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For the Joy of Music 

Black wireless headphones resting on a sleek gray electronic keyboardAnyone who talks to me for two seconds can usually tell how important art is to me. I have tried basically every kind of art: fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, making videos, graphic design, painting, acting, directing, dancing, singing, playing guitar/keyboard/ukulele, and writing songs. And I even did a podcast for over a year where I talked about art and creativity with artists. When I'm not creating art, I'm usually doing something creative like crocheting, decoupaging, coloring in adult coloring books, etc.

I've taken some forms of art more seriously than others. But the common theme in my life has been the importance of storytelling (through books, plays, films, TV) and the importance of music. Ever since I sang in a little version of Little Red Riding Hood in fourth grade, I have tried actively to be a singer and writer of songs. I was an acoustic singer/songwriter for 15 years or so, and I was in bands off and on from 2000 to 2012. 

But around 2012 or 2013, I started to sense my window of time to be a singer or musician was closing, especially as a woman nearing her thirties. I had just graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing, and I decided to essentially give up my dream of ever being a “successful” singer to 100% pursue being a “successful” writer. (My idea of success has since shifted a lot - which is why I put quotation marks around the word.)

My love for music has never gone anywhere. I still have almost 300 playlists on Spotify, I also use Apple Music (because it sounds better on my headphones), I ask everyone I meet to name their favorite bands and albums so I can get to know them better, I often say “making playlists is my love language,” and I listen to music literally all the time - throughout the work day, in the shower, while sleeping, etc. You can also see my love for music clearly in anything I write--especially The Muse Chronicles trilogy, my play The Spins, and it's definitely there in my work in progress (which I actually finished the first draft of a few nights ago)!

But aside from an acoustic show I streamed online from my living room in the summer of 2020 and some goofy songs I've written for friends and family on their birthdays with my ukulele, my instruments have basically collected dust in the corner, and I've barely sung since my last official show at Smith's Olde Bar in 2014. There was something painful about it. Every time I picked up the guitar or even sang in the shower, I had the inner critic reminding me that I had failed at music.

One of my favorite places to sing along to my favorite songs used to be in the car when I was driving. It probably didn't help that I sold my car in September 2021 and rarely drove. Over the past few months, though, my boyfriend and I have been sharing a car. We both work from home so we rarely need it, but I do go to church, and I also drive up to see my parents (who live about 20 minutes from me). 

Recently, I was in the car, and I was having such a moment to “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It” by Stars that I realized I was singing along. Did it sound as good as it used to when I sang every single day? No. But I wasn't even thinking about that. I was just singing along for the sheer joy of it. 

Since then, I have found some vocal coaches on YouTube, and I have been doing some vocal exercises with them to try to recondition my voice. Not really because I think I'm going to be singing at open mic nights again or putting acoustic songs on my YouTube channel, but just because I want to bring back singing and creating music for myself. For the joy of music.

So no, I'm not saying I am actively going to start performing as a singer again (although I'm open to it), but singing and making music can hopefully go back on my list of creative activities that bring me joy.

An update 


It's hard to believe my last blog post was three months ago, and I'm still working remotely. People are attempting to go back to some kind of normal, but I haven't left my house much.  

These are crazy times we're living in. Not only are we in the middle of this public health crisis, but now, there are protests and riots happening for racial justice. I have posted a few things on Facebook, and I did do a YouTube video explaining why Black Lives Matter, but for the most part, I've been quietly doing things to become a better ally. I started to list those things here, but then I realized I don't need credit for trying to be a good ally.  

What have I been up to? Quite a few things. 

I've been gearing up for the release of my YA 1980s time travel novel, Time After Time, which is being published on August 18th. If you are interested in reading an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review, please email me at sara@saracrawford.net. 

I've been working on my draft of Until the Night Falls, the sequel to my YA vampire novel, Into the Shadows. I'll have some more news about that book coming soon.  

I've actually been playing my acoustic songs, and I even uploaded my acoustic album, Unsent Letters, to YouTube as a well as a video where I discuss the album. And I'm even planning to play an acoustic show in my living room that I will live stream on my Facebook page in August. So stay tuned for more info about that. 

And in other news, all three books in The Muse Chronicles will be available on all book retailers (Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, etc.) in late July. So stay tuned about that as well! 

So that's what's going on with me. I hope you all are doing well and staying safe and healthy.

Taking an indefinite break from music 



It seems like every time I go out these days, I run into someone who asks me when I'm going to play another gig. This is probably because I have always been in bands, always gigged a lot, especially during 2010, 2011, and most of 2012. I even booked a last minute gig this weekend. I ended up having to cancel the gig. The logical reasons were that I just had too much stuff to do this weekend--including some freelance work--and I was just overly stressed. But I think, also, it was more than that.

It felt as though I had already closed that chapter of my life: the Atlanta musician chapter. And I realized that I just couldn't play anymore shows. At least, not right now. And when I thought about the show I just played at the Drunken Unicorn, it felt kind of like me saying goodbye. Goodbye to the Atlanta music scene. Goodbye to Pocket the Moon, to Novo Luna, to Long Absent Friends, to the Cult Following, to Ruby, even to Population 2. Goodbye to Katrina, Ben, and Riley. Goodbye to "rage against the ex-boyfriend" songs and "you broke my heart" songs and unrequited love songs and the occasional "we can transcend all of this shit through art" songs. Goodbye to the empty shows I played at the Earl. Goodbye to the Atlanta music critics who wouldn't bother reviewing our album. Goodbye to the beer at band practice and the jamming out when it's storming outside and "why weren't we recording that i hope someone remembers that was so awesome!!!" and me singing songs about skeletons in the closet because I couldn't think of any other lyrics. Goodbye to the bandmates I dated and the ones I didn't date and the ones who wanted to date me but didn't and the ones I wanted to date but didn't. Goodbye to doing shots of lemon juice and cayenne pepper and carrying around a dry erase board so I wouldn't have to talk when I was trying to get my voice back before the gig. Goodbye to everyone who told me my songs sounded the same. Goodbye to the cheers from friends when I held that long note on "August" or sang "And I will not be denied and doomed..." Goodbye to looking at the ceiling, thinking of David or Brandon, before singing "Too Late" or "For Brandon." Goodbye to Smith's Olde Bar, to the Star Bar, to the Earl, to Wonderroot, to Mulligans!, to the BeAtlanta house parties, to the Drunken Unicorn. Goodbye to white girls covering Eminem. Goodbye to condescending bloggers. Goodbye to the dancing guy who always held up his arms and yelled "BA BA BA BA" every time we played "Victoria." Goodbye to drunken guitarists falling over during guitar solos and going on with it anyway at jam parties. Goodbye to the countless other musicians I played with--the ones who inspired me, the ones who made me rock out, the ones who made me ask if that song was about oral sex, the ones who gave me headaches, the ones who made me dance, the ones who made me cry, the ones who made me sing along. Goodbye to driving downtown to the show.

And on one hand, I was really sad about it. Because it felt like Atlanta wore me down. It felt like I was giving up because no one cared about all of my sad songs anymore. It felt like I was giving up on something that had always been a huge dream of mine. I felt like I had thrown in the towel, like I had been defeated.

But then I thought some more about it, and it really isn't that I gave up. Music has always been a huge part of my life, but writing is an even bigger part of my life. I have been filling journals since i was 7 or 8. (I'm on journal #90 right now, and I've only been numbering them since I was about 12 or 13.) I have been writing stories and plays and poems since a very young age, too. I used to write plays and have the neighbors perform them in our driveway when I was only 8 or 9. And even in my songwriting, I always felt that above all, I was a story teller. And now here I am having just completed my MFA in Creative Writing, having just published my play, The Snow Globe, and with my young adult novel, The Muses, completed, which is--I think--the best thing I have ever written and I feel that I'm really, really close to getting a literary agent. I have always tried to do it all--music, writing, school, work. At times, I have focused more on one or two of these things than the others, but I have always been a person who is involved in multiple projects. I feel I really need to shift my focus, though, and put everything I can into writing--into getting this novel out there for the world to see. Into getting my plays on stage again. Into getting my poems published. And this is why I've decided to take an indefinite break from music.

This doesn't mean that I won't ever write songs if I feel inspired or that I won't ever pick up a guitar at parties or jam with friends. This doesn't even mean I won't play open mic night at MacCrackens every now and then when I feel like bumming out the bar. (I mean, it is right down the streeet from me...) This doesn't mean that I won't post covers on YouTube sometimes if I feel like it. And you know, someday, I really want to be in another band, make another album, play more shows. I really, really do. And I'm certain that I will do these things again someday. But now is not the time for that, and it's not where my energy is. And I've been fighting that, but I think it's just time to accept it and not feel guilty about it anymore.

It's ironic, though, because a large percentage of The Muses is about music. Would I have been able to write this novel if I weren't obsessed with music--listening to it 24/7, always scouring the internet trying to hear the latest releases from new bands or going back to old records I'll always be in love with? Would I have been able to write this novel if I hadn't had all of those experiences as a musician in Atlanta? In all of those bands, as a solo performer? No, I definitely wouldn't have been able to write this novel, at least not the way that it turned out. And I think one of the reasons that it will (hopefully) speak to people is because my passion for music is coursing through the novel on every single page. At least... that's what I hope.

But as I am pressing the pause button on this aspect of my life, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you to all of those people who have played music with me over the last 10 years. Thank you to everyone who has come to see any of my shows, to anyone who ever listened to my albums, to anyone who ever watched my videos on YouTube or listened to my music on iTunes or Spotify or Last FM, to anyone who ever played my CD in a bar or a coffee shop, to anyone who ever put my music in a film, to anyone who ever booked me at a gig, to anyone who ever invited me to a jam party, to other musicians who played shows with me and inspired me with their music, to the bloggers who were nice and the bloggers who weren't, to the critics, to the pretentious indie snobs, to the hipsters, to the real music lovers, to the people who just learned how to play guitar to get laid, to the techno geeks, to the rock n' rollers, to the angry metalheads, to the really nice metalheads, to the Christian rockers, to the country folk songwriters, to the experimental noisemakers, to the college and internet radio stations, to all of you. 

My favorites from 2011 - part 1 

Well, it's that time of year when obsessive dorks like me start making lists. This is great for people like me who obsessively document everything. I journal every day, I make silly lists (10 things I'm grateful for today, books I've read this year, shows I've played this year, etc.) on my computer. I have tons of notebooks filled with other things that don't exactly fit into either category. Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Wow, Sara, that sounds very OCD of you!" but considering how completely laid back I am in every other aspect of my life, I'm quite accepting of this one aspect of obsessive behavior.

So most of the music blogs out there are making "best of 2011" lists, but I don't like the word "best" because it implies that there is an objective way to determine which albums are better than others, and as I always say, all art is subjective. (I should get that tattooed. That's become my battle cry.) So, instead, I'm going to share with you 5 albums that I fell in love with in 2011, my 5 favorite shows that I went to in 2011, 3 albums I fell in love with in 2011 (that weren't actually released in 2011), and 3 local Atlanta albums I fell in love with in 2011. And if you really don't care about all of that, just skip down to the fun YouTube videos so you can listen for yourself!

2011 was an odd sort of year. At this time last year, I thought that there were going to be tons of releases from some of my favorite artists that I would absolutely love. Radiohead, Bjork, Lykke Li, Devotchka, Bon Iver, etc. For the most part, though, most of these releases left me with that "meh" feeling, which is definitely not what I was expecting from these artists.

One of the great things about 2011, though, was how involved I got to be in the Atlanta music scene. I played around 25 Atlanta shows with Pocket the Moon, and I made it out to around 20 (mostly local) shows in addition to that. Seeing and playing all of these shows allowed me to see some really great bands, both local and touring, and I also got the opportunity to meet some really cool people. As much as I often bitch about certain aspects of the Atlanta music scene (*cough*hipsters*cough*), there is a lot to appreciate about it also. This past year, I have met so many incredibly talented musicians who are (*gasp*) ALSO supportive of OTHER musicians!!

Everything that Geoff and I have gotten to do as Pocket the Moon--release an album, go on tour, play some really great shows, make a music video, get voted "Best New Music Act" and "Best Folk Act" in Creative Loafing--would NOT have been possible without all of our friends and supporters. I cannot say thank you enough to all of you for that.

Anyway. Onward. Let's see the lists!

I'm going to save my "5 albums I Fell In Love With in 2011" list and my "5 favorite shows I went to in 2011" list for next time. But here's the first half of my obsessive list making!

3 albums I Fell in Love With in 2011 (that weren't actually released in 2011)

I think it's important to include these sorts of albums in these kinds of lists, especially with music the way that it is today. There is SO MUCH indie music out there to be discovered that sometimes you won't find out about an album until way after it is released. There is no shame in this! While you won't typically see most indie music bloggers actually admitting that there was an album they didn't know about until a year later, I'm not a "typical" indie music blogger. (In fact, I'm not a typical anything blogger. I just write whatever the hell I feel like writing whenever I feel like writing it.)

Anyway, I wanted to write about these three albums because even though they were released before 2011, to me, they were very much 2011 albums because that is when I obsessed over them.






Angus and Julia Stone - Down the Way (2010)

I actually loved this album more than most of the albums on my main favorites from 2011 list. While the atmospheric track "Hold On," the haunting "For You," the catchy "Big Jet Plane," and folksy "And The Boys" are definitely my favorite tracks on this album, there really isn't a track that I dislike. These songs are full of soul, passion, emotion. The lyrics are deep and meaningful, the vocals of Angus and Julia really blend well together, the arrangements and the melodies are superb. The whole album is a winner.








The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You (2010)

This upbeat and catchy album reminds me of everything that I love about bands like MGMT, Foster the People, Moonlight Bride. Not that The Naked and Famous necessarily sounds like those bands, but they have some of the same elements. This track, "Young Blood" is my favorite. Some of the vocals remind me a little of M83, too, which is probably another reason I love it.






James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning (2010)

This folksy and soulful solo artist reminds me a lot of Bon Iver or Edward Sharpe. His songs are very catchy and yet full of meaning. There are a lot of great and almost haunting harmonies on this album. It's perfect for rainy days like today. You should definitely have a listen if you haven't heard him before.



3 Local Atlanta Albums That I Fell In Love With in 2011

(aside from self-titled by Pocket the Moon...)
(kidding, kidding)
(no but seriously, listen to our album.)





Places - The Future

Tracks like "Dark Fear, "No More Lies," and "At Least It's A Beautiful Day" are great examples of why I love this dreamy, nostalgic album. It reminds me a little bit of Wild Nothing meets Slowdive (and comparing a local band to Slowdive is something I never thought I'd do). Definitely check them out. You can hear the whole album at the Bandcamp page and pay what you want.

Places on Bandcamp
Places on Facebook







Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun - W I L D F I R E

When this album came out in May, I think it spent a good month on repeat in my CD player (or at least a few weeks...I don't have a great concept of time). This album may as easily have been on my main list of favorite albums from 2011, but they just happen to be local so they go here! "Old Monster," "We Were Wild," and "With My Good Eye" are definitely my favorite tracks. (They remind me a lot of Metric.) I also think this band is definitely an inspiration for all of us Atlanta musicians. (Plus, they donated a free album to my raffle for the Red Cross benefit show I organized at Kavarna earlier this year so kudos to them!)








Molly Parden - Time is Medicine

Ever since I saw her set at Drunken Unicorn this June when she played at our CD release show, I have been a big fan of her's. She's one of those genuine folk singers that I love because her songs are very honest. My favorite tracks from this album are the title tract and "A Song For My Mother."


So check out these artists, go see their shows (if they're local!), buy their music, be supportive!

And stay tuned for part 2 of my favorites from 2011. :)

A poetry project - Driving Downtown to The Show 



Atlanta by jkelley1 on deviantart

As many of you know, I've always been one of those artists who must be doing multiple things at once. Writing plays, writing songs, playing music, sometimes acting, writing screenplays, sometimes film making, writing poems, decoupaging tables...there's really nothing I won't at least try when it comes to art. I've decided lately, though, to kind of put everything on the back burner and focus on music, specifically Pocket the Moon. I spend most of my time promoting, booking, writing music, practicing, recording, etc. (Well, Geoff's really doing most of the work on recordings. I just show up and play/sing. He's the one who makes it sound badass.)

I am still doing my grad school program, though. I'm pursuing my MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Playwriting. And while I'm sort of taking a break from writing plays specifically to really concentrate on Pocket the Moon, I am still working on poetry for my poetry writing workshop.

My professor in this class, though, wanted us to come up with these incredibly elaborate procedures. We are basically writing enough poems over the course of the semester to have a chapbook of poems at the end, and he wanted us to come up with "rules" that decide the content, length, and writing schedule. He also wanted us to come up with a title for our books.

I decided that since I am focusing so much on music right now, not just my own music, but also being a part of the Atlanta music scene that my procedure (and my book title) would incorporate this theme.

Here’s my procedure:

Writing schedule: Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, I will write a poem after band practice.

Content: I will look up the bands on the bill of a certain music venue, and in my poem I will have to use one of those band names in the first five lines of my poem. (Tuesdays - The Earl, Thursdays - Star Bar, Sundays - Drunken Unicorn - because those are probably my favorite venues.)

Length: When I sit down to write, I will put my iPod on shuffle. Whatever song plays, I will look up the lines of lyrics and that is how many lines my poem will be. If it is an instrumental song, the length will determine my line count. (i.e. a song that’s 4:57 would be 57 lines in 4 stanzas.)

Title: Driving Downtown to the Show


This is obviously not how I usually write poems. I might start with a particular form in mind or even a writing prompt, but never something as elaborate as this. But so far, I am really loving the work that is coming out of it. And having to write three poems a week after coming out of a period where I haven’t written any poems for at least two years was definitely a challenge at first. But now, I’m right back into the swing of things.

These are some of the band names I’ve used so far:
Hip to Death
Wild Nothing
How I Became the Bomb
Dead Rabbits
Quiet Life
The Future of Airports

Another reason I'm loving this project is because it further reinforces the idea that all of the artistic projects I am involved in are connected. I can never just be a poet, playwright, musician. I am always all of the above. My poetry is greatly influenced by music, my music is greatly influenced by theatre, my plays are greatly influenced by poetry, it's all connected!

I’ll leave you with one of the poems I’ve written for this project. The band name I had to use that day was Siberia My Sweet (which is also one of my favorite local bands ironically.)


Frozen Tundra

Last August, when the salty, suffocating air
nearly strangled us

as we crept through the Deep South
you took my hand and said,

"Let's travel to Siberia, my sweet
and become one with the frozen tundra.

We can become snowmen with
little black hats, and at least we'll

know that we'll never melt away,
our hands frozen together

in miles of ice and snow." You smiled
at me and kissed my cheek.

I untangled my fingers from yours
and kissed the night air of the Deep South.


Music I fell in love with in 2010... 

Alright, I know everyone is all listed out by now with all of the "Best of 2010" lists floating around. Also, I thought about it, and for me it's really hard to "rank" music. How can I compare one album to a completely different album? It's like saying "Which is the better fruit? Bananas or oranges?" Neither one can objectively be "better" although we may each have different favorites. So I thought instead of doing a countdown, I would just tell you about some of the albums that I fell in love with this year.

Beach House - Teen Dream



Teen Dream on Amazon.com

Beach House's website
 
Beach House on myspace

Of course, I have to mention this album. How could I not? Especially after I saw them live twice this year. (Ironically, neither show was in Atlanta. The first one was in Asheville, NC in late April. I drove up there to see them when their Atlanta show was sold out. The second time I saw them was in Athens at the 40 Watt.)

The first time I listened to this album all the way through, it was like magic. I completely fell in love with Victoria Legrand and her captivating vocal melodies, especially paired with Alex Scally's guitar, which weaves together with the organ so beautifully. This album took me somewhere, every time.




Arcade Fire - The Suburbs



The Suburbs on Amazon

Arcade Fire's website

Arcade Fire on myspace

I've been a huge fan of Arcade Fire ever since Funeral came out in 2005. I was a little obsessed with Funeral and Neon Bible, actually. So I was really excited about their 2010 release. But when I listened to the first few times, I was a little disappointed. It wasn't what I expected it to be. It didn't make me feel the way that those first two albums did, especially Funeral with it's longing and joy and childhood nostalgia. 

And then one day, I just sat down and listened to the whole thing, and I had a moment. I got it. It captures that suburban-9-to-5-sitting-in-traffic-this-is-almost-like-being-in-jail-but-we-don't-notice-because-we're-too-busy-drinking-lattes-and-playing-on-our-iphones feeling extremely well. But it still slightly irritates me because Arcade Fire doesn't have to punch the clock or work 9 to 5 day jobs. They get to play music for a living. I'm sure at one point, they understood the frustration, living in the sprawl, feeling trapped, but I feel like this album is really coming from an outside perspective. I still have mixed feelings about it in that regard. Nonetheless, I've come to absolutely love the music. Especially this song, which I've definitely listened to non-stop, on repeat, for at least a day or two.






Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle



Penny Sparkle on Amazon

Blonde Redhead's website

Blonde Redhead on myspace

This is an album I haven't seen mentioned a lot on the various best of 2010 lists, and I really don't know why. This album is amazing! The airy vocals and dreamy guitars will send you into another world as well. They remind me of Slowdive meets the Cocteau Twins. If you like shoegaze or dreamy music, you should definitely check out this band. I am really hoping they make it to Atlanta sometime soon so that I can catch them live.



UNKLE - Where Did the Night Fall



Where Did the Night Fall on Amazon

UNKLE's website

UNKLE on myspace

This is another album I haven't seen mentioned much, which I also think is weird. I became completely obsessed with this album when I was in Mexico. I've been a fan of UNKLE for a while, but it was really listening to this album that made me pay attention. I especially love the tracks that UNKLE does with The Black Angels (there's one on this album and one on the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack, which is actually a great soundtrack.)

Check it out!




Dark Dark Dark - Bright Bright Bright



Bright Bright Bright on Amazon

Dark Dark Dark's website

Dark Dark Dark on myspace

If you like Regina Spektor or My Brightest Diamond, you must listen to Dark Dark Dark.  This EP goes from eerie to nostalgic to passionate to elated to longing all within the span of six songs. After I saw the band live at The Five Spot in October, I was hooked. Their live show was amazing as well. They had an incredible presence. (And who doesn't love accordions?)



So there we have it. Five releases that I absolutely fell in love with in 2010.

Releases I'm excited to hear in 2011 so far? Well, PJ Harvey, Lykke Li, Devotchka, and Adele are all supposed to have albums coming out in 2011. I have a good feeling about this upcoming year. :-)

I'm in a new band...sort of - news with the 2011 tour - thank you for making 2010 amazing! 



Photo by Belenen


I can’t believe 2010 is almost over! I mean, seriously?

The Cult Following is no longer around (at least not in the form that it was). Adrian Rhetts and Brian Teague are no longer playing with us full-time. There's no hard feelings and I have nothing but respect for both of them as people and as musicians. And please check out Eat the Sun, Brian's electronic project, which I’ve always been a huge fan of, and Electric Duane, who Adrian is now playing guitar with. (Electric Duane also features Matt Bradshaw and Monica Nicole - two of my friends and incredible musicians as well.) So you never know when they’ll make a musical appearance, but for the moment, bass player, Geoff Goodwin, and I are re-booting the project.

We’ve decided to form a two-person band using both my songs and songs that Geoff has written. We’re currently working on recording and expect to release a CD in early 2011. I’m really excited about where it’s going! This band will feature Geoff on drums, guitar, bass, bells, trumpet, piano, and I’ll be playing guitar, piano, maybe even a little bass myself! You can definitely look for some of the Cult Following favorites like “Tangled,” “Hipster Haircut,” and “August” on the upcoming release, and I’m sure Geoff and I will continue to play some of the tunes from Unsent Letters at the shows.

To see a preview of the new arrangements and where the music is going, you can come out to Smith’s Olde Bar - The Atlanta Room on Saturday, December 4th. We’ll be playing at 10:00 pm. This show will also feature other special guests such as Kyle Weisse (from Long Absent Friends) on violin. You definitely don’t want to miss it! It’s going to be completely different than any of the shows I’ve played so far this year, and with all of the focus on recordings, it’s likely to be my last show for a while. Also, we'll be playing with Sarah Mac Band and 1880's Dance Party!

Also, things are speeding along in full force on my Kickstarter page where I am raising money to go on tour in June 2011. So far, I have reached 60% of my goal! There are still 32 days left to donate so please check it out and donate what you can to help! (Every dollar counts!) If I don’t reach my goal by December 31st, I won’t receive any of the funds that I’ve raised on there so far, so please help me to reach my goal so I can make this dream a reality and share my music with the country! I had originally planned to make this an acoustic tour, but now it looks like it may be including “the whole band” (AKA Geoff). This is very exciting because now I can try to book the more indie music oriented venues as opposed to just acoustic coffee shop type places. Also, throw the little bro, Kevin Crawford, into the mix, and who knows what kind of shenanigans will ensue. Video blogs from the road, perhaps? A documentary about trying to make it as an indie band? Who knows? So many possibilities!

Sara Crawford Acoustic Tour June 2011 on Kickstarter - click here to donate!

Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone for making my 2010 so amazing. Thank you to The Cult Following for being the most fun band I’ve ever played with. Thank you to all of the booking people at the various venues for giving me the opportunity to play. I’ve played so many incredible places this year! MINT Gallery, Drunken Unicorn, Smith’s, Lenny’s, Red Light Cafe, Five Spot, Grant Park Summer Shade Festival, the Beatlanta house, Cool Beans...oh, and let’s not forget that tequila bar in Mexico...and playing two songs totally counts as a “show.” :-p Thanks to everyone who has come out to the shows and shown support. Thanks to everyone who has supported me by buying a copy of my CD or my poetry book. Thanks to everyone who has donated to my tour fund on Kickstarter. Thanks to all of the amazing musicians who I have had the opportunity to play with this year - Wade in the Rhythm, Callers, Lady Lazarus, Before the Solstice, CMAC... just to name a few. (And if you haven’t heard those bands, check them out! They’re well worth it.) Thank you to everyone who voted me Best Songwriter in Creative Loafing's Best of Atlanta issue! Thank you all so much for everything you do. You don’t know how much it really means to me.

Check back later this week for an events posting and restarting of the Poem of the Week!

Thanks for reading!

NEW songs, Leapfrog on TV, upcoming shows, upcoming poetry book release! 



Origin by Manami

I have a lot going on recently, so I thought I'd post a blog about it :-)

Recently, I got the opportunity to play an acoustic set with Be Atlanta. First of all, these guys are freaking awesome. They're doing all of the things I love(d) about groups like Have You Heard, Atlanta Guardian, and 4th Ward Heroes, promoting local music. They host local music shows, they promote local bands, they're constantly posting videos, songs, show listings, etc. Even at their shows, in between sets, they play a playlist of local music. Definitely check out their website - http://beatlanta.com - And check out their shows, too. They have another show tomorrow - Friday, August 27th - with Before the Solstice and Capibara.

They posted a blog about the acoustic show I played the other night, and they even included a couple of videos of some new songs I've been working on:




This one is called "Don't Try So Hard." (Ironically, I was trying way too hard to remember the whole song. It's that new, people!)



And here's "Rooftops." It's about my experience in Mexico.

In other news, my band and I have been trucking along, working on a new EP that we're hoping to release in October. The EP will feature the songs, "You Told Me," "Irresponsible," "Tangled," and the crowd favorite, "Hipster Haircut." Have I also mentioned that my band is ridiculously awesome? These guys amaze me every day with their versitility and talent. I have so much fun practicing with them, and I can't wait for our next show!!

Speaking of shows, I have a few coming up:
  • Acoustic set at the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival - Saturday, August 28th - 12:30 - Historic Bandstand Stage - FREE - All ages - I will be playing an acoustic set this Saturday at 12:30. I am so, so, SO excited to be playing the same event as so many incredible Atlanta musicians! (Like Wade in the Rhythm, The Goldest, and Lindsay Apple to name a few!) I will be hanging out all day after my set checking out the music, so come out to this FREE festival and enjoy some great bands!
  • Sara Crawford and the Cult Following at Smith's Olde Bar - Atlanta Room - Friday, September 3rd - 9:00 PM - $8 - 21+ - My band and I will be returning to one of my favorite venues, Smith's Olde Bar, to rock your face off. Come check it out!
  • Sara Crawford and the Cult Following at MINT Gallery - Friday, September 24th - 10:00 PM - $4 - All ages - This is part of the Rock Science Revival music series! A lot of great bands have been playing these shows recently, and I'm really excited to be joining them!
In other non-music happenings, I recently got some very exciting news about Leapfrog, the short film that I wrote, directed by Michael Tillman. On September 4th at 1:00 AM and September 5th at midnight, Leapfrog will air with some other short films created by Atlanta filmmakers on the show, Atlanta Shorts. The show airs on PBA 30, Atlanta's PBS station. So make sure you tune in for that!

Also, my chapbook of poems, Coiled and Swallowed, will be released through Virgogray Press on September 7th. I will be having a poetry book release night at Cool Beans in the Marietta Square. The date is TBA, but it will be in mid-September! The first half of the evening will be a poetry open mic night, and then I will read a few poems from the book and have copies available for people to purchase. So all of you poets out there, definitely come and join us for this! Read a few poems, bring copies of your books, and we'll have a night celebrating poetry!

Once again, I just want to say thank you all so much for your continued support of my artistic projects! I hope you will all also continue to support other local and independent artists in Atlanta and all around the world. Trust me, we all need your support! (And I will be posting a blog soon with my September artistic event recommendations, so send me those if you have any you'd like me to include!)

And now I'm off to the Star Bar for an awesome FREE night of music brought to you by 4th Ward Heroes and Mixtape Atlanta featuring Tyler Lyle, Little Horn, and Richard Sherfey!

More from Mexico, my upcoming events, and a night of poetry you shouldn't miss 



Photo by me from Guanajuato, Mexico

Hey everyone. I'm still in Mexico! Coming into the last week here. I can't believe it! I will be happy to come home to Atlanta, but sad to leave San Miguel. It's really beautiful here. And I'm definitely changing and growing. As a writer, as a person. I'm finding myself. Finding myself on the rooftops and the terraces with the mountains on the horizon, among the mariachi bands in the Jardin of San Miguel, in the silence of the Catholic churches, in the cleansing waters of the hot springs, climbing the pyramids, in the dancers on the streets of Guanajuato, in my Form and Idea class where our final project involves plaster elbows, listening to the other students read their work, in late night chats at the hostel - drinking wine on the terrace, in the workshops of my playwriting class, in the margaritas at La Cucaracha, on the buses to excursions riding through the rural parts of Mexico, in the markets where a language I don't know buzzes all around me...This has truly been an amazing experience. I've met so many incredible people, so many talented poets, playwrights, screenwriters, non-fiction, and fiction writers. I've learned so much about writing, about art, about another culture, about myself. And I'm incredibly grateful for that.

Well, I'm definitely going to be jumping right back into my crazy busy life when I get home, and I'm really excited about that! I have a lot of exciting upcoming events:
  • Wednesday, August 4th - solo/acoustic show at Actor's Express - A night of theatre and music! - Working Title Playwrights presents Essential Shorts - new short plays written by WTP affiliates presented in concert readings - as part of Essential Theatre's Festival of Plays! I will be playing an acoustic set after the show. See both for just a five dollar donation! The show starts at 7:30 pm - 887 W Marietta St NW # J107, Atlanta, GA 30318
     
  • Sunday, August 22nd - solo/acoustic show - Be Atlanta's Acoustic Sundays - 10:00 pm - FREE - all ages - 197 Howell Dr. SE, Atlanta, GA
     
  • Saturday, August 28th - solo/acoustic show - Grant Park Summer Shade Festival - Historic Bandstand stage - 12:30 pm
     
  • Friday, September 3rd - Sara Crawford and the Cult Following - Smith's Olde Bar - The Atlanta Room - 9:00 pm - $8 - 21+
     
  • Tuesday, September 7th - Release of my chapbook of poems, Coiled and Swallowed, through Virgogray Press

So that's what's going on with me. I hope all of you back in Atlanta are having a great summer full of good times and wonderful art of all kinds! :-)

And I thought I'd pass this onto you, from Kyle McCord (who was featured in my Poem of the Week back in September). For those of you in Atlanta, you should definitely check it out!

Sunday, July 25th come hear Dream Horse Press authors Kyle McCord and Keith Montesano read from their recently released books. They will be joined by special guest Kara Candito. The event will be at 6:00 p.m. at Beep Beep Gallery at 696 Charles Allen Drive, Atlanta. The event is part of the DHP First Book Tour, with readings in seventeen different locations across fourteen states. For any questions about times or directions, contact: kfmccord@gmail.com, or find us on Facebook.

Kyle McCord's book, Galley of the Beloved in Torment, was the winner of the 2008 Orphic Prize. He’s received awards or grants from the Academy of American Poets, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Iowa Poetry Society. He has work forthcoming or published from Boston Review, Cimarron Review, Columbia: a Journal of Art and Literature, Cream City Review, Gulf Coast, Volt and elsewhere. He currently lives and teaches in Des Moines, Iowa.

Keith Montesano’s, Ghost Lights, was published this year by Dream Horse Press. Other poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Hayden’s Ferry Review, American Literary Review, Third Coast, River Styx, Crab Orchard Review, Sonora Review, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. He currently lives with his wife in New York, where he is a PhD Candidate in English and Creative Writing at Binghamton University.

Kara Candito is the author of Taste of Cherry (University of Nebraska Press), winner of the 2008 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Her poems and reviews have appeared or will appear in such journals as Blackbird, AGNI, Prairie Schooner, The Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, Sycamore Review, Nimrod, Contrary Magazine, The Rumpus, Best New Poets 2007, Diode, New South, and The Florida Review. She has received awards for her poetry, including an Academy of American Poets Prize and scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.


So there you go. Make sure you check that out! It should be a great event.

I hope all is well back in the USA.

June/July events! 



Summer - Oil on canvas - by Bisat from DeviantArt

It's summertime! Oh, how I love Georgia summers. :-)

So, if you are a new reader to my blog/website, here's the story. A few years ago, I started a Facebook group called Atlanta Bohemians, a group for any and all kinds of artists in the Atlanta metro area to promote their events, post about auditions/calls for entries, or where art supporters can find information about independent and local musicians, actors, playwrights, screenwriters, film makers, painters, sculptors, poets, authors, and any other kind of artist you can think of. I started sending out monthly lists of different artistic events around the city, and I got a great response.

When I started this website, I thought I would move those lists over to my blog. Because I wanted the website to not only be about me promoting my own artistic projects, but I also wanted to promote and support other local and/or independent artists. I try to do that in other ways too, sharing poetry that I like in my "Poem of the Week," posting photography and art pieces from independent artists on my blog entries, posting music sharing podcasts where I share independent music, etc. I just love art so much. And I think there is nothing more powerful than going to that show where the band plays a song that reaches out to you or going to a play that just completely speaks to you or hearing a poem that just sucks you in or staring at a painting and being incredibly overwhelmed by the complex beauty in life. Art is a reflection of life, art helps us appreciate life, the good, the bad, everything becomes beautiful. I know nothing has helped me more in my own life to really be in the moment, to have real spiritual experiences, to really feel a universal love for everyone and everything than a perfect piece of art at the perfect time. And actually, you don't have to sit in the audience of a hugely popular Broadway musical or go see paintings by artists who have been dead for centuries or turn on the radio to find this art. It's everywhere. It's all around you. And there are tons of living, breathing artists who are writing songs, painting paintings, taking photographs, writing screenplays, making films, performing spoken word, etc. in spite of their 9 to 5 day jobs or their waitressing jobs or their bartending jobs or their low-paying non-profit jobs. And these artists truly inspire me. Working at places like The Georgia Ballet or Horizon Theatre and seeing these people work 60 hours a week for very little pay just because they love art. And if I can inspire one person to go out there and see an original, new play or see a local, unknown band or see an art exhibit from a living Atlanta artist or see an independent film made by a local filmmaker, then it's completely worth it to me.

SO! With that in mind, here are a bunch of awesome things you can do in June and July to support the local artists! And of course, if I have forgotten anything, please leave a comment.

Visual Arts




June 5th - 27th - Young Blood Gallery - "Interior/Posterior" with 6 women artists Megan Kimber, Merrilee Challis, Daisy Winfrey, Chrystal Chan, Jennifer Davis & Lesley Reppeteaux



June 12th - July 4th - Beep Beep Gallery - "The Big Bang" a solo exhibit of new work by Matt Relkin



Friday, June 18th - ASI Gallery - works by Laura Rubio - Opening reception June 18 , 2010 - 7 - 9:30pm - Free admission - Exhibition will run from June 18 - July 18, 2010



July 9th - September 19th - Atlanta Contemporary Art Center - Amy Myers: Feminine Space

Friday, July 16th - Art Party. 30+ artists showing. No theme. Its an art show that morphs into a party with Bands & DJs. Free drinks, $10 donation. 21+. More artists are always welcome. Visit www.dooGallery.com for more information.



Music


Saturday, June 19th - Five Spot - Wade in the Rhythm, Cloudeater, Dan Marshall Project with special guests including Dre-Money - 21+ - 9PM - Advanced Tickets: 7$

Saturday, June 26th - Star Bar - Howlies - Coathangers - Balkans - Mermaids - 21+ - 8$ - 9 PM

Thursday, July 1st - Star Bar - FREE THURSDAY SHOW! - Abby GoGo - Carnivores - Grenadines - 21+ - FREE - 9PM

Wednesday, July 7th - Smith's Olde Bar - James David Carter- Glen Pridgen Band - Brandon Perry - 21+ - 8PM

Saturday, July 10th - Wonderroot - Littlefoot, Cloudmouth, Revo - 9PM

Saturday, July 17th - Star Bar - The Selmanaires - with special guest, Adron - 21+ - 8$ - 9PM



Theatre



Tuesday, June 15th - WORKING TITLE PLAYWRIGHTS Presents Theroun D'arcy Patterson's SEMBLANCES - Staged Reading - Academy Theatre 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga. - 7:30 PM - FREE to WTP members / $5 suggested donation all others at door.

June 12th and 13th - Harvest 2010 The Backyard Plays - Onion Man Productions - A new collection of nine 10-Minute plays by local playwrights!

June 11th - June 27th - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Atlanta Lyric Theatre

June 9th - June 27th
- Reasons to be pretty by Neil LaBute - Pinch n' Ouch Theatre 

July 7th - August 7th - 12th Annual Essential Play Festival - Featuring three plays, Qualities of Starlight by Gabriel Jason Dean, directed by Peter Hardy, Darker Face of the Earth by Rita Dove, directed by Betty Hart, Sally and Glen at the Palace by Peter Hardy, directed by Ellen McQueen



Call for Entries/Submissions

Seeking bands and artists! Children's Restoration Network is trying to break the Guinness World Record for the longest concert by multiple artists at the Red Rabbit in Johns Creek. They are still looking for bands and artists who want to participate, people who want to volunteer to be witnesses, and just people who want to come out and enjoy it all. It will take place from July 10th - July 24th. Learn more at www.worldslongestconcert.com or email Richie Tyre at richie@childrn.org.



Other

Java Monkey Speaks - Open Mic Poetry - Every Sunday at 8:00 pm - Java Monkey coffee shop - Decatur

Friday, July 2nd
- DODEKAPUS PRESENTS: CARNIVAL FUNDRAISER FOR LIVING WALLS - A carnival themed event with games, prizes, food, booze, bands, kiddi pools, a kissing booth, tarot booth, giant twister, screenprinting on site, and much much more - 5:00 PM



There you go, guys. Lots of awesome events to make your summer fun :-)

And I'll leave you with a poem. It's sort of my ode to summers in Georgia.


Georgia June Outside of a Coffee Shop

by Sara Crawford


Thursday night in Georgia June,
outside sitting,
sipping on hot coffee,
with a splash of hazelnut.
Everyone around me sweats bullets, slurping
on smoothies and iced lattes.
To me, the night air is a warm
blanket covered
in stars and fireflies that twinkle
through the sheets.

My bones are growing as we all rotate
through space, but I don’t feel
any older
than the teenager sitting next to me,
her bare feet propped on the chair
in front of her,
toenails painted neon green, her flip-flops (practically made
of straw) are scattered
lazily on the ground beside her.
She laughs, and I laugh with her as if
I am a part of the conversation,
peering at her feet from behind
my magazine.

A couple exits the coffee shop,
opening the door
behind me.
The air conditioning escapes
from inside, whispers to my skin.
Goosebumps rising, I shiver.
The door closes.
I sigh with relief and wrap myself
up in the night, sinking into
Georgia June.



A music blog 

I'd like to share these awesome songs with you.

(My events blog is coming soon!)


"Lately" by The Helio Sequence (this song kind of makes me cry)





"Bright Bright Bright" by Dark Dark Dark (I'm in love with her voice)






"Postcards from Italy" by Beirut






"Midnight Radio" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch (written by Stephen Trask) (this is my favorite song in the whole show)

Thank you for the support with the new backing band! And with life, in general. :-) 



Sara Crawford and the Cult Following...and the ZomB Nation...5.20.10 Smith's Olde Bar - photo by Kyndal Foshee


Hey everyone!!

First of all, thank you SOOO much for all of the awesome support for the first two shows with my new backing band, the Cult Following. Both the show at Lenny's last weekend and the show last night at Smith's Olde Bar in the Atlanta Room were definitely successful, and we all had a blast!! I am so grateful to have so many people in my life who are so supportive of new and local music. I try really hard to thank everyone individually for coming to the show, but there is always so much going on at shows that sometimes I miss people. And I'm really sorry for that! I never do it intentionally. So if you're at one of my shows, make sure you come say hi to me if I don't say hi to you! I'm not trying to ignore anyone. I just get REALLY distracted by everything that I have to do at shows, and sometimes I need people to be like "HEY! SARA! I'M HERE!" for me to notice them. Haha. I'm slow, what can I say? Anyway, though, I just want to say thank you so, so, so much to all of you who take the time to make it out to my shows. I appreciate that more than any of you will ever know. It's not easy to be a local original musician sometimes, and we definitely need all of the support we can get. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. One day I will make cookies for all of you! (Haha. And special thanks to the ZomB Nation. ZOM-BIES! ZOM-BIES! ZOM-BIES!)

I put photos up from both shows on the photos/videos page for those of you who want to check those out. (Photos taken by the awesome Kyndal Foshee.) Also, there are three tracks from the Smith's show (courtesy of Z-Man!) on my music page if you want to check those out! And there will be a couple of videos up in the near future as well so stay tuned for that. Also, if you haven't gotten a chance to see us, we will be be playing another show at Cool Beans in the Marietta Square, Saturday, May 29th at 9:00 pm. This show is FREE, all ages, and Goodland and Strangelove will be playing as well! Music starts at 7:00 so get there early, drink some coffee, and have a fun night :-)

I have a lot going on lately! I recently got some news about some upcoming poetry publications! My poem "Coffee Roaster" will be in the fall issue of Aries, the literary journal from Texas Wesleyan University, and my poems "For Frank" and "Visiting" will be in the fall issue of Illogical Muse. This is very exciting to me, especially with my first ever book of poems, Coiled and Swallowed, coming out on September 7, 2010 from Virgogray Press. I'm also thinking about doing some sort of poetry night event at Cool Beans or somewhere for my book release. Have the first half of the evening be "open mic" with various poets reading their work, and then I'd read some of my poems from the book and have copies available. And also, I'd encourage all of my awesome poet friends to bring their books, too.

In other news, I was listening to this Wayne Dyer tape the other day, and he was talking about how one day, he received two letters from two different readers talking about one of his books. The first guy was just going on and on about how great it was and how it saved his life. The second guy told him it was the worst book he ever read and he wanted his money back. So he mailed the positive letter to the negative guy and the negative letter to the positive guy and just wrote them both back with, "You might be right." I really loved that story. Because other people's opinions are just other people's opinions. That's definitely something you should be fully aware of as an artist. I'm faced with harsh criticism and rejection quite often, but I'm also showered with compliments and have quite a bit of artistic success. It's completely subjective.

I've been told that sometimes I "beat my readers over the head" with my message, but I just think it's so important! And it's worth repeating. Create art, express yourself! And support other artists! Or even just support other people in their endeavors. Even for non-artists, I just think it's really, really important to believe in yourself. I think it's important to not let your music die inside of you. Everyone is here for a reason. You all have some gift, some talent, something to offer to the world. So find it and do it! That's really all I'm trying to say. I just want to encourage people to live the lives that they've always wanted to live, ecourage people to be kind to each other, encourage people to be happy. It's a message of love. And I'll say it over and over and over again and use 18,000 exclamation points because I'm just so passionate about love and life and happiness and art!!!! And if other people have a different opinion, well, that's just their opinion. They own that, not me. And often, criticism/judgments have far more to do with the person criticizing that the person receiving the criticism. That's a good thing to remember, too.

I feel like I'm just at a point in my life where I'm really growing spiritually, and I'm really figuring things out. It's a constant journey, and obviously, there's still a lot I don't know, there are still many mistakes that I've made along the way. But I try to own up to my mistakes and learn from them. Even negative situations, feelings, thoughts, etc. have within them something you can learn. Every situation offers personal growth if only you can see it! And I guess I'm just really excited about my own journey and the growth that I've been experiencing. I've gone through a lot so far this year, with the ending of a very long relationship, shifting of artistic projects, getting ready to begin grad school, and I feel like it's caused this huge shift in my perception, in the way I think about things. And once again, I am SO grateful for all of the people around me who encourage that growth, people who support me and love me no matter what crazy mistakes I make. I can never tell you how much I appreciate you. And I think that's worth repeating myself over and over again! Because I love you guys. Everyone who is reading this. I love you!

Now, here, listen to some Tom Petty!


Asheville, SO MUCH GOOD MUSIC, shows with my new backing band, other May events! 






MAY IS HERE!!! May is always one of my favorite months of the year (and not just because my birthday is May 9th!).

I have had the opportunity to see SO many incredible musicians live recently! I recently saw Beach House (who I'm currently totally obsessing over) in Asheville, North Carolina. What a wonderful experience! First of all, I'm totally in love with Asheville. It's a beautiful town in the middle of the mountains, there are tons of really friendly, laid back people, and the music/arts scene is completely thriving. Thursday night, my little brother and I went up to check out an open mic night at the Courtyard Gallery. That was one of the most diverse and unique open mic nights I've ever been to! I had a great time. Afterwards, we just wandered around Asheville where TONS of bands were playing in several different bars/venues. We finally stumbled across a bluegrass band called The Blooms. They were totally ROCKING IT OUT! They had so much energy and passion! It was contagious! People were dancing and having a great time.

Needless to say, the Beach House show was completely amazing, totally worth driving four hours. (They actually played in Atlanta at The Earl the night before they played Asheville, but that show sold out in like five minutes and I couldn't get a ticket! And besides. Any excuse for a road trip!) I just love everything about them, their stage presence, the way Alex Scally's guitar parts intertwine with the organ and the vocals so well, Victoria Legrande's passionate vocals, the overwhelming longing and emotion in every single note. They played every song from their latest album, Teen Dream, which I was thrilled about because I'm completely in love with the album.

I loved being in Asheville. The whole town just seemed to be in love with music the way that I am and everyone seemed so supportive of local and independent musicians. I would love to live in a place like Asheville someday. And I plan on going back and playing a show there sometime in the near future, hopefully with my backing band.

Speaking of the backing band and my music, May is going to be a HUGE month for me/us.

- Monday, May 3rd - 7:00 pm - I will be playing Open Mic Night at Eddie's Attic in Decatur. This is a pretty big Open Mic Night. It's a competition, and the winners win prizes and get a chance to compete in the Open Mic Tournament! Musicians come from all around to play here. You have to sign up for it months in advance! One of the judging criteria is audience response so if you aren't doing anything tomorrow night (er...tonight?), come down and cheer me on :-)

- Wednesday, May 5th - 11:00 pm - I will be playing "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton for 500 Songs for Kids at Smith's Olde Bar. This should be SO much fun!! And it's for a great cause. 500 Songs for Kids is going on all week, so check it out at some point!

- Friday, May 14th - 9:00 pm - Lenny's Bar - FIRST SHOW WITH BACKING BAND - First of all, I'm ecstatic to be playing with these guys. I always leave band practice with a huge smile on my face. They're giving my solo songs so much ENERGY! And they're all such solid musicians. I absolutely love playing music with these guys. And I'm REALLY excited about the Lenny's show because Goodland and Wade in the Rhythm will be joining us!! So make sure you come check that out!

- Thursday, May 20th - 10:00 pm - Smith's Olde Bar - Atlanta Room - We are playing another show (me and the backing band). The Atlanta Room is one of my favorite places to play, and I'm just so excited to be getting out there with the new band!!! So come out and support local music :-)

- Saturday, May 29th - 7:00 pm - Cool Beans - Marietta, GA - We'll be playing outside of Cool Beans, my favorite coffee shop ever. This show is free and all ages, so for those of you who can't get into Lenny's or Smith's, make sure you come check this show out!!!

Of course, we all know this blog definitely isn't just about me and my artistic projects. I just want to share art with people!!! I can't say that enough. I'm just so excited about it all!

So here are a few really cool events coming up in May where you can support local/independent artists!!!

MUSIC

- May 5 - Krog Jam - Electric Duane - The Ruination - Invisible Circus

- May 15 - Star Bar - A Fight to the Death (CD release) - Adron

- May 21-22 - Freedom Fest at The Lake Claire Community Land Trust - Wade in the Rhythm - Selmanaires - Charlie Wooten Project - Carnivores - The Nice Guise - The Jason Allbright Band - Invisible Circus - Abby GoGo and many, many more!

- May 25 - The Earl - Tealights - The Sour Notes - Little Tybee



THEATRE

- Jitney - True Colors Theatre Company - May 2 - 30 - A boisterous gypsy cab station offers a poetic thrill ride look into the vitality of life in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1977. A son returns home after twenty years imprisoned to face his father whose station is threatened with demolition. Battling the forces of urban redevelopment, the motley crew of drivers plan, dream and muse in this rich blooded humorous testament to August Wilson’s enduring legacy.

- The Nerd - The Rosewater Theatre - April 23 - May 22 - One of the funniest plays ever written, this extraordinarily inventive, side-splitting comedy was first presented by the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, then produced in Great Britain, then went on to Broadway. The action centers on the hilarious dilemma of a young architect who is visited by a man he's never met but who saved his life in Vietnam—the visitor turning out to be an incredibly inept, hopelessly stupid "nerd" who outstays his welcome with a vengeance.


VISUAL ARTS

- Disaster Planning - May 1 - 30 -  Young Blood Gallery - with Atlanta artists Steven Dixey, Stenvik Mostrom, & Kenn TwoFour



We're bloggin' and I hope you like bloggin' too... 



Hedwig logo by Melanie Rivera

Well, ladies and gentleman (whether you like it or not), I've been cast as Yitzhak in my absolute favorite play ever, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I'm so, so, SO excited. I have such a history with this play! When they did the play in 2003 at Actor's Express a couple of my friends and I were the official groupies for the show. I think we saw it like 30 times. We'd dress up and make signs and virtually be a part of the show. I've always absolutely loved this play and the film. John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask are totally brilliant. (Especially Stephen Trask! I love the music!) I could talk forever about the show, but I won't....right now...

I also booked another gig at Smith's Olde Bar in the Atlanta Room recently! I'll be playing there Thursday, May 20th. Hopefully with my new backing band! So far, the backing band consists of Geoff Goodwin on bass (of Novo Luna, Night Eve, Goodland, 18,000 other bands that have played around Atlanta - haha) and Brian Teague on drums (check out his solo stuff, Eat the Sun - it's badass), and we're adding Adrian Rhetts on lead guitar (Novo Luna, The Dali Standard). I'm really, really excited! These guys are all really solid musicians but laid back and fun to be around and play music with. So far, it's been really fun, and I love adding a fuller sound to my songs!

Speaking of awesome, I've realized lately how many friends I have that are creating incredible art, whether it's visual, theatre, music, film, literature, etc. I know I sound like a broken record with that, but it really makes me happy! So stay tuned. I plan on doing more promoting other people's art in the near future, in any way that I can!

Looking forward to an awesome weekend! Tonight, it's off to the con for Rocky Horror! Tomorrow, show hopping at Smith's Olde Bar and the Five Spot! And Sunday, Easter with my awesome family followed by practice with the groovy backing band. Plus, it has returned to FLIP FLOP WEATHER.

Life is good, people.

April events! 



Photo by Beverly Crawford

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE! I couldn't be more excited. I always feel like spring is the most hopeful time of the year. For me, anyway.

So. I was at Lenny's last night seeing The Judies, and I was thinking (as I do often), "Wow, there is so much good music going on in Atlanta! I'm so glad to be here right now." Seriously, guys. You can go to any venue in Atlanta virtually any time of the week and see incredible musicians. They're everywhere! And there's music for everyone! The Atlanta music scene is such a great one. You guys should all go take advantage of that!

On that note, there are a lot of great things going on in April, and I thought I'd share my picks for the month with you so you can go check them out! :-)

MUSIC
THEATRE
  • Lookingglass Alice at the Alliance Theatre - 3/31/10 - 5/2/10 - Defy logic – and gravity – in a topsy-turvy, timeless tale of a little girl who journeys through the looking glass to become a queen. Marvel as Alice floats, falls, and flies overhead in a radically reconfigured Alliance Stage. It’s a dizzyingly playful feat of ingenious wonder, peppered with playful acrobatics certain to awaken the kid in all of us. Once you pass through this looking glass, you may never want to come back out!
     
  • THE SHOW! - Out of Hand Theatre - at Horizon Theatre - 4/2/10 - 6/18/10 - A 60 minute late-night Freak Show, Out of Hand style. The Show! is never the same twice because the audience runs The Show. A ridiculously interactive Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Event, The Show! is wild, big fun!!!!
     
  • 100 Saints You Should Know - Actor's Express - 3/18/10 - 4/17/10 - The lives of five people collide in this emotionally charged drama about unraveling faith and the redemptive power of human connection. While Matthew is on an enforced furlough from the priesthood, he seeks refuge at the home of his curious and devout mother. He is followed by Theresa, the rectory’s cleaning lady, who is desperately searching for meaning and completion while trying her best to raise her unruly teenage daughter alone. Through vividly poignant character sketches, we find sometimes that God really is in the details – even when those details get messy. Featuring Carolyn Cook.

VISUAL ARTS
  • Fight or Flight - New work by Kelly McKernan - Beep Beep Gallery - Opening Saturday, April 10th 8:00 pm through May 2nd - In this newest body of work, Kelly McKernan continues to explore her psychological responses to the stresses and struggles of reality. While much of her previous work commented on the consequences of using idealism as a coping mechanism, “Fight or Flight” takes a more direct and personal approach by addressing these responses in terms of biological survival tactics.
     
  • Cartoon Madness 5 - The Lunchbox Show - Alcove Arts Gallery - Opening Saturday, April 10th 8:00 pm - For thirty-five years, metal lunch boxes were a critical accessory for school kids. Starting with the Hopalong Cassidy model in 1951, a lunch box could be a child's most personal statement. While the exterior let everyone know what was the coolest new TV show or pop music group, the interior neatly housed a meal of your choosing (with help from Mom).
     
  • Conor McGrady - On Foreign Soil - Saltworks Gallery - March 19 through April 24 - SALTWORKS is pleased to present On Foreign Soil, featuring new works on paper by New York-based artist Conor McGrady. The exhibition will be on view from March 19, 2010 through April 24, 2010. This is the third solo exhibition on McGrady's work at the gallery.


OTHER EVENTS
  • Collective Conscious Art Show - Friday, April 9th - 8:00 pm - 431 Fair St. SW, Atlanta, GA 30313
     
  • Extremity Experiment - Open Mic Night - Saturday, April 24 - 6:00 pm - Atlanta Contemporary Art Center - As always, we welcome singers, poets and musicians to bless the mic and those looking to network. This experiment will be sure to enlighten and entertain all of your senses.
     
  • Rocky Horror Picture Show at Frolicon - For all of you convention goers out there, make sure you check out Rocky Horror Friday, April 2nd at Midnight (Technically Saturday...). I'll be playing Janet this year and it's carnival themed! Should be a lot of fun!!
     
  • Talking Back to the Muse - Saturday, April 17th - 8:00 pm - Composition Gallery - Poetry Atlanta and Composition Gallery in Candler Park team up for this special evening to celebrate National Poetry Month on Saturday, April 17, 8 p.m. Favorite Atlanta poets will be reading a classic poem followed by a response, rebuttal or rant of their own. It's sure to be a unique evening of poetry.
     

There you go, guys! Lots of incredibly awesome things to check out. I'm definitely going to be at several of those events! So get out there and support your local and independent artists! Share the art! You never know what you'll experience. You could go to a show and the band could play that perfect song that you need to hear, you could see a painting that really touches you, you could see a play that makes you laugh your ass off. There is all kinds of wonderful art going on in Atlanta, so get out there and experience it!

If I missed an event that you'd like to share, make sure you leave a comment here on the blog!

Healing - The show this Friday at Hearth Atlanta - a few March events 



Thanks for all of the support and well wishes from everyone recently! I really have appreciated that. I am so blessed to have so many awesome, wonderful, loving people in my life. (And I'm also really glad that I have so many diverse people in my life of all different ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and with all completely different political and religious beliefs - as was further solidified in the massive healthcare debate that exploded on my Facebook today. Haha. It really keeps things interesting for me, and I just love being around all different kinds of people!)

I'm doing much better. On top of everything else, I randomly got some kind of stomach flu over the weekend that my mom also had, which made for a pretty miserable past couple of days. But today, my flu is gone, I'm on the painkillers for my endometriosis, and I made an appointment with a new doctor for Thursday. So I'm feeling pretty good about things. I feel like it's all a part of a huge shift that I'm going through, even me getting sick and having these endometriosis issues. I can't really explain it, but I feel like something important is happening and there's a huge shift in my life, my attitude, my way of thinking, etc. I feel really good about it, though.

So. As you can see above, I'm playing a show on Friday! It's at the new Hearth Atlanta in Little Five Points, which I'm really excited to check out. I hear it's an awesome new venue. The address is 317 Nelms Avenue, Atlanta, GA. I'll be starting off the show at 8:00 pm. I'll be playing some new songs, some old songs, a new cover or two. And I'm really excited because the night is going to be such an incredible and diverse night of Atlanta music! Headlining the show is one of my absolute favorite Atlanta bands, Wade in the Rhythm. I've gotten a chance to see them a few times and even play with them (as Long Absent Friends), and they always, always put on an awesome show. They're a reggae band comprised of incredibly talented musicians, and I love how positive and spiritual their lyrics are and how they always have the whole crowd dancing. Even if you can't make it for my set on Friday, they are definitely worth checking out! This show is actually all ages! (For once!) And it's BYOB. 7 bucks at the door, 5 bucks in advance. I'd absolutely love to see you there! It's going to be such a fun night! And it will give me a chance to make up for the show I had to cancel last weekend, too! Here's the facebook event.

Sorry I didn't get my March events posting up, but here are some awesome things that are going on the remainder of the month:

Music - Shearwater - Wye Oak - Hospital Ships - The Earl - Wedneday, March 24th - 8:30 pm - 12 dollars - 21+

Film - 5th Annual Women in Film and Television International Short Film Showcase - Midtown Art Cinemas - Thursday, March 25th - 7:00 - 9:30 pm - 15 dollars

Music - Sara Crawford, Wade in the Rhythm, Dre Money, and others at Hearth Atlanta! - Hearth Atlanta - Friday, March 26th - 8:00 pm - 5$ in advance, 7$ at the door - BYOB - All ages - See above

Theatre - The Annunciation...Sort Of: Mary Says "No" by Celeste Miller - 7 Stages Theatre - March 25 - March 28 - Featuring Celeste Miller’s own famous talking dance in rare form, this lively, collaborative piece presents a different outlook on what might have happened if the world’s most beloved religious mother, Mary, had said “NO”. This world premiere is a combination of dance, live music, spoken text, and video, and draws its content from the Gospel of Luke and Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species.

Theatre - Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay-Abaire - Onstage Atlanta - March 19 - April 10 - It’s just another day for Claire... she wakes up and has no idea who or where she is. Her husband greets her with a cup of coffee and her book of memories. But on this morning, a man appears from under the bed and convinces her to go on a journey to find out who she truly is.

(Sorry. I don't have that many event listings for March, but all of these things are definitely worth checking out! Send me your events for April!)

Podcast - Music sharing March 2010  

1. "Skyscrapers" - OK GO - from the album Of the Blue Colour Of the Sky



OK Go Website
Buy the Album on Amazon



2. "Pray for Rain" - Massive Attack - from the album Heligoland



Massive Attack website
Buy the album on Amazon



3. "Soldier of Love" - Sade - from the album Soldier of Love



Sade website
Buy the album on Amazon



4. "Young Guns" - Moonlight Bride - from the album Myths



Moonlight Bride website
Buy the album on iTunes



5. "Silver Soul" - Beach House - from the album Teen Dream



Beach House website
Buy the album on Amazon



6. "Lately" - The Helio Sequence - from the album Keep Your Eyes Ahead


Helio Sequence website
Buy the album on Amazon




7. "July Flame" - Laura Veirs - from the album July Flame


Laura Veirs website
Buy the album on Amazon



8. "Slow Down Town" - Headlights - from the album Wildlife



Headlights website
Buy the album on Amazon

Random thoughts - Music, theatre, and awesomeness 



Photo by Oberonia Photography

I thought I'd just write a random blog.

Blog. Isn't that word funny? Say it twenty times. It's kind of funny, isn't it?

I'm listening to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the moment, and it's making me feel rather optimistic, I must say. There has been a lot of great music that I've been listening to lately. I promise I will have my music sharing podcast ready by next week. So, I was watching an abbreviated version of American Idol the other day (abbreviated as in recorded on the DVR and fast fowarded through most of it). I don't really know why. All that show is is a glorified karaoke contest. And then even when there's someone on there that I actually like (it does happen sometimes...like Bo Bice) when they get off the show and make an album, they make them sing these really shitty pop songs, which of course they didn't write. Why can't we have American Open Mic Night? Where we get original artists on there to do their original songs? I guess no one would watch that. People don't want to hear new music. But that can't be totally true, can it? They play new music on the radio. They used to play new music on MTV back when they actually played music videos. So let's get some new original music on American Idol. Let's have American Open Mic Night! (Yeah, that will still probably never happen.)

There are a lot of live shows that I'm excited about. Recently, I got to see Laura Veirs at the Star Bar. She and her backing band (the Hall of Flames) played a really killer set. I still think the Star Bar is a weird venue for her, though, and I would have liked to see her at Eddie's Attic or somewhere like that. There's always tons of trendy people just being loud and obnoxious in the Star Bar. Usually the bands are so loud there, though, that it doesn't really matter. And people who want to listen to the music can, and people who want to be loud and obnoxious can, and it works out for everyone! Laura Veirs, though, had a more mellow set than any other band I've ever seen there, and at times it was hard to listen. I swear, there was this girl standing behind me who did not stop talking the entire set! It would have been hillarious if I weren't trying to listen to Laura Veirs. It was getting ridiculous. The viola player (Alex Guy) would be in the middle of a really amazing part, and the girl behind me would just be rambling on..."You know, I played violin in high school, and I was really bad! I just never practiced, you know? I was like the 15th chair! They had 14 chairs on stage and they shoved me off stage halfway in the curtain! It was awful! I just didn't care about it, though. And then it wasn't until later that I was like 'Oh, man, I really should have practiced!'" Meanwhile, we're all thinking, "Hey, why don't you shut up so we can listen to someone who can play?" It was still a really great show though, and I'm really loving her new album, July Flame. I almost bought it on vinyl when I was at the show, but it was 20 bucks, and I was broke. (I don't really know what I was expecting...hehe.)

I have this new obsession with listening to vinyl records. It feels like a much more tangible music listening experience than listening to songs on an MP3 player or even a CD. My vinyl collection so far is pretty tiny, but I just added Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins and Teen Dream by Beach House to it. One of my old favorites and one of my new favorites. Speaking of Beach House, I'm so incredibly in love with Teen Dream. If you haven't listened to it, I recommend doing that!

(But I'm foreshadowing my music sharing podcast now!)

In other news, I got to see The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe at The Center for Puppetry Arts last weekend. I hadn't seen a show there since I was a kid, and I had never been to their museum. They have so many cool things in there! Pieces from The Labyrinth and all of these Jim Henson puppets and Fraggle Rock stuff and other really interesting puppets. I feel like CGI kind of killed the art of the puppet, at least in movies. Anyway, I really loved how they wove all of the Edgar Allan Poe stories together, all of the interesting musical instruments that the musical accompanist was playing, and of course the actual puppets themselves. The puppets and the set were very innovative and creepy. And seeing a number of Poe's stories back to back like that reminds you of how disturbing they all are. But the whole show was very well done. I definitely plan on going to see another show there sometime soon.

Tomorrow is a good day for me both in terms of theatre and music. During the day, I'm having my first read-through of Community Service, the play that I'm working on for the Horizon Theatre Apprentice Company. So this year's apprentices will get to see it for the first time tomorrow. I really hope they like it! It's a completely ridiculous comedy filled with art made out of PBR cans (P-B-Art if you will), gender neutral pronouns, Jeopardy! questions, and slightly gay rednecks. Anyway, after that, I'm heading over to the Gwinnett Center to see Muse and the Silversun Pickups with my little brother, who got tickets for Christmas, and is taking me! (Because he rocks. Read his music blog.) Then on Sunday, we're doing a Long Absent Friends photoshoot with Alisha Gaspard, who if you'll recall took all of the badass Painted cast photos (and the photo above!). So, this weekend is looking pretty exciting for me, in spite of it being the LONGEST WINTER EVER.

In other news, I have found that there are some people out there who are always going to do whatever they can to bring you down. This is something that a lot of people I care about have been having issues with lately, something I've been having issues with lately. And I'm not just talking about in the artistic community, either. This applies to life in general. I'd just like to say, though, than nine times out of ten, these people are just really insecure and unhappy with their own lives, and the only way they know to try to be happy is to make other people unhappy. Or instead of outwardly projecting how insecure they are, they outwardly project condescending arrogance and act like they're better than other people. I'm trying really hard not to be judgmental, here. I don't think most of these people are consciously aware of what they're doing. But I think it's important to just try to do the best you can for who you are and not worry about other people who appear to be unsupportive or negative towards you. For every unsupportive bitchy person I have in my life, there are at least ten other people who are supportive and understand that I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. Just some food for thought. I guess the moral of this story is "Some people are bitches, but don't let them get you down." (Didn't I say that at one of my shows recently? I feel like that's becoming a slogan. Haha.)

But February is almost over, spring is almost here! and there are so many awesome things to be excited about right now. There's Girl Scout cookies, Beach House shows, people around me getting married and having babies and being very excited about the new stages in their lives, hillarious theatre, pool games, cheap beer, Bad Cat calendars, crafty glittery projects, Rocky Horror, old books, Radiohead, live music, dancing, being goofy, crying for no reason, life. There are so many wonderful people doing wonderful things all around me, so much to laugh about and dance around to and learn from and love.

(Yes, I'm being a hippy. It's okay, though, because I still take showers and have a job. :-p)

Help me get my music out there! 



Photo by Vina55a on Flickr

First of all, I just want to say thank you to everyone who reads this! I am completely blessed to have the most supportive people in my life, and I'm grateful for that every day. I've had a few people mention lately that they want to help me get my music out there, so I thought I'd let you know what you can do if you want to help. :-)

Recently, WRAS 88.5 FM in Atlanta (Album 88 - Georgia State University's student-run radio) has been playing tracks from Unsent Letters on the Georgia Music Show. The CD was then moved to Mighty Aphrodite, the female vocalists show on Thursday nights from 10:00 pm to midnight. So be sure to listen to the show and check it out!

If you'd like to help me get on the radio more, you can call up the following radio stations (all of which have a copy of my CD) and request my music!

* WRAS 88.5 Atlanta, GA - Georgia State University - 404-413-9727
* WUOG 90.5 Athens, GA - University of Georgia - 706-542-4567
* WVVS 90.9 Valdosta, GA - Valdosta State University - 229 -333-5661
* KSU Owl Radio (online) - http://ksuradio.com/ - Kennesaw State University - 678-797-2665
* WKNC 88.1 Raleigh, NC - NC State University - 919-860-0881
* KLSU 91.1 Baton Rouge, LA - Louisiana State University - 225-578-5578
* FAU Owl Radio (online) - http://owlradio.fau.edu/ - Florida Atlantic University - 561 - 297-2842
* WEGL 91.1 Auburn University, AL - Auburn University - 334-844-9345
* WTUL 91.5 New Orleans, LA -Tulane University- 504.865.5885
* WUTS 91.3 Sewanee, TN - University of the South - 931-598-1112

Also, if you use Last FM, be sure to add me to your library. Sara Crawford on Last FM. If you don't use Last FM, you should really check it out! It's a personalized online radio, and it's helped me find loads of new bands and artists that I really, really love. Definitely worth checking out!

Other ways you can help:
  • Go to my listing on Amazon and reviewing my album (good review, bad review, however you felt about it! No press is bad press, or whatever they say. Haha.)
  • Rate my album on iTunes
  • Help me get on Pandora by writing an e-mail to suggest-music@pandora.com saying "I'd like to suggest that you add Sara Crawford to your music library." (My submission to Pandora is still pending review.)
  • Help me get more fans on Facebook - Just go to my Facebook page and click "Suggest to Friends"
Once again, I just want to say thank you for how awesome and supportive you all are. :-) It really makes me happy to be in a community of artists and people who all support each other.

Stay tuned! My next blog post will include a music sharing podcast because there is SO MUCH great music I've been listening to lately, and I really, really need to share it with everyone!!!

Cool stuff to do in February!! 



Waterfall at Roswell Mill by Gareth Botha


Well February is here! Time for Valentine's Day, wishing it was warmer outside, getting really sick of the whole winter thing, birthdays for Aquarians, all of that crap!

If you've got the "I'm sick of winter" blues, here is a bunch of really cool artistic stuff for you to do! Lots of choices, so don't ever say I didn't tell you about anything cool to do!


Music


- TONIGHT! February 2nd - My band, Long Absent Friends, will be playing at Lenny's Bar along with Goodland, Transloader, and Aftermath. (Goodland features Geoff Goodwin and Chase Adkinson, who I played with in Novo Luna.) Goodland will be on at 9:00 PM, Long Absent Friends at 10:00 PM. The cover is 6 dollars - 21+ - Lenny's Bar - 486 Decatur Street Southeast, Atlanta, GA 30312

- February 4th - Nobody's Darlings, Ordain, The Mitch Hansen Band, and The Issues - 9:00 pm - 6 bucks - 21+ Lenny's Bar - 486 Decatur Street Southeast, Atlanta, GA 30312

- February 4th - Lindsay Appel, Lexi Street & Soul ShakersThe EARL! - 9:00 pm - 7 bucks - 21+

- February 4th - Haji Basim - Library Coffee Company - 2523 Caldwell Rd NE - Atlanta, GA

- February 19th - Trances Arc, The Modern Society, The Biters - The Earl - Atlanta, GA - 9:00 pm - 7 bucks

- February 20th - Elliott Rubin - 8:00 PM at The Uptown Loft, Johns Creek, Georgia - Cost: $5

- February 20th - Laura Veirs & The Hall Of Flames, Cataldo, The Old Believers - Star Bar - 9:00 pm - 12 dollars

- February 26th - Kim Boekbinder of Vermillion Lies, Adron, Rita of Helen Keller's Ukulele - The Drunken Unicorn - $5 for 21+, $7 for 18+

- February 27th - Blair Crimmins & The Hookers, A Fight to the Death - Star Bar - 9:00 pm - 8 dollars




Theatre/Dance

- February 13th - The Voodoo Revue: A Mardi Gras Masquerade! Come and enjoy a night of mayhem and excitement as The Collective transports you back to a time of voodoo magic and old New Orleans. This is event is a fundraiser for The Collective and our newest work Rising Sons performing at 7 Stages February 18th-21st. -  We will have three amazing bands performing, including Skylights and H.M.S. Disco. Also, enjoy comedy, magic, and other acts from Collective performers!  -  The cover is $10 (cash only, please!) and the event is BYOB (must be 21 to drink!) Doors open at 8pm and the show starts at 9pm.  -  Don't forget your mask and your dancing shoes! It is sure to be a fantastic time!

- January 22 - February 7 - Relapse Theatre presents Clive Barker's "A History of the Devil," running January 22 through February 7, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30, Sunday performances at 5:00. Tickets are $10 at the door, First Come, First Serve!

- February 5th and 6th, 2010 - doors at 7:00 p.m. - Spectrum: Mythos at The Georgia Ballet Studios - Join The Georgia Ballet for an incredible evening of extraordinary performances that showcase the company in contemporary and inventive new choreography! Spectrum: Mythos, An Evening of New Works will include a one hour dance showcase performance, live music, food and drink, and a silent auction with fun and exciting items for everyone.

- February 12 - March 14 - Shooting Star by Steven Dietz at Horizon Theatre - Sparks fly and snowflakes fall as two old flames meet by chance in a blizzard bound airport. Reed, a suit-and-tie with Blackberry, and Elana, a bohemian with rain stick, were once idealistic college lovers. Here they reconnect and share stories deep into the night. Humor, heartache, secrets, and snow. When morning comes and all flights are cleared for departure – what’s the final destination for these two? A delicious, bittersweet comedy with heart and bite.

- Jan 29 - Feb 21 - Alliance Theatre - Tennis in Nablus, A World Premiere by Ismail Khalidi -  Palestine. 1939. Allegiances… and identities… are never what they seem. Under British colonial rule, two nations buckle under conflicting claims to their rightful land. And as the world explodes around them, one divided family seeks to achieve the delicate balance between peace and freedom.




Visual arts

- February 4 - Eyedrum - Ayed Hallim: Instrumentalities - Opening reception for a Small Gallery show of new assemblage works by Atlanta bricoleur Ayed Hallim. Hallim, the pseudonymous alter ego of a former local arts journalist, creates works in found metal, spent packaging, and other repurposed materials. After the reception, Hallim performs during Open Improv on some of the "perjunction" instruments included in the exhibition. Exhibition on view through February 21.

- February 5 - "Columns, Stacks, Heaps, and Piles" by Justin Richel - Young Blood Gallery - Starting Friday, February 5th, YBG will be displaying a series of small-scale works on paper by Justin Richel. This series will focus on small and affordable works from the "Sweets" series.

- February  6 - Art Papers 11th Annual Art Auction - 7:00 to 10:00 pm - Mason Murer Fine Art

- February 13 - March 7 - Beep Beep Gallery - Material - "Material" is a group sculpture featuring five artists working in a variety of media. Artists include: Lucha Rodriguez, Romy Maloon, Crystal Wagner, Chase Folsom, Jessica Orlowski



There you go! Tons of awesome artists to go out and support! :-)

As always, leave a comment if I've left something out.

Stay tuned for another podcast full of music sharing and awesomeness. (Like a mixy but with me talking in between songs so it's legal!)





Various updates!  



One Day by Carmen Lamarium


Here's what's going on with me lately:

  • Unsent Letters promotion - First of all, thanks so much to everyone for being so supportive of me and this album. I have sold more CDs than I ever could have imagined, and everyone has been awesome about helping me get it out there. The CD is now up on iTunes and Amazon.com! I am also on Last FM, and I'm working hard on getting my music on Pandora.com. (Thanks to everyone who sent e-mails to them by the way! It really made a difference as they're actually paying attention, now!) Also, I have sent copies of the CD out to several college radio stations, including the Georgia Music Show on Album 88, which comes on Wednesdays from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. So all of you Atlantans (Atlantians? Atlantans? I don't know...people who live in Atlanta!) tune into that, call up the station (404-413-9727), and request one of my tunes!
     
  • New music, photos, and videos up on the website! - I put up a bunch of free new songs on my music page! There's a live version of "Wait" from open mic night at Ragamuffin, a Slowdive cover that I did, an acoustic version of a Long Absent Friends song, an old Ruby song, and an old Novo Luna song! You can download them for free, here. Also, my friend Amanda (aka Carmen Lamarium) put up a couple of videos on YouTube from my CD release show at Smith's. I've put those on my photos/videos page, or you can go to YouTube. Here's a link for me playing my acoustic version of "Bridge" (actually a Novo Luna song), and here's "Rainwater." Also, I put up some new Long Absent Friends pictures on my photos/videos page, so check that out!
     
  • Upcoming play production, Community Service - My one act play, Community Service (working title), will be staged and performed by the Horizon Theatre Apprentice Company this May! Recently, I got to see this year's Apprentice Company in the 2010 Joint Stock Project, and I have to say, I was very impressed! I'm looking forward to working with these actors and the wonderful people at Horizon Theatre again. :-) More details to come about this show!
     
  • Upcoming music shows:
    -
    Long Absent Friends will be playing at Lenny's with Goodland (featuring Geoff Goodwin and Chase Adkinson, who I played with in Novo Luna) - Tuesday, February 2nd. The show starts at 9:00 pm, it's 21+, and the cover is 6 bucks. I hope to see you all there!
    - I will have another solo show at Smith's Olde Bar (in the Atlanta Room) on Friday, March 19th at 10:00 pm, so mark your calendars! Let's pack the place out again like we did in December! That was such a blast.
     
  • Send me your events! I'll be updating my "events" blog for February pretty soon, so if you have any upcoming plays, music shows, poetry/literature events, visual arts events, dance events, etc., please send them my way! You can e-mail them to me at sara@saracrawford.net. (I'll also put them on my Atlanta Bohemians group on Facebook.) And I will try to make it out if I can! I absolutely love supporting local, new, and independent artists, and I love being exposed to new and interesting works. There is so much going on, and Atlanta has such a thriving artistic scene. I'm so excited to be a part of it! (I know I've said all of that before, but I'm just so excited, I have to repeat myself!)
     
  • All of my links in one place: A bunch of people have asked me recently for various links to my various pages around the web, so here you go!
    - Sara Crawford on Myspace
    - Sara Crawford on Facebook
    - Sara Crawford on Last FM
    - Sara Crawford EPK on Sonicbids
    - Sara Crawford on iTunes
    - Sara Crawford on Amazon
    - Long Absent Friends on Myspace
    - Long Absent Friends on Facebook
Thanks again to everyone! I have absolutely the most supportive and awesome friends/fans, and I'm finally at a place in my life where I feel like I'm really getting my art out there and people are appreciating it. I definitely would not be in that place without all of you. So to everyone who actually takes the time to listen to my music, read my writing, come to my shows, come see my plays, or even read my blog on my website, I am extremely grateful. (I know, I've said all of this before, too, but you really can't say things like that enough, I don't think.) So, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for supporting me and my artistic projects. :-) :-)

I will leave you with a live version of "Wait" from the open mic night I recently played at Ragamuffin. Enjoy!

Random thoughts - why I'm not a music critic, Horizon Theatre rocks, other ramblings about art 



For the Love of Music by pa gillet on flickr

I feel like updating a totally random blog. (Because that's really what I should be doing right now...But I seem to be the queen of procrastinating by distracting myself with totally useless activities on the internet. "OH! I need to take this 'Which Literary Movement Are You?' Quiz on Facebook!")

I'm currently listening to The Killers. Say what you want, but I love The Killers. This is why no one can call me a music snob. Because, sure, I may listen to totally obscure bands who no one has ever heard of (except maybe their roommates when they're playing really loud in the apartment), but I also love The Killers, Michael Jackson, Lady Antebellum, and Hanson. Yes, Hanson. I said it! Those kids were like 13 when they first came out, and they all played instruments and wrote their own songs, which is more than you can say for most of the Disney-channel teen pop stars of today. And you know, in an mmm-bop, it really is all gone, people.

I have some super exciting things coming up that I'm, well, excited about. Playing a benefit show for Haiti with Long Absent Friends, my upcoming poetry book, upcoming play production. (The Apprentice Company at Horizon Theatre will be performing one of my plays in May.) (I'd tell you more about the play, but it's still in development...*cough*.) (That's the procrastinating playwright's way of saying "I'm still writing it.") Anyway, I'm really excited to be working with Horizon again. They're just a really great theatre company with great people. The building feels a little bit like home to me. Ever since my time in the Young Playwrights Festival in the summer of 2008, I've felt really comfortable there, like I can just write and express myself as an artist and grow and develop. The workshops I've been through there, whether it was at the YPF or during my time as a playwriting apprentice last year, have been the most helpful workshops ever. No one was snooty or pretentious, but they told me how it was. I heart Horizon Theatre. They're supportive of new works and local playwrights, and they just put on really great plays.

You know, on a totally different subject, I had a lot of fun during my time being an album reviewer for Have You Heard and Atlanta Guardian, and I learned a lot, but I don't think being a critic is for me. Ultimately, I feel like all art has value (yes, even Rebecca Martin's album that I totally trashed on Have You Heard). Because while I might fall asleep when listening to Rebecca Martin, someone else somewhere could pop that CD in and be in tears, thinking it's the most beautiful thing they've ever heard. All art is subjective, all art has value, and I don't really think that there's much value in comparing art. For example, how can you compare Bob Dylan to Radiohead and say which one is "better"? Sure, there are some technical standards in any art form. But does being able to play the guitar better than any other person make you a better artist? There are some paintings that I've seen where you could tell the artist was extremely talented, but they didn't make me feel anything. There was no emotion in them. And I was watching American Idol the other night (I don't know why!) and I was thinking a lot of my absolute favorite singers would be crucified if they went on that show as unknown musicians (Billy Corgan, Thom Yorke, Bob Dylan, Victoria Legrand, etc.). Every person is approaching art from a different perspective, every one values art for different reasons. It's completely subjective. So, yes, the blank canvas that someone just hung on the wall and called it "emptiness" is art, I think. You might not get anything out of it. Maybe it didn't even take any talent to create. But it's still art because it's the meaningful expression of something. So, basically what I'm saying is screw the critics. Sure, it can be fun to read reviews. Sometimes it's even fun to write them. But I think I'd rather focus on the positive aspects of a piece of art and try to get something out of the art that I come across. (I'm not saying criticism isn't valid or other people shouldn't be picky about their art, but I'm just saying. It's not for me. And everyone, artists, critics, and audience members alike, should always keep in mind that all art is subjective and opinions are simply just opinions.)

I feel like I rant about that a lot. I guess it just bothers me when people make fun of other people for liking certain things, like The Killers or Twilight. Sure, Twilight is not a great classic work of literature, but it makes a lot of people happy to read it. So, basically, I'm sick of people who have this "I'm better than you because the art that I read/watch/observe/listen to is better and more intelligent that the art that you read/watch/observe/listen to." No, it's not. There is no quantifyable to way to argue that War and Peace is better than Twilight, even if most scholars would agree that it is. Basically, I think people should just let other people be happy and stop bitching about it. That's really what I'm tired of, I guess. Bitching. (And when I say bitching I don't mean "poking fun at" or "being sarcastic.") I'm not even saying that I don't bitch about things (because I certainly do), but I guess I just wish that people on a whole would be more positive about things, maybe myself included, or at least that's what I'm trying to do.

I'm not preaching or anything like that. I'm simply just rambling. Writing down my thoughts. I mean, I don't really know anymore than anyone else does.

Recently, my parents got me a record player for Christmas. My record collection is somewhat limited at the moment. (Probably due to the fact that I didn't have a record player before.) It consists of a Lou Reed record I bought for 3 dollars in Canada, two David Bowie records, The Boggles LIVE at the Star Bar in 2000, and two Beatles records that aren't technically mine (but I've been trying to get them back to their owner for a while and she seems to have forgotten about them...so does that make them mine? Or am I just holding them? Either way.) So, I've been listening to a record every night. It's sort of my bedtime ritual. I'll sit down, put a record on, and write in my journal. I'm quickly running out of records to listen to, though, so I'll soon have to dip into my parents' extensive collection. I've decided I'm just going to listen to all of them, even though I know some of them I probably won't like. It's good to give new things a shot, though.

The new Beach House album (which...isn't...technically out yet) is absolutely amazing. I can't stop listening to it. It's in my car, it's in my room, it's on my iTunes work playlist. It's just...incredible. I'm completely in love with it. I can't even explain to you why. Maybe that's why I can't be a CD reviewer, because I feel like words don't do music justice. Sometimes I just want to write a play where a character walks on stage and just plays a really amazing album and just sits in a chair and makes the audience listen to it. Somehow, I think I'd have a hard time getting a theatre to pick that one up, though. Haha.

Songs that were playing while I wrote this:
1. Read My Mind - The Killers
2. Rhinoceros - Smashing Pumpkins
3. Real Love - Beach House
4. Hail Mary - Pomplamoose
5. Phonytown - Rogue Wave
6. Like Treasure - Editors
7. Better Times - Beach House
8. One Love - Bob Marley

2010 is looking awesome so far - January artistic events in the Atlanta area 



Photo by Andrew Zucker

Hey everyone! First of all, Thanks for listening to my podcast! I got a lot of positive feedback on it so I'm definitely going to try to do more of those in the upcoming year. I'm thinking more podcasts in the whole "mix CD" format. They'll probably just be essentially me sharing awesome music with everyone.

Secondly, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and I hope 2010 is treating you well so far. I rang in the New Year having an awesome time jamming out to the Sealions at the Highland Inn, and I am really looking forward to everything this year has in store.

10 reasons I am excited about 2010:

1. I'll be playing a lot of open mic nights, solo shows, and shows with my band, Long Absent Friends. I already have two solo shows lined up and two band shows.
2. THE 7TH HARRY POTTER MOVIE IS COMING OUT. (That's right.)
3. I'll be writing a play for the Horizon Theatre Apprentice Company to perform this spring.
4. New albums from Arcade Fire, Beach House, Massive Attack, the list goes on!
5. Due to my little brother being awesome, I will be going to see MUSE and the SILVERSUN PICKUPS in February!
6. My poetry book, Coiled and Swallowed, will be published from VergoGray Press sometime this summer or fall.
7. The final season of Lost. Maybe all of our questions will finally be answered.
8. I have gotten a book called The Daily Writer with writing exercises for every day. I've been doing them every day so far, and I really love them. It gives me a chance to stretch my writing muscles for a little bit every day.
9. I'll be starting graduate school with University of New Orleans Low Residency program (MFA in Playwriting) and traveling to Mexico for my first semester this summer!
10. Did I mention THE 7TH HARRY POTTER MOVIE?


There are a lot of things coming up in January in the Atlanta area that are worth checking out. So, let's get started.

My Events
In the Atlanta area...

MUSIC:
Here are some shows that you should check out.
OPEN MIC NIGHTS:
I've been compiling a list of open mic nights that I'm planning on going out to. Open mic nights are great for meeting other musicians, hearing some new voices, or just having a good time. A lot of people have asked me to share my liste of open mic nights that I'm going to check out, so here's what I have so far.
  • MaccrackensMondays - 9:00 pm - Marietta- I've been to this one before. Maccrackens is a really fun bar. Also, on the first Tuesday of every month (at 7:30 pm) The Play Pen has another open mic night there for not just musicians but also writers as well! (I'll be checking out that one tonight!)
  • Eddie's Attic - Mondays - 7:30 -  Decatur - National and local acts perform 2 songs each, with 3 finalists returning for a third song at the end of the evening for a chance to win a cash prize and a spot in the bi-annual, nationally acclaimed Open Mic Shootout. - Musicians - You have to sign up for this months in advance, but it's always a fun thing to do on Monday nights. I'll be playing in May of this year!
  • Ragamuffin - Thursdays - 8:00 - Roswell - I've never been to this open mic night before, but I've heard from other musicians that it's really cool. Actually, Michael (guitarist), Kyle (violinist), and I from Long Absent Friends will be going this Thursday, January 7, to play a short acoustic set. Come check it out!
  • Red Light Cafe - Wednesdays - 8:00 - Atlanta - I haven't been to the open mic night at this venue, but I've played a lot of shows there, and it's one of my favorite venues.
  • Rev Coffee – Wednesdays – 8:00 pm – Smyrna - This one is also new to me, but I've heard good things.
Let me know if you have any additional open mic nights for me to add to the list!


THEATRE:
Here are some cool shows that I'm hoping to check out.
  • The Cantebury Tales - The New American Shakespeare Tavern - January 1 - January 31 - Join us for a medieval romp through boisterous and bawdy olde England. Drawing on the Celtic British influences of Geoffrey Chaucer's writing, this hilarious adaptation reintroduces the tales in forms ranging from classical to spaghetti Western! We've got two new tales to tickle your fancy!
  • Good Boys and True - Actor's Express - Jan 14 - Feb 13 - It’s the 1980s and the boys at St. Joe’s Prep School are clean cut, well bred, Ivy League-bound – and having a lot of sex. When a scandal involving one little videotape threatens to grow beyond closed-door whispers to engulf the entire school, the ugly underpinnings of an elite machine threaten to give way. As one mother struggles to glean fact from fiction, she finds herself face to face with truths about her perfect son and their privileged existence. From one of the writers of the HBO hit “Big Love.”
  • Tranced - Aurora Theatre - Jan 14 - Feb 7 -  A Regional Premiere by Bob Clyman Directed by Susan Reid This suspenseful drama is a twisting tale of recovered memories and political intrigue.
  • On-Demand Reading of A THOUSAND CIRCLETS by Theroun D'arcy Patterson - Working Title Playwrights - Tuesday, Jan. 12 - Academy Theatre, 119 Center St., Avondale Estates, Ga. FREE to WTP members. $5 at-door suggested donation all others.


OTHER EVENTS:
  • January 23 - High Museum, Harper Dance Continuum Theatre presents 2 artists, 1 dancer and DJ Tabone. 8 pm in the atrium. - Artists Vickie Martin and Lance Carlson will paint with "HIGH allowed" material while Tracey Perkinson moves between two canvases of spandex - choreographed by Heather Harper

That's all I have so far. Feel free to add comments to the blog if I left anything out!

Top 10 favorite albums of 2009  

For more info on these albums and to hear a sample track from each album, listen to the podcast! (It's my first podcast.)

Honorable mention - The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack




10. Swoon - Silversun Pickups


Silversun Pickups Website
Silversun Pickups Myspace


9. Lost Channels - Great Lake Swimmers



Great Lake Swimmers Website
Great Lake Swimmers Myspace


8. Ain't Too Bright - Electric Owls



Electric Owls Website
Electric Owls Myspace


7. Fantasies - Metric



Metric Website
Metric Myspace


6. Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Elvis Perkins in Dearland



Elvis Perkins in Dearland Website
Elvis Perkins in Dearland Myspace


5. The Resistance - Muse



Muse Website
Muse Myspace


4. Far - Regina Spektor



Regina Spektor Website
Regina Spektor Myspace


3. Veckatimist - Grizzly Bear



Grizzly Bear Website
Grizzly Bear Myspace


2. Up from Below - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros



Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Website
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Myspace


1. Conditions - The Temper Trap



The Temper Trap Website
The Temper Trap Myspace
 

Reflecting on my musical projects 

First of all, thank you SO much to everyone for all of the support with my CD release! I was almost in tears at the end of the CD release show last Friday because I just simply couldn't believe how many people were there, how enthusiastic the audience was, and how excited everyone was to pick up a copy of Unsent Letters. I think it was the best solo show I've had, and I really appreciate the fact that there are so many people in my life who are so supportive of me and my music.

Recently, I saw a picture of a band that I was in in high school called Population 2.



There we all are, Kyndal Foshee (who played guitar and sang), Brandon Rich (who wasn't actually in the band but...as you can see from his shirt...was our "crew"), Jessie Gayhart (who played drums), me (I played guitar and sang), and Bre Hicks (who played bass). I realized that the date on that picture was August 13th, 2000, which means I've technically been a musical performer for nearly a decade. It doesn't seem like it's been that long!

Population 2 was a great experience! We were all really young (14 when we started!), and most of us were still learning how to play our instruments, really. But we wrote really fun songs, expressed ourselves, and actually played shows! I've performed in some way (chorus, dancing, theatre, etc.) ever since I was five years old, but this was my first experience with being in a band, writing songs on guitar, working with other musicians.

After Pop 2 broke up, I wasn't in another band again until I was just out of high school. Ruby.



This band was definitely a great experience for me. I got the opportunity to play real gigs in real music venues downtown, and I worked really hard to fine tune my craft, learning how to become a better musical performer and how to write better vocal melodies. I sang with Ruby off and on from 2004 to late 2006. I think in that time, I grew enormously as a songwriter and a performer, and I learned a lot about working with other musicians.

In 2009, I joined up with Novo Luna.



I had so much fun with these guys, and I really, really loved the vocal melodies that I came up with to their music. I sang my heart out in this band! Every now and then I will still hum the songs to myself. And all of the guys in Novo Luna are incredibly talented! I'm really excited to see what kind of music they put out next as we've all gone our separate ways and started new projects.

So I'm looking back and sort of reflecting, and I've realized that bands are a lot like relationships. Each band has taught me so much, I've had so many unique experienced with all of these bands. The music was very different in all of them. Population 2 was a mix of alternative, rock, and just extreme silliness. Ruby was mostly classic rock sounding. Novo Luna was a mix of blues, funk, and alternative.

I'm so glad that I got the chance to perform with all of these people, though, and have all of these experiences. Each band brings some new lesson, each time you work with a new musician (or any artist, really) you give something to each other. Even negative experiences I've had have taught me more about myself as a musician and sometimes even as a person.

And now, I'm going on a "new journey," if you will, with a new band. Long Absent Friends.



I'm really excited about this band because it's more along the lines of the music I frequently listen to (i.e. Stars, Smashing Pumpkins, Broken Social Scene, Slowdive, Arcade Fire, etc.). I love all kinds of music, but most of the time you will find indie/alternative in my CD player. Also, I have the opportunity to play piano in this band on almost every song, which is new and very exciting for me. So we have some upcoming first shows:
  • Sunday, December 27th - 10:00 pm - Smith's Olde Bar - The Atlanta Room - 21+ - 5 dollars
  • Friday, January 8th - 8:00 pm - Red Light Cafe - all ages - 7 dollars
I'm really looking forward to these shows! I'm excited to play all of these songs that we've been working really hard on over the past few months for everyone. This band is completely different from bands I've been in previously, and it's very different from my solo stuff as well, but I really like the way the music is developing. We even have a violinist (Kyle Weisse). I've never played with a violinist before so it's really interesting! Michael Tillman is playing guitar and singing. (I've always wanted to be in a band that had male and female singers.) His guitar work is a mix of heartbreaking emotion, catchy hooks, and an interesting manipulation of sounds. To top it all off, we have a really tight rhythm section with Kyle Hilkin (from the popular Incubus tribute band, Human Magic Marker) on drums and Ben Hopper on bass. It's just enthralling to be able to write music and play with such talented musicians. Also, for the first show, we're covering two of my absolute favorite songs, "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire and "Tonight, Tonight," by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Anyway, I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who supports me. I feel like a lot of you have been on this crazy ride with me, always coming out to share and experience my various musical projects. The CD release show really hit me hard with that fact, and I just wanted to tell all of you how much that means to me. It's very difficult to be an artist, especially an unknown artist. There are many times when you put your entire self out there in your art just to be crushed up and spit on, and with all of the rejection and criticism, it's really nice when you have a group of people who will always support you and appreciate the art that you create. So to everyone who has ever come to see one of my shows, bought one of my CDs, played music with me, booked me for a show, taken the time to listen to my music, I just wanted to say thank you.