We could use your help!

Are any of you Spotify or Pandora users?

If so we could use your help making the grocery money!

Did you know:
According to Spotify, the artist receives a payout somewhere between 6 tenths of one cent up to 8.4 tenths of a cent ($.006 and .0084) per "stream" of that artists music?

It depends on the agreement between the artist and Spotify, but that being said you'd need well over a million "hits" listened to for a minimum of 30 seconds to count as a "stream"  to make your pay off of $6,000.  That's not too good for over 1,000,000 streams of ones music.

Here's how you can help: during your listening process please consider doing a search for Suzi Stern and stream some of my tracks. They were all lovingly crafted and the brilliant musicians on every track would be honored to know that the music is being heard.  The perk for me will be getting a check from CD baby for Spotify and Pandora streams.  

It might bring in enough $ to take George out to dinner or put a little bit of gas into our hybrid Volt...and knowing that the music is indeed being heard makes me happy.

Let me know what you think about the tracks.
What you'd like to hear more of? 
Share your listening habits with me. 
I'm curious about what works and what doesn't and how jazz musicians can keep making a living with out necessarily touring and selling T-shirts and the merchandise that goes along with that route. 

If you still actually listen to physical CD's I have 8 releases to date that can be purchased on Amazon.com or cdbaby.com or Viewpointrecords.com or visit my website where there are sound samples so you can make an informed decision! 

www.suzistern.com

Thanks for reading all of this and considering locating and listening to my tracks!



I am so grateful to all of you beautiful music lovers. 

Musically Yours,

Suzi



Time off from work with my grandson!



Teaching a clinic in Pasadena. This continues to be such a joy! Helping aspiring singers find their voices!



Another wonderful outlet recently: Singing with the new music orchestra "decisive Instant" in L.A.



I keep writing and recording...so far it's not making us rich but it's part of this unstoppable process!



My involvement as assistant director of Lulufest in Austin Texas is so important to me. Meeting and working with remarkable women like Jane Bunnett and Maqueque from Cuba, Ingrid Jensen, Allison Miller, Dawn Clement, Emily Gimble, Helen Sung, Carrie Rodriguez to name only a few. I'm stoked about Lulufest 2020 where the line up will be equal inspiring.



More joys of being a working musician: Networking with ridiculously talented and wonderful women like pianist / composer Peggy Stern, Jazz vocalist / composer Jay Clayton and saxophonist / composer Claire Daily.

Coming home to Buffalo

The first time I moved away from home I was 19 and happy to get out of Buffalo New York. I'd tell people I was from N.Y. hoping they'd think I was talking about Manhattan. It wasn't a lie. I was indeed from New York, but the western most part of the state right on Lake Erie...famous for Bethlehem Steel, the Erie Canal, Niagara Falls, WKBW radio, the Terf Club situated right underneath the Peace Bridge with the best fresh oysters, clams and pizza and always hoppin' with mafia diners...The Anchor Bar with it's famous chicken wings, beef on wick, Teds Hot Dogs, The Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills...So nothing a 19 year old vegetarian who wasn't into sports was too excited about.

At the turn of the century Buffalo was a vibrant center for commerce, with beautiful architecture, parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and wide parkways lined with trees. It was a destination spot for artists, writers and intellectuals. But when I was growing up there it was a struggling city...people were leaving inner city Buffalo to buy homes in the suburbs...and once the steel plant closed Buffalo seemed more depressed than ever.  Although the air seemed cleaner people were leaving, old buildings stood neglected and downtown was full of empty store fronts.

Today Buffalo is coming back to life.  It's truly one of my favorite places to visit. My family is there so of course I love visiting but that fact aside, Buffalo is full of character and history and beauty.

I especially find beauty in the little gems that no one has touched yet...things that haven't been renovated...the old bridges rusting and sturdy, ornate man hole covers that remain unchanged, abandoned factories waiting to be turned into condos or art museums.

I have lived all over the country. In fact I've lived away from Buffalo longer than I have lived "in" Buffalo yet Buffalo will always be home. The intense winters, the joyous spring thaws, spectacular colorful autumns, and the backyard bar BQ's, swimming in Canada, luscious green, all too brief summers.

I plan to be compiling a book of photos that I've taken over the past years from the city of no illusions and here are just a few images to share.

On another note....no pun intended, I'll be in Austin May17th & 18th to sing at lulufest and help produce this years fabulous concerts. Hope to see you there!  All the details here: www.lulu-fest.com

Love from Pasadena California and thanks for reading my blog!

Lulufest 2019!

Hey Everyone!

I’ve been busy here in L.A. doing some long distance assisting with the plans for Lulufest Austin!  

This year, being our third Lulufest we are extending the event to two days of concerts. May 17th at Parker Jazz downtown Austin Texas & May 18th on the Jones Theatre stage at Saint Eds U. 

We will be presenting an amazing group of extraordinary artists so be sure to save the dates on your calendar and I’ll see you in the heart of Texas this coming May.

Our fearless leader, Peggy Stern (no relation!) has very creatively chosen women to feature who present a wide array of varied musical styles. 

All the info. you need is on the Lulufest site at www.lulu-fest.com

Looking forward to being back in Austin and being a part of this beautiful and important festival!

Musically Yours,

Suzi

From Cuba to Austin: 

Jane Bunnett and Maqueqe 

Carrie Rodriguez

Claire Daily

Dawn Clement

Estrella Salsa 

Jay Clayton

Pamela York

Train Ride

Train Ride

He was in his late 30’s…maybe early 40’s and the black ink art on his forearms added to his interesting image when he asked me with a strong cockney accent “How fah issit to Raw-chestah?”

“Rochester? Well I’m not exac…”

Before I could finish my sentence a pretty young woman in the seat in front of the tattooed interesting cockney accented dude cut into my air space with :

“6 hours…it’s a 6 hour train ride…I’m from Rochester.”

“Well thanks! Ummm, that fah huh? I just got offa playn from Lowndon and I missed the connection to Raw-chestah, and so I booked a train…some cabby mate offered to drive me there for $1500.00…” 

She speaks over him,“Rochester is so boring.”

He finishes his sentence, “$1500.00, ha! Can you bah-lieve it it? Very funny bloke. So Raw-chestah is boring is it?” He takes a vacant seat next to the Barbie doll girl.

“Yah…nothing to do there. Why are you going there?”

“Oh…I ‘av employment there puttin’ up high tension wire towers. I’ll be there with blokes I dun really know, who like ta drink and hunt ha! I’m not into drinkin’ and combine that with firearms and…”

She interrupts “There’s a lot of great bars in Rochester…there’s a music school…I was doing a lot of modeling with my best friend…”

“Oh Yah? You look that sort you do…I can see that…”

“Oh…(giggle) thank you!”

“So yah…I’m afraid these blokes will jus wanna go out drinking and I’m over that. I need to find a gym to work out in or something so when these blokes go out to get drunk after work I’ll have a good excuse…”

She interrupts “There’s a great restaurant called LaScala on Park Street that has amazing mixed drinks and a fabulous wine list…”

Pause

“Oh good…I do love food. Not that I’m against drinking…I’ll ‘ave a glass a wine wid dinner now and then, but these days I’m tryin’ not to get wrapped up in…”

She talks at the same time, words overlapping until he stops mid sentence to hear her say “I was in the army. They discharged me because I have allergies. Asthma actually.”

“What are you doin’ now? Modeling again? Did you like the army?”

“Well yah…I’m just living back home for now…nannying near my parents house for some neighbors who have a toddler.”

“Ahh, the nanny thing…well good.”

I stop eavesdropping and go to the dinning car to get some tea.

10 minutes later I return to my seat and cannot help myself…In fact I lean in to hear better . I can audibly recognize the flirt in her voice “here’s an offering of friendship”

Trying to act like I’m looking at something else I peek through the space in the seats in front of me to see her handing him a travel sized screw top bottle of red wine.

She clearly wasn’t getting his message about the drinking thing.

“Well thank you so much! Let’s make a toast to friendship!”

I hear the soft crack of the screw top seals being broken, and get back to my book. I notice a figure standing beside me in the aisle so I look up and see a man standing there holding out a $20 bill. It was the guy who works in the dining car.

“I believe you dropped this miss on your way out of the café with your tea.”

“Yes!! Thank you so much! Let me give you $5 for your honesty!”

“Would you come back and tell my boss?”

“Certainly!”

I got up and followed him to the dining car hearing the cockney getting louder and more pronounced as I passed the couple who were obviously getting more relaxed by the minute.

“In England we don’t ‘av the death sentence as we know that violence begets violence…” She talks over him…they are speaking at the same time now like a constant cacophonous duet…words tumbling over each other’s statements, but now he doesn’t pause to let her make her points…he just happily and vigorously continues talking until he needs to take a breath.

I come back about 10 minutes later to take my seat again.

As I pass them I see several empty travel size screw top wine bottles on their trays…I figure they must be working on bottle number 5 each. …from the jolly volume possibly more!

The train stops in Rochester and the two new friends get off.  

A young officer in army fatigues comes up to me. “Mam please state your citizenship.”

As weird as this seemed to me I muster a smile and say “U.S.A.” 

He smiled back and quickly moved on to some other random passengers asking the same question.

I’m on a train going across New York State…not crossing any boarders, so I get an unsettled feeling about his having approached me at all.  A scenario flashes across my brain of being a fortunate Christian German woman being asked this question on a train in 1942 by a Nazi soldier looking for Jews. 

In this case I was no threat. I somehow belonged there and was safe. He smiled and moved on. But then I heard “Sir…state your citizenship. “ 

The man’s reply was very quiet. The soldier barked at him “I cannot hear you sir. Do you have your immigration papers?”

The man replied quietly once again.

“Sir you are required by law to have papers with you at all times. It is against the law under U.S. immigration codes to travel with out these papers and documents.”

A quiet but terrified utterance…

The soldier has a louder tone now “Sir…have you ever been arrested?”

Same quiet utterance…

The scene is unfolding behind me and I don’t want to turn around  to see the result of this encounter but I hear rustling and a commotion and I’m certain the man was escorted forcibly from the train. I feel like a traitor somehow, for simply sitting there…I feel uncomfortable and privileged within what feels like a new fascistic frightening America… we sat there as though this was all OK and normal? It is quiet now.  Non of the other passengers look at each other…eyes downward pretending to focus on their papers and magazines.

The train lurches forward and I am headed home.

A little bit of heaven...

In our family the rule is, you cannot visit the Sea, be it the Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico...where ever, without putting your feet in or tasting a little bit of the salt on your tongue and enjoying the sandy grit crunching between your teeth. It can be 32° outside – no matter – get in touch with that salt water and be part of a watery connection that has touched the other side of the earth. 

What an awe inspiring vastness – so much water – so much horizon that you can see the curve of the planet...the smell of sea life and catch the hypnotic pulse of waves tumbling in and receding back out, curling in again and mixing with the next roll of serf creating a glorious rhythmic sound – scent – texture; And the edges of sea foam over my feet making my toes sink into the moving liquid sand underneath. 

The perfection of it makes my eyes tear up, and I have a familiar feeling of extraordinary well-being that I haven’t felt in a while.

My dear, long time Austin friend Ann had to fly into LA for a conference in Redondo Beach so we drove down to meet her. She greeted us at her hotel room door jumping up and down like a small child full of glee “ Hi!! Great to see you! Come on in and come over here because you won’t believe it! You can see Sea Lions right from my balcony! They sound like barking dogs, and you can watch them swimming it’s just so adorable!”

There they were…probably 100 sea lions jumping off of a rock wall, gliding through the water playing with each other and looking quite adorable, it was true! The sounds they made were amazing...different dynamics and different pitches in their calls to each other like a complicated and energetic conversation. 

These sounds were not the most graceful sounds in nature but sounds that made you laugh every time they barked and grunted at each other. 

However we later discovered that at three in the morning while trying to find sleep the sound coming through the balcony door sounded more like deranged beagles en masse or possibly a gaggle of old men with Laryngeal problems trying to cough something up.

Don’t Sea Lions sleep at night? Evidently not! I think that’s when they start to party on the rocks!

Anyway the sun is up now and Redondo beach is beautiful.  

I am amazed that I can be in such a lovely relaxed open place along the Pacific Ocean as this, and still be so close to an enormous city like Los Angeles.

Pretty cool.

The sea on the rocks

A California Brown Pelican...stunning.

Sea plant...also stunning.

A pier...storm worn.

Detail of pier.