this needs to be updated for more collaboration, but its taken care of in the Wikipedia, however I didn't know how to quote all the responses for Wiki, so this would be a good reference. Eek I need to go back to school for some of this stuff.
Here is an overview of Stella's work
Collaboration timeline with commentary by Stella Soleil:
1996 - Ministry
It was in Chicago, I was doing an independent album, DROWN ME IN YOU, at Chicago Traxx. Ministry was there doing FILTH PIG at the time. I met Al, he asked me to sing on a track. I think I was sort of sampled all over that album. He did credit me, which was very nice.
1996 - Chemlab
I sang on Vera Blue, what a great experience. I loved working with these guys, probably because I loved everything about their music. They kind of treated me like a princess, which is always cool. I was starving, I think I might have actually been on food stamps at that time, and it was great, because it was my first experience with "ordering out for the artist" -- always a buffet of food. This is when I really started to get into industrial music, circa 1995, 1996, 1997. They also told me about 1001 Homo DJ's, which is how I first discovered the voice of Trent Reznor.
1996 - 16 Volt
I actually spoke to eric about a year ago via email. I thought these guys were the most talented of all the industrial bands around at that time. Real songwriting. Again, these guys took really good care of me. Sweet boys.
1996 - Die Warzau
Jimmy Marcus and I became really good friends after this collaboration. It was for a side project of his and Van Christie's. Van and I actually wrote a track for my second album, SOULARIUM, in Chicago. These were the times. everything was exciting, dark and gothic. Jimmy is probably the best percussionist I’ve ever worked with. The beats were pulsating. I miss these guys.
1996 - Chris Connelly
The voice of the Revolting Cocks. My first experience with a rock star who had his head on straight. I felt dwarfed by this guys song-writing ability. I was so young, and clueless, he actually tried to teach me to play guitar too. I remember he played a few shows with Sister Soleil. He would get up on stage, alone with an acoustic guitar, and belt out SHIPWRECK. Rolling Stone magazine called this album of his one of the best of all time. He was about 7 years ahead of what we now call, Elliott Smith, Jack Johnson, and all the singer/songwriter crooners that are making waves today. In addition to that, he was all integrity. He worked at a record store, fans would come in to ask him for his autograph, and he would ask them what kind of music they were looking for, and direct them to it. He was more of a musicologist, and an authority on the state of the music industry, casting a shadow on what was to become of me. He really did try to warn me.
1997 - Joseph Arthur
I was already a huge fan of Joe's when I found myself at Real World Studios in Box, England. I was surprised to find him there, the same time I was writing and recording my second album. Peter Gabriel's studio was paradise. We were tucked away together, in his (Peter's) residential studio for 6 weeks. I fell madly in love with everything about Joe. He would play shows in London, and I would cry, sob, when I would watch him. His voice hits me right in the middle of the chest, and I have never quite gotten over that burn, that is his genius. He is a poet and he is a siren. I literally shook all over when we wrote the two tracks together. HANGING AROUND YOUR BONES and BUTTERFLY. Butterfly would wind up on my second album, it was the best track on it I think. Joseph Arthur, redefined the word brilliant for me. He is a prodigy in his own right.
1997 - Peter Gabriel
This was a funny story. Peter is the kind of guy who would bring tea out to a woman who would sit on the outskirts of the real world studios property, hoping to catch a glimpse of her hero. She would sit there, rain or heat, all day, to hear him say hello. And he would. That was the beauty, Peter, the kind gentle star. He watched out for me too. He knew I was a kook. And, he worried about what would eventually happen to me, and said so. It’s so funny how in hind sight, all these great people that I had the opportunity to be surrounded by, tried to warn me of the approaching storm.
Peter wanted to use a couple of producer's I was working with to program a couple of tracks for him. He asked me if I would be okay with that. I was flattered and kind of caught off guard, that he would bother asking me. I wanted to approach him about maybe doing something for my album, but I didn’t know how. I was pretty intimidated. I mean, it’s Peter Gabriel for fuck's sake. So when he asked me this, I answered, "Sure you can have my producers, but you'll have to sing on my album.” He answered, "Oh, is that how it works?" and I said, "Yeah, its called blackmail." He laughed, and I was gushing. When I came back from break, I was sick as a dog. I was all wrapped up in my blanket, and pajamas. I walked over to his studio, and asked if I could quietly sit there and hear him work. He was almost done with it. It’s a track called BLIND, that I had written in Chicago with Preston Klik and Thomas Cray. What Peter did to it, rose out of the console. There it was, his beauty, his unmistakable presence, the voice, that voice, on my track. On my little song. Like a mantra, he sang over and over again "shine like the sun, shine like the sun.” And, as I write this right now, I am re-living the incredible emotion that I felt that day, in his studio swivel chair, wrapped up in a blanket, and feeling as if, I shined like the sun.
1997 - Yeng Chin Lamo
I am not sure why she chose me, she has to have the most incredible stories I have ever heard. Peter Gabriel signed her to Real World Records, and I met her at the studio whilst she was recording her album. She is the Tibetan freedom artist. Yeng Chin actually escaped from Tibet, on foot, with nothing but flour in her pockets, to mix with puddled water along to way. I felt as if she could look right into me. I felt ashamed for all the complaining I have ever done about anything. She sings about her terrifying experiences and her love of the Dalai Lama. We were eating dinner together (all the artists, including Peter ate meals together in a beautiful dining room at the studio), and she told me that I had a beautiful voice, and wanted me to sing on her record with her. I almost choked. I’ll never forget that session. It was spiritually charged. If there is a god, I swear, he hangs around when she sings.
1997 - Corey Taylor
Corey and I go way back. Iowa days, touring through, always double billing with the then unsigned SLIPKNOT. I got my deal first and tried desperately to convince UNIVERSAL RECORDS to sign this band. I flew Corey out to Real World to record a duet called LIAR. In the studio the engineer set up a plexi-glass window between us, and we recorded the antithesis to “baby its cold outside.” “You liar! You god damn liar!” With an added dialogue bridge, explaining how much we truly hated each other. It was magic! For a long time, when we (Sister Soleil) toured this album, anytime near Iowa, Corey would do it live with me, which we ended with a fist fight, on the floor, rolling around, tearing at each other's clothes and faces. I got at least four or five welts every time I played with him. It was great.
1999 - Trent Reznor
This was the ultimate collaboration. Let me start by saying, Trent Reznor, is, has, and always will be my personal hero. I tried desperately to get signed to NOTHING RECORDS, but without success. Nobody ever believed, that he would want to work with me. Me and my pigtails. Stories swirled around about his dark side. People feared him. I had him pretty built up in my head by the time I had the pleasure of actually meeting him. It went like this. A music supervisor asked me to submit some music for what would be the Stigmata soundtrack. At the time, in my pocket, I carried around a version of Trent’s “A Warm Place” with my lyric and vocal spliced onto the track (something I did myself, without permission, in Chicago). It was originally done, as kind of an audition piece for Trent. Only I could never get it past his fortress of people that protected him. I handed it over, and I kind of knew, that the director would want it. This made me nervous. I never asked permission to re-record his work. And now I was pitching it for a soundtrack. To tell you the truth, I didn’t care about the soundtrack, I just wanted him (Trent) to hear it. This music supervisor worked with Trent closely on the Natural Born Killer soundtrack. They were friends, that was obvious. Sure enough, I get the call, the director loved it. I sort of panic, saying, I didn’t get permission, this isn’t mine to give you. And he says, “I will talk to Trent myself.” A few weeks go by, no word. I almost forget about it. And I get a call in L.A., it was Trent, and I was so freaked out, I knocked a huge carton of milk over the table and onto the floor, and my jeans, and the chairs. I was a dripping mess, and he says to me “I got this thing you did, I’m usually an asshole about people messing about with my music but I was pleasantly surprised.” The next week, I was in New Orleans, in his studio, with headphones on. Re-cutting the vocal, with his direction, and his re-production of the entire track. It got cut in the end, off the soundtrack. I really didn’t give a shit. I got work with my hero. And he was just as Peter was, down to earth, soft spoken, incredibly intelligent, relaxed, and very warm. It was then that, I realized, the truly gifted and successful people, are really the most humble. They have nothing to prove. They just are what they are, normally. Artists.
1999 Moby
I got a call from my publisher at the time, who was also Moby's publisher. Having spent a good amount of time growing up in the rave culture, I was a pretty avid fan of his. I was in New York at the time, and he happened to live a few blocks from where I was staying. He spins at a club every week, and he collaborates with everyone. I met with him, and he was very very sweet. a little quirky, pretty funny, very dry humor. We did a cover of Depeche Mode's "ENJOY THE SILENCE" as a kind of Torch song. Very slow, very trip hop. Very cool. We went to his favorite vegan restaurant afterwards, and I discovered that I did like vegetarian cuisine, and it had gotten me over my fear of tofu. I never received a copy of the track, but I saw his show in England a year later, and he said he spun it at the club and it was well received.
'99 Joe Gore
Joe Gore, has a discography that reads like a novel. He is most well known for his music journalism and his 8 year reign as Tom Waitt's guitar player. He also played 2 or 3 albums worth for PJ Harvey. He probably hates pop as much as I do, but having been challenged by Universal to write a pop album, we dove into new ways of discovering the beauty in it ala David Bowie and T-Rex. I spent 6 months writing every day with him in San Francisco. We wrote and recorded 18 killer tracks. In the end, I had to fight for at least one, twilight, to wind up on the album. He was the first person to help me discover that my writing abilities extended further than lyricism and vocal melodies. He pointed out that most of what I came up with, could be played as bass lines, guitar riffs, and strings. It always confused me that I thought in terms of so many harmonies and counter- harmonies. I sort of attributed it to my music education by way of the Cocteau Twins. (I listened feverishly to almost every release of theirs'). He told me that if I actually sang everything I wrote, I would constantly sound like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Twilight was a song where I sang the guitar riff to him, and then sang the melody that went over it. He opened me up quite a bit.
Chino Moreno (Deftones)
Chino. I first worked with him, briefly, after a 20-minute conversation in a New York club. It was 2 am, and the band and I went back to their hotel, to a make-shift studio, turntables and all, to write a little melody for something that would possibly be used for a new side project, called, Teamsleep. I met up with him again when I was in San Francisco. I hung out with his wife and family for 3 days, and we wrote two really cool song ideas, one of which would later be completed by Joe Gore called "Money". There is a line in that song that would later be the inspiration for a new band (Whorse) I would later put together in Los Angeles. "a pawn in the game on the table, a racewhorse in a stable..." "Money", the track, would never see the light of day, unfortunately, it was way too cool to be on a pop album. I’m waiting to finish the other track with him, I still got it buzzing in my head. I think he got a little busy with mammoth albums like WHITE PONY, and the new self-titled album. Chino, is all talent, raw and haunting.
'00 Siobhan Fahey (bananarama, Shakespeare Sister)
Dear siobhan. I became very good friends with her. She is the ultimate authority on cool pop. She turned me onto the most intense Bowie and old school pop. Motown and Dusty Springfield. I had a severe allergy to pop music, and Siobhan opened my judgemental eyes. She also turned me onto This Mortal Coil, which I eventually bought every back catalogued album of. We wrote quite a few songs together with Marco Pirroni (Adam and the Ants), but didn’t produce them in the end. She still was very edgy, and I was all edge, a combination, that wasn’t quite pop enough by record company standards. Whatever, I love her. She is amazing. Her cool dark brooding voice, very Niko.
'00 Boz Boro (Morrissey)
ROCKABILLY!!!! HELL YES!!! So I never thought I would groove to Rockabilly, but that shit is fun as hell. All the stuff we wrote together with Steve torch was so up and cool. So much energy and personality. We actually put a little acoustic three-man band together with young Dean Micetich, and I talked him into playing acoustic open mic nights in London. It was a blast. Good good times.
'01 Billy Idol
So I was doing a long interview with VH-1 and MTV. VH-1 was getting ready to do Billy Idol's Storytellers in the next studio. A producer asked me if I would be interested in meeting and singing with Billy the next day. (Billy had supposedly asked to sing with some young hot blonde. This I found ironic because I had recently scored fairly low on the askmen.com babometer -- a measly 7 out of 10. Apparently I was not the "most attractive fake blonde on MTV"). We rehearsed through three numbers the next day, Eyes without a Face, Forgot to be a Lover, and Mony Mony. Again, the stories that surround Billy do not do him justice at all. It was one of the greatest highlights of my life. Billy's and my forehead pressed together, singing "have mercy! have mercy!". He was a perfect gentlemen, and his band as well. Very, very gracious.
'02 Louise Post
When I came to L.A., a mutual friend had set up an introduction between Louise and me. I had really hoped that we could be in Whorse together. We wrote a good amount of material in a two- month period of time. I loved everything that we did together. In fact, we’re both native Chicagoans and had a lot in common. But splitting time between Veruca Salt and Whorse would have been a nightmare for her. Louise is a rocker. She could turn a hook around and arrange a song so effortlessly. She is a natural.
'03 Dolphin
This was an interesting recent twist on things. The success of a dynamic Russian duo, called Tatu is very much the responsibilty of the young head of Universal Records/Moscow named David Junk. I had gotten to be good friends with him when I was living in London recording the pop album. He always asked me what the hell I was doing a pop album for. I liked him immensely. So when Tatu broke, I razzed him via email, saying shame on him for such a shocking pop act. He happened to be coming through L.A. and listened to my new demos. And that’s when he got the idea to hook Dolphin and me up. Dolphin needed an English-speaking track, and so I was sent to Moscow to collaborate on a duet. DOLPHIN IS FUCKING MIND BLOWING. Even with a significant language barrier, (he speaks very little English) I got him. I got his lyrics translated, and realized this guy is somewhere between Joseph Arthur and Morrison. Total poet. His style is very Beck meets NIN. It could not be a more perfect collaboration. I went to Moscow with a few pieces I had written, one lyric without music called EYES. He read it translated into Russian, and he took it home and answered each line I wrote. It became a kind of letter to each other. Unrequited love, impossible relationships between artists. Showing the differences between man and woman, and then different language that they speak, by using the languages English and Russian, in the same conversation. It was heartbreaking. I would say a line like " your eyes are the constant that draw me in, your sparkle lashes me to milk" in English, and he would answer by saying something along the lines of how milk that was once pure and white, sours and curdles after a while, in Russian. It was so easy. I got what he was saying, he got what I was saying and we worked so quickly together. I saw him perform at the Roxy in Moscow. He exploded. He was on fire. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him, he made my heart beat rapidly. The collaboration was a success. We are going to be shooting a video together, and he will be coming to L.A. to collaborate on five more tracks, including one more duet.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sister Soleil - my story by Molly
I do not know how many times I have tried to sit down and tell this story. I told Stella she was my angel, and I honestly do believe that she is.
My memory of growing up involves a tragic incident that happened when I was 13. I lost my Mom in a truck/train accident. I was in the accident as well, so I lost my Mom, but I survived, it sucked, I felt like I had lost a part of me, I lost my childhood, from that moment on I had to grow up and deal and go to school and try and fit in with everyone and I hated it.
When I was in High School only part of me was there. My mind was always somewhere else, trying to distract me from the harsh realities of life.
I started to make friends with older people, from different schools. I make friends with anyone though, I really do, my school helped me out a lot, everyone I went to school with supported me, I just always felt like they felt sorry for me. There is nothing like being somewhere and feeling like you are just there and you do not know where you fit in.
I had a great friend though, Jenn, who got me out, even though I hated rollercoasters she took me to Adventureland. On the drive there is when I heard the interview on 107.5 KKDM, it was with the singer of my favorite song "Red" it was Sister Soleil. The D.J. Sophia John started asking Stella all of these questions and from the minute I heard her talk I could hear how sincere she was and could tell she had a good heart and I knew from that moment that I was going to see her show at People's in Ames Iowa. So I did, and that show is one of the most memorable shows ever. I was 15 when I saw her in concert, so I hadn't been to many shows. I went to Country shows with my Mom and my Sister but this experience was one of its own.
Stella had such emotion and passion in her performance, she danced, she sang with so much emotion that I cried over a song I had never even heard before. It was the song "Blind" which is what the name of this blog is inspired by "Shine Like The Sun"
To make the experience even more amazing, she hung out after the show to meet everyone, and signed autographs and even when the bouncers were kicking the underage kids out, Stella invited us into her tour bus so we could still get autographs and pictures.
At the age I was, that was the most incredible experience one could have at a concert!
After her show I had become inspired. I had started to write my own thoughts, working through some of my own emotions and I wrote this long entry pretty much about my goal in life and what I seeked out to do, about not taking my family for granted and being forever thankful for my family and friends, for all the people the prayed for me and helped me pull through when I was in the Hospital.
I wanted to make a difference, for a life being saved, you have to figure that there is something you are meant to be, something you are meant to do.
I finished my inspirational post and I posted it on my circa 1996 AOL profile to my geocities website link, not having any idea the impact it would make.
Sister Soleil came to Iowa quite a few times and there was one time where they came to Musicland in Ames, Iowa.
When she did the show in Ames, I managed to have my hands full and my next step was to get pictures with her and her band. I ended up dropping a few things and this girl yelled to me that I had dropped my stuff, her name was Heidi and funny enough we ended up being in contact again. Somehow the motivational page I had posted on my AOL profile, which also had music interests "Sister Soleil" attracted her attention without me knowing we had met. She imed me and it didn't take long to realize that we had met at the show. Heidi was incredibly sweet and she was nice enough to give me Stella's screenname that she got from the flute player.
We were both so nervous to contact Stella, and she told me I should try to contact Stella. So one night I sent Stella an IM and told her how much I loved her music and told her about the show and how much it made an impact. I told her that I was finding a lot of people that were fans of her and I told her that she should start a fan club. She responded immediately with "You are the first to mention it, would you like to be in charge of it?" and my jaw dropped, I responded by saying it would be an absolute honor. She asked me for my number and she told me she was going to call me.......I nearly fell off my chair, Stella, the musician that had become like my idol was calling me!
So I got off the lovely dial up and she called me, and from there it has just been history.
She couldn't sell Drown Me In You anymore, her first record so she sent them all to me, and when I say all, I mean like 30 boxes of merchandise, she sent it to me to promote the fan club, we would get people to get their friends to sign up for the club and in return they could get a CD or a T-shirt, I will never forget the day, I wish I could have had a picture of the amount of boxes unloaded in my garage. I took great care of the merch too. I took great care in promoting. Ask anyone at Gilbert High School in Iowa if they ever heard about me talking about Sister Soleil and they would probably say that I gave them a record, and that our English teacher played the record before our 15 minutes of journaling time.
I weighed envelopes and got dimensions to relay to those that wanted to have a CD mailed to them. I had a system, people paid me for the shipping and I got them their CD or poster or T-Shirt.
Once Stella had known I was legit and trustworthy, I flew out to Chicago and I got to meet her in person. I ended up getting the flu when I got there but in between I stayed with a fan, Colleen and got to spend time with Stella and her Mother. Got to hear some new demos and we planned for the next big thing for the club.
Which is around when I started to discover my passion for graphic design and web design. My last year of school I was actually becoming motivated in the computer classes, applying the club into my graphic design class, designing letterheads and business cards. Than I wanted to start designing the fan club website. Than The Art Institute came to my school and a light started to shine above me, and I had decided I was going to school at The Art Institute for Graphic Design and Web Design.
Before going to school, I was lucky enough to have the time off to go visit Stella in London while she recorded for her pop album in London. Which I wish I could go back and not have as much jet lag, but I got some good photos and footage and the video and the photos are worth a thousand words. It really was a once in a lifetime experience and it could not have happened without Stella.
When I got back to Iowa, I had a few months there and by October I was leaving for school. I moved to Phoenix, all the scripting classes, any compuer related class clicked, my drawing classes did not. I struggled with it. On the other end I was doing my "An American in London" site for class, using the photos, doing my first sitemap and mockup. I got graded for it too, and became closer to having my niche.
After about 2 years in Arizona, I managed to get caught up in being too far away from everyone. I got to have a visit with Stella in California, got to see Venice Beach for the first time, we had some good times!
It sounds like I follow her around where she goes, but timing just ends up being there. When I moved back to Iowa, I moved back just in time for Stella's new band Whorse. Which that is the one thing of video footage I do not have up yet. I will have it up though, must have all the pieces, that are building up to what is going on now. I loved Whorse, maybe its because it was also like my therapy for coming back home in the Winter and I got to hang out with her and her band. Also got to fly in a fanclub member to come see Stella, and drove him around, and we went to shows together, all over Iowa, all the venues I had been to when I saw her as Sister Soleil, well actually particularly one, People's, and House of Bricks, Twisted Parrot, and even a show that was in a barn, even manage to see Incubus and Hometown Hero in concert and headed to People's for the Whorse show.
I traveled to L.A. quite a few times to see Whorse, helped make copies of demos, walked up to people to sign up for the e-mail list. Everywhere I went, I always ended up meeting incredibly nice people. I went to Coachella with one of Stella's friends, Jenn and we had a blast, it was such an incredible experience, I so hope to go again, I love Coachella!
Ended up in a famous person's house and got starstuck and almost got my camera taken away and Stella had my back. I have stories that are meant for times like these to write about them and reflect on how great life has been thanks to meeting Stella.
So to know her as a person, to love any music she has ever come up with, I have always enjoyed her lyrics, because they are real, they are from her personal experiences. Blind is still one of my ultimate favorites. When I first heard "Hello" on Dirty Little Rabbits, I cried. I wanted so badly to be in Iowa experiencing all of the shows, but I couldn't, I was in Arizona, stuck in my own Rabbit hole.
Now I am back though, and its funny because I have not been around, and everyone is wondering who I am, and well now if anyone reads this, now knows who I am. Stella has been my angel. I have more stories to tell, and I will I just have to kind of sort it all out. Till then there is video to check out and my diary of each saga of before I left for Arizona and what I did when I was in Arizona and what I have done since being back home.
I have been trying to link a lot of things together. I spent hours just going over her Discography and seeing what albums are available to get. If you look at the Press interview she did with her friend Jenn, it has a really amazing connection, so I will post it, with credit to Jennifer Topolewski. I am no journalist, I just write what I think, I do record video at places I am at and I do my best to share the love and make sure everyone else can experience what I have been able to.
I am excited for Stella, I am excited for Dirty Little Rabbits, I am excited for this next coming year, I think its going to be crazy intense and its been a crazy ride and its been an absolute honor being a part of it!
My memory of growing up involves a tragic incident that happened when I was 13. I lost my Mom in a truck/train accident. I was in the accident as well, so I lost my Mom, but I survived, it sucked, I felt like I had lost a part of me, I lost my childhood, from that moment on I had to grow up and deal and go to school and try and fit in with everyone and I hated it.
When I was in High School only part of me was there. My mind was always somewhere else, trying to distract me from the harsh realities of life.
I started to make friends with older people, from different schools. I make friends with anyone though, I really do, my school helped me out a lot, everyone I went to school with supported me, I just always felt like they felt sorry for me. There is nothing like being somewhere and feeling like you are just there and you do not know where you fit in.
I had a great friend though, Jenn, who got me out, even though I hated rollercoasters she took me to Adventureland. On the drive there is when I heard the interview on 107.5 KKDM, it was with the singer of my favorite song "Red" it was Sister Soleil. The D.J. Sophia John started asking Stella all of these questions and from the minute I heard her talk I could hear how sincere she was and could tell she had a good heart and I knew from that moment that I was going to see her show at People's in Ames Iowa. So I did, and that show is one of the most memorable shows ever. I was 15 when I saw her in concert, so I hadn't been to many shows. I went to Country shows with my Mom and my Sister but this experience was one of its own.
Stella had such emotion and passion in her performance, she danced, she sang with so much emotion that I cried over a song I had never even heard before. It was the song "Blind" which is what the name of this blog is inspired by "Shine Like The Sun"
To make the experience even more amazing, she hung out after the show to meet everyone, and signed autographs and even when the bouncers were kicking the underage kids out, Stella invited us into her tour bus so we could still get autographs and pictures.
At the age I was, that was the most incredible experience one could have at a concert!
After her show I had become inspired. I had started to write my own thoughts, working through some of my own emotions and I wrote this long entry pretty much about my goal in life and what I seeked out to do, about not taking my family for granted and being forever thankful for my family and friends, for all the people the prayed for me and helped me pull through when I was in the Hospital.
I wanted to make a difference, for a life being saved, you have to figure that there is something you are meant to be, something you are meant to do.
I finished my inspirational post and I posted it on my circa 1996 AOL profile to my geocities website link, not having any idea the impact it would make.
Sister Soleil came to Iowa quite a few times and there was one time where they came to Musicland in Ames, Iowa.
When she did the show in Ames, I managed to have my hands full and my next step was to get pictures with her and her band. I ended up dropping a few things and this girl yelled to me that I had dropped my stuff, her name was Heidi and funny enough we ended up being in contact again. Somehow the motivational page I had posted on my AOL profile, which also had music interests "Sister Soleil" attracted her attention without me knowing we had met. She imed me and it didn't take long to realize that we had met at the show. Heidi was incredibly sweet and she was nice enough to give me Stella's screenname that she got from the flute player.
We were both so nervous to contact Stella, and she told me I should try to contact Stella. So one night I sent Stella an IM and told her how much I loved her music and told her about the show and how much it made an impact. I told her that I was finding a lot of people that were fans of her and I told her that she should start a fan club. She responded immediately with "You are the first to mention it, would you like to be in charge of it?" and my jaw dropped, I responded by saying it would be an absolute honor. She asked me for my number and she told me she was going to call me.......I nearly fell off my chair, Stella, the musician that had become like my idol was calling me!
So I got off the lovely dial up and she called me, and from there it has just been history.
She couldn't sell Drown Me In You anymore, her first record so she sent them all to me, and when I say all, I mean like 30 boxes of merchandise, she sent it to me to promote the fan club, we would get people to get their friends to sign up for the club and in return they could get a CD or a T-shirt, I will never forget the day, I wish I could have had a picture of the amount of boxes unloaded in my garage. I took great care of the merch too. I took great care in promoting. Ask anyone at Gilbert High School in Iowa if they ever heard about me talking about Sister Soleil and they would probably say that I gave them a record, and that our English teacher played the record before our 15 minutes of journaling time.
I weighed envelopes and got dimensions to relay to those that wanted to have a CD mailed to them. I had a system, people paid me for the shipping and I got them their CD or poster or T-Shirt.
Once Stella had known I was legit and trustworthy, I flew out to Chicago and I got to meet her in person. I ended up getting the flu when I got there but in between I stayed with a fan, Colleen and got to spend time with Stella and her Mother. Got to hear some new demos and we planned for the next big thing for the club.
Which is around when I started to discover my passion for graphic design and web design. My last year of school I was actually becoming motivated in the computer classes, applying the club into my graphic design class, designing letterheads and business cards. Than I wanted to start designing the fan club website. Than The Art Institute came to my school and a light started to shine above me, and I had decided I was going to school at The Art Institute for Graphic Design and Web Design.
Before going to school, I was lucky enough to have the time off to go visit Stella in London while she recorded for her pop album in London. Which I wish I could go back and not have as much jet lag, but I got some good photos and footage and the video and the photos are worth a thousand words. It really was a once in a lifetime experience and it could not have happened without Stella.
When I got back to Iowa, I had a few months there and by October I was leaving for school. I moved to Phoenix, all the scripting classes, any compuer related class clicked, my drawing classes did not. I struggled with it. On the other end I was doing my "An American in London" site for class, using the photos, doing my first sitemap and mockup. I got graded for it too, and became closer to having my niche.
After about 2 years in Arizona, I managed to get caught up in being too far away from everyone. I got to have a visit with Stella in California, got to see Venice Beach for the first time, we had some good times!
It sounds like I follow her around where she goes, but timing just ends up being there. When I moved back to Iowa, I moved back just in time for Stella's new band Whorse. Which that is the one thing of video footage I do not have up yet. I will have it up though, must have all the pieces, that are building up to what is going on now. I loved Whorse, maybe its because it was also like my therapy for coming back home in the Winter and I got to hang out with her and her band. Also got to fly in a fanclub member to come see Stella, and drove him around, and we went to shows together, all over Iowa, all the venues I had been to when I saw her as Sister Soleil, well actually particularly one, People's, and House of Bricks, Twisted Parrot, and even a show that was in a barn, even manage to see Incubus and Hometown Hero in concert and headed to People's for the Whorse show.
I traveled to L.A. quite a few times to see Whorse, helped make copies of demos, walked up to people to sign up for the e-mail list. Everywhere I went, I always ended up meeting incredibly nice people. I went to Coachella with one of Stella's friends, Jenn and we had a blast, it was such an incredible experience, I so hope to go again, I love Coachella!
Ended up in a famous person's house and got starstuck and almost got my camera taken away and Stella had my back. I have stories that are meant for times like these to write about them and reflect on how great life has been thanks to meeting Stella.
So to know her as a person, to love any music she has ever come up with, I have always enjoyed her lyrics, because they are real, they are from her personal experiences. Blind is still one of my ultimate favorites. When I first heard "Hello" on Dirty Little Rabbits, I cried. I wanted so badly to be in Iowa experiencing all of the shows, but I couldn't, I was in Arizona, stuck in my own Rabbit hole.
Now I am back though, and its funny because I have not been around, and everyone is wondering who I am, and well now if anyone reads this, now knows who I am. Stella has been my angel. I have more stories to tell, and I will I just have to kind of sort it all out. Till then there is video to check out and my diary of each saga of before I left for Arizona and what I did when I was in Arizona and what I have done since being back home.
I have been trying to link a lot of things together. I spent hours just going over her Discography and seeing what albums are available to get. If you look at the Press interview she did with her friend Jenn, it has a really amazing connection, so I will post it, with credit to Jennifer Topolewski. I am no journalist, I just write what I think, I do record video at places I am at and I do my best to share the love and make sure everyone else can experience what I have been able to.
I am excited for Stella, I am excited for Dirty Little Rabbits, I am excited for this next coming year, I think its going to be crazy intense and its been a crazy ride and its been an absolute honor being a part of it!
Friday, September 25, 2009
M. Shawn Crahan's Birthday Art Show special performance Dirty Little Rabbits
Stella singing at Shawn Crahan's Birthday/Art Show in Dirty Little Rabbits
"Happy"
"Leave Me Alone"
"Hello"
"You Say"
"Happy Birthday Shawn"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)