Jana Fisher's Blog

The Sleepwalker's Bed: Free Advice

2012-02-29T18:22:00.002-08:00

2009 Throwback!

I couldn't figure out what to say about this song. For like, two months. Because you probably think this song is about you.

Seriously, I made the mistake of posting these lyrics somewhere online in my LiveJournal days (ancient history!) and the subject knew instantly the song was about him. But since it's sort about everyone who's ever been in my life, it wasn't that much of a stretch.

Some free advice: even though it feels natural to repeat your mistakes, you're actually supposed to learn from them.

Advice by Jana Fisher

The Sleepwalker's Bed: Saints and Prodigals

2012-01-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

I don't do well with absolutes, as you can probably tell by the "Greatness/Mediocrity" couplet. But the majority of my family is capable of believing the Bible has all the answers. My uncle once thanked God for the "ties we share not just of blood, but of faith," as if belief were a genetic inevitability like light eyes or wide hips.

Faith is a wonderful thing but one that requires that I exert myself to find. In some ways it would have been easier if I despised it. But instead I doubted, and doubting is hard, and I wished I didn't. I never felt like I fit into either the saintly or wild preacher's daughter archetypes, so I felt like I fraud. I staged small rebellions by listening to rock music and dyeing weird streaks in my hair.

This song, like several on the second half of the album, is about stepping outside the saint vs. prodigal narrative. It's about solidarity with the doubters and the beauty of not having all the answers. It's about coming as you are.

More Than Just a Prodigal by Jana Fisher

The Sleepwalker's Bed: Abdication

2012-01-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

This was one of the last songs I wrote for this album. "Abdicate in the Lines," along with the "To Hell With…" tracks, are sort of meant to be "the morals of the story." I meant this song as a sweeping statement against pornography in defense of women.

This is the only track I recorded actual acoustic percussion for instead of just using software instruments, but you would still never find me in the studio playing drums. I made beats with snipping scissors, zipping zippers, cracking knuckles and a squeaking chair to give the percussion an artificial feel— a feel of alteration, of surgery.

Four years later, I think this song — and most of the album, and much of my pre-New York life — makes the female character out to be too much of a helpless victim. But its essential message still rings true: a lack of honesty will destroy a relationship.

Oh, and by the way— "Abdicate in the Lines" means to give up what makes you special in the way that everyone expects you to.

Abdicate In The Lines by Jana Fisher

The Sleepwalker's Bed: Making My Own Fairy Tale

2012-01-04T17:47:00.000-08:00

This song is a feminist anthem.

No, I'm serious! Okay, okay, let me back up.

I wrote this song about a boy. Surprise, surprise. I thought he would save me — not just my soul, but my music as well.

You see, he was a keyboard player, one I considered much more skilled than I was. He could improvise and I couldn't; he made all sorts of nice synth arrangements when I was trapped in piano/vocal; he was in two (relatively) successful local bands and I rarely played my own music live. Becoming his girlfriend felt like watching my ship come in. I saw this future where we played in bands together, he produced my records, and we got married at like 18.

Needless to say, that never happened (and thank heavens it didn't — it would've been domesticide, just like the book trailer!). But I wrote this song about him. It originally had a one-handed piano part and an unsingable vocal line so rapid that all the words got mushed together in an endless breathy whisper. Despite encouragement from friends who praised its innocence and vulnerability, I shelved it.

Then came college, where I learned how to do things that previously seemed outside my own capabilities. I made my own arrangements, I started playing my own music live, and I even learned how to improvise (a little). And I found the courage to pick up this song again and rewrite it.

Instead of waiting for someone else to swoop in and save my music for me, I did it myself. That's the whole story of A History of Sleepwalking, really. To make my own fairy tale.

Fairy Tale by Jana Fisher

The Sleepwalker's Bed: First Song

2011-12-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

I tell people that "Numbness" was my first song.

Really it wasn't my first song. This was my first song. I wrote it at church camp when I was 12.

All I Want by Jana Fisher

I met a songwriter once who talked about grabbing songs out of the air. "All I Want" felt like it had always been a part of me.

For the next two years, I tried to recapture that moment by writing endless lyric poems on college rule notebook paper. It was never quite as magical. But at some point in that dry period I wrote lyrics I entitled "Numbness."

(I left out the part where I decided to be homeschooled for 8th grade. I got a lot of practicing and writing in — I even wrote a novel! — but my social skills atrophied. I went back to school for 9th grade but I was exceedingly awkward and quiet.)

Then one day my friend Lindsy wanted to go to youth group early to talked to the minister about getting baptized. Not knowing how to talk to strangers, I communed with the piano in the lobby. And I came up with this.

You'll wake up one day
To find yourself alone

Numbness by Jana Fisher

The Sleepwalker's Bed: Quid es veritas?

2011-12-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

I'm mortified by how transparent this song is. I've made honesty in song my motto, but sometimes it's too much.

I start this song with the line "I'm happy now," but I was miserable. Everyone knew my personal business and I gave them a song that would generate hundreds of whispers behind my back. In a way it's fitting; the "torture" was speaking up, and I dealt with overexposure by overexposing myself. I took back the power. I suppose I can be proud of that.

But I still don't know if I did the right thing. With so many sides to the story, how could I ever tell "the truth"?

The Truth by Jana Fisher

The Sleepwalker's Bed: Innocence

2011-12-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

As an Evangelical, the virtue I coveted most was Innocence. Innocence wasn't just a characteristic of children and the naive — it was a state to which we aspired, like confidence, or Nirvana. The Innocent had greater faith. Their prayers were answered. They were simpler to love. The Innocent were somehow more complete than the rest of us, their personalities more pure.

Losing your Innocence, particularly as a woman, was a tragedy. To ask questions meant you were cynical. To have experience meant you were broken. Once faith no longer came easy, the only hope you had for living the life God intended for you was to pray earnestly for restoration of a child-like heart.

I wrote "Innocence Lost" while grappling with what it meant to be Innocent. Life happened and I lost my ability to believe without questioning. The community pitied my brokenness, and for a while it was easy to blame myself for becoming less-than instead of removing myself from the people who thought less of me.

Looking back, I think our cult of Innocence stemmed from a fear of the Question.

Paradox was uncomfortable. We protected ourselves from the uncertainty of our doubts by idolizing those who had none. We pitied the doubters so we could forget that we ourselves were just like them.

While worshiping the god of Innocence, I bitterly lamented how experience had made me weak and kept me from being my "truest, purest self." While writing this song, I started to see experience as something that made me stronger and in fact made my life richer.

Our experiences are, in fact, what makes us who we are.

Your love is behind me now
This is what I've bought
A second chance, but with the strength
Of innocence lost

Innocence Lost by Jana Fisher

The Sleepwalker's Bed: Introduction

2011-11-30T20:12:00.001-08:00

Four years ago this month, I thought my life was over.

When you feel like everything has been leading up to one event, what comes after that? In November 2007, I had just turned 19 and welcomed a thousand copies of my newly-printed album into my college dorm room. I had spent the summer in solitude recording my life's lessons in song, and now I was surrounded by the fruits of my labor in plastic-wrapped jewel cases. And I had no idea what to do next.

Of course life went on. I've grown, I've moved, I've written many more songs. But though she may seem like a stranger at times, the idealistic sincerity of the person who made that album is essential— it's still part of makes me me.

And so, as I make the transition from calling A History of Sleepwalking "my album" to calling it "my first album," I think it's important to revisit what made those songs so important that I had to set them down. For the next few months, I will be writing about one song from the album per week. I'll talk a little about the recording process and the story behind the song (though hopefully not so much that it will upset your own story for the song). You'll be able to download that week's song for free. You'll also be able to watch a video of me playing a stripped-down version of the song live (this means I will have to relearn how to play some of them! eek).

I'm calling this series "The Sleepwalker's Bed" for two reasons: first, we are exploring the roots of the album; but secondly, and perhaps most importantly, we are finally putting an end to the Sleepwalking period and moving on to new adventures that I will be sharing with you as our journey comes to a close.

So grab a blanket and a glass of warm milk and settle in for an exploration of the people we used to be. We'll have many new songs and stories to share when we reach our destination.

Love,

Jana

I'm Afraid of Zombies

2011-11-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not afraid of riding my bike in New York City traffic. I'm the only person I know who isn't afraid of cockroaches (the ones in Florida are bigger).

But I am afraid of zombies.

Not that I've met one in real life, of course. But there are so many good ones on TV ready to eat us! And they're hard to forget. I saw Robert Carlyle in Once Upon A Time the other day and I was worried he'd kiss someone and go on a rampage like in 28 Weeks Later.

Unfortunately this fear has begun to affect my everyday life through my obsession with The Walking Dead. You know, the show about Ranger Rick and a bunch of useless women running from very realistic (though can they be realistic if they aren't modeled on real creatures to begin with? I don't know) zombies in Georgia. I know every show there's going to be some zombie that pops up, some conflict about maybe leaving someone behind, some talk about how they'd probably be better off dead, but still I watch the show anyway.

This became a problem on the way home from DC. I had just played a three-hour show at Black Fox Lounge for some amazing, gracious people and I was on an endorphine high, talking and dancing like I was on speed. Our bus left a dark parking lot near Union Station around midnight, and I was somehow supposed to sleep. (Have you ever tried to sleep overnight on a bus? Bring flip flops. Your feet will swell so big that your normal shoes feel like they're made of fire ants.)

I drifted in and out of consciousness until 3am, when we stopped in Philly. And then the bus broke down. The driver couldn't close the back door or something silly, so for 45 minutes, he'd run the engine for 10 minutes, shut it down, and try again. Finally we decided we couldn't sleep through that anymore.

"You have The Walking Dead on your computer, right?" Sam asked.

"This is probably a bad idea, but oh well," I said.

We pulled out my laptop and shared a set of earbuds for the episode. Miraculously, the bus started moving then and everyone else went back to sleep, but at 4am the deserted streets of Philadelphia looked eerily like the streets of Atlanta that weren't inhabited by rabid zombies. We were tense from being creeped out in a cramped space where we had to be vewwy vewwy quiet.

The characters were wandering around the woods when one (useless) woman got separated from the group. Some person came at her with his arms outstretched. I stared at him for a full five seconds before my exhausted brain realized what he was: A ZOMBIE!

I yelped. Loud.

Everyone on the bus rose out of their seats and started snarling like zombies.

But somehow I'm still alive.

I must have an overactive imagination.

Reading Tori Amos and Patti Smith

2011-07-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

I've been on a music biographies kick. I go through this phase periodically, usually when repeatedly dragging my keyboard to the depths of the Lower East Side gets me down and I need to be reassured that yes, other musicians have been successful, and yes, they were real people and not mythological holograms.

I'm currently working my way through Tori Amos: Piece by Piece. I've been drawn to Tori for several years-- I relate to her tales of how religious family life influences her writing and I often cite her as an influence even though I never can wrap my head around her lyrics. What shocks me about this book is how little Tori and I have in common. We're both preacher's kids, but I quietly accepted and deeply internalized my religion while she began rebelling against the patriarchy of it from day one. She connects with the Gnostic Gospels and Native American beliefs while my spirituality has never been remotely fluid. She invokes the "sacred and the sexual" while the idea of the two merging is difficult for me. I am fascinated by her strong sense of self and how different we are. The book scoffs at her "fairy princess" label but the more I read, the more I think of her as just that for her ability to float between worlds, to harness the power of different cultures and yet still remain untouched.

Earlier in the kick, I found unexpected inspiration from Patti Smith's Just Kids. I have to admit that I had no idea who Patti Smith was before reading it (shame, I know) but it came highly recommended from so many different people that I picked it up from the library … and devoured it. Unlike Tori, Patti seems within reach. She spends so much of the book wandering around without a plan, convinced Robert is so much more together than she is, not even making music. Somehow she kept putting one foot in front of the other until everything came together, and her seemingly aimless journey became her story. Patti lit a fire under me. I started taking guitar lessons again, took gigs in other cities, and experienced *gasp* faith in myself.

We always think our heroes are these superhuman creatures living on a higher plane, unwilling to extend us a ladder. But in fact they live the day-to-day just like we do. The only thing separating us from who we want to be is a willingness to work and never give up.

What should I read next? Please don't tell me my arch-nemesis Katy Perry is coming out with a biography … and don't say Justin Bieber either. I'll cry.

Things I Learned From DemoTape

2011-05-11T05:29:00.001-07:00

For most of April and May, I was involved in a singer-songwriter competition called DemoTape. Thirteen of us came together every Monday for five weeks to perform one original and one cover, and in the end the winner was chosen by audience participation and level of singing, playing, and writing ability. The much-deserved prize of $1000 went to Jennifer Vazquez, and though I didn't walk away with any cash, I came away with valuable lessons I will never forget:

Owning who you are is one of the most attractive qualities in a musician (or a person).

Being a musician requires resilience. You have to be able to take criticism and learn from it, get over your bruised ego, and bounce back from it. Master the craft of the personal pep talk.

Art isn't playing only the songs that mean something to you. Art is learning to mean the songs that the audience wants to hear.

It doesn't matter how good you are or how many friends you have-- being a sore loser doesn't reflect well on anybody.

Failure is not a setback. Failure is a chance to learn lessons that will continue to propel you forward.

An industry that caters to teenage pop stars is missing out on the real talent. A true artist needs time to develop, pay her dues, and come back to conquer the world before she can show you something truly beautiful. Art that is consistently worked at only gets better with time.

In one way or another, the good guys always win.

Politics

2010-11-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to write more journals in the morning. If I write too late in the day, I censor myself and get preachy. ("You should stop eating chocolate and practice instead of having friends! RAWR!") The writing comes out mostly stream-of-consciousness. Here's one from a few days ago (that I edited a bit as to not seem to scatterbrained).

Maybe it's not my place to be involved in politics, business, changing the world that way. Maybe my creative mind needs room to BREATHE. Do my attempts to stay well-informed take too much brainpower? Am I wasting energy when I get angry over things I can't change, like fundamentalists and DADT? Do I think I'll be a better, more respectable person if I dabble in politics at the expense of my music?

I'll bet I am more emotionally involved in politics than the average Poli Sci major. The news frightens and angers me now that I realize my direct stake in it. But I am not an activist. Paying attention to the missteps of Congress outside of my brief time of power during election season is just going to make me frustrated.

I think I need to take better care of myself and stop trying to worry about everything and everyone. The usual advice is to be more selfless and to think more about others, but I honestly think I have the opposite problem. I try to make the world too big to fit inside my head and then my own thoughts get claustrophobic. I can't take care of myself when I worry about idiot politicians I can't influence while living in a decidedly Blue State.

I'm going to stop listening to podcasts on politics, stop reading the newspaper, stop watching news to numb my brain. I am going on a politics cleanse. I am a non-news-atarian. I live inside my own life.

When huge things happen, I'll hear about them. When the government deems me worthy of equal rights, I'll be told.

I hope that every good night's sleep after a politics-free day will peel off a layer of Struggle that's currently coating my heart.

I hope that I will soon stop feeling like I have to be an example for people who aren't watching.

Live from 420: The Experience

2010-08-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

One day several months ago, I was complaining to a friend with my skillful iThumbs about how hard it is to play regular live shows in the city. Now, don't get me wrong, I love playing live. But I am not an ant. I cannot carry objects twice my size and get away with it. For every show I play, I must drag my beloved but obese Roland Phantom X7 into the depths of the treacherous New York subway system, piss off all of my fellow passengers with my bulky package, and then carry my equipment on my back for several blocks while I walk to the gig. Since the keyboard and its case are an odd size and shape, I am the only living creature with the superpowers necessary to carry it. But it's just about as tall as I am. Every gig feels like a battle won in a long and dangerous war, but my sore back will not allow me to fight the good fight every day, as much as I'd like to.

So as I was telling tales of my battle scars to aforementioned friend, he suggested I play shows on the Internet from my apartment. The idea struck me with a huge "duh" moment. Being a small musician with a large keyboard and a tendency toward Internet geekery, an online show was a perfect fit.

For nearly four months now, I've been streaming live shows from my apartment (yes, it's really #420) every Tuesday at 8pm EST. The results have been surprising. The shows are barely scripted (if at all), and by letting myself rant from stream-of-consciousness has resulted in the discovery that I am a nutcase. I rapped with a cactus, for crying out loud! (Okay, I already had a suspicion that I was crazy.) But I've also honed my songwriting and performing skills by forcing myself to write a new song for every show (which happens about ... 40% of the time) and I've grown much closer to you.

I'm currently working on a new endeavor: playing solo shows with electronic arrangements, starting at my next show at The Woods in Brooklyn, NY on August 18. I played a little preview of what I'm working on in Episode 13, and will have more to show next week!

So please join me in the magical land of 420. You can watch previous episodes on my website.

See you next Tuesday!

Live this Tuesday - at Crash Mansion and Online!

2010-06-06T18:30:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,

Busy this Tuesday? No? Good, because I am!

First, I will be inviting you into my home for Episode 6 of the Live from 420 show, where I perform in my apartment, chat with you, and generally make a fool of myself. I've been streaming shows online every Tuesday at 8pm and will continue to do so as much as I can!

Then I will be playing at Crash Mansion in New York as part of the RethinkPopMusic showcase! $5 (with RSVP) gets you full open bar from 7:30-9:30, and a night full of awesome bands topped off by yours truly at 11pm.

You can also become a part of my second album! I've started a Kickstarter campaign to help fund it, and every donation results in a thank you from me, ranging from a signed copy of the future album to me getting a tattoo of your name. (You think I'm kidding, but I've been having a hard enough time deciding on a tattoo that I'd be grateful to have the decision taken out of my hands...) Even $5 would be another step toward recording the new songs like "You Deserve Better," "If We'd Just Said What We Meant," and "Wildflowers in Concrete."

Thank you so much for your support! You guys are awesome and I wouldn't nearly be so ridiculous if it weren't for you.

Peace out,

Jana

CL Rehab

2010-03-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, confession.

You can't be a good rock star without a major addiction. And yes, I have mine.

My name is Jana (hi Jana) and I'm addicted to Craigslist.

I know, I know, it sounds a little fantastical, but it's true. I know that CL is full of junk and a waste of my time. It's just that I've had so many good experiences. Like here's all the stuff I found on Craigslist:

Mike, my guitar player

Brett, who lets me play laptop in his band

My last three apartments

My TV

My DVD player

The art in my bathroom

An art student who let me talk about religion on camera in exchange for prints of his art

The dog shelter where I volunteer

Several of my music gigs

... And most of my friends.

So put yourself in my position. Would you want to give it up?

Now that I have Craigsphone, my problem has gotten worse. Two or three times a day, I scroll through all of the bizarre ads about foot fetish parties and unpaid internships doing other people's laundry thinking I'm going to hit the jackpot. And yes, I have triumphed over the unorganized, inappropriate mess many times in the past. But my successes are waaaaaaayy out of proportion to the amount of time I spend on there.

Maybe I'm just too picky. I'm kind of a grammar snob. Here are the reasons I'll ignore an ad:

ALL CAPS

too ... many ... ellipses ...

Stupid misspellings (like people who say they want to get signed to a "lable")

Whining about loneliness (You live in New York, surrounded by millions of strangers. You think you're the only one who's lonely?)

Acting as if getting signed to a major "lable" is going to result in a 100% caviar diet

Talking about how much you like clubbing and poppin' bottles (just go to the liquor store. At least there, if you have to wait in line, you'll be indoors.)

Talking about how you want to find your "ride or die bitch" (That's supposed to make me want to be your friend?)

So yeah, maybe I'm too selective. But maybe that's why I've had 95% good experiences.

Maybe I can make a computer program that would filter out all these ads and send me what's left in a daily email. That would be awesome. But... It would also take away the joy of the CL hunt.

I spend way too much time thinking about this.

This is why I need to go to CL rehab.

Videos

2010-02-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

Yo most awesomest dudes,

Check out these sweet vids.

Me playing solo:

Me rocking the flannel with Brett Gleason:

And make fun of me for this one if you haven't yet.

Ciao,

J Dawg

Jana's Blog: Off to BPC again!

2010-01-25T19:22:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

This has been a busy couple of months. I successfully relocated to Brooklyn (it's where all the cool kids are, I swear) and am now ironically closer to all the places I play in Manhattan. Funny how the water barrier is more psychological than anything.

Playing these past few shows with Mike has allowed me to really enjoy being on stage more - I can get into the music instead of worrying about forgetting chords (I still forget chords, but Mike keeps on chugging along and I can pretend that nothing happened).

I have also sort of developed a reputation as the nerd girl who sings about dragons. Guess I asked for that one.

My upcoming show at Bowery Poetry Club this Friday is going to be a fun one - I'm going to play a set of my music than Mike, then switch to playing laptop for my good friend Brett Gleason. Two very different shows for the price of one - you can't beat that.

Anyway, I hope to see you there! And I hope you're on the edge of your seat waiting for my next album. It's coming out ... sometime before the world ends in 2012.

Peace out,

J

Jana's Blog - And then there were two.

2009-11-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Playing all these shows by myself got to be a little boring. Honestly, my setup is a bit awkward at these places by I've been playing - when following a loud and upbeat punk band, sitting down to play melancholy music on my keyboard for a bunch of drunk strangers is a little anti-climactic. (Though sometimes drunk people play in my favor, like at Wicked Willy's when a bunch of strangers started singing along to "You Deserve Better.")

So I decided to find a guitar player to join me using the tried-and-tested poor musicians' method - Craigslist. After several responses, I scheduled a meeting with the person who responded first - Mike, who, instead of sending me a recent photo, sent me a photo of a life-size Tetris block.

I foolishly scheduled his audition for 10am the morning of Halloween - foolish because I, having gone to a Halloween party the night before, woke up with a wicked hangover (apparently vodka and whiskey do not mix - just ask the sidewalk in front of my friend's apartment on Wall Street), and he, being on his way to work at an infamous retail store the day of a holiday that requires costumes, was dressed as the Swedish Chef. We played the two songs that Mike had learned by ear, but my brain was so foggy all I could think about was a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. What a bizarre morning.

Anyway, none of my other Craigslist contacts actually met with me. But it's okay though! Mike and I are getting along fabulously. To get some performance experience under our belts, we played for the first time at Side Walk Cafe's open mic (along with quite an assortment of interesting characters). I had unfortunately drawn slot 24 from the lottery, meaning that we didn't go on until 12:30am and that I was full of adrenaline for the next three hours, arguing with Mike that Muse's new album is, in fact, good.

Playing as a duo makes me feel much more confident and less like the tiny emo girl that all the bar guys want to quote unquote rescue. I am going to take over the world. You best not miss it!

Our first show together is December 1 at Googie's Lounge. For now, we are just going by my name, but we might re-christen ourselves with an appropriate duo moniker (since no one seems to know how to spell Jana and my last name is an allusion to sea creatures).

Peace out,

J

Jana's Blog - I went to Florida and all I got was this lousy cough.

2009-10-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I went to Florida last weekend to visit friends and family. Had all these plans to run around doing cool stuff and wind up completely exhausted - exactly what you're not supposed to do on vacation. I knew nothing was going to go as planned when Dan (my boyfriend, who also happens to be the bassist on "You Deserve Better") came back from the clinic wearing a surgical mask. Flu Time. Nice.

On Friday I visited my high school choir teacher to talk about being an aspiring songwriter while working in the music business. The first class degenerated into a completely amateur version of TRL (amateur because of my lack of song knowledge - "Do you know any Alicia Keys?" "No..." "Do you know any Taylor Swift?" "No ...") The second class asked me questions and made me feel really important. ("What's it like playing in New York with all that competition?" "Well, once I realized that everyone started out playing for three people, I got past the mental block and just started putting one foot in front of the other.")

Played my first three-hour set at New Harmony Coffee & Tea in Clearwater. Would have been so worn out if not for the delicious caffeine-infused drinks!

Then it was Flu Time for me. I still have the cough I came home with. I recorded a rough demo of my newest song "Cheater" and Dan asked if I had a cold when I recorded it. "Dan, I recorded that yesterday ..."

I'm visiting Tennessee and Ohio in November and December - if you have anywhere you'd like to see me play, let me know! Going back to Recoup and Local 269 in the upcoming weeks. Hope to see you there!

Peace,

J

Jana's Blog - 10.1.09

2009-09-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

My song "Fairy Tale" was featured in the trailer for the book "The Garden That Grew Her" by Leslie Bradford. This is really cool ... and not just because they picked my song (though that was an enormously pleasant surprise). Books don't usually come with film-style trailers - we're venturing into new and exciting territory here! I'm super stoked. Check it out here:

YouTube
www.thegardenthatgrewher.com
www.itmstudios.com

I'm going to Florida next weekend to visit friends and family and booked a show in Clearwater while I'm there. October 9, to be precise. I'm supposed to somehow play for three hours so you'll be hearing a lot of old, new, and otherwise unheard material during my set. (Ironically, I am really looking forward to going shopping with my mom for winter clothes while in Florida. It's getting too cold too early up for my southern blood. 48 degrees! That's like the darkest days of winter in the ol' FL.)

I'm playing shows in New York every other week right now, the next being a free show this Sunday. I've been writing songs for my as-yet-untitled (that's the official word anyway - it's titled in my head) second album that you can only hear live right now (except for a few bootleg copies floating around for people who are super nice to me =P), so be sure to come out to see me sometime!

I feel a little delirious and really should not be writing at 2 am. Signing off before I announce that I'm holding a free buffet in my apartment or something.

Peace,

J

Jana's Blog - 9.8.09

2009-09-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

New York is an adventure as always. I've started collecting all of the bizarre pick-up lines used on me and a friend suggested that I turn them into a book. Here's a sample:

"Hey girl, come over here! I swear I won't do nothing bad to you!"

"Hey beautiful, you dropped something. Don't walk away! You're so beautiful, I'm sure you dropped something."

"Where you goin', shorty? We're on the same side of the street and you got a fat booty!"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you, but I'm a little tipsy right now. And you're just so beautiful! I could marry someone like you. I've got a house, and money, and everything! ... I'm not bothering you, am I?"

A book would be good for a laugh or two, but that also means I need about a thousand more weirdos to hit on me. Great.

Anyway, I've got a great show coming up on Friday at Uncle Mike's in Tribeca with Blue Food, Northern Point, Dylan, Girls Rock the Night, and Calm & Repose. Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Get your advance tickets here: http://tinyurl.com/ox54mg. I normally charge $200 for autographs, but I'll give them to you for free if you come to the show. ;-)

Peace out,

J

Jana's Blog - 8.29.09: Bowery Poetry Club

2009-08-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went down to the Bowery Poetry Club to put up posters. Here's what they look like:

Apparently they are very attention-getting, because when I got to the BPC, everyone already knew who I was.

"Oh, you're the girl in the posters!"

"You're the girl who's been staring at us for the past week! It's a very haunting photo."

One guy gave me a breakdown of the ups and downs of the poster.

"See the eyes - the eyes are perfect. But I don't like the position you're in. You're all hunched over and you have no length. You look like a midget. It doesn't do you justice. You're much prettier in real life."

That's a good thing, I guess.

Anyway, the guys who work there are really nice. I asked the guy at the front what I needed to do to get ready for the show, and he suggested I gargle with a shot of bourbon to loosen up my throat.

"Well, do you want to give me a free shot of bourbon, then?"

"I'm not in charge of that department," he replied. But later on in the night he poured me a shot - my first experience with bourbon, and I'm not really much for shots anyway. I chased it down with an entire glass of ice water.

Apparently 7pm on a Friday in New York isn't a good time for a show - I ended up playing for three of my friends and the BPC employees. The act that followed me didn't even show up until like 15 minutes before their set, and they only had two or three fans with them too.

It was kind of nice though - it was intimate, and not nerve-racking. I discovered recently that I play better when I'm focusing more on meaning what I'm singing instead of hitting every note right, and this was a good chance to practice that.

My friend Brett brought a friend with him, someone I hadn't met before. Partway through my set - I'm guessing somewhere around "If We'd Just Said What We Meant" and "White Paint" - she turned to Brett and said, "She's really good, but I think she had a really bad breakup."

To which I just have to laugh.

Jana's Blog - 8.16.09

2009-08-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

The past week was really crazy, but awesome. I played two shows on Tuesday and Wednesday, and they were quite an adventure, if nothing else.

On Tuesday, I was convinced I wasn't going to have anyone come to my show. I was supposed to get to the bar at 8:30 and hit at 9, so I made my way over to 169 Broadway and arrived exactly 8:30. I was walking around the area that the bar should have been, thinking, "Why is there a huge office building right here?" ... before I realized the show was at 169 East Broadway, in an entirely different neighborhood all together. Laughing at myself, I hopped on the subway, sure that if anyone had come to see me play, they would have all left by now.

I got to the bar a little after 9 and was greeted by a friend from college sitting outside on a bench. "I didn't win the lottery for cheap Broadway tickets, so I came to see you play!" Then I found my friend Kal waiting inside. I went to talk to the bartender, but he thought that no one had come to see me, so he said I couldn't play and bought me a beer to console me.

Two of my co-workers showed up, having left the bar for a Chinese food run. Then two of my friends from Queens showed up, apologizing for being late due to getting lost. We turned into a loud and lively bunch, so the bartender was more than happy to let me go on.

I finally started playing at 9:30, slightly buzzed and feeling brave. I did a set almost entirely of originals, including "Fairy Tale," which I've never been courageous enough to play live. The crowd was really enthusiastic, and afterward two street hockey players who had wandered in bought me a drink - for being awesome, of course. ;-) They were a lot of fun and I gave them a CD.

169 Bar has a piano, so I didn't have to bring any gear with me. Wednesday's venue, Wicked Willy's, does not, so I bungeed my keyboard, stand, and throne to a little hand cart. Being the cheapskate that I am, I decided to take the whole mess into the subway... It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. I would have been brutally mauled by my own instrument if not for the help of many strangers. I have bruises to prove it.

Anyway, the venue turned out to be pirate themed with bright-colored beer pong tables -- not exactly the best place for a girl-with-a-piano act. But I did my thing and enjoyed it thoroughly even though most people weren't really paying attention. I fell in love with a couple who were sitting at a table directly in front of the stage and cheered enthusiastically after every song. "Your voice is beautiful, and your music was entirely wasted on these people!" I don't know why it slipped my mind to give them a free CD. (If you're out there, and you're reading this, shoot me an email!)

Grabbed some Chinese food with friends after my set. Feeling sore and exhausted, I took the easy way out and commissioned a taxi to take me home. It's crazy how many people feel sorry for a young girl dragging around a keyboard almost her size - a man in my neighborhood offered to carry the whole thing up the four flights of stairs to my fifth-floor walk up apartment. I graciously declined, determined to finish the task myself and injure no one else.

I suppose I am now officially a gigging musician in New York, and there will be many more adventures to come.

Peace,

J

Jana's Blog - 8.11.09

2009-08-10T22:27:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

So life is good! I've relocated to New York City, and I love it! I live next to a 24-hour deli that also sells Haagen Daas. What more could a girl ask for?

I've started writing again. I've put up a rough mix of my new song "You Deserve Better" - mostly because singing it makes me feel like a badass rock star. Let me know what you think! Giving the best flattery will give you a chance to jump on stage with me and perform an air guitar solo.

Kidding. ...Sorta.

I've got a few shows coming up in New York City in August and September. (Now that I'm 21, I can actually get in to bars to perform!) If you're in the area, come out and watch me perform my making-a-pained-face-while-banging-on-a-piano act. I've got some new songs that for the time being can only be heard live, so you can brag to all your friends that you heard them first. It'll be fun. I promise.

Peace out,

J

New Song "You Deserve Better!"

2009-07-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

For months I've been dying to show you my new song "You Deserve Better." It's an upbeat pop-rock song that's been drawing a lot of comparisons to early Alanis Morissette and just makes me feel like a badass in general. I worked on it with my producer friend from college, David Plakon, and it sounds great.

Unfortunately it's been taking forever to finish. Today I decided I just couldn't wait any longer, so I put up a rough mix of the track on Myspace. Check it out and let me know what you think!

www.myspace.com/janafisher

It's songwriting season so be on the lookout for a lot more new stuff where that came from. =)

Self-Indulgence

2009-07-19T21:56:00.001-07:00

Okay, this is really super lame but I feel like wasting some time. Here goes...

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people you like (or think will actually do this) and include me. Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think but it's a fun way to waste a few minutes and get the brain cells moving around.

Your Artist: Fiona Apple

Are you male or female: Sullen Girl

Describe yourself: Love Ridden

How do you feel about yourself: Waltz (Better than Fine)

Describe where you currently live: On the Bound

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: To Your Love

Your favorite form of transportation: Slow Like Honey

Your best friend: Shadowboxer

Your dream boy/girl: Pale September

Your life motto: Oh Well

If your life were a TV show, what would it be called: The Way Things Are

What is life to you: Better Version of Me

What is the best advice you have to give: Sleep to Dream

If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Extraordinary Machine

Your favorite food is: The First Taste

How I would like to die: Parting Gift

My soul's present condition: The Child is Gone

April 17

2009-04-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 17 was an entire crazy day dedicated to art. I loved it.

At 9 am, I had a friend from Stetson named Keelyn take pictures of me because the ones on my website are so old. In the past I have been super camera shy when it comes to pictures like this and shoots usually end with me uncomfortable and upset. But this one was such a blast! Keelyn's fairly new to doing portrait shoots but she made me feel very comfortable (maybe it's because she's new to it that I felt comfortable ...). I felt like a blank canvas, forgot all my stresses and became very relaxed. We took 320 pictures in an hour and a half but it felt like time stood completely still. She's gotten a few of them back to me so here's a taste:

I'm not used to posing/not smiling in pictures so at first I actually really didn't like them. (I brought my friend Stacey over and said, "Look at these ... I look like a whiny b---h!") Now they've grown on me and I think they're pretty cool.

Okay, I lied -- the day wasn't ENTIRELY dedicated to art. At 11 am I had to attend an "Exit Loan Counseling" session. I'm graduating college in three weeks (!!!), so they had to tell me what to do about my student loans after graduation. (It was basically like "Your loans have interest. Interest is bad. If you don't pay your loans, you're dumb.") Thankfully I don't have too many loans so I'm not worried.

From noon to 3 pm I worked on my senior project. I'm creating a sound art piece that provides an overview of the French and American Top 40 charts from 1/2/2009 and 1/3/2009, respectively, similar to Luke DuBois's "Billboard." The process of creating a patch in Max/MSP to take a pleasant-sounding spectral average of each song has been a bit of a struggle, but my patch is finally working and I can start the composition aspect of it (with two and a half weeks left before it's due ...). My professor and I discussed strategies for putting the songs together. I'll probably post a version on the website when it's done.

From 3 pm to 6 pm, a friend of mine from high school named Mario came up to Stetson to record with me. His band Pariah is doing a metal-esque cover of Pink Floyd's "Mother" and wanted me to sing the choruses. This was my first time being featured in another band's project and it was really fun. Having metal guitar solos in your headphones is a great motivator to sing powerfully.

After recording I drove down to Orlando to act in Joshua Ingle's DORM series. We were filming the finale to Season 2, a party where the camera chronicles the same events from five different characters' perspectives. The series is based around oners so it gets a little chaotic trying to get the shots just right, especially with uninitiated extras hanging out in the way of the fast-moving backwards-walking steadicam operator. I got so caught up in acting that suddenly at 1 am I felt drunk (I wasn't) and exhausted (I shouldn't have been) and realized I hadn't eaten any real food all night. We didn't wrap until 4:20 am (I went to sleep at 4), and then Josh woke me up at 6:30 am to go shoot scenes outside at dawn.

It's Sunday and I'm finally just recovered from the hectic schedule of Friday and Saturday morning. But I would gladly trade getting good sleep for getting to live my life like that all the time.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

I'm starting 2009 off on the right foot. The very first thing I did this year was go kayaking for the first time with good friends, so I think this year will be a chance to grow and face new challenges.

I'm looking forward to playing live much more actively this year -- I've started practicing a bunch of new covers so I can have an expansive and exciting repertoire. Once I graduate in May, I will be working on my music career full time.

Best of luck to both of us in this new year.

Holiday Greetings.

2008-12-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are enjoying your holiday. Don't forget to download my single "This Year" which is my gift to you for being awesome!

I'd like to end this post with my favorite quote from my adorable 3-year-old niece Elena:

"Dear God, I not afwaid of monsters. Amen."

Free Christmas Single!

2008-12-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I got a little behind in working on "This Year" with exams being crazy, but now it's out! You can download it from MySpace, ReverbNation, or Stage.FM. Enjoy, and have a merry Christmas!

New Videos.

2008-12-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

I added three live performance videos to the Video page: one performance of "Out of the Fire" and two performances of "There is No Goodbye," one of which includes cool visuals projected on an umbrella. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T07:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the US, and for those of you outside the US, have fun laughing at the over-stuffed Americans and their silly (but fun) holiday.

Christmas is coming...

2008-11-24T10:47:00.001-08:00

I'm working on a (FREE) Christmas single that I'd like to release sometime in early (hopefully) or mid December, so be on the look for it! I haven't 100% decided on a title yet ... but it will probably have the words "This Year" in the title so be on the lookout for that coming soon!

Peace out,

Jana

New Music Video

2008-10-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in the process of producing a new song, "White Paint." The song's about being in love with someone who's married and wondering what could have been. Once it's completed I will post it for you to listen to and download!

Next weekend Joshua Ingle and I will be making a video for it for submission to film festivals. Let me know if you have any super creative ideas for the video. That would be incredibly awesome.

NightCap

2008-09-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

I'm playing this coming Friday, September 19, at Stetson University's NightCap! 10 PM on the Hat Rack Patio with The Icarus Account and another band. Check it out!

Summertime.

2008-07-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer. I'm currently spending six weeks in Paris. More to come when I come back.

Sweet CD Deal.

2008-06-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

I just started selling my music on AmieStreet.com, and to kick
things off they are giving you $5 to download my music.

All you have to do is click on the link below to get $5 to download
my music or songs from tens of thousands of other great independent
artists.

My album, A History of Sleepwalking, is currently available for free. Act fast though, because the price will increase the more people by it.

Just click the link below and you'll be all set!

http://amiestreet.com/_l/cdbabygift

New CD Prices.

2008-03-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

I've changed the prices for CDs from CD Baby and SnoCap on my Store page. Physical and digital CDs are now $7.99, and individual tracks from SnoCap are $0.75. (By the way, if you want to buy mp3s of the whole album, I get a higher percentage if you buy the album from CD Baby, so please buy it from there. Thanks!)

More music on ComPod.

2008-03-16T05:15:00.000-07:00

Check out "To Hell with Mediocrity" on ComPod Episode 91.

Fan-Exclusive Tracks

2008-03-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

Sign up as one of my fans on ReverbNation to download four fan-exclusive tracks: "His Last Hold," "Simple and Perfect," "The Way You," and "Ignorance is Bliss." (This last is a joke song in which I make quite a fool of myself ... enjoy.)

More on ComPod

2008-03-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

You can hear "To Hell with Greatness" on ComPod Episode 90.

Podcast play.

2008-03-04T14:44:00.001-08:00

"Borrowed Time" was featured on Wincester Journal Episode 13: "Something Wicked."

Out of the Fire on ComPod.

2008-02-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

Check out "Out of the Fire" on ComPod Episode 88.

Podcast play.

2008-02-20T19:58:00.001-08:00

"There is No Goodbye" was featured on Wincester Journal Episode 10.

More stuff to check out.

2008-02-15T20:07:00.001-08:00

Check out "Numbness" on Indie Music Sampler Episode 85.

You should also check out "Advice" on ComPod Episode 87.

ComPod totally rocks.

2008-02-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true.

You can hear "More Than Just a Prodigal" on Episode 86 of ComPod.

Check it out.

2008-02-02T14:21:00.001-08:00

Hear "Abdicate in the Lines" on ComPod Episode 85. (http://www.compyblog.de)

Podcast play.

2008-01-31T12:24:00.000-08:00

"Fairy Tale" was featured on ComPod Episode 84. http://www.compyblog.de

Podcast Play.

2008-01-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

"There is No Goodbye" was featured on "A Vetter Podcast" Episode 51. Check it out at http://mrhomie.podshow.com/.

Podcast Updates

2008-01-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

"The Truth" was featured on episode 82 of ComPod (http://www.compyblog.de).

"Numbness" was featured on episode 133 of Radio Orpans (http://radioorphans.blogspot.com).

"Numbness" was also featured on episode 274 of Longtown Sound http://wlso.fm/wordpress/archives/930).

Another podcast play!

2008-01-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

"Borrowed Time" was featured on Longtown Sound episode 269! Check it out at http://wlso.fm/wordpress/archives/925.

Another podcast play.

2008-01-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

"Innocence Lost" was played on episode 81 of ComPod! The podcast is entirely in German, but I'm still really excited. You can check out ComPod at http://www.compyblog.de/.

Podcast Play.

2007-12-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

"There is No Goodbye" was featured in episode 13 of Yet Another Music Podcast. Check them out at www.yamcast.com, on the Podsafe Music Network or search for them on iTunes.

So.

2007-11-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

So my CDs are done.

The past several years have been building up to this moment, and now that I'm here, it feels . . . normal. I suppose I thought that once I had a physical product that wasn't burned on my computer and written on with Sharpie that something would click and I'd suddenly be a superstar who could order M&M's with the brown ones removed and organic tequila backstage.

I suppose introversion and timidity have caused me to do things backwards. Usually you hear about the young teenage girl who performed constantly until she got "discovered" and then produced an album that sold millions and she became super famous and lived happily ever after. I was the teenage girl who sat in my bedroom writing songs for myself, performing occasionally, but never feeling ready to expose myself. I did one concert with a full band, and it was awesome. I was on a high for days. But something in me pushed that joy out of my mind and settled back into the quiet routine of writing and recording.

There's a fear in all of us, a fear of the very things we long for. If you never try, you never fail, right? That's how I've been feeling anyway.

Thankfully, the timidity is (mostly) gone. I can't wait for exams -- I'll have a week and a half of free time to write, practice, and promote my music. Who needs studying? Psshh.

The longest month.

2007-10-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

So, I shipped my CD to DiscMakers on October 3 and it's scheduled to be shipped back to me on October 25. This is going to be the longest month ever.