My Journey with Dirty Little Rabbits

Dirty Little Rabbits Banner Warped Tour 2010

2010-02-15T02:41:00.001-08:00

rabbits_banner, originally uploaded by putitintherock.

Old Press Release with Commentary by Stella

2009-11-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

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.

Sister Soleil - my story by Molly

2009-11-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

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!

M. Shawn Crahan's Birthday Art Show special performance Dirty Little Rabbits

2009-09-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

Stella singing at Shawn Crahan's Birthday/Art Show in Dirty Little Rabbits

"Happy"

"Leave Me Alone"

"Hello"

"You Say"

"Happy Birthday Shawn"

Stella Soleil and The Cosmic Ballet

2006-07-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

Stella Soleil and the Cosmic Ballet at The Knitting Factory. Here is a logo I worked on around the time of the show. Traveled from Arizona with my friend Ashe (who I met through the Sister Soleil Fan Club and actually originally met her in Florida when Stella performed at Hard Rock Live in Orlando years ago. So we finally got to travel to see Stella live in the West Coast together. I am still learning how to get the best quality video. The first performance features Stella's cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Warm Place" which was originally supposed to be on the Stigmata soundtrack. This track was hidden for awhile and only available to fan club members and the track is now available on the Nine Inch Nail's website to listen to on the remix section of the site. Take some time to check it out and vote, its a beautiful track! Below is the video of a very personal beautiful expression of the song through dance.

Whorse live at House of Bricks 11/01/2002

2002-11-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

Pavement performance by Whorse

Stella Soleil Interview - Askmen.com

2001-08-06T00:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.askmen.com/celebs/interview/20_stella_soleil_interview.html

Stella Soleil and The Go Go's in Florida

2001-07-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Stella in Florida
These are pictures from Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando. Ashe was so kind to drive me around while I visited for the shows, we had a good time :) Cici and Frankie and Ben were really cool. Cici was the backup singer, she was so sweet, she mentioned that the fan club web page helped her in deciding if she was going to perform with Stella, she learned all she needed to know about Stella :) Frankie played the guitar, he rules, very sweet. Ben was the DJ, it was surprising seeing a DJ but it sounded really cool.
It was really different going from last seeing Stella as Sister Soleil and seeing her perform as Stella Soleil, but she still had the same energy, same personality and she had a blast on stage. Even managed to pull me up on the stage, which was exhilarating, Stella was always known well to bring her fans on the stage but that was usually small venues, I had no idea she was going to pull me up on the stage and have me sing along to The Go Go's "Kids in America" sadly I didn't know all the words, after that Stella sang "Stand Up" and we were trying to get everyone to Stand Up...and well the crowd was a tough crowd, and the sound wasn't the best, it was in a small coliseum and in order to even understand what Stella was singing was if you already knew the songs, she sounded great but a lot of people in the front couldn't hear, they set the sound up badly but, it was frustrating for Stella but she made the best of it, what can you do when you are performing in front of a big crowd and just trying to focus on just that and the crowd. The show in Orlando was much better, Ash and Alyssa and Jake and I had to go through hell to even get into Hard Rock Live, everyone was waiting in line to get their passes to see the Go Go's and we just wanted to go see Stella, after about an hour we finally got in and we went and saw her, got to meet Stella's best friend Krys, and her husband, they were all really cool, I had seen so many pictures of them at Stella's flat in London and Stella called Krys like everyday when she was in London so it was nice to meet the important people in her life. We got to talk for a little bit and than we had to go out up front, we couldn't take pictures, security was tight, I managed to sneak a few, but they didn't turn out too well, the pictures I have on here are Ash's pictures, some are mine. So here you go....there are more goodies to come, just keep looking.

Video of rehearsal before Acoustic Cafe Show

2000-07-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Stella performing "Smile Like Ray Liotta" with Boz Boorer on the guitar

Stella performing "Good Time Girl" with Boz Boorer on the guitar

An American In London

2000-07-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Molly's Diary of London visiting Stella Katsoudas

July 17th 2000

Well, we started to leave for Minneapolis around 9:00 AM. Our flight is supposed to leave at 4:15 PM. My friend and I visited his sister and his new little nephew in Worthington, which is 3 hours away from Minneapolis. We arrived there around 11 and left around 12. Cutting time very short since you are supposed to give yourself at least an hour to check in at the airport. We arrived in Minneapolis around 3 but didn't get to the airport till about 3:30. Finally made it on the flight. I wanted to sleep so I took some of my Dramamine, I have bad motion sickness :P He popped in a muscle relaxer so he wouldn't panic once the plane took off. I finally got to sleep and than he started poking at me, the muscle relaxer helped him, he was all happy, and I was all grumpy because I just wanted to be left alone, it was my own fault I didn't get any sleep but it was worth it, my favorite guy friend in the world, Grant came by and saw me the night before we left. I am not too sure what time we arrived in Charlotte, there was time change, the flight lasted a couple hours so we must have arrived around 8:00 or so. I remember when I drove to Virginia Beach there was an hour change and I think that some hours were gained.

July 18th 2000

We arrived in London around 10:00 AM. We had to wait for a bus to come pick us up once we got out of the plane. I felt like someone famous like they show in movies when they come down the stairs waving at their fans, it was pretty cool. We probably waited about 10 minutes for the bus to come pick us up and it carried us to hell, also known as customs. I now know how Jimmy Buffett feels when he says "Customs how they hassle me" Oh my god do I know how he feels. I got hassled like no other, I had to make the woman believe me that I wasn't going to stay here to live, I wasn't going to get a job, she asked me how much money I had, why I was here, why Stella wasn't coming to pick us up, what her address was, and I could understand why they would ask those questions but they were so mean, I wanted to cry. When she told me that I had to convince her that I wasn't going to stay I wanted to just flip out, I wanted to respond saying "being treated like this why would I have any desire to stay here?" but I didn't, I bit my tongue and I just told her I have school in the summer, I just graduated and I am just here to visit a friend and I didn't realize that I would be given such a hard time for that one reason. What was funny is people were zipping through while my friend and I were harassed. We did finally get our passport stamped and we headed over to the baggage claim, that was easy, as long as it took to get out of customs, our luggage wasn't on the belt anymore they were all set near each other, yay!! We asked where we needed to go to find our ride since we didn't actually arrive at a gate. We walked out and there was a mass of people holding signs. Stella said that she was sending someone with a sign that would have our names on it. A nice English fellow, named Peter all dressed up held the sign and he helped us with our luggage and we headed for outside. He told us that he was going to get the car, we weren't sure what car he would come back with, the way he was dressed we figured it would be a nice car. While waiting I lit up a cigarette, I was going nuts, I hadn't had one for nearly a day, poor baby I know. As I lit it up the chauffer drove up in a Mercedez Benz, it was black with leather interior, very nice. The drive was about an hour from Stella's, I was tired but I stayed awake and watched as the cars to the right were going the opposite direction than they would in America, and the drivers side was on the opposite side, very weird. I have come to the conclusion that I would get killed if I ever tried to drive in this country. It was amazing once we arrived at Stella's, just as we got all our luggage in front of her flat she came running out of the door with her camera in hand, we both got a big hug and a kiss and than we went inside her place.
Its beautiful, its kind of funny because the colors that are used in her living room are the colors that I picked for my interior design class, yellow and white striped wall paper, a mauve color in the furniture and the doors are teal and her book case, it has a very modern look, with a Slipknot picture on the shelf, most of the stuff in this place came with it, from the lamps to antiques to paintings to old hats!! After getting settled, Stella took us to a chinese restaurant called Choy's. I didn't like the food at all, they used ginger in it, something I had never had and I didn't like it, I am a soy sauce girl. People definitely have different taste buds here. I learned even more about Stella during the meal, I thought I had learned a lot when I saw her in Chicago. If there is one thing that hasn't changed about Stella its her man problems, I don't really see that as a bad thing, I mean of course its bad, but if it wasn't for her experiences she wouldn't have all these emotions to express in her songs, its hard to sing about somethings if you haven't really felt what the lyrics say. After the meal, we walked to this beautiful park, a park I plan on visiting often, called Hyde Park its so big and there is a beautiful flower garden right as you come in with many different kinds and many different colors of flowers. We sat around for awhile and talked some but my friend and I were both beat. We walked back to Stella's and watched an episode of Friends. I literally passed out, shortly before falling asleep I felt like I was going to throw up I was so dehydrated and so tired. I ended up waking up at 4 in the morning, than I called home and my mind was at ease. I got the chair to sleep in and my friend got the couch. I at one point tried to sleep on the floor, I found the chair had more cushion. I didn't want to bother Stella since she was asleep so I bared it, its all good, I still slept whether I was on the floor or the chair.

July 19th 2000

I started the day still pretty tired, I have now learned how much jet lag sucks!! My friend and I went around walking, we got lost, our destination was McDonalds and it normally would take about 10 minutes to get there, it took us about an hour and a half. I was getting very tired, I just didn't have the energy that he did. My friend and I went walking around some more, we went to Virgin Records, I had been searching for months for this awesome dance club song, titled DJ Jean, The Launch. I love it and I couldn't find it anywhere in Iowa, I found a compilation CD with the song Yay!!! After that we went back to Stella's and watched more episodes of Friends. I laid down on Stella's bed just to rest and I ended up conking out, my body was just so tired. My friend tried to wake me up but I just didn't feel like going out, I felt bad but I just didn't have any energy to go out walking around, my friend ended up going on his own. When he got back we both hadn't ate so we ordered take out from Planet Hollywood. I am not sure what time I fell asleep, but I got to sleep in the bed so that was nice, not that the night before mattered I was just so gone I don't think anyone would have been able to wake me up.

July 20th 2000

I slept until 4:00 in the afternoon today very rested. My friend arrived back at Stella's flat and we went to rent Stella some more episodes of Friends. Very popular thing to rent when you come to Stella's. My friend and I went to a pub next to the video store, I loved it, it was an American theme pub and the food was awesome, it had flavor and I think that I will plan on going there a couple more times as well. My friend and I walked back to Stella's and I had a pretty emotional talk with my friend, that's what sucks when I drink, I get emotional. Once we got back I just went straight to bed. I ended up waking up again around 4 in the morning again. I eventually got some sleep, another problem with jetlag is if you force yourself to just lay there and try and sleep and not get up, tons of thoughts just flow through your head.

July 22nd 2000

I got up around 1 in the afternoon, earlier than 4!!! Yay, and I had energy today. It was fortunate I had energy too because when I got up Stella and my friend were planning on going to this Japanese restaurant called the Benihana. They stopped serving around 3 or so and we had like 10 minutes to get to the restaurant from Stella's flat, they ran I sprinted, I had the most deadly shoes on, I knew if I ran I would fall on my face again I found another good restaurant, great food!! They cooked all the food in front of you, it was so neat and the food was so filling, pricey but good. After that we went to High Fidelity, it was a great movie, it had John Cusack in it and Tenacious D. Stella told us how she knew who Tanacious D was, that he was very cool. This girl has met so many people, its so cool. We ended up walking around after the movie and we rented MORE episodes of Friends, we also stocked up on food from McDonald's as a midnight snack. My friend kept buying Pringles and Stella and I kept eating them so we went to the grocery store so we each had our own can of sour cream Pringles I also found a favorite drink at Starbucks, yes they have Starbucks here and I don't like coffee but oooooh caramel frappacinos are the bomb. On our way back to Stella's I tripped on the deadly shoes!! It was very embarrassing but I laughed at myself for about a half an hour just because it was so stupid, I mean its not that hard to walk, one foot in front of the other. Well we watched more Friends. After that I tried to go to sleep, had a hard time sleeping, all I kept thinking about was my Mom and moving to Phoenix, men, my car accident that's almost 5 years ago, jetlag sucks!! I fell asleep at about ohh.6 in the morning.

July 23rd 2000

Well, I am now caught up on my writing. I am at Hyde Park, I just had a picnic with Stella and she is now sleeping, which I think I might try as long as these sirens that keep going off will go away. Just as I was going to go to sleep Stella got up and wanted to go, the once beautiful weather that we had the first couple days is now going away. I went out to eat with my friend at the Oriel, Stella had some phone calls to make so she couldn't come. It was great food. After the meal we just went back to Stella's and I went to bed. Stella asked me to brush her hair till she fell asleep so I wrote the club and typed to some family back home. I love London but I miss home

July 24th 2000

My friend left this morning, once he left Stella and I had the rest of the day booked. We went to Stella's label so she could get some stuff and I was just in awe, I had a camera and everything, I took pictures of the outside of the building but nothing in the inside, I went upstairs and in this office was a
big picture of Stella in her angel outfit from Soularium, nobody was in the office but Stella says I will meet everyone this week or next. The cab took us to this community center, as we sat in the cab Stella started singing one of her songs "life's a gas" I told her the cab driver must think that shes nuts, she didn't care Stella was looking for her friend Boz and her other friend Dean. They weren't at the building so we went to this café and met them there and Stella and I had a salad, after that we went back to the community center and Stella started rehearsing for her acoustic gig. It was amazing, as soon as the guys started playing the guitar she just burst out with this beautiful melodic voice. I got out of my video camera and started recording, I didn't realize that I would have such problems with the battery, the 30 minutes I recorded the battery went dead right after the rehearsal. I kept track of all the songs she sang and took pictures, I didn't bring the battery charger because 1. I didn't think that the battery was going to go out so fast and 2. I didn't think that there was any American outlets, Stella brought one with her but there wasn't any time to go back to her flat to get the charger we were too far away. Time went by pretty fast, we went to a restaurant and I had some unusual food, we inhaled the food and than we headed for the cab and went to the Acoustic Café, a very KICK ASS place. There were like 12 people ahead of Stella till she could perform, they would only let her play 2 songs and so of the 4 I heard she played Smile Like Ray Liotta, or as Stella's friend Dean would say, Jilotta and this beautiful song called Touch. I met many of Stella's friends, this guy Torch, Dean's dad, Nick, Christof from the video store, and I ran into an American, a girl from St. Louis so that was pretty cool. Finally the time came, I was pumped, Stella was very nervous I knew in my heart that she had nothing to be nervous about, I knew she was going to blow the audience away. She did! There was a great response from the crowd, I think getting back on the stage is exactly what Stella needed. She was awesome and after she performed the manager of the bar grabbed Stella and asked her to perform next week, and this time he wanted like a real gig, like 45 minutes of her performing!! Yay! We had a great night, Nick gave us a ride home and Dean and Christoff hung around and we watched more friends and the guys drank, Stella and I drank water, I needed to sober up and Stella doesn't drink so she had been drinking water all night. I went to go have a cigarette and Christoff was in front of me, I failed to warn him that there is a big step before you go into Stella's porch, it was too late, the poor guy was just sprawled out on the ground, I couldn't help but laugh, I felt so bad but I couldn't stop laughing. Dean and Christoff went home and we went to bed.

July 25th 2000

All caught up now, I have been typing for hours now. Today was an awesome day as well. The jet lag isn't getting me down anymore. I slept in today and once Stella got here she got ready, I was already ready, Dean was doing a gig at this place called China White for this girl called Sophisticated Savage. Before we left I called the airport and I have now extended my stay, I will be here till August 7th. I am so so so glad that I took this trip, London is amazing. After the gig, Stella and I got this seafood platter and I took one bite of some seaweed thing with rice in it and I gagged I thought I was going to throw up it was so gross!! Nick took us to McDonald's and I felt much better, as you can tell in this trip McDonalds has become my favorite food. Dean's Dad Nick , is so awesome, hes the sweetest guy, he checked out the fanclub website and commented how good it is. Way to go to the club and of course Colleen I spread the word at the café about this amazing club and the people are just amazed on how much we have accomplished. It felt good, and it feels good. Anyways, Nick took us around London, I got to see Big Ben and a bunch of bridges and it was amazing!! I need to see some of the historical sites, this place is beautiful. Nick was so nice to drive us around, I was bummed I didn't bring my camera but he said he would take us around the sites next week for Stella's gig. Ok, now I am allll caught up. Stella and I are just chilling at our computers and its almost 4 in the morning and its time for bed!!

July 26th 2000

Stella and I are now at Milo Studios, I am now witnessing how much work it is producing an album!! A lot! It's a really neat experience being able to witness it though, Stella works hard, I have watched her record and be patient as they tell her to resing the same lyrics over and over again while trying to get the right sound. Stella took a break and we went to go and eat, Stella's friend Terry came with us, he was very fun to hang out with, as we walked to the coffee shop all 3 of us took a glance at a very cute guy. Stella and I also went to a store called "Shh" it was a cool store, we bought some stuff and than it was back to mixing the song Imperfect.

July 27th 2000

I am bad, I got really behind. The song got mixed and Stella and I have just been chilling and once again been watching Friends. We went to a new studio today, Airstudios. They are remixing "Stand Up" a really great song. We just got to hear her final demo for the song "Imperfect" "Runaway Crush" and "Star" Star is a song sung with Stella's friend Terry, really cool song, they are all great songs. Those were all done at Milo Studios. Now we are in a cathedral that was transformed into a bunch of recording rooms, its very cool. Stella has been a little stressed out, some guys from Universal are mixing her song "Pretty Little Thing" and they aren't spending as much time on it as Milo and Airstudios did on her songs.

July 28th 2000

Stella's manager from New York, Doug came from New York to see what they came up with. Doug ended up loving Pretty Little Thing, the guys just didn't work on the song in front of Stella like the other studios did. I didn't get to hear the song but Stella said that Doug was ecstatic. Doug took Stella shopping, she wanted a rockabilly chick look so he took her to the Gap and got her some jeans and a jean jacket, very cute outfit I notice that look is in right now. Dean and his Dad also like wearing the jeans and jean jacket with converse shoes, kinda got a 50's side to them its cool.

July 29th 2000

After Stella stressing out so bad with Doug coming Stella got sick, so I did some chores for her, got her groceries and got more episodes of Friends.

July 30th 2000

I decided to pamper Stella, we went and got a facial and manicure and pedicure. We saw Gone in 60 Seconds, loved it, it was fun. We went to the Oriel, ya know the restaurant with really bad service??? It was pretty gross, Stella got a mussel salad and ended up finding an earth worm in her salad, being that she hadn't been feeling well in the first place it didn't go over well with her stomach. From then on we didn't go out to eat, we had baked potatos with baked beans and tuna and grapes and bagels with cream cheese with salmon on it, quite the course but it was really really good.

July 31st 2000

Stella and I continued going to airstudios the rest of the week, we hung out a lot, walked around London. August 1st 2000 Went shopping for souveniers didn't find anything, I met a nice couple from Washington D.C. had lunch with them, it rained and the shops close really early here so I didn't get a chance to find much of anything.

August 2nd 2000

Stella and I looked at new flats for her to live in, found some really nice ones, it is not cheap to live in London, wow. Stella found a really nice flat right next to a Starbucks, reminded me of a hotel, you walk in and there is security, we got to tour the flat and it was sooo nice, the furniture came with it, kitchen was nice, beautiful view and it had a fire escape, most important thing to Stella in finding a place was having a fire escape, she got the place, its really nice.

August 3rd 2000

Well we ended up watching all of the Friends episodes. I cried when Chandler proposed, it was so sweet!!! We wanted more episodes and we had watched them all! So I rented movies that had Friends characters in them, rented Fools Rush in, Kissing a Fool, great movies. Kissing a Fool took place in Chicago and one of the guys that Stella dated was in the movie, such a small world!

August 4th 2000

Since I didn't have luck with shopping near where Stella lived we went to Picadillys Circus, talk about a tourist trap, people everywhere!! Stella and I checked out the Doc Marten store, I was in heaven, I got Stella a new pair of Docs, they are soo cute, I had to get them for her. I bought a couple pairs of shoes, the prices were just great! After that I tried to shop and my debit card wouldn't go through at a store that I found all the souveniers I needed, errrr. Stella and I bought a ticket to see Whole Nine Yards, another Matthew Perry movie, Stella loved it, I had seen it, I love the characters in the movie. After the movie we didn't take a cab we walked to her place, it was a very nice night and a very nice walk.

August 5th 2000

Well the guy from Picadilly called, Stella talked to him for hours. I bought Stella a new stereo, its so cool, it's a JVC its got a cd player, mini disc player, tape player, very sharp. The girl didn't have a stereo, how can a recording artist not have a stereo??? I spoiled her but I would do it all over again and if not spoil her more. While she talked to the guy I was making mini discs for her. We just chilled that night, Stella spent a lot of time typing to you guys and she talked to Colleen and her friend Kris.

August 6th 2000

I just made more mini discs and I had Stella sign a bunch of autographs for friends and family for tonight is my last night in London.

August 7th 2000

My last day, I had to leave early in the morning, I hugged Stella good bye and hauled all of my luggage to the car. It was a long flight, customs wasn't as bad, it was good to be back in America, as soon as I got to Philadelphia I had potato skins a salad and soup, and smoking lots of cigarettes, I could have my Mountain Dew and my American food. I flew from Philadelphia to Minneapolis, Grant came and picked me up at the airport, it was good to be back but I miss Stella. Thanks to all of you who took time to read my diary page and I apologize for the delay in the pictures. My next project is the video and I hope to get it to you all soon.