Casandra here….
Tajlyn performed at the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, OH on May 1st of this year. I plan on putting together another video with more of the footage I shot. For now, I wanted to post this shorter video I shot around the 5th hour of the race. I left it unedited for the most part. I like how we can see the encouragement from people all around, along with their exhaustion and determination. The video is posted below. Enjoy!
Written By Casandra
You may or may not know that Tajlyn is in the middle of recording her next album, ‘White Dwarf’. I have been fortunate enough to be a part of the very small group of people who Tajlyn has let listen to the somewhat complete recordings of this up and coming album. I have also been to the studio to watch the magic of making this album take place (okay, now I’m just bragging). While I won’t be able to share any of these tracks with you at this time, I am able, and would like to write about the experience I have had listening to these songs.
If you have attended any of Tajlyn’s show this past year, there is a good possibility that you have heard some of the songs from White Dwarf. We released the song “Bitter” in our latest promo video. If you haven’t watched that one, you can watch it right here, right now. 🙂
All righty then, let’s get to this review…. My overall feeling of this album, and I am comparing it to Taj’s first album New Element, it “shows” her evolution, even the evolution of her producer, Ben. More dynamics, better quality all around. Don’t get me wrong, I do love listening to New Element, it’s an awesome album. However, White Dwarf is on a whole ‘nother level. It has a rockin’ sound with a raw and grundge-like vibe to it. I hope you hear what I am talking about since you just watched the above video and got to listen to “Bitter”. Such a great song. Love how she has incorporated the keys (keyboard) in this one.
Once again with this album, Tajlyn is at it, composing all of the lyrics and music. Performing each instrument in the studio. With the assistance of Ben’s creative ideas, they have utilized crunchy leaves, the slamming of a door, the scratching of a wall, the ding of a Klean Kanteen and then some to add unique sounds to this album. Watching Ben’s engineering and production skills in making this album is like watching a musical chemist brew batches of creative genius with the sounds and mixes. I greatly enjoy the addition of the keys and other instruments in this album (violin, didgeridoo…). The small touch of just a few notes from our grandfather’s banjo also gives this album a nostalgic tone.
The song I heard the other night, “Sweetly”, Tajlyn finished writing this one the day before they finished recording it in studio (a week ago). This song, this is gonna be the one you will dance your ass off to. It has power in it, gives me the chills. I see this song being the one you will hear on the radio waves. “Sweetly” is inspired by our family dog that passed away last year. I immediately heard how it was inspired by our dog in the lyrics, but seconds later I felt the lyrics in my own way, not in reference to our dog. Those words hit me in a way that spoke to my personal life and made me feel so good, inspired and up-lifted. I was dancing, something I don’t normally do when I first listen to her stuff. Tajlyn belts out in this song and does some rapping. This song has all the elements in making a bad ass song. In my opinion, Tajlyn & Ben were spot on to making “Sweetly” an ultimate hit.
I urge you to become excited about White Dwarf. I know it isn’t the healthiest thing to do, get yourself amped up prior to experience, thus possibly setting yourself up for disappointment. However, if you are a fan of Tajlyn, I do believe you are going to really like this album.
Interested in pre-ordering White Dwarf? Please email Tajlyn at tajlynmusic@yahoo.com
Thanks for reading! – Casandra
Written By Casandra
August 28, 2015, a very hot one in California. Tajlyn managed to book a random show this night from meeting a fellow from the previous Saturday where we played a show in Auburn. Side note to those thriving musicians – don’t stop playing during your set even if you are just playing for the bar tender(s). A booker from another venue may just show up a half hour before your set is up and want to book you at their venue because they think you rock…..
We were staying about an hour outside of Sacramento. Up in the mountains it was in the high 90s. Feels great, the dry heat. We were at the last few days of staying with some very good family friends in California before we headed back east. It was the second to last show of the west coast tour.
With Mondo – The Gig Dragon loaded, Taj and I headed down the mountain and to Sacramento we went. As we headed down I-80 West, the point where you can see the skyline of Sacramento, shortly after New Castle and before Rocklin, I see this huge cloud of smoke coming out the right side of the skyline. Immediately having flashbacks of the previous August and having lived in the path of the King Fire, I became nervous. I told Tajlyn not to mention anything about the smoke, which was most likely a fire, to mother if and when she called us (and she called us whilst we were right outside of Sacramento – the smoke was ridiculous and there was only one helicopter fighting the wild fire from the sky). I could tell it wasn’t anything the firefighters couldn’t handle because everything was as if there was not a fire going on, so I kept my cool. The temperature was getting close to 110 degrees fahrenheit, but inside the Gig Dragon was nice and cool.
We found the venue –New Helvetia Brewery – on the outskirts of MidTown, right on the corner of Broadway and 18th. I couldn’t see or smell any smoke, nor did I hear any sirens. It was time to put that fire in the back of my mind and focus on some good times. This was a happening place. Fair amount of people and dog lovers. Tajlyn was just about half way set up when I noticed she did not look very good. I thought she might pass out – the heat was getting to her. It was close to 110 out. She slowed it down a bit and re-grouped herself, re-hydrating. With the help of some time passing, the sun going down and a large fan being turned on, Tajlyn looked like she was good to play.
I had forgotten the camera, but managed to grab a little bit of footage on the Cool Pad (generic version of an iPad). Tajlyn played a great set. A new friend we made that night even got me to play the doumbek along with Tajlyn – I guess I did an all right job. We made more than a few new friends that night – from all over the world. Two entertaining brothers from Mexico, a nice woman with an English accent, two cool guys from Nepal, a cool guy from Canada who had two really cool dogs and several other people whose country of origin I did not catch, but they were all very nice and fun to be around. Pretty awesome 🙂
Definitely want to go back to New Helvetia Brewery for another gig and night of great company and music. Not to mention their beer is super awesome AND they have Kombucha on tap 🙂
Here is the link to the fire that was going on during this gig: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article32692665.html
Here are some photos & video footage from that night too! Taken by multiple people…..
Thanks for reading! Til Next Time – Casandra
Does importance matter? Hell yes it does. With out importance there would be a big emptiness in life, the world, everything. Unimportant would be very lonely.
So why is it common to fill our lives with a considerable amount of unimportant things, and less important tasks? It’s so common, I did it at least once today, double last week. What gives?! Hello therapy.
We get caught up. In the schite of the bull, we get really caught up. It’s almost becoming a “natural” human behavior. Forgetting what makes us happy, how to stay healthy, and not just physically. A healthy mentality is just as important and your physique. Not to mention spiritual health as well. Still working on that one myself, slowly bulking up!
I say, leave the bull’s bowels alone and have a nice colon cleanse. Every day, every moment, focus on what’s important to you. Ex out what is not and be happy.
Cheers,
Tajlyn
Source: We’ve Got Worms!
This video blog post is from my family’s farm wordpress site. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
It appears that I live a life of a solo woman. No band backing me, no romantic relationship, no children to care for, you name it. Totally solo…
What a silly load of schmit! Alone is the last thing that I feel.
There are so many wonderful people that I have connected with throughout my life. Whether it be at a show I’ve played at or attended, work, friendships that were made on the road, or a random person waiting in line with me for a fantastic meal. (Props to FOCO Cafe!) People are everywhere. With the exception of being stranded on an island or being in the vast frozen wilderness, it’s very hard to be alone.
I was reminded of this recently in many ways. Talking to an old friend on the phone, visiting recent pictures of “fans” that were made this past tour. Going out into the world and experiencing new things, seeing new faces. Being alone is only an idea. If I focus on it, being alone is attainable. But what’s the point of that? It’s too much fun to not be.
Cheers,
Tajlyn
Written By Casandra
October 2014 in California was beautiful and warm….when is it not? To answer that one, usually by the last week of October, Central California has been known to get its cold and hard rainfall, sometimes snow and ice, for a few to several days straight. Tajlyn & I set up this tour from October 10th thru the 29th with hopes to avoid that and we were blessed with beautiful weather for traveling and camping. This was our first tour.
The fourth day of the tour brought us to San Francisco, California where Tajlyn was to play an open mic night at the Historical Hotel Utah. I decided to write about this time first because the main header photo on this site was taken during this time in San Fran. Tajlyn had asked a fellow friend, another professional musician, if they knew of anyone we could stay with and they were able to hook us up with a very nice fellow, also a musician, who lived in the Richmond District, a block from Golden Gate Park.
Shortly after arriving, our new friend gave us the tour of his apartment/house which ended up on top of the roof with a spectacular view of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge in the not so far distance. He told us we could set up our tent on the roof and camp out for the next two nights. Taj and I were stoked, this was something very new and exciting for us – rooftop camping. Taj and I put the tent up on the roof only to realize it was way too windy, we had nothing decent to anchor our tent, and that it would most likely blow away. We broke the tent down, it tried to fly away from us a few times while we were doing this, then we headed back inside and got ready for the open mic at Hotel Utah. Our host rode his bicycle and Taj and I drove a short distance to the venue. We circled around it a few times, as we have a tendency to do with new venues, then found a parking spot, which landed us a $65 ticket by the end of the night – doh! Good old downtown street cleaning….
Hotel Utah is a beautiful establishment and was extremely packed with people; it was difficult to move through the building. The list of open mic performers was possibly close to 80, maybe even 100 and it hadn’t even begun. Our new friend bought us dinner and drinks and we headed to the balcony to watch a long night of many talented and diverse individuals. Tajlyn was one of the last several to perform. Click here to listen to a lot of the acts from that night that were shared. Tajlyn is on the list playing “Won’t Be Heard”. The acts that stand out in my memory the most (and from re-listening on that link I just shared with you) are Steve Arnsten playing the piano – very beautifully….the featured punk band of the night, Lee Austin Hoffman aka Elegant Trash, who played several awesome songs that brought me back to my days of punk rockin’ it out as often as I could at hard core shows…. pretty sure he was a Native American, Tygel Pinto, he played a wind instrument and beat boxed and rapped – yes! this is awesome…. Death of the West was trippy and he had a light show going on….Brendan Getzell – the host – is a very talented musician – great sound – a little funky….Ruce played guitar beautifully, his voice just as lovely….Dollface had a strong, sexy voice…. Mike Glendinning – creative and rugged and quite funny 🙂 ….Billy Banks didn’t share his song, but he rocked it and was a cool dude. There was one other guy who I can’t remember his name nor did he share his song from that night. He wore a puffed coat and had made a track on his cell phone that he sung to. I honestly was not expecting to hear what I heard come out from his vocals – beautiful – it was like he should have been one of the Backstreet Boys.
That night Taj and I shared a pillow bed, which did not agree with my back and I found myself unable to sleep and quickly becoming frustrated. I found a spot on the floor in the hallway among moving boxes and passed out. Over the next few hours I would hear multiple different sets of footsteps pass by me. I didn’t realize we were staying in one of those shared apartments where each person gets a bedroom and they share the kitchen and bathroom area. I think there were four or five other people living in this building; and here I am, some random person sleeping on the floor in their main hallway. I felt a little silly.
The next day Taj and I set out for Golden Gate Park to take advantage of the free morning admission at the Japanese Tea Garden. There were a lot of artists sketching throughout the garden. This was not our first time here, but it is still very peaceful and enjoyable no matter how many times you have been there. We wandered around Golden Gate Park for a few hours and then proceeded to head back to our friend’s place to get some lunch. We left the park and followed the street that was suppose to lead us back. However, there was a problem that took me a little while to figure out. The street names are the same on each side of Golden Gate Park, and we were on the other side of the park, about a half mile outside of the park. The park takes close to an hour to walk through and I was getting very hungry. The amount of people and all the sounds and smells were making me overload and become irritable. Taj and I decided to look for a place to eat before making the trip back through the park. I did my best to keep my cool while we looked for an affordable and healthy place to eat.
There are many things that are good in life. Music, food, fresh air. It’s all great. But nothing is better than waking up naturally, without anyone or anything telling you to do so. That was my morning…..
It’s funny how we have managed to let ourselves be “pushed around” by objects, and others who are “more superior”. (Time to get up, who said what on social media, I hate my job but my boss needs me to do this, etc.). What gives? Sure it happens to the best of us, and it’s fine if one is willing to do so. In many cases, that’s not the case. So, only one thing to do. Transform. Become your true self.
What makes you passionate, who do you love to be around, how can you contribute to the world? All things to consider and work on everyday. It doesn’t have to be just one thing.
For me, it’s music, fitness, martial arts, health, travel. Just to name a few things that keep me flowing. Sure I’m not going to save the world kicking someone in the face while playing guitar in one hand and drinking some coconut water in the other. I know this. But, to focus on you passions brings good vibes. Vibes that spread to everything. It’s kind of contagious. If we can all focus on our passions everyday, that could in a sense change the world. Just something to think about. So where’s your passion at?
Cheers,
Tajlyn
What happens on the road doesn’t necessarily stay on the road. One tends to capture moments with a camera and send it free into the “electric spider web” aka the internet.
(Although being set free in a spider web is a bit of a load. Too much stick to handle, practically no movement there. Come to think of it, once something is in the web, real life or the matrix, it’s stuck. So, that statement might have more meaning than realized.)
Anyway, this past year was one crazy, fun, and delightfully dull 52 weeks. Balance is very important, even with emotions. No complaints here. Many good friends were made, spectacular ground was traveled on, and music painted the sound waves every show night. Fun times all around. To tell it would give it no justice, so here is a video that shows a very small portion of just that.
Cheers, Tajlyn
A Collection of thoughts & stories 