It's been a hell of a week!
I have been busily writing for the www.theportalmagazine.com, giving my final exams to my Mercer University students where I am professor of music technology and dealing with the newly discovered arthritis in my right shoulder that has been bothering me on and off every since GRAMMY week in NYC. Not to mention my other full time jobs of being a recording studio owner, producer with a full schedule and working on my next album.
So, by today, I was ready for this week to be over and I was over this week.
Then, I got an email in my in box that made me forget all the above and start to smile.
I knew I was going to like KATHRYN BERRY from the subject of her email. It was "Some indie alt country with a taste of Sheryl Crow".
Okay, I thought let's check this out. I stopped grading papers and clicked to listen to KATHRYN's current single "So You're Goin' to California"
What can I say but WOW, love it!
Not only is the recording top notch and the lyrics flirty and fun showing off KATHRYN's vocals to great display, but the story of the song was very relatable and an interesting read.
According to Kathryn, "My partner and I had been fighting for weeks (I can't remember why, just the stresses of life…). My brother had invited me to his birthday and the date was yet another source of conflict between us. But I guess the whole storm of arguments leading up to the day made me just want to say, f**k it all, I'm going back to a time (in my head) when none of this mattered."
"So, I decided to just go with it and have fun for the night, wherever it took me. I stayed out all night with a random stranger. In truth, he was a perfect gentleman but the whole incident actually made my partner wake up and see me again. Or maybe I just felt attractive again and he saw in me what he'd loved from the start."
Kathryn decided to call up her old friend, Denise Truscello, in Las Vegas. "Denise is a celebrity photographer and one of the co-founders of Wire Images. Says Kathryn, "She is best known as Celine Dion's personal photographer. The last time Denise took photos for me she fit me in between J Lo, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears. So I hopped on a plane and we shot the video on the way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, guerrilla-style: no permits, no script. All the people on camera agreed in the moment to participate, which seemed appropriate, as the song came from an event of the same making."
And that's how "Goin' to California" was born.
I find this excerpt from Kathryn's bio of great interest—"I was not a kid who took piano lessons as a child or played an instrument for fun. I did not take voice lessons or sing in the school play. I did, however, fantasize about being Madonna in the privacy of my own room and while striking a pose or two on the dance floor at the school dance. Being in the entertainment industry was always given such salacious status that it seemed beyond the realm of possibilities to consider as a future career. But the real clincher was the death of my mom from brain cancer. My mother's death made me learn more about the brain and how it functions – what makes us who we are. It turns out that there are a lot of factors that we have control over to increase longevity, quality of life and even intelligence. This information has helped me immensely and I can tell you that music has nothing but beneficial effects on the brain. Playing an instrument strengthens memory and reading skills, it leads to superior multi-sensory skills, more brain plasticity, increases blood flow to the brain, manages mood, stress, immunity and social bonding and strengthens executive functions including processing and retaining information, controlling behavior, making appropriate choices, problem-solving, and more. Do I really need to go on? Hence my foray into the crazy world of music."
Preach on sister!!!
As a brain tumor survivor and music educator, I know Kathryn speaks the truth and I am so glad to have lucked in to getting to know her and her music!
Kathryn has way too many accolades to list here, but it is clear that her music reaches people and that her talent as an artist and human being is well recognized by all that encounter her! That is why I call her my new muse!
Make sure to take a few minutes to check out her official website at:
Also make sure to click on over to check out her video for "So You're Goin' to California"—So you're Goin' to California. I am sure hearing her music will brighten your day like it did mine!