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March 2005
Hi,
Welcome to my newly designed website … hopefully,
it’s consistent with the one New Year’s resolution
I’ve managed to stick with so far – less clutter.
And I promise to be more involved in keeping it up-to-date
and interesting.
OK, I’m lying. This isn’t about some new-found
resolve to be more responsible and disciplined…
this is about some other chick named Michelle
Lewis who happens to be a songwriter, putting
up a website. I first realized something was
askew when I began to get emails from club owners
around the country, giving me information about
load-ins and sound checks. So I’d go to the
club’s website to find that I, in fact, was
booked to play in Pittsburg… or Oakland… or
Boston. I was going to have a really busy summer,
I guess. But obviously, it wasn’t me.
Then the emails from old friends and fans started
coming – they were concerned and asked me: “did you
get plastic surgery?” “did you move to San Francisco?”
or “So when did you start listening to Ani Difranco?”
Now I luuuv me some Ani, but she has done the singer/songerwriter
world absolutely no good in spawning hoards of earnest/hyper-confessional/”funky”
guitar playing/potty-mouthed wannabe’s. Oh, the astonishing
LACK of anything close to a sense of humor in these
people…and like we never heard the word “FUCK” in
a song before – we beat that horse to a pulp in the
90’s.
So you came to my website to check up on what I might
be doing these days, and I deliver a tirade on some
innocent woman whom you might happen to like very
much. SO GO! Go to MichelleLewisMusic.com and listen
to some of the other Michelle’s songs and tell me
you wouldn’t be a little pissy too! I mean, it’s one
thing to have some 21-year-old with the same name
elbowing you out of your little corner of cyberspace…
but it’s a whole other thing for her to be so…so...
well, let’s just say I hope she grows out of it.
Now that that’s off my chest… some news:
Since moving to LA, I’ve been busy in a very different
way than I was in NY. In New York City, it was all
about survival. I know it’s the cliché, but I really
was scrambling to do everything – recording, writing,
session work and the occasional show at the Living
Room or the Fez. In Los Angeles, I mainly focus on
writing songs. Lots and lots of songs. I’m starting
to view it as if I’m playing the lottery and each
song I write is my ticket. I’ve written with some
pretty well-known artists AND some who are just starting
out. There are so many in the latter category, it’s
dizzy-ing.
The other thing that I’ve been doing is writing and
performing with my friend Kay Hanley (from Letters
to Cleo) as the Dilettantes. We’ve started this sort
of collective-slash-band that includes Nina Gordon,
Tracy Bonham, Lisa Loeb and Leah Andreone. I can’t
even tell you how satisfying and how much fun that’s
been. These women are so talented and such great people
and friends. It’s inspiring.
The best part is that I finally feel like I’ve reached
a comfortable balance between writing for myself and
writing for other people. I no longer see writing
for other people as some day job I need to do to support
my artist “habit” - you know? So I’m finally proud
enough of that part of my songwriting, that I feel
like I can play some of it for you. Just check “Other
People’s Music” in my main menu and listen to what
I’ve been working on over the past year or so. I’ll
also tell you a bit about the artist who recorded
the song and give you a link to their website.
And feel free to post your thoughts on the
guestbook – it was your emails and continued
interest that inspired me to re-do this website
and be more involved with it.
Thanks!
xo – The Original Michelle Lewis
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