MANY WORLDS ( July/August 2001)

In my CD player
"Simple Life" - Kelly Birk
"Diabolical Streak" - Jill Tracy
"At The Door"- Amory Blue
"The Kick Inside"- Kate Bush
A soundtrack by Trevis Kerns

Reading
"Lord of the Rings" - J.R. Tolkien
The lumps on my head

Movies I've Recently seen
"The Score"
"The Family Man"
"The Planet of the Apes" (email me privately if you want my SCATHING review)

Latest Thoughts

The morning of August the 9th I woke up and sighed. It was a sigh of relief. I somehow feel it's ok to say outloud now, that "35" was a bad year for me - on a personal level. In the past few days since my birthday, I've felt this sense of peace. It's like the feeling you get after you've thrown your guts up all night from the stomach flu and now you can finally sleep. Heavy, solid, merciful slumber.

In place of the weighty, apocolyptic feeling of the past year, comes a new and hopeful path. I have to be honest......I'm really just winging it here. But I know music is my path. I cannot stop making it. It's such a pain in the ass sometimes. It would be so easy to just start a different career right now - you know, something like "Rodeo Clown", "Pet Undertaker" or Kate Bush's personal pool cleaner (they all sort of have something in common). The fact is plain for me to see. I have to do this. It's become more difficult to accomplish but that can't be a deciding factor. I'm moved by music. When I'm writing, it opens portals to the only rooms I know will provide safety and peace. That probably sounds a bit cryptic and I apologize. Suffice it to say that making music is my salvation. So..............

Here's a little story about moving. We've all done it. Most of us tend to move from the horribly crappy college share, to the really crappy place for one, to the place pretty tolerable for the single gal, to "really nice dream-place that I own". I have just moved from the "kinda OK place for one" to the "cardboard box closet with bad plumbing, smelling of wet dog and formaldehyde". Now I'm trying to make it liveable. No small feat. Does anyone have a blow-torch I can borrow?

After I finish getting my affairs in order (calling landlord about the plumbing and fencing off the paths that the locals are using to cut through my yard), I'll be getting back to work on my album. Unfortunately, the area is much noisier and not at all conducive to home vocal recording. Regardless, I will do whatever I must to soundproof for tracks that must be done at home. I'm excited about resuming this work. It's so long overdue.

Now on to other things such as my HAND. Many of you have sent me birthday wishes and encouragement regarding the recovery of my hand. I am happy to say that things are going well,though the scarring is rather alarming. Full movement has not yet returned (as is expected), but my progress is encouraging. I expect to be playing guitar as well as Madonna in about another 4 weeks- yipee. Official Ectophiles who subscribe to "Ecto" should be on the lookout for a special CD deal relating to my injury.....

This year will be the first that I won't be attending EctoFest....East or otherwise. Everything just happened at the wrong time for me. But I've seen the lineup and I'm sorry I won't be there. I hope many of you will get to see these artists. It's always a fun time. For those of you planning on attending, make sure you ask Meredith to stand on one leg and let her and Woj know I love `em.

I really should get back to straightening out this new abode now. Wish me luck. And really - if anyone has a blow-torch or a nuclear bomb they can spare........

Before I go - there is one thing on my mind that I'd like to selfishly bring up. There is a commercial running on TV right now for a particular product. It is the MOST offensive thing I've ever seen. More offensive than the commercials of women bragging about their breast implants......more offensive than the commercials for "intimate cleansing wipes" for women.....This commercial is for MEN and it's for ROGAINE. The line is..."Does she want you to use Rogaine?.....better ask" A young man with a full head of hair is with his plastic, "model" girlfriend and the voice-over asks(paraphrasing), "Will she still be in love when you lose your hair?". The man responds, "Sure, but with somebody ELSE". Unbelievable. I just want to say, as a woman, that this F--ing company doesn't speak for me. I'm appalled at the blatant, misleading manipulation with this slogan. It's bad enough that men sometimes have to face hair loss(devastating enough), but to validate their insecurities by suggesting that their female companions are going to LEAVE them if they lose their hair......OUTRAGEOUS. You know, they've always been pretty brazen with playing on women's insecurities but this seems worse than anything I've seen and it's geared toward MEN. When did this happen? I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to take some action against the makers of Rogaine. It's one thing to want to help people (men and women alike) with medical or hereditary problems or provide a service to ease self-image problems, but to suggest that anyone will be unloveable without their product is crossing the line. Hair loss is NOT a recipe for rejection. It's a very real, emotional consideration for a lot of people. But men are beautiful because of who they are and how they carry themselves. Women of substance KNOW this. And other idea to the contrary is absurd.

Thanks for indulging me. This is a subject on which, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts............

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