Laura Harley

I’m on my way to Minneapolis today, and then on to Ann Arbor tomorrow for a workshop related to my volunteer work with the Baha’i Faith. We’ll be talking about (and then starting!) some neighborhood-based activities aimed at spiritually empowering children, teens, and adults to transform themselves and their communities. I’m looking forward to meeting many wonderful people there and to learning with them.

After that, I’ll be in Minneapolis in time for some more of this same kind of work. I will also get to see my family on Labor Day, which will be awesome. I can’t wait to get in some family time—I miss my sis, her husband, and my parents a lot! Hopefully I will get a chance to squeeze in some time with my friends while I am there, too. Then, its back to LA again.

Last night, we went to this beautiful lookout spot in the hills at sunset. I took a few photos of the views of LA.

It was very beautiful.

And I just finished a new song! I’m at that stage with it where it is just so exciting to sing it because it is new and about my life right now and I FEEL it so much. I am planning to sing it at the house concert I’m giving on September 5 in St. Paul, MN. If you want to be there, email me at contact[at]lauraharley.com, and I’ll send you the info.

More soon….

Since I’ve been spending so much time in LA, I’ve had many experiences that could really only happen here. You know, moments where you find yourself saying “ONLY in LA!” Some are fun like star sightings (recent sightings include Aimee Mann and Michael Penn at Target last weekend and Malcolm Jamal Warner at the movie theater). Some are un-fun like people I see who have plastic surgery addictions and almost don’t look real—-very sad.

But my favorite moments are the ones that remind me of the glamour and wonder of that partly mythical and partly real place, Hollywood. The other day I had one such moment. I was rushing to see a friend of mine play on the other side of the city. I had just finished a phone meeting that went overtime and I was fumbling with the directions to the club in my car, when all of a sudden I looked up and saw something that made me slow down. As I turned my car onto Hollywood Boulevard, the sun was setting and lighting the sky with brilliant oranges and pinks. Black silhouettes of palm trees towered over me on each side of the road and on my left, windows in the mansions in the Hollywood Hills reflected the sunset. It was so beautiful it took my breath away. Since I was driving, I couldn’t take a photo right then, but I went there the next day to try to capture a little bit of what I saw. This just gives an inkling:

Something about that sight transported me. I got little butterflies in my stomach and felt in awe of the glamour of Hollywood. Visions of movie stars from the ’50s filled my mind and, for a moment, I felt like I was part of it all—like I was one of them—driving down Hollywood in a powder blue convertible with the wind in my wavy hair and movie star scarf trailing behind me. (I actually drive a 2000 Saturn, have straight hair, and was so stressed that day that I didn’t have the presence of mind to accessorize.) I vowed to remember how special it is to be able to spend time in this place where dreams can suddenly come alive and cradle you; stolen moments in the midst of the LA madness.

The past few weeks have been really full—-in terms of level of busy-ness and level of intensity. There have been lots of challenges in my personal life and lots of decisions to be made in my professional life. It was kind of a roller coaster, but I’m feeling hopeful and good about it all now. Highlights in my music world have included:

–Filling lots of CD orders! It has been so much fun to get CD orders and send off my new music to people. And I have been so touched by the feedback. Thank you!

–Playing a fun show at Plum’s in St. Paul. Thanks to everyone who came out to the show! I had a great time. It felt like a performance where my piano playing reached a new level. I’m feeling like things are coming even more naturally which enables me to really sink into the songs and fill them with everything I’ve got.

–Seeing some of my fellow musician friends here in LA at a party this weekend. It was great to re-connect, make some plans to play shows together, and share challenges/ learning of being independent music artists.

–Finishing the first draft of my upcoming book and having the first reader/ editor review it! More info on that coming soon.

And this Saturday, I’m looking forward to seeing my friend and excellent music artist Jane Fuller perform in Sierra Madre at Cafe 322 (322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA). She’s invited me to sing a song, too, and I’ll be going on around 10:00pm. It will be a really fun night—come on out if you are in the area!

Drumroll please…..yes, that’s right my new online store is FINALLY finished! That means you can get your very own copy of my new album, “This One Chance”. Heck, you could even get a few copies and give them as gifts. After all, music is the gift that keeps on giving, people. And when you buy the music, you aren’t just getting some great tunes (if I do say so myself), you are also supporting my career and enabling me to continue making music for you. It is truly such a great privilege and I thank you for it.

You can go to my website and click on “buy” or you can go directly to the store: www.lauraharley.com/store.

You can order a CD and I will mail it to you OR you can download the songs. Thanks to everyone who has already bought the album and sent messages about it. I’m thrilled at the feedback! So, come on over and get your copy and let me know what you think (contact[at]lauraharley.com).

And hey, Minnesotans, I am playing a show at Plum’s Bar and Grill in St. Paul on Saturday, August 2nd at 9pm sharp. I’d love to see you there! There will be new tunes, old tunes, and even a brand new cover of a song that I love so much I just can’t stop playing it! You’ll have to come to the show to hear it….

Here it is, the new album cover! This first pic is the front album cover, designed by the very talented Dale Flattum of Copycats Media.

I wanted to have an abstract design on the cover this time, and Dale made this beautiful design. I love that it evokes so many different things:

–The black loop reminds me of a tunnel and the concept of going deep inside yourself;

–The little leaf-like image juxtaposed against the black loop reminds me of the concept of unity between spiritual and physical reality;

–The heaviness of the black loop mirrors the heaviness you can feel when thinking about the title of the album (”This Once Chance”—i.e. this one brief life) and the leaf mirrors the joy that can come from the same concept (i.e. we get this precious one chance and it is a gift).

And besides all of those deeper concepts, I just like the colors a whole lot and it just looks totally cool.

This pic is the back cover (photo by the excellent Daniel Corrigan).

Every time I pick up this new album, I have a little thrill shoot through me. yay!

And very, very soon you can have your very own copy, too….

These days, since I travel so much and am in so many places, home is an elusive concept. I find that I feel most at home when I am playing, writing, or promoting my music. Right now I am in L.A. doing a ton of music work and it feels GREAT! It is like finally coming home after a long journey, or eating a tasty Snickers bar, or swimming in a cool lake on a hot summer’s day. Ahhhhh!

I am in a little music frenzy, my friends. I am booking shows, writing songs, creating new promo plans, making videos, and meeting lots of new people with whom to share my music. Yippeee! I know some artists would cringe at the idea of having to do all that work, but for me it is like the best gift to get to spend time on it. It feels G-O-O-D. Sure, there are challenging moments, disappointments here and there. But who cares? I am pursuing my calling and that is what it is all about.

Related to that, I know I have been promising for a while that my on-line store would be ready for you to purchase the new CD. It has been taking longer than I hoped and we are having some technical difficulties. But, I have been assured by the resident technical guru here (aka Teddy) that the store should be ready very soon!! So, stay tuned and I will let you know as soon as it is ready. Thanks for your patience!

OK, back to the musical madness!

Photo by Daniel Corrigan

A couple weeks ago I held 2 special house concerts for families. The idea was to have concerts that people with young children could attend easily and bring their kids with them. There was a lot of response and what was originally going to be just one concert was turned into 2. These concerts turned out to be some of my favorite and most challenging to play. Favorite because I got to see so many adorable children, involve them in the songs, and see how they enjoyed the music. Challenging because they were SO adorable, that I would often get distracted by their expressions, dancing, and other antics!! I really loved doing it and may do it again because it turned out so well!

Here is a photo of my little buddies Gabriel and Everett, who could not WAIT to try out the piano:

Here is a photo of Olivia and me—-she is such a sweetie and she wore a special dress for the occasion of the concert! In order to involve the kids in the songs, I taught them little motions they could make to go with the words I was singing. After the concert, Olivia called me over and informed me that she did her OWN motions to not one, not two but FOUR songs :).

Here is a photo of my friends Rowan and Jessica and me. They are two of my favorite young ladies–both so intelligent, fun, and kind. They were very helpful at the concert—they helped to hand out animal crackers and juice boxes that were provided by a local children’s bookstore.

Yep, it was such a sweet experience! Thanks so much to everyone who participated.

It has been a loooooong time since my last blog post. The past 2 months have been the busiest I have yet experienced in my life. I got a lot accomplished, but I am feeling pretty exhausted. Thankfully, I am back in LA and have a little time here where I can rest and catch up……or try to at least. I was sleeping in this morning for the first time in a long time when I woke up just before 6am with a new song in my mind. I haven’t dreamt a song in a while, and I always know it is a gift when I do, so I usually don’t have trouble getting up to record it before I lose it. But, this time, I was so very tired and so it took a while to will myself out of bed and over to my computer to sing it. But, I got it and its great to have it—I think I might have a nice chorus or prechorus for a new song on my hands. Not surprisingly, the subject of the song as I dreamed it was something about not pushing myself too hard and about a mystery in life that I haven’t figured out yet. Hmm…

In other news, I had 3 shows last weekend in Minneapolis and my friend, Casey, was kind enough to take some footage at one of them. He’s posted a video of me singing my song “A Love So Deep”. (Interestingly, this song was one I initially dreamed, too.) Here it is:

Laura Harley - A Love So Deep from Casey Bowman on Vimeo.

Next time, I will share more about the house concerts for families that I did last weekend. The kids were absolutely adorable! I have some photos to share :).