Alana Levandoski: Hope Hurts
Hope Hurts
"Time is jammed and flyin' fast." - Rodney Crowell
It seems that every time I come to Nashville I have an album that I lean on for my tears and laughter as I drive around by myself from one co-write to another or to meet some other incredible human being for coffee. Rodney Crowell's new record Sex and Gasoline is my listening post this time. It is speaking the words I can't say and hearing the words I can't speak to anyone.
It was Ryan Adam's Cold Roses last time. Must be a thing.
Last night, I had the privilege of hearing part of Julie and Buddy Miller's new record entitled Written in Chalk, out next Tuesday, and it brought me to tears. Go and get it people... it is important and true and beautiful.
Wrestling with being in one place or continuing to move is the fate of the musician/story teller. Keeping your heart in one piece as you move from city to city is the great challenge... as you care about folks who need their emotional black belt to keep on loving you. It is key for those who love us to believe in the greater good because reflections on the human story are as important as bread and water. We need artists who are living and breathing within the cultural context of our age ... it is so integral to a healthy world and it is a sacrifice to keep going especially when business is in transition and our futures are always uncertain. The interesting revelation on that though, is that everyone's future is uncertain it is just more acutely obvious in art entrepreneurial realms . We're not really in control. We only have our own behaviour to worry about. I have a line in a song I'm working on "Here we are, full grown, with nothing on this earth to call our own... but a point of view and some skin and bones... and its okay."
My new friend Katy Bowser and I were talking about how story tellers are like Wall E ... going around picking up stuff in the world and trying to make something out of it. I've never been one to be put into a box and labeled... (in fact that is the quickest way to get a bad reaction out of me)... but perhaps I ought to start embracing the stereo-type. Whatever that means. I am a cycling, soccer playing, singing, song writing, story telling, traveling, loving, mystery embracing fool, who owns a lot of footwear and I never want to lose the light in me. When my 3 year old friend asks his mom "is Alana a kid?" I fill with the good pride.
To all my fans out there... every time you listen you are partaking in my life and I thank you for it. It will be a pleasure to be spinning on your stereos once again with the new music and coming to your towns and cities and speaking with you about what is new in your lives.
Hadrian my VW Jetta, has been consistent and reliable and so ridiculously good on fuel. I will miss him when I pull into Toronto and drop him off at headquarters. A good car is like a good guitar... you're connected for life. I'm taking him to the Nashville Predator's/Phoenix Coyotes game tonight... I'll say hello to Gretzky for you!
When I was 3 my folks sold their baby pink VW beetle and I ran down the lane after it crying as the buyer drove away with it.
That is me in a nutshell... I'm a 3 year old, chasing cars.
Much love, alana
It seems that every time I come to Nashville I have an album that I lean on for my tears and laughter as I drive around by myself from one co-write to another or to meet some other incredible human being for coffee. Rodney Crowell's new record Sex and Gasoline is my listening post this time. It is speaking the words I can't say and hearing the words I can't speak to anyone.
It was Ryan Adam's Cold Roses last time. Must be a thing.
Last night, I had the privilege of hearing part of Julie and Buddy Miller's new record entitled Written in Chalk, out next Tuesday, and it brought me to tears. Go and get it people... it is important and true and beautiful.
Wrestling with being in one place or continuing to move is the fate of the musician/story teller. Keeping your heart in one piece as you move from city to city is the great challenge... as you care about folks who need their emotional black belt to keep on loving you. It is key for those who love us to believe in the greater good because reflections on the human story are as important as bread and water. We need artists who are living and breathing within the cultural context of our age ... it is so integral to a healthy world and it is a sacrifice to keep going especially when business is in transition and our futures are always uncertain. The interesting revelation on that though, is that everyone's future is uncertain it is just more acutely obvious in art entrepreneurial realms . We're not really in control. We only have our own behaviour to worry about. I have a line in a song I'm working on "Here we are, full grown, with nothing on this earth to call our own... but a point of view and some skin and bones... and its okay."
My new friend Katy Bowser and I were talking about how story tellers are like Wall E ... going around picking up stuff in the world and trying to make something out of it. I've never been one to be put into a box and labeled... (in fact that is the quickest way to get a bad reaction out of me)... but perhaps I ought to start embracing the stereo-type. Whatever that means. I am a cycling, soccer playing, singing, song writing, story telling, traveling, loving, mystery embracing fool, who owns a lot of footwear and I never want to lose the light in me. When my 3 year old friend asks his mom "is Alana a kid?" I fill with the good pride.
To all my fans out there... every time you listen you are partaking in my life and I thank you for it. It will be a pleasure to be spinning on your stereos once again with the new music and coming to your towns and cities and speaking with you about what is new in your lives.
Hadrian my VW Jetta, has been consistent and reliable and so ridiculously good on fuel. I will miss him when I pull into Toronto and drop him off at headquarters. A good car is like a good guitar... you're connected for life. I'm taking him to the Nashville Predator's/Phoenix Coyotes game tonight... I'll say hello to Gretzky for you!
When I was 3 my folks sold their baby pink VW beetle and I ran down the lane after it crying as the buyer drove away with it.
That is me in a nutshell... I'm a 3 year old, chasing cars.
Much love, alana
Me and Hadrian someplace outside of St Louis.