AT 1:30AM THIS MORNING....

...ALL the arrangements for this CD have been officially completed and are in the can.

There's still finessing to be done but...

the arrangements are now out of my noodle and into the poodle, people!

will be back to blogging tomorrow.

I will now sleep the sleep of the dead.

gladly.

lerv-

dl

THANK YOU ERIC AND DAVID!!!

Our newest angels:

Eric Blume and David Gelman.

Just an unbelievably GENEROUS donation of $400 from them.

holy shit cans.

This is just staggering to me...

and i am beyond grateful.

I will definitely let you all know how and where your donations are going PR wise, once i get to that part of the process.

I am overwhelmed by all of your generosity!

Thanks so much!!!

xo

dl

QUICK UPDATE....

Hello my little Autumn Fairies....

Ok so.

I realize I've been MIA.

So sorry.

Here's the deal...

in the past few days I've had to fast forward everything because of certain things, other people's schedules, time constraints, new deadlines, etc.

Suffice it to say--

i have all vocals and almost all my personal instrumentals in the can... 

and am completing my final arrangement this evening.

I will have my awesome string players lay down their tracks tomorrow and thursday (the brilliant Jessica Wright on violin and the fantastic Elisa Winter on cello).

I am in the process of having my vocals mixed (said the actress to the bishop) as we speak and then the whole mixing process can begin.

ONCE i get all the tracks in the computer...

I can breathe for a second and catch up on the actual blogging of this whole thing.

Again...

I'm sorry to have 'left you behind' a little bit but with some new time constraints I had to just buckle down and get this shit D-U-N!

I promise, I will go back step by step-

and post the process 'in time' (a la present tense) so that you can be a part of it all with me.

Many of you have expressed a desire to have the CDs available by Thanksgiving so that you might give them out as holiday gifts. Barring anything incredibly wacky and unforseen, I believe this is totally doable (knock wood, fingers crossed, etc).

So.

I have not forgotten about you my pumpkins!

Know that I am just in the thick of actual production and want to make sure I'm not splitting my focus with the blog at the same time.

Btw.....

I'm pretty sure...

this CD is going to kick ASS.

Well.

At least....

kick femur.

So much love to all of you for your emails and your interest...

I will return to you hopefully within 24 hours with some really great stuff about the actual tunes and creative process.

I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN OVER HERE I KINDA CAN'T STAND IT!!!!

I can't wait to share all of it with you.

I haven't felt this happy and musically fulfilled in years.

This has turned into SUCH A WONDERFUL adventure!!!

For all of you who are even considering doing this for yourself...

GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND DO IT!!!

I'm serious.

Just.

do.

it.

For every rare moment where I want to kill myself?

There's thousands of moments where I'm just beyond blissed out with it.

Just sayin'...

All my lerv

dl

THANK YOU Marc, BD, Anonymous, Edwardyne and Andrew!!!

ENDLESS THANKS TO OUR NEWEST ANGELS:

Marc J Filippone, B. D. Suisse, Anonymous, Edwardyne Cowan and Andrew Tappon!

I am so incredibly grateful for your generosity and support!

As soon as the CD is pressed, I will make a full accounting of where all these wonderful donations are going so you can see your money at (specific) work Public Relations-wise.

Also-

all vocals are OFFICIALLY IN THE CAN, people.

I apologize as i am indeed way further ahead on the cd than the blog indicates-

but i'm taking copious notes and will soon bring you back into the process.

My goal is to really try to have this whole thing out around Thanksgiving because so many of you have sweetly asked if it would be ready for you to give as holiday gifts. 

I will resume with THE BALM IN GILEAD part II hopefully later tonight.

I just have to re accompany myself on the piano to the final vocals and re- orchestrate around them.

Also, have my string players coming in this week and must have all their charts ready and clean by thursday.

So....

lots of work to do and being done...

which i will share with you momentarily.

in the meantime-

thank you all so much for your support and your emails filled with love, encouragement and fantastic advice.

I appreciate it all, my clever ducks.

more soon-

xo

dl

THE OFFICIAL CD COVER......

Hello my little chicklets!

The official CD COVER of "Old Friends" (and by an overwhleming majority) is......

GRANDMA!!!!!

Now, the only question is...

what color should my name be in? 

White (like it is above) or.....

a little more sepia-ish:

The other picture of my face with the autumn leaves will be on the back.

thanks SO much to everyone who offered their opinions...

it was so incredibly helpful to hear your thoughts and reasons as to why you preferred one over the other.

Any complaints or comments can be sent directly to Mr Jack Cummings III, Artistic Director of The Off Broadway Company, The Transport Group (www.transportgroup.org) as he literally threatened to never speak to me again if i chose the other one.

HAPPY AUTUMN EVERYBODY!!!!

"bok bok"

xoxo

dl

GREAT VOCAL DAY

Today was a great vocal day.

Thank Christ.

Ask any singer and a "great vocal day" comes around once maybe twice a month.

It's not that you sound like absolute rat shit every other day it's just...

a minute amount of a difference (in how it's all coming together for you vocally)-

that when you're standing in front of a microphone-

can make a HUGE difference.

There are so many variables to where your voice is on any given day-

your diet, sleep, water, drink, warming up, warming down, seasons, allergies, tension, stress, a woman's cycle (sorry guys), how much you sang the day before, whether you slept with the A/C on or off, the rising of the moon, the Return of Saturn, whether the restraints in the mental ward are tight or loose...

it's ridiculous really.

As a natural control freak, I used to absolutely wig out about this when i was younger. That was until i saw an awesome interview with Harry Belafonte where- after he had just sung brilliantly on some chat show- had mentioned that he was not having a great vocal day but, 

"ya know....ya just wake up in the morning, figure out where it is and you work with it."

That's pretty much been my motto ever since and i've been MUCH happier for it. Trust.

Anyway-

today was a really really great vocal day.

I was clear, rested, had some sweet 'spin' going on....

so i not only recorded vocal tracks for two new songs i went back and basically re-recorded almost every lead vocal on every track i've put in the can so far. About......six? Yeah. Six.

I'm having a ball editing the vocals now.

it's always so much more pleasant to listen to your own fucking voice for hours on end when you're not thinking you're the greatest hack that ever lived.

Ahhhhh, good times.

good times.

Anyway-

burning through some music over here-

will catch up where i left off on the second half of the BALM IN GILEAD song, i promise. But in the meantime, let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes about singing:

"Before i was a perfectionist. I was never 100% happy with any performance. Now... I've accepted what life has put into my voice."

have NO idea who said it.

I clipped it out of a newspaper years ago and it's just been up on my wall ever since.

oh...

and one more thing before i let ya'll go to sleep...

quick recording tip.

When you unplug your refrigerator to record stuff.....

really really really try to remember to plug it back in.

Especially when you've just bought groceries the day before.

I'm actually wondering if i should put the cost of all the shit that died a very sad and tragic death my fridge on my CD budget.

Ok loves.

Goodnight.

More soon.

Promise.

xo

dl

Why Carol Burnett is awesome.

Carol Burnett is awesome because she has agreed to write my 'CD Essay'.

The CD Essay is...

even tho I buy CDs, and should have noticed this practice-

the essay that someone writes about you and you put it in your CD booklet.

While i understand the reason for it...

the idea of it is a little uncomfortable to me.

I just...

feel like the music should speak for itself and....

if someone's reading the essay it means that they've already bought it anyway-

cause it's IN the booklet...

sooooooooo, it seems a bit like getting a letter of recommendation to publicize?

But.

I also understand it's the thing to do....

and....

I wanted to find someone that I'd worked with who i felt really got me.

Who i was, what i did, how i participate in this crazy world of music and theatre.

And for me, that's Carol.

For those of you who don't know-

Carol wrote an autobiographical play called Hollywood Arm with her daughter Carrie, and Hal Prince cast me to play Carol as a young woman.

It was one of the most magical times of my entire life, not even so much working on the play but working with her. She is, one of the most extraordinary, selfless, loving, giving women I have ever met in any capacity and I am proud to have had just a little sliver of life with her.

Anyway.

There are so many more reasons why Carol Burnett is awesome, of course...

but, this is today's.

She is truly a class act.

xo

dl