sail on down the line
this photo makes me laugh. it was taken in london at a festival last year. that’s res on the left and i’m on the other end, singing with gnarls barkley. mente, the guy in the middle, (pronounced men-tay) is one of the funniest, FUNNIEST, people i’ve ever met. when we were on tour, riding the bus across the world, he used to sit up at the front of the bus smoking menthols and singing old commodores songs. i’d hear him from the back and it would make me so happy. i’d sit up with him in the middle of the night, or too early in the morning and we’d sing, “sail on down the line, funny how the time can go but you, don’t really wanna know, that was wishful thinking…”. then we’d bust up laughing as we messed up the words. those were seriously some of the most hilarious moments i can remember. he’s got such a way about him. he’s one of those people that you love instantly. he used to look at me sometimes and say, “you’re all right holly. you are all right.” and then we’d start laughing again.
thanks lizzy for your note. i’m always a little amazed when someone refers to a song on the first album. it’s great to know that it makes you feel good.
deezy, i don’t when i will put out my cover of sabbath’s “changes”. my friend nik and i were making a covers album and we both got caught up in other things. i’d love to finish it and put it out. i’ll talk to him. maybe we can put out a little EP in the meantime.
hey hey yannick…good to see you here. 
pull out the scrabble. see what happens.
hi meg…nice to hear from you. how’d you get to arkansas?
me and my man
If you’ve seen the “That’s Why They Call It Rome” video, you might recognize my old man Joe in the photo above. This was taken as we waited for guests to arrive at the Bubbles & Cheesecake Launch Party last month.
The “Woman Thang” youtube explosion over the past four days has been a serious eye opener. I love that we got featured because there are now half a million people that know we exist. This has been a huge help flow to Allee and I which we truly appreciate. The disconcerting part of all of this is twofold. One: Youtube takes negligible responsibility for the content/communications of its users. In talking about it with Allee, she says that in the early nineties when the idea of social networking and these types of sites came into being, the aspect of a moral conscience is part what held back their development especially as per willisville, her prototype for such a network. In other words, it was not knowing how to handle/take responsibility for user content that slowed the progress of this type of site. Fast forward to the present: my experience this week points to the fact that that question still has not been answered and is actually being largely ignored as far as I can see. Free speech and self-expression are vital to the mental health of any society, right? But when it comes to comments of a hateful and violent nature, could we have some attempts to handle that? With the amount of traffic and money being generated by youtube, I think the resources exist to find a way to take some care and responsibility for what is going on. I don’t mind if someone doesn’t like what i do! But is it really okay for death threats to come through with no recourse? The second major thing I’m trying to wrap my head around is the anger out there between the sexes that I was blissfully unaware of as an American woman in the year 2007. Who knew that there were this many people who feel like sex and cooking are the only things that a woman is good for?
firestorm on youtube!
http://www.bubblesandcheesecake.com/blog/
a game of defense
scrabble is a game of defense. did you ever think about it like that? as tempting as it is to put all your eggs in the seven-letter-word basket, i think the game is much more about exactly where you put your two, three and four letter words. for instance, if you lay down your tiles in a way that gives your opponent the opportunity to score a double or triple word score, that could cost you the game in an instant. maybe you already know this. if not, try it. it’s a whole different mindset than the one that’s hoarding blanks.
who am i listening to? right now i’m listening to my friend sunny levine’s album, LOVE RHINO and before that aimee mann’s christmas album. the icelandic band, mum makes beautiful records. if you haven’t heard them, check out these two to start; GREEN GRASS OF TUNNEL & SUMMER MAKE GOOD.
there’s a lot to be thankful for
i went and sang the other night at my friend’s jazz club in hollywood. it was so good to make some music up on the spot. that’s my favorite kind of music making. on songs you’ve heard a million times, or sang many times, to reinterpret them with people i’ve never played with before is the kind of high wire that i like to do my thing on. i’m gonna go back every week, and sing a few soul or jazz standards and also teach the guys a few of my songs. this is one of one of the ways i stay centered when things get a little raw.
dorcas! you and your message really made my night the other night. thank you for putting your fingers to the keys and telling me your story. i love it. i love the picture of you singing the chorus to “scandinavian ladies” about the yellow headed ladies and your family’s reaction. and re: rickie lee jones, it was a spectacular moment for me when i got permission from her to quote her song at the front of “five little birds” which you mentioned. as it was told to me by my publisher, who had gone to her lawyer about it: the lawyer went up to her place to meet with her, and as he was leaving, she came running down the driveway after him saying, “oh yeah, i almost forgot. it’s cool if that girl uses my words.” i couldn’t believe it. her records were on repeat for me as i was growing up. for her to give me a piece of her to use in something i made, was FANTASTIC!
will, re: your question about “that’s why they call it rome”…..the ‘i get it, that’s funny’ refers to me asking the question, “did you find romance?” and then the guy answering affirmatively, “that’s why they call it rome”. get it now? rome…..romance?
re: therapy as suggested by matthew; music and singing are what center me. the more of it that i do, the better i feel. i didn’t mean to imply that i’m not ready to communicate my story for psychological reasons. rather, i’m looking forward to a moment when i can sit down for some hours and let it fly. it’s more a matter of having the time where i can really focus on what i want to say, as opposed to not wanting to say it.
this blog feels like a lifeline in that we can communicate back and forth without anyone else’s consent. i don’t need a venue other than this to put my truth into the world. that is a very beautiful thing. freedom is mine!
michael: thanks for switching it up at the record store. you know i really appreciate it.
svp: new york (is that where you are?) is my favorite city to sing in and so yes, i do it as often as possible. every 6-8 weeks is about what i can do right now. i am working on booking something at joe’s pub in the new year so i’ll keep you posted on that.
have a great meal today! let some shit go that’s bugging you and give somebody the benefit of the doubt. i’m gonna try and do that too.
there is a lot to be thankful for, no?
really doing it.
thanks to you early posters!
generally speaking i do write all my lyrics. on a few things i collaborate, such as the songs i write with allee willis; it’s a women thang, i confess, you help me, the hundredth time and girl in lust. the lyric to the song i mention at the bottom of this post was written by a poet/art maker mike benson in london. but other than that, i spin my own yarns.
i get inspiration from real things in the physical universe that are happening around me. for instance, when my husband is sleeping and i want to wake him up, i get out my guitar and start free-styling. i think those are probably my best work so far.
when i get stuck, either writing-wise, or emotionally, and when i say emotionally, i mean, lacking the morale to put another foot in front of the other towards my dream of singing on big stages with great musicians in front of lots of people ALL THE TIME — there are a few things that happen in succession.
i’m not quite ready to write about them yet, but that is coming, i promise. i taught a voice lesson this morning and haven’t had my coffee yet. gonna go handle that and ten other things and then take a stab at the elephant in my room. check back on that one please.
lee, bout photos: there were a few photos taken that night at the 100 club in london and the one that’s up is the best of the lot. my friend dobie took them. have you checked out his music? i met him in london when i was working on tender hooks with howie b. dobie and i made some songs together and there’s one available on the burntprogress 1.1 compilation on itunes. it’s called, “i’ll be your everything”.
with this blog…
hi. welcome. my name is holly palmer. i am a singer, songwriter and actor. i have been on a very rich, equally arduous and delicious trip in the music industry for a number of years. i have been signed three times and made 4 albums. i’ve sung with david bowie, billy preston, dr. dre, gnarls barkley, michael buble and many other fantastic musicians. i am in the middle of a new
project with my creative partner allee willis. it is a
collaboration between she and i and our respective alter-egos, bubbles & cheesecake. you can find out more about that here.
i have been a working musician for much of my life. my first record came out on reprise records in 1996. you can find it here . i toured quite a bit on that album and frequently these days i get emails and myspace messages that say, “where did you go? i saw you open for paula cole in florida and bought your album, and then i lost track of you.” or “hey, i heard you singing with david bowie and then you disappeared! what happened?”
i feel always a little pang when someone asks me that. it’s so nice to get an appreciative flow from someone about my music, and then that question of, “what happened to you?” which comes next makes me feel a little sick like, “fuck! what did happen?”
so, instead of staying in my head about it for one more minute, this morning i woke up and decided to start to communicate about it, with whomever out there is interested.
there’s not a quick answer to the question. there’s no one thing that happened. i suppose if i’m really honest, i have to say that i’m kind of stubborn and like most people, don’t like to be wrong or make mistakes. these three attributes combined can make for a certain type of creative and administrative paralysis. in addition to that i was a willing participant in the old school music industry that has been less than kind to artists. but above all, since i am responsible for what happens to me, to even say that something “happened to me” is a wrong road to start down.
so, in this blog, i think i will air out some history, enough to dispel some mystery but not so much to get dug back into the past.
in this blog, i would like to create my future.