Weekend Update

movin' and shakin'

This past Thursday, my husband and I drove to Georgia to have a creative meeting with the producer and his team.

On the way there, we stopped in Chattanooga and went to the Tennessee Aquarium and Cheeburger Cheeburger (a famous burger place). We went in honor of our 1st wedding anniversary that happened yesterday (Sunday). aaaawww :P I have one picture from it. You really don't wanna see it. It's very lame.

See, I told you. Moving on...

We made it to Georgia. Valdosta, GA to be exact. Home of the - well, I'm not real sure yet. We did find a $2.50 movie theater and a few pawn shops. And we found one of those parking lot fairs, too. But we didn't do any of it because we have no money we're extremely fancy.

We met Mark the producer, Jim the business guy, and Steve the assistant, at the new studio.

Yes, this is it. This is what a Grammy winner's studio looks like. Okay, maybe not ALL of them, but swampy, soulful, southern ones can make this old building a bad@$$ music-making hub.

'Don't judge a book by it's cover' would be an appropriate reminder at this moment.

Anyways, My husband played guitar, and I played a little piano, and we played through my songs. We re-worked a couple of things, but every song is being kept the same as I had written them. Pretty awesome. :)

That's Mark there on the right. :)

After the meeting, we left the next day to play a show at The Rookery in Macon, GA. We like them there, and it's a good place to try out new songs.

Then, we got up the next morning, visited with my cute lil Nana Banana,

...and then went back home to recoup. I'm still recouping. I'm sleepy. Somebody gimme a Red Bull. No, please don't give me a Red Bull, that stuff tastes like ABC bubble gum dipped in dirty Koolaid.

K, bye!

"Talking About Music is Like Dancing About Architecture."

Elvis Costello said that. I have come to the conclusion that this should be in the Constitution. Okay, that's a little overboard. But still... I could tell you how much I write, what my songs sound like, brag to you about "all the ideas that float through my head" (I've heard this too many times from artists, as if they're the only ones whose brain works.). I could tell you what my music sounds like 'til you're blue in the face, and you're still not going to REALLY know until you hear it.

I can tell you that this album will be swampy, soulful, southern music. But I'm sure most of you don't even really know what that means. Of course you don't! You haven't HEARD it yet. Heck, I don't completely know what it's going to sound like yet! I have to RECORD it first. (In April. 2013. Shameless plug. I digress....)

So... If someone asks me again to describe my music, I won't be upset, and I will understand their wondering, but I think I'm just going to say, "you'll have to wait and hear it." Because there is no way I can answer that question to the satisfaction of the questioner. Plus, we all have different interpretations of a song anyways. Am I right? Yes. I am.

So, I'll write about funny stuff and about pursuing dreams and such on this blog, but you won't hear me talk much about the music. You'll have to just wait to HEAR that.

Sweet Fantasy, Baby

I have a place in my little brain that is just for me. It's filled with so much ridiculousness happiness.

At night, I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and dream...

I dream that I'm off in Europe somewhere, it's cold and cloudy, and I'm wearing an extra large matching sweat suit cashmere loungewear, sipping Earl Grey tea next to a fire, cuddling up next to the love of my life, as he whispers this into my ear...

Bliss.

Then I make my way to the workout room, where my personal trainer leads me in a rigorous yoga practice, and I remain beautiful and desirable at all times. And it's not hard at all!

I proceed to the master suite where I read an educational, slightly pretentious novel atop my Tempur-Pedic-Cloud-Supreme-Gold-Woven- Diamond-Dusted mattress, whilst high-fiving a million angels.

Winning.

                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then, with the cursed sun ball of morning, I wake up. And reality sets in.

I start the day with a bowl of pure energy. Off-brand Frosted Mini-Wheats...

Then I feed the @$%#@ cat...

I write a really bad song...

[youtube=http://youtu.be/XNXIZuIBJKs]

Butt-kiss all the music venues I can possibly find...

Try and come up with my own Zumba moves at the apartment for my cheaper-than-a-gym workout...

[youtube=http://youtu.be/yJ_AU6tYYbg]

Babysit some kids...

And end the day with writing an epic blog post that is sure to inspire millions, if not billions of people.

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night folks, try the veal.

Holimusidays!

I hope your holidays were glaaahrious. I hope you were able to rest and laugh and get lots of hugs. I had the privilege of playing for a good many Christmas parties this year. And then I spent actual Christmas with my in-laws at a lake. It was fun. I ate some turkey. I slept a lot. I even read a book. I forgot to take pictures. Got some pretty sweet gifts. Yep. That's about it.

Wow, this blog post is really starting with a bang....

Well anyways, right after Christmas, my husband and I took a trip to Ft. Walton Beach, FL to get away and write some songs, thanks to my aunt and uncle's gorgeous beachside condo. Good lord, it was heaven.

I really wanted to post pictures of the inside of the condo, but every picture I took looked like our suitcase exploded on it.

Aw, heck. We're all friends here.

Woowee! What a treat we didn't deserve in a million years. And we wrote new songs that you can hear at my shows!

So we drove back from Florida on New Years' Eve, just in time to hang out with these n00bs:

We hung out, ate soup, drank some sherry (and by sherry, I mean I tried the sherry and then proceeded to cut it with a large amount of Mountain Dew), and then drove to downtown Nashville to "watch the music note drop."

In the freezing rain.

And the chick on the left in the last picture wore her pajamas.

I love my friends.

So anyways, we stuffed ourselves onto Broadway like sardines, running into each others' umbrellas, and feeling the water seep through our clothes. This picture really sums it up nicely.

I kid, I kid. Well, not about the rain part. I kid about the insinuation that it wasn't fun - okay, so it wasn't the BEST time I've ever had, but if it wasn't for good company, I believe I would've been the cranky so-this-is-what-it-feels-like-to-live-in-an-ice-cube lady. Instead, I was the joyful mute, glaring at the intoxicated many who ran into me with my laser beam eyes. Wow, Jessie, you're lame.  But I digress... how cute are my little friends?!

Yay, adventures. :)

Oh But For A Chance...

...to be on THE AMAZING RACE, that is! My sister and I have sent in an audition video to be on The Amazing Race. To say we love this show would be an understatement!

Dear Lord, please let us be on this show. Amen.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/EIY7QlwpG_k]

That Frozen Man

Yesterday, the hubs and I took our Sunday to record 3 swampy new songs (acoustic versions) I've written for my album (the album that is being funded by the most wonderful lil' buddies in the world, via our successful Kickstarter campaign!). So, I've written a few more songs to add to the consideration list. Today, I posted song #1. Tomorrow I'll post #2 and Wednesday I'll post song #3. Then, I'll post some bloopers, but that's not 100% guaranteed as of yet. They're pretty humiliating bloopers. I'm sure you would find them funny, because let's face it, humiliating things are hilarious. So, without further adieux, here's song #1 - Frozen Man

[youtube=http://youtu.be/BKI7tLXPFmQ]

I would love to know what you think of it. Especially if you like it. :P

And if you're interested, here are the lyrics!

Frozen Man

Music by Jessie Smith Minnigan Lyrics by Simone Simonton and Jessie Smith Minnigan

Cold hands, cold heart

you used to melt me in your arms

where has all of your passion gone

i need that fire back, make me burn

I Can’t seem to leave, don’t wanna stay 

held together by just this pain

can you convince me you wanna change?

is this worth enough to save?

CHORUS

Never gonna be satisfied

Never gonna be satisfied

Never gonna be satisfied

With a frozen man

i’m not saying it’s all your fault

i plead guilty to building walls

i wanna love you, but it’s so damn hard

you won’t see me beg or crawl

Writing Trip

A couple weeks ago, I escaped to an aunt's beautiful mountain "cabin" (more like mansion!) deep in the North Georgia Blue Ridge mountains. I needed to buckle down and finish some songs with little distraction, and my mom, aunt, and grandmother joined me, with the promise of letting me write and only "bothering" me sometimes. They are QUITE the energetic trio, so I had my doubts. However, I am happy to report that they were well-behaved. :) And a whole lot of fun! I enjoyed the quiet, not having to clean, escaping Nashville, not wearing a bra, and breathing mountain air. I got a lot of writing and work-related things accomplished, and my phone wouldn't get service so I was forced to check out completely. It was glorious and kind of annoying.

Here are some pictures of the house's beautiful views:

At one point in my stay, though, I got a bit frustrated by the lack of Internet and phone service (addict), so I ventured off into "town," via typing in "Downtown" into my GPS device. It landed me in this booming metropolis:

It's not always that busy, but I caught it during rush hour.

So, with backpack on and disheveled hair and no bra, I made my way to what seemed like a quaint little outdoorsy cheap-but-not-mcdonalds-cheap local restaurant. I sat down at an adorable little spot where people were a little more dressed up than I had initially realized and were looking at me strangely. Just kidding about that bra thing.

The waiter then gave me a menu and I FLIPPED. The prices were WAAAAYYY higher than I had expected. In fact, this place was a RESERVATION ONLY restaurant that happened to have a loser one-person table in the back free that they let me sit at! I then felt that I couldn't leave, so I began to sit up straighter, act like "I was on business" (which I kind of am, but um, I'm not exactly The Beatles over here), and ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. A bruschetta appetizer.

The bruschetta is somewhere down in there... took me awhile to get to it.

After I paid for my $30 toast and cheese appetizer with a water, I drove back to the house to start writing. I plugged in my piano in this super cool outside area where I could see the creek and sit on the porch swing.

But alas... the outlet did not work, thus forcing me to place my piano against the wall in the basement.

Could I have written songs against a wall in my small apartment in Nashville? Well, yes. But this wall is way cooler.

I leave you with a quote to ponder. As I was wandering through a quilt store in the thriving downtown metropolis (that I actually do really love, but don't tell anyone), I came across a very meaningful quote that I think MANY can relate to. Try not to tear up when you read this.

WOW!! SO RELATABLE!! I think this ALL the time!!

:P