CL Rehab

Okay, confession.

You can't be a good rock star without a major addiction. And yes, I have mine.

My name is Jana (hi Jana) and I'm addicted to Craigslist.

I know, I know, it sounds a little fantastical, but it's true. I know that CL is full of junk and a waste of my time. It's just that I've had so many good experiences. Like here's all the stuff I found on Craigslist:

• Mike, my guitar player


• Brett, who lets me play laptop in his band


• My last three apartments


• My TV


• My DVD player


• The art in my bathroom


• An art student who let me talk about religion on camera in exchange for prints of his art


• The dog shelter where I volunteer


• Several of my music gigs

... And most of my friends.

So put yourself in my position. Would you want to give it up?

Now that I have Craigsphone, my problem has gotten worse. Two or three times a day, I scroll through all of the bizarre ads about foot fetish parties and unpaid internships doing other people's laundry thinking I'm going to hit the jackpot. And yes, I have triumphed over the unorganized, inappropriate mess many times in the past. But my successes are waaaaaaayy out of proportion to the amount of time I spend on there.

Maybe I'm just too picky. I'm kind of a grammar snob. Here are the reasons Ill ignore an ad:

• ALL CAPS


• too ... many ... ellipses ...


• Stupid misspellings (like people who say they want to get signed to a "lable")


• Whining about loneliness (You live in New York, surrounded by millions of strangers. You think you're the only one who's lonely?)


• Acting as if getting signed to a major "lable" is going to result in a 100% caviar diet


• Talking about how much you like clubbing and poppin' bottles (just go to the liquor store. At least there, if you have to wait in line, you'll be indoors.)


• Talking about how you want to find your "ride or die bitch" (That's supposed to make me want o be your friend?)

So yeah, maybe I'm too selective. But maybe that's why I've had 95% good experiences.

Maybe I can make a computer program that would filter out all these ads and send me what's left in a daily email. That would be awesome. But... It would also take away the joy of the CL hunt.

I spend way too much time thinking about this.

This is why I need to go to CL rehab.

Videos

Yo most awesomest dudes,

Check out these sweet vids.

Me playing solo:



Me rocking the flannel with Brett Gleason:



And make fun of me for this one if you haven't yet.



Ciao,

J Dawg

Jana's Blog: Off to BPC again!

Hey guys,

This has been a busy couple of months. I successfully relocated to Brooklyn (it's where all the cool kids are, I swear) and am now ironically closer to all the places I play in Manhattan. Funny how the water barrier is more psychological than anything.

Playing these past few shows with Mike has allowed me to really enjoy being on stage more - I can get into the music instead of worrying about forgetting chords (I still forget chords, but Mike keeps on chugging along and I can pretend that nothing happened).

I have also sort of developed a reputation as the nerd girl who sings about dragons. Guess I asked for that one.

My upcoming show at Bowery Poetry Club this Friday is going to be a fun one - I'm going to play a set of my music than Mike, then switch to playing laptop for my good friend Brett Gleason. Two very different shows for the price of one - you can't beat that.

Anyway, I hope to see you there! And I hope you're on the edge of your seat waiting for my next album. It's coming out ... sometime before the world ends in 2012.

Peace out,

J

Jana's Blog - And then there were two.

Hey guys,

Playing all these shows by myself got to be a little boring. Honestly, my setup is a bit awkward at these places by I've been playing - when following a loud and upbeat punk band, sitting down to play melancholy music on my keyboard for a bunch of drunk strangers is a little anti-climactic. (Though sometimes drunk people play in my favor, like at Wicked Willy's when a bunch of strangers started singing along to "You Deserve Better.")

So I decided to find a guitar player to join me using the tried-and-tested poor musicians' method - Craigslist. After several responses, I scheduled a meeting with the person who responded first - Mike, who, instead of sending me a recent photo, sent me a photo of a life-size Tetris block.

I foolishly scheduled his audition for 10am the morning of Halloween - foolish because I, having gone to a Halloween party the night before, woke up with a wicked hangover (apparently vodka and whiskey do not mix - just ask the sidewalk in front of my friend's apartment on Wall Street), and he, being on his way to work at an infamous retail store the day of a holiday that requires costumes, was dressed as the Swedish Chef. We played the two songs that Mike had learned by ear, but my brain was so foggy all I could think about was a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. What a bizarre morning.

Anyway, none of my other Craigslist contacts actually met with me. But it's okay though! Mike and I are getting along fabulously. To get some performance experience under our belts, we played for the first time at Side Walk Cafe's open mic (along with quite an assortment of interesting characters). I had unfortunately drawn slot 24 from the lottery, meaning that we didn't go on until 12:30am and that I was full of adrenaline for the next three hours, arguing with Mike that Muse's new album is, in fact, good.

Playing as a duo makes me feel much more confident and less like the tiny emo girl that all the bar guys want to quote unquote rescue. I am going to take over the world. You best not miss it!

Our first show together is December 1 at Googie's Lounge. For now, we are just going by my name, but we might re-christen ourselves with an appropriate duo moniker (since no one seems to know how to spell Jana and my last name is an allusion to sea creatures).

Peace out,

J

Jana's Blog - I went to Florida and all I got was this lousy cough.

Hey guys,

I went to Florida last weekend to visit friends and family. Had all these plans to run around doing cool stuff and wind up completely exhausted - exactly what you're not supposed to do on vacation. I knew nothing was going to go as planned when Dan (my boyfriend, who also happens to be the bassist on "You Deserve Better") came back from the clinic wearing a surgical mask. Flu Time. Nice.

On Friday I visited my high school choir teacher to talk about being an aspiring songwriter while working in the music business. The first class degenerated into a completely amateur version of TRL (amateur because of my lack of song knowledge - "Do you know any Alicia Keys?" "No..." "Do you know any Taylor Swift?" "No ...") The second class asked me questions and made me feel really important. ("What's it like playing in New York with all that competition?" "Well, once I realized that everyone started out playing for three people, I got past the mental block and just started putting one foot in front of the other.")

Played my first three-hour set at New Harmony Coffee & Tea in Clearwater. Would have been so worn out if not for the delicious caffeine-infused drinks!

Then it was Flu Time for me. I still have the cough I came home with. I recorded a rough demo of my newest song "Cheater" and Dan asked if I had a cold when I recorded it. "Dan, I recorded that yesterday ..."

I'm visiting Tennessee and Ohio in November and December - if you have anywhere you'd like to see me play, let me know! Going back to Recoup and Local 269 in the upcoming weeks. Hope to see you there!

Peace,

J

Jana's Blog - 10.1.09

Hey guys!

My song "Fairy Tale" was featured in the trailer for the book "The Garden That Grew Her" by Leslie Bradford. This is really cool ... and not just because they picked my song (though that was an enormously pleasant surprise). Books don't usually come with film-style trailers - we're venturing into new and exciting territory here! I'm super stoked. Check it out here:

YouTube
www.thegardenthatgrewher.com
www.itmstudios.com

I'm going to Florida next weekend to visit friends and family and booked a show in Clearwater while I'm there. October 9, to be precise. I'm supposed to somehow play for three hours so you'll be hearing a lot of old, new, and otherwise unheard material during my set. (Ironically, I am really looking forward to going shopping with my mom for winter clothes while in Florida. It's getting too cold too early up for my southern blood. 48 degrees! That's like the darkest days of winter in the ol' FL.)

I'm playing shows in New York every other week right now, the next being a free show this Sunday. I've been writing songs for my as-yet-untitled (that's the official word anyway - it's titled in my head) second album that you can only hear live right now (except for a few bootleg copies floating around for people who are super nice to me =P), so be sure to come out to see me sometime!

I feel a little delirious and really should not be writing at 2 am. Signing off before I announce that I'm holding a free buffet in my apartment or something.


Peace,

J

Jana's Blog - 9.8.09

Hey guys,

New York is an adventure as always. I've started collecting all of the bizarre pick-up lines used on me and a friend suggested that I turn them into a book. Here's a sample:

"Hey girl, come over here! I swear I won't do nothing bad to you!"

"Hey beautiful, you dropped something. Don't walk away! You're so beautiful, I'm sure you dropped something."

"Where you goin', shorty? We're on the same side of the street and you got a fat booty!"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you, but I'm a little tipsy right now. And you're just so beautiful! I could marry someone like you. I've got a house, and money, and everything! ... I'm not bothering you, am I?"

A book would be good for a laugh or two, but that also means I need about a thousand more weirdos to hit on me. Great.

Anyway, I've got a great show coming up on Friday at Uncle Mike's in Tribeca with Blue Food, Northern Point, Dylan, Girls Rock the Night, and Calm & Repose. Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Get your advance tickets here: http://tinyurl.com/ox54mg. I normally charge $200 for autographs, but I'll give them to you for free if you come to the show. ;-)

Peace out,

J