3/5 of the way there!

On Wednesday we recorded:

Never Been Good
Such Good Actors
Blackout

for the new acoustic EP! It went SO fast...Salim is such a professional, and a pleasure to work with. I will record the other two songs (I'm still choosing from 4) when I am in Texas in December...with any luck, the CD will be ready to go at the first part of the new year!

little chocolate kisses to you,
vanessa

live tonight via the Internet

hey!
tune into the Salim and Vanessa show if you can't make it out....
go to:

http://www.pirateradionetwork.com/

and scroll down to Music, then Alternative... look for "Standard and Pours Coffee"...that'll be us!

cheerio,
v

shameless

in an attempt to begin the GREAT-UNCLUTTERING-PROJECT, version 2.4, year of our Lord 2005.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZacousticgirl01QQhtZ-1

check back frequently...i have a feeling that more that the G.U. project progresses, the more random and loveable stuff there will be...

v.

Here we are during the house concert...one of the loveliest settings I have ever played in...in front of me were 20 or 30 super attentive audience members...behind me was a rocky valley of cedar trees ... okay, doesn't sound so pretty when i put it that way...must work on descriptive skills... 

It might look scary from here, but this was damn fine chili, prepared by Gerri Gros and Stephanie Carter...thanks! :) 

house concerts, oh how we love house concerts!

hey gang,
just a word of thanks to my awesome Austin (and San Antonio!) fans who came out to the house concert on Friday night. i had such a great time - thanks to all of you who bought CDs, tees, and contributed to the gas fund. :) also, thanks to my fantastic hosts, Dustin and Kim, Bob and Gerri, and Stephanie and Josh...you guys rock. And MANY thanks to those of you who asked for recordings of the news songs...that vote of confidence was much appreciated. :)

and in that spirit...tomorrow I go to the studio of the fantabulous Salim Nourallah.... his studio is Pleasantry Lane and I hope to create many pleasantry things there. In truth, I know not yet what will be on this acoustic EP...just that something will. a few of the songs I am considering:

little films, such good actors, signposts, bonnie and clyde, amelia, if i stay, blackout, restless traveler, love story, june 2005 revisited, this riddle, no sense.

it is good to have so many to choose from...yet hard to choose. some of those songs will also be on the full-band full-length album Little Films, to be released in 2006...

if you feel like voting for a song to make it on the EP (or the full-length, for that matter), post a comment here, or drop an email at good ol' info @ vanessapeters com etc.....

i just saw "moonstruck" with my mom...it was my first time to see it, and it was even funnier in light of my adopted italian citizenship. when Cher's grandpa is crying and his son asks him what is wrong, and he says, "I'm confused!" ... I can relate. that was greatness.

okay, onto bed, then the studio, then the open road!
vanessa

along the road...the road runs in a circle of about 2 miles, from Mimi's front door to Richard's to the oil wells to Aunt Velma's and back to Mimi's...we used to walk it after nearly every meal at Mimi's...gotta get that southern cooking worked off somehow! 

My Mimi and her little log cabin, built just a few hundred yards down the road from the blue house. 

The house my Dad built, where I lived until I was about 5. 

the sun rising at Mimi's house, over the pasture where I once played with my horse, Ginger. 

Alison Chapel United Methodist Church
Scene of my very first stage appearance EVER, at the tender age of 4, wherein I snuck on stage during a church dinner (held in the back, through the doors on either side of the altar) and proceeded to belt out "We Are the World" to the amusement of all.

texas from air and land

bonjour,

i tell myself - don't fall behind! you'll never catch up!
but such is life, i am learning. you fall down, you get up. you fall behind...you run faster? haven't yet figured that one out.

i flew into town on saturday night by way of bologna/paris/cincinnati. i dream of the day i will be able to afford direct flights, maybe even in business class. i dare not dream of first class. :)

i am addicted to my mini ipod. how did i ever live before without 1000 songs at my disposal? sick. sick. sick.

in the interest of time, i won't be able to write about my charming flight on air france (the posh menu, a billion movies at a click, being called mademoiselle, accidentally using the way-cool first class bathroom) and will instead barrel on towards other items.

why is it that, upon landing in an american airport, i am immediately seized by the desire for fried food? chick-fil-a. french fries by any vendor. a cinnabon. (okay, that's not fried, but might as well be). a kid's meal later and i was in the air again, to touch down shortly in dallas. north texas from the air is SO darn flat. it is fascinating in its ugliness...the miles upon square miles of gray roofs, packed into subdivisions that are positively indistinguishable one from the other. yet there is some kind of strange beauty in its order, its efficiency. i wanted to take a picture, but i was in the middle seat, and at the window there was a little boy, about 3 years old, chanting insistently that the plane was going to crash into Lake Lewisville, so i stared ahead and thought as many positive thoughts as i could muster.

my friend leslie is an amazing artist. go check out her art: www.lesliesealey.com . likewise my friend dani, who designs jewelry: www.agapanthanyc.com

since arriving on saturday night, i have eaten an enormous quantity of mexican food and have consumed my fair share of margaritas, dr. pepper, and cookies. and amazingly, i am no worse for the wear. in fact, i am planinng lunch....

i played at my grandmother's tiny small-town church on tuesday night. the audience was mostly folks over 60 who knew me when i was knee-high-to-a-grasshoppper, etc. the total church membership hovers around 25 people, so we had nearly a 100% attendance rate. i was introduced as the "eye-talian" granddaughter. i played some of my songs and some gospel i learned for the occasion, and i have to say - there's nothing quite like singing "i'll fly away" to get your blood flowing.

the pictures posted are from the church, and from the land surrounding my grandmother's house. we went on a long walk before the show, and chatted about who owns this pasture and who sold their oil royalties on this acre of land and how small pets have been disappearing lately, due to (they think) some sort of bobcat or mountain lion in the area. i had forgotten how nice it can be just to walk, and remember an area you once knew very, very well. small town texas isn't so terribly different from small town italy.

on that note, come out to shows! they are happening in shreveport, austin, college station, and dallas. check the website for details and come out and say how's your mama and 'em.
y'all be good now, y'hear?
vanessa