First, some music news: Dewberry Wine has been getting spins on KCRW and Dominoes is now available for purchase on my website and on itunes, amazon, cdbaby, indierhythm. If you have the cd and you love it please leave a review on one of these fine sites and if you’ve been wanting to purchase it, go forth and do it, baby! Also, if you live in the Los Angeles area COME TO MY SHOW ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 3 8PM, MOLLY MALONES. I won’t be playing in town again for a while!

On the meditation front, lately I’ve been working with the emotional ocean in a way that can be very helpful. When I’m meditating and challenging emotions are rising up, I steer away initially and ground my awareness in some other soothing aspect of experience, like relaxation. Once I’ve established clear, strong contact with relaxation I turn my attention back to the swirl of emotions. The emotions will get larger because relaxation leaves them room to breath but they will also become more diffused and they will then dissipate more tangibly into peace, bringing deep relief. You can also label each emotion or group of emotions as they come up to enhance clarity and help the process feel more manageable. This all can take a lot of effort for a couple of reasons. First, painful emotions are scary. In reaction to the fear, the mind kicks in and tries to solve the feelings away. But, that’s just fear talking and the moment you find yourself buying into that fear you know it’s time to reground yourself in relaxation. Second, the qualities of relaxation may be subtle compared to the big storm of emotions, making relaxation challenging to focus on. However, if you can manage to do it, it can be a great way to establish an anchor on stormy seas and to remind yourself you are not your feelings. In my experience, when you are able to live through painful emotions in this way, miraculous things happen… unexpected breakthroughs in personal relationships and unprecedented release from old, bad habits of mind. The way we view our circumstances is just habitual, founded on the way we were trained as children and on the unprocessed emotional build up of our past. We’re just in a habit of reinforcing some particular world view, an aspect of which is emotional overlay and we can train the mind to break that habit. We do this by living through painful emotions in this new way so that we are neither getting trapped by them nor are we shoving them aside or dissociating. We are simply staying anchored in a larger sense of self and allowing the energy in emotions to be released. Then we are much freer to cultivate and share compassion, gratitude, happiness, etc. It takes discipline, clarity of intention and focus to train the mind away from indulging in the ubiquitous emotional junk food we’re surrounded by and caught in. This is a powerful form of recycling. We’re relating to emotional suffering in a new way that releases trapped energy and liberates us. It’s a daily, moment by moment practice. Talking about it reminds me to do it. I know the more often I am able to do it, the more I can really be of service in the world, helping everyone keep our collective emotional ocean clean.

So today I’m absorbed with “That which is not LOVE”. Today is a hard day. Emotional challenges, frustrations, shit to deal with, uncertainty. Disappointment. In a way, today is no different than yesterday. Really, how dramatically does life alter from day to day? Yet inside I shift sooooo much. Inside my brain, thoughts and feelings whirl around like the santa ana winds, whipping me into a frenzy of confusion, pathos and irrationality. Where is love now? Where is the unconditional caring I need in this moment… WHERE?! Today is a day I work for it. It’s a day of small, seemingly feeble and mundane steps at the base of an apparently endless and insurmountable mindset. The deep grooves of habitual thoughts and reactions beckon and taunt while I tremulously, gingerly take steps in a new direction: Towards newfound loving, caring, compassion, any form it takes. I have to find it today. Find it and turn towards it, magnifying it while somehow loosening the grip of those other, familiar reactions. I have to find compassion and feed it to myself for all the ways I get lost. Then, even those familiar, so-called “negative” roads will lead to consciousness just by the way I have acknowledged and cared for myself in those moments. I have to remember that all roads lead home. The formless, experienced as loving, is the foundation of all form. What we know as love is the absence of that which interferes with Loving, colored exquisitely by a thin veil of humanity. I have to literally feel this, beyond conviction to direct knowledge. That’s my true job. I’m foraging alone in the mind wilderness today. Wish me luck and I will do the same for you.

Today I’m thinking about love. Human love in all it’s many beautiful manifestations. It strikes me that every day, in our thoughts and deeds we are surrendering to love and also, to “that which is not love”. many times we think it’s love but it’s actually “that which is not love” masquerading in a clever disguise and many times the absence of loving eats a huge hole in our day. but the truth is “that which is not love” is just that which is in need of loving. it is not the enemy at all. so the more we surrender to loving, the more we strive to be loving, the more loving we have to offer. then it slowly seeps into the dark corners, into the places we have always known to be “that which is not love”. Suddenly these places in our minds become rich and poignant destinations, infused with loving. over time we carry that out into the world. That’s what I’m thinking about today.

First, I want to give you the heads up on a gig I’m doing next monday night at the Hotel Cafe. Please c’mon down to the show! I’m on at 8pm. The london shows went fabulously especially by the 3rd night as is always the case… you finally get your sea legs and the journey is over! I’m really enjoying picture painting between songs at the moment as if we are all participating in a cinematic happening. we’re all the star in some collective fantasy and I’m just the tour guide. On your left we have champagne and caviar on the upper east side, on your right our husband is a brutish bore and we long for escape, etc. etc. it’s fun and i get to tell stories within stories which is really my favorite thing to do although I never realized it. Anyway, hope to see you on monday and if not I hope you are making your own private blockbuster or compelling indie flick somewhere. Bye for now, Julianna xoxo

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25 - BORDELLO - $12 - Doors open at 8:00p

Don’t Knock the Rock and The Fold present…

A TRIBUTE TO SCOTT WALKER 

featuring performances by:

JOHN DOE (X) http://www.myspace.com/thejohndoething

DAVID J. (Love and Rockets, Bauhaus) & MICHAEL BERG http://www.myspace.com/davidjonline http://www.myspace.com/minus12

ANN MAGNUSON & KRISTIAN HOFFMAN (The Mumps) http://www.myspace.com/annmagnuson http://www.myspace.com/kristianhoffman

EVIE SANDS http://www.myspace.com/eviesands

ROB DICKINSON (Catherine Wheel) http://www.myspace.com/robdickinson

LEVINHURST (Cindy & Lol Tolhurst founding member of the Cure) http://www.myspace.com/levinhursttestsite

JASON FALKNER http://www.myspace.com/jasonfalkner

JENNY O http://www.myspace.com/jennyo

JULIANNA RAYE http://www.myspace.com/juliannaraye

FITZ & THE TANTRUMS http://www.myspace.com/fitzsoulmusic

and DAN CRANE (aka Bjorn Turoque) http://www.dancrane.com

Master of Ceremonies MICHAEL DES BARRES

In conjunction with the premiere of the David Bowie produced documentary “30 Century Man,” a night honoring the work, and performing the music of Scott Walker, who gave up pop stardom in the 1960s to mine a more experimental, esoteric musical vein.

ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE at Inticketing.com HERE:

http://www.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=32405

Hey All, From time to time I receive spam I find entertaining. I decided to post this one. I especially like the sign off. Enjoy! Julianna x

Privet, my gentleman! 

True happiness is found in unselfish Love, A love which increases in proportion as it is shared. I am woman of one man. I am woman of passion and love. I will welcome you in my box, if you are serious person, who has like me his thoughts. No matter if your eyes is blue or black (my smile). Main in you, this your passionate relation to world, people, nature. Main is your bright individuality. Your great optimism of the adult man, who has not forgotten his the best children’s dreams and children’s altruism. I look for you, my Sweetheart, who could well keep the magic’s feeling of love and passion ! I look for you to share all my life with you! I really look forward soon to meet you! I miss you… 

Have a nice day

Katti M.

Hey All, So CDS are being pressed at this very moment and they will be finished by mid-february. Meanwhile I have a way to sell downloads on the site but I can’t figure out how to embed the skin so as soon as I do you will also have a way to purchase Dominoes downlaods from me directly. Finally, it will be available on itunes shortly as well… soooo we are virtually up and rolling.

I have 3 big showcases coming up in London so if you’re based there or have friends there please come or send them along. The dates are Monday, February 16 at the Bedford, Tuesday, February 17 at the Cobden Club and Friday, February 20 at the Regal Room. Hope to see you there!

In other news I did a bossa nova version of a wonderful Cy Coleman song called “I’m gonna laugh you right out of my life” which is on a compilation being released by Sony with a great lineup of female singers like Fiona Apple, Patty Griffin, Missy Higgins and Sarabeth Tuceck. We did a wonderful show at Largo a couple of weeks back which was filmed for the BBC so stay tuned for that. It was an incredible night of music and the cd was produced by the incomparable Dave Palmer, who happens to plays piano on Dominoes. He has crazy skills in multiple realms. 

That’s what I got right now. Stay in tune

Hey All, sooooo many interesting events have happened in the past month that I actually got overwhelmed and just didn’t write about any of them. I’ll start with the first one and catch up over time. A few months ago I arrived in Nashville for a writing trip. My friend Daniel Tashian walked up to me and said “I was just reading about you in a book” I said “are you sure it wasn’t Juliana Hatfield?” he said “no, it was definitely you.” The title of the book is “The World In Six Songs” and it is currently a New York Times bestseller. The author Daniel Levitin, chose to analyze a song from my first record, “Something Peculiar.” The song is called “I’ll Get You Back” and he does a detailed (and perfectly accurate) analysis for two pages! How cool! The internet being what it is, I was able to instantly find his contact info and reach out to him to say thank you. Turned out he was coming to Los Angeles over Christmas. We’re both Jews so we had Christmas dinner together! Talk about the wild web! So anyway, go check out his book… it is an anthropological study of the evolutionary imperative of song singing, the 6 categories of songs we sing and why. I feel so much better having gotten the lead out with this little anecdote and am quite confident that I can slowly pay down the blog debt I’ve incurred by all my useless running around and living. Bye for now, Jx out and over

Hi All,

I’ve been getting lots of email lately about when Dominoes will be available for purchase. It feels great to be so loved The answer is soon… perhaps February. We are getting ready to do a pressing at this moment so hold on and hold out… I’ve noticed at least one site illegally selling a pirated copy. DON’T DO IT Wait for the real deal please. Wish we could have gotten it to you for the holidays but it will be here soon enough.

In other news I’ll be singing with the fabulous Dave Palmer tonight at his Largo Holiday shindig which kicks off around 9:30. Otherwise I plan to play more live shows starting in Jan so I’ll keep you posted. 

Also of note is the fact that I’ve used this window of downtime to mercilessly scrub my apartment from head to toe and every place in between. For years I’ve been going on Zen retreats feeling like the dopey cousin because my robes are always in disarray. Now, suddenly out of nowhere I’m becoming Zen before my very eyes and I had nothing to do with it.

Thats all for now. May your holidays be full of good and grooving vibes emanating from all beings at all times.

Jxoxo

so Judith and Harry’s sing a long was some of THE most fun I’ve had on an LA stage ever! The evening was filled with the kind of community spirit that can be hard to find in a sprawling town of transients. Incredible voices and moving music… what more could you ask for? The lineup included Judith and Harry, Julia Fordham, Steve Poltz, Michael Mckean and Annette O’Toole. It made for a wonderfully diverse, balanced poignant and hilarious evening! I’ve realized how deeply important being part of a creative community is for me and I’m happy to be experiencing more of it in my life lately. :-) 

I also spent saturday performing a couple of John Hiatt songs live for a reality tv show which will air in June. It was kind of an amazing experience. I will update with more info as that gets closer.

now to clean up my apartment.

over and out,
Jx