Hungry Lucy

Reposted from christabelle.com

As most of you know, for those of you who visit my personal site, I am in the band Hungry Lucy. Yes, we’re still around! The band, as it were, consists of myself and my husband, War-N. When we do work together, we work very well together. But, as is the problem with a lot of musicians, we don’t always get to work when we want to. Or, the even more dreaded problem, we’re not inspired to work! But, lately, we have been so inspired to work on music. This all came about by stopping our bi-weekly podcast, Tea with Hungry Lucy, for a spell just to see what came about. Well, something clicked and we’ve been very productive just in the last couple of weeks! This was also due to a computer switch and, in turn, a music software switch as well. We now have our music on a Mac (about bloody time!!) and it’s so much more intuitive. War-N is loving it! So, the lapse in “tea” and a new system has really helped draw out the music. It’s lovely getting to work side by side with War-N again and make the music that we so love!

This has all made me think a lot about dedication to the Muse. I was watching an interview with the great Tori Amos this morning and she said a key statement roughly saying that if you were constantly waiting for the Muse to show up, maybe they didn’t want to perform when you needed them. You have to have the dedication and devotion to THEM. Sometimes one needs to summon the Muse rather than waiting for the Muse to summon them. For more inspiration from the Great Red Goddess, click here and here for the interviews I watched. I’m glad I took the time to sit and listen to her chat about this and that. I always find inspiration in her whether it’s an album or watching one of her live shows.

Another thing that has been bothering me lately is the amount of years that we’ve had between releases. This is the longest amount of time that HL hasn’t put something out to the world. Do people really forget an artist if they don’t put something out for a few years? What is the right amount of time between releases? Do the fans really care about quantity? Quality? These are the thoughts that have stopped us dead in our tracks at times. We’d think “Are we too late? Should we give up?” and the answer always came back “No!”. I was guilty of using a bit of reverse-psychology on War-N time or two. But, it made him realize he didn’t want to stop making music. We just needed some time to gather our thoughts, take some time for our own inner selves and time to re-group.

In taking this time, we discovered that “tea” wasn’t what it was originally intended to be. It became the “War-N and Christa” show and the music fell by the wayside. Tea with Hungry Lucy was becoming a huge chore and felt so forced and empty. The love for the fans is always there. But, when a podcast about music turns to gardening and cooking for topics of the day, it’s time to stop, take a breather and come back with some more, um, what’s the word… MUSIC!! We also discovered that we have no more mystery left in the world of Hungry Lucy. Everyone knows everything about us now and therefore it feels like they have no more drive to want to know more. Ya know? So, we’ll be a bit more absent for a while in order to do what we need to do as musicians.

These thoughts have made me see that without the perspiration of hard work, nothing will get done. It’s ok to think that “if it’s not fun anymore, it’s not worth doing.” But, where will that get you? I can speak about this from personal experience. If you give up because you’re waiting for something, or someone, else to make it happen, it just won’t happen! Without your own devotion to whatever it is, it will sit silent in the corner collecting dust. I, personally, have a lot of projects on my list that I want to do. I am doing half of them and trying to figure out how to go about the other half. I am stubborn, willful and moody. Therefore, I’m best when working on my own. But, there is one exception to this rule and that is with music. Without War-N, Hungry Lucy would not be the great thing that it often can be. I think he is my Muse and I am his. Since neither of us were sending out our summoning waves, neither of us felt inspired. But, now we’ve woken the sleeping Muses and they are singing once again. It’s soft at the moment. But, I feel them starting to find their voices more rapidly now. They are strong, different and amazing. Now, we just need the dedication to make it all happen! We have a plan, we have the music and, best of all, we have each other.

So, if you don’t hear from us for a while, think of it as a good thing. When we do come back, and we will, we’ll have so many new, interesting stories to tell. Plus, we’ll have new music!

Until next time, summon the Muse within you and see what happens!

Much Love,

Christa Belle

Well, after a long time coming, here are our new boys! Peanut is the larger one and Sebastian is the smaller one. Though, in these pics, it is rather hard to tell. Peanut looks directly at the camera while Sebastian does not. They are brothers and are 4 years old. Both are black as Midnight! I feel that Peanut was given the wrong name, and he doesn’t even respond to it, but it would be wrong to change it. He is, after all, totally NUTS!!!

They came to us out of need for a new home. It was a bit too close to our beloved Chloe’s departure, but we did it to help them and to help War-N’s brother and family too. They now feel like part of this twisted, crazy family, and they are pretty crazy themselves! I think they have found the right home with us.

On this day, they were enjoying a cuddle together in “the orange chair” that all cats love. Every cat I’ve ever had has been very fond of this chair!! Funny that. Anyhoo, they began to bathe each other and I happened to have the camera right beside me. I hadn’t been able to get many good pix until this day. In some of the pix they looked like one large cat! Sebastian just laid there enjoying the sun for hours after Peanut left. Sebastian is the sleepy one for sure, and so cuddly!!

So, I’m sure this won’t be the last set of pics you will see of our glorious boys, but I’m glad to finally introduce them to all of you

Take care,

Christa Belle

Unfortunately, on Monday September 18th we lost our little Chloe to Cancer. She put up a good fight, but at the end was just too weak to continue. She died in her sleep, so she was not in any pain. We will always remember our furry, chubby little kitty fondly and for those of you who knew her, always remember her the same way. Happy and always chatting!

Needless to say, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. We had to cancel a few shows, but now we are trying to get back into the swing of things and stay positive.

Thank you to everyone who e-mailed with condolences and concern for our family. Your kind words helped us through a very hard time. It’s nice to know there was so much love for us, and Chloe, and we love you very much.

Sincerely,

Christa Belle & War-N

Our last show was in Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday, September 10th. Despite the very small turnout, and narrow as hell entry way, it was a fun show. We got to hang out with “Electric Bird Noise” and the folks of “Castalia” for another night and actually watch both performances. Castalia has such a great, organic, intense sound that I want to get to know more of. Electric Bird Noise still amazed me the second time around and I wish I could have done better with the pictures I took. But, they both sounded great and I thoroughly enjoyed them all! We went to have pizza in the downstairs of the building, before the performances started, with Brian (of Electric Bird noise) and Chrissy. Joining us were our new found friends Donnie and Jeremy and long time friend/HL fan Chris (known as “Skorcher” to everyone on Shoutout). It was good pizza and great company!

Chris also brought us a new Gnome friend who is related to Trevor! Apparently, Chris went out to his car and found a Gnome standing beside it. He said his name was Reginald and he had heard of Trevor’s accident and needed to get back to him. As it turned out, Reginald is Trevor’s cousin! So, Reginald will take up yet more room at HL HQ and keep an eye on Trevor as he mends. So far, he’s brought Trevor’s spirits up tremendously even though he’s still in pieces. Reginald will join us on our next leg of the tour to New York and beyond to keep OUR spirits up! Trevor will stay here and Chloe will keep an eye on him. What a great thing to acquire a new HL family member! Thanks Chris for sending him home

At the show, we met up with another HL fan who sported a tech shirt the same as War-N’s! Allen also drove 2 hours to come see us perform and we are so grateful he was there. I just had to ask Allen if I could take his and War-N’s picture together as I knew I would never again in my life see this sight! I know War-N thought it was cool as hell too! Just look at War-N’s face

I wish we had more time in Charleston as it seems such a great city. We did get to hang out in a lovely area of the college for a bit. I was at home with the trees and taking pictures as War-N found free Wi-Fi on a bench underneath said trees! Minus a falling wet nut from a hungry squirrel, it was a nice place to rest and have a bit of fun. I love the moss-laiden trees in the South. So beautiful!! I also made a temporary canine friend, in a music store of all places, who proceeded to “root doot dee doot” me in the crotch and say HELLO! Thank you Chocolate Lab… at least you were brief about it!

During the Charleston performance, on the last song, we had yet another technical glitch! I’m starting to think that ever since Trevor’s accident the cards have really been stacked against us. But, War-N has been diligently working on fixing the problem and we should have video back for the rest of the shows… well, at the venues that are big enough for the screen and such. Our next trial will be Friday (September 15th) at the Jimmy and Judy premiere show. Fingers crossed it works!!!

After the show was done, and all gear had been loaded back into the minivan of doom, Chris, Donnie and Jeremy took us to a lovely coffee and dessert place. I had asked Chris, prior to the coffee, if I could interview him. He said yes, so I, and War-N, proceeded to interview him. I’ve not done as many interviews as I would have liked so far. Part of the reason is that I have so much fun that I don’t want to disrupt it by pulling out an invasive camera to point at someone. The other reason is that I get caught up in the moments and just plain forget! I wish I had interviewed Brian and Chrissy and a lot of the other fine folks we’ve met! Oh well. At least we have the memories

It’s after 4 AM on Thursday morning and I just can’t sleep! We went to War-N’s parent’s for a lovely evening of food and pleasant company. I did have coffee, so I’m thinking that’s the main reason I can’t sleep. I’ve also got a song stuck in my head (“In the Shadows” by The Rasmus) and it just keeps looping and looping. I love the song but I do wish it would let me be!!!

On a side note, I must say that though this tour has not been what we expected, I have learned a lot about myself and others. Some good and some bad. I have had a few realization moments that made me uncomfortable with myself and made me sort of “wake up” about a few things. All experience is good because it makes you learn! I hope I can always recognize when I need to be a better person and recognize when people need me to help them. Life is too short to focus on the negative.

Well, I will leave you with some random pictures of our visit thus far. More rambling and pics to come!!

Good night,

Christa Belle