Mister Badger Show Thursday, June 5th!
2008-05-19
I have no major updates, other than to announce the very special Mister Badger vaudeville show on Thursday night, June 5th at the fabulous The Slipper Room in New York City! Check out the flier on our myspace page. This is a really big event, and I'm so thrilled that I had the opportunity to put it together.
We will be welcoming the following guests:
Spoons and his Flute of Death (otherwise known as Jim Thomson on spoons accompanied by flute ... rumor has it there will be some Joy Division tunes);
Miss Julia (me) reciting an original, interactive poem ... with sound effects;
Jim G. and Pat playing some very special ukulele love songs;
Col. Q.P. Hudson and his Traveling Medicine Show (old vaudeville at its best!);
Hot Time Harv, the Ukulele Crooning Geriatrics' Gigolo (I couldn't be more excited about this);
and of course, Mister Badger, performing our full set in all its glory!
It's also my birthday party, so it's going to be just grand!
Come and enjoy yourselves!
Art Show!
2008-05-19
The very special and incredibly talented David Rhoden is part of an art show at the Apt. Gallery in SoHo! Please come to his opening tonight, May 19, from 7-9 and see his magical giant wrestler heads (the ones that make him famous) and other beautiful and often gigantic pieces!
All the details are posted on his Web site!
Early Show Announcement!
2008-04-15
Mister Badger will be playing a very special show (it's more of a party, really) on June 5 at the fabulous Slipper Room in New York City! I'm pretty excited -- I was given the go ahead to put together the whole night, so we're going to put together a fantastic variety show, not unlike the Grand Ol' Opry.
I added some new songs and some other stuff this month to our set so it should be fun and a half. It's also going to be my birthday party (it's a day after the actual day), so a good time should be had by all. Stay tuned for updates!
I'm still in the process of working on my solo project. I've been realizing some new songs and will post announcements once I start looking for another musician (guitarist, please).
Also, this Web site is about to get re-worked, so keep checking back for updates! Soon there will be new beautiful design, writing samples, updated resumes and music, music, music!
The Latest
2008-03-06
It's been quite a while!
In the time I was gone, Mister Badger played two shows at the Lakeside Lounge, I wrote a new song and the busy-ness business continued. I'm working on more shows for our little quintet soon, so stay tuned. It's still amazingly fun, and I can't wait to see where it's going.
My freelance writing docket is still incredibly full, so I'm not currently taking on any major projects (though minor, short-term projects are always welcome proposals).
My latest musical plan is a new side solo project. I decided that I need some freedom to roam a little, as not all songs I envision are always Mister Badger-appropriate. I've started working on a new repertoire of songs and will soon be looking for a talented male guitarist/songwriter to help me! I'll keep everyone posted as that develops (and as I start looking for an additional musician).
Cheers, and more sooner than the last time!
Julia
Great Music News!
2007-12-20
My long-awaited band Mister Badger went into the studio the last two Wednesdays and created a lovely collection of five songs!
I'm excited for everyone to take a listen, and am looking forward to our debut show on January 6th, 2008 at the Lakeside Lounge in NYC!
Take a listen to our tracks here!
And, if you have myspace profiles, please feel free to add us to your friends' list!
If not, you can also get yourself added to the mailing list by emailing a "Yes please" (or some equivalent) to misterbadger1@gmail.com!
Mister Badger New Music News
2007-11-18
GREAT Mister Badger News!
... two bits of great news, all in ONE DAY!
1. We officially booked our debut show for Sunday, January 6, 2008 at the Lakeside Lounge! Check out the main Mister Badger page for information and stay tuned for additional details! Now comes the fun of finishing up our sparkly extras (the "frosting" on our musical cake, so to speak) -- sets, costumes, etc., etc., which are already well underway and partially complete!
2. We've finally scheduled studio time to record some (most likely five) tracks! We'll be spending a day during the first few days of December with our pal Mark at Emandee Studios in Brooklyn. Expect at least three tracks in December to grace our page!
Overdue News Update ...
2007-11-10
It's November already, and things have been busy. I'm getting into some writing contests (as yet to be determined), so I'll keep you posted. This tends to be the season ...
The big news, as usual (because aside from regular worky writing, that's where my energy flows) is Mister Badger - related. We've had our first band shopping outing and selected some pretty great costumes for at least our two men ... and rehearsals are progressing swimmingly (more importantly).
My tasks for this month are to write a vaudeville-ish script to create lovely segues (and funny ones) and schedule recording time in Brooklyn. I'm excited!
Look for our debut in early January (though our first show will most likely be a selective, invitation-only dress rehearsal).
More news soon ...
I'm with the band ...
2007-09-17
Mister Badger is officially complete, and I couldn't be more pleased with our selections.
We've added -- on a beautiful array of sparkly, wonderful, dark, etc. percussion instruments -- the lovely and amazing Kae Reed to our roster.
And in a surprise move, we decided that one percussionist was not enough to do all the magical things we had planned, so we ALSO added the talented Jimmy Thomson as well to help craft the complex rhythmic extras.
I'm really excited, particularly since it is already sounding quite together, and I think the potential for it getting maximally fun and creative is pretty astounding. Plus, we all are getting along like gangbusters, which is an added bonus (particularly when you have to create something important and special together).
I'm hoping we can play a show by at least December. It's looking good ...
This project is pretty important to me. It's telling a story that really needs to be told now, before it's too late.
percussionists and things ...
2007-08-22
Mister Badger is looking for a skilled percussionist!
I've posted an ad on Craig's List that can be found here.
If anyone reading this knows someone talented, let me know ...
I REALLY want to get this show on the road ...
musical update
2007-08-18
I'm pleased to announce that Mister Badger officially hired Jim Geyer last week to play ukulele and banjolele with us. Since he is a multiple-threat instrumentally and seems more than willing to wear the crazy costumes we require, it was a perfect fit!
Stay tuned for more on that and other things very soon ...
Fun in the Summertime
2007-08-13
Business continues to be "busy"ness, so I'm not currently accepting new long-term clients. However, any little creative writing projects or closed-ended content development and grant-writing deals are always welcome, so don't hesitate to ask if that description fits your bill.
The summer has been full of new launches of websites and professional materials and proposal writing. I've been churning out massive amounts of content and am looking forward to a slow-down at some point. I've been revisiting my novel and working on the new one as well, so look for progress on that front shortly.
What is really changing is my musical endeavors. I have ten songs ready to go with my new project Mister Badger, and we're sounding better than I could have ever expected. Surprisingly, we're playing all original songs save one, marking this the fastest I've ever endeavored to write and co-write a full set of completely original material. We're auditioning ukulele players this week and will soon secure a drummer. Then our entourage will be complete! I'm proud to say it's a different type of ensemble than I've ever attempted, but we are definitely set to put on quite a show. As soon as we cast all our players, I will have some recordings to share as well as we're planning to hit the studio quickly. When cabaret meets country meets comedy, pretty songs and colorful costumes, something special happens. If you are a myspacer, please feel free to add us! If you're not, stay tuned for more information on this website.
Last week I also had the pleasure of going into the studio with my old friends and former bandmates The Demands to cut some vocals. A great time was had by all!
I will update as soon as there is more news to report. Happy summer!
little updates
2007-07-07
I've been trying to update this weblog once monthly, but last month I failed to have anything new enough to report to make it worthwhile.
This month, however, I have some things happening ...
I just took on new editorial responsibilities with a client that have me pretty busy, so anyone looking for me to do new writing work will have to have fairly small projects for me to be available to complete them. This is good for me, but possibly bad for those needing me!
I've also within the past few months taken up a great new grant writing project of which I'm fairly proud, and I will share more details as the organization comes into its own. Those that know me know that these days I limit my proposal writing to one organization at a time these days, so I choose very carefully! This one is turning out to be really exciting, and I'm looking forward to watching it grow.
Musically, I have begun realizing my little cabaret-meets-country Mister Badger project in earnest. We're working on finding talented musicians that play odd and fun instruments to fill out the playing part of the songs already written. Stay tuned ...
I also potentially have some gigs coming up that will have me playing cello. I'll post details once I know them! I'm excited though, as it's a new adventure for me.
In other news, it's 7/7/07. I hope you're feeling lucky ...
The Latest
2007-05-11
I figured I better update this blog, since it has been quite a while. I'm busy working with many clients on a variety of projects at the moment and juggling the usual assortment of styles and types.
The latest "new" news is a new creative project that will be coming soon, first in blog form, then in website form. I will post details when they become available, but a friend of mine and I are starting a humor/entertainment site of sorts that will have plenty for everyone to do interactively and otherwise.
Stay tuned for the details, probably coming as soon as at the end of this weekend ...
uncovered gems
2007-03-26
I've had an interesting time lately uncovering old pieces of writing that I thought were lost, or had simply forgotten. I found a very small part of writing (about two chapters in total) of an old novel I had started and completely not remembered save tiny parts that felt like I had dreamed them, really. However, I also found a great deal of notes that outline the whole plot of the thing, which actually made me recall most of what I was thinking at the time (remembering my thought process is typically no small feat for me, so I was pleasantly surprised).
Also found on an incredibly old computer was a slue of writing, most particularly quite a few sketch comedy pieces I wrote while in grad school, which were actually much funnier than I remembered. I also found some poetry, which at first glance seemed fairly bad, but most of which was actually just fine. I did find an assignment I had to write where I wrote an updated version of Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," seen here (somewhat poorly laid out), by far my favorite poem and poet. Instead of the goblins selling fruit to two young sisters, there were ice cream men selling their wares to two young girls. I don't know how, but I somehow managed to follow it line-by-line to the letter in terms of tone, theme and spirit (for the most part). Unfortunately, I made it a bit jokey and overly "clever," but it was fun to re-read. I need to get a disk and get to work on the consolidation process.
My creative writing goals for this week are 5,000 words on at least one, or a combination of the two novels I have going at the moment and the completion of two of my half-finished songs.
Personal reading goals (because I have to really start making lots of time for that again to help keep me up to snuff) include finishing Charles Portis' novel _Masters of Atlantis_ and finding something new I haven't read 10,000 times before and that actually interests me while still being perhaps slightly outside my comfort zone, which can be difficult.
Any suggestions are welcome.
musical endeavors
2007-02-20
My latest musical project, Mister Badger is progressing faster and furiouser (and curiouser and curiouser). We have been song writing up a storm and soon will fill out our ensemble with banjo, more guitar, drums, washboard and accordion. I'm fairly excited to be doing something that combines my love of show tunes, cabaret and country with comedy and edgy darkness. It's going to be a real show ... complete with costumes.
We now have a sparse page on myspace. Music samples are coming soon.
I will get to see if I'm still as good at changing clothes in seconds flat -- much like when I used to be able to change from a toga into a full taffeta 19th century get-up in 30 seconds in near darkness.
my latest big idea
2007-01-24
Since this went out the window, I've decided that I'm going to just enter a gazillion writing contests. Of course, I will not be using the word "gazillion" as any part of the cover letter experience or the writing itself.
I've found some interesting ones so far, including a $50,000 award for women artists with a clear-cut project in mind. The thing is, I think I could get it since I already have my novel (and a lot of the next one) completed and really just need the funds to take some time to truly market myself properly. Unfortunately, the deadline is February 1, and the application process is rigorous and involves many, many essays. But there won't be any better time for my writing than now, so I may just have to go for it.
Wish me luck. If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. If you have any free money lying around, that would be great too.
Welcome to My Weblog
2007-01-18
My website is certainly in its beginning stages, but it's coming soon in its full glory! An updated resume, more work samples, a delicious biography and other things will be appearing shortly. Stay tuned for tons of fun and of course updates on writing-related, music-related and probably some irreverent-at-times mayhem. As always, for less formality, work relations and mostly useless links and time wasters, head for the distant hills, aka my myspace blog, which is my completely personal blog.