From: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org (jewel-digest) To: jewel-digest@smoe.org Subject: jewel-digest V11 #177 Reply-To: jewel@smoe.org Sender: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jewel-digest Thursday, July 6 2006 Volume 11 : Number 177 * If you ever wish to unsubscribe from this digest, send an email to * jewel-digest-request@smoe.org with ONLY the word * unsubscribe in the BODY of the email * . * For the latest news on what Jewel is up to, go to * the OFFICIAL Jewel web site at http://www.jeweljk.com * and click on "calendar" * . * PLEASE :) when you reply to this digest to send a post TO the list, * change the subject to reflect what your post is about. A subject * of Re: jewel-digest V9 #___ gives fellow list readers * no clue as to what your message is about. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [EDA] rolling stonepics [s w ] [EDA] Interesting interview [Fjjordao ] [EDA] CMT / Myspace Reminder ["Matt Sullivan" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 14:28:19 -0400 (EDT) From: s w Subject: Re: [EDA] rolling stonepics Cool I shoulda remembered about the whole swiss thing because the yodelling and such, but still she is more known for being from Alaska, so Im not sure why they wouldn't put that. Quite strange.. s w wrote: Why does it say this on the rollingstone website..."The Swiss singer/songwriter graces us with her smile" HUH?? Shes not swiss!! freckledangel@aol.com wrote: Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:48:27 -0500 From: Theresa Bolger Gubrud Subject: [EDA] Re: jewel-photos Photos at Rolling Stone http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/10560269/ jewel_stops_by_our_studio_in_new_y T Thanks for those! She's looking good. Well rested and in good spirits. And showing good taste all around. ________________________________________________________________________ Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 12:52:53 -0300 From: Fjjordao Subject: [EDA] Interesting interview This is an interesting article. It talks about the cartoon she's developing for Nickelodeon, the Soul City Cafi project and her ideal radio system (which I completely agree). http://www.femalemusician.com...l.htm TALKING WITH JEWEL By Theresa Orlando From the remote tundra of her Alaskan youth to the triumph of international stardom, Jewel has traveled a singular road as an acclaimed singer, songwriter, poet, actress and painter. The three-time Grammy nominee has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Her latest release, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland, is slated for release May 2, 2006, marking her first album in three years, her sixth total. Alice features the debut single "Again & Again." Here's a portion of an exclusive interview I conducted with Jewel on March 24th. Theresa: Congratulations on your anticipated release of Goodbye Alice in Wonderland! You mention on your website that this album plays in true sequence to your life, an autobiographical album. Can you pinpoint when and where the title came to you, and share that with us? Jewel: Probably halfway through the record, I have a song on the CD that's called Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. And as we were tracking, I kind of began to realize a loose theme to the whole record was forming that sort of had to deal with the topic of trying to understand and find the truth, and start to come to grips with the fact that we're told a lot of fairytales about life, and love that aren't necessarily true, and a willingness to sort of find the truth. Goodbye Alice in Wonderland sort of seems to sum up that theme for me. Theresa: Rob Cavallo was helping you with the production. What specific strength did he bring to the project for you? Jewel: Rob's really great because he's has a lot of commercial success, but it's only because he really cared to find out what's authentic and sincere for the artist he's working with. And I think that the record speaks so truly that it rings true and reverberates outward from there. It's not a contrived hit, so to speak. And I sort of thought he was just a "rock guy", but when I met with him, I really did realize that he cares a great deal about emotional sincerity and that's what I really needed. Theresa: Who are some of the other musicians that appear on this record that you'd like to perhaps mention that really stand out for you? Jewel: Everybody's great. I've worked with my bass player Paul Bushnell for quite a long time, who was on at least 3 records of mine. These guys are just really talented, and we actually kind of come into the room and play them the song how I wrote it on acoustic guitar, and they'd sit around and they'd really kind of get what I was trying to get across. They'd really just kind of interpret it, and have a tremendous amount of skill, but also a tremendous amount of emotionality, so that they could interpret it and sort of bring that out without just squalling it up, and popping it out. Theresa: Right, and am I correct in saying that your process of songwriting is pen and guitar? Jewel: Yes! Theresa: I heard that you're not too keen on the whole technical aspect of the recording process. So what are some of your dislikes and likes about the recording process, in the studio, with the technology. Jewel: This is the first record where I've felt pretty confident. I've been able to accomplish what I wanted to. In general, I find the recording process to be so contrived and so repetitive, that is sort of beats the life out of a song. The way technology has gone, is the temptation to achieve perfection is just so prevalent, you know? You sing a song 20 times, then you take each 20 takes, and then you pick it and you Frankenstein together, one perfect, ultimate take. I guess technically, it's perfect, but emotionally, it leaves you feeling kind of dead. And, me, personally, I just get bored, you know? I can't sing a song 20 times and just bring it every time. So what we did on this one, was we sang live. What you're hearing on the record is a live tape; beginning to end. The band played live, I sang live at the exact same time, and we cut it. It's like a song at a concert. We're all playing live which generally is just never done. You record the drums, and then you add the bass later, and then you track the piano, and you sort of build it up layer-by-layer and it's just like, for me, it just takes the life and the fun out of it. It just really translates in sort of a dead-feeling track to me. I finally kind learned enough of the process to try and influence to keep a lot of the spontaneity into it. Theresa: I did want to touch upon your Clearwater Project. That to me, is a very extraordinary , powerful and meaningful project. I know it's deviating a little from the album, but I want to get your take on some words on what you feel that are perhaps the most crucial areas for your project. Jewel: I started the Clearwater Project when I was 21 or so. I guess what inspired me to do it was when I was homeless and living in my car. I had kidney problems, and I needed to drink two gallons of clean water a day. I was on a 5-dollar-a-day budget. And you could spend all that on water. I needed it for food, and gas, and everything else life takes. It really started to startle me how expensive and inaccessible water really was, and the idea that water would become a luxury of the elite, was a shocking notion. When my first record became successful, I started this project called The Clearwater Project. We basically solved water problems on a small village level. I've really actually never done press on it or anything. It's been funded by myself, solely. 50 cents of each ticket goes to The Clearwater Project. And my brother runs it. And some friends that happen to be biologists will basically find a village that has a water problem. Like certain tribes in Africa, that needed solar paneling, so we bought them solar paneling and helped them dig a well. Or in Tibet, they needed great filters because they have a lot of anaerobic activity. So we put in about 15 sites, in 12 different countries. Theresa: That's amazing. I definitely want to keep abreast of that because I'd love to assist in the area of helping promote that particular project. I am a person who is all about clear water, and clean water myself, so I think it's a great project all around. Congratulations, that's a beautiful thing to do with your success. Jewel: Thank you. Theresa: You got it. One other question I did want to askyou never mentioned a few places, are there any other specific areas that are your next target of attack that are in the works right now to get a water filter process going? Jewel: I think we're about to start a project in Tanzania. That seems to be the one we're working on next. On my website, there's a link to Clearwater. That's Jeweljk.com. You'll see a place to go into and check out what we're doing. Theresa: You have toured the world, of course, and other than you're home state of Alaska, where do you feel your best fan base is anchored? Jewel: I'm not sure. It's really become such a global community; it's really hard for me to say. Anything about the Internet, people can sort of find their tribe or wherever they feel like their like-minded group is from anywhere. I'm a fan of my fans. I think I have kind of a cool fan base. It's pretty mellow. Everyone kind of leaves me alone in all the right ways, and supports me in all the other right ways. I feel really lucky. I've never really been in tabloids. My fans don't seem too weird. They just seem like people that are like me; kind of just grooving out on what somebody's doing and trying to get their own thing going. I guess I never really thought of it in terms of what city everybody lives in particularly. Theresa: Fair enough. And in the past, your "Soul City Cafi" project inspired and gave opportunity to select, independent artists including an opportunity to open up for you. Do you anticipate opening that project door again? Jewel: I haven't yet. I'd love to do it on a bigger scale. I found the scale I was doing it on, it was great and rewarding, but I'd love to do it on a bigger scale if I can. I'd love to do like a singer/songwriter American Idol type of thing that puts the accent on what you're creating, not just what you're mimicking. So you're not just a pop star. You're a person whose provoking thought hopefully. There's talk about VH1 trying to do a show like that, we'll see what happens. Theresa: So I asked Brenda Russell this question a couple of weeks ago and she found it a good question, so I'm going to throw it in the mix. Is there any particular line of a song that you've written that resonates with you more than others? Jewel: I try to make every line count. Oddly enough, one of my favorite lines is a line I stole off of Rikki Lee Jones. I actually called her and asked her permission to rip it off. (laughs) I couldn't think of a better one. I finally called her and was like, "Ms. Jones, (laughs) if I could think of a better line I would, but I can't, can I use yours?" It was "the sharp end of what you say". And I just always liked that line and I ended up putting it at the end of a song called Break Me. Her line says, "You climb up my windowsill using the sharp end of what you say", and my line says, "you can hurt me with your bare hands, you can hurt me with the sharp end of what you say". But anyway, I did get permission from her and I plagiarized it (laughs). Theresa: That's a very cool tidbit of information. Thank you, I appreciate that sharing. Ok, touring and promoting for your anticipated release is probably the main goal for your immediate future as a singer, songwriter, poet, actress, and painter. Where do you think your next form of expression may be built upon from this CD? What will you think you'll do, some writing or do you think you'll just go with the flow kind of thing? Jewel: I'm actually working on a cartoon for Nickelodeon called Punk Rock Angel Girl. And I drew it and wrote it, and conceived it, and I'm the voice. I guess it's completely narcissistic (laughs) but it was a lot of fun. I was an art major in school, and really missed drawing. We're just now doing our pilot. Hopefully it will rate well, and we can go onto make a series. Theresa: Very nice. Congratulations and good luck. Jewel: Thank you. Theresa: This is sort of my "trademark" question that I do ask people. If there was one thing you could change regarding the music industry, what would that be? Jewel: Well, gulp, I would change radio format. I would love to make records where the fans could kind of choose the tracks they want to hear. Where DJ's kind of get to play tracks that aren't just singles, but that are somehow relevant to listeners. That's actually why I took Goodbye Alice in Wonderland and released it on the Internet with it's own little super 8(?) home video. I felt it should be a single, but its 6 minutes long, and there's nothing pop about it. But I felt like the fans could relate to it. So I'm trying to release my own underground Internet singles while at the same time I go with more conforming radio singles. You know, regular format. But that's one thing I'd like to change. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:42:16 -0500 From: "Matt Sullivan" Subject: [EDA] CMT / Myspace Reminder I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it yet, but CMT is playing "Again and Again". I was watching videos early this morning, and did a double-take when the video came on. Maybe country radio will start to embrace this song like they have The Wreckers (Michelle Branch's duo) Also, myspace users, don't forget to join the EDA myspace group!! http://groups.myspace.com/everydayangels2006 _________________________________________________________________ Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ End of jewel-digest V11 #177 ****************************