Good things happening!!!

Good things happening!!!


This last week marked the first working with the amazing Press Here Publicity to promote my new EP called "The Forest EP" to be released this fall on Red Valise Records.

i also looked back over the last year of some footage and pasted together this video with a rough demo i did of a song i wrote whilst i was driving across the country in 2009. This journey took me a lot of places mentally and physically and i have my friend Jeaneen to thank for being my driving companion and muse for the trip.

hope you all like it and stay tuned for more and LOTS of upcoming shows!!!

some new music i have been listening to

check out DARK DARK DARK at
http://www.myspace.com/darkdarkdarkband

they are super folky and amazing... beautiful moody strings etc. My friend Rose introduced me to them and i am officially in love

also,

my boyfriend introduced me to Glasser and Still Corners this week. AMAZING
http://www.myspace.com/glasssser

http://www.myspace.com/stillcorners

that is all... have a great saturday! i am super lucky as i am being taken to the great jones spa for a little R and R with my man.

xx

ORLY!

my friend Nadia Ackerman made this awesome video of our friend Orly.... how amazing is her voice!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt7P7oOuzgs

HOLY HELL HOW GOOD ARE THESE BANDS?

it has been such a long time since i have written. I am sitting at my favorite place to ponder on the computer in Seattle. It's called Oddfellows and they serve the most delicious bloody mary's and amazing food.

I wanted to write this blog because for a while now, i have been thinking about all the amazing musicians that i know and how much i genuinely LOVE their music. I thought it might be a good idea to list them here for you all to check out when you get some free time. I know i LOVE hearing about new music so here goes....


EGO PUPPETS My good friend Eric sent me his music a while back and i can't stop listening.. boppy and dark all at the same time!!! http://www.myspace.com/egopuppets

KATE TUCKER.... I play keys and sing backup for this southern rock sweatheart! http://www.myspace.com/katetuckermusic

EDISON WOODS.... i play keys and sing in this mini rock orchestra. Julia's music makes my heart soar http://www.myspace.com/edisonwoods

KAISER CARTEL.... i played piano and sang backup for their album release show and i am BUSTING to do mroe... their new record is out now and i promise you wont be sorry if you buy it http://www.myspace.com/kaisercartel

DANI ELLIOTT..... this girl has some pipes! she sings with me on my own band project and also with the likes of Wheatus and MIA. i cant wait for her new music to be available. it is AMAZING http://www.myspace.com/danielleelliottmusic

EL MAY... I have been a big fan of this Aussie's music for quite some time. Last year, i had the pleasure of working under the same roof as her for a music house and we became friends. Her music is just as friendly and beautiful as her soul
http://www.myspace.com/el_may

ORLY..... This Aussie has some serious soul and often plays at Rockwood msuic hall to a packed audience. buy her EP!
http://www.myspace.com/orlymusic

NADIA ACKERMAN.... AUSTRALIAN!!!! need i say more? ok i will say one more thing "LIGHTHOUSE" best song ever . go see for yourself
http://nadiaackerman.com/

THE HIPSTONES... TOO MUCH SOUL FOR MY LITTLE BOOTS! AMAZING! http://www.myspace.com/thehipstones

GEORGIA HAEGE.... this girl has so much versatility and can sing anything. she has a few bands in the workshttp://www.myspace.com/georgiahaegemusic

STEVVI ALEXANDER.... her music is uplifting and soulful. buy her record at CD baby http://www.myspace.com/stevvialexander

THE MADISON SQUARE GARDENERS.... my favorite NYC/southern band http://www.myspace.com/madisonsquaregardeners

TAURUS.... Chris Morrisey plays with many people i know. I knew he was good but i was blown away when i saw his show recently at the Rockwood. Honestly, this is the next Jeff Buckley/Rufus Wainright songwriting genius. i only wish he would hurry up with mixing his record so we could have something to listen to
http://www.facebook.com/taurusmusic

FINDLAY BROWN .... um was Roy Orbison born again in this guy? AMAZING http://www.myspace.com/findlaybrown

KATRINA BLACKSTONE.... SO LUCKY i get to call her a friend. http://www.myspace.com/katrinablackstone

BRIANNA SAGE.... can she hurry up with more gigs and records? http://www.myspace.com/briannasage

KELLY JONES... best pop record ever http://www.myspace.com/kellyjones

MARK WATROUS..... plays with some amazing musicians but a genius in his own right http://www.myspace.com/markwatrousmusic

RED LETTER AGENT..... yes yes yes http://www.redletteragent.com/

ROB GENTRY... sounds like Prince..... need i say more?
http://www.myspace.com/robgentry

JOHN BALICANTA.... my producer and co writer. he is pure genius. as far as i know, there is a solo record in the works as well as maybe another project for his band Lola Ray. watch that space. like for reals.
http://www.myspace.com/johnbalicanta

all of these people are my friends and i am so lucky to be able to say that they are. I can't believe i have such amazingly creative folk in my life...

please check them out... support them by buying their records and attending their shows... keep live music alive and help us do so...

xx johanna and the dusty floor

www.myspace.com/joahnnaandthedustyfloor

Los Angeles Hiking!

I am in LA for about another week. Packing.... again! this time i am moving back to NY! i feel like my whole life is scattered across the country! it has been such an interesting year though so i can't complain.

i am including some pictures of my hike that i do. I live in Los Feliz right below the Griffith Park observatory and i tell you, that hike is amazing!

the best part about my hike yesterday however, is that at the top, i discovered a man with a pet cockatoo named Alice who talks and everything! she just perched while he hiked and enjoyed the scenery.

Cockatoo's are native to Australia. It was interesting timing seeing as i am moving yet again. Seems like no matter how far away you are, home is always in your heart

one of my all time favourite poems

Alfred Noyes (1880-1958)

The Highwayman

PART ONE

I

THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

II

He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

III

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

IV

And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

V

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

VI

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonliglt, and galloped away to the West.



PART TWO

I

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.

II

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

III

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

IV

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

V

The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain .

VI

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

VII

Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.

VIII

He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

IX

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

* * * * * *

X

And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

XI

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Sad music and I

It's the day after Christmas and i have to say i had a pretty good day. I spent it learning new music For the band Edison Woods that i play for in NY. we have a show coming up in Jan and you should def check it out www.edisonwoods.net

I wrote music, learned more music again for Kate Tucker www.katetucker.com, ate some food, watched the hangover (funniest movie of 09) all in all, a pretty good day.

It was the first i didn't see my folks and it felt weird. not bad weird, just a little more lighter. I am sure one day they will read this.... but i guess the point of a blog is to be honest right?

We don't really have christmas anymore since my sister died in '94.

we usually try to have a tree and forge laughter in the saftey of whomever we have managed to convince to spend christmas with us. As much as i am so grateful to my parents for always keeping things as normal as possible, It always felt very strained. I could see the frown in my mothers eyes, and the sadness and meloncholy in my father's face.

No matter how much you try to cover up sorrow and pain of that magnitude, it always comes out some way or another.

yesterday, i went about my day quietly reflecting on Alexa (my sister)
It has been so many years and this is just another time marking to let me know that she is moving further and further out of my life. Gone, but certainly not forgotten.

Which, brings me to the reason for this post. My friend J.R introduced me to a profound and brutally honest record. The Antlers. Heard of them? me too but i always thought they were scuzzy rock. however, this effort blinded me completely. The song 'Kettering' reminded me so much of the times my sister was in and out of hospitals and medical institutions. it sent shivers up my spine in a way i have not felt in a long time.

Sometimes it is comforting to be brought back to a particular moment, even if it was a traumatic one.

The album called 'Hospice' (clever and DUH) is amazing and i highly suggest you pick up a copy. here is a link to the pitchfork article. Please read about ti as you will understand how personal this album was to make

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13196-hospice/