First page of the kind lady archive.

all dressed up with a ukulele.

Posted by jessica on Jan 28, 2012 with 19 Comments
in Funny Stuff, Performance, there are pictures here
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I am so tired right now and I have to get up for a breakfast meeting in the morning. And then I have two shows…so, right. This post will be short.

A very kind lady did my makeup for the pre-shows fashion event tonight. “I have googled you,” she told me, upon first meeting. “It does not look like you wear much makeup–are you comfortable with me doing your makeup?”

I assured her that I was.

And she got to work.

And then a very sweet Japanese man did my hair.

It was nice to sit back and let other people take care of me, actually. And this is what they did:

They also put me in a dress. Courage B is the designer. And they let me keep it. And I totally would have, too–had someone not stolen it. Which sucks, but what are you gonna do, right? I didn’t have that dress yesterday, so not having that dress tomorrow won’t be that different, anyway.

Here’ s a picture of me playing (in case you couldn’t figure that out). Oh man. I had to walk the catwalk to get to the stool and microphone to sing. People were so kind and cheering. Plus, I didn’t fall or even trip. Added bonus.

The mic situation was trying, though. They only had one and nothing to plug my uke into, so I had to somehow use one microphone for both my voice and my uke. I hunched over like some sort of creature to get my voice and uke as close together as possible for the mic to pic it up, and then I BELTED THE HECK OUTTA THOSE SONGS.

Here’s me and my wonderful, completely lovely friend Jes.

One of the best parts of the night was that two of my dear friends came with me.

And here is me and beautiful Bets.

Oh! Also, I had an awesome rehearsal in Brooklyn today with some AMAZING musicians I am collaborating with for the Sleep No More show on Monday. I feel so lucky to play my ukulele with these guys. Their groove and vibe is just plain dreamy. In a musical sense of the word. Plus they have a HUGE STUFFED LION in their apartment, just chilling. And they call him Aslan. Um, what’s not to love about that situation?

I met a kind Italian man who spoke to me for a while tonight. Considering the music was thumpin’ and his accent was pronounced, I did a lot of smiling and nodded without totally understanding what it was, exactly, I was smiling and nodding about, unfortunately. But, there were two things that stand out from that conversation:

1). I kept thinking that maybe my Italian grandfather (who passed away before I arrived on the scene, but worked in 30 Rock as the senior VP of RCA) sounded a bit like this guy, and the thought warmed my heart.

and

2). At one point I noticed liquid pouring down the side of his pants. I was really afraid that I was witnessing him peeing during our conversation…Until, with some relief, I realized that he was just holding his bottle of beer upside down. Thank goodness that’s what it was.

oh, dusk!

Posted by jessica on Sep 18, 2011 with 5 Comments
in I Lift My Eyes Up, Thoughts and Feelings
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Dusk has a way of setting the sky on fire.

It’s startling, really.

I like to go outside during that time; it’s when I want to look and look forever. It’s when everything around me feels so beautiful, that the longing I have for more! than! this!  feels met.

For a while, I mean.

I like to talk to God then. I don’t mind that the trees are listening; the trees feel kind at dusk. Like they agree with my dreams. Sometimes I walk by people’s houses. I try not to eavesdrop while they take a load off, enjoying their evening on the back porch with a cigarette and a beer. Sometimes a dog barks at me. And suddenly the bright orange dot of a cigarette waves in the air as I hear, “Stop, Sam!”  The words shoot out, quick and staccato, over and over again, like rapid fire. And I feel sorry for interrupting the backyard peace. I feel sorry that I am causing Sam to get yelled at. So I pick up my pace and the orange dot of the cigarette shrinks to nothing behind me as I go on my way.

I used to feel worse about people smoking than I do now. I mean, I don’t love the smell and I’m not about to start–but I understand a little better when people self-medicate. Or want to feel better. Or try to find comfort. I guess when you’ve hurt a lot, trying to soothe the pain makes some sense. I get it.

I used to feel worse about some things and better about others than I do now.

“How has your view on God changed over the past season of your life?” a very kind and magical lady from Iowa City asked me today.

And I told her that I am not sure, how, exactly my view of God has changed–other than I am more convinced of his kindness now than ever, I would add, now that I am thinking about it–but my view of people has changed. I love to hear them talk, but I care a great deal more about what they go and do. How they live their lives. It’s great if you can talk into a microphone like an auctioneer for Jesus, smooth and fast with shiny words that inspire people to raise their hands and buy whatever it is you’re selling, but are you kind? Loyal? Do you mean what you say? Do you keep your promises?

“I guess I don’t have time for the bull anymore,” I said.

And I think we both agreed that nobody does. That life is messy. That we all matter, and that both pain and joy teach us lessons you never really can walk away with from simply reading a book.

But back to the changing sky tonight.

It was glorious.

And so beautiful; the kind of beauty that makes me say thank you, whispered into the ear of creation itself, I guess.