Cool, Dreamy, Adult Alternative Music CD by Nijole (Neola) Sparkis

12/21/07

My my, another year gone by! A few good milestones achieved, and focused more on personal issues this year, but I'm ready to get back to creating more wonderful music in the New Year! I finally started taking yoga, so listen for those influences in what I write! ;-> Fritz will be going in to do some mixing with Jon Anderson and his engineer next month, which should put the "Trance-scendant Dance" album release by about next spring. We'll keep you posted! In the meantime, Happy Winter Solstice, and bring in the Light in whatever way is most meaningful to your heart! Cheers!

12/13/07

We did a charity performance today for C.A.R.E.S. with our dear friends Molly Pasutti and myself on vocals, Jamie Dunlap and Fritz on guitars, and Stephen Price on bass. These are the most rewarding gigs and we were very happy to provide a little extra joy to our most appreciative audience.
Photo by Celeste Goyer.

11/15/07

Another great intimate concert evening with legendary singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson. This sassy performer brought her very smart and entertaining songs to us from Austin, TX. I loved her rousing Bush-bashing number called "Man of God". Way to go, Eliza!!

11/12/07

WOW. I just got notice that my CD and a review page have been added to the Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music. I am deeply honored to be included with all the wonderful women artists whose work has been a major influence on mine, like Kate Bush, Happy Rhodes, Jane Siberry, Tori Amos, etc., etc.!

11/10/07

Saw a really enjoyable Celtic trio perform tonight -- Banshee in the Kitchen. This group consists of 3 women: Jill who plays accordion, flutes and sings, Brenda who plays fiddle, dulcimer, and sings some, and Mary who plays guitar and bouzouki and also sings some. They are also played on Echoes radio, as we are, and are excellent with their Celtic arrangements. It was a fun show!

10/25/07

Oh my goodness, there have been so many huge firestorms here in Southern California right now! The air quality was very smoky all day Monday by us and the weather's been abnormally HOT -- evidence of severe climate change. Our collaborator, artist John Banks, had to evacuate his home. Another business associate had to go from Plan A to Plan B, C, and D in the course of his evacuation -- he was in the heart of it! And the flames were licking the bottom of the hill at my cousin's house too!! Thankfully, everyone we know has been able to return now with homes intact. We ourselves got away with just a short power outage. My heart goes out to all who had losses -- it is utterly, utterly tragic and we all feel so helpless in the face of such devastation...

10/1/07

Lunch at Jerry's Deli with Bob Kiviat, producer of FOX-TV's smash hit "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?" Bob is a really great guy and it's always nice to touch base and see what interesting projects he's involved in. He's also a huge Jon Anderson fan and would love Fritz to score one of his projects at some point. Hopefully, the right project will get green-lighted here soon!

9/28/07

A fun time had by all at the birthday party of Statik -- composer/engineer extraordinaire and our good friend from Collide. His partner, kaRIN of Collide, sang on "Ritual Path" and we were happy to have a chance to spend some quality time with this busy duo and their circle of friends.

9/25/07

Tonight we saw an excellent uilleann pipe player, Paddy Keenan. Many years ago Fritz and I had worked on an Irish documentary with an uilleann pipe player from Dublin, Ronan Browne (original piper with Riverdance and Afro Celt Sound System), so we were interested to see this rare instrument played again. I learned that "uilleann" is Gaelic for "elbow", because the pipes are played with the elbow. It's the Irish version of the Scottish bagpipes. They have a unique sound and are very difficult to play -- Paddy did an admirable job!

9/17/07

Whew -- that was a long haul! We moved into a new home and have been settling in. Today was a red-letter day for me, as I received the largest request for CDs from Amazon.com to date! Had to go into town to run a TON of errands -- all day and into the night. Our last stop was our local health food store, New Frontiers. The store was pretty empty and as we were walking in, guess who was checking out? ALANIS MORISSETTE!!! Amazingly, we actually know someone who worked with her and we mentioned our friend's name to her and introduced ourselves. We chatted for a bit, she was very warm and interested and we even gave her a copy of the "Ritual Path" CD. WOW. To think Alanis may be listening to my singing RIGHT NOW!!!

8/7/07

WOW. I just heard from Stew Herrera, program director at KLOS-FM, that the legendary DJ Jim Ladd is STILL playing my CD from time to time! Wow, am I ever flattered!! And very grateful!! I immediately sat down to write him a thank-you and send him "Ritual Path" -- I sure hope he likes this one too!

7/19/07

Progress report on the "Trance-scendant Dance" album with Jon Anderson -- he had our dear friend (and master-er of my CD) Jamie Dunlap do some re-mixes of the material and it sounds very cool. We were wondering how Jon would respond and he called us this morning to say he LOVES them. YAY! We'll have some alternate versions of some of these pieces as part of the project.

6/11/07

A couple more radio stations have picked up my CD -- one in Lowell, MA, and one in Pine Mountain Club, CA. Ah, the wonderful synergy of indie radio supporting indie artists -- this is a great outlet for the evolution of really creative music!!

Speaking of indie radio, I finally got a copy of the Echoes interview of me and Fritz Heede, John Banks, and Jon Anderson discussing the making of "Ritual Path" -- just click here! (8:13)

5/29/07

Another amazing concert by a true goddess -- Lisa Gerrard. We took Robert Watts to see her at the Orpheum Theatre downtown -- a grand historic old movie palace. A truly transformative night!

5/23/07

Gearing up for the Star Wars convention in Los Angeles. Our dear friend Robert Watts (producer for the Star Wars trilogy) has come to town and we met him for dinner at the Bonaventure -- a lovely evening getting caught up...

5/12/07

A wonderful book-signing event at Hennessey & Ingalls in Santa Monica for our dear friend, photographer Melba Levick's new book "California Mediterranean". Also attended by Sussan Deyhim and Richard Horowitz. Also met songwriter Bob Burchman at dinner afterwards -- here's our photo together -- Bob, me, and Fritz:

5/10/07

Went to a long-awaited Loreena McKennitt concert at Gibson Amphitheatre -- she hasn't toured in almost 10 years! She was in excellent form -- her voice amazingly flawless as always, the new songs exquisite -- and yet somehow, there was no connection with the audience. It was as though the musicians were in their own world on the stage and we were simply observing them. Maybe it was the nearby fires which caused the concert venue to be moved at the last minute from the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park (which was burning)... must have been stressful on the performers... I asked other hardcore Loreena fans if it was just me, but they were having the same experience. Oh well, I guess we're happy to have the chance to see her at all!

5/2/07

Ha! Ha! More good news from the Universe! I just got an email from my former voice student Ilaria (a wonderful artist in her own right) who told me she typed in my name at Pandora.com and found I am indeed listed there. I totally forgot that I submitted my CD about a year ago! Pandora is a very cool service, where they recommend music that sounds like other music you love. Try it out!

Later that night... I just got home from seeing Sussan Deyhim perform at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica -- Richard Horowitz was also playing with her, among a team of fabulous musicians. What a treat! We had recently seen Sussan perform with Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra (see 1/27/07 below). Tonight we discovered just how many friends we have in common! ;->

5/1/07

Great news -- our "Ritual Path" DVD will remain featured at the largest Barnes & Noble stores throughout the month of May! YAY! So if you haven't gone to see the display yet, you've got another 30-odd days...!

4/30/07 - 5/6/07

That long-awaited interview that John Diliberto did with us last summer, about the making of "Ritual Path", is finally being broadcast today on Echoes Radio (distributed thru the Public Broadcasting System). Besides Fritz and me, the interview also features John Banks and will be re-broadcast on May 6th. Showtimes may differ, depending on your location. See the station schedule at echoes.org/stattime.html to find the Echoes broadcast in your area.

4/27/07

I am truly tickled pink -- these private pilots who have a podcast about aviation news, etc., picked up my song "Sky High" -- tee hee! The lyrics fit their theme perfectly -- "we can fly------- sky high -----------" LOL! Who knew?! And they're even based in Chicago -- my hometown! ;-> I love how the Universe works... "Sky High" is featured on Pilotcast # 52 at pilotcast.libsyn.com.

4/22/07

Oh! What an exciting night! Fritz and I were fortunate to be the guests of Jon Anderson for his performance with Paul Green's School of Rock All-Stars at Symphony Space in New York! It was AWESOME! Imagine the most talented teens playing all these challenging Yes songs flawlessly, with Jon Anderson at the helm, cranking the energy ever-spiraling upward. Wow -- what a night! What a treat -- I really gained a new appreciation for these amazing songs...

4/11/07

More results from MySpace friends -- my CD is now being played on Radio Sing-Sing in France, and also at Cob'FM, also in France, thanks to MySpace friends Emmanuelle and Julien. Merci!

3/29/07

Today I signed a licensing contract with Danny McCloskey of Songs With Vision for my song "Rise". I am very excited that my song came to his attention -- we had passed like 2 ships in the night at the last two TAXI Road Rallies. I guess "Rise" finally caught Danny's ear through a submission I did of another song. So you never know how things will work out...!

3/25/07

One of my MySpace friends, a psychic named Mystikka, graciously invited me to submit my song "In My Dreams" for her podcast on metacreativeradio.com. It is being played on the 3/25/07 "Music Edition" of her show. Thanks, Mystikka!

3/18/07

Finally! Our "Ritual Path" DVD is being featured at the biggest Barnes & Noble stores, along with Kronos, Barakka, and Illuminated Manuscripts for the next 30 days. We went to look for it at the Topanga Barnes & Noble and sure enough -- there was a video monitor display and there were our 2 DVD's. How thrilling!!

3/1/07

Well, I guess my work on the new Jon Anderson "Trance-scendant Dance" album is not over yet. Fritz and I were listening to some of the instrumental solos he had recorded and we felt they just didn't fit the lushness of the rest of the arrangements. So I'm going back in the studio to record some of my occipital vocals and see if they work better...

2/15/07

The companion CD "Ritual Path" came back from the manufacturer today, and it looks GREAT! I was very nervous, because it was my first ever attempt at CD art layout -- thankfully, I was using some beautiful raw materials, i.e. John Banks' gorgeous pictures. Turned out pretty good, if I say so myself:

1/28/07

A very musical weekend -- today we went to Walt Disney Hall to see the tribute to Steve Reich's 70th birthday. It premiered his piece "Daniel Variations", written in memory of the journalist Daniel Pearl who was slain in Pakistan. I also very much enjoyed the "You Are Variations" -- lovely spiritual message: "You are wherever your thoughts are..." from philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. A good reminder.

1/27/07

A truly amazing concert -- Bobby McFerrin and Voicestra. That's what he calls his group of 12 singers who all perform a cappella with him, improvising the whole show. Truly a spiritual experience! And a Friend of mine, Sussan Deyhim, sings with him -- here is more about Sussan: http://myspace.com/sussandeyhim What a great show!

1/15/07

Finally! John Banks' and Fritz Heede's DVD "Ritual Path", that I co-wrote and sang 3 tracks on, is finally in stores! It is being carried by Fry's Electronics. Jon Anderson, lead singer of "Yes", also co-wrote and sang 1 track, as did kaRIN of "Collide", and Molly Pasutti. It is a gorgeous, artistic masterpiece that I'm very proud to be a part of! To see / hear samples, click here.

All content © 2007 Nijole Sparkis.
Only copy and distribute this content with proper attribution -- thanks!

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