JEWEL
due out June
Jewel has a joke title for her fifth album: "Artsy ans Shit". "I just want
to hear Regis say it," she says. On the CD Jewel spikes her usual guitar
folk with some psychedelic and Ray Of Light style dance beats, which she
says were inspired by last years remix of her single Serve The Ego. This
time she brought in Shakira producer Lester Mendez to help with the new,
more club-oriented material. "I don't just sit at home and listen to Bruce
Sprinstein's Nebraska," she says. "I love to go out and dance."
On Saturday, April 26th, Jewel will be headlining a benefit concert on
the second night of the Art In The Square Festival in Southlake, Texas.
Proceeds from this event are to be distributed among more than a dozen
North Texas charities. A limited quantity of tickets will be made
available to the public, with that information yet to be announced.
For those of you interested in creating more abundance in your life and
living in the Los Angeles area, there is still space available for Lenedra
Carroll's workshop next week on March 4th. It is sponsored by Learning
Annex of L.A. and you can find out more about it here:
You might recall that last summer, while Jewel's tour was swinging through
the area, she had some fun by dropping by the home of a young man named
Michael Essany, who had his own local access cable TV show (Tonight Show
style) that broadcast from his home in Valparaiso, Indiana. Michael began
doing this show when he was 14 years old and after years of local
popularity is soon going National! He will launch his new show on E!
Network on Sunday, March 2nd at 10:30 pm EST/PST.
We'd like to give you a heads up that Jewel taped a new segment with
Michael which will air on his new show next month sometime. We're not yet
sure of the date, but we'll let you know ahead of time, as well as post it
on the jeweljk.com calendar when the broadcast date has been finalized.
I recently updated the links page and made some subtle corrections to bad links found through the logs. My traffic has returned to normal since the move two months ago. I am averaging around 200mb of transfer a day over the past week.
From the Jewel Mailing List:
In June of this year, Atria Books will be publishing "Revealing Jewel: An
Intimate Portrait from Family and Friends." Many of you will find this
book fascinating as it goes where no book or publication on Jewel has gone
before and was done with Jewel's cooperation. Shaped as a candid
conversation, "Revealing Jewel" features many insights from those who
truly know her best; her longtime friends and family.
There's also celebrity contributors such as Billy Bob Thornton, Ty
Murray, and Moby, and you'll even find me in there discussing the early
days of Jewel's relationship to you, her incredible online community, and
some of the astounding things we've enjoyed over the years. Jewel even
pops in to answer a few of the questions you've often asked her to
address.
In addition, there's many previously unpublished color photographs and we
know this is one item every Jewel fan will find captivating! We'll give
you more info as the exact publication date approaches but you can look
forward to it in June.
I’m back in the studio in L.A. I was gonna do my CD in San Diego, but I
couldn’t get my studio up in time. So here we are. Randy Newman was in
the studio next to me for the first few days. I’m the biggest fan, and as
he walked by, he said “Hi,” and I think all I managed was a "Gruh, uh, f,
….Hi" or some such gibberish, as the blood had left my head. He said,
"Thanks for putting me in your song 'Do You Want To Play'......even though
it was about a sick girl." Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentleman, Randy
Newman has heard my songs!
I'll be back to report more from the studio and do some more name
dropping :-)
"What on earth is she doing?" you ask. "We’ve heard so many rumors, even
that she’s doing a rap record!" Well, let me try to explain...
This record is all about fun . . . I love this record. I’m combining all
types of music, which won’t surprise most of you that have been to a few
of my live shows . . .
*How it all began *
I have always loved R&B rhythms, from Muddy Waters stuff to modern stuff.
I am also fascinated with electronic music, and experimenting with dance
stuff like on 'Serve The Ego.‘ I’ve been really into wanting music to
move you, not just your heart and thoughts, but your body. I wanted this
record to make you want to dance and nod your head along as you drove and
make you feel young and carefree and passionate. So there’s fierce grooves
and dance beats and futuristic keyboard and retro ‘80s synth sounds, with
acoustic sounds and organic string instruments and hand-clapping and
whistling, and then of course I strove to put thoughtful, crafted lyrics
on it all. Simple, right? The record is as lyric-driven as my last, but
it is equally rhythm-driven. It’s a fun record and has been a blast to
make so far, and should be even more fun to perform live. Any questions?
I’m producing the CD with the same guy I wrote most of the tracks
with—Lester Mendez. He’s rad. Very talented and a very cool vibe.
That’s all for now. I’ll report more later and tell you about the
awesome players on the record.
