At Bar Fizz, each performance is more fun than the last. This is definitely one of the hippest stages I've ever performed on. Across the venue from the stage, the bartop is made of a material that looks like blocks of ice covered in glass....hence the clear glass-like piano to retain the "ice" theme. The floor of the stage also mimics this ice-block pattern, and the blocks at the bar as well as on the music stage, are lit from within. The lights rotate through colors ranging from snow white to teal blue, to grass green, to royal purple, to fuschia, to red. As the bar fades from one color to the next, the stage soon follows the same pattern. Behind me on the stage is a running water feature, in fact the entire venue feels almost as though it is suspended in water, as the tables and chairs butt right up against these pools of water, and the huge windows looking out onto Canal City show the viewer dancing water fountains and decorative pools. At the beginning of each of my sets, at the top of the hour, the water fountains begin their dance, and the dance lasts for about as long as it takes me to complete my first one or two songs. One can imagine why it is called Bar Fizz.....an effervescent drop of color and movement in the midst of all this water.

I am looking forward to my day off on Sunday in order to explore more of the city. The only walking around I have done so far was to register at city hall, pop into a photo booth to get passport pics, and head to the convenience store for bottled water. Canal City is a little incubator of activity, where you can find all you need in one place, but I am anxious to move beyond its walls. First on the agenda is to find an English bookstore. I can survive without English television and movies, but I cannot thrive without books. I am struggling to remember some of the Japanese I learned years ago and to learn more, but my mind seems too tired to retain it right now. I am surprised to learn that fewer people speak English here than did in Korea and Vietnam, so the language barrier is a bit isolating. But I've already made some friends, especially with my co-workers, who have promised to show me around a bit. Hopefully my next installment will include more information about the city itself, and some photos of the area I am in!

I am sitting here in my room at the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka, Japan, which overlooks a similar but smaller version of the choreographed water fountain one can see at the Bellaggio in Vegas. Neon lights are everywhere, as well as impeccably manicured floral gardens and greenery exhibits. The Grand Hyatt is part of a place called Canal City, which is a conglomeration of the hotel, shopping, art, movie theaters, entertainment, and more all in one small "city within the city." Bar Fiz, my venue for the next few months, overlooks all of the activity. When I arrived late last night to be met by the Japanese agent, Hiro, I immediately went to meet the performer who left today, and check out the venue. The stage is beautiful, a lighted floor, a clear glass-like piano, bamboo and water features surrounding you as you play. The bar creates a "signature drink" for each performer, and I am waiting to see what mine will be made of, and what they will call it. I watched some of the drinks being carried out from the bar, and every detail is seen to, including lighted ice cubes inside the drinks that are different colors depending on what you ordered.

Saying goodbye (twice!) back in the states was very difficult. When I left St. Louis and my fiance AJ, I kept looking back over my shoulder as I headed to security, wishing I could turn around. I absolutely am going to love this job and the people here and the adventure, but leaving home and the people I love for months at a time has always been difficult for me, even more so now that I am trying to plan a wedding! Ater St. Louis, I visited family in Seattle for a couple of days and it was again difficult to leave my mom and stepdad and grandma and get on that long flight to the land of the rising sun. However, now that I am here, I am ready to begin performing and learning about this place and the culture, which so far, is beautiful and inviting.

I am thrilled to report my guitar made it through the two flights here, so I must give kudos to United Airlines and Asian Airlines. The only casualty was a broken high E string when I was trying to tune it after opening the case. And that isn't their fault; the nut seems to have a sharp spot that often causes the high E to break. So, even without a heavy-duty flight case, my guitar survived the trip! And I survived the trip, being pleasantly surprised that all the flight attendants were very kind and helpful, and everything in the Tokyo airport was easy and efficient. I've had some rough trips lately where attendants were more than rude, (or where EVERYTHING went wrong, like it did on my last trip to Italy) but this one gave me back a bit of hope for the airline industry. I heard on the news that they are doing really well for the first time in a long time - making a big profit again. So, now I guess they can start giving us free peanuts again on domestic flights? Or how about NOT charging one hundred dollars for an extra domestic-flight bag anymore? One can dream....

So, I've decided technology and I aren't the best of friends. My room here is great - but everything runs on automatic switches. You come near the bathroom, the fan kicks on in anticipation; you walk by the closet, a light switches on even if you weren't planning on opening the doors; and there are no light switches, just a multi-button "console" (for want of a better word) near the bed that controls all the lights in the room and which I still haven't fully figured out. I'm not even going to go into detail about the bidet that can give your bum a wash and blow-dry! OK, maybe that was more detail than was necessary, but I'm thinking I will steer clear of that!

I start performing tomorrow evening after registering and getting my ID card, and sound-checking at the venue. I'm always a little nervous before a new job begins, but this one seems like it will be great in every way. I get to perform a nice mix of my original music and my choice of covers ranging from standards to modern pop and everything in-between. It keeps it interesting. While putting together my song list the other day, I realized that through these jobs I've learned nearly 150 new songs I had never played before! I will also be selling CD's, and here you must sell them for $20 or more....they actually view a higher price as a sign of better value. So I guess I've been spoiled by the music prices in America, which so many of us think of as high, but which are quite low in comparison to here. Also, after meeting the F&B director here today, I learned I will be doing different types of performance while here, such as guitar/vocal, and performances outside of the regular venue.

I hope to write blogs often, as I don't have a movie channel on my TV - therefore lots of time on my hands, haha!

For my birthday this year I have a very important wish: I wish that everyone who means so much to me would know it! Also, a huge thank you to my mom for all her help and support through the years. And mom and dad - thanks for creating me!

Two people who attended the 4th of July show at Faurot Field have raised a concern with me over why I chose to perform John Lennon's song, Imagine, at the festivities. I would like to address my decision here, in my blog.

Anyone who knows me even a bit knows that this next statement is absolutely unnecessary, but I will nonetheless say it: "I absolutely did not choose that song to antagonize, offend, or be anti-patriotic!" Quite the opposite, in fact! In college, I not only studied music, but I graduated with my degree in English literature. Any art form, in my opinion, is open to multiple interpretations, be that visual art, poetry, literature, or song lyrics.

One of the things I most strongly feel about Lennon's Imagine, is that it calls us to do exactly what the title implies: IMAGINE the world of which he sings, not take literally the world of which he sings. When Lennon sings "imagine there's no countries" for example, I believe he imagines a world in which divisions between people and the need to fight and kill each other for land ownership would be unnecessary. I won't go into all of the lyrics, because needless to say, each and every line is rendered with the possibility for multiple meanings and I choose the euphemistic interpretations. I consider this a simple and beautiful song about peace, definitely NOT an anti-patriotic song. I have the utmost respect for our troops, I have supported them in more than just my words, for several years, by donating to several military-based causes.

Furthermore, I performed this song in Asia, in countries that America has a history of war with, but with whom we are currently allied. I got chills when Vietnamese, South Koreans, or Japanese audience members started singing along. It was a glimpse, through music, of a possible peace. Like so many others, I too have had family members who served in the military, even during war times. I know there is a need for our strong military men and women, and I respect and honor them for their service – how wonderful it would be if none of them had to march to war ever again.

I believe the finest point that can be gleaned from this song (and the reason I ultimately chose it for performance on July 4th) is that if we could all IMAGINE a world more at peace, we might come a few steps closer to that peaceful world, where war would be null and void, and therefore our friends, brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, husbands, wives, or parents would not need to fight, and possibly die in a war for ANY cause. I find that a wonderful thing to IMAGINE. Is it realistic? Am I being a Pollyanna? No - I feel that with this song, we get a respite from some of the brutal realities of this world, and imagine something different, even if only for three short minutes.

Thank you for reading this - if you were concerned enough to ask me for my reasons, I hope you will try to understand my point of view.

Oh, travel!!!! It seems I was fated to have alarmingly uncomfortable travel situations on my European adventure, but my ill-fated voyages resulted in very good luck once I arrived at my destinations, both with the un-forseen win/recording contract in Italy, and the performances/TV appearance in France.

My agent, Agnes Dautraix, of Miss Lucy and Company booking, met me at the train station on June 22nd, after my 14-hour mishap which included six train changes, two late trains, one train one which I almost didn't have a seat, and a full day with almost no food or water. But all complaining aside, seeing her face at the train station, along with her friend Sophie who soon also became my friend, was like a scene from a movie! We've been acquaintances on My Space for three years, and Agnes was one of those rare internet contacts who truly stayed in touch and we talked about significant things together; our personal lives, our musical dreams.

One of those dreams was for me to come perform in France one day, but it seemed unlikely. Because Agnes enjoyed my music, she asked if she could interview me. In the following months she interviewed more and more artists, eventually getting to the point where she was given backstage/press passes at shows of very famous touring and local acts. The culmination of her adventures was that she was asked to represent Kate Taylor (James Taylor's sister) and Murray Head (hugely popular and successful European musician and actor) and she asked if I would like to be on her roster as well. I jumped at the possibility, and with my trip to Italy coming up, we decided to try to book a few shows for the same trip. Somehow or other, we pulled it all together, and one of Agnes' great suggestions was that I perform shared shows with Norfolk, a local artist who writes and sings a folk/country style quite complimentary to my own.

So, on the 24th, Norfolk and I shared our first show at a club in Clermont-Ferrand called The Rat Pack. We had a good-sized, extremely appreciative crowd, and after only rehearsing for five minutes, we pulled together two songs that we performed as a duet. After that show, around midnight, we walked to a studio where we would film the "Sex Room Sessions," which is an internet/TV program quickly gaining popularity, and which has featured very well known musical acts. Despite the name, this is a quirky, inventive, hilarious short program intended to feature musicians in a raw live performance. Norfolk and I performed a duet, and I performed one song solo, crammed in a tiny closet-like space with twelve other individuals as a live audience, the cameraman and soundman, and a twin sized bed we stood on in order to record! It was quite an adventure, and I look forward to seeing the rough edit before the show is released.

On the 25th, we performed in Vichy at a wonderful micro-theater above a restaurant called La Bamboche. It was a great listening-room atmosphere, very intimate, and I sold a lot of CDs at the show, so it was clear people had just come to listen to the music. Afterwards we ate some of the best food ever at the venue's restaurant, then proceeded to decompress at Agnes' house, by staying up until 6am listening to music, chatting, and yes, sipping some great French alcohol! :) As I was struggling to recall some of the French I learned in the two years I studied it in high school, the girls decided to teach me this phrase: "je suis un peu pompette" : I am a little bit tipsy! I guess that night that was a perfect description of me! :)

I attended Agnes' daughter's ballet performance on the night of the 26th, and it was wonderful! We got to see all the classes perform at different levels of advancement, and then we saw some famous ballet dancers from Poland perform many different styles of dance. I was exhausted but incredibly happy with my experience, and also full of good cheese and Agnes' home-made lasagna!

Before heading back down to Rome on the train on June 27th, Agnes and I discussed future plans. When I return to Italy for recording in February of 2011, I will also head to France for a three week-to one month long tour of theaters and venues, most likely shared shows with Norfolk again, as that seems to be a good musical match. There were two promoters/agents for venues at the show we played at La Bamboche, and they are interested in helping us plan the tour. In conjunction with the album release in Italy and hopeful collaboration with publicists and agents there, the hope is to tour in Italy, France and possibly Spain as well.

My trip back down to Rome was uneventful and fairly easy. One train to Lyon, one bus to Torino, and one more train to Rome. Then I spent that Monday the 28th discussing plans with Euro Ferrari, as I have mentioned, and then flew back home with fairly little incidence. It feels great to be back home, and at the same time I'm excited to dive right in to plans and preparations for all that I need to do before next year's touring and recording.

I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day - I performed with my band at the Fire in the Sky celebration in the football stadium on Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. Happy Birthday, America. Oh, and my birthday is coming up in just four days, yikes!