The Domino effect

It's already February!

2020 is unfolding with so many possibilities, and I feel like I'm often on the edge of my seat looking ahead to see how one event will ultimately affect another like a series of falling dominoes.

On a microcosmic level in my personal world of possibilities one hopeful event will determine the next...which is exciting (I'll tell you about it in my next blog! hint: think travel, recording, performing) and I'm trying to take a Zen approach to living with many unknown quotients at this writing...being in the moment and simply going with the flow. I'm actually loving the ever changing aspects of my life and my work. The uncertainty feels inspiring and it makes me appreciate where I'm at in any given moment more than I used to.

On a much bigger scale on the domino effect line, I'm waiting and watching to see how our world is profoundly affected by political decisions every single day.  I check the news on my iPhone first thing in the morning to see what's changed in the world while I slept...what fuming tweets Trump has unleashed on social media...what natural disasters have occurred due to climate change...maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and today will be the day that everyone wakes up and decides to take action towards positive change, and be kind to one another...politicians and corporations will wake up deciding to be honest and suddenly want to consider humanity and the environment ahead of personal gain.

That would be amazing no?

One thing I am absolutely certain about is our fabulous women led bands music festival coming up on the horizon in Austin Texas!  Lulufest 2020 will be on May 16th & 17th this year and we couldn't be more excited about the line up.

May 16th at St Eds: 
The absolutely brilliant grammy nominated vocalist Kate McGarry, and one of my favorite artists in the world, pianist /vocalist Dena Derose, and from the Bay area saxophonist Kristin Strom all fronting their own projects and the evening will culminate with an all star line up on Peggy Stern's closing set with the "Estrella Salsa" band which I'm thrilled to be a member of.

May 17th:
Master classes in the afternoon with Kate McGarry, Dena Derose, Suzi Stern, Peggy Stern, Kristen Strom

May 17th in the evening: "Lulufest Afterglow" party with  LeeAnn Atherton, Emily Gimble, Suzi Stern, Danielle Reich, Peggy Stern, Sharon Burbonnais, Rachel Spencer, Austin Women's Jazz Choir and more!

More info. about the upcoming festival, tickets, locations, hours, and past Lulufest's at: https://lulu-fest.com/

Keep your eye on this site for info. on upcoming exciting developments and see you in Austin in May!

Musically Yours,

Suzi

2020 in 2020!

A new year! I’ve been sending out emails, texts and cards wishing the people I love a happy, healthy, inspired New Year…hoping that we can all improve our vision of what this world is capable of being. 2020 in 2020 is my new motto! 

I still hold onto the hope that we can take action and turn things around…environmentally, politically and emotionally. The world is so divided and on edge. My resolution is to begin microcosmically with my own self improvement…being more involved…a kinder, more empathetic person…smiling and engaging with strangers. I realize it will take a hell of a lot more than that to turn our messed up world right but I’m determined to practice kindness and recognize goodness, joy, and the delights that are still very much a part of my extremely fortunate life. 

Make no mistake…I think concrete things like voting, giving to charity, volunteering, recycling, composting, spreading joy through your music and art…yes, yes, absolutely do that too of course!! But the kindness thing is majorly needed right now. 

I also have to work on chilling more around small stressors in my immediate life that in the big picture don’t matter at all…like social media stress, texting, tweeting, instagram envy (Oh man! Everyone is doing cooler shit than me!!) and freaking out when computers don’t function when you need them the most…”where did my mailing list go all of a sudden?!"

Can I talk to you about computers for a minute?

Anyone who owns a computer knows that they're fantastic when they work but on the other hand they’re a nightmare when they don’t work...capable of turning you into a ranting angry crazed lunatic.

 If your livelihood depends upon the computer functioning, one can feel hostage to whatever technological "glitch du jour" pops up on the screen freezing the arch of your mission dead in its tracks.

I have a dependency on my laptop and its functionality like most of us do; I schedule students, rehearsals, gigs, meetings, write and archive my lyrics and music etc. but my partner depends on it for every single step he takes in his creative process for his work. He’s a composer who writes scores, orchestrates, edits and communicates with filmmakers through a series of keyboards and computers that seem to work for him maybe… 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time he is in his studio cursing like the afore mentioned lunatic, rebooting, unplugging, crawling under diode blinking machinery, unraveling and re-patching cables.

We’ve been married for 12 years and I feel like the computers in his studio are these other entities that came along with him when I said “I do”. Some relationships inherit children from former marriages…or pets…or a piece of ugly furniture that has sentimental value to the other guy so you willingly take it on…but these computers have a life and a mind of their own and they rule the roost.

I truly do understand the fragility of the whole system and that one thing out of whack stops not only my hubbies whole entire creative process, but makes it impossible to meet his deadlines which can be unbelievably stressful.

The day will be humming along swimmingly, then I’ll hear the sound… The dreaded sound…the all too familiar guttural caveman grunt coming out of the studio...I will think “oh crap the computer’s not working but...maybe it’s OK” then profanities of blue come streaming up the hallway and I think “nope... not good...I’ll go hide in my room with a book till it blows over” and so it goes. 

We live with this unreliable temperamental room mate named Mac who has been known to very suddenly alter our weekend plans, keep his owner up sometimes for 24 hours trying to figure out how to get the guy to talk again, tease and taunt by working like a champ and then without warning and with no rhyme or reason, stick his little electronic nose in the air and stop all communication.

There is such an intense sense of relief when my hubby the composer comes into the room and says “OK I figured it out! It was minor!” That proclamation can come after 5 minutes of swearing,or worst case scenario several days of fiddling and sending out for parts and taking the computers apart and putting them back together again. One never quite knows how these episodes will play out.

I’ve learned to adjust to living with Mac. Like any temperamental artist, he can be fabulous and inspiring, or completely frustrating and elusive.

Here’s to the three of us living under the same roof and making beautiful music together in 2020. 

On the tiny- teeniest level, which is my very small life...I believe this will be an amazing, beautiful, loving year of positive forward movement.

On a much grander scale I pray that all of these small gestures that each one of us is very capable of putting out into the atmosphere, will collectively make a positive difference that we can feel globally. 

Happy 2020 from Suzi, George & Mac

George at work...things are hummin'

My little room mate Mac

Life can be sweet...remember this,