Sonic Bloom Fundraising Efforts. Thank you!

Hey everyone,
So many people have asked “What’s up with the CD recording Karen?”
These days it has been a balancing act between my phone solicitation job, freelance graphic design jobs, selling items for the holidays and gigs.
In addition to this, I have been working on an individual fundraising drive and applying for grants to support the recording of Sonic Bloom.


Great News!-Just this past week I received $250 in individual donations! So far I have raised over $1300 in individual donations. Thanks to everyone who has help make this seemingly impossible venture seem very possible! I would like to thank all of my donors so far, and everyone who has helped with time and talent, and moral support.

Just writing to let you know what progress I have made.  Hopefully this info will inspire you to donate, before the end of the year.
Since donations to support Sonic Bloom are tax deductible, its a WIN-WIN situation—because you can claim donations on your 2011 tax return as a donation to the arts.

Donate here:
MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION NOW TOWARD MY NEXT CD “SONIC BLOOM” ANY  AMOUNT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
VIDEO/DONATION LINK ONLINE: http://tinyurl.com/karenhudsonsonicbloom

Donate By Check: Make checks payable to: Artspire, A Program of NYFA.
Write “Sonic Bloom” in subject line.    Mail to: Karen Hudson, PO Box 272 New York, NY 10034.

There really aren’t any other artist that play my kind of music who are fiscally sponsored by Artspire (a program of NYFA). In the performing arts area its usually theatre, dance, classical and jazz musicians who apply for funding in this way. Consequently, there really isn’t a lot of funding available for my kind of music. Musicians of my stripe are likely to go with a Kickstarter fan funding drive, which is terrific, and has worked beautifully for so many. Of course, I HAD to be different and choose this route, mainly because, while I dislike asking friends for money, I am pretty good at writing grant proposals!

The timeline for recording:
-We should start in Feb. or March. I am hoping for a CD release by June.
- I would like to do a full band recording, but that depends on how much money I raise.
  If I raise $16,000, The Karen Hudson River Band will do the studio full band live studio recording and would involve 13 days live tracking at Cowboy Technical, which employs the producer and 2 engineers and a cavalcade of stellar musicians.

Plan B is still a good thing, maybe even better! That will comprise of half recording with Eric Ambel (the fabulous producer) at his home studio, and half with the musicians at Cowboy (Eric still at the helm) Either way it will sound like a fabulously rootsy rock record, and I consider myself honored to be included in his super busy schedule.

On the fundraising front:
Technically, I am not allowed to pay into the fund for my project through NYFA, who is handling the financial paper work, holding the donations I receive, and cutting checks for the vendors (the producer and the band).
But I can pay for things separately from Artspire. I will probably pay for a publicist ($1000), and maybe a radio promo person($1000), mastering ($600) and more.

-I am applying for a few more grants. The first one I received was for $5000 (!) from the Sparkplug Foundation. What a great honor! Their mission is to fund a very select political interest in the middle east, grassroots community building programs and—voila!-- music projects.

-I also received $250 from New York Foundation for the Arts, (Strategic Opportunity Stipend, or SOS). The criteria for that grant is that I have to describe my
 “unique” opportunity, which, for me,  recording with Eric certainly is, since my last 2 CD’s were self produced. I applied for $1500, and received $250. That is how the game goes.

-In Jan. I will get an ASCAP Plus check for $150.  ASCAP has a large fund for artists like me who are members, and don’t get much radio play.
 I just have to apply, along with many other songwriters, and tell them when and where I have been playing my music, and they almost automatically send out $150 to those who do. Sadly, any other funding they do is for “young” musicians. That counts me out, being a woman of a certain age.

Thumbs down...
-I did however apply for a grant with the Open Meadows Foundation—The Patsy Lu Fund for Women’s Music Projects. I thought, that by the name alone, and my love for Patsy Cline, that it was an omen, and I was a shoe-in...not so! This is a small fund, and they had other obligations. Onward and upward!

********************
This month!

-I hope to receive $2000 from Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, which funds “new work.” In addition, I have to promise to do a live performance of the work in the community, which should be fun! I proposed a songwriting workshop for kids at the Fort Washington Library. I will use the book I wrote “Songwriter Journal (Scholastic) as the basis for the lesson in creating titles, song structure, and rhyming. Please say a little prayer that this happens!

-The next 2 grant proposals I write will be for the Puffin Foundation and the Jerome Foundation.
 Puffin’s mission is to fund artists whose work would not normally get exposure or funding.
 Jerome’s is to fund those artists who are risk takers. This one is a long shot because there is a lot of avant garde art and performance that takes much bigger risks than I! Weird artsy stuff!  But they offer large monetary values (ahem, BIG money). Cross your fingers!

Anyway—thanks for reading thus far. I hope you found it somewhat interesting!
Please consider being a part of this exciting opportunity!

I will let you know when recording begins.
XO,
Karen Hudson

Many thanks,
Karen Hudson, musician
Fiscally sponsored by Artspire, a program of the New York Foundation of the Arts

Nobody's Prefect!

My perennial bed, and a few coleus,
blossom less bee balm in the back
(call it a deer salad bar).

There’s an elderly lady in my neighborhood who I have seen dressed stylishly in her own offbeat sort of way. Always wearing a pretty scarf tied around her neck, hat or beret tilted to one side, polyester pants, and a button secured to her vest with the saying “Nobody’s Prefect!” I have seen her eating a hamburger and fries at the local diner alone, yet everyone who comes in seems to know her, and waves. As she walks in style down Broadway, I admire her grace and self-effacing way of letting the world know that she’s human, with this badge on her chest, and I always smile to her in passing. She knows who she is, and with courage and a sense of humor, admits that she has faults, daily.

My friend Jill and I just spoke with her the other day, She’s 90.

Sometimes, I take myself a little too seriously, but I think that’s a result of a lack of self-esteem. I am blessed though, to have great friends, and my husband John, and my sisters Barb, Dayle and Sue, who make me laugh, and restore my sense of humor that slips away in self brooding activity. I wish I were a better singer, a better songwriter, and a better player. But these wonderful people in my life who support in a non-obtrusive way, and turn it over for me by showing me what I have to offer help make life so much better. Their kind support enables me to press on. They shows me what I should know about myself already, and I am thankful they are in my life. Beyond what is happening with “ME,” my musical pursuits, and self absorbed thinking, I am reminded by their presence, that life is a day to day process, and being in the NOW, —the present, with them, is the BEST present I can have.

Abundance surrounds me. I have the basics of everyday living: clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, a roof over my head, a full fridge, loving and caring friends and family.

Red maple in prison

As I look at my garden I see signs of my own neglect, mistakes I have made in planning, and things I have no control over. The basil in the clay pot has wilted from lack of water in the heat wave. The "miracle daisy mix" of seeds needs more than a miracle. The shade-loving astilbe I transplanted has fried in the late afternoon sun. The red maple that I was so proud of myself for having brought back to life was eaten by the deer, when I meant to put a cage around it and decided to wait a week. It is now in tree prison, or “Penin-tent-a tree”, being protected from critters of all kinds. The lupine seedlings I grew indoors in April, and transplanted in June, were trampled by that same deer. A few survive. Maybe they’ll come back in all their splendor next year. 

"Miracle Daisy Mix" sprouts

Nothing seems to bother the Hostas, except for the bunnies. A bunny has to eat, too. Lilies are blossoming with names like “Champagne” and “Great Balls of Fire” sent to me by my sister Dayle who always thinks of me. I look at these and remind myself that she was a great protector of Susie and me when we were kids. Claire’s Bush, the Rhododendron my mother bought a few years ago “So you would have something to remember me by” has grown at least another foot taller, as have I from the loving gesture of her gift. I have a some garden jewelry, a dragon fly that dances on a metal stick with bells that hang from it from Sue, who also gave me some coral bells, lily of the valley, Myrtle and invasive (I love that!) Bee Balm, also eaten by that darn deer, is blooming once gain. One of the first house warming gifts I received was from my sister Barbara, a beautiful birdhouse made of ceramic. It hangs by my front door greeting everyone, sans birds, but I refer it that way. Barb now has her own new garden, and I can’t wait to dig up some yellow lilies, daffodils and other perennials and share them with her.

Champagne lily peeking through
ornamental grass

Gardening, as with life, is a learning process, a successive string of trial and errors. I can refer to my favorite books as a resource for instruction, but actually “doing” is a completely different matter. Nothing is going to happen perfectly. The ornamental grass completely outshines the new lilies that I thought would be taller. But there is something beautiful about the way these short and more colorful characters peek out trough the spindly fronds, as though they are wearing a wedding veil.

While nobody’s perfect, including myself, there needs to at least a few things you can be sure of in life. I am very sure about my loyal friends and family, and my ability to help a friend in their time of need, my delicious cooking. I am also sure about my songwriting skills. Turning a phrase, telling a story, writing a tune. This gift that I have been given makes me happy and I have worked to hone it, and craft it, over the years. And, while my voice isn’t star-making material, to quote Stevie Wonder, “Ya gots to work with, what ya gots to work with!”

Trailer Radio's Shannon Brown-Goin' For It in Gotham

I don't like country music.  I don't garden.  I don't cook.  I don't eat tomatoes unless they come from a packet and are drizzled over french fries.  I don't bike.  I don't scrapbook, hell no.

At age 37 I knew who I was.

I moved to New York City from Man, West Virginia in 1997 seeking fame and fortune on the Broadway stage.  I arrived with $2000, a pile of sheet music and 85 pairs of shoes.  I promptly got sucked into Corporate America.

Corporate America trained me to be a web designer.  So for 10 years I designed, and coded, and HTML'd, and FTP'd.  Life was ok, my career was ok, my bank account was ok.  But my life as a whole was so...virtual.  I’d had a more intimate relationship with PhotoShop than with many past boyfriends.  My friends started calling me CyberShannon.  It’s who I was.

This is not a blog about leaving my day job and "following my bliss" because that’s a fairytale cooked up and served hot by the self-help industry and doesn’t happen to most people in real life. But I can tell you I was pretty miserable.  I gave the world the reigns and it made me a web designer.  I wasn’t having a lick of fun.

I'd not sung a note in 10 years, but I decided to take some voice lessons.  One day in the middle of a nice Sondheim tune my teacher stopped me and said, "Why does everything you sing sound like country music?" 

I didn’t know why…maybe it was my accent, or the fact I’m from West Virginia.  But it’s not who I was.

But then a light bulb sprang atop my hard head.  Maybe I should try that.  Country music.  Singing it.  Opening my mind to it.  It felt pretty natural…it felt pretty good.  The more I sang it, the more it felt like my dirty little secret...what would my friends think?  My own mother said “Country music?  Who are you?” Eventually I found a band, booked some gigs, and invited all my friends to watch me sink or swim.  I felt kinda old to be starting something new.  I kept thinking,  “What if I trip and break a hip on stage?”

Shannon and her biscuits

Luckily I swam.  And I’m still swimming.  At the ripe old age of 39 I’m still a web designer, but I’m also a country singer, and my first CD is being released this summer.

Operating under this new-found freedom, I decided to open my mind to other things, too. This summer I made my first attempt at gardening planting rose begonias and coleuses at my boyfriend’s country house.  I opened my mind to cooking, and while I nearly burned off a pinky toe (don’t ask…) I now make a helluva parmesean chicken!  I opened my mind to tomatoes, and have unlocked the joys of the BLT.  I bought a bike and a helmet, and allow my bangs to get crushed beyond recognition in order to tool around Central Park.  As a result, I’m happier now than I was in the days before my thighs met and bonded for life. 

The moral of the story:  It’s never too late to try something new.  Regardless of age, or your past, or what people think, there could be something out there waiting to enrich your life if you can just open your mind new adventures.

For the record I still don’t scrapbook.  But I will admit to squeezing the puffy stickers at the craft store on occasion…

Mary Lamont-How Lucky! But with hard work...

I am a true country hick.  There is still a Lamont farm in Ontario, Canada, started by my great grandfather, passed down to my grandfather, uncle, and cousin.  I grew up in a tiny town where everybody knew everybody.  I was 
always singing to myself, so my Dad signed me up for the church choir, and then the choir leader asked me to sing solos in church. I was petrified.  But I did it, and I liked it a lot.


When my folks moved to Long Island, I took off to New York and one of my first jobs was working for Alice Cooper’s management (and coincidentally, the first live rock show I ever saw was Alice’s, in a small Canadian venue).  Over the next couple years, I moved through music-related jobs in magazine publishing and booking agencies.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, it was all prep for my own band:  a first hand music business education.  Meanwhile, my husband, photographer Jim Marchese toured Europe with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, seeing a first class band on the road.

Mary Lamont and her husband
photographer/guitar player —Jim Marchese

I met Jim by chance in New York.  He kept pushing me to join a local band, and for a while I sang backup while he played lead guitar.  It wasn’t long before Jim insisted that we needed our own band.  Which brings me to the main point:  the Mary Lamont Band was all Jim’s vision.  If it hadn’t been for Jim, I wouldn’t have a band, I wouldn’t have written songs, or played the major venues we’ve played, gotten interviewed for ASCAP Audio Portraits, or been the first American country band to tour Mainland China.

So after my Dad pushed me to sing in the choir, my husband pushed me to write and sing in our own band.  I need to be pushed!  Thank you, gentlemen!  By the same token, there’s an advantage to being a certain age.  I’m “over 40” so I don’t have to get anyone’s permission for anything!  (Did I mention that Lamonts are stubborn?)  A lot of experience, school of hard knocks: tragedy, triumph, heartbreak, jubilation, it all comes with livin’ for a while....hmm, I think there’s a song there.


To be a successful singer/songwriter, you have to have all the facets in place, besides obviously writing good tunes and having the right people to play with:  booking, management, promotion, sound...whether you’re doing it yourself or hiring others.  It makes for long days, but the rewards are very satisfying.  And be able to look at yourself in the mirror:  don’t do anything you feel uncomfortable doing.

Karen Hudson and I were paired to sing “Hickory Wind” for a Gram Parsons tribute a few years ago, and we got along instantly!  And I recently saw Karen perform some of her “Sonic Bloom” songs – beautiful!  The “Sonic Bloom” cosmos seeds she gave me are rapidly growing in my garden, and I look forward to seeing flowers this summer.  Thanks Karen, and much success with “Sonic Bloom”!


Find out more about the fabulous Mary Lamont and her hard working band at:
www.marylamont.com

How does Mary's garden grow?
With SONIC BLOOM cosmo sprouts!

Claire's Bush

My mother Claire has been a source of inspiration and strength for me in so many ways. After having five kids, she finally divorced my crazy father and picked up the pieces of her life and carried on with the strength of a racehorse. She went to school to become an accounts payable clerk, and worked at night in a factory to support us.

My mom, Claire Kikta, rocks!

Times were tight. I remember one time,  LILCO turned our power off because she couldn’t pay the bill. Our boiler broke, and we borrowed heaters one winter. We were on welfare and food stamps, but we had a roof over our heads, food to eat, and besides us kids, nobody was any the wiser. My very strong mother, who put up with my father for seventeen years finally broke down crying in front of me one day. Her Chevy Nova had been spouting black smoke from the exhaust pipe, and a cop gave her a ticket. The ticket had pushed her over the edge.

Claire worked hard at her job, and got us off of welfare after a while. She had her pride and refused to have us on assistance. We had a nice house in Hicksville, NY, on Long Island, and because I had no father, who never visited (thank God), and eventually died of a brain tumor when I was in third grade, I felt different. Our carpet was threadbare, with small area rugs covering the holes, and the furniture was old. It had the aura of the past surrounding it. But, like Stevie Wonder sings in his song “Just Enough For the City”—“Her clothes are torn, but never are they dirty,” our home was kept spotless. But our hearts were not.

When my father died, we got his much needed social security checks, and my mother replaced the carpet in the living room. My sister Susie and I re-painted our rooms and bought pretty comforters for our beds. My Aunt Ethel gave us her beautiful velvet couches, lamps and a dining room set, and we felt a sense of renewal living on Elliott Drive. On the outside, our yard had beautiful lilacs, black and yellow irises, blueberry bushes and red roses in the backyard. On the inside, Sue and I thrived, and grew up, in a confusing environment, yet, we were very well cared for, and loved both by our older siblings and my mom, who is now almost 88. I am a lot like Claire, in her looks, creativity (she wanted to be an artist, but in those days they gave you a test to see if you had talent), her voice (she also wanted to be an opera singer), and her temperament (oy!).

We didn’t have a rhododendron in our backyard in Hicksville, but my mother gave me this one when John and I got our weekend cottage upstate. We affectionately call it “Claire’s Bush.”  It’s thriving, and it blooms big white flowers. I thought that the flowers would be pink when we picked it up at a farmer’s market. You never can tell what life will hand you. So I accept it, and love it just the same.

Chicks Rockin' the Garden! Planting the seeds...

While our popular culture projects youth oriented images, I represent a woman of a “certain age,” but I am definitely no old fuddy duddy! I am still growing, and producing art and performing.  Young stars are being made on competitions like American Idol, and reality TV bombards us with the petty conflicts of wealthy celebrities. Have you ever seen the show “Doggie Moms”? Ooof.  This is why I think it’s important for my audience to hear my point of view, and for them to share theirs, too. Contributors to this blog will tell their stories of thriving in the face of obstacles, along with photos of growth in their lives, their fantastic adventures, and of course, what blooms in their garden! 

“I worship in the church of Rock ‘n Roll.” That’s what my husband says. Some hotshot! But, I heartily agree! Our first date was a Talking Heads concert a few days after we met in environmental biology class at Buffalo Stage College. Ever since then, all of the time we have spent together these past couple of decades has revolved around music—listening to it, talking about it, and watching it all go down on stage.

I feel a pull to have music separately for myself, like a kid who wants her own room. I am a “words” person and John is a “music” person. In the song “Michelle, My Belle,” the Beatles may as well have been singing, “Someday monkey play piano song.” Yet, his knowledge of Rock and Roll music is so in-depth it goes beyond mere interest, to one of a well-read historian as a respected industry professional. Like the Yin to his Yang, the product of my interest in music takes on a life of its own.

The songs on my upcoming CD, “Sonic Bloom” are filled with a yearning to grow, to blossom and sometimes— to explode! I write the words first. I observe, question, describe and bare my soul on the blank page and fill the empty space with explanations, then lay them on a bed of music. The process starts with an ache to tell where it hurts, and to “get it right” at the same time, and to plant that kernel of truth and feed it. My songs portray a normal woman of substance and independence—qualities that are relevant to what real women experience and can relate to.

As I grow as an artist, I’m learning that, its important to know were you’re coming from, before you tell people where you’re going with it— and when you create something for the public (that means you) to see or hear, it becomes yours, too. So, I will share my songs right here, and the ideas behind them —in demos, lyrics, and videos. I welcome your comments as well!