December 12, 2008

“Floozy Tune,” the opening cut of my blues/jazz CD, What Living’s All About, has garnered a runner-up position in yet a THIRD songwriting contest, this time as a Finalist in the 100% Music Songwriting Contest.

In summer 2008, “Floozy Tune” received Honorable Mention (7th place) in the World division (which includes jazz), in the Indie International Songwriting Contest. Here’s their profile page on me.

The first award for “Floozy Tune” was in the Top 20 Finalists in the Jazz Division of the Unisong International Songwriting Contest, in 2007.

Tags: music jazz wlaa aliciabaylaurel blues singersongwriter floozytune 100percentmusicsongwritingcontes indieinternationalsongwritingcon unisonginternationalsongwritingc songwritingcontest

August 5, 2008
Today “Floozy Tune,” the opening cut on my 3rd CD, What Living’s All About, has placed in yet a SECOND international songwriting contest, as Honorable Mention (7th place) in the World division (which includes jazz), in the Indie International Songwriting Contest. Here’s their profile page on me.

The first award for “Floozy Tune” was in the Top 20 Finalists in the Jazz Division of the Unisong International Songwriting Contest, in 2007.

Tags: music jazz wlaa aliciabaylaurel blues singersongwriter floozytune indieinternationalsongwritingcon

I’m so happy. I got my fifth consecutive positive review of What Living’s All About, this time in Blues Revue (“The World’s Blues Magazine”) January 2008 issue, written by Tom Hyslop in the “Blues Bites” section. I just posted it on the What Living’s All About review page.

You can get your own copy of What Living’s All About from CD Baby, on iTunes, or from this site (I’ll sign it for you).  You can download free the one cut no reviewer has been able to ignore, America the Blues, here.

Tags: music jazz wlaa aliciabaylaurel blues cdbaby itunes americatheblues bluesrevue

Marinated from birth in the world music, classical music, jazz and Broadway tunes my parents played on the hi-fi, I succeeded (after two years of begging) in starting piano lessons at age seven, mastered the Bumble Bee Boogie by age twelve, and was levitated into learning guitar and writing songs when I saw Bob Dylan play, shortly before I turned fourteen. A couple of years later, my cousin Jan Lebow married John Fahey, and one day I cornered him when he was bored at a family party and got him to teach me open tunings. That became my sound.

Most of my musician friends played rock and roll, so I was overjoyed when I first visited Hawaii in 1969 and discovered that open-tuned guitar picking was the national music. Between 1969 and 1974 I enjoyed a phenomenal career as a bestselling author, illustrator, book designer and media icon for hipdom and sustainability. My book Living on the Earth was the first paperback book ever on the New York Times Bestseller List, and it’s still in print in English, Japanese and Korean. I wrote, illustrated and designed eight more books, appeared on talk shows, and got written up in lots of magazines.

In 1974, I moved to Maui. There I learned to play slack key guitar and sing Hawaiian songs from some of the most soulful people I’d ever met anywhere. I learned to sing in Hawaiian from recording artist G-girl Keli’iho’omalu’s mother, legendary singer and choreographer Auntie Clara Kalalau Tolentino. I learned slack key guitar from Clara’s son-in-law Jerome Smith in Hana, and from Uncle Sol Kawaihoa in Wailuku. In the early ‘80’s, I began playing in restaurants and bars for the tourists. Over a period of twenty years I studied vocal technique with five teachers, including pop singer/songwriter Pamela Polland. (I STILL take vocal tech lessons!) My lifelong love of jazz (the first LP I bought at age 13 was Local Color by Mose Allison) led me to learn a repertoire of standards and the jazz chords I needed to accompany myself. In the late ‘80’s I started playing at weddings and learned love songs of many genres. From 1988 to 1999 I owned a wedding business that put on 3000 weddings, and I sang at hundreds of them, sometimes accompanying a troop of hula dancers.

In 2000, Random House released the thirtieth anniversary edition of Living on the Earth. I sold the wedding business and went on tour for eight months with an original one-woman show of comedy stories from my life and folk songs I wrote during the time I created the book. I self-produced Music From Living on the Earth, a solo CD of these songs, to sell while on the book tour, and, to my astonishment, it was not only reviewed but selected as an album pick on All Music Guide. Then a psychedelic folk radio show in Belgium started playing it. Then a Japanese record company released it.

When I returned to Hawaii from the tour, I self-produced Living in Hawaii Style, a CD of original and historic Hawaiian songs, mostly slack key guitar and tropical jazz. The CD features Sam Ahia, arguably the best jazz guitarist/vocalist in the islands, and Lei’ohu Ryder, a reknowned spiritualist and chanter with a string of fantastic CDs of her own. This CD got airplay both in Hawaii and on the legendary Ports of Paradise radio show in California, was released in Japan, and, in July 2002, I was the only woman headlining at the Big Island Slack Key Guitar Festival. I toured in Hawaii and California to promote this CD with a new one-woman story and music show.

I’ve spent a lot of time around avant-garde improvisational musicians in my life. I lived with Ramon Sender, one of the founding composers of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the early ‘60’s, and co-designer of the Buchla Box, the first synthesizer built on the west coast. In the early ‘70’s, we co-authored a book, Being of the Sun, containing information about drones, modes and open tunings. In the late ‘90’s, I began partnering with Joe Gallivan, one of the pillars of the jazz fusion scene in New York and in Europe, who was the first to play a Moog drum in concert, who played in the Gil Evans Orchestra for two years and in a quartet with Larry Young for three years, and about whom an entire section is devoted in the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD.

These men have been mentors to me, and, while Ramon’s influence is in my first CD, Joe’s influence is most evident in my newest release, What Living’s All About. Good luck in real estate afforded me the luxury of a great LA recording studio with Scott Fraser (audio engineer and producer for the Kronos Quartet) at the controls and a fabulous line-up of session players, notably avant-garde/rock/jazz guitar legend Nels Cline (best known as the guitarist with Wilco, and who I met when his band opened for Joe Gallivan’s band at the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival in New York City in June 2000), and John B. Williams, bassist for Nancy Wilson, the Manhattan Transfer, the Tonight Show Big Band and the Arsenio Hall Show Band. I co-produced the CD with Ron Grant, an Academy Award winning film composer, who arranged and conducted some of the material, but I also relied heavily upon the improvisational skills of my great players, and they surpassed my expectations.

In Performing Songwriter Magazine’s May 2007 Issue, “What Living’s All About” is one of the Editor’s 12 Top DIY Picks, and in June 2007, the first track, “Floozy Tune,” placed in the Top 20 Finalists in the Jazz Category of the Unisong International Songwriting Contest. Raves reviews of the CD appeared in eJazz News in London (written by John Stevenson, the editor), and in Feminist Review in New York City. The second track, “America The Blues” was a featured download on indieguitarists.com in August 2007.

In the summer of 2006, songs from “What Living’s All About” got airplay in Europe and in the USA, and in October 2006, I did eight concerts in four weeks in Japan. In February 2007 I did three concerts in Phoenix, where the CD has gotten a lot of play on Radio Free Phoenix, and in May and June 2007, I toured Japan again, this time performing 15 concerts, including two festivals, in seven weeks, and appearing as the subject of a TV documentary on Asahi Broadcasting Station. In May 2008 I return to Japan for another tour, including a concert at the opening of a gallery show of my art in Tokyo. I’m currently based in Los Angeles, working on creating an animated children’s television series that features my drawings, stories and music.

Tags: music acidfolk hawaii jazz wlaa nelscline aliciabaylaurel ramonsender johnfahey gospel blues johnbwilliams psychfolk mflote lihs hawaiianmusic slackkeyguitar leiohuryder joegallivan samahia bobdylan moseallison pamelapolland rongrant

Here’s a free download of my matriotic anthem, America the Blues, the second cut from my most recent CD, What Living’s All About, featuring avant-garde guitar legend Nels Cline as the roar of the industrial-military complex (and Ron Grant, Jody Ashworth, and me as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra).

Happy Interdependence Day, to all people, animals, plants, planets, stars, universes and microbes.

And while we're on the subjects of patriotism, democracy, and the government of the United States of America, please listen to and read Keith Olbermann's call for the resignation of Bush and Cheney. 

Tags: environment music wlaa nelscline sustainability peace politics earth imperialism blues environmentalism globalwarming socialjustice americatheblues avantgardemusic humpbackwhale powwow industrialmilitarycomplex americathebeautiful patriotism matriotism freedownload independenceday julyfourth americanflag depleteduranium keitholbermann

On Saturday, January 27th, 2007. I played two hours of my music at the Paisley Violin, a supremely hip small eatery on Grand Avenue in the downtown arts district of Phoenix, functioning as a second living room for the boho denizens of the neighborhood. Musician Chris Warmuth, who lent me a PA system which he gallantly carried from house to car to club to car to house for me, ran into half a dozen friends while we were there. My new friend Sarah Curtis came to this show, too, to sell stuff from my table while I was playing.

This being a CD release party for my most recent recording, I played and sang ten jazz, blues and gospel songs and two jazz standards from What Living’s All About, accompanied by a version of the final mix from the CD that excluded my recorded vocal and guitar parts.

Well, all but one song. Nature Boy was recorded rubato (outside of a time signature), improvised in the studio by me, upright bassist John B. Williams, and percussionist Enzo Tedesco, all of us playing at the same time. In order to perform the song with the recording minus my voice, I would have had to memorize the entire improvisation and duplicate exactly what I sang on the recording. That kind of misses the whole point of doing an improvisation, which is to spontaneously create music together that has never existed before. So, Nature Boy was relegated to being played (as a finished recording) during one of my breaks.

I played on an elevated stage surrounded by wonderful nature photographs by Greg Lansing, whose show lasted the month of January. After my second set, Chris, Sarah and I had a delicious meal at the bar. Check out their fabulous menu.

I brought a full panoply of my wares, and Gina, the manager at the Paisley Violin, offered to keep the table set up and sell the goods on it during the week to help publicize my second show at the Paisley, next Friday, February 2nd, from 7 to 8 PM on the evening of the First Friday monthly open gallery art walk.

Tags: music jazz wlaa aliciabaylaurel gospel blues johnbwilliams phoenix paisleyviolin artsdistrict natureboy edenahbez musicalimprovisation firstfridayartwalk

Friday, January 26, 2007. I visit Andy Olson and Cheryl Sweet at Radio Free Phoenix, their home-based local and internet radio station, for an interview.

Andy Olson is a veteran DJ of the early 1970’s FM radio revolution, which, he told me, played a big part in creating the singer/songwriter phenomenon of those days. The commercial stations on AM wouldn’t play the thoughtful, political and psychedelic music that was born of the consciousness boom of the late 1960’s, but a bunch of maverick DJs used the unwanted FM bandwiths of the time to promote these songs. After they proved there was a large listening audience for the new singer/songwriters, the big labels began to pick them up and the commercial stations began to play them.

Andy and Cheryl in the recording studio of Radio Free Phoenix.

However, now that a few media megaliths own the great bulk of the radio stations and play only whatever the big record companies are promoting, a similar revolution is taking place on the Internet radio.  Maverick DJs are playing "indie" music,  that is, self-produced recordings by singer/songwriters that do not conform to the commercial norm.  That's me.  Thanks to artist Tracy Dove for giving a copy of What Living's All About to Cheryl Sweet last summer, and to DJs Andy Olson, Cheryl Sweet, Liz Boyle and Miss Holly King for playing four cuts from the CD ever since.

Andy told me that, since many commercial stations simply computerize their programs and no live DJ actually chooses or comments upon the music, in-studio radio interviews with musicians rarely air. But on non-commercial station programming and on Internet radio, the DJs and hosts welcome all kinds of content, including live interviews.

Considering the service that independent stations render to the community, they ought to be well-funded. However, most are running on scarce donations and volunteer work. Cheryl works nights as a cardiac nurse in a local emergency room, in addition to hosting her own radio show and, with Andy, raising four children. The station owes its continuation to her efforts.  Andy predicts that with the expansion of "wi-fi" (wireless internet connection) to cover entire cities, Internet radio will one day be as ubiquitous as conventional radio.

I loved being interviewed by Andy Olson and I hope you’ll enjoy listening to us. Click here to pick up a podcast of it.

Tags: podcast jazz aliciabaylaurel gospel blues singersongwriter indiemusic livingontheearth psychfolk radiofreephoenix internetradio noncommercialradio interview hawaiianslackkeyguitar leiohuryder

Friday night, January 26, 2007, I played an all-acoustic set at Fiddler’s Dream, a small night club at the back of the parking lot of the Friend’s Church of Phoenix, on Glendale Avenue and 17th Street in north Phoenix.

Staffed by volunteers and strict in its rules against electronic or amplified instruments, Fiddler’s Dream demands that its patrons maintain perfect silence during the performances, something rarely seen in the United States outside of classical music venues. In Europe, it’s not unusual at all. Audiences for all kinds of music actually stop talking and listen to live music.

The first of the two acts was Hans York, a German singer/songwriter/guitarist living in Seattle who had booked himself on a three month solo tour of various churches, house concerts, and other small venues, not unlike what I did in 2000 for eight months. I was enthralled with his guitar playing and his singing, and appreciated the gentleness and nature images in his lyrics.

What I noticed after I uploaded this photo to my computer is that Fiddler’s Dream actually does have sound reinforcement! See the two microphones on the ceiling on either side of the stage lights?

Hans and I each set out displays of our wares below the Fiddler’s Dream t-shirt rack.

Having an attentive audience turned on the comedienne in me. I just let her rip. Sarah Curtis, a lovely young friend of Tracy Dove’s, took the photos of me.

I performed songs from all three of my CDs, and I had fun playing with guitar the songs from What Living’s All About that I had recorded without guitar, so that people could hear how they sounded when I wrote them.

Tags: music jazz wlaa blues indiemusic psychfolk slackkeyguitar folkmusic fiddlersdream hansyork acousticmusic comedy

America The Blues
Lyrics and liner notes by Alicia Bay Laurel
from her new CD What Living’s All About

Podcast of America the Blues 

(Hear the first two minutes of this song on CD Baby)

This is a song about speaking truth to power—not only to despots, but to our own collective power. The operative lyric here is VOTE. If everyone who could vote actually did vote, we could elect representatives who would work with us to reverse the vast environmental, public health, diplomatic, and human rights problems we earth-dwellers face, and make this a sustainable, joyful world for all who live in it, now and in the future. To vote well, we need truthful media (for example Truthout.org or Commondreams.org.) Also, we vote daily with our money; we need to support businesses that further sustainability and social justice, and boycott the rest. We need elections with state-financed candidates and hand-countable paper audits. Thank you.

Katharine Lee Bates wrote the lyrics to American the Beautiful on July 4, 1893; the melody comes from the hymn Materna, composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1882. Ms. Bates, a professor of English literature at Wellesley College, prolific poet and author, and ardent feminist, lived openly as a lesbian with her lifelong partner, Katharine Coman, Dean and professor of economics at Wellesley.

Curiously, the lyrics to America the Blues also revealed themselves on July 4th, while I was registering voters for the 2004 presidential election.

Arranged by Alicia Bay Laurel and Ron Grant, Singing and Speaking Vocal, Rhythm Guitar: Alicia Bay Laurel, Speaking Vocals: Jody Ashworth and Jessica Williams, Vocal Harmonies: Alicia Bay Laurel, Ron Grant and Jody Ashworth, Electric Guitar: Nels Cline, Electronic Symphony Orchestra: Ron Grant, Upright Bass: John B.Williams, Drums: Enzo Tedesco

America, the beautiful,
You’re thorny as a rose:
Radiation, global warming
Poisoned food from GMOs.
Your poor die sick and hungry,
And your wealthy live tax-free,
While they murder ancient forests
The soil and the sea.

America, America,
Greed sheds disgrace on thee.
Vote corporations out of power;
Revive democracy
For future generations
And human decency.

America, don’t blow it
All to smithereens.
You don’t need nukes; you don’t need slaves,
And you don’t need gasoline.
What you do need is compassion,
And respect for human rights,
Permaculture, sustainable systems,
Mediation instead of fights.

America, don’t wave that flag
To con us with your jive.
If the multi-nationals have their way
Even rich folks won’t survive.
We’re all family here on this planet,
So lay down that smoking gun,
And start sharing with your neighbors;
There’s enough for everyone.

I pledge allegiance to the earth
In the myriad stars of the universe
And to all the beings who upon her stand
One family, indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all.

America, America,
Greed sheds disgrace on thee.
Vote corporations out of power,
Revive democracy
For future generations
And human decency.

Don’t wave that flag at me;
Try human decency.

Tags: music jazz wlaa nelscline permaculture sustainability peace politics democracy voting blues johnbwilliams fascism socialjustice katharineleebates elections protestsong

Woo hoo! My first two CDs are now fully up on iTunes, meaning that now you can buy just one song if you like, for 99 cents—or the whole CD, minus the packaging, for $9.99. Apple iTunes lets you listen to a minute of each song before you buy.

Music From Living on the Earth page on iTunes

Living in Hawaii Style page on iTunes

However at CD Baby you get TWO minutes of each song—at least on the Music from Living on the Earth page. They have promised they’d get around to posting samples of every song on Living in Hawaii Style eventually. When I first posted the two CDs in 2001, CD Baby was only offering samples of four songs per CD. Now they offer samples of ALL the songs, as you will see on their page for What Living’s All About.  On CD Baby, what you buy is the physical CD, with all its glorious artwork and liner notes.

Tags: music jazz wlaa aliciabaylaurel blues cdbaby psychfolk mflote lihs itunes hawaiianmusic