Friday, July 17, 2009

Rhythm and Freedom
Current mood:  inspired
Category: Music
I am just out of my skin tonight, I can’t sleep because I am just so excited. They say that the right teachers will come, at the right time, when your heart is open to it…. And guess what…… It is really, really true, I just didn’t know I was this ready and open!!!!!!

When I was 11 years old, I took dance lessons. In the lesson, when everyone would go to the left, I would go to the right, and one day I accidentally kicked this girl in the face…..She was Mrs. J’s best student. I am severely dyslexic, and back then I didn’t know it. It was a real bummer… With the teachers advice, I moved on to other hobbies,  although alone in my basement I would still boogie! :0)  When I got to college…. after a few cocktails, I would interpretive dance..My friends told me I was pretty good… I was never sure about that… but I did love to loose myself in the music!(smile)

At the beginning of this year, I became obsessed with rhythm!!! I have always heard the rhythm in my head, and in my voice, but not in my body. Beating to my own drum was most comfortable….. But that kind of wild disorderly rhythm, doesn’t work with strumming that guitar, or hitting those keys…. So I started doing everything I could, to find a consistent rhythm with in myself, that could guide me and those hands of mine.

This spring I started taking this hip hop dance class with Latin infusion…..My teacher is incredible, and I really am having a blast.. I have been strumming along with videos, with my favorite British guitar teacher… I also just started taking garage band lessons at the mac store, to learn how to work with drums….. and then…. it happened…. I got a new guitar teacher…. Crazy how he came into my life, but that’s for another blog!! :0) Anyways, he started working with me on moving my hand like a pendulum ……and it actually really worked… I got the bounce and everything… I actually really got a seriously nice consistent beat in that hand of mine….. Then today he taught me the most magnificent thing…

Today I learned Theory in a way that made everything make sense…. I learned about Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian, and the different scales using 5 of the modes, so no matter what fret I end up on, or what notes I hit, I can find many other chords very quickly. With this new information, and this new rhythm I’ve found, I just can’t wait to see what flows out of me…. It’s like this was the missing piece that ties everything else I’ve learned together….

I can’t tell you how much fun this is……. If your looking for a good book on this information, there is one called “Ear To Mind: The Path to Musical Freedom, by Matt Maher”….(Amazon.com) I just always have to know why or how something works in detail…. and this book really paints a beautiful picture of theory……….

Thanks so much for visiting, and I hope we both find that path to some kind of freedom!!!!!! But most of all…. I hope that incredible teachers continue to show up in our lives, and teach us all kinds of different rhythms that make learning and life so much more fun and exciting!!!!!!

Sweet Dreams to You!!!!!!!!

Love,
Lex

Currently listening:
Learning to Fly
By Tom Petty
Release date: 1991-01-01

Saturday, June 27, 2009

BumpaBumBumBumpaBumBum…..ChooChoo
Current mood:  smitten
Category: Music
Sooooooooo Last night I went out to dinner with a friend…… First we went to this Brewery and we ordered the quail as an appetizer….after we had each eaten a piece, we realized it was accidentally served to us raw……..Disgusting………UGGGG…Quail TarTar is enough to put me over the edge!!!!! We couldn’t wait to get out of that place…… so we left and went to JTC Kitchen…..

We sat upstairs on the balcony outside, and listened to these two guys sing and play guitar….. I actually got up and sang one of my favorite Black Crowes songs with them. It was so cool!!!!! As the night progressed many trains kept coming by…. Every time the musicians would start to get into performing there music, another train would blow by…… and beep on it’s horn….. I kind of lost myself in the moment, and started imagining how much fun it would be to attach a mattress to the top of one of those box cars, get in my sleeping bag, buckle myself into the mattress…….. and see just where I would end up…. Imagining myself traveling so fast, with all that wind blowing against my face……. To wake up in a completely different state…… location unknown….

When reality woke me from my moment…….I decided to call it a night. As it would turn out, I got lost going home….On the train tracks , somewhere in the actual city of Atlanta, but seeming as remote as the desert…….Without my GPS!!!!!!! I could see nothing, but these big open warehouses, with ropes hanging from the ceiling….. Very trippy…….. I ended up on Hollywood Avenue and Boulton Avenue….. Funny little joke the Universe was playing on me…….

I finally made it home, and got ready to go to sleep. As I was waiting for my mind to rest……. I started thinking how life is a train ride into the unknown already, and how every decision we make is like jumping onto a different box car…… We don’t know for sure where we are going to end up…… But one thing I realized as I was waiting for the silence is…… It is more fun to have an end destination in mind….

For years and years I was riding the train everyone told me I should ride….. believing they new my best destination…. It was usually fun for them, but not for me….. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t enjoying myself…. I felt like a real buzz kill!!!!!

Then I realized how with my music……. I have been on the best train ride of my life….. Strapped to the top of that boxcar with the wind, and beautiful air engulfing me……. This boxcar is a real keeper……I have met some of the coolest people in the world…… Have had so much fun learning something new everyday….. and can teach my kids a little something about riding trains. Incredible………. I haven’t made it to my destination yet though!!!!!!!!!! Not even close….. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can’t wait until my train visits Red Rocks, or the Gorge Amphitheater….. and Paris…… and just EVERYWHERE. It will be a blast when I play my guitar and piano in front of all those people in the audience. I especially can’t wait to see who I meet and work with at all the destinations. I love meeting other musicians….. and I love to travel….. And I don’t mind the occasional disappointing destination, because it makes me cherish the good ones even more….. I would prefer not to stop at a place serving Quail TarTar though…… but then again….. we would not have ended up at JCT Kitchen and I wouldn’t have written this blog……. And just maybe on the way home last night, I wasn’t lost at all….. Just maybe I was suppose to be exactly where I was…. I mean maybe there was a message in that Hollywood street sign…. maybe my boxcar is getting ready to take me for a visit to California and was giving me a little teaser?????????? I can’t wait to find out!!!!!!

I hope you love the boxcar you are riding on, and are finding your way to the most extravagant destination your mind can even conceive. And if you don’t like the train your on….. take it from me…… It is worth searching for a new one!!!!!! Maybe at some point ……..you and I will meet at a junction and we can celebrate!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for visiting!!!!!!!!!!

Choo Choo Choo………… SHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Love,
The Lexers (SMILE)

Currently listening:
Peaceful World/In Our Lives (U.S. 7 Inch Vinyl 45)
By John Mellencamp

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Is Clapton Going to save me?
Current mood:  blissful
Category: Music
The British and Irish have always played an incredible role in my life!!!! I Love the Brits and Irish…. Scottish as well!!!!!! My mom’s best friend was a Brit….. Boxing day and Bubble and Squeak are the BEST, nothing gets much better than that!!!!!!!….. But in the last few years, numerous times, some amazing British people have saved me!!!!!

I got lost in China….. and it was bad…. I got lost in an area that tourists don’t go…. By the grace of God I found our way to the Lingering Garden….. When we got inside, the only thing that lingered…. was was my imagination and fear. We had no interpreter, nothing….. I had been to the BODIES exhibit in Atlanta…… “Freeze Dried Chinese People”…… I had images…. bad images….. and just when I had given up hope, and thought I might turn into one of the bad images…. I heard this beautiful British voice……. I just jumped up, and hugged the woman. Her tour guide couldn’t believe how lost we had gotten, and said he was going to save us….. We ended up spending the day with the whole lot of British tourists…. They put us on their bus and spoiled us rotten…. The jokes they cracked on that bus will make me smile for the REST of my life…… Then they got a special car to transport us back to our hotel in Shanghi…. At that moment I knew I wanted Brits to be in my life forever!!!!!!!

About Six months ago I found an incredible web site! www.justinsandercoe.com It’s this musician named Justin who gives free guitar lessons….. For the first time I was able to learn cover tunes…. and so much more all because of……… Another Brit……. Justin is also so much fun to listen to everyday…… He just has this sense of humor that is so funny, and some of the jokes are bad, bad ,bad but make you laugh, laugh, laugh out loud the whole rest of the day!

This week I have had to lay low…… and I got my new Rolling Stone Magazine…. It is AWESOME… my favorite one all year…. One article that just tickled me pink, was the interview with Eric Clapton!!!!! I actually wrote this song that has his name in it….. He is part of the chorus……. So I have been very intriqued about Mr. Clapton ever since!!!!!!! Obviously everyone in the world knows how super he is at playing that guitar…. So the intrique was not about him being a star, but about figuring out how his brain works to make that kind of music…… The article touches on the way he thinks…… so I LOVED it!!!!!!! And He is HUMBLE!!!!!!!! Just a REAL gift!

After I read the Article….. I had this EXPLOSION of ENERGY PASS THROUGH ME…..and I thought……Oh My Gosh….. I think Mr. Clapton might be the next British person to save me!!!!!!! Sometimes I just know things ……and I don’t know why….. and RIGHT at this moment I know that Mr. Clapton is going to be a very big part of the rest of my life….. Maybe it will be from the guitar skills I learn on Justin’s website from the Clapton songs…. Or MAYBE he is going to go on tour with me, and be that dream guitar player I’ve been searching for my whole musical career????????? I don’t know what it will be… but I just can’t stand how excited I am right now!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the article Mr. Clapton sais……. “If you want to learn to play the blues, live beyond your means, “I want to learn to really play the blues, so I am going to live beyond my means……. and send this note into Cyberspace hoping it might find Mr Clapton and introduce him to the Lexers!!!!!!!!! (I call myself the Lexers sometimes).

Mr Clapton said he wants to find a way to write faster……. And I can GUARANTEE that I can help him with that!!!!!!!!!!!! We could spend several months together, touring and I could help him write faster, and he could help me play better….. After reading his article….. I think HE could be the Ying, and I could be the Yang?

I guess only time will tell, but no matter what…… Today I am just thankful to all the Brits that have touched my heart, and so Thankful that Eric Clapton’s music touches my very soul…… Now it’s time for Big Mamma to Rockin Roll!!!!!!! Hope you all find a way to live beyond your means, because in reality, it doesn’t have to cost even a penny!!!! And it feels soooo good!!!!!!! You got to believe in good things!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Lex

Currently listening:
Blues Power: Songs of Eric Clapton
By Various Artists
Release date: 1999-06-22

Friday, May 15, 2009

Tomorrow and the game….
Current mood:  jolly
I heard this great saying……  You can love the players, but not the game!!!!!!!!  I never have been good at games…  I never even realized there was a game going on,  until someone told me……  but I’m finally starting to see the game,  and I’ve decided, it’s better if you just ignore it……. and focus on lovin the players!!!!!!!!!  In music this is a real easy thing to do, because there’s all these guitar players, and bass players, and just all kinds of musicians playing all this great stuff, and there is no game in a song!!!!!!  No winner, no looser…..  just beautiful music!!!!  Wouldn’t that be something……  If everyone lived life like a song…. 
Tomorrow night I’m going to be singing some songs…..  I will be singing at Smith’s at 10:00PM in the Atlanta room!!!!!!!!  Put away your game face and come join me!!!!!!!!!  There won’t be any winners or loosers…..  Just a whole lot of LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!(SMILE)

Chow For Now!!!!!!

Love,
Lex

Currently listening:
American Beauty
By Grateful Dead
Release date: 2003-02-25

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Chuck Leavell Last Night
Current mood:  contemplative
Last night was just a real dream!!!!!  I got to hear Chuck Leavell fom the second row seat of the most spectacular Venue called the Melting Point…………  Chuck played with the Randall Bramlett Band and they are just all amazingly talented!!!!!!!! 

I love to watch the musicians fingers to see how they make the sounds…..  but I couldn’t watch Chucks on the keybord,  because I was below him……..  But I had a PERFECT view of his FEET!!!!!!!!  I never have watched a musicians feet before,  because I am so focused on the fingers, but chuck’s feet taught me more last night,  than any other performance has taught me before……  You see, when he is playing…….   the music is not only running through his head and fingers, but it moves all the way down his legs and into his feet and toes……  You have never seen anything like it……  It’s almost like he is levitating…….  I realized last night that I got to start feeling the music in my feet and toes…..  I want to levitate too…….  I have never heard a piano sound the way it did last night, but I can only imagine that it is what it sounds like up in heaven!!!!!!!!!! 

The icing on the cake was that I got to meet him as well………  and not only is he an incredible pianist, but he is one of the sweetest, kindest souls I’ve ever had the priveledge to meet…….I only got to talk to him for a few minutes, but you can just tell when you look him in the eyes that he is just goodness!!!!!!  This musical journey is the most incredible fun ride I have ever been on!!!!!!!!

The reason why I got to see this event is because of the University of Georgia School of Music……  Last night was a fundraiser for the music school, because it is privatly funded…….  If you’ve got some extra money, and love music, you should send it to them, because they are doing incredible things over there…….  Bruce Burch has been organizing these super events all year, and the ones I’ve gotten to attend,  have litterally changed my life from a musical stand point!!!!  And the music I’ve heard has given me outer body experiences!!!!!!!!   Also make sure to check out the Melting Point…..  The venue is just awsome!!!!!!!!! 

Thanks for reading…..and I forgot to tell you that Sunday night @ 10:00pm I will be singing an Aretha Franklin song at the 500 Songs For Kids Benefit……  I would love to see you there!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Lex

Currently listening:
Aretha’s Best
By Aretha Franklin
Release date: 2001-05-15

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Livin It Up…. Legacy Style
Current mood:  awake

Many people die with their music still in them.
Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live.
Before they know it, time runs out.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

I love that quote!!!!!!!!!!!  So here’s to serious living…. clink, clink……  Hope you have the best week and share some of your music with the world!!!!!  :0)  I Thank the Universe in a profound way, that some of the greatest musicians in the world, who have passed,  lived it up enough to leave a leagacy of music to all of us, so we could continue to feel there music in the rythme of our breath, and the beating of our heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And in the muscles in our fingers,  when we’re trying to play a bar!!!!!!!  :0)  HA!!!!!!!!!!!! :0)  May all your dreams come true, so you are not staring down from the top of the mountain feeling blue!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Lex

Currently listening:
Dreams

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Current mood:  hungry

My Oh My…….  Today….. magic is in the air…….I witnessed a miracle, believe me if you dare.  For a girl that does everything,  in her life in reverse……..  finally there is a moment for me, of peace on earth!!!!!!!!  You see,  with a catalog,  of over 60 copyrighted songs,  a cover tune was never learned, I could never figure out how to play along.  But then something happened, and memory got turned on…..  could it be the addition of Pantothenic Acid or  Chiropractic Adjustments,  that are making my mind and fingers strong?  …….  “The Zepher” and the “Fast Car” are such incredible rides…..  and someday I want to thank Tracy Chapman and the Red Hot Chilli Pepers for the super music  they did provide!!!!!!!! ……..  For with these 2 songs, the flame got heated up………..  and then it caused an explosion that is HOT, HOT, HOT…………

The Lexer’s is back in full force baby!!!!!!!!  I was a little blue for the last month or two, but now mamma’s ready to bring the songs to you!!!!!!!!  If your out and about on the 19th of March….  I’ll be singing some diddies at Smith’s,  and I’de love for you to join!  I go on at 9:00 for only about an hour….  so come and join me……  and bring me a flower!!!!!!!!  And I will have a surprise….  not sure yet….  but come and find out,  so you will have no regrets!!!!!!!!!  :0)  I LOVE FLOWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
The Lexers

Currently listening:
Fast Car
By Tracy Chapman
Release date: 1993-05-27

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Otis Redding Tribute
Current mood:  relaxed

Yesterday I went to Athens Georgia to attend a tribute concert to celebrate Otis Redding!!!!!!!!!  It turns out that Mr. Redding recorded one of his first songs on the campus of UGA.  The auditorium was packed, and the performances were amazing. The artists performing included Randall Bramblett, T. Graham Brown, Jimmy Hall, John Berry and Bryan Howard.  Bruce Burch organized this awesome event.   I sat next to an older woman from Macon….  as the tribute went on, she kind of teared up.  She said that when she was a kid, the city would let Otis perform in the Macon Coliseum…..  she said that if there was enough room, she and her friends would get to go watch the show!!!!!  She said in her life,  there has never been a performer that she has seen, that came close to touching her heart like Otis.  As they played Otis’ songs, I realized I knew everyone of them….  With out realizing it before, I came to see the influence this special man has had on me!!!!!!

Later last night the same artists performed at The Melting Pot,  Accept they had an addition,  Mr. Redding’s original drummer….  He actually started singing the (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay song while he was playing the drums and it was true magic!!!!!!!  I mean pin drop magic!!!!!!  I think part of learning to be an incredible artist,  is by watching other artists.  I had to attend this event alone, and I was a little nervous, but a new woman asked if she could join me.  She was in her late 60’s or early 70’s.  I had a table for two, center stage, on the balcony directly in front of the musicians.  I told her I would love it if she joined me, and with in 2 minutes a flock of  her older friends surrounded me (About 7 actually).   I felt like God had sent his angels to surround me, so I could really relax and enjoy the evening.  Unfortunately, half way through the show they made the flock leave, but my original angel sat with me until the end drinking her sweet tea!!!!!!!!

The show just got better, and better, and then even more better.  I don’t think that was proper english, but I just can’t describe what I saw!!!!!!!   You’ve just never seen musicians sing like these fella’s did……… Jimmy Hall knocked me out flat….  And Randall always takes my breath away!!!!!
The thing that got me the most though, was that Mr. Redding only lived 26 years,  and died a little over 41 years ago, but can still bring people together of such diverse backgrounds, and age, and gender, etc…… 

I ended the night eating a GIANT peice of creme brulee cheesecake, smiling at the wonderful day, and beautiful people I met,  all because of this special man and his music.  Boy am I grateful for that experience!!

Thanks for checking in and I hope your week is filled with lots of goodness, sweet tea, cheesecake, angels, and incredible music!!!!!!!

Love,
The Lexers :0)

Currently listening:
Try A Little Tenderness
By Otis Redding

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Chickens and Healing Hands!!!!!!!!
Current mood:  fascinated
Category: Music

“If we study but don’t practice, we won’t get results.  It’s like a man who raises chickens but doesn’t collect the eggs.  All he get’s is the chicken     sh_ t.  To get the best results you must study and practice well” ……. I just LOVE that quote by Ajahn Chah!

I have been practicing my guitar and studying my theory, and looking for some eggs and the other day I got a big fat golden egg!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone told me that If I went to a chiropracter that I would play the guitar better, so I saved up, and started going in January.  I have been desperate to make these hands work!  After going to see the chiropracter, I noticed a  difference,  but wasn’t sure what exactly had changed….  Then last week when I was practicing, something kept hitting my string.  I looked down and to my disbelief, It was my finger nail.  I have been a life long nail biter , without the ability to break the habit. but after three weeks of getting my back cracked(adjustments)…  My life long habit was broken. 

Then last week I sat down to write a song about my chiropracter experience to give as a thank you to my doc…..  When I finished the song called “Healing Hands”……  and played it back to myself…..  I couldn’t believe it……  The guitar sounded almost like someone  I paid to play……  but it was actually me!!!!!!  A miracle!!!!!!  A REAL miracle!!!!!

I just want everyone to be touched by some HEALING HANDS.  It is just an amazing thing to experience.  I mean just something else!!

This is my year of firsts….  so I will continue to write about one each month!!!!!  I’m REALLY, REALLY hoping I will write my first tour diary sometime this year……  I am wishing so so much for a miracle to go on tour with someone super duper as the opener!!!!!!! 

Make sure to write to me about your firsts!!!!!!  If you read my last blog….  I’m having a contest!!!!!!  We all got to be in this together!!!!!!  At the end of the year I am going to write a song about someones wildest first!!!!!!!  This week I most of all hope you find a big fat golden egg yourself,  instead of a bunch of stinky waste!!!!!!!!  We all need to work hard and enjoy the beautiful things the chickens in our life will provide us, if we nurture and pay attention to what those chickens can produce!!!!!!!

Cockadoodle dooo Uh Uh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Lex (smile)

Currently listening:
Gossip In The Grain
By Ray LaMontagne
Release date: 2008-10-14

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ha Ha Ha Ha
Current mood:  adventurous
Soooooooooo This year started out with a bang…..  No longer will I be bound by heavy chains…..  Recently I posted a New Years Toast, with the idea to let it be heard, for a day at the most…….  But I left if up for almost a week…..  and now I sit hear laughing as I breath……  I hope you enjoyed the wishes I sent, because it came from my heart, and every word was meant!!!!!!!!  Some more surprises I will share real soon……….  so keep checking in to read my blogs and hear my tunes!!!!!!!!!!!  On the 22nd of January at 8:00pm, I’ll be singing at Smith’s…….  Playing some new songs………(smile)…. Would love to share my songs with you in person!!!!!!    Hope you have a super week!!!!!!!!!!!

Currently listening:
Stranger Things
By Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Release date: 2006-07-25