New Music Video And A Free Song For YOU

So it's been a busy but exciting week. I've been slowly getting my act together in the rock and roll department. I'm not really sure what happened, but somewhere in there I realized I needed to stop waiting for things to happen and start making things happen.

That being said, I spent the majority of the past week immersed in a music video project. It was designed to be a fairly simple shoot, but it quickly evolved into hours of filming myself singing the song in various outfits and settings. I covered myself in blue face paint and rode the community elevator up and down in the middle of the night. I borrowed an old button-up shirt from someone and wore it backwards like a straightjacket. I recruited a few friends to be in it (including The Mad Scientist, who's performance as The Mad Evil Doctor is unbelievable). I put on a flashy dress and we all danced around in the basement..

I also met a few of my new neighbors while tromping around the hallways dressed as a crazy person. I really know how to make a good first impression sometimes.

But anyway, after spending three days meticulously editing the whole thing together, I'm ready to show it to you guys. I'm pleasantly surprised with how it turned out (it looks like it actually had a budget behind it!) and I hope you guys like it.

Here it is, just in time for Halloween...



To celebrate the release of the video, I'm giving the song away for free on Bandcamp! To get the song, click here, then click "Buy Now." It will ask you to name your price. There's no minimum so you can snag the track for free! I think you just have to put in your email address and join my mailing list. Anyway, I encourage all of you to grab the song, load it on your iPod, jam out to it in your car, get your friends really drunk and make them listen to it, etc. Basically, just enjoy it. And spread the word.

That's all for now. Peace and love.

Attack Of The Bad Art

I'm angry.

Somebody took down my "Poop In A Bucket" signs.

I'm sure it was someone from The Management. They've been showing the place to a lot of new people lately and it probably looks bad for business.

Honestly, I'm surprised the signs lasted this long.

Ironically, a new show opened up in the gallery tonight that is really just two steps away from being "Poop In A Bucket."

This is a show about eggshells.

This is beauty.  

This is art.  

This is the product of someone who had to eat a lot of omelets.  

Eggshells.  This is about eggshells.  

I will end my commentary before it becomes too scathing...  

Instead, I will show you pictures of my other favorite art show... "When A Friend Is Sometimes A Stranger."

Now, I feel bad making fun of this one because it was created by someone I actually really like.  But there's no denying the fact that this exhibit is nothing but large Sharpied outlines of hipsters on butcher paper with a pretentious title slapped onto it.  I'm going to state the obvious and say that I made that kind of art in the first grade.

The question is - if these things can pass as legitimate art, why is The Management so quick to hate on "Poop In A Bucket"??? 

I guess the title isn't artsy enough.  I should have called it "When A Bucket Is Filled With Excrement."

I Am Not A Sexy Super Villain

So Goat Man is far from complete, but I do have a demo ready that will be shipped off tomorrow. Okay, so it's not quite ready yet, but it will be ready by the time the post office is open.

I am ridiculous.

Noteworthy things that happened tonight:

- I attempted to record a demo of the song that the seductive bad girl sings. I was going to have a friend help me out on it, but I ran out of time. The song is a duet between the bad girl and Goat Man. It's the song where she tries to seduce him and he rejects her. I am the voice of Goat Man too. So ultimately, the track is three minutes of me trying to seduce myself. Yeah...it's sitting on the cutting room floor right now...

- I learned that writing awkward and neurotic songs about cell phones, psychiatrists, and existentialism comes much more naturally to me than writing seductive bad girl songs. I'm the female Woody Allen. I am not a sexy super villain. I'm just not.

- The Poet and The Fallen Nun talked me into showing them my student film from college. It's been a really long time since I had seen it and it was like looking at a portal into a distant world.

- I've decided that not having hot water on command is bad for my general mental health. I've developed a cold shower strategy and routine, which is not really something I enjoy, neither is it something I've ever wanted to do. I don't mean to keep bitching about it, but I'm ready to join this century again.

- Time is becoming elusive and irrelevant. The night owl schedule isn't helping things.

That's all I have to report at this time.

More coherent post coming soon.

Also, snippets from Goat Man will be up here at some point for you listening pleasure! I figured if I'm going to constantly ramble on about it I might as well let you guys hear a little bit of it. And you guys are just plain fabulous, so I'll share a little bit of my rock opera madness with you. But first I have to figure out how to upload it, which may take me awhile. Haha.

I think that's really all I have to say.

*waves goodnight*

Unorganized Brain Nuggets (Now With Even More Cholesterol!)

Hot water is still out of commission.  It's been almost two weeks now.  Today I caught myself microwaving a water in a bowl so that I could wash my hair.  What is my life coming to?

In other news, Original Sound Trash has a show on the calendar.  And here I thought the band was slowly dying.  Apparently we're not.  Cool.  

The show is over a month away, but I think I just spent a good half an hour discussing wardrobe options with my neighbors in the kitchen.  I guess that means I'm really comfortable here - usually I just save that whole "what-do-I-WEAR???" conversation for my mother.  But it's a legitimate thing to think about.  I don't want to bore you guys, but there are really a lot of roads I could go down as far as rock show attire is concerned.  

Okay, so maybe there are only three main roads to take:

a) sequins

b) fur

c) black leather

Combinations of any or all of the above are also acceptable but may be considered over the top.  I'm leaning towards leather, but if anyone has any profound input I would love to hear it.

I feel like this is one of those posts that probably doesn't need to exist but I will hit "PUBLISH" anyway.    I mean, look at me - I'm talking about clothing and hair and my mundane plumbing problems.  Snore.

Been working on "Goat Man" a lot but I never seem to get as much work done as I think I should be doing.  Lately, Goat Man has been sticking his little hooves into the ground and refusing to move forward.  He's a stubborn little guy.

I did manage to write a new song.  And record it.  As a duet with myself, because I couldn't find a singer.  I edited the pitch on my voice to sound like a dude.  Then I took it down way too low and I sounded like Darth Vadar.  I think it was at that point I got frustrated and put that song on the back burner.  But not after sharing the Darth Vadar track with a couple of friends down the hall, of course.  

Maybe someday, a documentarian will refer to this phase of my life as "the early years leading up to Lauren's big debut as a writer/rock star/freelance hippy."  But right now, I feel a little more insane all the time.

Did I mention that it's the best kind of insanity?

On that note, I should probably sleep or something.  

Goodnight, comrades.  

Merry Christmas Forever

I'm feverishly working on Goat Man again today, but I feel the need to take a short break and write this post.

I don't think I've ever written about the guy that lives across the hall from me. I don't see him very often - he's quite elusive and stays in his room a lot. He keeps weird hours and isn't always very social. He's thirty-something, has big black glasses, and spends his time writing Hollywood crime novels and drawing wonderfully twisted comics. He greets me enthusiastically whenever he sees me (elaborate hand gestures are usually involved). Sometimes when I'm have band practice in my room, he'll yell ridiculous praises down the hall (usually something along the lines of "YEAH! ROCK AND ROLLLLL!!!" or "YOU GUYS ARE F#$%ING OUTRAGEOUS!!!").

Anyway, for the past week and a half, he's been wishing everyone a Merry Christmas repeatedly. Sometimes, it will be in a weird, Tiny Tim-esque voice. Sometimes, it will be in a jolly, Santa-style fashion. Sometimes it will just be a "I can't get enough of Christmas! Merry Christmas! MERRY CHRISTMAS FOREVER!"

I think "Merry Christmas Forever" is my new favorite catch phrase.

In other news, I recorded some demo tracks for Goat Man today. It's been a weird day. I've been going back and forth between being totally excited and confident about the project to feeling overwhelmed and unsure about the darn thing. Also, the feeling that I'm just plain crazy has not subsided. I think it's gotten more intense.

Apparently, this insanity is noticeable. I was editing some audio tracks in the kitchen and The Poet handed me a folded up piece of paper. "Here, refer to this from time to time when you need to," he says, then leaves to go smoke. I unfold the paper. It looks like this:

Good to know, I guess.

Anyway, I should get back to work. Or sleep.

You know, I think I would feel less crazy if I had hot water and could take a hot shower whenever I wanted to. Argh. I'm so greasy right now! Ewwwww.

But I digress. Over and out, amigos. Or should I say - Merry Christmas Forever.

Insane In The Membrane (Insane In The Brain!)

So I wrote gobs of stuff yesterday. I stayed up the night before puking out sheet music. I slept for almost five hours, then got up and spent the day puking out more sheet music and writing more songs. I felt manic. I felt inspired. I felt a little bit like a crazed lunatic. I took a few breaks to graze on various things in my refrigerator. A friend knocked on my door and brought me Vietnamese food. I left the room a couple of times but mostly I just let myself get lost in the saga of Goat Man. It was really great.

Today hasn't been as great. I overslept and my plan to clean/rearrange my room so I can use it as a recording studio tomorrow turned into quite the complicated affair. I even ended up leaving my cave (and my project!) for several hours to see some old friends from college that were briefly in town. I'm glad I got to see them, but all of the conversations were about practical, adult-type things like grad school, finances, and interior decorating. I sat there in my new fur beret and felt like I was on a completely different planet.

Here in the commune, we refer to "normal, functioning members of society" (those with corporate jobs, practical life plans, spouses, houses, children, etc.) as "balloons in orbit." I have never really fit into that "balloon world," but now that I'm living in a community of artists and am pouring hours of my life into writing a rock opera about anthropomorphic goat men, I feel as thought I've fallen out of the orbit completely and am floating around in an entirely different galaxy.

That sounded a lot more cosmic than I intended it to. But you get the point.

In other news, as I was cleaning my room today, I discovered that I still had a pile of crap belonging to Tweaked Out Elvis Costello. We really only hung out for about a week and a half, but somehow that was enough time to acquire the following items:
- a broken amp
- a shorted guitar cable
- two bad microphones
- a stove top

For whatever reason, he stopped talking to me and I hardly ever see him. But I still had all of his junk. So I piled it outside of my room with his name on it and sent him a "COME PICK UP YOUR CRAP" text message. The pile disappeared sometime early this afternoon while I was in my room cleaning, so I can only assume he picked it up.

But the pile was there long enough for The Poet to see it and ask me about it when I was in the kitchen making tea. "Okay, kid, I get why you might have his amp, but...a stove??? What the hell was that all about???" he says, raising an eyebrow.

I am laughing so hard that it takes me forever to tell him about the time Tweaked Out Elvis Costello insisted on bringing his stove into my room to cook spaghetti.

"Lauren!" says The Poet, laughing so hard he can barely talk. "Next time there's a boy, NO STOVE TOPS AFTER A WEEK AND A HALF!"

That sounds like a really good rule to live by.

Aaaaand now I should get back to Goat Man. I think I'm ready to focus again. I think I feel another episode of the crazy brain thing coming on. Time to rock and roll.

Over and out, comrades.

Who Can It Beeeee Now?

Knock knock
Me: Who is it?
TMBG Girl: Hey, wanna get dollar beers at the dive bar down the street and play pool?
Me: Nah, I'm writing my rock opera.

------------------------------------------------------

Knock knock
Me: Yeah?
Asian Girl: You're room is mess. Clean it and in one hour I come back and help you rearrange.
Me: I can't do that tonight, I'm writing...

------------------------------------------------------

Knock knock
Me: Come in...
The Poet: Cool room, kid!
Me: Yeah, it's messy...
The Poet: I brought you a CD.
Me: Oh? Which one?
The Poet: Here. It's "Tommy," of course. For inspiration. I wanted to feel helpful.
Me: Sweet, thanks. Do you want Leonard Cohen back? We can trade.
The Poet: But what if you need to cry? You better hold on to that for awhile longer.
Me: Haha, okay, thanks.


------------------------------------------------------

Later, in the kitchen:


The Poet: How's it goin, kid?
Me: I think I'm going insane.
The Poet: Ah, you're in the crazy brain place?
Me: Completely.
The Poet: Come on. You're a rock star.
Me: I think I forgot how to format a stageplay...

---------------------------------------------------------

Fade Out

It's Official: Lauren Really Is Insane This Time

Lauren The Snowflake

So Christmas was wonderful.

It was a different sort of Christmas but a lovely one.  I was once again reminded of how lucky I am to have so many great, supportive people in my life (i.e: family, friends, hippy neighbors, blogger friends that live in my computer, etc.).

I've also committed myself to doing something insane.

Remember awhile ago when I was babbling on about the rock musical I've had rolling around in my brain for ages?  You know, the one entitled "Goat Man Is All Alone Tonight (And So Am I)"?  Well, I'm going to finish it.  I'm going write the whole darn thing, record demo tracks, compile a character list and synopsis, and ship it all to the east coast by the 10th of January.  There's a residency program of sorts that I'm going to go out on a limb and apply for.  Honestly, I doubt I'll get in since I feel like I barely know what I'm doing, but I'm putting my nose to the grindstone and trying anyway.  If I get it, I'll get to have my play produced this summer potentially.  And if I don't get it, I'll still have a mostly finished musical on my hands.  I think I'm a girl that needs a deadline for things, so it's a win-win scenario.

That being said, you may not see me in the blogosphere a lot for the next few days.  I'm descending into hermit mode.

Oh, and my hot water is gone and I've spent most of the day in my sweatpants.  This seems to be the cliche starving artist part of my life.

Sometimes I feel like I'm a completely different program than the rest of the world.  I felt like that today especially.  Though most people have reacted positively to my Goat Man idea, I am yet to find someone who really understands my vision for it.  I feel like I'm a little bit insane.

But I also feel like The Universe itself is yelling at me and telling me to hurry up and write this crazy Goat Man thing.  In the past three days, there have been so many little random moments and conversations that seem to be screaming "LAUREN, WRITE THAT GOAT MAN THING!"  


So here it goes.

Fingers Crossed

Today, that Steve fellow that I am rather fond of is going to approach the operations manager at his job. He is going to ask the following question: "Can I have two months off to travel around the country with a local indie band and film their rock tour?"

I'm praying this conversation goes well.