Wine on White

Hellloooooo!

So, I released my album, SoulMade on October 15th.  After giving birth, I went through a mini-bout of postpartum depression.  You know, you pour your heart and soul into something, you nurture and care for it as it develops.  Then, you bring it into this world where you know no one will love and care for it like you did when it was in your womb.  It is no longer “safe” but open to criticism, to indifference, to abuse.  Then, there’s also the fact that you don’t feel it moving inside you anymore….an emptiness, separation.  But, after a few days (maybe weeks), you snap out of it and realize just what a feat and what a joy it was to bring this thing to life.  And, you begin to celebrate each accomplishment, each baby step taken, and the bonding takes place.  Soon, you realize you enjoy it so much that you want to have another.  That is where I am now…

I’m working on another :)….only it will be a short, (couple of songs) EP.  One of the songs I wrote recently is called “Wine on White” and has a jazzy vibe to it.  I don’t plan on rushing things this time as I will be continuing to promote SoulMade and do live gigs.  Speaking of which, I have my very FIRST EVER gig in LA this month.  November 19th @ TheWitZend.  I’m excited and looking forward to sharing the stage with about 6 other acts that night.  Should be a fun time.  If you’re in the area, you’re invited!!!  Here’s a link to the venue that has all the details.  Wish me luck!  Peace to you all 🙂

Album Update #5 ……the end is near!!! :)

Hello!  Before I get into my post, please take a minute to watch my new music video!  It is for a contest.  Each view gives me a point and helps me rank higher in the contest.  So, you’re welcomed to watch as much as you’d like and do share!  The contest ends Nov.9th and finalist will then compete to win a chance to make a professionally produced EP w/Don Was (wha? 🙂 ).  Hope you like it, it is a very personal song for me.

http://songwriter.revimage.com/channels/Monica+Dockery

Now, to the ALBUM UPDATE.  If you’ve been following me on here, you may have read about the album I’ve been working on for a few months now.  GREAT NEWS!!!!!  I’m nearly 100% finished!  Just tightening up the mix/master on each song.  It will be ready to launch October 15, 2013.  So excited to share these songs :)!  Finally.  Since the end is near, I thought I’d give a sneak peek at the song list for the album ( not necessarily in order).  Here it is:

Audiobiography (bullet)                                                

Sweet Cali

UI

The One

Two Shades

Smile                                             

Anything But        

Christine Alice                                 

Dollar N a Dime

Sam I am 

John Henry

In the Mood

Purple                                                                            

Dreamin A Way

Moving away

One Inch

New Day

There is a Light 

Two Moons

Dadi da da

Birthday

Keep checking in!  And leave a comment to let me know what you thought about the video.  Would love to hear your thoughts! 🙂  Thanks.  Have a great weekend all!

Help me win the Guitar Center Contest!

Helloooo!

I’ve been M.I.A. for a while on this blog, but for a good reason. I am nearly finished with my album!! It will be available October 15th! So excited. Now…..

I have also been busy trying to gain support for my entry into the Guitar Center Singer Songwriter Contest 3 w/ Don Was. The more online activity on our contest page, the better our chances. So, it would be WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, AWESOME, if you took some time to watch my two videos that are up on my page. Note: the link only works from a desktop, no mobile devices. By you simply watching my videos on the contest page, you will be helping me come that much closer to a dream! Please show your support, watch and share with as many friends as you can. You can even view it multiple times for multiple votes. Thanks so much! Can’t wait to share more of my project with you soon! And btw, the contest ends Nov.9th, so please keep checking back on the site as I will be uploading at least one more music video there before the release of my album. Cheers everyone! And, thank you so much in advance.

Vacant Spaces – A song for Trayvon Martin (video tribute)

Hello. After my last post and the continuing protests and discussions about the case, I have been continuing  my reflections on Trayvon’s death.  I was compelled to write a song (as I usually am when I’m feeling something so strongly).  A friend of mine, a poet from Rockford, IL, named Christopher D. Sims, wrote a spoken word piece about it as well and we decided to combine them into one.  I also enlisted the help of my son, whom I mentioned in that last post as well, in the making of a video for the song.  The lyrics are included in the description on Youtube….here it is:

Album Journey – Update #2

Hellooooo!

It’s time for another album update:). As mentioned in my last post, I’ll be doing a series of mini-updates on the process and progress of my first EVER full length, self-produced album. Here we go:

Title?: Nope, still don’t have it. I keep going back and forth between two basic ideas. I think I have to wait on this just a bit more.

Number of Songs: Still 21 songs, although I believe I’ll be cutting one or two of those if I can’t figure out the best way to present them. I wouldn’t be happy putting them out the way they are right now.

Phase: I’m happy to say that I am on Phase 2 now:). I have finished the experimentation and temp tracks on the last 7 of the 21 songs in regards to instrumentation and arrangement and such. Phew! Now, I begin the process of doing the REAL semi-final recordings and tracking of instruments for each song.

Challenges: The biggest challenge I see right now is getting the recordings down tight and mixing. I’m NOT a professional producer…so really, this is trial and error for me. I want the tracks to sound the best they possibly can, but I’m limited in my ability. However, I made a vow to myself. The vow was that this project was to reflect exactly where I am in terms of my level of ability and my style evolutionary phase and that is in all aspects (singing ability, guitar playing/musicianship, recording, production, etc.). So, although I may be limiting the quality of production, I am only doing so by the limits of my actual current level of skill.

Other challenges? Finding the time and quiet to record. I am using my own makeshift home studio and I have a young son who is always wanting to go on adventures. How can I say no to that face? So when I’m trying to record a background vocal and he says, “Mom, can we go to the park?” I have ask myself what matters most. For me, it will always be him over my music. Always. So, I have to get creative and find times and spaces to record around life – as all artists do.

What’s Next?: Apart from finishing the tracking and recording, I am hoping to invite a few of my friends and fellow artists to do a few features on some of the songs and as part of the interludes and such. I have met sooooo many wonderfullly talented folks and many of them I am happy to call my friends now. So, I am planning on inviting a few of them to do mini-cameos and show their special talents (e.g. a few bars of a rap, some spoken word, etc.). I want to give them an opportunity to share their talents, so I’m looking forward to that VERY much! They always surprise and delight, I promise!

Overall Progress: If I had to give a percentage, I’d say we are at the 40% mark. Not where I want to be, but moving forward and that is key. I would like to do a few, nicely done, videos for some of the songs as well , but that is much much later into the project.

That is all for now. Keep checkin in with me and thank you for taking this journey with me! I would love love love your support in sharing and listening to the album when all is said and done, so please keep checking in on the progress:).

Btw, tomorrow is the 4th of July! Happy 4th to all of you who will be celebrating. I’ll be with family and friends at my most favorite place to be…….THE BEACH:) Hope you enjoy as well!

Free FreeStyle Vocals (once a week)!

Helloooo!  Last week I started a new “experiment”.  I decided that I wanted to start recording some freestyle vocals to donate to the Soundcloud music community.  My hope is that they will be able to use some or all of the tracks to add to their music or other sound projects.  The process basically is this:  Press “Record” on my Soundcloud app recorder on my phone and start singing whatever comes to mind.  Then, post/share it.  That’s it.  So, since there is not really any editing or filtering (apart from the occasional edit to cut out a part that got interrupted – by my son usually), it is very raw and a bit crazy.  But, I thought it would be fun and it is interesting to see what flows out of me when I’m just going with the flow.  So, here is a link to the set I’ve started.  Feel free to join in the fun and use these vocals and tweak them any way you wish to make a new creation.  Thanks!  Until next time:).

 

Which Story do YOU sell? (Spoken Word transcript)

This is one of my spoken word pieces……

Which story do you sell?

Are you the girl who is at all the parties, dressed to impress, with your hair and makeup all did – exuding fierce confidence? Then, when you go home, you cry because no one took your number?

Are you the guy who always talks about how much he loves his wife and kids, how “blessed” he is? Then, when your wife is gone you slide on down to 23rd and slip the 18 year-old on the corner a couple 20s?

Are you the woman who is proud of the sacrifices she had to make to become the first female CEO of that company? Then, late at night, at home – after a nice glass of your favorite red, you pull out that old pregnancy test that read “++” and let a tear fall for the one you sacrificed?

Are you the boy who grew up to be a man? But, really, you never became a man because you never had someone to show you how to?

Are you one of those people who just KNOWS that they have all the answers to life wrapped up in one book? Then, when the that-wasn’t-supposed-to-happen-to-me happens, you don’t have a clue what to do?

Are you that politician who touts about how he voted for marriage equality? Then, when he sees his neighbors Dan and Jonathan walking their beagle, Sadie, down the street, he makes sure to cross to the other side of the street so as not to actually have to have a conversation with those two “perverts”?

Are you that scientist who stands up in front of a crowd and says – with $100 certainty – that you know why that is the way it is? Then, when you come across a colleague’s research that proves how it wasn’t at all the way it was, you belittle and dismiss your colleague’s work, sticking – stubbornly- by the side of error and arrogance?

Are you the physician who takes a vow to keep people healthy? Then, you give them the pills that BIG PHARMA told you to give them – or else – knowing that instead of keeping people healthy, you are signing people’s execution warrant?

Are you a priest who has vowed to be the hands of God on this Earth? Then, when God isn’t looking, you take the opportunity to use those hands to all-at-once, inappropriately touch a young boy and – consequently, destroy, any chance of him ever coming close to touching faith again?

Are you the team that boldy brandishes it’s flashy trophies – showing off all of it’s overachievements? Then, when you find out the trophies are really only gold-PLATED and not REAL gold, you rush over to the guys sitting across the way to try and take THEIR trophies?

Are you the President who says he wants “Gitmo” closed because it gives America a bad name? Then, you go and sign off on near-daily drone attacks where innocent people get maimed or murdered on a regular basis?

Do you say brown, when you mean white?

Do you say dark, when it is light?

Do you say you love him/her, when you don’t?

Do you say you will, when you KNOW you won’t?

Do you sell a story, and pretend it is real?

Even if you did, would you tell me still?

In the Mood….for Love (video)

Helloooo!  Well, I have some good news.  I think that I have finished the writing portion of the album I’m putting together:).  Of course, that may change.  But, for now, I think I’ve said what I wanted to say.  Now, the hard part of tracking/recording, adding backup vocals, adding other instruments, missing, mastering, etc, etc, etc.  Ay ya!  Lots to do.  But, I promise you this, I am enjoying myself.  So, I thought I’d share one of the songs that may (or may not) make the cut for the album.  It is actually one that I wrote to accompany a track that a fellow SC Hero/Producer, Jaze Baqti made.  I love that version, it has a different tone than this acoustic version though.   I included both my video/acoustic version and the produced/audio version so that you can compare.  Here you go, may you feel the love: and pass it on!

 

 

Btw, don’t forget! This is the last week to join the “Audiobiography ” project put out by the Soundcloud Heroes!

Sam I Am

Hellooo! Hope you had a great weekend.  I spent mine in sand and surf:).  Perfect.  A quick update.  As mentioned before, I have decided to go forward and put together an album – a complete set of works.  So, much writing and thinking and resting happening.  Yes, resting.  The best stuff happens when you just stop and rest….take a moment.  I’ll be taking as many moments as I can because I want the album to reflect the deepest parts of me….the things I love, the people I love, the life I love.  Can you see a theme developing?:).  I only plan on doing one album.  No more.  I do not intend to make a career of this as it really is just something that I enjoy and that brings me peace and I don’t want for it to become a “job” for me.  I think when it becomes a job, the magic slips away.  So, this album is it.  So, may my heart and soul be poured out all over it.  I have about 7 songs down now and am still writing.  Then, there’s a whole hell of a lot of stuff I have to figure out how to do….like mixing and such;).  We’ll see how things end up taking shape. I’ll keep posting updates as things progress.  Thanks for taking this journey with me!  Here is a rough, acoustic version of a song called “Sam I Am” I just wrote that may or not make the cut.  Let me know what you think.  Have a great week!

 

3 Vlogs for the price of one:)….cold, rain, coffee, chai, love, and music….

Helloooooo!  So, a few days ago, I woke up and was bored because it was hella cold outside and I didn’t want to get out of bed!  Instead, I decided to make some freestyle, impromptu vlog entries.  I wanted to experiment with stream of consciousness and just start saying whatever came to mind.  I recorded three and here they are.  WARNING: What you are about to see may be disturbing…..mainly because of my “I literally just woke up” hair and face:P!!!….and in case you may be wondering, no, I was not high when I made these he he.

Me, bitching….

Forgive her for she knows not what she says….

Yo…check out my freestyle….word.