rules and ribbons

it's been a while. not sure where to stop, start, or end. 9 hours of a strange day last saturday when this shot was taken by my sister. amy was stomach flu-ey and i was feeling at odds with myself but d got me up and out of that. guest house livin and straight no pimpin. they are building new sidewalks here downtown. no main street really to walk on or around so the main artery in plugged so the ants are flowing. people wandering. i've been working on rough mixes of the entire album. question is now about the elusive 10th song. did one with erlend that i really enjoy and i am thinking of sneaking it in there. problem, it was recorded once as a call and response song. i wrote it outside my parents house on a guitar. it turned into a pop synth tune. now i want to document it as it should. voices and acoustic guitar. is it going back?

buildings and boundaries.

the last 2 months happened overnight. we played a great show at the music hall... fun fun fun fun fun. i've kept the 2 little wooden houses from the shopping feist-spree for her art. but i've kept them in my pocket or in my purse and set them down at each new home. 2 houses. always thinking in 2's. it's being a twin maybe? i'm trying to update my work and life and all things. i've put some new pictures on the rubies site... www.simonerubi.com/rubies.html

i am drowning in work. trying to come up for air. at some point, something is gonna give. trying to do it all. i want it all.

recording with scott was refreshing. the process felt so much different then the stockholm and bergen recordings. putting some california onto the record. when i am here, the process feels so secondary. it is more what is happening and going onto the songs. more scientific in a way. it's also because the album is so close to being done. it was very real. i also got terribly ill for a week. that was brutal! especially since i got better for our show with 'of montreal'- and then the night before my big vocal day, i got sick again so the stuff we recorded on the $20,000 microphone get's scrapped. how many cities will it take for me to sing 'diamonds on fire' the way that it needs to be sung? i am going to try it within the next few days here at home on my microphone. i think late at night. i am missing the personal intimate 'sitting in your bed playing a guitar' feeling. i have much to do still. i am also learning to branch out into this project. amy and terri are feeling more a part of it now that we did these san francisco sessions. i really like the way amy's voice sounds on these recordings. everything is blending nicely. these songs are really a declaration to so much that has gone on in the last 2 years but they are also songs i want people to dance too and not think too much. the more that goes into these recordings, the harder it is for me to make a decision on what direction to take them in. i need some outsider ears at this point. someone i trust but someone i don't know well enough to care if they hurt my feelings. total complete meltdown. having that anxiety feeling again. sometimes i just have to stand still for a few minutes while i wait for all the fear and anxiety leave the cells. it can all be so scary and wonderful. am i the only one in on this? sometimes i feel like i'm the last to know. send me a letter please. i am into postcards lately. so much so, that i did this little project. www.thisishowwedo.com/postcard.html
i miss all my stuff. it's still in storage. i hate that is becomes more and more of a metaphor. this little bit of writing has been a bit too much i think. a little self indulgent. i'll wake up new, i promise.

it's going.

ok. do you like the palm tree in the green pants? been in the studio for the last two days. adding the honey. tomorrow more keyboards. recording a new song! 'i feel electric'. excited.

my time here in san francisco on chattanooga, is coming to a close? i am wondering about staying in the bay area or??? i hate always wondering. floating around. i feel like i'm always waiting for a notion. something to make me feel tied to something. i just don't know where to be. just watched the woody allen film 'manhattan'. man, that is shot so beautifully. makes me want to wander new york city and be in hyper intellectual conversations about nothing. i wish all my friends were in my same city for the next month. come visit.

'rubies' played our best show ever. a sold out crowd at the great american music hall. matching outfits and dance moves. the art of performance. there is so much to it and then nothing to it all. i really enjoy being on stage. there is so much to learn. i am wondering about a lot of things.

chattanooga

it all became new again. i'm in san francisco. gonna get really close to finished with the album up here. but a rad place and a new energy that makes sense. it is all aligned. talking talking talking and moving moving moving. i want geometric shapes on stage for the feb 2 show. i wanna get 'in shapes'. this is my room for now. this is my park for now. this is my view for now. joyous sound and visions. let's do stuff.

shoes and news

this place was weird. the madonna inn in san luis obispo. my friend jerome, who makes shoes, sells the shoes at the shop here. the place is all pink. john waters has probably been here. there was a lady by the bar that had really cool hair and she wore her sunglasses at night. she was about 80 years old and she danced cool to a live band playing covers from the 40's. I leave for San Francisco in the morning. I should be there for a month or so. Excited to get back into the album. new years was everything. again, expectation arrived but then a new crew showed up and inspired. was on top of a mountain above rincon point south of santa barbara. a 40 acre farm overlooking the ocean. night 2 was pizza's over the fire. night one was an entire pig. new chapter, 2007.

until january 1

merry christmas.
just wanted to let you know that the 8 song Rubies EP will only be available until january 1. it has new artwork and new songs from last year. the songs have been recorded with a full band for the album...to come out in the fall of '07 but these are the original demos that have a character all on their own. drum machines and lots of synthesizers mixed with a few songs of just simone and lovely terri and amy harmonies and one guitar... These demos are special to me because they document the last year and a half of learning how to record on my own and tell the tales of a time of change, love, loss, and experimentation of sound.
After January 1, the songs go in the vault.
purchase the ep through paypal for $8 for US orders : $10 mexico : $12 for Europe/Japan orders. If I didn't list your country, just send me an email and we'll figure it out...
simone@callandresponsemusic.com for paypal
tracklisting:
1. A Room Without A Key
2. Dark Light
3. Turquoise
4. Diamonds On Fire (special guest carrie clough)
5. Signs Of Love
6. All We Have Is Sound
7. Stand In A Line (produced/recorded by safety scissors)
8. Walk With Caution

over and over

lately been listening to:
doris - whispering pine
studio - out there/life's a beach
blood music - the hair
ass - stealing apples
paul simon - run that body down
racket and ball - do you
el perro del mar -god knows
norman jay - giant 45 show on bbc radio
ned doheny - hard candy (album)
lindstrom - it's a feedelity affair (album)
spinners - could it be i'm falling in love
birds of america - you
kilimambogo brothers - nwendwa jane
karen young - deetour
peter bjorn and john - young folks
tussle - warning
paul mccartney & wings - wonderful christmas time
ratatat - wildcat
the whitest boy alive - burning
soft machine - the soft weed factor

it could set you free

the double dose dolphins will set you free. i took these in vegas. a while ago. but they came to my attention today when i did the thing where you get all nostalgic when you look through old iphoto stuff. i think it's good to look through old things. i had this conversation with d while decorating the x-mas tree about over romanticizing people and memories. my heart is so pulled to the memories but i feel very present too. i am on that strange cusp of time. stranded, sorta. in the middle. that will change.

what is what

this week is important. i want to put the plan into action. everything is in place. i have been listening to a lot of dance music lately. the simple catchy stuff like 'fast and delirious' by lindstrom. i wanna make dance music. i miss being in a real band.

i miss you, me, and the thing

i really do. staying focused can be hard. i feel so isolated in this small town but i am learning how to challenge myself. i am interested in what a place is and what is does to a person. there are a lot of things wrong about this town but i am grateful for it's beauty and gentle nature. i want in on all of that stuff but i want out on code and whimsy. have i mentioned how much i dislike everything that is 'whimsical'? barf.

i think being in a larger city just means you are more social and you have more opportunities to measure yourself up against everything. art, music, people, relations, structure, color, politics,etc.

like a social reflection. a mirror where you decide whether or not you are into the way you seem when bounced off of others and new experiences. so in a small place you tend to just have yourself and the environment to bounce off of. in my case, it's me, my sister and her boyfriend, the mountains and the ocean. oh and my musical instruments. good for now, bad for later.

playing you songs from my upcoming album

so i have this idea to play a show from my room on wednesday. dec 5. i thought it would be both funny and entertaining to see someone play some songs from their room for people with ichat and skype. this idea came to me when i was playing a song for a friend the other night on skype and thought that doing a show this way would be a fun experiment. plus it's free and you can hang out in your room and we can hang out together this way. i am going to do this around 11am california time so 8pm uk time 9pm west europe time. i am going to play songs from the upcoming album and a new one that i wrote 2 days ago. unfortunately i won't be with the other "rubies" but i promise to be slightly interesting and mostly genuine. plus i can show you what santa barbara from my front door looks like and you will meet my cats marcel and julius. you are in for a treat! ichat name is simonerubi@mac.com skype name is simonerubi

big sur meets rubies

california! big sur! played a wonderful festival called "folk yeah : 2 days of autumn" - saw some great bands play. i enjoyed hearing andy cebics voice from 'vetiver'. what a great voice. and some other bands i had never seen before that were a great soundtrack to the big redwoods and river behind the cabin. birds of america were transcendent. my sister took some great photos. check them out here on danielle's photo blog.

the whole weekend made me feel nostalgic for everything. i got a horrible infection in my ears though and i was bleeding from my ear. which was not fun. i went to santa barbara and visited the ol' doc and have been medicated ever since. i do have to say though, that today is the first day that i feel like i am truly back from my long adventure. now i am on chapter 15. CHAPTER HOME. still not sure what that is though. home. this is the order:

stockholm
paris
stockholm
california
bergen
stockholm
portugal
london
africa
london
stockholm
bergen
berlin
big sur

here.

there is so much more. i am going to go up to san francisco for the month of january and 1/2 of february. doing a bunch of overdubs and vocals for the record. terri and amy doing some harmonies and we might try and record a newer tune called "silver mornings". i want to finish this record by the end of feb. on a side note, something is strange in the air. people are falling out of love everywhere. i miss my friends in sweden. if you are out there i am hugging you.

bergen, again.

More recording in Bergen! Norway is such a nice place to return to. I returned myself and brought along a Swede (Marcus) from the Swedish sessions. It was great having someone there from the Swedish sessions to help sing harmonies and for overall band vibe. I felt rushed though. I don't know if I'll keep all the vocal tracks we recorded- I didn't have enough space between each song to make them all sound different and dynamic. Fun to see both of my recording worlds come together though! Eirik and Oystein were there for support and I felt their spirit go onto tape. Davide too. He is in love with sound in a way I haven't seen in a long time. I am so glad I am working with him. I am going back in January I think to do more songs with Eirik, O, and A. It feels right and I am so happy with the the tracks I recorded in Bergen. As I type this, I am lying on a couch in San Francisco. Yup, I have returned to the golden state of California. Rubies play tonite for an art / music show in conjunction with good swedish friends Karl-Jonas (producer for the swedish sessions! and his first time to california!) and his lady, Johanna Billing. A bunch of bands are doing a version of a song called "you don't love me yet"- it will be interesting to be a part of this ongoing project. Tomorrow we play Big Sur. All of this, is a bit overwhelming. To be home after this long adventure, and to see all these familiar faces. It feels good.

zanzibar takes the shape of stockholm.

i am back in stockholm. thoughts of zanzibar keep flooding my mind! finding parallels in all cities. everything has been made by us, the same species. i saw the weirdest museum ever in stonetown, zanzibar. crystal chandeliers, astroturf, church upstairs, plastic chairs, broken frames, framed presidents (3), and rifles on the ground. i have felt exhausted the last 2 days. can't seem to catch up ever. had a room at a 1970 hotel in stockholm my first 2 nights back because i needed to space. what i got was a box! a shoebox for a room. small enough to fit a twin bed. but i liked it. except for hearing every sound from the guy next door. so there wasn't a lot of sleeping. shouldn't people get refunds if they aren't allowed a certain amount of sleep at a hotel? i mean, it's a product they are selling to people. if it doesn't work... can we exchange or return it? i want to return the 'lack of sleep' i purchased.

rehearsed with marcus yesterday. or tried. we both were so exhausted that what we were left with were a few unison harmonies. but i think him coming to bergen to record will be good. nice to have a dude's voice on my songs. i've always wanted that.

time travel.

how can i look forward to thinking about yesterday? i am getting close to the end now. i feel the kinetic momentum towards the return. i have to slow down and stay at a good pace now though. the time is going by faster and i have more left to do. i leave for stockholm in 8 hours. i ate some raw meat tonite. it was good. i heard about a postcard that had a hamburger karaoke band on it? jeez. that sound too good to be true. on a side note, i bought shoes for 6 pounds at a grandma shoe store. i hope i like them in a week. the guy in the shop kept laughing at me for initially asking for a size 10 womens- which at home is what i am- but here i am a size 8. i didn't think it was that funny but the dude was cracking himself up. i want to record a lot this week. london has been good. mainly the conversation and walking. met a cool group of graphic designers and they invited me to the studio and they pretty much blew my mind with all the cool work they have been doing. i ate lunch with them and they fed me some wierd fishy potato thing. it tasted better when they showed me the neat magazine they made. oh yeah, and they made mugs with drawings of their friends faces on it. they do a drawing of everyone they know and then slowly add them to this huge file of face drawings. i had my picture taken so they could draw me, because they know me now.

set the dials back to zero.

i keep finding myself on the eastern side of things. not on earth, but on segments and in time.
just arrived into east london from east africa. 2 weeks in kenya,tanzania, and zanzibar. i can't quite get a handle on anything at the moment. i'm officially in chapter 10. i think it will all start making sense very soon. watching the animals this time was different. we were the caged animals. the endagered species in strange familial vehicles. how beautiful is this planet that we live on. we can't forget. it is not over. i rode on a hot air balloon at 5 in the morning watching the sunrise over the serengeti in tanzania. i could feel it all. a group of zebras will send you into a siezure if you aren't careful. the stripes and the zing zang. zanzibar waters are warm and clear. the sand is bright. i felt torn out when i left the waters. it was too good. i am still in the present. but each day i think about it all. i feel good. i know it will all work out. my dials are at zero.

at a flat on my own. which is nice. i have my things and a place to rest my head. jerome has left and i'm going to sit in on the norman j show with chelsea. looking forward to hearing the music they play.

and about the record. because thats what i was set out to do. i start working on it wednesday with marcus doing some singing maybe. i have had a hard time deciding what is best. will be back in bergen on sunday to record. all vocals on same mics. i think that is the best. the thread that holds it together. the mics. will it be nice with a guys voice doing harmonies? or should i do them myself? questions questions.

i know if i talk about it with anyone, i will end up at my own conclusion so i know i must decide on my own. on my own. on my own. i am hungry.

also i know that whatever emotions i am going through, even if i am hurt or rejected, even if i am elated and satiated, even if i am on top of the world, even if i am on the deep end, they are supposed to be there and were handed to me. i have provided these emotions in others and cyclically, they are handed to me. sometimes i just don't know where to put them, where to hold them. how much of it is real and how much of it is from travelling. it becomes fairy tale. one long tale. and then i am home (without a key) , with my feet on the ground, and still wondering. was it all a mistake? do i say too much? i just can't help it.

i'm out. i'm in. london is calling.

what beauty is in this world! the fog rolled in on the beaches yesterday. left just in time to meet the sun in london. sun in london. staying at a loft that is really reminding me of oakland. biding time until africa on saturday. not sleeping much, again. music music money money music music money money. gotta finish the record. think i'll go back to scandi after africa. what are you going through? i could get lost and never be found, i think.

everything is everything.

dude why do we keep reinventing our days into sequenced memory banks? damn. how do thoughts turn inward and backwards? i hate repeating myself. am i a hedonist? am i excessive? i love answering questions. i'm afraid to ask them. i busted my toe open at the alhambra in granada. i put my foot into a 12th century fountain and watched the clear water turn pink. tourists were frightened as the blood was pouring out. i thought i would be more reactionary then i was. i laughed and continued to walk. only later, when i looked down and saw the mess and the lack of skin, was i a little askew.

more metaphors. ok so my favorite wooden ring (which reminds me that i have a wooden mind) broke into 3 pieces as i got off the plane into portugal. every day since, a bird has shat on me. sick! but i found a great parking spot on day 2. whatevs. oh there were 1000 birds swarming above my head yesterday too.

but i am thinking that there is something going on. i feel like a newborn. like a new roommate. wide eyed and common. have i done it all before? no! nothing! there are signs around that are telling me something, i just need to find the key. to open the door. my door is open!

i wonder about skin, how it moves, stretches and how is feels.
i forget things.
i feel like i have lived a few different lives.
there is this one,
and the one "before"

but i think there is another one, too. on the "side"
not before
but on the side. in that space- in that box
next to the compartments
when i procrastinated
all the time- but i think that built me up- strong- i love the pressure! i love the last minute! i thought i would learn from those "mistakes" but instead, they made life beautiful and full of chance. ok so i could spend tons of time wondering and fine tuning and maybe take 8 times as long to get something done
but it doesn't matter
it is temporary and i still feel it all when i do it- and it is deliberate- so it counts. for me, it counts.

i wanna make a records that has dance songs on it. like some seriously produced stuff. the BASS. but i also want to play live in a room. i want to be in a movie. i want to cook a 8 course meal. i want to be the best kisser. i want to hug forever.

on a side note, we went underneath the coolest suspension bridges on our way from portugal to spain, ever.
we ate lots of ham.
we saw the alhambra and AV showed us the best place for churros and chocolate. we saw the mediterranean and it was still. i ate clams and pork today. i cooked for them. i like vodka.

white glows.

portugal X me = dizzy.
was so strange to wake up in portugal after scandi-land.
swimming in blue-green waters and eating dates and manchego cheese.
cool dog names sebastian and got lost driving.
driving to seville and grenada (spain) today. nice to be with m and m.
joking and speaking familiar tones. thomas and liz have a beautiful house with a special room for me. palm tree outside the window. we are on the hunt for goodness.

plastic parties with real people

i guess there was a lot of left over purple and orange plastic material from someone's christo project at the stockholm airport so this guy had a party last night and he wrapped all of his belongings in plastic. at first, it was subtle....sitting on a orangle plastic covered table. then i noticed a painting that had been wrapped too... then i looked around the room and noticed everything had been covered. even the remote control to the plastic wrapped tv. he had kj play songs on his purple covered piano in candlelight. met this jewelry maker that was really a breath of air- red plaid and black satin- she was a character but so into it all and happy to meet me. i love when people are happy to meet me. it makes me happier to meet the next person and so on and so on. tonite i play ugglan.