naomiland

ah, cellphones...

the photos they take are not the most perfect, but at least we had one in the studio that day! that's me on the left side of the photo and my friend franne on the right. there was definitely a mirror-image thing going on with us that day! i don't think we could have looked more alike...haha...

a realization

i feel confident in saying that i just recorded the most important song i've ever written.

i'm going to shoot a video for it in the next few days and release it this week. that's how strongly i feel about it and how much i want people to hear it and let it ignite the fire in them that was ignited in me by neil young. the ripples are starting. i can't wait to pass along this fire.

earth day

just got back from UCSB's Earth Day celebration. i was one of the musical acts. it was an awesome day - hundreds of people dancing, listening to music, feeling full of hope, celebrating idealism....i love college towns for that reason - so many people who still feel they can make a difference.

for a long time i've felt so sad when i think about the state of the world. and angry when i think about our government and the opressive environment we're living in here and creating for people across the world. yes - i say opressive environment in this country because our so-called democracy is far from the reality of our situation.

today i realized something - i feel incredibly lucky to be here at this time! i no longer feel frightened - i feel like we are reaching a point where things are getting so bad that they will have to change. nothing changes until the pain gets great enough - and that is what the world is experiencing now. suffering. and suffering leads to change. something will break. things will get worse first, but that is what needs to happen in order to push us in another direction.

(i had another long paragraph here but i deleted it because i think i got too "out there" for a lot of people.....i tend to do that sometimes....but do you ever feel like these bodies we have, this human form is like a set of training wheels? we are spiritual beings, energetic beings, learning how to maneuver the world....and someday will no longer need these bodies....nor will we need words...or possessions....or destruction...)

and with that said, i think i'll go make some plans for tonight!
=)

how do i write about this...

i don't even know how to describe the experience i had two days ago. and that is why i'm just getting around to writing about it now.

this bizarre path i'm on decided to get even stranger when, three nights ago, i received a call from a friend asking if i wanted to sing backup on neil young's new album. (ya - you read it right.)

since i already tried to explain it once in an email to my family, here's part of that email:

"i was part of a 100 piece choir made up of the best session singers in LA -
people who sing on EVERYTHING - and have been doing so for decades....it was
one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life. and neil hung out
with us in the studio all day. we recorded in the legendary studio C at
capitol records in hollywood. just being in the presence of someone so
amazing - it was insane. and the people i sang with - i've never been around
so many angelic voices at one time!

oh - and neil's album - holy shit. it's incredible. a completely political
tour de force. he will definitely make waves with this. and i feel so incredibly honored to be
a big part of it! we're singing on every song. it was pure magic in the
studio. i can't really explain it well enough to do it justice."

that was from the email i sent.

what i didn't know at the time i wrote that was that the whole experience would ignite a fire in me and provide me with a song that i have wanted to write for some time. i'm recording it tomorrow and then not sure what happens next. i have some pretty cool ideas about it. and i think they will happen. so i will let you know when i can give you more than vague, random hints about the song and my plans for it.

neil young said to me and my friend/mentor franne, on the way out of the studio, "what we did in there will create a ripple..."

he's right. it will. it has already started.

i feel so blessed. and overwhelmed. wow.