Jana Fisher's Blog

April 17

2009-04-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 17 was an entire crazy day dedicated to art. I loved it.

At 9 am, I had a friend from Stetson named Keelyn take pictures of me because the ones on my website are so old. In the past I have been super camera shy when it comes to pictures like this and shoots usually end with me uncomfortable and upset. But this one was such a blast! Keelyn's fairly new to doing portrait shoots but she made me feel very comfortable (maybe it's because she's new to it that I felt comfortable ...). I felt like a blank canvas, forgot all my stresses and became very relaxed. We took 320 pictures in an hour and a half but it felt like time stood completely still. She's gotten a few of them back to me so here's a taste:

I'm not used to posing/not smiling in pictures so at first I actually really didn't like them. (I brought my friend Stacey over and said, "Look at these ... I look like a whiny b---h!") Now they've grown on me and I think they're pretty cool.

Okay, I lied -- the day wasn't ENTIRELY dedicated to art. At 11 am I had to attend an "Exit Loan Counseling" session. I'm graduating college in three weeks (!!!), so they had to tell me what to do about my student loans after graduation. (It was basically like "Your loans have interest. Interest is bad. If you don't pay your loans, you're dumb.") Thankfully I don't have too many loans so I'm not worried.

From noon to 3 pm I worked on my senior project. I'm creating a sound art piece that provides an overview of the French and American Top 40 charts from 1/2/2009 and 1/3/2009, respectively, similar to Luke DuBois's "Billboard." The process of creating a patch in Max/MSP to take a pleasant-sounding spectral average of each song has been a bit of a struggle, but my patch is finally working and I can start the composition aspect of it (with two and a half weeks left before it's due ...). My professor and I discussed strategies for putting the songs together. I'll probably post a version on the website when it's done.

From 3 pm to 6 pm, a friend of mine from high school named Mario came up to Stetson to record with me. His band Pariah is doing a metal-esque cover of Pink Floyd's "Mother" and wanted me to sing the choruses. This was my first time being featured in another band's project and it was really fun. Having metal guitar solos in your headphones is a great motivator to sing powerfully.

After recording I drove down to Orlando to act in Joshua Ingle's DORM series. We were filming the finale to Season 2, a party where the camera chronicles the same events from five different characters' perspectives. The series is based around oners so it gets a little chaotic trying to get the shots just right, especially with uninitiated extras hanging out in the way of the fast-moving backwards-walking steadicam operator. I got so caught up in acting that suddenly at 1 am I felt drunk (I wasn't) and exhausted (I shouldn't have been) and realized I hadn't eaten any real food all night. We didn't wrap until 4:20 am (I went to sleep at 4), and then Josh woke me up at 6:30 am to go shoot scenes outside at dawn.

It's Sunday and I'm finally just recovered from the hectic schedule of Friday and Saturday morning. But I would gladly trade getting good sleep for getting to live my life like that all the time.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

I'm starting 2009 off on the right foot. The very first thing I did this year was go kayaking for the first time with good friends, so I think this year will be a chance to grow and face new challenges.

I'm looking forward to playing live much more actively this year -- I've started practicing a bunch of new covers so I can have an expansive and exciting repertoire. Once I graduate in May, I will be working on my music career full time.

Best of luck to both of us in this new year.

Holiday Greetings.

2008-12-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are enjoying your holiday. Don't forget to download my single "This Year" which is my gift to you for being awesome!

I'd like to end this post with my favorite quote from my adorable 3-year-old niece Elena:

"Dear God, I not afwaid of monsters. Amen."

Free Christmas Single!

2008-12-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I got a little behind in working on "This Year" with exams being crazy, but now it's out! You can download it from MySpace, ReverbNation, or Stage.FM. Enjoy, and have a merry Christmas!

New Videos.

2008-12-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

I added three live performance videos to the Video page: one performance of "Out of the Fire" and two performances of "There is No Goodbye," one of which includes cool visuals projected on an umbrella. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T07:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the US, and for those of you outside the US, have fun laughing at the over-stuffed Americans and their silly (but fun) holiday.

Christmas is coming...

2008-11-24T10:47:00.001-08:00

I'm working on a (FREE) Christmas single that I'd like to release sometime in early (hopefully) or mid December, so be on the look for it! I haven't 100% decided on a title yet ... but it will probably have the words "This Year" in the title so be on the lookout for that coming soon!

Peace out,

Jana

New Music Video

2008-10-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in the process of producing a new song, "White Paint." The song's about being in love with someone who's married and wondering what could have been. Once it's completed I will post it for you to listen to and download!

Next weekend Joshua Ingle and I will be making a video for it for submission to film festivals. Let me know if you have any super creative ideas for the video. That would be incredibly awesome.

NightCap

2008-09-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

I'm playing this coming Friday, September 19, at Stetson University's NightCap! 10 PM on the Hat Rack Patio with The Icarus Account and another band. Check it out!

Summertime.

2008-07-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer. I'm currently spending six weeks in Paris. More to come when I come back.

Sweet CD Deal.

2008-06-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

I just started selling my music on AmieStreet.com, and to kick
things off they are giving you $5 to download my music.

All you have to do is click on the link below to get $5 to download
my music or songs from tens of thousands of other great independent
artists.

My album, A History of Sleepwalking, is currently available for free. Act fast though, because the price will increase the more people by it.

Just click the link below and you'll be all set!

http://amiestreet.com/_l/cdbabygift

New CD Prices.

2008-03-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

I've changed the prices for CDs from CD Baby and SnoCap on my Store page. Physical and digital CDs are now $7.99, and individual tracks from SnoCap are $0.75. (By the way, if you want to buy mp3s of the whole album, I get a higher percentage if you buy the album from CD Baby, so please buy it from there. Thanks!)

More music on ComPod.

2008-03-16T05:15:00.000-07:00

Check out "To Hell with Mediocrity" on ComPod Episode 91.

Fan-Exclusive Tracks

2008-03-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

Sign up as one of my fans on ReverbNation to download four fan-exclusive tracks: "His Last Hold," "Simple and Perfect," "The Way You," and "Ignorance is Bliss." (This last is a joke song in which I make quite a fool of myself ... enjoy.)

More on ComPod

2008-03-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

You can hear "To Hell with Greatness" on ComPod Episode 90.

Podcast play.

2008-03-04T14:44:00.001-08:00

"Borrowed Time" was featured on Wincester Journal Episode 13: "Something Wicked."

Out of the Fire on ComPod.

2008-02-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

Check out "Out of the Fire" on ComPod Episode 88.

Podcast play.

2008-02-20T19:58:00.001-08:00

"There is No Goodbye" was featured on Wincester Journal Episode 10.

More stuff to check out.

2008-02-15T20:07:00.001-08:00

Check out "Numbness" on Indie Music Sampler Episode 85.

You should also check out "Advice" on ComPod Episode 87.

ComPod totally rocks.

2008-02-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true.

You can hear "More Than Just a Prodigal" on Episode 86 of ComPod.

Check it out.

2008-02-02T14:21:00.001-08:00

Hear "Abdicate in the Lines" on ComPod Episode 85. (http://www.compyblog.de)

Podcast play.

2008-01-31T12:24:00.000-08:00

"Fairy Tale" was featured on ComPod Episode 84. http://www.compyblog.de

Podcast Play.

2008-01-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

"There is No Goodbye" was featured on "A Vetter Podcast" Episode 51. Check it out at http://mrhomie.podshow.com/.

Podcast Updates

2008-01-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

"The Truth" was featured on episode 82 of ComPod (http://www.compyblog.de).

"Numbness" was featured on episode 133 of Radio Orpans (http://radioorphans.blogspot.com).

"Numbness" was also featured on episode 274 of Longtown Sound http://wlso.fm/wordpress/archives/930).

Another podcast play!

2008-01-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

"Borrowed Time" was featured on Longtown Sound episode 269! Check it out at http://wlso.fm/wordpress/archives/925.