Sunday, December 23, 2012

Putting My Bears Out on the Table


Teddy bears seem to personify whimsy.  They are benevolent creatures who just exude vulnerability and fuzzy love. They stare out at the world through those glossy, black button eyes,  revealing nothing and everything all at once……… I’m pretty sure they have souls............
I kind of have a thing for teddy bears. I’ve been known to go through periods of teddy bear acquisition, in which I add unnecessary ones to my stable the way others acquire guitars or power tools.  Some of my bears  live freely, uncaged, in my house,  and they’re pretty quiet. They don’t really run amok or anything. But  I’m sad to say that not all of them are this lucky. I have some other teddy bears who have been packed away in a plastic bin marked “TEDDY BEARS” for years. Oh, the guilt I carry around with me.  I can only imagine the conversations that are going on inside that bin.
Perhaps this borders on teddy bear abuse, but what am I supposed to do – put them all out on display? I don’t have room in my life for all those bears – all at one time. I don’t want to deal with them all, so I keep some of them in that plastic bin. What does it mean when we pack our teddy bears away in a box -- when we put away our whimsy, our vulnerability, our fuzzy love?  If I don’t put all my bears out there, am I holding back something important?
 I don’t know but I think I’ve hit upon a new favorite idiom:
“Lay all your teddy bears on the table.”
“She decided it was best to come clean and lay all of her teddy bears out on the table.”
“All right, let’s lay all our teddy bears on the table and discuss this matter.” 
“He brought no teddy bears to the table.”
“But Mary treasured up all of these teddy bears in her bin, and pondered them in her heart…..”
Oops! Sorry, I got carried away for a second there.
Be brave.
Bring it.
Bring all your teddy bears to the table.
What’s the worst that can happen?


Some bears I know...........

Bear-on-stairs
 

Navy Bear
KU Bear - someone has taken his pants

Bear-in-car


Overloved bear

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

How Far Would You Go For Money?

How far would you go for money?
I used to work at this really crazy place, where the morale was subterranean. To offset this, we used to do things to try to lift us up out of the dark hole of our despair. Sometimes, we would have a contest to see who could do the least amount of work in a day. If you had to answer the phone, for example, you lost a point.  I once paid our first shift production manager $5 to eat a dead cricket – and he chewed it  up and swallowed it down without blinking an eye! But he was no amateur – he also claimed to have eaten a raw chicken leg for money.
Other times, we contemplated absurd scenarios: One day, we got into a discussion about what you would be willing to do for a million dollars. Would you walk down the street completely naked if someone paid you a million dollars? Would you walk all the way down Center Street, past the fairgrounds, for $1 million? The answers surprised me. Some said yes, no problem, are you kidding me I would do it in a heartbeat. Others, like me, said um, no, not on your life or for a million dollars would I do that. I’m way too shy for that.
In retrospect, I suppose there would be several minutes of an uncomfortable situation and the payoff would be huge. So why not? Because there are some things you can’t pay me to do. In general, you can’t pay me to be coerced into doing something I would not normally do. I don’t like to give someone that kind of power. At least, that’s what I tell myself. Mostly, the choice is not so extreme, and the question is couched in terms of Real Everyday Life and might not seem like a soul-killer at the time.
Would you lose sight of your true nature in order to keep a job that allows you to make your house payments? It could happen. Would you set aside what really matters to you in order to buy food and electricity? Probably.  Would you silence your heart every day in order to obtain financial security? Well, certainly not every day…………….. Would you put your soul on hold, say, through the end of the year, with plans to revisit it when you’re not quite so busy?  What? Can you repeat the question? I was busy over here….

We kind of need money sometimes. But when you are true to yourself,  you will find a way to make the other things work.  I’m trying to focus, focus, focus on heart and soul. Always always always. That is where the truth lies.  No matter how far you go for money, it won’t ever return the favor.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The Center of Everything

Warning: this is one of those soul-baring posts that can make you feel funny when you read it. (If I can make you uncomfortable, I know I've succeeded). However, if that you’re not in the mood for that, (PLEASE! Make it stop!!) go grab some chocolate and read my post about the Country Stampede. I won’t be offended!   

There’s a book I really like called “The Center of Everything” by Laura Moriarty. Coincidentally to this post, the book is set in Kansas, and the author – Moriarty – lives in Lawrence, Kansas. But I’m not going to talk about the book. I just want to use the title for today’s blog.

I recently moved back to Kansas. It’s Where I Come From.  It’s been a bittersweet homecoming. Last week, I got my Kansas license plate.  I don’t know why, but it seemed significant. As the clerk set the plate on the counter, I actually had to bite my lip to keep the tears out of my eyes. Maybe it felt like wiping out the final outward traces of a former life as the former me. So many changes. So many goodbyes. So many rites of passage, passing by unnoticed, uncelebrated or unlamented by anyone but me. Another shining moment in my life history, to be sure. If a moment shines in the forest and nobody sees it, does it really make enough light to cut through the darkness?

At the nucleus of who I am, there is a light – it is my creative soul. It is the part of me that is not changed by external events. It is the Center of Everything. In my case, there is music that can never be silenced.  It is the constant that drives me forward, over and over, again and again, through the muck and the mire, through the rain and the fire. It’s the lifeline that carries me over the angry sea to the safety of the shore. So I grab onto it and hold on for dear life when the situation calls for it.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Say It Out Loud

Do you want some advice?  
All you have to do is ask. Or maybe don’t even ask. You’ll probably get it anyway.  There’s more advice out there than you can shake a stick at, these days.

The question, really, is whether to ask or not. Does sharing your dreams with someone run you the risk of short-circuiting the end result in some cosmic way? It can sometimes feel that way.

For the most part, I’m a firm believer in putting requests out there to the Universe. Saying things out loud seems to help make them happen. On the flip side, it feels risky to share dreams and aspirations with people and ask for help or advice.

Several years ago,  when I was just really starting to play my songs in public, people started asking if I had a CD for sale.  Well, of course I wanted to have one, but I didn’t know anything at all about it! I had no idea where to start. However, the idea was planted in my brain. A good friend told me, "Stop saying you want to make a CD and start saying you're doing it. You're going  to make a CD." So  I began to say it out loud as if it were going to happen.

It sounds like such a simple thing, but it was scary.  What if I didn't make it happen?  Even so, I took that one small step in the direction  of my goal.

Some time passed, and I was a fortunate enough to be a guest on a local radio program. A friend of mine heard the show, and mentioned it to me. Following my recent resolution, I bravely told him that I was planning to record a CD of my songs.  But, I explained, I had no idea where to start. He told me that he knew Ian Byrne – the endlessly charming Irish front man of the KC-based Irish rock band, the Elders -- quite well. He said, “A couple of the Elders have recording studios in their homes - I’ll talk to Ian and have him call you.”


The Elders

And sure enough, Ian did call me. What a sweetheart he was, with his lovely Irish accent, throwing around the words “Luv” and “Darlin” and “Lass” and what-have-you, as I was fairly swooning on the other end (I realize this has nothing to do with the overall point of this blog-story, but I felt it was worth mentioning). He talked to me a bit about my music, and then recommended that I work with Steve Phillips, who had recorded singer/songwriter types like me. He gave me Steve’s number, and told me to call him.

And I did call Steve, and set up a meeting. We talked about what I wanted to accomplish  and I could tell he was the right person to record my songs. He said, “Okay when you’re ready to get started let me know.” 

But I didn’t let him know. I’m not a fast mover when it comes to such things. I let months go by and I didn't move forward. Life, however, grew impatient with me. Once you set your toe and punt that great Kickball of Fate, you put things in motion. Out of the blue one day, Steve gave me a call and basically said, “are you ready to get started?” And so, I knew it was time. That's how my first CD, "Hit the Ground Running" - recorded at Steve Phillips' Big Time Music Productions  - became a reality.

Now, of course, I can look back on it and see how an entire chain of events unfolded that I could never have planned or predicted, all because I decided to talk about it. 

I only needed to say it out loud.



To find "Hit The Ground Running and other Laura Lisbeth music, go to www.lauralisbeth.com

Friday, November 2, 2012

Sleep Deprived and Waiting for the End of DST


I ask the universe this question and I do not get a direct answer:
Is sleep optional? Can sleep please be optional?

I really need it to be an option, not a requirement. For I have, as they say, many irons in the skillet. Many chickens in the fire.  I have much to do, and I am not finding many open slots for things. Where can I find the time?  Most of what I have is non-negotiable and so this is why I look to my tiny cache of sleep hours and contemplate the way  I could make it work to do without as much of it.

Complicating matters is some kind of trait I have (possibly hereditary) that predisposes me to have an extremely low tolerance for activity of any kind. Therefore, if I am not actually sleeping, I’m thinking about sleeping and making promises of sleep to myself to fool myself into getting out of bed in the morning. I say, “you can go to bed really early tonight if you want.” And because I’m groggy from sleeping, I buy this line every time.

Tomorrow night is the Big Opportunity for those who suffer as I do from a negative balance in their sleep account.  This wondrous event comes but once a year: Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday morning at 2 am. All clocks (except those in Arizona) will be set back 1 hour, and an extra hour of sleep will magically be injected into my sleeping time.
Don't forget to turn your clocks back 1 hour
 In this hour I will attempt to atone for a year's worth of stolen sleep.  

Go to LauraLisbeth.com

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Naked


Right now my toes are naked.  This very minute, as I type --- naked. They are sans polish. They don’t know a sock or a slipper. They have totally gone commando. I’m sitting here with naked toes, and I’m thinking that I might let this go on for a while.
Part of me says, “Take care of this! Polish those toes!” But part of me says, “not yet.”  Because being naked, whether literally, figuratively,  or metaphorically, can be a good thing that brings about new perspectives.  Being uncomfortable, feeling exposed, feeling like you’ve put yourself out there – these are all things that artists use to create something that transports them – and others -- beyond the experience.  
For me, being naked really means going beyond the fuss, the pageantry, the facades, the persona – anything that we put between us and the world – and reaching in and grabbing hold of something that is honest and real.  Then I try to weave those threads into the cloth that becomes a song. It is what makes writing so enjoyable. It’s what makes art so enjoyable, because my truth is not your truth, and your truth is not mine. I don’t have to know what you were thinking when you painted that beautiful picture, but deep within the fiber of it, the truth is still there.  
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you can’t really be true to yourself if you don’t even know your own feet.  Can you? I wonder…

Monday, October 1, 2012

Birthin' the Baby: My New CD is Born!

Dear Bloglodites,

I'm happy to announce that my new CD, The Balance, has finally emerged! I have a few of the tracks uploaded onto my website and you can listen to them if you click HERE.

Images and Jacket Design by JSi Photography
 I recorded this CD in Nashville: It was a journey unlike any other, and it allowed me to reach far beyond what I thought I could accomplish, and from somewhere deep down, bring it.

Images and Jacket Design by JSi Photography

The Balance FAQs:

1. Where can I get the CD? The CD is available for purchase NOW - right this minute! - on my website at www.lauralisbeth.com. Just click on the link for "Music" to get started.  You can order a physical CD or download the album. You can even order it signed - for posterity, I guess.  Of course  probably the best way to obtain it is to buy it at one of my shows. Then I can really personalize it with a big ol' sharpie.

2.What kind of music is it?Oh, now, come on. It's L-raising music from heart of America, baby!

3. Holy cow! I see that there are 18 songs on your CD! That's a lot! (not really a question but sort of demands a response)Yes! There are actually 2 versions of each of the 9 songs on the album. One is a full production version, and the other is a more intimate, unplugged version. We wanted to offer both to my fans because when I play live, you get that acoustic version. But the songs demanded (yes they did, really) to be also recorded in their full regalia with their party hats on.
4. Where was the album recorded? It was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee! To make sure I brought my "A" game, I enlisted the help of a producer, hence the addition of Gary Beard - a very talented songwriter in his own right. Gary also co-wrote the song "Billy" with me. We hope you'll really like the end result.
5. How do you come up with the idea for the song "Don't Look Down?"Beats me! I was just a blow-drying my big hair one morning and it popped into my head and pretty much insisted on being written. When a song is that pushy, I do what I'm told.

6. I heard that your cat, Toonie, wanted to be on the CD...? He actually was on one of the rough recordings I was doing. He was such a natural, with impeccable timing and perfect pitch, that I really wanted to put him on. In the end, I just didn't want to share the spotlight with him. He takes up a lot of space.

unimpressed by the trappings of success

7. Is there a significance to "9"? You chose 9 songs for the album. We chose the strongest songs. After we added song #9, it seemed like a complete project, so we stopped, and had a beer.   

8. What is the "secret" about this CD?There's a tiny picture of Gary Beard, my producer, hidden somewhere in the design. Just for fun.

During the next few weeks, I'll be scheduling some shows that will help me roll out my new baby. The first one will be on October 13 at Fence Stile Vineyards & Winery in Excelsior Springs.
I'm also going to add some fun stuff on the website about the Making of the Balance. Stay tuned!


For more UP-TO-THE-MINUTE info on new shows,etc.,  check www.lauralisbeth.com.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Coffee Is King


I have been drinking a fair amount of coffee this morning. It has given me a unique kind of clarity on all that would otherwise elude me. If you want to get your blood pumping and your synapses snapping, grab yourself a cup of joe.

After about half a pot, I feel compelled to share this Important Advice:

Drink more coffee.

Yes, yes, I am aware that only a few short months ago I was bemoaning the adverse effects of caffeine. You’re just going to have to find a way to get past all of that. That was yesterday.
This is today.
Coffee is King.

Sometimes - rarely -  I sort of max out on coffee early in the day. I can drink it non-stop for hours. But on occasion, it bites me back. That’s okay. We might be on-again/off-again, but overall, we are able to maintain a good relationship.
I probably wrote this little blues song on one of our off-again days:

TOO MUCH CAFFEINE
It’s like screws at your temples borin’ into your brain                      
Too much caffeine will drive you insane
You get a funny little feelin’ like you might need to gag
You get shaky hands and feet, but your eyeballs seem to drag
You get energy and lethargy all in the same vein
Too much caffeine will drive you insane

Too much caffeine, I’ve had too much caffeine today
Too much of the bean, I’ve had too much caffeine today

It’s that unexpected ailment that starts in the heart          
Makes it race like a motor, makes your mind extra smart
Then it creeps up and sneaks up inside of your head
The next thing you know you could wake up dead
‘Cause caffeine won’t let you leave it alone
Caffeine gets into your blood and your bones yeah

Too much caffeine, I’ve had too much caffeine today
Too much of the bean, I’ve had too much caffeine today

© Laura Lisbeth 2007





Friday, August 31, 2012

The Next Best Thing to Being There...



As it sometimes happens, a couple of years ago, I had a fleeting moment in time when I actually grasped the truth of living just for today. I wrote a blog post about it (in a different blog), called “In the Now.”

It seems like we are continually reminded that Life can come in and change everything. No – that’s not right. Life will come in and change everything. That’s a Universal law.
Why is it so hard to remember?

I’ve unearthed the old blog post and have posted a bit of it below.


Except from “In the Now”

Yesterday, I had a mini-epiphany. It happened while I was blow-drying my hair. (I get a fair number of epiphanies this way).

WHY should we ever live our lives AS IF they are incomplete – as if we are waiting, waiting, for change and just coping and dealing with in-the-meantime?


Why waste one second of life – Beautiful Life – by thinking it is the next best thing to being there?

What an injustice to the hour at hand.

The truth is, we are in the now whether we want to acknowledge it or not.


In the now…...I will choose to be happy.

In the now…...I will appreciate the beauty and the balance of nature.

In the now…...I will love.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Only Reason to Have a Cigarette


One day, when my son was probably 12 or 13, I was driving him and one of his friends somewhere -- they were both riding in the back seat. We were on a fairly busy street when  I happened to glance in the rear-view mirror and saw that they were mashing their faces up against the back windows with looks of what I can only describe as horror/desperation. Exasperated, I said, “what are you DOing!!?” They said, “we’re trying to look desolate.” They were succeeding.


This came back to me as I was thinking about how having the right prop can dramatically effect our ability to communicate a feeling or emotion.  If I  was a smoker, I could portray angst, despair, boredom,  or an air of insouciance when relevant. 

It's all about the props, baby



Ava rules

It is the only reason I ever wish I had a cigarette. You just can't get that effect with say, a carrot or a piece of licorice.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Do You Wanna Blog? Pt 2 - Reasons NOT to Blog

So why would you not want to blog?

Well, maybe you hate blogs. Some people really find them boring. If you don’t feel that you want to contribute to the overall boredom of the world, then maybe blogging is not for you. Me – I hope it’s not boring but I cannot be constrained by such worries!  I will not be silenced! I must write what I write and send it out into cyberspace.

You probably should not blog if you start to feel obligated – you feel like it’s a chore. Why do this to yourself? At this point, there should be no sense of guilt or obligation attached. I’ve never heard anyone say, “Well! She can’t even be bothered to BLOG. I take offense to that!” No. No. No. Nobody is going to take offense if you don’t blog. There may, however, be those who applaud. These are small-minded people who probably don't even know  where to find all of the letters on a keyboard.

Speaking of offending people, you might not want to blog if you are worried about offending people. The best blogs are going to be those that are authentic – they ring true, and the reader can tell.  I say: be brave and keep in mind the old saying, “You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. But you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”   Accordingly, if you're planning a future in politics, you might not want to blog (Or tweet. Or post crazy pictures of yourself on Facebook).


Blogging, in my opinion, should be something that gives back to you.  There should be a return for you on this effort. That’s got to be the bottom line to any creative endeavor. Otherwise, it kind of defeats the whole purpose.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Do You Wanna Blog?



A friend and I were talking the other day and she said, “I’ve been thinking…maybe I’ll start writing a blog,” to which I promptly responded, ”Yes, you should!”
Should YOU write a blog? Blogging is a great creative outlet and while I’m no authority --the truth is that I currently have no fewer than FOUR blogs lurking out there in cyberspace. I don’t keep them all current, though I’d love to. In fact, I miss writing in them.
I decided to compile a checklist to help you decide if blogging is for you. It is solely based on my opinions. That is the number one beauty of writing your own blog: you control the content so it’s whatever YOU think. Is blogging right for you? It might be!
YOU MIGHT WANT TO START A BLOG IF:
1.   You want a website. It’s probably the cheapest, easiest way to do it. Two services, Blogger and Wordpress, offer most of this to you for free.  
2.   You ENJOY writing. You don’t have to write much. There a tons of blogs out there that are mostly pictures. But the reality is, you have to put content out there on a regular basis for readers/viewers, and this most often requires a bit of writing. Some people LOVE to write. Others hate it and find it a real pain. This is what I’m talking about.
3.   You feel comfortable putting yourself out there. This goes along with # 3. But guess what – you don’t even have to put yourself out there! You can limit who sees your blog. So, for example, only your family might see it. I have a blog like that, where I post family pictures, etc.  
4.   You want to chronicle an important life milestone, or share a skill or passion with others. Maybe you do book reviews, or write about cooking, or sports. A lot of people blog about the birth of a child, or just a particular holiday, etc. .. AND:
5.   You need to find an efficient way to share your words, pictures or other content with a group of people. This is the reason I started my “family” blog. It’s really hard to send a lot of pictures through email.  A lot of them are too big and they take forever to load on some people’s computers. I liked having a website, basically, where my family could go and read and look.
6.   You have some computer skills. Okay, you don’t have to be a programmer or software designer. The free blog sites out there are amazingly easy. But you do need to possess basic computer skills, such as cutting & pasting, formatting fonts (changing the style or size, for example), uploading pictures or other files.


Blogging in Nashville

So, do you think you want to do it? Stay tuned. I’ll have more to say in my next BLOG, when I give some of the reasons you might NOT want to blog.

This picture has nothing to do with blogging, but Toonie asked to be included because he sometimes tries to blog.


Saturday, June 30, 2012

Country Stampede Recap: Lots of Skin, Lots of Sun, Lots of Live Music


Have you ever been?
I had not. 
The Country Stampede Music & Camping Festival is held just outside of Manhattan, Kansas at Tuttle Creek Reservoir, in a huge grassy area, sort of like a big pasture. Trees are scarce. Shade is in short supply. Sunshine is plentiful. Clothing is negligible. It is sort of like a big ol’ beach party, without the beach, and with cowboy boots in place of beach sandals. Actually, there were a lot of flip flops. But you know, as the day wore on, and muddy spots got trampled, and grassy areas were worn bare, and the daylight in the porta-potties grew dim, it was kind of nice to have on a pair of boots.  It reckoned me back to my cowgirl days, just a bit.

The NSAI tent was at the opposite end of the Stampede grounds from the Main Stage. Thankfully, it was a tent – so we were in the shade. We spent our time playing our songs, or talking up NSAI to interested people, or just sitting there drinking water, staring into space in a semi-trance, due to the heat. I know that at some point, I ate an order of nachos and an order of deep fried pickles with a side of ranch dressing.  The words “what was I thinking??”  do not even begin to express how that worked out for me.

The best part of the day was getting to say hello and reconnect with old friends who stopped by. It definitely made the heat bearable.

During our last set, the remains of the day were weighing on the Stampeders. I learned later that someone jumped on our stage and mooned the crowed but I missed it. Probably because I was being distracted by the guy in our audience who kept pointing to his shorts and yelling what sounded like, “California!, California!” I don’t really know. But I smiled and kind of nodded. Gave him the ol’ thumbs up.
As strains of Toby Keith’s voice singing “I wanna talk about me…” wafted over the Stampede grounds and into the night, we packed up our things and headed East. Back to the city.


Stampeders



Apalling and yet fascinating





















fun couple


more Stampeders

next to our tent
A batallion of porta-potties behind our tent
whether you want to see it or not
standard issue bikini and daisy dukes


Friday, June 22, 2012

Country Stampede, Here I Come!



There are 4 of us......

Jim Thomas, Gerry Monks, Rich O’Brien and I will represent the Kansas City chapter of NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) at the 17th Annual Country Stampede in Manhattan, Kansas. The Country Stampede is a four-day country music and camping festival held at the end of June. It boasts headliners like Toby Keith, The Band Perry, and Zac Brown Band. Last year’s Stampede had a total attendance of 160,000.





We’re gonna mingle with the countrified masses and we’ll be playing our songs in the NSAI tent at various times throughout the day –  when the major acts are not on stage. You can get the schedule here: http://www.countrystampede.com/Lineup/family_stage.shtml

I’m amazed at how many people have never heard of the Country Stampede. I guess I shouldn’t be – this is KC and I suppose the Country Music faction is smaller here – to the point of almost being non-existent. Back where I come from, everyone knows and almost everyone goes at one time or another. It is for some a rite of passage of sorts.

I must confess I have never been – the stories I heard of people passing out on the ground, peeing in public, and the lobster sunburns on the faces of those who did attend  – that was enough to make me think it just wasn’t worth it. But I was already securely ensconced in adulthood when the first Country Stampede was held. So the thought of 4 days of intense sunshine, humidity, beer, drunks, and being smelly and sweaty just couldn’t sell me, no matter how big the music acts were.

And now, I'm going - not as a reveller, but as a performing songwriter. It’s going to be a great way to get my music out there. Stay tuned…I hope to take pictures.