Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Music, Music, Music!!!

Posted on March 18, 2013

Hi, I’m back to recording again, on the music I’ve been telling you about for about a year and a half. I was asked to work with a group of French composers, and write lyrics in both French and English. Sometimes I write the lyrics first, and they match the music to it. And sometimes I write lyrics for compositions that they come up with. It has been an exciting collaboration so far, which I’ve been able to do in breaks in my writing, when I was in France. All of the composers are French, and very talented. They are musicians as well as composers, and we have worked with three very talented singers so far, a man, and two women. And we are finally getting down to the wire here, with results that you will be able to listen to on the Internet, and download, to check them out, in May. I will give you the information, when we are a little further along. We hope to have 10 of our songs available on the Internet, 4 in French, and 6 in English. And we are doing the final recordings now. It has been a very exciting project since we started it. And writing lyrics for songs has opened up whole new horizons for me, and has taught me a lot about the music world. » read more »

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Bittersweet

Posted on February 21, 2012

Most of the time, I lead a very quiet ‘normal’ life, and do everything I can to avoid the public side of my life. As you’ve read here before, my family life is the most important to me, I’ve always been a ‘regular mom’, and I’m very shy and don’t like publicity. And also most of the time, I try to pretend to myself that I’m not famous. But now and then that facet of my life can’t be avoided. And it still comes as a surprise to me that I’m famous. While spending my time driving carpool, picking up kids from school and going to soccer games, or writing all night, somehow fame snuck up on me. And recently, I went to one of those major glamorous Hollywood events that still knocks my socks off, and totally stuns me, and always reminds me that I’m a public person too.  The party I went to was Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party, the night before the Grammy’s. It’s held in LA, and Clive Davis is the most important man in the music world today, and has been for many, many years. He’s the most important music producer in the business, and has represented everyone from Janis Joplin to Alicia Keys, Sean Combs/Puff Daddy, Santana, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and just about every important singer you’ve ever heard of. Beyond that he is a truly wonderful man, hugely admired by everyone in the music business, and adored by the artists he represents. And the party he puts on every year is a knock out, and a party people do just about anything to get invited to. I have been very lucky to know Clive as a friend for thirty years, and have been lucky enough to attend his party before, and have always been vastly impressed by the artists who performed there. » read more »

Paris in the Fall

Posted on November 7, 2011

Fall is definitely here, in Paris. Leaves are blowing around on the ground, it has been periodically very chilly, with the occasional warmer day in between. But Fall is definitely in the air. I love being here then…..and in the irresistible Paris spring……and in the snow in winter. What’s not to love in Paris??? It’s so incredibly beautiful. The buildings, the parks, the balmy weather in spring and fall, the gorgeous snow that always seems so romantic to me. » read more »

Filed Under Music, Paris, Writing | 7 Comments

Music in the Studio

Posted on October 31, 2011

Hi, Everybody!!

Just a quick update on my song lyric writing activities. When I got to Paris this time, we worked in the studio for days, recording our songs for ‘demos’ (CD’s that play our songs). We recorded 9 songs, mostly ballads, and we’ve written 11 more than that. It was a fascinating experience, and soooooo much fun for me. The technical aspects are very complicated and I’m learning a lot about music, recording, composing, and writing lyrics. I am thoroughly loving the experience, and I’m working with a wonderful team, of 3 composers, 7 musicians, and a young French singer, who is bi-lingual. So we are recording songs in English and French, and I’ve written the lyrics to each song in both languages, so we have options. » read more »

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More on Music

Posted on October 24, 2011

As I said, I seem to be in a music mode at the moment. I am working on a book, but very excited about the lyrics I wrote this summer. I hope you’ll be hearing more about that soon.

Meanwhile, I have one daughter who, like her older brother Nick was, is obsessed with music. She has very definite, distinctive tastes, is knowledgeable about current music, and seems to know every band playing. She goes out to some form of music show every night (she’s a senior in college). Music is her passion!!! She also knows all the venues, and she never invites me to join her at the concerts and shows she goes to. That’s HER world!!! And I respect that. But recently, she made an exception, and invited me to join her at a concert on her birthday, along with some of her friends. (I almost never achieve ‘cool’ status when my kids are younger. I only get slightly more ‘cool’ as they get older!! And more tolerant!!). I was very excited to be invited to a concert with her, and intrigued that it was going to be at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. I’ve heard about it for years, and it is a very famous venue. I had no idea what to expect, and was curious to see it. But how special or exciting could a music venue/concert hall be? The answer to that is ‘Very’. » read more »

Filed Under Music, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Snoop Dog: More on the Event

Posted on October 17, 2011

I seem to be on some kind of music path these days, with the lyrics I’ve been writing for an album (I hope!!), I’m more attuned to music related happenings and events, and I seem to run into music events now everywhere.

And it was a MAJOR WOW!!!!! What an event, what a party, what a location!!! An empty warehouse had been transformed into a giant living room, broken into groups, with comfortable couches, big easy chairs, and coffee tables and soft lighting. There was a buffet of fabulous food a mile long, the place was crowded with attractive young people, everyone was having fun. I ran into my youngest daughter and oldest son, and we were all surprised to see each other (what are YOU doing here? except of course my niece had invited all of us). And the food was really delicious, I hadn’t had time to eat all day, and I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but the mini donuts were so good that I ate 8 of them!!! (Don’t tell!!! There was also a fabulous seafood buffet, but I’m allergic to fish….but I am definitely NOT allergic to donuts!!). » read more »

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Amazing Night

Posted on October 10, 2011

I had to share an amazing evening that I had recently—–a very unusual evening for me.

I recently came back to San Francisco, from Paris, on one of those nightmarish trips, common in air travel today. I flew from Paris to New York, and from there was heading back to San Francisco. It’s a 5 and a half to 6 hour flight, from NY to SF, and shouldn’t be a big deal….right??? Well, air travel doesn’t work that way these days. I got to the airport even though I have every imaginable Frequent Flyer card and membership, since I commute between Paris and SF many times a year, as I live in both cities and travel back and forth a lot, for work, and to see my kids.  This time, I got to the airport in New York, checked in at the counter, and was summarily told by the ticket agent that I had been bumped off my flight. It had a mechanical problem and had been oversold. Bumped?? Bumped???? Are you kidding? Not because I’m so fabulously important, but I do have some kind of VIP status, and all the frequent flyer stuff. With those credentials, I’m not supposed to get bumped, but I was. (And I was not happy about it, to say the least). After making a huge fuss about it, they put me on the next flight, but at a lesser level, as they had no good seats left. It took forever to find me a seat on the later flight; my luggage was taken off the plane, and then put on the next one. It was a pretty chaotic scene, with other people who had been bumped, and were also trying to get on the next plane. The second flight was then delayed, and in the process of switching flights, two of my bags went astray. So I arrived in SF long after midnight, got home at nearly 2 am, (minus two bags, which showed up the following afternoon), and I had been in transit door to door for nearly 14 hours……I’m sure it’s happened to you too, but situations like that make travelling exhausting.

I got home and found a mountain of work on my desk, tried to deal with some of it that night, and unpack my suitcases, and I never left my desk that night. By the time I finished the most pressing things on my desk, I looked up and it was 7am.  And my first meeting was at 8:30, so I never got to bed that night, and figured I’d catch up on my sleep with a nap in the afternoon (ha!!! that never happens), or just go to bed early that night. I had no plans to go out.  And round about 4:30 that afternoon, I was amazed to find I wasn’t tired, but kept busy with my work. And then suddenly I got an email from my niece who lives in London, and she emailed me that she had organized a corporate event in SF, it was that night, and she invited me to come. At first, I was absolutely convinced that I would be dead on my feet by evening and it would be crazy to try and go out. I debated for a while, and then decided to do it anyway, even if I was tired. The evening my niece had organized sounded like a great party, and there were going to be 3 live bands there, all of whom are famous and very good. They were The Killers, Jane’s Addiction and Snoop Dog. I’m certainly not a heavy Rap fan, but it sounded like an exciting evening to me. The party was being given by one of the founders of Facebook, and I was sure it would be an interesting crowd (and I wasn’t wrong).

I bathed, washed my hair, and got all dressed up (in leather pants, t-shirt and leather jacket), put on make-up and high heels, and by the time I got to the location of the party, I had been up for nearly 2 days, with no sleep at all the night before (I never even went to bed, so I could deal with everything on my desk). And the weirdest thing of all was that I wasn’t even tired. I felt fine. I have no idea what gave me the energy for that night, but I had no sense of jet lag, having travelled, or being wiped out. So off I went to the party, and found myself at a fantastic party, with about 200 people in an enormous warehouse that had been fully decorated and perfectly set up like a series of very comfortable living rooms, with couches and furniture, and it all looked both comfortable and very chic. It was a spectacular setting, and the food on the seemingly endless buffet looked delicious and proved to be as good as it looked. Not to mention the food that was passed around the room, including absolutely fantastic little freshly made donuts, which I surrendered to immediately. » read more »

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