Happy August!

S’been awhile since my last post, eh??  I’d like to officially blame it on the fact that I’m burning candles from every end imaginable with the album in full swing, a happy little full time job, some songwriting here and there, and lots and lots of memoir writing.  To give you a sense of the sort of stories you might be in for with this upcoming record/memoir package, I thought I’d start posting some previews.  Here’s one that seems appropriate for the summer months…

In the meantime, I’ll head back to my candle-burning and talk to you soon!

xoxo,

jess

———–

For as long as I’ve known him, my dad has been a huge fan of the outdoor swimming pool.  My memories of him from the months of May through September were in swim trunks and a bright orange Hawaiian shirt.  I’m fairly certain we even chose our friends based on whether or not they had their own in-ground pool.   Vernell and Hubert, for example, owned a condo in New Jersey with their own community pool, which we visited on a regular basis.  Vernell was a harpist who occasionally helped my dad on his recording projects – which I suppose legitimized the relationship a bit; but since Hubert didn’t speak much more than some heavy German, they were pretty much useless.

Still, they let us use their pool.

One Saturday morning my dad announced that we were heading to the condo for the day and should pack our swimsuits.  I pretty much hate packing – always have.

And since I didn’t want to even carry a bag in the car, I decided to put my suit on under a t-shirt cover up and call it a day.  It was like beating the system – why pack a suit when you can wear it??  What hadn’t this occurred to me before??

I basically felt like a superhero.  Not wanting anyone to copy my fabulous secret, though, I packed a small duffel bag with a towel and some stuffed animals to add some weight.

After a full day of swimming my dad decided that we should head home.  It was then that I quickly realized the error of my ways.  While everyone else had clothes to change into, I suddenly had NO PANTS.

I dug around for solutions; but all I came up with were a couple of stuffed animals and a soggy towel.

“Don’t panic!” I thought, “Just pull your shirt down to look like a dress!”

I crept into the car as stealthily as I could – pulling my shirt to my knees and covering myself with my tiny duffel bag.

“Where should we go for dinner?” my dad asked once we were all in the car.

I wanted to volunteer a dark hole in the center of the universe; but Burger King was a better option.  Thankfully we opted for the drive thru.

“Who wants to go to the park??” my mom asked enthusiastically.

The level of panic rising in my throat was only outmatched by the excitement of my siblings.  There was no way out.  We all loved the park.  I just generally enjoyed it more with pants.

After climbing out of the car and surveying the situation, I knew I was done for.  Everything in a playground was built to blow one’s cover if they’re missing any article of clothing.  Everything I once enjoyed became an anxiety attack of someone noticing my lower half.

Miraculously I somehow managed to not blow my cover.  Perhaps it was because I was behaving like I was coming down with the bird flu while constantly pulling at my clothing.

“How ’bout some ice cream!” my dad suggested – our faces lighting up like dogs with chew toys.  I was mostly excited that it was getting darker and hopefully I was finally in the clear.  Amazing!  A day without a single person noticing!  I was awesome!!!

Somewhere in my excitement I must have gotten a little careless.  Maybe I bent over to pick up a skittle on the floor.  All I remember was my father’s face in the driveway.

“Ohmygod!!  Where the hell are your pants?!?”

And that’s why I don’t go to swimming pools anymore.

But hello all you friends and strangers out there!  Thought I’d fill you in on the fact that recording has officially begun on my next project with my most favorite, Brooke Waggoner.  Two weeks ago, Tripp Beam (my drummer) and I flew out to Nashville for the weekend and tracked drums and piano for every song.  It was a bit of a whirlwind of activity and focus with alot of ground to cover.  Thankfully, we finished ahead of schedule!  Sadly, we didn’t get any video footage along the way.  Seeing as that’s a pretty important part of promotions for a record, here’s what we put together for you to give you a good idea of what things were like.

Alright, so it’s not totally accurate.  But it’s still sorta close….  If nothing else, here’s a photo for proof that we all at least were in the studio for the weekend (a super classy one, I might add.  When recording in Nashville, definitely give the sweet folks at McPherson a shout!).

left to right: Tripp Beam (rock star Drummer), Brooke Waggoner (mega-boss Producer), me (the short one), Michael Head (superfly Engineer)

So there you have it folks.  You heard it all here first.  Thanks for tracking alongside me in all of this.  It’s quite possibly the biggest undertaking I’ve ever attempted and your support is never unappreciated.

Til next time! (hopefully sooner rather than later….)

xoxo,

jess

Someone told me that April is almost over.  I could’ve sworn we were still somewhere in February…

Lots going on over here on my end.  I ended up taking a job in West LA that will hopefully help fund a fun recording project.  The bad news is that jobs take up a great deal of my time and I don’t even get to think about pianos more than once a week.  The good news is that a recording project could be on the horizon!  Makes all the late nights and long commutes worth it (usually….)

But when I’m not at work, I goof off every now and again with other musician friends to remind myself of what keeps me ticking.  Recently, my friend Jourdan got to interview the band, Cake, for her hot little green blog.  Since I occasionally cover one of their quintessentially awesome songs (“Never There” in case you’re having a hard time deciding which one fits that description…), she agreed to send it along to them with a package of tshirts they ordered from her.  I called my friend, David, to see if he could take an hour or two to record the track at his super sweet studio.  One take and lots of fun times later, here’s what we came up with:

Oh, sad love songs….

If that left you a bit weepy, here’s some good news to cheer you up – MORE SHOWS!  I had to swear them off for awhile while I worked 70 hour work weeks; but I’m giving a few more a shot out west before heading back to the great wide midwest.  Here’s all the info (and a fancy poster!):

THURSDAY 4/28/11 @8pm

Pop Champagne & Dessert Bar
33 East Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
All Ages – NO COVER
Call (626) 795-1295 for dinner reservations and say who you’ll be there to see (me!)

THURSDAY 5/5/11 @8pm

The Terrace
443 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA,
21+ – $12 tickets available online here: http://jessicaripkasuh.eventbrite.com/
(or email me and I’ll mail you a hard copy

SATURDAY 5/28/11 @9pm

Park Bar (for a show AND my birthday.  Come with a party hat!)
2007 West Burbank Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91506-1318
21+ – $5

So there you have it, friends!  Til next time, enjoy your spring (very soon to be summer….)

xoxo,

jess

March is shaping up to look CUH-RAY-ZAY for me and I’m losing a bit of sleep over how busy it’s going to be (or rather, how I’m going to manage getting enough people to come out and join me in all of the busyness going on…).  Since I fell so much in love with the vlogging experience from last time and grew weary at the thought of trying to write about all of my shows coming up that I decided to do yet ANOTHER video.  This time I enlisted my good friend, Anna, to help me out.  This girl is super winner….  Check it out:

And in case you don’t have 3 minutes and 37 seconds to two girls goof off in a park, here’s the list of shows coming up:

Monday 3/7/11 @9:30pm – O’Brien’s Pub – 2941 Main St. Santa Monica, CA 90405 – FREE!!!!!!! (I just need 10 people there…)

Thursday 3/10/11 @9pm – Puka Bar – 710 W Willow St. Long Beach, CA 90806 – $5 Cover – Opening for Said the Whale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiA4O9nypvE)

Sunday 3/13/11 @7:15pm – The Mint – 6010 West Pico Blvd. LA, CA 90035 – $10 for 21+, $13 for under 21 – Opening for The Young Romans (I just need 15 people there…)

Thursday 3/17/11 @8:40pm – House of Blues - 8430 West Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069 – $10 – all ages (I need 20 whole entire people to show up!  AHG!)

Hope to see you and your fancy faces there!!

xoxo,

jess  (and anna)

If you like to read my blogs but are tired of actually reading, this week is for you!

Without further ado, click the image below to check out this week’s Video Blog!

And in case you don’t have time to watch the video, the most important part is that I HAVE A SHOW THIS FRIDAY!!  Here’s the skinny on all the details:

Friday 2/25/11

Blue Cafe

17208 Pacific Coast Highway

Huntington Beach, CA

Doors at 7 – Tix $12

Send a message to jessicaripka@gmail.com for your tickets

**THIS IS A 21+ EVENT**

1.  Did I study music full time in school?

2.  Do I do music full time now as a job?

I had to tell him no on both counts, at which point he said something along the lines of, “Wow – well, you should!”

Thanks, Patrick – I’d love to.

My actual job is similar in that it involves sitting down; but that’s where the similarities end, I’m afraid (I don’t count the quiet humming I do by the xerox machine while making copies…).  And unfortunately, I usually sit at a desk instead of a piano.  For hours. Like, hours and hours and hours.  Did I mention that I sit for hours??  Anywhere between 10 and 14, to be exact.  Here’s a cartoon I drew to demonstrate my point:

That said, you can understand (I hope…) why I revel in my free time.  I spend a good portion of the year ‘between projects’, as they say, and have a hard time letting go of that free time once another project starts up.  Case in point – I was recently offered a stellar position on an even more stellar film that would have had me working with the stellarest crew of all time (‘stellarest’ is a word.  Promise.)  Think of every enjoyable, successful, amazing film and it’s likely that this woman worked on it.  And she wanted to hire me!  Sadly, she wanted to hire me to sit in a chair all day – both in LA and Detroit.  And if there’s one thing I’ve discovered from being back in LA, it takes a ridiculously long time to build a fanbase somewhere and I’m not ready to stop building what I’ve got here out west.

So.  I turned it down.  It’s not that I’ll never work again.  Hopefully I’ll make some money before things get really tight and I can’t even afford to do what I love anymore.  Until then, though, I’m sticking to my guns and staying out of that chair.  A great plan during a recession, right??  So if you’re the praying type, feel free to send some prayers my way.  If not, then you can just send cash.

xoxo,

jess

ps – almost forgot!  I just got some video footage back from my show in Long Beach a few weeks ago.  Wanna check out a fresh new song I’m working on recording?  I thought so…  And check out the HOTTEST little band I’ve ever been part of (not that I’ve actually ever been in a band, but….).  Tripp Beam rocks my little toe socks off every time he hits a drum set and Luke Janela makes me endlessly happy with his cello.  Seriously.  I can’t give this up.  Not yet….

ps2 – For those of you in similar situations or empathetic to the plight of a Dreamer in less than dreamy times, here’s a book for you.  Far and away one of the best books for kids and grown-ups.  Read the whole thing for yourself just by clicking on the image below.  Enjoy!

In any case, Happy Monday!  For starters, in case you still haven’t gotten a Valentine’s Day card, here’s one I drew for you:

And if that doesn’t cheer you up, then you’ll be happy to know that I have a show tomorrow at the fabulous Busby’s East in Los Angeles and you should definitely come!  Here’s the info:

Tuesday 2/15/11 @8pm

Busby’s East

5364 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036

$10 w/ presale ticket – $15 at the door

Granted, that probably only cheers you up if you’re in the LA area.  So!  Since I’ve been spending all my free time at my friend, Van’s, studio to chip away at the next batch of songs, I’ve had a chance to work on this year’s Singing Telegram which can now be enjoyed throughout the entire continental US and the world.  I’m calling it “Strangers” and would like to dedicate to all of the good friends I’ve disappointed and let down over the years but who still manage to want me around.  Lemme tell you – those two people are the best friends I’ll ever have…  ;)

In any case, from my piano to yours, Happy Valentine’s Day!

xoxo,

jess

But this past Monday, just before performing at Hollywood’s historic Viper Room, my coolest guest ever showed up (the guy in the robe – not the guy in the car):

So, y’know, it’s all good.  When fans don’t show up at my gigs, sometimes Jesus does instead (hope to see all of you at some point, though…)

xoxo,

jess

ps – Wouldn’t ya’ know – he’s got a Facebook fanpage?  You can join here:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=182044177494

I’ve been sick so rarely in my life.  Aside from the 30 consecutive days of class I missed in high school due to an endless march of migraines, I’ve been relatively well most of my life.  Well – there were those two months in middle school when I needed so much medical attention that my doctor began ending our consultations with a cheerful, “See you next week!”

But I was never really sick, then (unless you count Over-Emotional 12 Year Old Girl Syndrome an illness).  In fact, I’ve never felt “really” sick.

Until this past November.

It started as a cold.  I’d just gotten back from four weeks traveling through the northeast – singing and stressing out about my life like any other normal musician.  I noticed a sore throat the day after I got back to Detroit – just before singing at a birthday party for my friend’s husband.  I did my usual onslaught of zinc, vitamin C, and salt water mouth washes figuring it would do the trick.

The cold lingered on my road trip west – coming to a head in Nashville where my host at the time graciously put two Alka-Seltzer colds towards the cause of my recovery.  I slept for 12 full hours and woke up feeling like a million bucks. Mission accomplished.

I rolled into LA a week later – just before Thanksgiving – and felt the tiniest bit of the fatigue and sore throat making a comeback.  I went back on my warpath of zinc, orange juice, lemons, tea – my whole arsenal back in action.  It finally settled down and I was in the clear again.

Then again, I never really felt like I was in the clear-clear  The sore throat was always around – I just didn’t notice it as much because it had been around for long enough to feel normal by then. 

“Is my throat still sore?” I’d ask myself.

Nah – it’s always been this way, some scratchy-throated Virus would mutter back, hoping it hadn’t blown its cover.

I celebrated Christmas relatively free of tissues and coughing – a nice gift, in hindsight, because I was back to the drawing board by New Years Eve.  No passing Go and definitely no collecting $200.

Two weeks had gone by with little to no progress when I heard about a friend’s recent bout with Bronchitis.  After listening to a short list of his symptoms, I began wondering if maybe I had Bronchitis, too.

“Or,” another friend offered matter-of-factly, “It could be Pneumonia.”

When I think of Pneumonia, I tend to think of Little House on the Prairie or some other pioneer drama where everyone starts dropping like flies from Scarlet Fever, Typhus, or (your guessed it) Pneumonia.  It also makes me think of homemade house cleaners that burn your nose hair; but that doesn’t really relate at the moment.  Either way – it definitely seems more threatening than the common cold and probably wouldn’t feel the least bit phased by my onslaught of zinc and citrus. And when you find yourself muttering under your breath every few minutes, “I just want to be better!  I would give ANYthing to just feel BETTER!”, well, my friends – that’s when you realize that your sickness saga has gone on for far too long.

So this morning I dragged myself to the Urgent Care Center in Burbank where I waited with some screaming babies and a man bleeding profusely from his head.

“Eet ees steel dreeping..,” I heard him say with mild delirium as they (thankfully) ushered him out of the waiting room.

Two hours later I was prepping for some chest X-rays and an hour after that my doctor finally came in and delivered the news.

“Looks like you have a bad case of Bronchitis, my dear,” he said looking bleakly over my chart, “But it could also be Walking Pneumonia so I’ll have to treat you for both.”

I was busy envisioning myself dying by candlelight with Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert when he delivered the harder news.

“No singing at least for 3 more days…”

In case we don’t all remember, I CAME OUT HERE TO SING. That is what I came all the way out here to DO.  I have perhaps one of my biggest shows to date, in fact, this upcoming Thursday (which is, thankfully, FOUR days away and should hopefully keep me within the No Singing For Three Days parameters…).  And then three more days after THAT, I have a show at the amazing and historic Viper Room.  And these aren’t just any sort of run-of-the-mill show like I’ve done in the past.   They involve a drummer, a cellist, hair, makeup – the whole nine yards.

All this to say that I ran as fast as my little Honda would take me to the nearest Walgreen’s and filled all three of my prescriptions as soon as humanly possible.  I also picked up some Chinese medicine supplements to help speed things along – one of which is called “Lung Fire” (I’d tell you what’s in it, but I honestly can’t pronounce a single ingredient…).  And, of course, I’ll still be plugging away with zinc, tea, and all the citrus I can pick from my trees in the backyard.  Pneumonia – you have met your match.

While writing this essay, I read a friend’s email about the recent parking ticket they’d received.  I didn’t say it out loud like I wanted to, but Grandpa Ripka and I, I’m sure, were thinking the same thing:

At least you have your health.

And I hope you do, dear reader.  Now more than ever, I truly hope that you do….

xoxo

-jess

Current Pharmaceutical Cocktail: Immunity Plus supplement, Lung Fire supplement, Inhaler, Amoxicillin, Cough Syrup with codeine, wine and fresh fruit (the Rice Crispies in the background are just there for show)

1.  Doing one final show of the year at Citizen Smith Restaurant that finally felt like a success.  Great crowd, great atmosphere, and a great Manager who gave me and my table of friends two free bottles of wine just for guessing what movie was playing on the screen above the bar (it was “Tremors”.  Easy shot if you ask me.  There’s no mistaking Kevin Bacon’s hair or those crazy prosthetic worms.).

2.  Piling into Jourdan’s car and driving to Houston, TX to see her family – most notably including her Great Aunt Pearlie who will turn 99 in 2011.  She greeted us with the energy of someone at least 30 years younger and asked if we were up to all of the excitement.  ”Because my family, you know,” she said while pulling me aside, “We like to party it up – if you know what I mean.”  I’m happy to say that I was out-partied by a 98 year old Swedish woman from Texas.

3.  Heading off to Marfa, TX where I’ve been anxious to see the mysterious lights I’ve heard so much about.  Here’s what we saw:

Marfa Lights! (or maybe just the Marfa light?)

Note: Apparently, February is the best time to view the lights as this guy’s photo shows.  Maybe better luck next time?…

4.  Staying at the historical Hotel Paisano in Marfa where I’m sure Jourdan and her vegetarian self most appreciated the following painting in our room:

Those Texans, man - they sure love their meat....

5.  Stopping in an Art Gallery where we could purchase the piece below for the discounted price of $18,000 (yes, that’s what I said.  Eighteen Thousand Dollars.  Who knew vellum paper and graphite pencils could be so expensive??):

6.  Poking around the El Cosmico trailer park resort that takes the cake for Cool Places to Stay in West Texas.  Seriously.  I totally wanted to take over one of those renovated trailers and call it my own.  Plus, there’s a tiki bar.  There’s really no reason to leave, if you ask me….

I like to call this The Crochet Wagon.

Tiki Bar!

MORE Tiki Bar!

7.  Making our way to the Chinati Foundation where I accidentally mistook the art gallery for a construction site.

No, really - this IS the art.

This, however, is NOT part of the gallery (it's confusing, though, right??)

There's also an 8-hour guided tour offered inside of the gallery; but unfortunately it was closed the day we visited. I was really looking forward to a whole entire day of listening to someone talk on and on about steel and concrete cubicles that sit in the middle of the desert.

8.  And last but not least:  Collecting Jourdan’s cat Loci (pronounced “Low-Key”) from Austin, TX and bringing him to the west coast.  Lemme tell you – you haven’t traveled until you’ve gone 24 hours with a cat wailing in your backseat.  But honestly, he’s so happy here now that it’s all (mostly) a distant memory.

Happy as clams.

So, that’s that, my friends.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me – I’ve got another dose of cold meds to take.  Here’s to a happy and healthy New Year!

xoxo,

jess