.
