Original song by letter2self: How To Let Go

I just put down The Alchemist, and am still absorbing the lessons to be found there. It never ceases to amaze me, that no matter how many books I’ve read… the one I am currently reading has lessons specifically tailored to my current life events. There are several lessons to be learned in The Alchemist, and many that are swirling around in my head. However, today there is one in particular that is standing out, and it is a theme that is repeated throughout the book;

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

I have found this to be true throughout my life. But the opposite can be true as well. When we stop listening to our hearts, our wants, and our needs… we cease to allow the good and positive things to flow through out lives. We forget our dreams, we lose sight of our goals, and instead we continue to hit walls. We lose sight of who we are, because what are we but our dreams?

I have found that dreaming can be a very difficult thing. Desires and wants can seem selfish and hedonistic. We want to seem like a better person, so we deny ourselves the very things that make us who we are… in order to try to be a better or different person. This is neither helpful or fruitful. I can only speak for myself and my own life experiences, but I have learned that in the moments I am believing in my dreams, and pursuing my own desires… opportunities open up that I would have never dreamed of. People position themselves in my life to help me achieve things, music producers show up out of nowhere, supportive and encouraging friends come out of the woodwork, opportunities at work arise, my music muse returns, and the trials of life seem manageable… But, I will write more on this theme later..

In the meantime, I would love to know your stories… when you re-ignited your dreams, how did you see the universe conspiring to help you realize them?

Letter2Self: You recently directed and filmed your first music video; Tie Me Up by Vanity Inc, how was that experience?

LL: Challenging, but I think it was a natural transition from still images and photography to move into cinematography. We were trying to symbolicly weave together the issues of immigration, women’s rights, politics, oil spill, mortgage crisis, religion, peace vs. war, and the ever present issues of modern day slavery with the sex trade industry. Pretty heavy issues, but the common theme is the symbolism of the rope and being tied up to all these things. The sand represents all the shores of America, and how they represent freedom for so many people around the world. The play on light shows the need for justice to prevail in some of the darker places, because that is what our country represents; freedom and justice, and we cannot forget that.

L2S: What made you want to direct this music video, specifically?

LL: Well, back in the day when MTV used to play music videos… the videos almost never had anything to do with the lyrics. So, I wanted to challenge that. I was really inspired by these lyrics and the message in the song.

L2S: Was it difficult to find locations to shoot?

LL: No, we used the beach – the scenes with the children were filmed in the middle of a bad storm, which is why the waves look so intense. We had to be very careful because when you stepped forward, the sand sucked you in and the waves almost knocked you over. The kids were really good sports about it.

L2S: How did you cast the talent?

LL: The dancer, Alisha, has a background in Middle Eastern cultural dance and after sending her a copy of the track, we asked her to create a dance routine that represented a fight for Women’s rights in the middle east and around the world; which she did a beautiful job on. We chose Maggie and her children; Zavian and Chanel, because they can relate to the story of immigration (her parents are Puerto Rican immigrants) and as a single mom she is fighting to create a better life for her kids.

L2S: What makes Cinematography and Photography different?

LL: Film takes so much more time than still images, I was surprised at how labor intensive it was. Coordinating people and locations, and you have to film so much more footage than what you actually use… We filmed a few hours worth, to cut it down to 5 minutes. It was such a rewarding experience, I hope to direct and film more projects in the future.

visit Lex Lumiere at www.lexlumiere.com

Vanity Inc is officially competing in the Converse Presents: Get Out Of The Garage Music Contest. The grand prize is the chance to be the opening act on the six-city Get Out Of The Garage Music Tour, an opportunity to record their album in a professional studio and $10K worth of music gear from Guitar Center.

You can vote once a day through December 15th, so make sure to visit getoutofthegarage.com and vote every day to help Vanity Inc make it to the next round.

Vanity Inc is a band that does more for their community and strives to make a difference in the world through their time, volunteering efforts, money, and music. Please support and vote today!

Vanity Inc was recently reviewed in the Examiner.  Click here to read the full article.

I am so excited! Christina Perri is releasing her EP: The Ocean Way Sessions; tomorrow! Famous for her single: Jar of Hearts, The Ocean Way Sessions promises to be as touching, inspiring, and as unique as she is.

After listening addictively all afternoon to her preview I am sensing a new favorite on my iPod!

As a bonus, In celebration of her debut EP, The Ocean Way Sessions (out November 9th — pre-order NOW!), and in continued thanks to the dance community, Christina is hosting a dance contest! The grand prize winners will be flown (flight and hotel expenses paid, plus full scholarships for each up to five dancers and one choreographer!) to attend the Costal Dance Rage convention in Dallas, TX on January 15-16, 2011. The winners will also perform their dance live on stage with Christina at a benefit for Cure Search for Children’s Cancer Foundation! This show is not to be missed, with many additional celebrity dancers performing at this benefit. For information on the convention and to purchase tickets to this MUST SEE event, go to http://www.costaldancerage.com for details!

Voting for the dancers opens tomorrow at Christinaperri.com! To listen to a sneak preview of Christina’s EP click here!

Whenever I’m not actively expressing myself creatively I tend to get in a slump. My brain starts to get muddled and foggy, and I get very easily frustrated. Why is this, you might ask. Well, let me tell you.

Most people’s brains work like a computer (*please note-this statement has not been evaluated by the FDA ;-D), with input and output.  When there is a lot of input, there needs to be a lot of output, or your “hard-drive” can get overloaded, start working slower, or eventually go into burn out mode.

So, normally I have 2 or 3 nights a week marked out on the calendar as solid creative nights. These are for writing music or poetry, journaling, playing the guitar/keyboard, meditating, creative vision boards, drawing, or whatever I feel called to do on that particular night. It’s no secret that the past couple of weeks have been pretty insanely busy for me… with the rearranging and rearranging and (did I mention) rearranging, company coming to town, Curves4Change launch party (which I will be writing up on Monday!), friends, NY Cares Day, etc.  When life becomes this busy something tends to fall to the wayside, and in this case, it was my beloved creative night.

However, even when I am neglectful of my ‘output’ my brain is still in full creative gear. So, what happens when I don’t allow myself the creative output I need? I will be riding the subway home, and my brain starts spilling lyric after lyric, which I end up frantically typing into my phone so I don’t forget them. I may be sitting in a meeting, and suddenly a new melody pops into my head… and is so intense, I can’t concentrate, so I have to excuse myself, hum it into my phone recorder, and run back to the meeting. My fingers will start aching from the lack of playing my keyboard, or guitar. I’ll sing to myself in the train until I realize everyone is staring. I’ll sing the same chorus over and over and over at home until I get ‘the look’ from Lex that I need to pick another song.

My point is… when I stop using my creative ‘output’ time and put that on the back burner, my brain/body/spirit will FORCE myself to ‘make time’ to get it all out, and in NY there is a LOT of input. Good news- I’m back to my old creative schedule next week and I can get some of this *music.music.music* out of my head and into my song book.

http://www.thephantompixel.com

I open my mouth to speak
profound words of measured peace
but all I can seem to do
is stand awestruck in front of you

when you ask me what, you don’t understand
there’s a beauty within you I can’t comprehend
my voice fails and my pulse it sails
can’t find the words to say
have to find a different way

don’t you know I’d cross the world for you
with a boat I’d battle raging oceans, it’s true
don’t you know I’d climb mountains for you, all for you
I’d walk across the galaxy
then open up the sky so you could see it with me
don’t you know I’d bring a star back for you
and ask it to shine
like you do all the time
all for you, all for you

don’t want this to ever end
even when the shadows bend
constellations
unwind from their places
it won’t matter anyway
you shine brighter than they

don’t you know I’d cross the world for you
with a boat I’d battle raging oceans, it’s true
don’t you know I’d climb mountains for you, all for you
I’d walk across the galaxy
then open up the sky so you could see it with me
don’t you know I’d give you the moon
and ask it to shine
like you do all time
all for you

everything, I’d give you everything
the sun and the moon and the stars
everything, I’d give you everything
just please don’t change who you are

Here is how it works:
-You register for the online songwriting class
-You add on the personal critique option
-You submit your song in MP3 or Text format
-You get a 30 minute telephone call from Ginny
-You get an MP3 recording of your call with Ginny

REGISTER NOW