Gossip & the Devil

check in | put out

Most musicians have large loads.

[Disclaimer: this post will be a scrapbook of pictures. This is an entirely "checking-in" post and will likely sound schizophrenic.]

In short: It has been busy these last few weeks. So busy in fact that when I looked at the date of my last post I nearly fainted. My apologies for making you wait. Bated breath, and all that.

In long: I’ve been back and forth between sanity and insanity these last few weeks and there isn’t a whole lot I can put to paper [or screen] at the moment. I’m working my ass off trying to get the re-launch of [modern.orphan.designs.] off the ground but as a one-woman operation I’m starting to feel the effects. I gave myself a lengthy-yet-reasonable time table in which to get all of these designs up [including my fucking book, The Rough Chronicles of Bipolar Romance, which needs to see the light of day now that it's finally here] but there are things hindering me from doing so. But never fear, the same time frame is in place and M.O.D. should have a re-launch sometime in the next month. [Don't forget to sign up for the G&D Feed, or sign up with your email using the M.O.D. site or the right hand side of this screen, so you'll know exactly when M.O.D. re-launches and get your limited, 1st edition copy of TRCOBR!]

I’m also trying to attend the annual Nimrod Literary Conference coming up in October, but between the recent job loss, hospital stays and lack of launching M.O.D., the money situations looking a little dire. I’ll never understand why the entrance fees are so fucking expensive. Since “Orphan” is the key word around here, if anyone has some change they can throw into my proverbial velvet hat, please do so using the Paypal donation button to your right. Even $3 can help me go and attend classes to further my art, learn new techniques and refine my skills so that I can come and tell you for free on here.

There’s also a bit of news going on with myself and a few familiar faces you’ve seen around G&D – currently I’m working on a DIY Artbook Project with Natascha Artworx from Hamburg, Germany! This is a 100% DIY and made-with-love endeavor and, once finished will look fabulous! Miss N. sent me a few of her paintings in the mail and I was floored – she works a lot of the time in watercolor which is a medium I could never master in college. So, as soon as I get my parts done and send them off look for that in the near future!

In even more other news, I met up with Kill Hannah last week and managed to stay sober the entire time, thus eliminating my need for pictures-as-proof. Consider these pictures-for-pleasure. You might recognize this face from an interview I conducted about a month ago:

Gil and I are on a mission to fuck you up.

Maddox - looking like a demon. I didn't fix the red eye because I'm for shit at Photoshop.

[On Kill Hannah's current tour with She Wants Revenge, Maddox is filling in for Dan Wiese who was married yesterday and by now is well on his way toward a honeymoon. Maddox has played in a handful of regionally successful acts including Miser and Jupiter Blue, with whom Kill Hannah have a long and sordid history. He also asked me to interview him so we'll see where that ends up. Hit me up M!]

The reason why this isn’t filed under “I just need the airfare [&] I’m gone” is because, while yes I funded my entire portion on change, the hotel stays were hardly 4-star and I wasn’t nearly so concerned with the amenities of the entire thing. The La Quinta in Dallas was decent, even though they fucked me on a smoking room and the Motel 6 in Austin had no carpet, the ugliest bedspread known to man, no hot water and the air conditioner leaked so badly when I arrived back to the motel clothing and shoes were soaked in freezing water.

For the rest of the story follow me on Twitter. It’s stuffed full of stories-in-pictures, sarcasm and hope[lessness].

Heidi Cannon and John Bourke at the Trash Yourself release party in LA.

In keeping with familiar faces, DJ/Producer John Bourke, who I’ve interviewed in the past had a release party at H. Wood for the new effort from Trash Yourself, titled “Forget It.” Find it, buy it and dance your ass off. Although John admitted Trash Yourself had never done an Oklahoma show before, that’s about to change on October 28th as their Myspace calender claims to have TY playing Robotic in Oklahoma City.

So, Orphans, now that you know what I’ve been up to your charge is to go out and find a great show to attend and tell me about it. Write an email, send pictures, poems or other forms of evidence – I don’t care. I’ll even post a couple on G&D. I want stories of sweat, screaming, catharsis and need. You could even check out She Wants Revenge/Kill Hannah on tour, or find Trash Yourself ‘s new CD and throw your own house party.

Report back and we’ll compare stories!

blue-blood seals the deal: my publishing agreement with TGAPS

It’s official, I received my first legit publishing agreement last week from The Great American Poetry Show:

Excuse the deathly ill eye-bags, it's been a rough week, and focus on the CONTRACT.

See, this is a big deal. This was two years in the making for this ONE piece, a poem titled “Voyeur.” You may remember from previous posts that I’d been rejected over and over by TGAPS. In fact, I’d sent them over 40 pieces for consideration before they took this one. In fact even though they’d ACCEPTED “Voyeur” editor Larry Ziman was going to REJECT it anyway. (Read the short story here, in which Larry called me while I was in Birmingham seeing Amanda Palmer.) In fact, the other two editors STILL rejected the poem, but apparently Larry has the final say.

I tell you, it’s amazing what perseverance and, frankly, talent, can get you. After initialing in the appropriate places, writing my “short-bio” (which is always harder than it sounds) and sending proof copies of the poem off to West Hollywood, CA I can actually breathe a little bit. It’s also a prime example of the publishing world and the time lines on which it operates. Everyone always asks me “well when will you see it? why can’t you buy it now? well when will you know?” and it just isn’t that easy. From the time “Voyeur” was a “possibility” for Volume 2 of TGAPS until I received the publishing agreement in my hands over a year had passed. The publishing world isn’t quick and easy, by any means, whether you’re an amateur or a professional.

You have to sign with blue ink.

I’m glad they settled on “Voyeur” though. That poem has a special place in my heart as it’s one of my finest pieces of narrative poetry, in my opinion. “Narrative poetry,” as the name suggests, has a plot. It isn’t necessarily a graphic description of any one thing. It’s also a style that one of my biggest mentors, Ai, is impeccable at. She taught me how to be a better narrative writer and in fact, when I turned “Voyeur” in for workshop my senior year of college she moved it to the top of the stack. While the rest of the class couldn’t see the “artistic value” of a girl watching her boyfriend fuck another girl, Ai knew what I was trying to do with the poem and mood of the reader. It was a turning point in the class because suddenly people became a little more daring, a little more open to ideas. This is never a bad thing.

I might or might not have temporarily passed out.

Speaking of Ai, I’ll give you some breaking news: she was the first person to receive an official copy of my first chapbook, The Rough Chronicles of Bipolar Romance, last week. The opportunity arose and it seemed only appropriate.

Yes M. Orphans, my chapbook is finished and back from the printers, sitting in boxes and waiting for your eyes to devour them. They will be sold through Modern Orphan Designs, which I’ve closed temporarily until I re-launch sometime in the next couple of months. I will tell you this however, I’ve finished all the limited-edition “Modern Orphan” t-shirts and a few custom “compound” shirts, which have been hand sewn, burned, cut up, pinned and will buff up your science points. I have also made charms using recipes from the voodoo lady I was named after, and a few very, very limited Modern Orphan necklaces. In addition to all THAT I’ve finished a few one-of-a-kind mixed media art pieces using a few fan favorite poems as inspiration. Not many people know that I originally attended college on a full art scholarship that I gave up to pursue an English degree.

And if that wasn’t enough en route to my house as I type is a set of blending oils for a limited run of my special, secret oil scents you’ll fucking LOVE. (If you don’t remember, I posted a while ago about the line of oils I had years ago called Lascivious XIII – I blended them in my kitchen and sold them from my bedroom.) If you don’t know the word “lascivious” means ‘inclined to lustfullness” and “arousing sexual desire.” The olfactory system is often overlooked in terms of libido but trust me, if you smell good enough to eat, someone will want to eat you. I specialize in dessert scents and sugary musk.

Despite being deathly ill (two trips to urgent care in less than two weeks, a rapid weight-loss and perma-bags under my eyes) I’m trying to keep this thing going. I couldn’t do it without Ms. Marie. That needs said. She’s my right hand woman, web designer, bust builder, care taker and food maker. Love, love.

Hold tight Orphans–Lots of awesome coming your way courtesy of the owner of this goddamn-motherfucking-orphanage.

P.S. Current music: Marilyn Manson – Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon