My first column for RivetingRiffs.com was published last week!
My editor told me with glad surprise that only a few days after the column was published, nearly 300 people had already read my column. Pretty good for a brand new online magazine!
Please click here to read my column.
Enjoy, and please let me know what you think...I would love to get some response on the issues I touched on in the column....
xoxo
Gina
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Words, Thoughts, and Lyrics
Words. I'm a sucker for words--spoken, written, or sung.
I'm a sucker for lyrics.
Most people will tell you that a singer's powerful or sweet or teary or heart-throbbing or gritty voice "gives them chills".
What gives me chills is lyrics: Beautifully written, thoughtful, thought provoking, personal, honest, meaningful, relatable, precisely descriptive lyrics.
What makes me cry tears of astoundment is lyrics.
Combine incredible, perfectly phrased lyrics with a great singer who is not forcing anything or trying to be anything he or she is not--a singer with a soulful, convictional, down-to-earth, honest voice--a singer who understands that power exists in subtlety and that great serenity and comfort can be found in intensely powerful vocalizing, and you've got a winning, tear-inducing match.
Just the way lyrics are phrased or placed within a phrase in the most creative and touching of ways, at the most effective point within a song, can bring tears to my eyes.
As I said, I'm a sucker for words, which is why I wrote these words for all of you to read. Hopefull you will.
With that said, good night! Tomorrow is another day when a whirlwind of words will be floating around in my head and leaving my sleepless mind all the more restlesss.
-Gina
I'm a sucker for lyrics.
Most people will tell you that a singer's powerful or sweet or teary or heart-throbbing or gritty voice "gives them chills".
What gives me chills is lyrics: Beautifully written, thoughtful, thought provoking, personal, honest, meaningful, relatable, precisely descriptive lyrics.
What makes me cry tears of astoundment is lyrics.
Combine incredible, perfectly phrased lyrics with a great singer who is not forcing anything or trying to be anything he or she is not--a singer with a soulful, convictional, down-to-earth, honest voice--a singer who understands that power exists in subtlety and that great serenity and comfort can be found in intensely powerful vocalizing, and you've got a winning, tear-inducing match.
Just the way lyrics are phrased or placed within a phrase in the most creative and touching of ways, at the most effective point within a song, can bring tears to my eyes.
As I said, I'm a sucker for words, which is why I wrote these words for all of you to read. Hopefull you will.
With that said, good night! Tomorrow is another day when a whirlwind of words will be floating around in my head and leaving my sleepless mind all the more restlesss.
-Gina
Monday, August 20, 2007
Today/Hair Catching on Fire
Today I began recording demos for my next record.
I'm super excited about it, slightly nervous, but very VERY anxious to get it out there.
and...
10 days 'til I'm in heaven!!
On Sept. 1st I'm going to the most beautiful country in the world to visit family in southern Italy and Milano. I have a ton of family over there, including aunts and cousins. The last time I was in my dad's hometown (in southern Italy), all my relatives through a huge surprise 16th birthday party for me at a restaurant in the town
Here's a funny story...(well at least to me it's comical)
As I was leaning my head over to blow out the candles on the cake, much to everyone's horror, my hair caught on fire!! I was able to quickly brush the fire out with my hands, but considering all the hair product I had in, I'm surprised I didn't go up in flames!! That's a birthday I'll never forget...and someone got the whole thing on tape!!!
I'll also be very excited to get back from Italy because, starting this fall, I have so many things planned. There are multitudinous things I want and need to do and accomplish...it's overwhelming at times but things are happening, so I can only be grateful!!
Buona notte :)
G
I'm super excited about it, slightly nervous, but very VERY anxious to get it out there.
and...
10 days 'til I'm in heaven!!
On Sept. 1st I'm going to the most beautiful country in the world to visit family in southern Italy and Milano. I have a ton of family over there, including aunts and cousins. The last time I was in my dad's hometown (in southern Italy), all my relatives through a huge surprise 16th birthday party for me at a restaurant in the town
Here's a funny story...(well at least to me it's comical)
As I was leaning my head over to blow out the candles on the cake, much to everyone's horror, my hair caught on fire!! I was able to quickly brush the fire out with my hands, but considering all the hair product I had in, I'm surprised I didn't go up in flames!! That's a birthday I'll never forget...and someone got the whole thing on tape!!!
I'll also be very excited to get back from Italy because, starting this fall, I have so many things planned. There are multitudinous things I want and need to do and accomplish...it's overwhelming at times but things are happening, so I can only be grateful!!
Buona notte :)
G
Friday, August 17, 2007
Thunderstorms
There's something so comforting about being inside your home during a violent thunderstorm.
From inside you can hear the rain slamming down like iron pellets against your shaky windows.
The rooms always get shaded and gloomy. This darkness gives me an an ironically pleasant feeling of isolation, but I know my own company is enough to satisfy my mind.
The ominous skies are to blame for such bleak, shadowy skies.
I find strange comfort in such dreariness.
During these kinds of storms, a dim light, a comfy blanket, and the knowledge that you're safe from the harsh arguments mother nature occasionally has with herself--the angry bickering occuring right outside your front door--offer such a feeling of warmth and security.
I love thunderstorms. I look forward to them in the summer. I'm also fond of a Friday night that consists of staying in alone, keeping inside myself, and, if inspired by some whimsical thought while listening to that pitter-pattering against my window, writing a song and playing a little guitar.
Not to mention giving my doggie a few kisses...
...and this is exactly what I am going to do tonight.
Here he is. Little Chippy. 10 years old but doesn't look a day older than 6 weeks.<3
-G
From inside you can hear the rain slamming down like iron pellets against your shaky windows.
The rooms always get shaded and gloomy. This darkness gives me an an ironically pleasant feeling of isolation, but I know my own company is enough to satisfy my mind.
The ominous skies are to blame for such bleak, shadowy skies.
I find strange comfort in such dreariness.
During these kinds of storms, a dim light, a comfy blanket, and the knowledge that you're safe from the harsh arguments mother nature occasionally has with herself--the angry bickering occuring right outside your front door--offer such a feeling of warmth and security.
I love thunderstorms. I look forward to them in the summer. I'm also fond of a Friday night that consists of staying in alone, keeping inside myself, and, if inspired by some whimsical thought while listening to that pitter-pattering against my window, writing a song and playing a little guitar.
Not to mention giving my doggie a few kisses...
...and this is exactly what I am going to do tonight.
Here he is. Little Chippy. 10 years old but doesn't look a day older than 6 weeks.<3
-G
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Why Me???
On August 21st, I will be putting my U.S citizenship to full use and, against my will, and quite unenthusastically, will be participating half-heartedly in the American Justice system:
Jury duty.
I've tried and tried but cannot get out of it. Damn, and believe me, I conjured up in my mind an encyclopedia of excuses and reasons for which I could not perform this duty.
-I claimed I was 9 months pregant and due any hour. Didn't work.
- I claimed I had a spastic spinal cord and am unable to sit for lengthy periods of time sitting and waiting and waiting in a brown, pew-like bench next to a man wearing the most rancid of musky colognes. They wouldn't hear it.
-I claimed I am heavily allergic to the exposure of boredom on my restless mind and an outbreak would require immediate medical treatment. They seemed to care less.
They just would not have any of this, but I suggested the staff arrange for an ambulance to remain parked outside the courthouse, as well as for a trained counselor to be on call who specializes in accute dementia caused by extreme, intense, I-would-rather-hang-myself-from-that-American-flag-over-there-in-the-left-upper-corner-of-the-dusty-ceiling-than-be-here-right-now kind of boredom.
Why me???
Jury duty.
I've tried and tried but cannot get out of it. Damn, and believe me, I conjured up in my mind an encyclopedia of excuses and reasons for which I could not perform this duty.
-I claimed I was 9 months pregant and due any hour. Didn't work.
- I claimed I had a spastic spinal cord and am unable to sit for lengthy periods of time sitting and waiting and waiting in a brown, pew-like bench next to a man wearing the most rancid of musky colognes. They wouldn't hear it.
-I claimed I am heavily allergic to the exposure of boredom on my restless mind and an outbreak would require immediate medical treatment. They seemed to care less.
They just would not have any of this, but I suggested the staff arrange for an ambulance to remain parked outside the courthouse, as well as for a trained counselor to be on call who specializes in accute dementia caused by extreme, intense, I-would-rather-hang-myself-from-that-American-flag-over-there-in-the-left-upper-corner-of-the-dusty-ceiling-than-be-here-right-now kind of boredom.
Why me???
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Time/Heaven/Absurd Amounts of Food
Time:
I'm certainly not where I imagined I'd be at 22.
I imagined something different.
Is it August of 2007 already?? Time sure does fly.
Pretty soon I'll be doing double time at the local bingo room, before which, of course, I'll be catching the early-bird special at the Red Robin Diner with the last of my surviving gal pals.
There, I'll likely be selecting chicken croquettes with a side of peas from the sticky menu and giving my order to the 22-year-old cranky waitress who is probably wasting her youth worrying and being bored, when, in reality, 99% of the things one worries about never happen and boredom is a sinful, poor excuse for laziness and lack of interest in doing all the living one can.
Life is too short to be bored. Don't spend your time wasting it.
Heaven:
I believe that, if heaven exists, it is not just some grand white ballroom comprised of poofy white clouds and cool, airy nothingness where everyone who has ever died congregates, reunites with their mother, finally meets their great, great grandmother from whom their gargantuan nose MUST have come from (because "it didn't come from my side of the family," used to say their mother), and befriends other deceased inhabitants of the other side, the by and by, upstairs, whatever you want to call it.
Nope. There are no divine white robes and euphoric floating around in my vision of the afterworld.
Heaven must be more personalized, more custom-designed than that!
I believe everyone has their own heaven.
It is a place that represents a time or place in the life of the deceased that brought them the most happiness, that they hold most dear, that is closest to their heart, that they long for to have or experience again, even if for just a split second.
It could be an old beach house where someone spent every summer of their enchanted youth-- swimming in the ocean, walking on the sand with their loving grandparents by their side.
It could be a 30th birthday party, freshman year in college, a honeymoon, a youth baseball game, a country, a city, a town, a house. Catch my drift?
Absurd Amounts of Food:
I had a great gig last night.
The band and I did our first set and took a break.
During our extended break, the multi-talented club owner/chef brought out an inordinate amount of food for us to feast on. It was nothing less than an exquisite buffet fit for a Roman Empress.
It would take a whole lot of time to list all the food my favorite new club owner so kindly served us.
All I can say is that, well, it was just like heaven.
-Gina
I'm certainly not where I imagined I'd be at 22.
I imagined something different.
Is it August of 2007 already?? Time sure does fly.
Pretty soon I'll be doing double time at the local bingo room, before which, of course, I'll be catching the early-bird special at the Red Robin Diner with the last of my surviving gal pals.
There, I'll likely be selecting chicken croquettes with a side of peas from the sticky menu and giving my order to the 22-year-old cranky waitress who is probably wasting her youth worrying and being bored, when, in reality, 99% of the things one worries about never happen and boredom is a sinful, poor excuse for laziness and lack of interest in doing all the living one can.
Life is too short to be bored. Don't spend your time wasting it.
Heaven:
I believe that, if heaven exists, it is not just some grand white ballroom comprised of poofy white clouds and cool, airy nothingness where everyone who has ever died congregates, reunites with their mother, finally meets their great, great grandmother from whom their gargantuan nose MUST have come from (because "it didn't come from my side of the family," used to say their mother), and befriends other deceased inhabitants of the other side, the by and by, upstairs, whatever you want to call it.
Nope. There are no divine white robes and euphoric floating around in my vision of the afterworld.
Heaven must be more personalized, more custom-designed than that!
I believe everyone has their own heaven.
It is a place that represents a time or place in the life of the deceased that brought them the most happiness, that they hold most dear, that is closest to their heart, that they long for to have or experience again, even if for just a split second.
It could be an old beach house where someone spent every summer of their enchanted youth-- swimming in the ocean, walking on the sand with their loving grandparents by their side.
It could be a 30th birthday party, freshman year in college, a honeymoon, a youth baseball game, a country, a city, a town, a house. Catch my drift?
Absurd Amounts of Food:
I had a great gig last night.
The band and I did our first set and took a break.
During our extended break, the multi-talented club owner/chef brought out an inordinate amount of food for us to feast on. It was nothing less than an exquisite buffet fit for a Roman Empress.
It would take a whole lot of time to list all the food my favorite new club owner so kindly served us.
All I can say is that, well, it was just like heaven.
-Gina
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