Taking a leap...

Sometimes life gets comfortable, you get into a routine, and before you know it, years have gone by. The past five years have brought magic to my personal life-- a wonderful husband, a new city (I LOVE YOU SAN DIEGO!!!) and a fresh circle of people to add to my list of dear friends.

Career-wise, I've sang my heart out as a solo act, and then I caught band fever, performing some exciting shows with an awesome band. I've just scratched the surface with my creativity and am ready to dedicate more time to writing and performing as an original artist. I've cleared my calendar. I even let go of my Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at Albies. (We had a riot, didn't we? I miss you all, already, Albies gang!)

And, now, I am stepping onto a ledge, spreading my arms and sailing off in a new direction. Joyfully, happily, shouldering childlike faith (and some adult hard-knocks street smarts as well!) I'm taking that long first step forward.

Oh, and P.S. I just gave my website a long overdue facelift. Hope you check it out! www.rosewinters.com

How many songs can I record in one year?

I'm a musician, and I've been in a slump for several years. I perform four nights a week, its what I do for a living. But I used to be a songwriter, I used to practically live in my studio. I know a thousand songs, literally, of other people's music.

But today, I decided to be "Un-slumpable." Or "Un-slumped." Hmm. Unslumpable sounds superhero-ish, I'll go with that one. (I'm the dork standing with my hands on my hips and the kitchen towel around my neck billowing in the wind.)

I think my breakthrough was simply to get rid of every single negative thought, emotion, fear, and worry. Strip it all away and what do you get? NOTHING TO LOSE!!! Yay for me!!

Since it was Halloween I learned a dozen new songs for my gig; Monster Mash, Witchy Woman, Witchcraft, etc. The song that really fit me though, was "I Put a Spell on You." I could really wail on that one, and I love the blues. I have that raspy blues thing going on.

So anyway, I had a revelation. WHY NOT just record MUSIC?? ANY music?? It will get my sea legs back in the studio. The writing will follow! Nowadays you don't even have to print CDs, you can just do the download thing. So instead of obsessing about "Should I write a blues album? Alternative? Punk? Acid? Country?" Instead of that, I'm just going to pick a song that sticks out when I'm singing it at a gig, and I'll march into my studio and record it. And instead of obsessing about "But I don't have a band! OMG!" I'll just record it myself, I'm a one man band anyway. And the musicians will come later, I have lots of extraordinarily talented friends.

Okay, I'm blathering now. So I'll get to the point. Today was the day, and I did it. I recorded "I Put a Spell on You." When I get it mixed down I'll see if I can figure out how to attach it to this blog. And then I'll pick the next song. Wish me luck!!