So, it’s been a month since I won this thing…

Since I got home from Christmas vacation and got the news about winning the LP33 Studio Fast Track thing, I’ve been super busy.  I feel like I’ve been in pre-production mode for weeks now.  I used to work on music videos – doing wardrobe and all that – for years, so this process reminds me of that nervous excited energy that goes into a creative project.  The only thing is, with music videos, it’s a week-long process.  Building a career is SORT OF a bigger production.  I’m realizing that it’s a life-long kind of thing.  I may not be making any money doing this yet, but I’m actually starting to see a path start to carve out in front of me for the first time in my life – and that is incredibly exciting!  Winning studio fast track is giving me a huge boost in getting a million things done in weeks – that would normally take my personality months to do.

For instance, this past week I played 3 shows.  I felt like a real musician.  I know that sounds weird to say… but let me explain:  I’ve been singing since I was little and picked up a guitar when I was 17 and started writing songs.  I basically tried to pretend it was a hobby for the next 11 years, while I worked at Starbucks as a shift supervisor, and supported my then husband in his career in film-making by taking part in doing the wardrobe  for our company, which I think I did a pretty good job at, but it wasn’t really what I wanted to do.  My world has KIND OF changed a lot in the last year or so – for the good.  At the end of 2008, I decided to hang up my Key Wardrobe title (at least for the most part) and pursue music as a career.  The funny thing though is unlike most musicians just starting out, I had already written countless notebooks full of songs.  So it’s with a really thankful heart, that I set out to pursue some kind of success in music with these songs.  The only difference is there are new songs, and Michael Rosenblatt is listening to them – which is a good thing.  I really don’t care how far music takes me, just as long as it takes me…  And my bills are paid.

Would you like to help me get there?…

I had my final mastering session done for the record I started working on in August 2008.  All I need now is help getting the art and pressing done, and I hope to release it in mid-May!!!  That’s where you come in:  I’m trying to raise funds to get this project finished.  You can give pledges towards this by going to www.pledgemusic.com/artists/jamiedrake and follow me there.  My site is being built, so it will take some time before there are cool things up there.  But just think of it as being a part of something grassroots.  I’m also excited about pledges coming in – not only because it will benefit my music career, but because a percentage of the pledges will be going toward a charity of my choice.  I did some research, and then some thinking, and it became loud and clear to me as to where I wanted to give.  She Dances is a non-profit some trusted friends are involved with that are working to help stop human trafficking.  Please log on to their site and check them out – even if you do not choose to follow me on my Pledge site – and find out more about what they are doing and how you can be informed and help too.

Oh and I’m letting you in on a little secret…

I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you this or not, or whether it’s actually even going to happen, so I’ll just give you a hint:  At one of my shows this past week, Michael invited a producer friend of his to come see me play to see if he would be interested to working with me.  I can’t tell you who he is but he’s worked closely with one of my heroes for 20 plus years!  I had a great conversation with him and he was actually excited to meet ME.  Wtf??  So we’ll see what happens…  More on that later.

Tonight I’m playing a secret little “Writers in a Round” night at Room 5 Lounge with Sally Jaye, Brother Sal and Joel Eckels – some really great songwriters and friends.  Come out tonight at 8:30PM.  Room 5 Lounge is located upstairs of Amalfi Ristoranti, 143 N. LaBrea in Los Angeles.  The round will go all night!!!  The “Cranes Challenge” continues this Tuesday at 10PM w/ Drunk on Crutches @ 11PM.