Well, I had a marvelous time at the RAWartist event on Thursday of last week. I have never played w/ other musicians and I was so thrilled to have Oz of Chinese Goblin Factory on Chapman Stick to add some new flavor to Taylor and my performance.
As always some really great “celeb” peeps that came to check me out was the Petty Crux crew and the amazingly insightful Kim Castle of Brand U. She had some really great comments and suggested that “the camera” may be more of a friend to me than “the stage”. I’d be interested in hearing some thoughts on that. I have been really neglecting my Something Beautiful episodes…. mainly because I keep forgetting to get my camera which is at the rehearsal space….
So your thoughts now… camera vs. stage .. or maybe a bit o’ both:)
Lemme know… and hope you had a great fourth.
I am beaming with excitement as I have some exciting news to share with you soon!

Electronica singer/songwriter Coco O’Connor has been making music since the age of ten. She talks to RAW about where she is now in her music career. Be sure to RSVP to see her perform live at the next RAW showcase on Thursday, July 1st at Cinespace in Hollywood!

Click image to read the FULL STORY:

So this morning I decide to take a new route on my run. I was due for a “long run” but my long run turned into a really loooooong run. Leaving at 8:45 am , I’m on my way. I get to the street that I always cross and I have 2 choices…. I can run along the main road or I can run across the street and into a nice calm neighborhood and around the reservoir aka Lake Hollywood. I chose the latter.

I had a great 4 min run around the lake and always in the back of me is the huge Hollywood sign on the hill. So, I’m thinking I can run “around this hill” (where the Hollywood sign is) and it’ll get me back. Keep in mind these are big hills I’m talking about and part of me didn’t want to go up more hills than was necessary but hey… we can all use a good “butt” workout right?

I’m huffin’… I’m puffin’ and I get to the tops and the only way to get “around ” this mountain is a tiny dirt path that looks like where serial killers would place their victims. I get on the path then decide to retreat and go more along the main road. It is LA ya know and scary things happen here.

So, I’m going along and figured….well, these hills sure are getting to me. I think I will start to go “down the hills” and should be able to make my way back around. Bad move. See, I had no idea where I was. I was “turned around” already and this made me even more turned around. Yes, I had my iPhone but it doesn’t work really well in the hills. OK, so I go all the way down get to the bottom and there are all of these weird houses made of stone and paying homage to Oz. Hmmmm, I did feel like Dorothy and I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore…. but where the heck was I . Finally , the ol trusty iPhone begins working and I am 3.8 miles way outta the way and have no real direction to get back except the main roads which is the 101 freeway!!! Ah, I’m a bit nervous and disappointed cause I knew I had to go all the way back the way I came….and that meant going back up those big hills that I just came down!!! Ah, but we all need a butt workout sometimes right???

Ah, as I’m running up that hill ( Kate Bush song insert here) my knees start to hurt and I’m completely dehydrated…and miffed at myself. But for the rest of the journey I thought I’d take it easy and walk some. I did ; then I elected to not go exactly the way I came but to take the road that I originally took Lake Hollywood Dr. Another mistake….it was a dead end. There are many roads like that in this town where they end then begin some place else again…

OK, another delay but finally I went my path that I already took and it led me back but not w/o more butt workouts than I wanted and some aching knees. It was a great representation of how I feel right now here in Hollywood-land if you will. Taking wrong turns, wasting more time than necessary, getting distracted and turned around and thinking I know what is best for me. I think God is trying to tell me something … may be he knows the best path for me but I keep wantingto do it “my way.” Maybe not so much anymore …. I am tired of being lost in Hollywood-land… it’s no fun. Oh, BTW- time of arrival back home…. 11:15 am….

Yesterday, I elected to “pout” ala my Facebook profile. I was amazed at the response that I received simply because I elected to do something so “unlike” me. I usually try to keep it all in the positive…knowing that somehow things will work out and not really allow myself to explore (or at least vocalize it via my social sites/blog) that things are really bad or I perceive them as bad ( see here I go again…censoring myself) …. But hey it was emotion and emotion gets responses.

Just to confirm that I was definitely on the right track here’s a another blog I subscribe to and in my inbox …the message of emotionally charged communication and it’s effectiveness.

So still.. I pout…I am bored, feel useless, my bank account is non-existent, and people all around me seem to be finding their place in the world especially in this town of LA. I am in the mode of “what’s it all for, who cares, nobody’s listening , and nobody’s especially buying.” If I have to pick up one more book and the author is telling their story about how they overcame this “something” then their dreams came true and now they are the author of the book I am holding…. well, I’d like someone to tell me how they thought their life would turn out, what they really wanted to grow up and be, and how they didn’t get it. If and how they changed their thinking or had their heart broke, moved on, and let go of the “vision” of themselves that they had built their whole existence around. Tell me that…. somebody tell me if dreams can steal your life or reveal your life. Tell me about when it may be time to let old dreams go and get some new ones…. and tell me when. When has a dream become a nightmare….just how much should one sacrifice to attain the “dream”, what’s the cost? I built a great life in Santa Fe and I am asking myself if I should sacrifice that life and all that goes with it for this? And the “this” , I am not even sure what it is anymore. Is there a formula or some social media tactics for that.?.?. if so do share.

Don’t mind me , I’m just grumpy…