An Unexpected Solo Performance at Yogoccino…. From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home On My Mind: There comes a time in life when you start to see every obstacle you’re faced with as an opportunity… to grow, to learn and to experience your full and complete self! Yes! Obstacles in life are all opportunities! And Friday’s gig at Yogoccino was one such example. It turned out to be an enjoyable night after all. What happened? Well, Jason got sick last minute and I had to jump on board and put together an acoustic set of my own the night before. Instead of panicking, I dusted off a bunch of new tunes I’d been neglecting, since “Stilettos-n-Steel” has been my primary focus, and then added some “Jennifer Vazquez” favorites to the list and a few covers and I was good to go! I’d say a good night was had by all. The crowd was great, the food… yummy… and the rest of the entertainment delightful!
Inspirational
Blog #48: Songwriting Tips from NSAI’s Guest, Jon Vezner
From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home Last night I had the pleasure of attending an inspiring NSAI event with my songwriting partner, Jason Waters, at Five Towns College with Grammy Award Winning Songwriter, Jon Vezner , as the Guest Speaker. Jason Waters, Jon Vezner & Jennifer Vazquez What a pure joy it was to listen to Jon’s well constructed and heartfelt tunes. There is nothing that gets me higher than experiencing a GREAT songwriter, up, close and personal. And, sitting in on that Master Class provided both Jason and myself with key reminders for what tools and rules allow for the creation of a GREAT SONG! (Be sure to check out Jon Vezner when you get a chance. He is not only a great songwriter, artist and musician, but a solid person all around. And while you’re at it, check out his musical partner Jeff Gilkinson! Wow, what a player and songwriter!) Here’s some reminders for ALL you songwriters out there: ~ TO BE EFFECTIVE as a songwriter, CREATE TENSION in the song, either in the Melody, the Tempo or the Lyric. ~ EVERY LINE of your song must act as an ACCELERATER for the next one. ~ SHOW IT! DON’T TELL IT! ~ BE SIMPLE:[…]
Blog #11: “Thoughts Become Things”
From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home I met a man last week at a speed dating event who had a very negative attitude towards the music industry and the creative industry overall. He said there were no great artists anymore, and that there was just no way to make money doing art. He was once, as I discovered listening to him talk a bit more, a man of passion when it came to writing and story telling. His passion must have been stomped from society’s pressures and maybe he felt he had to give up his vision job as a writer and take on a safer job that paid well. As we talked, he said how he was a writer and how he had been a news reporter as well for some time in his past. He went on to say how he knew how to write a story, a real story, coming from nothing more than a few simple facts, but those skills, could not pay the bills, and so he took a job on Wall Street working as a copy editor years ago. He then said how he hated the job,[…]
Blog #10: Saying “Yes” to The Power of Positive Thinking
From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home I am sitting on my bed with my wonderful friend, “Mr. MacBook Pro” on my lap doing some music business and I am thinking, “What about if I just write a blog now, right in this space of abundance that I am feeling right now.” Let me explain, you see, I have been spending a great amount of time over the past year praying and staying connected to my higher power asking him for guidance on what action to take next on this journey of life. And as I have been practicing this concept of living with faith rather than living in doubt and lacking, I am noticing that abundance is coming into my path pretty smoothly without my pushing or pulling or tugging or controlling any part of it. The great news about it is that I am not letting those fears, “False Evidence Appearing Real”, scare me away from this abundance. In the past, I most definitely would have and I have spoken about that need to stay under the radar to keep myself small in past blogs and it is wonderful to share with[…]
Blog # 9: Letting Go Of “The Plan”
From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home What do I want to talk about right now? It’s been a few weeks since I wrote the last blog. As that time has passed, I have experienced quite a bit of new awareness surrounding the vision I have of making money fully through my art and the money it is going to take to fund this vision correctly, in the hopes that by being focused on this vision, day in and day out, it will guide me towards financial abundance. As this awareness has recently hit me, I have found a new willingness to begin the process of finding another “B” job to continue to fund my “A” job, my vision. This awareness of my need to search for another job became even more clear when I was faced with a family emergency that forced me to think about the areas in my life which still remain to be off balance. It is my responsibility to be willing to do what I need to do to allow abundance into all the areas of my life.
Blog #6: Making “Uncomfortable” the “New Comfortable”
From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home Where do I want to start? Well, this is Blog #6 of “365 Blogs to Finding Pinocchio a Home”. I committed to writing this blog series a little over two months ago, and I am finding out that by taking actions and having to report back here, to you, it is making this journey more about being my word than about getting somewhere or recieving something in return. This blog is becoming my own reflective template and my own personal playground, where I get to have fun while I share the actions I have taken, day in and day out, towards finding Pinocchio a home. Now, as I begin writing Blog #6, what comes to my mind is this phrase, “Dialing Pain”. An aquiantance of mine called me up recently to ask for a little bit of guidance and feedback in reference to some pressures she was dealing with in her personal and financial life. During the conversation, she said something about her “dialing pain”, and it stuck in my head, so much so, that I feel the need to talk further about it here. This concept[…]
Blog #4: Security vs Freedom
Where Will Life Have Taken You By Your 20 Year Reunion? From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home The Big Twenty! I went to mine this past weekend at The New Rochelle Raddison Hotel. As I type this blog I am thinking to myself, “Should I include my personal life into these blogs?” The answer is yes. Absolutely! Life is what makes art happen. So yes, let’s talk about this experience for a moment, if you don’t mind. The main thought that comes to my mind is: Choose freedom over security and watch life start to open up. Now, this does not in any way mean to live life like a gypsy, which I admit, I had been doing for many years. Yes, I had been living day to day, not taking into account anything but my career as a singer and songwriter, my desperation in wanting to “make it” in the industry. That, by the way, has not allowed for me to have much of a balanced life. It’s like I was stuck in the air on a seesaw for so many years with The Incredible Hulk, my ego, as my partner[…]
Blog #3: Getting Out Of My Own Way
From The Blog Series… 365 Blogs To Finding Pinocchio A Home Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to obtain 100% of the energy and courage you need to spend every day of your life doing what needs to be done to achieve what is authentically meant to be? How amazing would it be to live life to your full potential and have nothing stop you? Wouldn’t that be something? I want that! What do I do to get that part of me to be consistent in achieving this current goal and every other one thereafter? That is the question I ask right now as I write Blog # 3. The past few days I have been working on a number of tasks to getting Pinocchio a home.