I'm Calling for a Revolution

I found out recently that our show at Beans Cafe in Houston has been cancelled.  Although guests and patrons usually come out specifically to hear performers share their passion at Beans, our friend and owner of the coffee shop had to make the difficult decision to stop presenting live music.  I know for a fact people really enjoyed live music there because every time I played there people came out to listen and I received a lot of great feedback from patrons there who are now supporting me.  So why has this happened?  Why shut live music down?

I have had a similar experience with another coffee shop halfway across the country and have heard countless other stories about venues just shutting down live music abruptly.  It is happening all over, not just at Beans. The reason might surprise you.

The music industry itself is to blame.  This is how it works.  There are laws in place to protect the rights of songwriters so that they will be compensated every time one of their songs is played whether live or from a recording.  Venues who showcase live music must pay annual dues to organizations who then pay royalties to those who own copyrights to the songs.  In order to enforce this, we’ve got the live performance police who stalk venues’ Facebook pages and ‘secret shop’ their establishments to see if they are showcasing any music that has been logged in their catalogues.  If they find a venue who presents live cover music and has not paid up, the venue owner will be charged hefty fines.  So venues are faced with the choice of paying annual fees or not showcasing music at all to avoid the harassment.  Some venues just can’t afford to pay up and opt to shut down live music all together.  That’s what Beans Cafe has done and so many other venues.  I totally understand the dilemma.  But where do we go from here?

Wherever live music is shut down, the people in that area lose out on a place to congregate and enjoy live music.  Ultimately, the community pays the price.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  For starters, music and art can not be contained and should not be controlled by people who just want to monetize it for dishonest gain.  I don’t have time to go into how the music industry system actually works.  But I will say that record companies were created in order to capitalize off of musicians. So this whole ‘we have to compensate our artists and songwriters’ business is a farce.  What they really want to do is pay themselves. The music industry is corrupt in so many awful ways. You would be sick to your stomach if you really knew how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Music serves a much larger purpose than this.  It edifies the soul.  We can’t let it be stolen from our communities.  Rebels, I’m calling for a revolution. Let’s take back control. If you love live music, you have the power to bring it to your community. You don’t have to rely on venues to sponsor it.  YOU can sponsor it in your living rooms, in your basements, backyards, in your community centers, in the empty lot next door, in your churches, in private clubs.  They can not control what we do in our private spaces.

I will come! I know countless other artists who will come do music with you if you create a space for it.  What would this look like?  It’s simple really.  All you have to do is invite your closest friends, neighbors, and family over for a get together.  Invite an artist to do a couple sets and voila. You brought live music to your community! What’s more, you don’t have to pay performance fees yourself.  The community can do this together by asking each guest to bring a small donation for the artist and let the artist sell their merchandise.

This is what being a conscious rebel is about.  You create a lifestyle for yourself where you are not relying on a corrupt system that seeks to control and squeeze money from you. You have the power to take back control.  If you are interested in hosting a community music show, please get in touch with me.  I live in Houston but I love traveling!  Contact me (info@anitrajay.com).

Hello Again from Texas

We Moved to Houston!  Our time in Memphis has come to an end and we plan on staying in Houston for the long haul.  If you've been with us since the beginning you're probably wondering why we move around so much.  The answer is, I don't know.  We are free thinkers and creatives and I guess we just haven't been able to stay in one city for longer than 2 years.  We were never quite able to establish strong roots in Charlotte or in Nashville the way we wanted. So now that our move is complete, although we're still not quite settled in yet, I'd like to share my top 5 things I've learned about Houston since moving here.

1. Our new lot was a dog park and a great example of "The Okey Doke".

So we moved into an intentional community where residents share activities and communal areas like a community garden and a chicken co-op.  It's such a great idea and we are totally excited to be a part of this community.  However, the lot we ended up on happens to be the community dog park. The day we moved in, one of our new neighbors asked us if we were comfortable with dogs.  We said, "No, not really. Why?" And he said that the residents use our new lot as a dog park.  Here we have a classic "Okey Doke."  We weren't told that we were moving onto a dog park! We surely would not have agreed to that had we known. I'm not too comfortable with dogs so we had a problem.  Thankfully, we are getting things worked out so that no dogs will be chasing after me.

2.  The drivers in Houston are not that great.

You can tell if a town's drivers are great by the price of car insurance.  Well, our Texas car insurance went up by $20. Driving out in Houston, it doesn't take long to find out why car insurance is so high.  The drivers here are cray cray.

3.  I've never lived in a city that has more than one skyline.

I think there are four or five areas in Houston with sky rise buildings. That goes to show you just how vast the city is.   According to CityMayors.com, Houston is the fourth largest city in America so it makes sense that it would need more than one skyline!

4. Houston, land of the bayous.

When I lived in Charlotte, I absolutely loved all the greenways. You could run, bike, and just enjoy the greenery. Well, Houston's bayous are greenways on steroids.  They are mostly very well kept, a great place for a family stroll along the water in a park like setting, and lots of dog parks! LOL!  If you're ever in Houston, be sure to check out the Buffalo Bayou, it goes right through downtown and it's beautiful!

5.  The Houston music scene is on fire and I can't wait to get involved. I've got a residency gig at Bean's Cafe on Eldridge every third Thursday and I'd love to get some other artists on board with me to do something similar to what we did with The Rebellion.

I'll keep you posted on that.  Stick around, we've got some exciting news coming up and I'm super excited to share it with you.

Introducing 3 On The Third

So I have been taking a break from performing full time to work on a little side project that I will share with you soon enough.  While working so hard and heavy on this project, I have missed performing and sharing what I love with you.  These past several months have been quite the roller coaster ride and getting to take out my guitar even if it's just for a minute gives me such a release. I have so many songs in me that are waiting to come out.  In fact, I sat down just the other day and wrote a song in what seemed like only 5 minutes!  It's called "Can We Talk." It's a whimsical take on dealing with loved ones who neglect communication in favor of sweeping things under the rug.  Because of my own spiritual profile, I am exceptionally prone to wrestling with "elephants in the room" no matter how subtle or blatant they may be.  To put it into layman's terms I am not good at not confronting issues.  Some people will live their whole lives not talking about important issues and letting things fester and be very happy, wholesome people.  It's just not me.  It's more painful for me to keep things bottled up inside.  I have lost family members and friends because of this and that's okay with me.  There are a lot of things at work in the spiritual realm and I'd rather not have a person in my space if it means that I can be in a place of balance and freedom instead.  I know this might rub some feathers, but I'd love to hear from you on your thoughts.  Talk back in the comments section and let's keep the discussion going.

In the meantime - back to "Can We Talk"...

As I hashed this song out I thought about you, my supporters who I know would love to hear this song.  I then thought about how much I've missed being on the road and getting to share my music with you.  Since I can't just walk onto anybody's stage or living room stage, right now due to my current responsibilities, the thought hit me to create my very own virtual stage.

I am excited to introduce to you, "3 On The Third" a summer virtual tour series where I will be performing a few songs every third of the month this summer - June, July, and August.  Depending on the reception, I might continue the show on past this summer.  So, I hope you like it and please let me know what you think.  After all, I had you in mind when I created this series.  Love you tons!

Check out the first installment of '3 On The Third' here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29LyEHa3s34

The truth behind 'Today is a Good Day'

The truth is, it was not a good day. I had not had a good day for weeks at the time of writing my song, 'Today is a Good Day.' I had been having a really hard time at work. I felt defeated every day. I felt sick and tired. I suffered from headaches. It was so stressful, that I ended up going to the spa every other week getting facials and massages. But, that comfort only lasted for so long. I was not enjoying my life.  So, I decided to write a song about it. I've said this before, and it has never been as true for me as it was then.  Music is therapy. So I prescribed myself a songwriting session to get out what I was feeling.  I sat down to write and what transpired was the epitome of irony. I ended up writing the exact opposite of what I was feeling. Somehow, the universe decided that I needed to focus on the positives of my life. So 'Today is a Good Day' was born.

Listen to it here:

I hope this song does for you what it has done for me. It completely transformed the way I view things. Instead of the glass being half empty, it's half full. Things happen for a reason. Life happens in seasons. Sometimes there's good, and sometimes there's bad. That's what life is all about. The true meaning is in the journey of learning, growing, awakening, and arriving at your true self.

Get ‘Today is a Good Day’
from the album Keep the Faith…

Keep the Faith (Digital)

$7.00

Greetings from Texas!

Greetings from Texas!  We are at the Dominican Joe Coffee shop in Austin.  It's our day off after 5 days straight of back to back shows starting in Houston. Magical.  That's the one word Rob would use to describe our experience officially performing for the first time in Houston.  His friends and family came out and the night was truly magical.  Being a native of Houston, Rob has always wanted to perform in Houston to share what we do with his hometown.  This has been 7 years in the making and it all culminated at Bean's Cafe on Eldridge in Houston.

The house was packed even before we started the show.  We thought people would begin to leave as we started playing.  Ironically, it happens that way sometimes.  But as we started, more and more people walked in.   Bean's Cafe is an eclectic-bohemian type of venue.  We performed under a lit umbrella with colorful curtains as our backdrop.  I grabbed the audience right away with my improvisational "Cell Phone" song.  Everyone in the room became really quick friends and the magic happened when we all went around the room saying names and other tidbits which made up the material for my improvisational songs.

Rob's family and friends were absolutely amazed and very proud of us for putting on such a great show.  They finally got the chance to see what we've been doing for a living all these years.  We tried to explain it to them in theory, but there's nothing like seeing it in person.  Live music comes to life in so many ways.  The sheer essence of it reminds you why you are alive.  Being able to share that part with friends and family is such a huge honor.

After, our show at Bean's, we moved on to a quaint coffee shop in Galveston - Mod Coffeehouse.  We performed on the patio outside right in the middle of downtown.  This show was very interesting.  First of all, I am the sickest ill I have been in years on this entire trip.  I've been high on prescription drugs and pain medication for weeks!  I'm not going to go into detail here, but you can check out my ailments here if you're curious.  So being put outside on the hot patio, was a big problem for me.  The next problem was that I couldn't hear myself sing!  As a singer, you have to be able to hear yourself.  If you can't, you could be singing off key and don't even know it, plus you could wear out your voice.  The city has a sound ordinance.  The decibel reading couldn't go over 70db.  I have no idea what that means, but Rob said it's not that loud.  We were constantly fidgeting with the sound and my monitor so that I could hear.  Our contact would come out occasionally with her cell phone to check the decibel reading.  I was amazed to see her raising her thumbs telling us we could get louder!  Oh, the joy.  So we cranked it up and blasted.  Rachel, our contact said they have one neighbor who always complains about the noise.  Always.  So we had to be very careful.  We put on our show, and had a great time.  The people really enjoyed it too.  We did a mix of originals and covers, and people were dancing and singing along. Come to find out, the neighbor that usually complains was sitting in my audience dancing and singing along herself.  She really enjoyed herself.  Rachel said, she has NEVER told a musician to turn it up!  Wow!

Next we went on to Killeen, TX.  A small military town in Texas.  This show is the reason why we are in Texas.  I was contacted by a lovely young lady through my website asking if we could come and perform for the soldiers! We were looking for a reason to come to Texas, so we planned a little tour around it.  The Tyku Wine Bar and Lounge is the place.  It's a brand new venue in downtown Killeen.  I'd say this was one of my favorite shows on the trip so far.  Being as sick as I am, I sat down on a stool the whole time and wore my sun shades (lights trigger monster headaches).  I felt like Macy Gray!  I actually did one of her songs as homage too.  This was another packed show.  The room was full of people just wanting to have a good time.  It was jazzy, mellow, and incredible.  It was like an old-school speakeasy event.

Next we headed on to Austin!  We did a show in downtown Austin at an awesome bar called - Lucky Lounge.  The stage was excellent with a huge asian looking drum as a backdrop.  I've never performed at any place quite like this before.  The bar was pretty big, but we only had about 5 people there!  We had an early show and this was our first time playing in Austin.  But the folks that were there enjoyed it.  They tipped and bought merchandise.  This is another show where I had to sit down and wear shades inside due to me feeling like slop putty!  I was literally seconds away from vomiting nearly half the time while on stage.  I honestly don't know where I got my strength from.  I could barely sit in the seat much less put on an energetic show.  If people knew how sick I actually was, they'd be amazed.  Our bodies are so incredible!  The trauma we go through and sometimes even put ourselves through and live to tell it is a testament to just how miraculous our bodies are.  I know not everyone believes in God, but for me our bodies is a constant reminder that there is a God.

One of the things I'm learning on this trip is to love life.  Oh how precious it is just to be alive.  Being so sick has forced me to slow down and appreciate just being able to breathe clearly.  Being able to enjoy the taste of food in my mouth.  Being able to feel the wind on my skin.  The way someone's skin feels when they touch you.  The sparks and vibes you get from other people, whether good or bad.  Only people who are alive can feel these things.  The truly SAD part is, we have grown numb to these things because of the weight and daily distractions of life.  These things I have taken for granted. We all have.

Last night was the fifth night in a row we performed.  I don't have any pictures unfortunately from the evening but we performed outside again on a patio in San Antonio at a really neat local pizza joint called Fralo's.  They had a beer tap coming out of an old-school truck.  I have never seen anything like it in my life!  It was the coolest thing.  Too bad I couldn't partake in it.  I'm having to stay away from 'dranking' unfortunately!  We did two hours of down-home soul!

We have one more show left on this trip and then the tour is over.  Our last show is in Amarillo at 806!  I can't believe how fast this time has passed by!  Our Texas trip has come and it's on its way out, but the lessons I have learned and the faces I have met, I will never forget.

Peace out!

10 Ways to Awaken Your Inner Artist

Whether you’re a scientist, chemist, or an artist, creativity exists in all of us.  The art we enjoy such as a song, a dance, or a beautiful sculpture is the final result of a creative process that flows through every human being.  This process starts on the inside with imaginative thoughts, feelings and desires.  These are the building blocks of art.  We all have them and it’s what makes every one of us an artist. As children we played with imaginary friends.  We colored with our fellow artists, and we enjoyed expressing ourselves through dancing and drawing.  Children are bursting at the seams with creative flow.  Unfortunately, as we grow up, that creative flow is stifled and it becomes increasingly difficult to exercise the creative muscle.  After a while, we tend to forget we ever had it.  Then we ask ourselves questions like, “Why can’t I paint like that or make music like that?”  The question is not whether or not you are an artist.  The question is, how do you awaken your artistry?

Follow these 10 steps to awaken your inner artist.

1.  Break up the monotony.  Are you stuck in a rut?  Give yourself a chance to rejuvenate by taking a break from work or school.  Remove yourself from stress triggers.  Hike on a nature trail or treat yourself to a spa.  These activities will relax your brain and give you room to process unresolved feelings and emotions.  It will also open pathways to revelation and enlightenment.

2.  Remember to breathe.  Take a few cleansing breaths throughout your day.  Let your lungs fill completely with air and then exhale. Practice doing this multiple times.  Use this time to release negative thoughts and let your mind meditate on positive thoughts.  This will help you think with clarity.

3.  Get healthy.  Release toxins from your body through fasting, detoxing and exercise.  Additionally, take an inventory of the people around you.  Plan on minimizing the roles of toxic people in your life.  Toxins weigh you down and prevent you from being free and thinking freely.

4.  Revist your life goals.  Are you doing what you want?  Why or why not?  Asses where you are in life and where you want to go.  What hobbies are you currently pursuing?  What hobbies would you like to pursue?  Are you being fulfilled?  If not, what can you do to make that happen? Answers to these questions can help you redefine how much your art means to you and why it’s important.

5.  Take an art class.  It doesn’t have to be anything specific.  Take the class to jumpstart your creativity.  There are all kinds of things you can do like jewelry making, or painting and pottery.  What about a dance class?  Just do something to spark the creative side in you.

Click here for the last 5 Ways to Awaken Your Inner Artist Part II.