1/14/08 TV in Tokyo
While in Japan, I've been watching "So You Think You Can Dance", and I love it. (It is also the only show I can understand in Japanese!) The modern routines are so beautiful. So after the show today, I was inspired and decided I was going to choreograph my own dance, actually to the song "Apologize", to which I saw them dance on the show... 10 minutes later after the fantasy of my audition for "So You Think You Can Dance" played itself out (during which I danced like I had never danced in my life) - I was leaning over the toilet, thinking I might vomit due to how dizzy I made myself by trying to turn an insane amount of times and having fallen and run into my bed several times.

The commercials consist of one long commercial, during which Jessica Simpson and Lindsay Lohan are constantly advertising zit cream (Proactiv) here because they, of all people, know that you can't get away with a zit!

After "So You Think You Can Dance" came the Miss Teen America pageant... their hobbies include "texting with friends" and "going to the gym," and above all of the girls standing in their bikinis is a sign that says "Be Confident!"

There's a TV update on Japan! See you in the US soon!!

12/19/07 New photos, All 7 Video Postcards are up, Happy Holidays!
Hello! For those of you who are confused, all 7 video postcards are up and you can view them at: www.youtube.com/KatParsonsMusic.

I've just added some new photos from Japan! Here's a little background to a few of them:

My friend Carrie visited me... and suggested that we make our first trip to... the airport. Okay, this is the beginning of our problem remembering and confusing the names of many locations. We consistently got lost and were asking people for directions to the wrong place... it would be like someone asking you how to get to San Angeles... or Los Diego.

We got on the subway, and made it to a castle, which also had an elephant, and we paid 200 yen ($2) to dress up in kimonos for 10 minutes! During which we took 36 photos... 36 photos in 10 minutes!! Everyone was laughing at us. We took pictures here and there and everywhere and even borrowed these kids to be in the picture... later, we wondered why we needed the kids in the picture... they and their family probably wondered too... then we took a cable car and then a rope car... during which we saw steaming/bubbling coming out of the earth and... saw Mount Fuji! We took about 50 pictures... most of which feature the inside of the subway car. Then we got on a boat and took a sightseeing cruise in the pitch black... it was very informative. We then took a bus trying to find the Moto Hakone Guest House. We got off the bus and didn't know where we were and nothing was open, but there were 8 women who were on a trip together who also got off at the same stop and helped us for 20 minutes during which we found out we got off at the wrong bus stop. We were only one bus stop away, but it started raining, and it seemed to be a deserted area with the next bus coming in an hour. We were told not to walk because it was too dangerous... so we hitchhiked. Two girls picked us up and took us to the place... using the map we had (which was all in Japanese... part of our problem being that we couldn't read the map... literally!)! We finally arrived! Our host was so kind, we had breakfast with her in the morning, and walked to catch another bus to.....hot springs! And made it back that night for my gig.

The next day we walked around...probably the funniest moment of the day is when we saw a magazine poster that said Carrie and I made Carrie take her picture with it. The girl who worked there was looking at us funny, so I told her... her name is Carrie too. But she thought I was saying that Carrie was the girl in the magazine picture. We tried to explain but it was too late, she already excitedly invited over her friend, saying, "This is CARRIE!" and asked me to take a picture.

After the holidays, I am going to do another week of video postcards! I am going to make one where I try to eat sushi... I am going to be brave! Stay tuned...

Have a wonderful holiday and I'll talk to you in 2008!!

11/30/07 Trying to like Fish
I know I am in the land of sushi and good fish, but I have a mental block... I don't know what it is, but the only fish I can eat is canned tuna and maybe children's fish sticks (you know, the ones that are so breaded you can't really find the fish part of it).

I tried eating eel... I have been told that maybe that is not the best place to start... but the thing is, it doesn't matter what kind of fish it is, I can't even taste it because the idea of it freaks me out... especially raw fish.

I went to a Japanese restaurant where I accidentally ate fish shavings... they looked like pieces of filo dough (you know, the kind of dough on baklava)... they tasted fine... but when I found out they were fish shavings, I felt like gagging! I wish my taste buds would grow up!

I love your comments and hearing your stories too... and I am going to try to make a few videos... but I warn you that they may be terrible!!!!

11/29/07 Hello From Japan!
Okay, I am going to write regularly now... that is the plan at least! The day before I left for Tokyo, my external hard drive, computer, AND car broke down... it was quite a day! My external hard drive was unsalvageable but after getting my car towed to the mechanic, it seems to only need a small fix... I am emailing with the mechanic! And I have just been to the genius bar in Tokyo Saturday and Sunday to get my computer working properly! It was so cool seeing my name on the Genius Bar list with all the Japanese characters.

I am loving it here... it is such a cool thing to get to know another culture. I am starting to master the train system! In fact, today I got off the train and I thought "I live in Japan!" (I am here for three months.) I thought it was so cool I knew where I was, I knew how to get a train ticket in Japanese. Five minutes later, I was lost. Oh it was a fleeting moment of greatness...

10/14/07 Almost as good as Hannah Montana......
At a concert this past weekend, there were a lot of families. The young children went into a room to watch a movie, and the adults came out to the patio and watched the concert... but I was lucky enough to gain the attention of a 7-year-old girl, who sat transfixed through my entire two sets. When I asked to whom did she like to listen, she told me Hannah Montana is her favorite (she also proudly announced that she had gotten a ticket to Hannah Montana's upcoming concert for her birthday which she made sure I knew cost $70 or $700 - she wasn't sure which). After the concert, she said that I was almost as good as Hannah Montana. So I asked her, "What does Hannah Montana have on me? What do I need to do to improve my show to the level of Hannah Montana? Maybe add some dancing?" She stood there staring at me for about 30 seconds and then replied "Okay, bye" and walked out of the room.

10/11/07 Adventures in House Concerting.....
Have you ever seen the movie "Adventures in Babysitting" with Elisabeth Shue? I was so into that movie!!! Speaking of other movies I have been so into... have you seen the movie "Aquamarine"? I have developed a strange affinity for that movie... so much so, that when the video rental place was finished with the "Aquamarine" poster, I took it and hung it in my bathroom... much to my roommate's chagrin. I think he takes it down when I am gone on tour... the betrayal!!! The movie is aimed at 11-year-old girls and apparently that demographic aim works on me... pretty soon, I'll be covering songs from "High School Musical" and its sequel... how many of those are there? Is it going to have 7 in its series, like Harry Potter?

Anyway, I am digressing... I want to tell you about my recent concerts... I played in San Francisco recently and I was able to drive back to LA via Big Sur. You must do this. It is SO beautiful. I went hiking in the Redwoods, and there are tons of places to camp. I got strawberries from a local farmer and was literally screaming in amazement as I ate the most delicious strawberries and watched the coast line... it's unbelievable!

I have been getting to see many different towns in the US, as you all invite me into your homes. Every concert feels like an adventure in a new world... and everyone has been so kind... and the food... homemade apple strudel, cupcakes, bbq, gourmet cheese, candy corn (as you can tell, each party has a different feel)... and the friends... 40 twenty-somethings stuffed into a small apartment laughing together, an afternoon concert by a pool, evening concert on the patio with families... every concert is unique and special. I am continually grateful and honored for the opportunities. Okay, but enough of that, I fear I am annoying you (and myself) with my Pollyanna-like house concert descriptive tendencies... but they are so fun! I have posted some pictures from the most recent ones in Photos of the Month.

8/20/07 And then, at band camp.....
It has been a while and I have been traveling up a storm! Got to drive through the Pacific Northwest with Libbie Schrader, Mandi Perkins, and our band... it was so beautiful... I posted a few pictures in this month's "Photos of the Month". We all had such a great time. Eight of us in two mini-vans, listening to music, playing the Alphabet game.....and the shows were so much fun....we all performed every night and I can now sing along to all of Libbie and Mandi's great songs! When I returned in July, I had tons of house concerts... here's a little about a few of them: I went by Big Bear for a house concert on a Scout Reservation, where I got my new nickname "Mountain Lion"... a derivative of Kat... then off to La Quinta, which is right by Palm Springs... I went in July for the second time!!! Yes, I am crazy... it is so HOT there... but at least this time, I was indoors... and with such a fun group... and the best tacos! And San Diego, at a house concert / church where I was treated to the most delicious food and a fan blowing my hair around during the performance... it looked very rockstar... then to Santa Monica where my hair was fixed by one of the hosts who fixes Charlize Theron's hair with a beautiful rose from the backyard... and to New York for a house concert that got so big, it moved to a pub that was double booked with the Irish Lawyers Association... quite an evening! And to Chicago... to a beautiful and classy photo studio concert... then to a "Summer of Love" party where the host and I sang The Band... and to a birthday party in the Chicago-area, where a daughter surprised her mother with me (without telling her that I was there to play a concert), and her mother nearly had a heart attack thinking that I was some long lost child of her husband's or something even crazier... then back to the East Coast... to a sweet apartment in DC... to an outdoor-turned indoor house with great people and horses across the street... to the Geppi Entertainment Museum (where they have all the original Star Wars action toys)... to an awesome crowd in Easton... and the adventure continues...

PS. Pardon all of the run-on sentences... and then, at band camp...

4/24/07 Saving all my love for.... Brookstone....
I'm the kind of person who is usually rushing through the airport because I never leave enough time to get there and besides that, am always running late. And I usually have A LOT of luggage - a guitar, large suitcase (usually weighing more than the allowed amount...due to cds, of course....) and I am completely stubborn about paying the extra amount so I borrow a plastic bag from the airline, put my heaviest stuff in it, borrow some tape, and pretty much drag it around the airport. So, by the time I get to my destination I need a shower and a massage. Considering how often I travel, you'd think I'd have a better system. Well, now, ever since I've been telling Super Shuttle my ACTUAL flight time, I've had about eight hours to burn in the airport (LAX) before my flight. Enter Brookstone. Enter massage chair from heaven. Enter no shame. Today I got in the massage chair (I now have all the different massages memorized (shiatsu, swedish, kneading, etc)), closed my eyes and went to sleep. Enter missing my flight. Oops.

4/24/07 New Orleans
After the brief moment that my dad, Jon and I spent in New Orleans, my dad wrote a letter to the editor. I really like it and want to share it with you:

Just having read the New Orleans article in the Outlook section today, I am moved to write to you. I just returned from New Orleans. Before I went, I "knew" a couple of basic things about the City... One was that Bourbon Street typifies New Orleans as a place where jazz drifts out the doors of every bar/club, women bare their breasts in order to get beads and everyone gets falling-down drunk. Another was that the City was devastated by Katrina and they can't seem to get their act together to fix it; and another was that 'the only reason to go to New Orleans' is for Mardi Gras. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Bourbon Street is only a few blocks long in the midst of a very large city; that the devastation wreaked by Katrina is incomprehensible; and that a rich, rich culture exists and transcends Mardi Gras... not to mention the fact that the Mardi Gras I "knew" is a media event which has nearly nothing to do with the cultural and historical event that it truly is. It's akin to reducing DC to the National Mall and cherry trees. Before I went I couldn't understand why the New Orleanians couldn't just put things back together... especially with all the volunteer help. It was only when I drove down street after street, block after block of abandoned houses in neighborhood after neighborhood, that the enormity of it began to sink in. Still, even while I was stapling Tyvek on a new house being built in St. Bernard's Parish, and seeing the absolute destruction in every direction as far as the eye could see, I still couldn't... and can't... grasp the scope of the devastation. It is a wonder that, in the face of the task, anyone is able to go back (or remain) and sustain the commitment needed to restore the City. I spent only a short time there. Yet, every shop keeper, waiter, hotel employee, and resident with whom I spoke, thanked me repeatedly for coming to New Orleans to help out. It was as if I had rebuilt a neighborhood myself. I did visit Bourbon Street and found what felt like a very large frat party, and very little jazz. But on Sunday morning I heard the rafters raised at a small Uptown Episcopal Church, by "Shades of Praise". This gospel choir, through its diversity of race, ethnicity and religion is a symbol of the effort to use the devastation of Katrina to fashion a new city... a model of equality amid great diversity, built on the deep cultural roots of music, family, food, hospitality and history. As I write this from the swamp on which DC was built, I realize that we share more than the muddy bottom land on which both cities are built. We are more than our PR makes us out to be. We share the struggle to build a life of equality amid diversity, and both our foundations rise out of deep cultural histories. And no more than we can abandon that difficult task here, can we abandon the people of New Orleans. If we do, we will lose ourselves in the process.

4/6/07 Let's get it started...
(ha! Let's get it started... in here... do you know that song? It's terrible, but great... if I'm ever anywhere and that song plays, I turn into a dancing fool...) I had not started my car for 3 months as I was out of town....it made for a slightly rocky/non-existent start......within 24 hours I had to jump it five times from random people who were kind enough to stop on the road. The fifth time, while jumping my car, I locked my keys inside. It was an all-star weekend....

11/28/06 Kat cracks under the pressure of New Years Eve
I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to have an AMAZING New Years eve. And I read far too deeply into the symbolism...if New Years Eve is a bad night then my year...possibly my entire life.... is going to be terrible. And then I topped that off with the extra pressure of making all of the AMAZING things happen within a $15 budget. My New Years Resolution this year is to not be like that.

8/3/06 My mom rides her bike to work every day
So I thought, if she can, why can't I?! My car was in the shop (surprise, surprise) in Hollywood (where I live) and I needed to be in Santa Monica. I, unfortunately, no longer have a bike. I left my bike when I moved from Chicago. BUT, I have rollerblades!! My goal was to rollerblade from Hollywood to Santa Monica faster than the bus could take me there. The bus schedule said it would take an hour and a half. I strapped on my rollerblades and helmet (yes, this is very important all you "free the hair" people out there) and set off. The problem was not the distance as much as it was the terrain. Pot holes, bumps in the road, gravelly roads, stop signs, traffic lights, steep hills, no room on the side of the road, etc are not so good for someone who has not quite mastered how to brake on rollerblades. I usually hoped for a pole on which to hang or a patch of grass on which I could dive should I need to stop suddenly. Or I counted on my resonance when letting people know I was about to crash into their car. The good news is that I made it to Santa Monica and beat the bus's time (I think I made it in and hour and 29 minutes) and managed only to have one face plant when my rollerblade got caught in a ridge in a sidewalk, and thankfully, I fell into a soft, freshly dug up garden, so it was a rather comfy fall. I have proven that I, too, can bike/rollerblade to work. However, I think when my mom arrives at work she still looks and acts presentably. I arrive with dirt all over my clothes and a minor head injury. I am personally impressed with myself. Show at the Roxy tonight in LA- can't wait to see you!!

8/1/06 Tips for staying cool when it is 100 degrees outside and 500 degrees in your room, you do not have ventilation, much less air conditioning, and you are trying to go to sleep.
-Buy a spray bottle, put water in it, refrigerate/freeze and spray yourself with it as you are trying to go to sleep.
-Cold showers.
-Wet a washcloth in the morning. Freeze it all day. Take it out at night and sleep with it on your face.
-Cold showers.
-Sleep with ice. I personally have been pulling an ice tray out of the freezer every hour and take all the ice out, wrap it in a towel, and sleep with it on my head. This seems to be effective, though when I wake up, my hair is wet.
-Cold showers.
-Do you have any good tips to share?

7/27/06 Traffic school
I know what you are thinking...it's about time. You are very right. And the time was this past Saturday for a joyous 8 hour session. I learned quite a bit and wanted to offer some of the information that I found interesting. This is my safe driving journal entry. I hope you'll all be safe!! I have renewed hope for myself! There are 117 fatalities a day in auto accidents. That makes over 40,000 a year. Several years of driving accidents kill more people than the Vietnam war and that was over 10-12 years. 50% of the accidents are drug and alcohol related. 47% of the fatalities, people were not wearing their seat belt. 1,200 children/year get killed by their parents driving (once the child is out of the car- reversing- not seeing them, not knowing the car is in reverse/drive, etc). Auto accidents are the #1 killer of young Americans (mostly between 10pm-5am). Please be careful and WEAR YOUR SEATBELTS. I am wishing you all safe and happy driving. Also important, don't forget to listen to your Kat Parsons' cd in the car. Studies show that owning and singing along to Kat Parsons' cd promotes happiness and well being for....Kat Parsons.

7/20/06 Free Willy!
I spent the weekend in Astoria, OR. Have you been there? It is incredibly beautiful, as was all of the drive from the Portland airport to Astoria. I've toured in OR, WA, Pacific Northwest, etc but it didn't strike me as much as this last trip. We didn't need a car b/c there was a trolley that took you into and out of town. It's where they filmed "The Goonies", but most importantly, it's where they filmed scenes of "Free Willy"! I love that movie! Free Willy 2 was good too. I don't care if it was computer generated images or a mechanical whale or whatever, but when Willy jumps over the breakwater I nearly cried with excitement!! And then at the end when all the whales are swimming and you see Willy's fin...and he's surviving in the wild...and you're so happy....all the while a Michael Jackson song is playing....I think I need to go rent the movie again.

7/6/06 It's not just cars.....
This weekend I went to my good friend's wedding (a beautiful hot pink bridesmaid dress) in Maryland. The wedding was on the Maryland shore and she and her now-husband planned these great sailing races the morning of their wedding for the wedding party. We all got in little 2 person dinghy's and each person who didn't know how to sail (me) got paired up with someone more experienced. I got paired with Charles, the minister of the wedding who is at least 75, retired from active service, and a very good sailor. Charles was great- we planned on winning the race! He would shout directions to me and I would pull some rope (which is actually referred to as "line") either on the left (port?) or right (starboard? but it sounds like starbird when anyone says it). I may have my directions mixed up, which might have been part of the problem, because about midway through the race, Charles was shouting "Jibe" and I was stuck in the ropes and wasn't sure which way he wanted me to go. And, as I sat there in the middle trying to get my life jacket unhooked so I could at least pick a side and try, our sailing boat was going underwater on one side (which is normal for good sailing), but not so normal when the rest of the boat comes toppling over WITH that side. And next I saw Charles, we were both swimming alongside our upside down boat. This would've actually been really fun for me (capsizing is exciting!) except that there were tons of jelly fish in the water (and I felt bad that I took Charles down with me). I think a few of them rubbed up against my legs (jelly fish....not Charles), but thankfully neither of us got stung. Charles was such a good sport, he asked me for a dance at the wedding reception and we nearly capsized then also. I am dangerous. So, it's not just cars, it's pretty much any moving vehicle, including my legs.

6/29/06 You should be on TV
A tour moment that deserves a mention- Perhaps the most nerve wracking gig was the one I did with my family at two local elementary schools in MD. Jon (my brother) taught music this past year and they asked for the "Parsons family" to come sing. So we came in at 9am and sang in 4 part harmony- Ave Verum, When I Fall in Love, O Sole Mio, Helpless, I Hope You Dance, etc. And everyone kept saying "Mr. Parsons" and I was wondering why they were talking to my dad until I realized my brother is "Mr. Parsons". When my mom called him Jon, there was an audible gasp. Remember when you were 7 years old and how amazing it was to find out that your teacher has a first name? We got thank you letters from the kids and here is some of what they had to say about the concert. These made me crack up so I included a bunch (all w/ original spelling). All of these begin with "Dear Mr. Parsons,":

My favorite part was when all of you had turns to sing. it is sharing and that was really nice and that was fantastic but the best part was all of it.
Jessica

You were awesome to me. My favorite song was the last one. i just know you all will be famous some day. you all were the bst singing family. your on fire!!!
Celing Amenankiti

it was a pleasure to meet you all, especially your sister. First she was so good. You were like american idol.
Castawana

You guys were awesome. You should be on american idol.
Mary Anna

My favorite part was when Mr. Parsons sang in italian. Kat could sing in american idol. miss julie, i like you better than chicken. but the thing i liked most of all was when Mr. parsons was warming up. you should be on TV.
Wendy

That show was great today. you should be on american idol
love Zarn

the best song was the country song. i wanted to know how is your dad old an he has white hair. but Mr. Parsons why do you you i tell you you got and shave your beard.
Kahall

You have the most moosikfll family.
Emma

Your sister is a great singer. i wesh i was a great singer like her.
Saba

i love your family. i love your sister. i love your dad. you are greait mr. parsons
Jasmine

your family sang good.
joanna

mr. parsons, yor the best singer in the hol wold!!!!!!!!
Anthony

mr. parsons, i theick your sister great!!!!
anonymous

mr. parsons, your family plas the gradist music. thak you for inviting tham.
anonymous

it was a parsons family show. my favorite part was when your dad was singing in italian. the last part was cool. kat is a good singer. miss julie is a good singer to. is kat in american idol. she is nice.
Jocelyn

My personal favorite is the one that says my mom is better than chicken! I agree!

6/13/06
I know it is cliché, but it is so true that when on the road, it is extremely hard to keep track of what day it is, where you are and who you are. Just kidding about the last part (that's hard to figure out at all times).; All time and space shifts in travel. I like that. There are so many highlights from this tour (thanks to you all and your support) and, it seems a trail of tears (which brings me great joy...is that bad?). From the full band nearly 2 hour set @ Old Town Theater to the quiet solo set in Dallas during which twin 8 year-old boys came up and sang the entirety of "No Will Power" while I played it. These same boys picked me up from the Dallas airport (with their mom- don't worry, they weren't driving) with a"Kat Parsons" sign that was handmade with hearts on it. I couldn't ask for cuter fans.

In Baltimore, I was asking the Jarflys lead singer, Jimi, a million questions, only to find out that he was the same Jimi from Jimmie's Chicken Shack- whose concert I crowd surfed!! That was exciting for me. He was so cool. And Philadelphia was raining like crazy. It was a cool part of Phila I had never seen, which I loved until I found out that all the parking lots cost $20. And I hate paying for parking, so I ended up running into the venue dripping wet because I found a free spot only 10 blocks away! The umbrella was pointless and I ditched it.

It was fun being at home for a night with my family, except that the night that I had off, my mom, my dad, and my brother all had separate gigs of their own. So I got to be a cheering fan for them! Then I headed from the East Coast to Dallas and then to the Midwest. Chicago was fun except for the fact that after about 3 hours of sleep I got up in the morning and drove my rental car to the wrong airport (Chicago Midway). In fact, I returned my rental car, went into the airport and didn't realize that I was not at the right airport until I could not find the airline on which I was flying. And for the first time in my life I was actually early enough that I grabbed a cab, went across town to Chicago O'Hare and thought I might still make it. But, alas, I arrived 5 minutes after the 45 minute luggage cut off.

And, of course, a journal entry from me would not be complete without a bad driving story. After one of the shows in Chicago, I convinced my friend Jen to road trip with me to Detroit where I was performing at the Ford Headquarters. On our way out of Detroit, I was driving on the highway and I kept saying, "something smells like burnt rubber". We thought, "must just be the smell of this area", until after 20 minutes of highway driving, I realized that the parking brake was still on. Shhhhh.....don't tell Enterprise.

Following are some artists/organizations/stores I/we met along the way. Check them out: LEAP - Teaching girls' self defense and courage, Sheke Boutique, Ford Fusion - supporting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Fund, Jarflys, Starbelly, Bridges and a Bottle, Keri Noble, Alice Peacock, Anne Harris, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Chris Siebold, Justin Sconza, Cercie Miller, Car 54, Sarah Tracey, Doo no Dawn, Ferdinand Fox.

6/5/06 Secrets in the Songs
Sometimes, like I did recently, I write a song and I put a little secret in it. It is a secret that I am telling the audience and only the people who are listening to all the words can hear it. and it is fun to play live because then I can look at people and know who is hearing what I am saying and getting my secret. Not that I mind people who just focus on the melody.

5/25/06 You won't believe the bumper....
So how long have I had my new/used car? Long enough to pull the front bumper off. I backed out of my garage and there was something (I think it was very big and there is no way I could have avoided it) that seemed to have caught on my front bumper. As I continued to back out of my garage, my front bumper continued to be caught. And I noticed something was wrong when I looked forward and saw my front bumper lying in my garage in front of me. I went to the mechanic who temporarily attached it and while I was driving I heard something scraping on the ground. I was late for an appointment, so I pulled over and re-attached the bottom of the car to the bottom of the car with an extra piece of clothing in my car and went back to the mechanic the next day so that they could permanently re-attach the bumper. They did- they are great. I am becoming good friends with the mechanic. You can imagine my shame when I had to call the mechanic later that afternoon because I rear-ended someone. Thankfully I was going very slow at the time, no one was hurt, but guess what didn't make it? The front bumper. I guess that thing in my garage was trying to tell me something.

5/16/06 A car worthy of an alarm (which I keep setting off)
I got a new used car! For those of you who have been following my journals, you will know that this is great news. It was quite an ordeal. I "test drove" many cars that were not quite in my price range (as in at least $15k over my price range), with nice pick up/acceleration, tinted windows, cd player, sun roofs (by the way, did you know that there is a difference between a sun and a moon roof?). This reminds me of when my brother and I were driving my grandparents old car home from high school. It had a sun roof and a little note next to it that said, "Do not operate while vehicle is in motion". While I was driving, Jon decided to test that theory and started to let the sun roof up when it went FLYING off the car and shattered behind us. We couldn't stop laughing until we got home and told our mom and she made us go back to where it shattered and look for some of the pieces on the side of the road. Oh and one other tangent...have you ever put those tree things that are supposed to smell good in your car? There is a very important trick to those, (it is written in the directions which Jon and I neglected to read- notice a theme?). You are supposed to open the package only a little bit at a time so that the whole tree is exposed only after two weeks. But we were so excited we opened the entire package and hung the "musk" scented paper tree on the rear view mirror and nearly passed out 5 minutes later when the "musk" scent overtook us. Anyway -I got a car and for the first time I am driving a car with an automatic transmission (I miss the manual transmission!). I keep putting my foot down next to the brake, and have nearly ripped the car out of "drive" while trying to change to 5th gear. But most importantly, it has a "beeper/alarm/lock/unlock the car from afar" function. It's the coolest! The only problem is that I keep forgetting it has this feature and set off the alarm every time I try to get into the car. I think my neighbors are starting to get annoyed. Me too. The good news is that I can't lose the car as easily, b/c all I have to do is click the beeper thing.

5/5/06 The Song Police
so it's nice to be your own keeper but it is hard to know what's good. i feel like i need some song police while i am writing. they would come and say "that song is awesome, I LOVE it...you are brilliant, etc." and then occasionally they would say "yeah, your instinct is right- you can't use that lyric - it's too rhymey or too something" or in today's case...i wrote this AMAZING song. it had the best hook...i loved it so much....and in the back of my mind i kept thinking "this sounds so familiar" but sometimes when something sounds familiar that you are writing, it means that it is great b/c the song has been singing itself to you somewhere out in the universe. and sometimes it sounds familiar, because, in this case, SOMEONE ELSE ALREADY WROTE IT AND FAITH HILL SANG IT AND IT WAS A BIG HIT AND YOU PROBABLY HEARD IT ON THE RADIO 30 TIMES and that's when i need the song police to say "stop spending hours writing a "great" song that you just heard on the radio"....that would save me a lot of time.

4/28/06 Lost (and Grey's Anatomy)
Does anyone else watch that show? i am usually way behind on it because i tivo it at my friend's house, but i just got all caught up in a marathon session. i am obsessed with this show (and grey's anatomy....one time meredith was crying on the show and i started weeping and then about 30 seconds into what was becoming hyper-ventilating crying, i realized "wait a minute, this isn't my life" and stopped crying and felt much better. then i remembered what my life IS actually like and started crying again. just kidding!). okay, back to Lost....seriously though, do you think there actually are others? or do you think they are all going crazy? Would you go crazy on a desert island? i mean they've got a lot going on- they should look on the bright side- all that dharma mac and cheese and sexual tension.

4/18/06 New technology
What piece of new technology will come along when I am older that I won't understand? My great aunt just got a cell phone. She is incredibly smart- she can debate it with the best of them, she is sharp and witty, but for some reason there is a big brain void when it comes to this new technology. She cannot figure out how to answer the phone, make a call, recieve a call, check the voice mail, turn it on, turn it off, charge it....pretty much the phone is useless to her. Somehow (I think with the help of her friend), she managed to call me with it the other day. I only know that she called me b/c I had programmed her number into my phone, but not because she left a decipherable message.....basically, the message is her punching in a bunch of numbers interspersed with "hello?" and "I can't tell if it's on" and other such conversations with her partner in crime. When will the time come when my granddaughter (this is a long time in the future) will wonder why such a smart grandma can't figure out how to work the video driving talking robot computer module?

4/15/06 The car is in bad shape.
This is an addendum to an earlier blog. Turns out the "noise" in the car is slightly serious......as in, 3 of the 4 engine mounts (the piece of equipment used to hold the engine in the hood of the car) are missing. My engine, according to the mechanic, is currently "floating" in the hood of my car. One more lost mount, and my engine could literally fall out of my car while driving. Needless to say, I am looking for a new ride.

4/7/06 Race car driver.
Has anyone ever been one? My uncle used to be one and we got to ride in his race car. My car currently feels like it might fall apart like in the cartoons.....like the flintstones...where it just stops running and all the doors and everything just fall outwards. It keeps making an ominous rumbling noise and I'm afraid to take it to the mechanic b/c last time I took it there I had to pay $800 to get it back. and I feel too dumb to take it to the mechanic b/c last time I took it to the mechanic b/c of another noise I deemed "strange", I found out that it was just a wrench I had sliding around in one of the back compartments.

4/4/06 Baby Baby Baby (a lover or a friend)
I've been at home writing songs and find that I want to say "baby" in almost every line of every song. it fits just right. there's even a song i am writing right now and currently the entire bridge is me singing "baby baby baby baby...etc". and this is baby- like the way you call a lover or a friend. not an actual baby. this is a very strange, and i'm not sure such a good, new inclination. i suppose it's better than wanting to say "dude" or "muffin" or some of the other pet names one might use. i mean imagine a bridge of "dude dude dude muffin". sing that out loud. it doesn't quite work.

3/2/06 Recording "I Won't Ask"
I've been keeping you posted with clips and pictures but it's been a while since a journal entry. I'm home for most of this month and am looking forward to writing, seeing friends play, and catching up! I just recorded "I Won't Ask" (the song I wrote with my mom- who started writing it at 2am when she couldn't sleep and then I wrote the melody and lyrics at a particularly emotional sound check in NYC) with T-Bone Burnett and Dermot, Kieran, and James. It's loose and messy and human and captures the essence of the song so wonderfully. James (The Pogues) plays accordion and it is so cool- I never expected to have an accordion on a song I wrote and it's so cool (which is a word I never would have previously associated with the accordion)! Dermot plays cello and Kieran violin and I play an ever so slightly out of tune piano.

2/15/06
Check out the clips (look in the lower right hand corner to see our video journal).

12/22/05 It's a dance party
I was just in the studio working on "Reason to Get Through" and it is so danceable. I can dance along to it in a jump-around, sing-into-your-hairbrush kind of way! I like that kind of dancing. We also recorded "Oh it's so lovely" which sounds Hawaiian. Jason did this really cool guitar part and it sounds like there is a whale in the song. It's also very danceable in a sway your hips in a flow-y skirt kind of way. This might even convince me that Hawaiian shirts are not that bad.....

12/20/05 I asked for a vacuum cleaner for Christmas...is that strange?
Have you ever vacuumed with a (Dyson) really good vacuum (Dyson) cleaner? It is so (Dyson) gratifying. You can vacuum (Dyson) hardwood floors and the carpet and it gets everything up. Have you ever tried vacuuming with a terrible vacuum cleaner? It would be less time consuming and more effective to spend an hour walking around your floor with a piece of tape. I feel like I am supposed to be older to want a vacuum cleaner, or own my own place, or, at least own the carpet which I am vacuuming. But hey, I am living outside of the box (as much as one can while still wanting a nice vacuum for Christmas).

12/12/05 I am pretty okay at cheesecake...
I made my grandma's cheesecake (the infamous cheesecake from the song I wrote for my grandma who thought that we liked her cheesecake better than her, called "[You are] Better than Cheesecake") for a holiday party and I did a pretty good job!! I had one mishap where I dropped the bowl into the cake and it created a less than picturesque top, but it still tasted good! Cooking is not my forte. My dad is a very good cook and makes the best pancakes and biscuits and stews and roasts and I make pretty good microwave dinners and also good cookies (I just brought cookies to one of my mom's shows and shared them with people there and an older woman cornered me while I was in the bathroom and asked "Do you share your recipes?". It was just the recipe on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse bag, so I told her no. Okay, I told her so.) You'd be proud! and I am awarding myself second place for longest ever written run-on sentence.

11/12/05 Falling in Love with Fall
I haven't been on the East Coast during the Fall for years and I am drawn to its richness- the colors, the abundance, the transient nature, the crisp air and the smell of a fire burning, the determination of the last leaves clinging to their mama's branches, the beauty of the maroon, rust, orange, and yellow floor they create when fallen. Okay, maybe I'm getting carried away. It's just leaves falling....but it is so beautiful! I've been driving through the sweetest small towns in New York State whose downtowns consist of four corners near a lake. I've stopped in the shops to see what they are like (and get directions) and have driven by farms and lovely houses with wrap around porches. I feel like Hester Prynne might step out of one of these at any moment. But she'd be happy and no one would make her wear her A. I've driven through fall and into snow and winter and then back out to Fall (my only complaint being that my cell phone won't get any reception! what a city girl I have become.) It is so picturesque, I wish you could all see it with me!

11/3/05 MTV's Score
It is so strange to watch yourself on TV! I've seen myself on morning shows and other programs where I have a short interview and am playing my songs, but it has all been very straight forward. Watching SCORE, I have to say, I felt so self- conscious and couldn't barely watch the whole thing! Parts of it I enjoyed and parts of it, well....I can't believe I cursed so much!! It's funny/terrible!! My poor grandparents! I had a great time taping this- Michelle was so cool and I enjoyed working with Ryan Cabrera and his band and I got kind of attached to the song I wrote (w/ golf cart lyrics and all!). I've learned some lessons though about being in front of a camera.....never crash into a camera on rollerblades, or do a handspring followed by an olympic pose finish, or think hard about the questions MTV asks you and be concerned about being as honest as possible- just answer them!, or skateboard while hula-hooping if you don't know how to do either! No matter how funny it seems at the time. Aaah! Thank you all for watching and I'm so glad you loved mysong!

10/16/05 Touring....
is an interesting experience. This weekend I performed at Fort Hood Military Base and right next to me were the Houston Texan cheerleaders signing posters in knee-high boots and short shorts. They signed a poster for me as well- this was a first for me! And driving through Texas I only seemed to be able to find Christian stations. Living in "the city", sometimes it's easy to forget that there is a whole nother world out there.

9/8/05
My brother is a volunteer firefighter in Maryland and he recently came into contact with a Hurricane Katrina victim. He told me the wonderful story of this woman. She is paralyzed from the waist down and had gone to New Orleans for treatment. When the storm came, she did not have enough time to get out of her house (she's paralyzed and could not move and is a bigger woman so to carry her would have required more than the one person with her). She was lying on an air mattress on her bed. And as the water flowed into her house, the air mattress lifted her up on top of the water. Her companion kicked out the ceiling and the woman floated on her air mattress to the top of her house where she was rescued by helicopters. I'm so proud of people- of the human capacity to withstand tragedy, to help one another and also so profoundly disappointed by the harm we can cause one another (as evidenced by the superdome). My ears have been glued to NPR. To tell the truth, I feel silly writing anything about this because I don't know what to say, but I feel worse not saying anything.

8/17/05 I'm obsessed with Harry Potter.
There, I've admitted it. I just returned from a lovely vacation at the beach in Maryland/Delaware. I read the new Harry Potter. I am obsessed with Harry Potter. Do I really have to wait 2 more years to find out what happens to Harry and you-know-who?!! I've already had hours of discussion with a friend analyzing the book. Who thought a book designed for 3rd graders could warrant such analyzation? Yes, it is pathetic. This all started a couple of summers ago when I read Books 2, 3, and 4 in the week's vacation. I was so into the books that when my brother came to wake me up, I spent 5 minutes asking him where the potion was until I recognized him as my brother and not my wizarding assistant. My dad as a joke bought me a wand the next day. I also read Kite Runner which I highly recommend- it's not only a gripping story, but also gives insight into modern-day Afghanistan which, in light of recent political events, is particularly interesting. Life of Pi is my current read. Okay, there you have it, book recommmendations by Kat Parsons-maybe I should stick to my "day job". While I'm at it though, if you haven't before, I recommend listening to Mozart's Reqiem (an incredible, complex, moving piece of music) and the soundtrack to West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein is incredible....and Buddy Rich (drummer) does a cool West Side Story Medley on "No Funny Hats".

7/22/05 My family is in town.
And I made them play on Wednesday - one of the nights of my residency at Hotel Cafe with me and band. It was 80s night (each week of the residency we do a cover song from a different decade). My dad and I shared the microphone, I had mismatching pick earrings and headbanged, and some of you showed up with side ponytails in scrunchies, Def Leppard t-shirts, and rolled up 80's style jeans. Thanks to all of you in the audience- you were so lovely and warm. I have a recording of you cheering when my dad sang, during my mom's blues solo, and my brother's piano/guitar and singing. After a few glasses of wine (I was the designated driver), the four of us ended up at Canter's deli until 2am, completely satisfied.

7/16/05 Every day is a Winding Road.
Last week I played a morning show where a limo company came to pick me up. I was whisked away to an air-conditioned soundstage where a stylist, make-up artist and hair person spent hours on my appearance. I was fed delicious catering. Yesterday, I arrived at my hotel at 2am, woke up at 5:30am and drove myself to a hot dog stand for a 6am appearance on another station's morning news, where I incidentally ended up splitting my news time with a guy who showed up with his guitar and a song that he wrote about "Wienershnitzel", which went something like "Wienershnitzel, oh wienershnitzel. I love wienerschnitzel."

As an aside: I must admit, that I actually did very much enjoy my breakfast at Wienerschnitzel. In fact, now I too, "love Wienerschnitzel."

7/18/05 I'm melting.
I think one can either complain about the cold OR the heat, but not both. I love the summer and the warmth, so I chose the cold. This weekend, I am making an exception to my complaining rule. I went to Palm Springs this past weekend. 120 degrees. One hundred and twenty degrees. And I had the pleasure of playing an un-shaded outdoor gig for THREE hours. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DEGREES. This was record heat for Palm Springs (hottest in 10 years). My cds melted. I had tea candles in my car which melted all over my seat. My keyboard stand was so hot, I needed oven mits to carry it. I temporarily blinded myself with my own sweat. And at one point, there were flies around. One nearly flew into my mouth during "We Deserve More" and I had to stop during "All the Time" to swat them away. I suddenly could relate too well to Albert Camus's "The Stranger". And though I thought I might die, I nearly did when I decided to take a "dip" in the "river" right next to the amphitheater which I found out afterwards, is the bathroom for many people.

6/2/05 The 2nd time I cried.
Last night I played a wonderful benefit for ONE.org in Hollywood and this group of beautiful dancers performed an incredibly inspired dance to "We Deserve More". It was so beautiful, I cried! You all have to see it. I'm going to find a way for you to see it. That was actually the 2nd time I cried yesterday- the first time is when I was making a left hand turn onto my street and I was actually being a safe driver for once and waiting until I had lots of time (while talking on my cell phone) and the car behind me was beeping at me and I did not like it at all. So, like a safe driver, I was determined that because they were being rude, I was going to wait until the very last second so that they would miss the light. Well they didn't miss the light, so then I decided I would let them pull up next to me so that we could have words and here's how the conversation went: Kat: "Hi"; Other driver: "Shove your cell phone up your ass."; Kat: "Shove your.....self up your ass". Then I cried. So there- take that. And for those of you who were at my shows last night- I did not have to cry a 3rd time- I found my wallet!

4/19/05 "Sambody" teach me how to samba
My dear friend Hannah just finished performing in a samba work out video and I decided that I needed to work out to it. She is samba queen and we have danced a lot together growing up (see journal entry from long ago about dancing to "Black Cat" at our camp talent show). On her advice, I started with the advanced video...not the best idea...though I could handle some of the moves pretty well, the main issue is that I do not know the basic samba step and more often than not, when I attempted it, I mainly looked as though I was running in place. I have to say though that it was very fun working out to the smiling face and booty shaking of someone I know!

4/2/05 Success & Driving w/my mother
The East Coast release parties were such a celebration- sold out DC-area show and packed NYC. Sorry for those who couldn't get in, but that's pretty cool! And there's been so much good news w/ the LA & Chicago release parties coming up. Music Connection Magazine this year alone has sported Shania Twain, Gretchen Wilson, Joss Stone, Phil Ramone and now...KAT PARSONS on their cover! I just purchased it at 7-Eleven - it was so fun- I'm famous! (okay maybe not...the 7-Eleven guy didn't even recognize me...) KLOS 95.5 is going to play my album, CDBABY.com picked "No Will Power" for their front page out of 30,000 (go write a review @ cdbaby.com/katparsons)! My album is in stores as of Tuesday 3/29/05. I've already gone to check it out and ran around the record store with my marker card letting people know that it's me! I am so grateful for you - all of my friends, family, and fans for working so hard on my behalf - you are the reason for the success of this album and my career.

I got to spend a little time with my parents while I was back on the East Coast and got to drive with my mom, and was that ever eye opening.....she drives like a crazy woman and the apple does not fall far from the tree, because I drive exactly the same way. I had to close my eyes the majority of the time and was clutching the side panel and trying to make myself as small as possible so that maybe we would not crash into the car beside us. No accidents thankfully, but lesson learned. I now see my driving faults clearly and I am determined to improve.

4/1/05 April Fool's Day
I've always enjoyed April Fools Day and have played many terrible jokes including telling a boyfriend that I was pregnant (we never actually slept together so I'm not sure how I envisioned this working) and lying on the floor of my dorm room for about an hour waiting for someone to find me, with a bunch of orange flintstone vitamins strewn across the floor (as if I had overdosed). I called several friends, but none of them would buy my "dying voice"...finally, my roommate walked in, stepped over me and went about her business. All for nothing!! I probably shouldn't share this information, but it's easy to now, because, of course, I am SO much more mature now.

3/20/05 CD Release Parties coming up!
This week (Thurs- NYC; Fri- DC-area) release parties are coming up! With a full 7 piece band who've played with Bruce Springsteen, Nils Lofgren, Wynton Marsalis, etc. And there are all sorts of cool things- raffle for an electric guitar, Magnolia bakery cupcakes, raffle for cds, drink specials, etc. My aunt was laughing when I said "oh it's going to be a great party- we're going to have cupcakes and balloons"...I sound like quite a rockstar, huh?!

3/14/05 You'll never believe what I did......AGAIN!
So I had about a 14 hour travel day on Friday driving from Sun Valley, ID to Boise- flying to Denver- then to DC (I am telling you this, b/c this is what I am using as my excuse) and then got up Saturday morning and got in the car and headed to New Jersey. I packed my car and leaned my guitar against the passenger side door and.....yes, I did......I drove away. My parents called me when I was about 30 minutes away to tell me that I left my guitar in the middle of the street....and then came to meet me with it. By the time I got to New Jersey, I also realized that I had forgotten my cds on my "cd release tour"....I was missing a screw on Saturday! I then drove back to MD to pick up my cds and played in Phila and am now writing from New Jersey. I just looked at my previous journal entry which is also about forgetting a guitar- I've definitely got a theme going here...not the best theme, but a theme nonetheless.

3/2/05 Overcompensating....upcoming release parties
I couldn't find any cereal for breakfast this morning so I had a grapefruit and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Ice cream....why does that taste so good?! I wanted to tell you guys that I took my guitar to a show and ended up not playing it. I came home from the show and walked into my house and thought, "oh crap! i left my guitar there! why am I always leaving stuff everywhere?!", so I called the venue and they couldn't find it anywhere. I was feeling nervous and got back into my car to drive over there, and lo and behold, a glance in the rearview mirror revealed that my guitar was there in the backseat!! So I went through all that and it turns out that I actually DID remember my guitar. I just forgot to remember that. Can't wait for the release parties coming up - it'll be so fun to see everyone and be playing with a band!

2/25/05
What a fantastic show at the Viper Room- thanks to the many many of you who came out despite the rain. You are incredible. The rain in LA is now surpassing all records set since 1812. Most of my friends seem to have leaks in their apartments but I am lucky enough to have escaped the dripping. However, a box of cds in my garage got waterlogged- I'll be selling those for a discounted price...and it took me 40 minutes to get from 20th to 26th Street. I'm getting a hundred cd orders from Australia (I am being played on a radio station there) and a friend just emailed me to tell me that they were walking in Santa Monica and someone had their window down and was playing my album...that's cool. Thank you all for playing it and playing it loud.

2/3/05 "To Do" Lists
I should stop making these. Every time I make a "To do" list, I have to take a nap. Just looking at it makes me want to go to sleep! Because even without any sleep and a steady flow of "Rockstar" (just heard about this drink today- apparently it is one step further then Red Bull and a much larger dose), there'd be no way to get everything on the list done and once one thing is crossed off, another is added. Last night, I didn't write a "To Do" list, but merely glanced at the one I had composed that morning and it drove me to watch "American Idol" and "TV's Most Outrageous Moments" (which I have to say was really funny) in order to avoid it. I feel dirty. And for those TV gurus who know that those shows are on at the same time, I was flipping channels during each's commercial breaks- I am extremely skillful at this. Then I added "Stop writing To Do lists" to my To Do List and went to sleep.

1/28/05
I haven't written for a while- since the new year! I've just returned from Sundance, unpacked and re-packed for a show in Spokane, WA. I have been traveling most of this month- on the East Coast with Jon (it snowed and I was so happy...we got to shovel a driveway out and under normal circumstances I wouldn't consider this fun, but I was really excited about the snow). Despite the hassle of traveling, there is something lovely about the independence of it all. (And though I miss my band when I am traveling alone, it is nice to be able to control the temperature in the hotel and car.) Hope you are great.

12/17/04 This is for the midwest and Northeast and everywhere else it is freezing....
I'm in Los Angeles and I had to turn the air conditioning on in my car today......
Now don't try to tell me, you are glad to live in a place that has seasons. When I lived in that place, I said the same thing...but one night of weather 80 degrees below zero and I'm happy to ditch the seasons...especially when it lasts for 5 months (I love you Chicago)....Happy Holidays everyone!

12/1/04 The fastest runner on Tuckerman Street...
I went home to Maryland for Thanksgiving- it was really good to be home and my grandparents and my dad's three sisters and family were there. More about that to come. But now for a childhood story of victory and defeat...When I was seven, we moved to Tuckerman Street. This is where I met my childhood friends- we would play on the street and get play-married and invite each other over for dinner. Micah lives on Tuckerman Street and is still a very good friend of mine (incidentally, we had a romance in 7th grade which ended when he told me I couldn't dance and I went home in tears....since then he has retracted that statement and says that I am a very good dancer...) One day all of the children on Tuckerman Street decided that we would hold a race to see who is the fastest runner. We marked the start and finish line of our race and had independent parties yelling "On your marks...get set...go!", and someone at the finish line to call the winner. I really wanted to win and knew that my biggest competition was Micah. I stretched beforehand (I was 10), got my adrenaline going and was ready for the race. I lost, Micah won. I challenged him to a rematch, he accepted. I won!!! I was the "fastest runner on Tuckerman Street". I would not re-match Micah. We went on to high school and he ran cross country and I ran track...I continued to reject rematch possibilities....I did not want to give up my title....however, while I was home for Thanksgiving I saw Micah running across the street (he asked me to mention that he is not still living at home- he was only visiting) and I felt the time was right....his parents were outside, and we asked them to be the judges...we rematched...and I would just like you to know that I am still the "fastest runner on Tuckerman street"! Speaking of running, my brother and I also ran the "Turkey Trot 5k" benefitting a homeless shelter on Thanksgiving day on only one hour of sleep! My brother was late in picking me up and we actually missed the beginning of the race, but still managed to pass all the walkers and injured people....is it bad to be proud of that?
Thanksgiving & the "87 year old man playing a saw like it's a violin"
That man is my grandpa, who among his many talents can play "Amazing Grace" and "Silent Night" on a saw that he bought for $5, using a violin bow. My entire extended family are musicians of some sort and it is wonderful to come from that tradition. Friday night after Thanksgiving, my family had a few people over for a music evening (everyone brings their instruments and we all sing and play songs)....my dad's three sister's are all choir conductors w/ beautiful voices...my Aunt Carolyn can sing higher notes than I even knew existed...it's so cool. My grandparents sing hillbilly songs. It was wonderful to share music all together, and interesting when my mom asked me to sing "No Will Power" and to teach everyone the chorus to sing along. I must say it was slightly awkward to have my grandparents and extended family singing with me "I have no will power, when it comes to you/When it comes to you, I am always in the mood". Now that's a supportive family. And just one other thing that I thought worth mentioning- my aunt has signed up for a few singles networks and the picture she posted, is her dressed as a nun....that's really funny.

11/1/04 Jimmy & his grandfather's liver
For halloween I wanted to be very scary...but I stopped by a yard sale the weekend before and wound up a peasant bride (the plastic-y veil was actually the seller's wedding veil from when she got married in Vegas- it didn't last- so she no longer needed it). So then, to be somewhat scary, I decided I would be a shotgun peasant bride and I went to Aah's store (they take halloween seriously- the check out guy had a rat coming out of his cheek and it looked very realistic), however, apparently when you are shot in the face with a shotgun, it does not leave a small hole, it blows your entire face off. I just couldn't bring myself to perform an entire show with a bloody hole for my face, So I decided I would just be a dead peasant bride and bought some fake blood (because I am in Hollywood, home of special effects, the blood looked very real). So I slit my throat and had blood oozing from my nose, eyes, and ear. But, because I am tired of violence against women, my back story was that I was actually a very depressed, suicidal dead peasant bride...it felt slightly better for the violence to atleast be committed by self! Later in the night, I saw a cute "doctor" and decided that I wasn't dead, but that I was barely breathing and told him that I needed "resuscitation". Okay, I didn't really do that, but my friend made the joke and I thought it was too funny not to include.

At Hotel Cafe I told a ghost story (made everyone turn out the lights, blow out the candles, and held a flashlight under my chin) and managed to make it through the whole story without laughing (thanks to John at the sound board for making Jimmy's grandfather's voice so scary when coming back from the dead to get back the liver that Jimmy had cut from his corpse and eaten for dinner with his parents...thanks to Rob for the story and Whitney for the interpretation!) AND managed to scare ONE person! I couldn't believe it. I was SO scary.

The weekend also included a visit to "Spooky House" - a Haunted House during which I screamed so much, I nearly lost my voice I was so afraid (even the ticket guy was chasing after me with a chainsaw- I'm such a wimp when it comes to Haunted Houses). Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey showed up, but they didn't recognize me or know any of my songs....

And, side note - have you ever bobbed for apples? I didn't realize how hard this was! I went to a party where there was an apple bobbing contest and found out that you have to put your ENTIRE head in the freezing cold water to get enough leverage to get the apples. Most people had way too much dignity for this, but I won with 12 apples in one minute!

8/23/04 Of course my mom reads my emails....
In my last fan email, I began with an intro into 8/15's journal entry "I wrote a new journal entry ("Welcome to NYC, excuse us while we rear-end you." It's another "Kat's a bad driver" story and "Kat has a bad memory" (Remember when I leaned my guitar up against my car after a gig on La Brea Ave and then drove away only to receive an email from someone 2 days after asking me if I left my guitar in the middle of the street?) - I apologize for the repetitive nature of my flaws and I also hope my mom doesn't read this email because we were borrowing her car and she doesn't know about it.)"

Needless to say the next email I received.....
"but your mother did read it and what happened???@@@###%%%&&&***???? mom"

8/15/04 "Welcome to NYC- excuse us while we rear-end you."
I just played a week of dates with Jon (brother) and Paul (producer) on the East Coast. We had a great time- we have our last show tomorrow in Annapolis opening for Jim White to which we are looking forward. (If you haven't noticed I hold firm to one and ONLY one grammatical rule which is : do not end sentences with a preposition.) The night after our Bryn Mawr gig, we got back to Maryland at 5:30am (we accidentally left some equipment in NYC and after our Bryn Mawr gig at the Point, we had to turn around and get it and then come back to Md.) All of this would have been okay except for the TWO AND A HALF HOURS of TRAFFIC getting into the Holland Tunnel!! oh my...but we made some new friends...and maybe some new enemies too....how do you stay cool for 2.5 hours of looking at the sign to the Holland Tunnel and not moving? any advice?) Well, so I figured since we were just sitting there, I'd chat with the cars around us. I had the most conversation with two girls who were in the car in front of us, moving Ikea furniture from their home in Boulder to their new residence in NYC. I welcomed them to NYC and they continued not moving (sitting in traffic) in front of us. My good nature slowly shifted - I am not good at this. Because not only were we sitting in traffic but other cars were using the EZ Pass lanes to get ahead and then try to merge back into our lane. After 2 hours I was determined not to let ANYONE in-nothing was more important than making sure that Nissan Ultima does NOT get in ahead of us! So after about 30 minutes after welcoming the girls to NYC, we (Paul was driving, but I was bossing) ran into them in our attempt not to let anyone in. "Welcome to NYC - excuse us while we rear-end you." Thankfully we were going slow enough that there wasn't any damage... atleast to the cars...

7/21/04 My parents'/family's interest in my presence on the Food Network
So I just called my parents to remind them that I was on the Food Network tonight. Not only did they have no idea what I was talking about, ("the what? the Choo network?" "Mom & Dad, do you have any idea what I'm talking about?" "No." "Remember, the FOOD Network- I lipsynched to my music..." silence, then...."what are you doing?")(the reminder turned into an explanation), but they couldn't watch it because they are out of town and don't have cable. They don't have cable because they are staying at a youth hostile. My parents are vacationing in a youth hostile! One of my roommate's thinks that is sad, but I think it is really funny and really great. They are going to a jazz club tonight anyway. My brother is fishing in Alaska- so he's out for watching it too.
Addendum: I just watched it- that was fun!

7/7/04 Wow, it's done.
The album is finished - I can't believe it! We spent a lot of time on this album- a huge departure from my last album which was recorded in one day and mixed and mastered in a second day. I am really excited to share it with you and am so thankful for your involvement. On another note, I just went to an ex-boyfriend's wedding. I was feeling just fine about going until I got there and everyone asked me if I felt weird so many times that I finally started to. Then, when I was talking to his parents (who I was very excited to see), during a pause in our conversation, I said "this is so great" one too many times (really. no seriously, am I convincing anyone?) and all of the sudden felt very awkward....and finally, are married people not allowed to have exes? Everytime I was introduced to someone I was "Kat, an old friend". For the record, "Kat, the ex-girlfriend" feels great about the marriage and thinks the bride and groom are wonderful.

6/21/04 Why are you sorry you love me?
I am in NYC- we just mastered the album at Hit Factory Mastering. I also just got up at 7am to see a free Stevie Wonder concert, but it ended up being Dido at 8:30am- it was fun except for the 7am part. I was playing my just mastered album while I was hanging with my 5 year old friend and when "We Deserve More" came on, he said that it was his favorite song. We were playing with rescue heroes and I wasn't paying attention, but he was. After the beginning of the second verse (I'm sorry way too often/sorry I love you too much), he asks, "Kat, why are you sorry you love me?"

6/7/04 I took the curb on at full speed and lost
Last weekend I built a house in Mexico for a family of 7, this weekend I destroyed my car for a going away card. Seriously. Except actually I just destroyed my tire- it was pretty impressive. On Saturday we played in Temecula for the Wine and Balloon (interesting combo) Festival during the day- which was so fun, but SO hot. We drove back in town for our show in Hollywood that night and I had big plans for the farewell to Paul (pursuing visual art in DC) and Matt (moving to Houston w/ his wonderful woman) show- we all dressed up (they looked so sharp with their ties on) and I got special lights and a 2 foot going away card for everyone in the audience to sign. I realized as we were pulling into the gig that I had left the going away card at home. And for some reason, in that moment, I thought turning around to get that card was more important than our lives, so I pulled a U turn in the middle of an intersection (of which I had a red light) while the person in the car behind me was yelling "Are you crazy?!". (The answer to that question is wholeheartedly, "YES"- I am an especially crazy driver- everyone knows to put their seatbelts on and hold on tight in my car and I have gotten complaints of sea-sickness- to which I respond "Toughen up".) Back to the u-turn- I was a little stressed b/c we were supposed to be at the show and the guy in the other car was yelling loudly and I took the curb on a little too fast (actually a lot too fast) and then asked "Did I just get a flat tire?" to which the answer was wholeheartedly "YES and I think you may have lost your bumper." So there we were at Cahuenga & Willoughby- so close to the club- so close to my house, but yet, not at either. So maybe the card was not worth the tire (which incidentally they told me was $37 and then gave me a bill for $71- they charge to install, align, throw out your old tire, talk to them, breathe, exist...). Good news is Marko picked us up and my roommate brought the card and we got home safely. But there should be some moral....atleast for me.

5/25/04 No Will Power is near
We go back into the studio on Wed & Thurs for final touch ups. What a process this has been- really exciting. It is hard to let go and know when enough is enough because there is always another cool part we could add! And the album artwork is nearly finished- I was worried because the designer (Dan Busta) just broke his arm skating, but he is SO good, he is getting it done with one arm. Side note:A couple of my vocal warm ups sound like sirens. Is it mean that I find it entertaining to vocalize in my car with the windows down while those around me look all around to see from where the police car is coming?

5/15/04: You guys were louder than the ciccadas
We did a live recording of "How Bout We See Other People (But You Don't)" last night at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood and it was so much fun! I say we, even though I was solo last night, because the audience was very much a part of the song and made it a very memorable experience. Thank you all for having so much fun with me!
The ciccadas are back on the East Coast. My parents let me hear them this morning over the phone. They are incredibly loud- I couldn't believe it! They come around every 17 years and I can remember as a little girl running around with my brother trying to collect all of the ciccada shells we could find. My dad says they're everywhere- on every leaf.

5/14/04: Grandpa brought home a silver medal
My grandpa won the senior olympics in Macon County, North Carolina. He actually got first AND second place with two different acts. He won first for his ventriloquist act, "JJ and the Preacher", and 2nd, by playing the saw (a real saw with a violin bow). He then went on to the State Championships where he won the silver medal with "JJ and the Preacher". You can check him out here: http://www.maconnews.com/newspage/1016pages/seniors.html. This is my grandpa who's married to my "Better than Cheesecake" Grandma. I'm so proud. I also just got to spend some time with my other grandparents who live in Florida. This visit was with my grandma who I, as a child, made sit at the piano for a full thirty minutes while I gave her a piano lesson, teaching her everything I knew at the time (which was probably chopsticks). And who I subjected to many, many not-fully-thought-out dance routines. This is the grandma who owns six copies of my CD, for every one of her possible locations (even though she doesn't have CD players there), and who made me more aware of my movements on stage when she said after seeing a show in DC, "I loved everything, your gyrations and all." Who can beat support like that?!

3/12/04: Adventures in the pawn shop
I was at a gig last week when my car was broken into and my keyboard, case, and stand were stolen out of my car...along with my cd player, phone charger, weight training gloves (isn't it strange what they decided to take? I have only actually worn the gloves once so hopefully they will get more use out of them.), etc. The good news is that they left a cashmere scarf that my friend had given me and my bathing suit...atleast they didn't have taste. So after I drove around the neighborhood vowing to run over anyone carrying a keyboard (a very conspicuous thing to steal), I decided to do some investigating and check out some of the area pawn shops.

I dragged my friend Whitney along and I was thinking that our theater training could be put to good use. Now Whitney and I always seem to have interesting experiences together. The last couple times we hung out, we ended up at a goddess party, where men in togas were walking around feeding the women grapes, and then at a house party, where we decided it would be fun to jump into their pool in our clothes and do swimming races. Back to the pawn shops, since we were ''undercover'' (we didn't want to tell the pawn shops that we were looking for a ''hot'' item, otherwise they would never buy it from the thief), we decided we would take on a different accent in every pawn shop that we entered (because I am sure there is some pawn shop alliance and we did not want them to figure out that we were not actually looking to buy an 88 key Yamaha keyboard, but looking to get mine back). Now Whitney is much more adept at the accent thing, I am not so much....My specialty is a British person taught English by a Russian, who spent a lot of time in France...ie. my one accent sounds British, Russian, and French. So, about the 4th pawn shop we entered, Whitney decided on a Russian accent. Apparently, a lot of pawn shops are owned by Russians, and because her accent was so convincing, the owner started speaking to her in Russian. Whitney knew a little Russian and tried to fake her way through a conversation but when she asked the owner in Russian to ''piss his phone number'' instead of writing it, we knew it was over. We left in a hurry, so as not to arouse suspicion (I realize that we are taking ourselves entirely too seriously). Needless to say, we retired the Russian accent and unfortunately, never found my keyboard. I am still hopeful though.....if you have any tips on recovering stolen goods- let me know.

3/6/04: Oops!
Totally unrelated to music: Someone accidentally deposited $1250 into my bank account. I was going through my finances and contacted Bank of America to get more information on this deposit. They sent me information and I figured out that someone accidentally deposited one of their checks into my account. So, I called Bank of America and told them that one of their customers accidentally deposited their money into my account. Bank of America said that they could not do anything about it unless the person who wrongly deposited the money complained. I couldn't believe it!!! Thankfully I was able to contact the person through information on the check that was deposited and they got their money back, and Bank of America eventually helped…but such great customer service they have.....

1/25/04: Sweating in the cold
The tour dates on the East Coast with Dean Fields were great. Thank you all for coming out and sending friends and giving us great crowds. Opening for Dave Mason was really fun. Sold tons of cds and even had encore requests- pretty good for opening! He and his band were great- they liked our stuff and were very supportive and we hope to play with them again. Being back East renews my appreciation for the weather in Los Angeles right now. It snowed in Boston and I thought I was going to lose my fingers from frost bite in NYC. Okay, so I'm a little bit of a wimp when it comes to the cold.....The driving was especially fun because we were in Jon's pickup truck. Touring in a pick up truck with no back seat is not very convenient. It is bad for the guitars (the wood) to experience a drastic change in temperature and although the bed of the pick up was covered, it was freezing back there. We realized this as we were driving and Jon invented a number of contraptions to figure out how to get heat back there. Eventually we settled on a simple cardboard funnel which meant that we had to turn the heat on full blast for the entire trip. We were literally sweating the majority of the drive in an effort to keep the guitars warm. But I'm not complaining...(I already complained about the cold, I can't complain about the heat in the same entry.)

1/20/04: The album is going great
First of all, thank you for your support. The pre-orders have been wonderful and we are so excited for you all to be a part of the process. We are very close to reaching our financial goal! We are working hard on the album and it is showing. Matt and Joe have laid down the bass and drums. Now we are getting some guitar and violin. Paul is doing a wonderful job of producing it and making great sounds with Dave (engineer, sampling) and Michael Woodrum (engineer). Soon Jon will fly out here to play some acoustic guitar on the tracks. It is starting to take shape and that is wonderful! I am off to fine tune some lyrics.....

11/16/03 Painful hor d'oeuvres
Okay one more thing I have to add.....I was writing lyrics last night and was falling asleep as I was writing. You know when you are talking to someone before you go to sleep.... and you are drifting in and out of consciousness.... Usually when I do that I start saying things that make no sense. Well today I was reading the lyrics I wrote from last night...here's a gem: "you how can hor d'oeuvres the away the pain"...brilliant!!

11/15/03 Left my guitar on La Brea- not sure where my brain went
I had such a fun birthday- thanks to everyone who made it so wonderful. I had so many cards and goodies to carry home from my show that you won't believe what I forgot.....as I was loading my car after the gig on Friday, I set my guitar against the rear side door and drove away. The next day I got an email from someone asking me if I had lost my guitar because they found a guitar lying in the middle of La Brea St. I read it and thought, "what idiot would leave their guitar in the middle of the street?" and was about to write back but just thought I'd check my apartment for my guitar. Turns out my guitar was nowhere to be found. I emailed them right away and found out it was my guitar and realized what I had done. I was very lucky because someone had put one of my stickers on my case (which at the time I was annoyed about b/c I want them on cars-but am now so thankful) and that is how the person who found it contacted me. And thankfully they were honest and thoughtful and returned it to me. I am also lucky that no car drove over it since it was in between the right and left lane on La Brea. And I am most lucky because I got it back without even going through the trauma of realizing that I had driven away and left it in the street. It was just another birthday gift!

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