New Year’s Eve Resolutions
December 31, 2005
Tonight will be a blast, and I hope to see lots and lots and lots of people at MacHenry’s. If only two people show up, well, then that is still lots of people my band and I will play for! We’ll sing of love, we’ll sing of hope, we’ll sing of being weary and hanging on and finding joy and making out and laughing and drowning and clowning around. We’ll sing “Auld Lang Syne” and we’ll raise a cup of cheer and eat food
and share hugs and some people will get to kiss (this will be my first year with out a New Year’s kiss with Lance!)
When I first met Lance, he and I talked about how cool it was that Paul and Linda McCartney were, allegedly, only seperated ONE NIGHT their entire marriage. So, Lance and I talked about trying to do that, too, but of course that went out the bathroom window pretty quickly cuz I have to leave a lot and he has to stay a lot and with children….well, I guess being a bah-zillionaire makes it easier to be together all the time!!!! Anyhoo, Lance and I are together in spirit and we say KUDOS to the McCartneys (and the new Mrs. McCartney, as well) for being fine examples of a healthy marriage.
So, put in some universal resolutions here on the old blog…let’s see if we can come up with a Zen La La list for 2006!
I’ll kick it off, to make it easy:
1) Continue to support the Tanner Romanian Mission and others (visit http://www.necessaryangels.org for more ideas!!!)
Happy New Year, angels in abundance…I see you!
Love,
Sara
posted by Sara Hickman at 11:13 am
comments (1) | e-mail this entry | permalink | digg it
What Christmas Does for the Soul & Jerry Jeff Walker
December 24, 2005
I was so honored to receive a call from Marcia Ball the other day. She invited me to join her at Jerry Jeff Walker’s house for the annual Christmas sing-a-long party he and his fantastic wife, Susan, host. The group rides around on two Dillo buses and visits hospitals, ending up at the Zilker Christmas tree for a sing-a-long outdoors with whomever wants to endure the nice, 65 degree weather.
Wow! I was laughing so hard within the first fifteen minutes of arriving…so many friendly, musical people…what a true BLAST this was!
Entering Jerry Jeff’s house was like entering a Dicken’s novel: a white stone English tudor castle with dark wood paneling on the interior, complete with full blown Christmas decorations: thick, red candles on heavy, twisted wooden pillars and antique books on display turned to Christmas lore and illustrations; the scent of fresh pine and wreaths and white blown glass decorations sparkling from gigantic trees.
Mix this with mantles and room after room of collected Christmas stuff and a small terrier trying not to get stepped on by the likes of Red Voelkert and Shawn Colvin and Jimmy Dale & Janet Gilmore (and Collin, too…what a sweetheart!) and Bill Oliver and Bob Livingston and Carolyn Wonderland and Karen Kuykendahl, the great actress, and Marcia herself (with accordian in hand) and Mitch Watkins and Dale Watson….and then Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison appeared with their sweet, red headed children in tow and we’re all eating fresh tamales off the grill and dipping chips into yummy queso and practicing “Joy to the World” and Jerry Jeff’s saying, “No, no, no!” and stopping five guitarists and an autoharp and me on tambo and we wait as passing chords are discussed and every song seems to end up in the key of G but we’re all back to laughing and chatting, the Studebaker women in three part harmony with swell, wide brimmed velvet hats and curls of grey and smiles of splendor. I hop over the sofa to stand next to them and four part harmonies jump into the fray. The room is packed with Austin musicians, all of good cheer.
We saunter outside, me with my bag of shakers and tamborines and jingle bells to share and we ride the Dillo buses, singing all the way (Beatles and The Band and assorted songs that have nothing to do with Christmas but fill us with good cheer), fiddles cranking up the solo sections and we visit the Austin Children’s Hospital (we all walk up the stairs…too many of us for the elevators!) and I spot a small boy who is staying here in the hospital; he has come out in a red wagon with his IV attached in his little hand…
and I have a very small wooden instrument that has bottle caps on the end (it makes a shaky-tinkly sound…very sweet) and his mother and I help him to hold it and he plays along and a young girl has tears in her eyes and I take her a maraca and she smiles and everywhere, everywhere, all the good folks are singing about Santa and Rudolph. We stay here for an hour and then back down the stairs, the closeness deepening for all….the spirit of good will shining…
Next stop: St. David’s Hospital, and we visit a ward with the elderly in different stages of rehabilatation….They are enjoying a meal and we come down the hallway, whispers and nervousness, and find our place against a far wall, and the music starts up and I find
the patients who need the love; I walk around hugging and holding; stroking cheeks lightly with fingers and kisses; talking in quiet
ways that open the heart and conversations begin and tears flow and the songs are bringing forth sadness and hope and wishes for
so many different things and hands are being held and I run to find tissues and sing a man to sleep and then a young woman comes to me as I leave another and asks if a few of us can come to her grandmother’s room: her grandmother has popped her hip and is in intense pain…yes yes I say no problem and I grab Bill Oliver and Shawn C. and we head down the hallway, asking what would be appropriate and we sing “Silent Night” and the grandmother is touched and asks for another and we ask if she would like something peppy…so then “Frosty the Snowman” comes bursting out of our mouths and Shawn and I are bouncing up and down like a pipe organ and we are in three part harmony (most of the time!), thumpety thump thump thumping and giggling and Bill is so fun and the granddaughter smiles and as we leave I talk, briefly, with another woman who is bedridden about an author we both like and she insists I need to read the new John Grisham, I will like it, she says. I will and we kiss and now we are catching up with the others, heading down in elevators (this hospital has big ones) and on the ground floor Bill and I think Django Walker and three or four more of us stop and sing to a woman in a wheelchair, she is clapping and smiling and her daughter behind starts to tear up and I hold her close and we sing, we sing as we stare in each other’s eyes and we are grateful to have each other to hold. There is so much love among us, strangers who are no longer strangers because of the christmas, because of what it does to the soul.
Last stop: Christopher House, a hospice and the very place my care partner passed away this summer, and I am feeling many feelings as we approach this spiritual, peaceful and loving environment. We all gather in the halls, we will not see these patients who are so close to death, but they will hear us and hopefully hear our care, hear our hearts reaching out to them at the end of their journeys. As we all sing, I gaze around at all these good people and my heart is bursting with love for each and everyone of them, and most especially for Jerry Jeff (who is in intense pain from lower back pain and is smiling the widest of all) and my eyes mist up again and the words can not leave my mouth, and I just relish the love and enjoy more tears and stand close to dear Janet who is kindly worried about whether I will get my wedding jingle bells back from a little boy and I am saying, “No worries…it’s all good!” and the bells are far from my mind….when we notice they are behind her and laugh because it is all good.
Out with reverence to the Dillo. We board and head on down to ZIlker park, to sing with all the Austin folks who’ve come to twirl under the tree….There were so many people waiting, I had no idea! We sing and laugh and Shawn ends every song with “Ho ho ho!” and
all is merry and bright as Bob is shouting out solos and I sing into the upright bass player’s ear that I’ll be home for Christmas and then the evening is done and we all head back to Jerry Jeff’s for more chuckles and snacks but I give hugs good bye at the driveway and walk to my car as my phone rings and my mother and I talk about writing a song together about Martha (from the Bible) and by the time I hang up I have shared a chorus idea and my mom says she’ll get to work on the verses and I get into my car and think what a blessing to be able to have music and stillness, all in one night. And I am looking forward to being home, really home, for Christmas with my family and soon…Santa will be here!
And so, merry christmas to all. I must go to bed, I must be with my husband who is patiently waiting on this Christmas eve, wondering what I could be typing up with such fury (in my effort to type quickly, to be with you, to be with him….) To sign off on this Christmas eve with the steadfast faith that human beings have the capacity to create great love and I will cling to this as I drift off into a good night’s sleep (I will, I will!!!) and wake to the magic of Santa Claus.
Dear ones, I send my love to you…Oh, do know this.
posted by Sara Hickman at 09:51 pm
comments (0) | e-mail this entry | permalink | digg it
Sisterhood
December 21, 2005
posted by Sara Hickman at 09:44 am
comments (2) | e-mail this entry | permalink | digg it
Sunday to Two Weeks Back in Backwards Time
December 12, 2005
drove home from dallas. did NOT get a speeding ticket. whew. missed iolana’s church rendition of “the grinch”, but lance taped it so we all sat around the tube and watched the show that night with a fire blazing in the fireplace. snuggle time. i fell asleep during storytime at bedtime. i woke up later and lance was watching “sex in the city”. i fell back asleep and dreamed.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10:
(Pic by Eddie Malphrus. Thanks!)
played with milo deering and colin boyd as my band at poor david’s pub. we played 2 1/2 hours and rocked the casbah. the two of them really brought a lot of depth and class to what i’m trying to do with my music; i felt completely at ease and supported, and we hadn’t even rehearsed…they just had their charts on stage and off we jammed. i felt ten feet tall, and even burst into a rendition of “evergreen”, per milo’s nudging, pretending to channel her soul as the words and melody burst forth. milo even chimed in with harmony. he plays pedal steel, violin, mandolin and guitar. colin played electric and sang and wore this groovy hat. two handsome cats, two extraordinary players. i think i have a name for the band (which is, usually, brad, zirkel and eddy.)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
played a two hour kids show at poor david’s to a bevy of girls! there were only two little boys, about two years old, that were in attendance. we sang, we danced, we hopped, we complained, we chatted, we sang christmas songs and jingled the bells i brought in a sack. good times!
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9:
went to the production block and recorded fifteen spots for a new radio segment i am hoping half price books will endorse called “sleepytime with sara”. joel block rocks. sarah binion came and cheered me on. did not bring pie to the studio, which is becoming my thing: take home baked pies to recording sessions. just didn’t have time to make one.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8:
remembered john lennon and where i was on this day all those years ago when he was killed. i had driven up in my tomato colored kharman ghia to the front of my high school. it was raining. people were standing in the rain, heads thrown back or tucked in with despair, letting the rain soak them wet. i didn’t understand what was going on. why was everyone in the rain? i parked my car, and walked up to one of my fellow students. “john lennon was shot!” and then i stood in the rain, my face wet, too, but not from the sky.
no school today. everything is frozen. the girls stayed home and we messed around. first we dropped off our kitten, pepper, to get neutered, and then lily and i went and bought gloves and hats for the homeless. by 7:45 am, we were down at the shelter, giving them out. there were a lot of pigeons nestled all around the entrance. they didn’t even fly away when we walked up. people were smoking cigarettes and trying to stay warm.
teresa, my lovely assistant, brought supplies for after work and the girls made home made pizzas for snacks. they even got to roll their own dough! that teresa. so thoughtful.
that night, we took the girls to the state theater for a production of “a christmas carol.” such wonder fills their eyes…great ensemble, great sound and lighting effects. love this show!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7
met with rob sides, who is going to become the general manager of my label, sleeveless. very productive meeting over tea and breakfast tacos. we had a great brainstorming session. good things will come of this!
met with cartis group to check in on design of “motherlode” artwork.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6
sang at UT’s elementary school….such awesome children! it made me sad i didn’t know more songs in spanish (note to self…you know what you need to do!)
met with lucy here at my house about helping with internet placement of songs, reading contracts, etc. i love lucy’s smile. she will start helping out as a sleeveless hand in january. welcome aboard!
picked the girls up from school. hung out.
got ready around 5:30 and had aspen come sit with the girls. she’s super! met lance at spazio for an event with any baby can. heard a deaf family from new orleans talk about their horrible ordeal during hurricane katrina. especially awful since their hearing family had left town and not warned them in advance what was coming….the mother and father are both deaf, and they have two little girls. they hid in a closet and heard the destruction all around them. then, for many days, they tried to find help. they were finally forced to walk through the water, until a boat carried them to land. then they were living under and underpass, and finally taken to the superdome. they saw many terrifying things (a child molested and later found in a freezer. the deaf father tried to tell an authority, but they did not speak sign language, and so the little girl was killed.) they saw bodies in the water. they felt abandoned. they found hope in austin, where an interpreter started to help them. they were seperated from their children at some point, but the interpreter found them several days later, enrolled in a school and safe. MY GOD! HOW HORRIFYING WOULD THAT BE?! they are now pregnant with another child, and settling in to austin. any baby can has been helping them. after the two parents spoke, the oldest daughter spoke. she was nine. it was all incredibly moving.
then, alan lueke recieved an award from any baby can, and then i sang “we are each others’ angels” and it was a magical, love filled night.
the owners of spazio saw lance and i looking at a book of photography afterwards, and came over and gave it to us. they were very kind.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 5
six kids in my car last night, we drove to KVUE/ABC television studios here in austin to shoot a segment for christmas eve/christmas morning. everyone looked so festive in their green and red! three girls (all in dresses a-sparklin’!) and three boys (dapper and fresh faced). led the kids among a massive plethora of blood-red poinsettas and beside a decorated tree in “here comes santa claus” and then! voila! he appeared! and what a jolly st. nick he was, complete with leather brown boots, a heavy red suit accented in white fur, real curls in his real white beard, golden glasses upon his noggin. (what’s a noggin? is that a nose? all of the sudden i’m thinking it’s a chin…) and he had a lovely english accent to make the picture complete! he read stories, and gave out presents (i got to be his elf! just call me “jingles”)….all in all, a good time, then the kids and i piled in the car and drove through a jack in the box….i felt like mrs. partridge!
met my friend, margaret, for lunch, and burst into tears. she kindly kept repeating that she has cried on my shoulders in abundance, but still….so, finally, after letting go of feeling like a silly, i just went ahead and let the tears out. i was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work, holidays, arguing with a friend, lack of sleep. i ate a hot meal and sobbed all the way through it. margaret was so comforting and let me just get it all out. she then surprised me with a christmas gift and lovely card, and never ONCE looked bothered by the fact i had tears in my meatloaf. no one in the restaurant seemed to be bothered by it, either, so i’m thinking this location has seen it’s fair share of distraught artist/moms. i left feeling such relief. thank god for good friends!
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4
i can not remember what i did today, except that i know i went to church.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3
sang at the capitol for the official interior lighting of the tree in the legislative branch. i was very excited about singing. had a great soundcheck. met some of the other singers who thought i was shawn colvin. had to smile.
my turn to sing after a choir of children, and the guitar wasn’t working. i couldn’t believe it. it threw me for a loop. i sang the first song mostly a capella, looking out into the faces of politicians, dressed to the nines, children sleepy eyed and ready for santa. second song, i reached over for another mic stand/mic, and tried to set it up for the guitar. that was awkward, especially as i was in a nice ball type gown get up, but got it to happen, and sang christmas cheer and everyone whistled on the break. good, good. then, the last song. i had chosen “happy christmas” by john lennon. it was a risk, i knew. i had made hand outs with the lyrics and had the sound man run out and pass them out. no one sang on the song. i dedicated it to children all around the world who deserve healthy food, homes to live in and safe haven from war.
i was stunned that not one person sang along…i was feeling verrrrrrrrrry alone on “war is over…if you want it….” i left the stage feeling peculiar and shaken. it is a hard climate to speak out about war.
red steagall had me come back up and play guitar for him as he sang “silent night” and “santa claus is coming to town”…good man. he’s a cowboy poet!
i felt upset with the whole shebang. i don’t like upsetting anyone, but i also like to know that people are thinking about their country’s actions, having discussion about it. i feel, as a musician, i have an obligation to sing about what is important, not just to me, but to others. or i should say, i have an obligation to sing about reality. i don’t know. maybe folks didn’t know the words, but lance agreed with me: it was a statement in itself that no one chose to sing along on the song. very bothersome and heartbreaking for me.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2
sang at Patton Elementary, after getting my girls off to school. LOOOOOOOOVE this school. 500 kids, full of energy, all in team colored tee-shirts to identify their classroom and grade level. like singing to a giant rainbow!
we danced and yelled and wow! ZINGO! it was a BLAST! stuck around and talked with kids and handed out trading cards….lovely, perfect morning. got the principal up to dance on “iolana” and he was hilarious, of course.
later that day, lily, io and some other girls from our troop all went bowling. shoes and socks and orange neon balls and pizza and jumping in the inflatable castle and trying our luck at the claw and a few video games. great way to end a fun day.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1
sang at a memorial service for Interfaith Care Alliance, which i was a member of all last and this year. my care partner died earlier this year from AIDS. a buddhist monk, some amazing African American dancers (who had me in tears of love and joy) and candlelighting, mixed with music and quilts representing those who had died. my family went with me….and we had just come from…
another benefit concert i played on the other side of town for Taco Express…maria, the owner, has an enormous statue of herself, arms extended, on top of the restaurant. it is now a legendary part of austin. however, some freak decided to climb on top of the restaurant and sawed off her arms!!!!!!!!! so, i played to help raise funds to create new appendages to replace the missing ones. on halloween, she made it look like they were covered in bandages with blood spurting out! she is so funny.
earlier in the day: drove in from denton, texas….in time to pick the girls up from school.
MONDAY-WED, NOV 28-30
went to denton to record with carl finch. we have a concept to make a record together. here is a list of adjectives to describe those three days: exciting, conflicting, confrontational, confusing, happy, sexy, silly, passionate, creative, musical, bewildering, loopy, serious, not serious, over the top, exhausting, good, great, expansive, curious.
drove in from denton on wednesday and went to glenn mitchell’s memorial service…that had me bawling and laughing. what an amazing life this man had. he was intelligent, thought provoking, curious, and had quite a core of talented, interesting and perceptive friends, many of whom got up to spoke and kept us all in stitches with stories of glenn. josh alan played guitar in his mysterious black ray-bans and gail (from cafe noir) played beautiful violin with another violinist and i sang at the end…and, once again, the microphones went out on me.
it was such a stellar tribute to an incredible human being. thank you, glenn, for all the years of joy you’ve brought so many, including me. you were one of the best.
(as a side: i am convinced there is a gremlin in my guitar case that hops out and decides to mess with the equipment, yet, i just keep performing and do what i must when i’m left acoustic! be gone, little demon! i vanquish you to greenwich village…now, get away! leave me be!)
posted by Sara Hickman at 10:01 am
comments (4) | e-mail this entry | permalink | digg it
Page 1 of 1 pages
sarahickman.com | Bio | Music | Shows | Press | Store | Community | Zooks
Copyright © 1993-2007 Sara Hickman/Sleeveless, LLC | 298032
Whether you've learned about Sara Hickman through her music, her family, her causes, or her films, you know that her originality, creativity, and enthusiasm bring a fresh meaning to the well-worn phrase "living life to the fullest."
What makes Sara tick? What has she been up to since she first hit the ground running (well, at least crawling in the early years)?
Read a complete bio at sarahickman.com.
Visit Start the Dialogue
Click here to preview!
Click here to Order!
Press Coverage
KUT's Austin Music Minute
Jupiter Index interview
Motherlode Reviews
Sara heads the Austin Chronicle Fortunate 500 Music List once again!
Here's the 2006 list.
Listen and vote for Sara on the American Idol Underground, featuring on-demand streams of popular artists like Sara!
Check out this cool map showing where Sara fans are across the nation -- and add yourself to the map!
Motherlode
Click here to preview!
Click here to order!
Faithful Heart
Click here to preview!
Click here to order!
Big Kid
Click here to preview!
Click here to order!
Featuring "Look At Me" as heard on American Idol!
I Am Going On A Journey: the DVD
Click here to preview!
Click here to order!
