The Nervous Breakdown

Great interview on The Nervous Breakdown. My friend Q designs all my CD Covers and is a phenomenal writer (she’s a regular contributor to TNB) and set me up with the lovely Gloria Harrison. It was a great day with some weapons grade female brains…and tacos.

PART I

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/

PART II

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/

xoStorm

Video Interview With Neal B.

Neal B. of NealB.tv sits with Storm to discuss the first song she wrote, her influences, her parents reaction to pursuing a musical career and more in this two part interview exclusively from WTBL TV (Willing To Be Lucky TV)

Portland Sings For Haiti

James, Scotty Weddle and I performed a couple of songs in support of the CD “Portland Sings For Haiti” (all proceeds going to Mercy Corps). The show is called “Keep It Local” (videos below).

Besides my terribly huge sweater that makes me look like my water’s about to break… it sounds pretty good. xoStorm

Why Marriage Matters

“Marriage Matters To Me is a grassroots campaign to get Oregonians talking to each other about marriage equality. The most important and influential conversations we have are with the people we know and care about. For the many Oregonians who believe that extending civil marriage to same sex couples is a matter of basic fairness and respect, Marriage Matters To Me is an easy and powerful way to start that conversation.” Learn more at the websites below-
http://marriagemattersoregon.org/takeaction.html
http://www.basicrights.org/

Haitian Relief

Two Haitian relief efforts happening this week in Portland: Big Ass Sandwiches is donating 100% of their profits to Mercy Corps on Wed. 1/20, and I will be singing at the Aladdin Theater with Thomas Lauderdale, Holcombe Waller and Portland Cello Project (to name a few) on Thursday 1/21, also for Mercy Corps.

xoStorm

ORPHEE!

I am currently at the Opera with my fellow bloggers , Cynthia Fuhrman , Bob Hicks , and Byron Beck…we are going to head backstage for snacks, drinks and to meet the cast of Phillip Glass’ “Orphee” .  It’s opening night and there is a line forming outside…a crispy cold night and Byron has already noted my boobs hiding inside my silly coat…. a thing I like to call a bath mat with sleeves . At least I’m warm!

On to the green room!

————–

OK ! Just got back from previewing the stage with the lovely (and minty breath-ed) Laura Hassle , production manager at the Keller Auditorium . The stage is “raked” which means it is pitched forward at an angle. The idea behind this stage set up is to project the un mic-ed voices outward. It is also the reason for the terms “upstage” and “downstage”.

No, I didn’t know that before today. Yes, that is dumb….but we all learn things at our own pace.

There is also a stretched canvas ceiling over the 50′x30′ set , unusual for this performance space but functional for cool lights and even more projection of sound. The set is a present-day, tastefully appointed loft with a very modern aesthetic. Byron (www.byronbeck.com) squealed when he saw some Louis Vitton props backstage. So gay… and I say that with all the love in the world for my swishy friend with the naturally great taste….and his permission.

The stage is mic-ed for recording purposes only. These studly Lords and Ladies use only their natural power and hard earned chops to fill the 3000 seat house. I feel like a total dork having to have used a microphone in such a small space (The Ellen Bye) for my show , when these folks push their arpeggiated arias naturally like bazookas made of meat and hot oxygen.

Speaking of hot meat…..my buddy and BBT partner, Marc Acito is in this fine production. (Blogging from backstage….www.marcacito.com)He’s playing a glazier, (a glass worker)has one line, consisting of three words and, I’ve been told, is wearing a cool ass worker uniform, with the perfect Acito pun on the back: ” Phil’s Glass” .

I love that man.

Julia Sheridan , PR Manager for The Opera, has talked us all into doing this Opening Night Blog deal and has now filled our table with surar-y treats and alcohol. My hunch is, as the night goes on, our tweets and blogs will get a touch more..um
….colorful.

More at intermission.

———

Best line in the first act: ” My life stinks of success and death!”

Soooo French!

The text (projected over the stage) is straight from Jean Cocteau’s film, “Orphee” . All I know of Orphee is the greek, “Orpheus”. The tragic tale of a musician who loved his wife, Euridice, so much, he followed her to the Underworld to charm Hades and Persephone, with beautiful music, in exchange for getting his wife back. Hades is so moved, he allows Euridice to leave, with the caveat that though they can walk out, Orpheus in front, his wife walking a ways behind him, Orpheus CANNOT look back at her until they are both above ground, and among the living. Of course, as all awesome tragedies go, Orpheus gets to the surface, freaks out at the thought his Lady isn’t bringing up the rear, and turns around.

Jackass.

Anyways, the production is refined and clean with the signature Phillip Glass minimalism. The set, from the audiences’ perspective, looks like an ad for new condos in “Explore The Pearl” magazine, the cast is largely Portland hipster, with ironic beards, plaids, potbellies and beanies. However, La Princess (Death, who’s played with uber cat like cool by soprano, Lisa Saffer) is more Hollywood cougar. Long white furry coat draped over skinny black jeans and stacked heels…..long white coat…? So I’m kinda dressed like Death. Awesome.

Death glides around charming and taking people, following orders from the underworld. But, soon, like all women, she falls in love, gets all distracted, fucks up at work by taking a soul that lies between her and the object of her desire,Orphee. Ah, conflict.

ACT TWO:

Everything gets even more like a Calvin Klein fragrance ad. Though really happening in front of me, it could have been a black and white, French silent film full of hungry, bird boned models and scowl-y shirtless dudes. Sparse and beautiful, the piece never gets overwhelming musically nor visually. The principles and their body doubles move through the underworld via mirrors. (Mirrors are the doors between the living world and the world of the dead.) The actors move dreamily, in halting steps, through a diorama of love, longing, Ikea and impending doom. Death is love, and love sparks, fades, disappoints and then kills.

So French.

In the world of the living, death seems very dangerous and terrifying, but in the underworld, death is safe and stoic, with boundaries and rules. Love is forbidden.
In the end, the ultimate sacrifice must be made. Again, this is French, minimalist opera, so no, Death is not the ultimate sacrifice, it is forgoing passion and sweet danger of love for the sake of returning to a safe, banal life. A life where you forever try to recapture the feelings of passion, and the sweet danger of love…but cannot.

No I’m not drunk. I really enjoyed this production , go to www.portlandopera.org for more info on this and other upcoming productions.

See you out there,
xoxoStorm

The Balls Breakup ??

NO . The Balls have not broken up … we all adore each other and will play again when the stars align ……rest assured .

Making a living as an artist is a many splendor-ed thing . By “splendor” , I mean it’s fuckin’ HARD . To make ends meet you have to grow , flow , starve and sprint your whole working life . In my twenty years as an independent artist , I hadn’t done so well until the last six or seven , where I finally earned a pretty decent wage . However , up until only THREE years ago , I was still shlepping drinks as a part time bartender at Dante’s .

James , Davey , Brian and myself are so grateful that we did so well for so long , a fun band of great friends traveling together around the world …. it’s the best time any band could ask for . Fuck fame and riches and contracts and cred … we had a BLAST just making music and getting up to mischief on and off stage . Let the “OMG SERIOUSLY?!”  haters hate . We rule and they can suck it .

The Balls did very well for a long time , creatively and financially , but family life and work life takes priority sometimes and we all respect that . It’s really hard to keep a band going and everyone gainfully employed , paid and insured . Marriage , kids and real life peek in and need to be dealt with ….. so we find other ways to sing , play , make and rock while our brothers are working on other parts of their lives .

A band is a family and a business . With The Balls it was , and always will be , family first . So , no , we haven’t broken up . True we are not playing very often and may go a year or so without playing together . But , as I said at the top of this , we all still adore each other and love playing music together , so it’s really only a matter of time .
Thank you all for caring about us as much as you do , we think you’re pretty awesome too .
See you out there .
xoxoStorm

8 Miles Wide Video…

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my vagina. You’re welcome.

Seriously, “8 Miles Wide” would still be just a big big idea (and the occasional outburst from friends and family members in the know) if it weren’t for the tireless creative megawatt team at Sockeye Creative. James Westby, Tom Grissom and Katie O’Grady, especially, kicked so much ass on this goofy little ditty born in my twisted brains.

Also important to thank – Wilf’s, Mary’s Club, Portland Parks and Rec., Mark Acito, Rick Emerson, Byron Beck, Kevin Morris, Laura Domela, Mary Urbanski, Brenda Casebeer and her trusty steed Brego, Kavita Jhaveri, James Beaton, Davey Nipples, Scott Weddle, The Jim Brunberg, Adam Lundeen, Steve Sharp and all the brilliant extras and personalities who so generously donated to the cause.

Last, but not least, thank you, Portland, Oregon. Your endless support of all things weird will always make you the coolest city on the planet. Bless your rainy and rosy wild heart.

xoStorm

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5U-YT-mRmI

Update: Check out the behind the scenes videos:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArNMGsigq4

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCz8PwSRZoU

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GanA1cnxIPE

Crazy Enough…. to turn 40 in front of everyone . (Ew!)

Thank you SO MUCH , everyone , for coming to see “Crazy Enough” and spreading the word . The sales have gone completely nuts so we are likely to extend at this point . If so, I will be on stage June 25th when I turn 40 .

My God I hope I don’t have a meltdown . I usually feel weird around my birthday anyways … not because I’m getting older or anything … it’s just a time of introspection . Where am I , where’ve I been , where am I going ? Whoa … what is happening to my butt ? That kind of crap . The “zero factor” of this birthday , however , not to mention my publicly reliving some major moments from my past , 8 times a week , is really cranking up the self scrutiny .

Oh for the days when it was ” I want chocolate cake …. and a black timber wolf …. a magic carpet OR wings ….or a horse ….aand an easy-bake oven , for my birthday . ” Now it’s all about , ” I want to like my body … I want to not care what I look like , or what anybody thinks …. I want Steve Martin to call me and tell me I’m awesome . And HE likes my body …. even though I DON’T care what I look like , or what anybody thinks …. ”

These thoughts really go nuts at bedtime . I want to go to bed with goofy dreams …. not holding the squish on the sides of my ass trying to use creative visualization to build collagen . When THAT doesn’t put me to sleep , I play scrabble against my computer … whom I already know cheats , but I play anyways , inevitably getting more and more pissed because HE somehow has a tray full of  Ms , the Z and other awesome letters , and I have a T and all the I tiles . Resulting in me waking Davey up because I start cursing at the screen … ” Fucking Lying Macintosh … stupid fucking Steve Jobs … cheating ass LIAR …. ” Davey groans at me to go to sleep , but now ,  I’m fully awake so I get up and do squats . Well , I think about doing them . Really , I just lie awake wondering what my ass would look like if I did 100 squats every night before bed , for my whole life , and I’d never eaten a chocolate covered cashew , or had a martini , ever , and I had skipped dinner for the last five years and really DIDN’T care what people thought . I usually fall asleep around 4 in the morning with the sounds of Anderson Cooper gay-flirting with Erica Hill .

I guess this is actually “middle age” I’m looking at . On the one hand , I could easily die by 80 , as do many people , thus putting me in the smack dab middle of life . Or , you could call it “middle age” because of the torture I put my brain through . I chase my so called weaknesses and insecurities around my head like torch wielding villagers chase a monster or witch ….hoping to trap it in an old shack and then burn it to death . ” DIE BODY DYSMORPHIA! DIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!! ”

Birthdays with the zero factor really crank up the neurosis for most people , so I don’t feel like I’m singing such a weird song  here . However , as cranky as my brain can get around this time of year , all my introspection and over analysis will eventually give way  to my go-to phrase : ” I fucking rule , thank you very much ” . What will happen then , in all likelihood , will be I end up somewhere awesome with my best friends and the love of my life , drinking martinis , eating chocolate covered cashews celebrating my weird life so far .

And with that , I again say , thank you . Thank you for allowing me to tell stories and sing songs AND get old , all at the same   time … in front of you .

See you out there … and tell Steve Martin to call me .
xoxoStorm

Off and running …

Three weeks of rehearsal , two lungfulls of pneumonia , ten rewrites in one week and about 2000 audience members later … I’d say ” Crazy Enough ” is off to a great start . A pack of the Storm board folks showed up for Saturday the 4th and some of you managed to get autographs and hugs ( and new avatars!! ) Thank you all for making the trip , I’m so glad you had a good time!

This has been a wild experience doing this show , to say the least . Though I’ve been performing forever , I still get nervous before gigs , no matter how big or how small … I never want to suck … and the fear of sucking freaks me out . Usually , my nerves crackle , my breathing speeds up and I sigh a bunch , but that’s about it . With THIS show , however …. my nerves were on high alert . Not like they are with pre show jangles , but more  … as if you were hiding behind a tree , too small to hide behind, while two hundred people shoot at you with cross bows . Backstage , pacing and moaning , waiting for my cue to go on , I totally believed I would puke or fill my pants with burning terror squirts . Just recalling it now makes my intestines twitch . Let’s move on .

I don’t have time to do much , Mondays are my only day off , and so far my days off have been filled with filming a video . James Westby and Katie O’Grady ( the two brilliant people I worked with on ” Rid Of Me “) and Sockeye Entertainment have been working like crazy on the video for ” 8 Miles Wide ” . My concept was a combination 70s douche ad and an old Dr. Pepper commercial . No spoilers , but it involves a beautiful horse , a strip club , Rick Emerson , and some fierce dance moves . I can’t wait to debut it on stormlarge.com . I would guess May – ish . Stay tuned .

Thanks again for coming out and watching me nearly crap myself repeatedly these last few weeks . I have new respect for my sphincter …. without its muscular tenacity , my monologues and music about surviving an inevitable mental break would have turned into a Karen Finley poopfest .

xoxoStorm

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