Wednesday, September 23, 2009

There is so much going on in our household I barely have time to write here! We are in the midst of filling in the pool, and we are renovating the back room of our house... Errr fixing, rather. I don't have the photos organized yet, but I will post them when I get a chance. The guy who built the house & lived here for 50 years did all kinds of crazy stuff to the house- converted the garage to a florida room with grand steps and brick floors and a wall of sliding glass doors, 16 ft across. Brick patio all around the pool, etc. It was quite pretty when I moved in 6 years ago, but it has become a hindrance and things began falling apart. So we have been demolishing all of it and throwing the debris into the pool hole. (we had the pool demolished first). Like I said, when I get a chance, I'll do a little photojournal of this work when I get organized.

I have done a couple shows with Mary Adam 12 and one with popCasey, plus I did a show with The Catbird Trio at the Thirsty Ear, opening up for One Under, which was a real blast.

Oh yeah and I started working a consulting job for a local aerial photography company. So far I haven't put a lot of hours in, but we're just doing some research & development work right now. It's just nice to have my own paycheck again. It will come in handy when this baby comes in April. :)



Thursday, July 02, 2009

Random post-Comfest thoughts by Catwix


Comfest is done and over. It's time for the July 4th festivities. Summer is well on its way. It's been really cool the past few days and I appreciate that. We had a garage sale on Saturday & then I played with popCasey & Mary Adam 12 at Comfest and had a blast. But we were spent, so we went home right after the set. We went back on Sunday evening and had a nice, relaxing time as a little Comfest family.

Becoming a mom has changed me in so many ways. One thing that is changing is my sense of every-day style. My daughter is such a girlie girl, which I have never been, and she has brought the girlie girl out in me. I love it. I converted a thrift-store frumpy hippie dress to a cool little sundress for my Comfest set & it felt good to be girlie. I want to wear more girly clothes, especially because I never know when Ivan's going to grab the camera to take pictures of Abigail. I don't want to have to hide.

I don't have any shows scheduled right now, but I am enthusiastic about my involvement with these bands and look forward to future gigs. I love singing backup and being a sidewoman. It really takes a load off from the pressures of being the frontwoman. No matter what, people tend to look at the frontwoman with a critical eye. We've all done it. Over the years, however, I have definitely been fed my share of humility, and I have developed a deep respect for my lady peers. It takes guts to get up there & rock out, fully knowing that you're being watched & criticized. Over the years I have become a bit timid as a result of that knowing (paranoia?), but I am more & more inspired by these woman every day; their guts, style, smarts, beauty, and spunk give me hope. The guys are not chopped liver, either.


Thursday, June 18, 2009

popCasey II

I'm gearing up for Comfest '09. I'll be performing with popCasey and Mary Adam 12 for the Brian Casey Tribute set, Saturday, 6/27, which begins at 5pm.

Friday, May 29, 2009

popCasey

I did a show the other night with a band called popCasey, comprised of some really talented local musicians (Steve Perakis, John Basom, Linda Dachtyl, Tammy Wallace, Geoff Sullivan. We performed some pop tunes written by the late Brian Casey, a local composer who passed in Sept 08 at he age of 36.  36,  dude.
His family and friends have been rallying, gathering his materials and catalogging his song recordings and scores, and handling them all with care and love.  Steve and some of Brian's other close friends have been interpreting some of the raw recordings, and communicating with one another, sending the correct lyrics to songs in the 11th hour before a gig.  It's very humbling, heartwarming, and touching. Deb Colvin-Tener, who was in a band with Brian called Hipswitch, opened the show with some of Brian's more folky tunes, and throughout the sets, she & Steve told their interpretations of the stories of where Brian's songs originated. 
It was a fun evening, somewhat somber, very moving. 
...
It made me think about how precious our time here is.  I hope when my time here is up, I leave behind a little bit of inspiration, and not a big mess for my people to have to clean up. I know that sounds morbid & strange, but it's what I think about almost nightly, after everyone's gone to sleep.  I think about how fast it's all going, and how much faster time flies when you are older.  How 15 years now seems so much shorter than it did 15 years ago. How a person 15 years my senior seems so much closer to my age than someone 15 years my junior.  It's all relative.  But it all ends nonetheless.  I hope whoever has to clean up my mess finds joy in what I have left behind. 

Friday, May 15, 2009

I dug a rain garden the other day. Well sorta.  See, we have a pool in the back yard. a 35 year-old, leaky, drainy in-ground pool.  Sure it's nice on the hot days, but the maintenance is extraordinary, let alone the cost, and don't get me started on safety issues with an 18-month-old.  We got a couple estimates to fill it in with dirt, and decided to just go ahead & keep it for another year.  

Oh it's not that bad.  The problem with it, though, is that it is not the highest point in the yard like it should be, so in the spring, when it rains, it fills up with grody brown yard water & floods.  So I attempted to dig out a low spot to try to encourage all that rainwater to pool up behind the little retaining wall I built.  I really hope the 5 years of work in the stormwater department at an engineering firm pays off and I did it right.  Only time will tell.  So in the meantime, I have some planting to do.  I think I will just throw a bunch of seeds down & see what happens.  I also fenced off a little area & planted some tomatoes, peppers, & eggplant. Eggplant? yes, eggplant. I will make some baba ganoush.

Abigail has been surprisingly good about staying away from the pool so far. She's a good girl. She likes to play in the dirt.  I love that about her.  She picks up a handful and pours it over the plants that I just planted.  I really don't mind.  I used to be so much more persnickety about things like that. What a drag it would be if I were still that way.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

I recently found an old bff on facebook. It has been haunting for me because I haven't seen or talked to her in like 18 years.  We were extremely close, and then she moved away & we completely lost touch.  No mutual friends so I couldn't even ask anyone if they'd heard from her.  I totally found her through a google search. Anyway, we've been catching up through email. I haven't written or typed anything so long since I wrote my master's thesis.  It just flowed out of me- everything that I've been up to since I last saw her. A lifetime of personal information. I don't keep a diary anymore because I am afraid my descendants will want to jump off a bridge after reading it.  No just kidding. Well not really.  

It made me kind of realize the source of my writer's block I have been battling for several years.  I was less inhibited & had less to protect while in my teens & twenties, so I felt more free to express myself and write heartfelt songs.  I think as I grow I step more deeply into a world where self-restraint is the necessary norm, entering a professional, tight-lipped engineering profession where the less I say, the better off everyone fares. Well even after leaving that profession, I carry my residual inhibitions every day, protecting my close network of loving family and friends from my darkness.  I don't want people to be sad that I am not necessarily the happy, bubbly person they want to see.  I don't want to make my mother worry.  I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable by saying something too profoundly sad or intense.  I don't want to scare people away.

But I think that keeping it all in makes it fester inside me, and something ugly wants to rear itself. I need to write. Whether I do it here, or in new songs, or in epic emails to my old friend who knows that dark side of me and isn't afraid of it.  I just need to write.  Because it sure feels good to get it all off my chest.  She said the perfect word that describes this feeling: cathartic.

Through this healing dialogue with my old friend, I am inspired to look to the future, broken, knicked, bruised, bent, bandaged, imperfect, yet wise, practical, realistic, and hopeful.  Maybe I can shed some anger and regret while I am at it.  Imagine.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

It's so hard to get organized.  Especially with a young toddler.  I try to let myself off the hook, but then it piles up, and then I panic.  I think today is a panic day.   So I am setting it straight.  I am going to clean the living room.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009


haven’t blogged in a while...

I really don't have much to say, I just wanted to clear the cobwebs in my myspace & blogger profiles. I have been spending more time on Facebook lately. Talk about your entire life flashing before your eyes. I mean, DANG! People out of the woodwork. It is much easier to find people in Facebook than it is in myspace. 

I have found that I am a LOT more shy and reserved than I was in high school. That became apparent when I met up with some kids from my high school during the holidaze. I just didn't know what to say so I made a bee line for my brother & cousin in the back of the bar. 

Abigail is 14 months old, and walking like crazy. Babbling, and saying words like Cat, Dad, Thank Yeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuw, Wassat? She brings me books to read to her and gets super excited when I sit down with her to read. Sometimes I will find her sitting with a book, reading it aloud. 87% of the time, though, the book is upside down. It's very cute. 

I'm not going to say that I am going to record another cd this year, because chances are I won't, but I am hoping to get myself organized and get some new stuff written. More cobwebs to clear in the writer's attic. These are the baby years for me so I am not going to push myself to write or perform more regularly until I feel it. Ya know? 

Ivan & I would like to find a more appropriate house for us & sell our house, or maybe perhaps rent it out. Interested? 4 bed, 2 bath, & a pool... no garage though. 

Anyhoo, I hope this finds you well. We'll be here, holding up the fort. 

Cat