This is what it looks like when my friends dance around on the beach with paper airplanes at sunset to a recording of “The Aeroplane Over the Sea” that I recorded on my laptop in the middle of the night.

While I am busy crafting new songs with crazy sounds (shhhhhh there might be a new album in the works), I am also playing in the band Princess Pangolin. Come to the Silverlake Lounge on December 20th to catch me playing not only a set of my own songs but as the omnichordist for the lovely Pangolin crew. Yum.

Just in case you thought we were super serious about this whole thing, here’s one of my favorite outtakes from our shoot, featuring Nikita Sorokin rapping with reckless abandon.

If you are in LA, come to Timewarp Music tomorrow Friday the 20th and see me do my thing with Nikitabean. We got interviewed after our last gig at Pehrspace by a wonderful new blog, The Underground Beat. During our interview, a drunk girl dressed up as a pink sheep sat at our feet and started belching…so there’s always that.

As a rambling end note, I always tell myself that I will be more diligent about my blog but I find myself living life as opposed to recording it, which sparks the debate the duality of a recorded life versus a lived one. Are our experiences more valid once they are recorded or does it kill their vitality? This is a topic that spins through my mind and gets tangled up a bit…any thoughts are welcome. In the meantime, read some Henry Miller, sing some songs and get out there live it up.

First, you can catch me on Feb 12 at HM 157 playing at the I Heart Mom Nature fest, an all day fiesta to raise money for a new community garden and art space. Couldn’t ask for a more delightful event! I’m on at 7pm but seriously, there are some amazing bands playing so I’d stick around all day and evening if I were you.

I’m also playing on Feb 18th at Enid and Edgars, my favorite vintage spot in Silverlake and on Feb 23rd at a fantastic showcase in Pasadena at the Terrace…more news will be posted on those shows soon, complete with fancypants fliers and facebook links and whatnot.

So I know you are dying to know what to get me for my birthday…last year, you were all so incredibly generous and you, yes YOU donated and helped me make my debut album.  For my birthday this year, please tell everyone you possibly can about the album you helped to create, grab a new copy and give it to a friend, blog about it, tweet about it, the works. Looking back on this past year, I can’t help but delight in the adventures that my music has brought to me and none of them would be possible without you. I’ll always be that strange February baby writing songs on my piano in my music cave but I’d never have the courage to share them without you. So please, spread the word my dears! You can quite easily nab the cute little widgets from my Bandcamp page just like the one below. Fancypants INDEED.

Keep an eye out for more shows…I’ve been chatting with some of my favorite venues in LA and am looking forward to playing with my talented friends in the next few months. To tide you over, here’s “Play My Heart,” my favorite little love song from outer space, featuring the brilliant Nikita Sorokin and lovely Leah Harmon as recorded at our epic Bordello performance in December.

However, instead of drifting off to sleep, I read the latest blog from one of my favorite LA venues, the wondrous Echo Curio. I was extremely saddened to learn that after a ridiculous run in with the police (who shuts down a venue while the audience is singing “Happy Birthday” to the performer??), this much loved venue is indeed closed. You can read the whole story on their site but to summarize, it’s a rather absurd tale of bureaucracy. I fully understand why venues need permits but I cannot abide by a system that makes getting those permits nearly impossible to due Kafka-esque government navigation strategies and high monetary prices. Why does it have to cost so much money to provide such a positive service to the community? Why does it cost so much time that Grant and Justin, who have volunteered for countless hours at the Curio, lost patience with the process?

A year ago, I picked the Echo Curio as the venue for my e.p. release show because I loved all the shows I’d seen there. I loved that the audience was attentive and genuinely curious about the music. I loved that the bills were eclectic and inspiring at best and entertaining at worst. I loved seeing friends and strangers playing there, looking at the art on the walls, trying not to trip in the over my own feet in the bathroom (ok, the bathroom was small but I’m clumsy, forgive me). I played my very show with a band at the Echo Curio. I accidentally conceived of the concept for my first album sitting on the curb outside the Echo Curio with my friend Karin after a great set by Fol Chen. I did my first live webcast from the Echo Curio. Without realizing it, the Echo Curio became an important part of my musical identity and I am grateful for it. They gave me and other artists a chance to experiment, to grow into ourselves and to find our best selves. As a new musician, it was hard getting people in LA to book me. Bookers want to know your draw, to know your crowd, to know how much promotion you can do for their venue. I definitely understand that venues need to make money to stay open. However, The Echo Curio never asked me to bring people to a gig, to pre-sell tickets, never pressured me to do anything except make the best music I could possibly make. My shows at the Curio were without exception my best ones, with my biggest crowds because they let me focus on being a musician and not a promoter. The Curio did their job in creating a fantastic place for creativity and I did my job creating a show for them.

Every city, especially Los Angeles, needs a venue like the Echo Curio. Of course I love going to see shows at “established” venues like the Troubadour and the Wiltern but there is an inexplicable magic in seeing a band evolve into the band they might be when they play those venues. Seeing an artist in such an intimate setting is invaluable and performing in such a space is transformative. Perhaps most importantly, its vital to allow the arts to thrive in all forms so that artists can ascend and grow instead of being discouraged by a lack of space to display and perform their work. Every band needs that first chance to put themselves out there and the Echo Curio was the spot to be.
Perhaps the best we can all do is to unite together, to support the smaller and bigger venues, to encourage each other to try something new.

The Echo Curio is dead. Long live the Echo Curio.

As We are comes out today. Please listen and let my songs keep you company. I hope you love them.

First stop was a night in Marin to visit my sister, brother in law and niece on my way to Portland. This is what it looked like when you take a picture with an iPhone using your left hand while driving over the Richmond bridge.

Upon arriving I had the pleasure of seeing my niece Sabrina. If you do not think she is cute, you are clearly 1. not human 2. hate everything that is good in the world.

Soon, it was time for my very first trip through northern California all the way up to Portland. It’s embarrassing to admit that I never went on a road trip as a child or an adult really, so this was my first BIG DRIVE. Aside from Shasta and the woods that follow it, the top of California above the Central Valley seems rather extraneous to the time space continuum. However, all that empty space gave me time to clear my head, listen to new mixes and appreciate the modern wonders of the iPod shuffle. This trip was powered by Apple, apparently. There were also some hilarious signs and some of those views that I hear people call “scenic.”

I made it to Portland in about 9 1/2 hours which means that I was likely traveling at warp speed for a portion of the trip. It’s entirely possible that I just drove that fast because my butt was starting to get numb after hour 6 but I persevered. Once there, I settled into my dear friend Ryan’s house and we got veggie burgers and beer up the street. It was noted that Ryan looks disconcertingly like Ben Folds. For better or worse, Ryan is not in fact Ben Folds.

This is what my bedroom looked like on tour. Couches became my new BFF. However, I learned that my insomniac ways translate strangely to sleeping in new environments. I neurotically brought my own pillow and ear plugs but neglected to bring an eye mask to block out light (if that isn’t the most Jewish princess-y statement I have ever made, I don’t know what is.). Things went mostly well except for the night when I dreamed about going to a chocolate shop and awoke to discover that I was attempting to eat my own ear plug which I had removed from my ear in my sleep. I hope that none of you awake with a wax earplug in your mouth because it’s all sorts of confusing.

The next day I woke up bright and early by Ginger the adorable doggie who lives at Ryan’s house.
8am almost wasn’t horrible because it involved this moment.

After Ginger left for her walk, I promptly passed out again and THEN got up for real to go to birthday lunch with Samantha aka ShiverstheNinja. We stuffed our faces with pasta and all was well in the world.

That night I played my very first out of LA show at the Twin Paradox Cafe in Portland. It was an absolutely darling venue with a nice old upright and sweet staff who gave me delicious tea and let me webcast the entire set. They host an open mic every Monday so if you are in Portland, do swing by and give this spot some love. They hold a special place in my heart as my very first tour stop. Look how pretty it is inside! Go visit them now!

Before I drove up to Tacoma, I had the pleasure of spending some time at Powell’s Books and having a picnic in Cathedral Park. Couldn’t have imagined a more idyllic spot or better company.

Next stop, Tacoma. Having graduated from the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma has a special place in my heart. I knew I had arrived when it immediately smelled horrible and Radiohead came on my shuffle as if to signify yes, Tacoma still smells funky and dour music matches the scenery perfectly. Upon arrival, I went to Lele’s on Hilltop and was delighted to see that not only had they expanded but that they redecorated to look like some sort of deranged Tiki room from an alternate universe. Photographs do not do the space justice. Suffice to say their spring rolls and swimming angel were still amazing.

In the morning, I followed my friend Robert’s suggestion and went to Valhalla for coffee. Good god. It was divine. Following that, I decided to pretend I was in college again. Visiting the UPS campus made me feel like an old creepster but after being mistaken for a freshman in the cafe, I guess I must not look THAT old and creepy. I had the pleasure of seeing my thesis adviser and several of the honors program staff so I was feeling pretty hopped up on nostalgia when I arrived for my show at the Mandolin Cafe. They had a lovely baby grand and gracious sound guy who wasn’t phased by my strange coterie of instruments. I happily played songs for a bunch of friends and a rather befuddled dinner crowd as well as a few lovely ladies who heard about my show on this weird thing called the Internet. The highlight of that show was definitely the little boy who was mystified by the marxophone. He sat with his dad watching the set and then came up to say hello afterward. He cautiously pressed the tines on the marxophone and seemed ridiculously pleased with the results.

To wrap up my uber-nostalgic time in Tacoma, I stayed at my old house where I lived with my housemate Cheryl, who is now married to Erik and has an insanely cute dog named Lulu. I know musicians are supposed to take pictures of venues and stuff for all this promotion business but frankly, I just like taking pictures of awesome dogs.

Also, I went shopping at Vanity Vintage in Tacoma on 6th street where I found a gorgeous beaded dress from the 20′s that I wore for one of the house shows I played in Lafayette. If you are in Tacoma, GO THERE NOW. If you are not in Tacoma, check out their Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/melsvanity
for they are made of pure girlish frippery.

My next stop was in Seattle and I was so worried about traffic that I got there about 2 hours early. I must remember for my next trip that coming from LA, my sense of traffic is completely skewed so when someone in another region says there is bad traffic, what they mean is that cars may slow down for a bit and then things go back to normal, not THE ROAD BECOMES A PARKING LOT BEWARE FOR YOUR SANITY. At least I ended up on the most quintessentially Seattle street ever.

My show at the Mix was super fun and the audience was definitely one of my favorite crowds I’ve ever had at a show. There were omnichord enthusiasts and guys yelling “Yeah!!” after my songs so basically it was pretty fantastic. I definitely have to hit this spot again when I go back on tour.

It’s entirely possible that I am a masochist for I drove to Portland straight after my Seattle show and then drove to the bay area the very next day. My butt was yet again displeased with me. Remind me next time I tour to get into superlative shape so when I drive for hours on end, I don’t feel like I am slowly morphing into the Marshmellow Man from Ghostbusters. Once in Marin, I hung out again with my smooshy niece yet again and then it was off to Lafayette for my house shows with the incomparable Unwoman!

In case you are unaware, Unwoman is the ridiculously talented Erica Mulkey. You can check her out http://www.unwoman.com and indulge yourself in her lovely tunes.

The house shows themselves were definitely the most intimate shows of the tour. When I first opened my mouth to sing, it was so quiet in the room that I nearly swallowed my own words. It’s far easier for me to play in a room full of noisy people who I have to lure into my set than a room of silent, attentive audience members who are already there to be appreciative. The thing that quells my nerves when performing is the idea that no one is really listening (silly, I know, but effective) so I had to face these performances head on. Once I got into the swing of things, I had a wonderful time connecting with the people who gathered to hear us play and with the awesome webcast audience. It certainly helped that I got to see two fantastic sets from Erica!

I got to spend time with Miss Unwoman and her family, who were such gracious and fun hosts. We need to work on teleporting so we can spend more time together. Also, I need to invest in a corset because Erica is blinding me with adorable hotness and I look like the fabled Boob-leg. It is a mystery to me where the rest of my torso goes in photographs.

If you missed our sets, you can watch the show from Saturday here http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9219724 and from Sunday here http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9238926

Now I am back in LA, wrapping my album and listening to all the final mixes. Please sign up on my email list so we can keep in touch and I can tell you the latest news on “As We Are.” This tour was such a magical experience and I can’t even dream of what is to come…