TIME TO PLAY MUSIC AGAIN, YOU SHOULD TOO!

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It’s been an interesting year so far. Good things include attending the NAMM show again, and having a film showing at Colossal Cinematic Showcase. The Idaho Film Collection supported my latest short film, “All We Didn’t Do,” about the pioneer life of Mary Hallock Foote and Arthur Foote in Boise. It will be archived in the BSU Albertsons LIbrary. IFC was very supportive in also helping with the Pink Feather movie many friends and I did a couple of years ago just when Covid had started.

The not-so-good, is a bittersweet thing that happened very recently. Friend and videographer Theresa Palmgren, who worked at KTVB Channel 7 and filmed my Pink Feather and 13 Stories films for me, passed away suddenly at work.

She had also helped film a surprise video with Mary Lambert, who was in town briefly for our Pride Festival. In addition to the music, she made mocktails and talked politics. This was such a fun day with Theresa and my friend Jenn Snyder.

Theresa’s passing shook the entire community. She was young, creative, and one of the most positive and helpful people I’d ever met. When I broke my shoulder and had other health stuff, she checked in on me. The day she passed, dozens of people met up and mourned at a local watering hole where we had recorded a couple of our movies. People sobbed, and told so many stories of her support.

I’ve kept myself busy, but think of Theresa every day. When I go to work, I think of how she’s no longer in the building next to our stations. We used to meet between buildings to share USB drives. I had thought we would work together on so many more film projects down the road. Whenever we lose someone, it’s kind of a jolt to look at our lives and see if we’re on a good path. With this, and my own health scare, I feel like I’m scrambling to get as many things done as I can. I hope I can leave something on this earth that lasts much past my time here.

My Youtube channel roxxboise hopes to be the closest thing to a legacy I can provide. It is years of work, hundreds of videos and remixes of bands. There are a few films on the channel, and some product reviews. My channel was hacked last year. I nearly lost it, and nearly lost my mind getting it back.

This first half of the year has been tough. I was spending $40 each week in gas all winter to learn that the last mechanic who did my tune-up plugged 2 of my spark plug wires in wrong. I spent hours trying to figure out why it ran so poorly, and this didn’t cross my mind. 6 months, $$$$ and 4 mechanics later, I found the right guy to figure it out.

2 of my coworkers I’d worked with for 12-20 years were put into surprise early retirement by corporate. It really rattled me. They are people I care about, and I can’t help but wonder what I’d do if it happened to me.

Also, the health checkups and clinical trial I’m in that I thought were free for 3 years…are much the opposite of that. I was surprised to see a bill of $4000 I hadn’t expected.

Not wanting to be the GoFundMe poster girl, this is going to be the summer of side hustles. I’m grabbing every remote broadcast they’ll let me do.

Back to some good stuff, I really miss playing music. I’d play several times a month if I could, but some of the groups I used to play with are doing different things, playing less, or playing with different people.

There will be an occasional show with SIS, the Sisters in Songwriting Group. They have an all-ages/all-gender music jam this Thursday 5/18 at Lounge at the End of the Universe, 5-7 pm.

This summer I hope to join Brook Faulk & The Family Corvidae. We’ll play 5/31 at Highlands Hollow Brew Pub on Bogus Basin starting at 7 pm. I haven’t been there in so long, and haven’t played there. It should be a fun time. Brook is a great songwriter, Emily Tipton is a part of this project, and I can’t wait to meet with the drummer and bassist.

I’m really excited to have a show, because playing music helps me forget about all the worries above, and more.

Lately I’ve gotten lost in this new guitar pedal, thanks to the NAMM Show and a sponsorship from the amazing folks at Donner Music.

Please check out my “She Likes to Go Slow” podcast, where I review this pedal and play all kinds of guitar samples. If you play guitar, this pedal will help you get out of your head for hours. Get the ARENA 2000 HERE, and while you can get the Amazon coupon.

With a built-in looper that supports up to 60 seconds of looper and 40 different drum rhythms, Arena2000 can quickly record demos or perform live as a one-man band. In order to allow you to freely create in the middle of the night, it also enables headphone output. Additionally, you can rapidly capture your inspiration using OTG and your phone.

60 Seconds of Looper

40 Drum rhythms

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All We Didn’t Do

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This is my latest short film. It’s a different approach to the podcast I had recorded with author Stacey Guill, PhD, who wrote “Stone House in the Cañon.

Here is a behind-the-scenes blog that goes way beyond the movie.

For many years, I’ve taken whatever dogs I had at the time to hang out once in a while at Discovery Park. It’s a good place to chill out, and watch the water. I noticed a few things happen across the river, then a plaque appeared saying there used to be a stone house that a famous artist and author, Mary Hallock Foote and her husband Arthur Foote used to live in. Mary Hallock Foote had done illustrations in this house for books written by Louisa May Alcott, Tennyson, and many other famous authors.

Her husband was an engineer, who was trying to build waterways and dams in the Treasure Valley. While he struggled for income, his wife’s drawings and articles kept them going while they raised children in this stone house in the valley, with helpers including a cook and a nurse who lived there as well.

I found myself taking more trips out there, hiking longer, finding more clues about what life was like across the river. I studied books, archaeological digs, and years of historical documents. I discovered that this stone house was actually built on an important Native American site that had originally been an encampment to make all types of hunting blades from the nearby obsidian. The more time I spent out there, the more I saw it through different eyes. Artifacts were dug up, covered up, and locked up in special collections that most eyes will never see.

At first, I imagined Mary Hallock Foote, from her upper-class background hating the first part of her residence in Boise. I imagined her drawing from the rooms in the house, taking her kids to the beach, taking a rickety canoe or footbridge across the river, and tending horses in the park area I would hang out in. I feel in her writings, you could see a transformation of respect from resentment at times. You have to wonder how someone kept small children out there away from rattlesnakes and a dangerous river. She came to love the view, and the sound of the river.

I would guess that local people didn’t necessarily welcome them with open arms as well, and not knowing the western ways, I’ll bet the Footes were sometimes taken advantage of.

I imagined the stagecoaches traveling from The Oregon Trail and Bonneville point, being lowered down those treacherous canyon walls. I tried to imagine the river without Lucky Peak or Diversion dam. I tried to imagine women not being allowed to vote, or how the prohibition era must have been in Boise.

Going through Stacey Guill’s book, many hours of research and looking into the artwork of Mary Hallock Foote, I wanted to put Stacey’s words to some of the beautiful drawings, and take a creative approach.

“All We Didn’t Do,” was made with months of research, editing, getting photos and aerial shots, looking at library art and special reference collections. For a while it seemed to meet some resistance, I questioned myself as to why. I wondered if maybe the original spirits who reside there are tired of their land being exploited. Some might think it’s strange, but I made a special trip out there to talk to them. I apologized for the hundreds of people who had stomped around and built there without acknowledging them. I thanked them for letting a beautiful park exist there so people could imagine the same things that I have from over 100 years ago and more. I hope that everyone who goes out there takes a moment to reflect on this, and give respect to the Native American tribes who were pushed out of the area. Just a few years before the time the Footes were going to gather volcanic rock for their home with a beautiful view, a treaty forcing Native Americans within 30 miles of the Boise River, from Table Rock to Eagle Island, was enforced to vacate those areas. Even though the treaty wasn’t law, it was enforced. I stand there now on those banks, and can imagine the pain and sadness of their relocation. You can feel them there. I wonder what they think of the hundreds of paddle boards on the water on a summer day there.

Maybe this is why Wallace Stegner won a Pulitzer Prize for what seems to be a mostly plagiarized and fictionalized tale of their lives in his novel, “Angle of Repose.”

Maybe this is part of why Arthur Foote ultimately failed on his engineering plan of Treasure Valley waterways, only for Boise to have success using his very plans, once they had moved away. They did so much in planning and developing, yet I would guess that very few Boiseans know their names.

I feel honored to know about, and share just a portion of intense history of this area. I am grateful that Idaho Film Collection felt it was a project worth supporting, and this film will be forever archived at BSU Albertsons Library. They also supported my film “Pink Feather,” and I do not at all take this support for granted.

Anyway, all this to say you can see my film “All We Didn’t Do” May 7th at Colossal Film Festival at Overland Park Cinema. It is a great local film fest that starts at 4pm. Everyone going can take part in the red carpet photos before it starts, and there will be an after-party at Mad Swede on Cole. I really hope to see you there.

Also, just for fun, I was able to interview someone I’ve admired most of my life from The Carol Burnett Show.

Here’s my interview with Vicki Lawrence, from my Podcast “She Likes To Go Slow.”

Stacey Guill “The Stone House in the Cañon” The story of Mary Hallock Foote

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Just minutes from Boise, Idaho, a short drive can take you back over 100 years in history. Listen to author Stacey Guill talk about the life of Mary Hallock Foote. As Mary’s husband Arthur struggled to engineer waterways around the city, Mary did illustrations for Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorn, and some publications that brought our pioneer western life into the awareness of people living in the east.

Author Wallace Stegner wrote a book on Mary’s life that is more fiction than fact. She didn’t get much credit for it, and he won a Pulitzer Prize.

A play called “Fair Use” was written and performed about them both. Our friends at Radio Boise have a chance for you to hear a performance at this site.

Stacey Guill has done over 20 years of research on Mary Hallock Foote, and is full of knowledge about Foote Park. You’ll want to get her book, “Stone House in the Cañon.” She designed one of the information plaques at the park, and continues to learn more about this family, and their story.

Let your mind journey into Mary’s life and story, and let yourself experience the journey by taking the drive across Lucky Peak dam, turn right, and find the park at the end of the road by the river.

Check out the full PODCAST HERE.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR GMAIL AND YOUTUBE GETS HACKED

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Since 2008, I’ve had a YouTube channel. The ROXXBOISE channel has over 1200 music videos, some karaoke, and short films. Last weekend, I got hacked.

WHAT HAPPENED

While not completely sure how it was hacked, it was either a copyright email that was sent to me that I opened because it threatened a strike on my page, or a hijacked open session, as I was uploading at the time.

The first thing I noticed, was my email program alerted me it couldn’t login. I checked my backup email, and there were notices that my password had changed on YouTube, even though I had 2-factor authentication and had not authorized it.

ENDLESS CIRCLE OF CONFUSION

I followed all instruction for recovery, but the hackers had changed my recovery email and phone number. They made the recovery email the one I had no access to, changed phone number, and changed recovery to a Google key. This Titan security key I hadn’t heard of, was what the hackers were using to access my account. I’d try to login, be sent to help pages that told me to login to recover my email. It made no sense.

Google used to have 24/7 chat support, but they don’t anymore. I tried to call a number, and am sure it was associated with another hacker promising to get me into my account.

In a panic, I reached out to Facebook. Luckily I have a friend who was able to write customer support through her account on my behalf. In the help section, she found a form that promised they would call back right away. I spoke with them and got a case ID.

WHERE TO START WITH RECOVERY

If you have another gMail/YouTube account, try to contact help. I’ve found that some things work on mobile, some things only on PC. Try them both. Try different browsers. After watching several YouTube videos from people who had also been hacked with this same Tesla Crypto video, I learned this…YouTube customer service weirdly has to be initiated through TWITTER, @teamyoutube is the username. Since Twitter is a dumpster fire at the moment, I was really nervous that this is how I had to get started.After a couple of days of messaging them through Twitter, I was finally connected to a real email from YouTube, and a case number. They wanted my contact email to be another gMail address, so first thing you want to do is create a backup account if you don’t have one.

What happened next is hours and days of communication. It would take between 1 and 10 hours to hear back from support, as I’m sure they were swamped with others needing help over this holiday weekend. I learned that this Tesla [LIVE] crypto scam has been around a couple of years, they even hacked an MMA account with 5 million subscribers. My channel had 3.4 million views, but I let the copyright owners monetize their content. All I can guess, is maybe the hackers thought I had Google Pay attached to the account, which I do not.

Google emphasized to call my bank, and call the police.

Your emails with YouTube support must be extremely thorough. At one point my backup account was mistakenly shut down as well due to some confusion on the Channel ID. If you’re a YouTube Creator, do yourself a favor and do these things right now. Take a screenshot of when your channel was created, and get the link for your CHANNEL ID. They did not want to go forward without it, and I just had my channel name. Eventually I had to find the channel ID in my browser history. It starts with http://www.youtube.com/channel/thenabunchofnumbersandletters. I had no channel screenshot, so I did a Google search of my URL. The hacker’s videos came up, as well as some of my music videos.

5 days after the hacking and some lost sleep, my accounts were both restored. Countless emails were exchanged, I was extremely kind and thankful in each reply. I do wish it had taken the hackers as long to break into it as it took for me to recover it, but the support was really great and no videos were lost. After the recovery I send another thank you email, as I’m sure it’s likely most people don’t look back at that point.

AFTER IT’S RESTORED

What DID happen, is all videos were made private. I had to change the channel name, photo, banner, and most important, the sneaky Tesla watermark they’d uploaded to appear at the end of each of my videos. After a few hours, the channel is mostly cleaned up. Private videos were made public, all 1200 of them, 50 at a time. The hackers could have deleted them instead of making them private, for that I’m very thankful. The “Home” part of my page says I have no content right now, but the “Videos” page shows all of them.

Friends have reached out with dozens of hacking stories involving emails, banks, credit unions, PayPal. It’s a really different world we live in, so use that 2FA authentication, horrible long garbled passwords, change them often, and good luck!

SOUND CHECK PARTY WITH LUCIUS

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LUCIUS

We were so grateful to be able to get some Lucius time, as their Boise show took place the same day they had learned about several Grammy Nominations the same day!  Lucius has been touring this year in support of their new excellent album Second Nature … their first album in 6 years!

Lucius has done much touring with Roger Waters in the past, and this year with Brandi Carlile. They talked about the magic of “Joni Jams,” and how Paul McCartney opened the back door for them at one event!

We met them in the El Korah green room after the sound check party for an interview, you’ll find that soon at our “10 Minutes With Tim” podcasts link at riverboise.com. Their pink room had some great old wallpaper, furniture, and Egyptian decor.

There was makeup all along the large mirror. I caught a glimpse of their open wardrobe case, it was shiny and full of bling!

After the sound check, they opened up a Q&A forum to all winners and VIP guests. They talked about many of their favorite movies and TV shows, and admitted to binging Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo and admitted to crying to it. One of the winners joked, “She told us you were coming!” They love Married at First Sight, and are obsessed with Cult Documentaries like : Holy Hell, Eat Sweet, Pray & Obey, The Jinx, The Vow, The Staircase. They watch Handmaid’s Tale, but like many of us, have to take breaks as it’s hard to watch.

Abraham Alexander opened the show and did a great set. He did a wonderful cover of “Wicked Game.” The Lucius concert was magical. The sound was great, and not too loud. At one point Lucius had everyone sit on the floor in a circle, and they performed in the middle off stage. At one point you could hear a pin drop. Lucius has never played Treefort, but they’ve heard a lot about it.

If you’re going to any Brandi Carlile shows at The Gorge next June, Lucius will be performing with her again there!

Have questions or comments? Email me.

JOE P

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Everyone’s Monday was made better by 2 great appearances by Joe P. He first arrived to play a session in our Blue Moon Listener Lounge.

Joe P likes to record his music in his basement. He says so much gets lost in translation once so many managers and producers get involved, it sometimes loses the meaning of a song. He’ll record at home until the furnace comes on.

It sounds like Joe P is wearing many of the hats during recording and touring right now. He spoke of driving to the next show at 4 am, and eating chocolate chip cookies to stay awake. He likes driving in the day though and said the drive from Omaha to SLC is amazing.

For fun, Joe B and his bass player Tony are working on a horror movie. “If We Run,” will include an appearance by Michael Gandolfini. He was working on the score right before our session.

Joe’s Record Exchange appearance was well-received, people left wishing they could hear more.

Tim asked about Joe P’s sneakers. Joe mentioned he’d made a Sharpie stain on his jeans once while signing posters. He decided to ask people to continue writing on his jeans, then he decided it looked pretty cool. Once his jeans were full of names and drawings, people started writing on his shoes. He said it used to take a full tour, but now his shows get filled up after one show!

Find Joe P on social media under the handle “Joe B The Hyena.”

UPCOMING SESSIONS:

11/10 Son Little

11/15 Lucius

11/18 Josiah Johnson of The Head & The Heart

Have questions or comments? Email me.

CHICK SINGER NIGHT #1

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Many big cities have been hosting these events for years, and Boise is finally getting one of our own! I’m honored to be included as bass player for the house band.

SIS proudly presents: Chick Singer Night, “The world’s longest running songfest”
The NEW Boise chapter of CSN will be a rocking concert series at the fabulous IRONWOOD SOCIAL in Garden City. 11/3, 6-9 pm.

The first installment of this fantastic new show will feature a smoking live backing band which will highlight the talents of these local female professional musicians ~

We enthusiastically invite you to join us for a wonderful night of music with a room full of extremely talented CHICKS!

The Band: Rochelle Smith, Emily Tipton & Meghan Kelly Watters

The Singers: Natalie Soma, Vashti Summervill & Heather Platts

Great music, great food, great beverages & family friendly!

Free: tips and donations encouraged!!

More information on Chick Singer Night: https://www.chicksingernight.com/

Sponsored in part by our friends at Cucina DiPaolo

It’s exciting for me, as a new music opportunity is exactly what I’m looking for! Hope you can join.

FILM AND PODCAST UPDATE

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IDA UNBRIDLED

It was an honor to do a 3rd film for i48/Old Idaho Penitentiary film fest, 13 Stories. I needed a distraction from dealing with some health stuff. We did filming in early summer, with a small crew and cast. Once we started filming, we lost 3 of our small group due to Covid exposure. New challenges included working with a very independent pony, and learning that there is absolutely nothing you can do to correct “lens breathing.” Jenn Snyder stars in this short, along with Jeff Schoedler. All original music is the feature of “Ida Unbridled.” Ida was a wayward young girl, who found love in all of the wrong places. This film is showing starting tonight through Saturday, at Old Idaho Penitentiary. Get tickets HERE!

PINK FEATHER

It was such an honor to do an interview with our local media this month, in regards to Pink Feather. It was a chance to talk about the importance of community. Much gratitude to Brenda Rodriguez, Theresa Palmgren, and KTVB Channel 7 for giving this some air time. Catch the interview and article HERE.

This movie is a fictional historical comedy piece about The Ranch Club in its transition to a gay bar in Garden City. The Idaho Film Collection helped support the film, and it will be archived forever at BSU’s Albertson’s Library. At this time, their website features several behind-the-scenes shots of our cast and crew of Pink Feather. This grant was such a good inspiration to do more movies, especially ones that touch on Idaho History.

My films so far have all been passion projects. I’ve spend twice the amount of grant money in entering film festivals around the world, as I feel that inclusion is a very important message to share worldwide.

The timing of this interview is great, as Pink Feather will be part of Colossal Cinematic Showcase, showing at Overland Park Cinemas October 2nd. This will be a great 2 hours of short films, followed by an after-party at Mad Swede.

LONG ISLAND MEDIUM THERESA CAPUTO

I wanted to speak more with Theresa Caputo, and get an interview with better audio than our last attempt. She was so kind to speak with me again.

Theresa Caputo has a Boise appearance at Morrison Center October 5th. If you are going through any kind of grieving over lost ones, pets, or want to know how to tune into your own abilities, please make plans to attend. In speaking with Theresa, I can tell you she is a light a brilliance that we all need in our lives right now.

Please check out the latest Theresa Caputo episode uploaded to my podcast, “She Likes To Go Slow.” My slogan is “Slow Down and Listen.” Many episodes are recorded in my classic VW van that doesn’t know how to go fast. Sometimes slowing down is a good thing.

https://shelikestogoslow.com/?p=1398
Have questions or comments? Email me.

Thanks for reading!

CAAMP

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We were so thankful Caamp made time to stop by for a session, especially when they are playing a sold-out show tonight. It shows how dedicated they are to the cause, working hard to promote their music.

The session didn’t start without incident, as the Po-Po showed up when their tour bus was parked on Fairview for too long! Tim was lucky to have dinner with the band last night, on their day off. The band was real chill and likely a bit tired, singer Taylor Meier’s voice sounded beautiful.

The band talked about their love for touring in certain cities, including SLC. They spoke of a venue called Shelby Events Center. They said the building is made of steel and sounds horrible, but they have great memories from there.

We all enjoyed a great lunch from Port ‘O Subs. Caamp says they love touring with friends, bands like Houndmouth, and Heartless Bastards. HB just played 2 shows at Neurolux last weekend, they were SO good. Tried to get them in on Friday, but they were coming from Spokane and didn’t have time to get here.

The band is keeping so busy, and they look forward to some rest after the Europe tour. They said, ” If we get through that as a band, you’ll be seeing more of us.” They’re writing some great music, we hope that is true and that they can return soon!

Coming up tomorrow, Alive After 5 with Wavves and French Tips, 5-8pm FREE on the Grove Plaza. We’ll have some games and free tickets, including a chance to see Jackie Venson at Thursday’s Great Garden Escape!

Have questions or comments? Email me.

SARA KAYS

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We had a session today from a songwriter passing through town, with no other shows than from within our Blue Moon Listener Lounge!

Sara Kays mentioned how her first song she learned was “Firework,” from Katy Perry.

Here’s a great song, it’s brand new and will be out next month.

She makes her home in Nashville, which Sara says is very convenient as her producer lives there as well.

Sara has moved to headlining tours now, and says that sleeping in the bus is hard because of all the bumps. Her bandmate joked that they grab Taco Bell wherever they can find it. We really hope they come back soon for a full Boise show.

Our next live session in the Blue Moon Listener Lounge, will be LO MOON. Catch our session next Thursday 6/23 at 2 pm, and their show later that night at Neurolux!

Have questions or comments? Email me.

QUEEN by Neal Preston and Behind the Scenes

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Who is the one band you wish you wish the most you had been able to see in concert? For me, it’s Queen. I grew up with a poster of Freddie’s striped costume above, and all the vinyl I could get my hands on, singing into open albums to hear myself better. Queen taught me harmonies, and a love for intellectual lyrics and musicality.

At The NAMM Show, there were surprises at every corner. I had been following news on this Queen book for quite some time. Every time I’d see press about it in my work emails, I’d get so curious about the book. When I found out that photographer Neal Preston was going to be at the Behind the Scenes booth signing copies, I knew I had to meet him. I wrote an email in hopes he was actually checking them during the convention. He actually replied and told me where and when to find him.

Neal Preston photo by Rochelle Smith

Neal Preston is someone you know. You know his photos, posters, album covers, magazines, documentaries, and more. This legend has spent 4 decades doing concert photography, best known as the Led Zeppelin U.S. Tour photographer. He has also worked with Springsteen, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Heart, Duran Duran, Live Aid, and Queen in Mexico and South America.

This book is a grand masterpiece, and I’m sure Freddie would approve. It’s a quality coffee table sized book, with many personal and tour photos of the band. As their tour photographer, Neal captured many sides of each member of the band. He also includes stories and conversations he’s had with members of the band. If you or anyone you know is a huge Queen fan, this book is a must-have. I’ve shown it to a few friends who flip through it and say, “wow, this is awesome.” I am going to savor each page of this book, and take it all in. I was on the air at a local rock station the night Freddie Mercury passed away, and announced it live, with a lump in my throat. The phone just kept ringing, as people hoped the news wasn’t true. It took me years to even be able to finish a Queen DVD or documentary without getting too emotional. This band had helped me out of some dark times growing up, where I could seclude myself and enter these colorful musical worlds they had created.

More photos of your favorite singers can be found in the book above.

The booth was very busy at NAMM, as everyone wanted Neal’s autograph. As he signed my copy, I asked if there was one specific memory of Queen that stood out to him. He just said, “It’s all in the book.”

The Behind the Scenes group is an amazing resource of suicide prevention information. Some of the proceeds this day were going to this amazing organization.

Specifically for Entertainment Technology Professionals, Basic Needs, Counseling, and Funeral Assistance grants are available through this website. Behind the Scenes resources are impressive. Counseling includes clinical, psychological, social work, and substance abuse help.

Purchase the Neal Preston Queen book HERE, and know you’re helping this worthy cause of suicide prevention.

Donate HERE!

Have questions or comments? Email me.

NAMM 2022

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Alice in Wonderland
THIS is how you do a booth at NAMM!
Deering Banjos
Steve Vai Guitar
Lego Guitar
Fruity Ukes

Imagine having Treefort inside and out, and adding a huge convention convention center filled with around a thousand booths of instruments on 3 different floors, software, stage lighting, DJ equipment, workshops, and performers. Last time it was 4 floors, but there still wasn’t enough time to see everything there. Imagine different sounds every 10 feet, where you can play your favorite guitar, drums, keyboards, ukuleles, and new inventions you haven’t even seen yet. This is NAMM.

A broadcaster’s grant helped me make this journey possible, and I’m very thankful to the Publicists who gave me media credentials for press coverage. It’s been a rough year with health stuff, and I really needed this bit of doing my favorite thing.

Fog Bubbles

I know it’s silly, but I love this fog bubble machine. I saw it during the 2020 NAMM Show, and fell in love. I’d love to see a club here get one of these. Kids love this machine.

I hit the ground running with a Women of NAMM after-party at a hotel. It was a great networking event, we were given a free beverage and fancy appetizers, while hearing music and speakers. Hotel Row is filled with many extra performances and events during the convention. NAMM is full of crazy cool tech. The workshops and seminars are really informative. I attended events like Sound Advice From Women Visionaries, hands-on immersive audio, and a double session on how to make effective videos for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. This one was so interesting, breaking down what elements are needed at what time to keep your audience, and the importance of the first 3 seconds.

Robots

These were creepy and cool, full human-sized robots. No one else was with them, and there was a strange quietness compared to the surrounding cacophony all around.

I was inside a hotel, when I heard a sound that drew me outside. I was lucky to catch part of a sound check with Preservation Hall Jazz Band, from New Orleans. There is every style of music you can imagine, performing somewhere at NAMM.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Electronic, organic, and everything in between can be heard in the convention center. This guys doesn’t work in the booth, but makes this suitcase drum sound amazing.

Suitcase Drum

Some of my favorite things over the weekend, included meeting Neil Preston, author of this delightful Queen coffee table photo book. I will be reviewing this very soon, with much more information including the suicide prevention non-profit he is associated with.

Saturday night I attended the NAMM TEC Awards. This is nerdness to the nth degree .It honors brand new tech, some of it isn’t even in stores yet. Last NAMM I saw Joni Mitchell at this award show. I wrote a separate blog about this, products, software, mics and preamps that are the BEST of the best. Let your nerd/freak flag fly by reading the blog HERE.

My absolute favorite event was the industry drum circle. The founders of REMO drums were an incognito part of the 300+ people circled around between hotels. I grabbed a seat and small djembe, and found myself playing for an hour until I had to run to get my TEC Award credentials. I’ve done drum jams and circles for years, but never one this large. I can’t describe to you the power of this event. All instruments were provided. Everyone of any age or background was encouraged to play, reminded to breathe. We made up rhythms that would change in speed and intensity as the group felt it together. It was impossible to think about anything but drumming, and the people smiling all around you.

If you write, play, produce, film, DJ, dance, or even just listen to music, you will absolutely love The NAMM Show. Plan ahead for next year’s show, April 13-15 2023. Your entire family will love this, plus it’s near Disneyland. I really hope to be there next year, and so should you!

Have questions or comments? Email me.
https://riverboise.com/?p=63518

Embrace Your Storm

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So, this is the 3rd week since surgery for colon cancer, which took me by surprise. I’m again encouraging anyone over 45 to please get a FIT or Cologuard test, or schedule your colonoscopy. My surgery looks to have gotten all the cancer. I’m told chemo would only help my particular situation by 2%, so the Oncologist is not recommending it. I will likely sign up for a clinical trial I am reading 25 pages about. They do blood tests. If they find you have the marker in your DNA, they suggest chemo. If there is no marker, they monitor you and keep doing blood tests for 3 years.

This has all been. SO. EXHAUSTING. Any burst of activity makes me so tired.

I wake up and still give myself blood thinner shots in the abdomen. The surgery pain has lasted longer than I had anticipated, but is finally now starting to lessen. I can go on short drives if I hold my guts over speed bumps. I have lost 20 pounds and most of my appetite.

Right now I’m trying to focus more on healing, than “what if it comes back?”

I have had amazing love and support from friends. A benefit and variety show will happen 3/11 at Somewhere Bar. Silent auction items include Treefort Tickets, merch from Old Idaho Penitentiary, Boise Brewing. A 1930 vintage MARTIN GUITAR from my friend Eric Paul! Tickets to Sawtooth Valley Gathering, donations of photography, books, music performances, art by Zella Bardsley, Michelle Bass, and more things keep coming in every day. The funds will go into my HSA to pay for bills and any upcoming treatments.

The good stuff, is I’ve found out how many of my friends and their families have endured and survived similar situations. Many friends have had a worse diagnosis than I have, and they remain strong and healthy years later. This is encouraging.

Ready for a statistic? Approximately 39.5% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes. This really sobering, and made me want to do some aggressive research on how to help myself get better long-term. I am listing some things I have learned about, for others who might need ideas.

I have been sent a barrage of alternative treatments and therapies. I am open to both western and eastern medicine. I am taking a daily polypore hydrosol combo made by the amazing author/herbalist Darcy Williamson from Maven’s Haven, an amazing and magical place with workshops and retreats along the Salmon River in Lucille, Idaho outside of Riggins. Can’t recommend this place enough. She is brilliant, and has a heart of gold.

A medical friend suggests a low-dose 81mg of aspirin. There’s a study that states the use of aspirin for 6 years or longer with a 19% decreased risk of colorectal cancer and a 15% decreased risk of any type of gastrointestinal cancer. My doctors haven’t suggested any after-surgery approaches yet, this may be worth a try.

Some other friends swear by Fermented Wheat Germ Extract. It looks to be anti-tumor, anti-viral, anti-everything bad. Friends are actually rounding up lab materials so I can make this at home if I can figure it out. Avemar is a commercial version of this product, which is much more affordable to make yourself.

Other friends have said they had great results with Biontology, and several have recommended I go to Tijuana to be cured at Oasis of Hope. I think this is better for higher stages of cancer, and someone with lots of money to spare. I don’t think they take U.S. insurance. I really want to go to Tijuana, but mostly for some cheap beer and tacos.

Sometimes I just get tired of talking about cancer, and wallowing in my overwhelm.

So today, I had a refreshing break, doing a podcast and interview with my new friend Jonathan Nadeau. He’s accepted my Gaelynn Lea film “Violin Scratches” into his Tournadeau Film Fest. His business slogan and podcast is, “Embrace Your Storm.”

While I deliberate the severity of the cancer I’ve been through, I find out that Jonathan had lost his sight at the age of 14 in a car accident. He is positive, successful, and wildly creative and passionate. It has given me perspective.

Please listen to my interview with Jonathon here, at my SHE LIKES TO GO SLOW PODCAST.

World Cancer Awareness Day

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*Spoiler alert. If you don’t want to read about my recent cancer experience, I’ll take you to the end message right now. If you’re 45 or older, please get your colonoscopy or at least home detection kit right away.

Colon cancer is the 4th leading cause of death, and one of the most preventable if caught early. I get it, I wanted nothing to do with the primitive “prep” process I’ve heard about. I’d requested a home kit from my doc in January, but never received it. Randomly, a kit came in the mail a couple months ago, so I sent it in.

At one point, my old dog came up to me, stopped, and scanned my body. She rarely makes eye contact, but after scanning me, she looked me right in the eyes and stared. It was like she was saying, “Ma, something ain’t right.”

The test results came back positive for finding something. I told my doc about it, and he said “Who ordered the test?” I thought they had, but turns out my insurance company had randomly mailed one out.

Being end of the year and a turnover of deductible on the way, my friend shared a free room in Hawaii so I went, and then scheduled a dreaded colonoscopy the first week of January.

The prep is brutal, I’m not gonna lie. 2-3 days of your life are spent emptying the contents of your gut with no mercy, and plenty of pain. I know this is why most people don’t get colonoscopies, which leads to the high statistics. I keep questioning why it’s so primitive, why we can’t do imaging to screen people when they’re going to do that anyway? The home test kits are an easy and painless way to get started for screening.

After my procedure and waiting for my friend to return, I woke up and asked the assistant, “Did it go okay?” Her response was, “What’s your favorite hospital?”

It’s where my shock and anxiety went crazy. Still coming out of being under, we were being told to get a CT Scan across the street ASAP to see if the cancer had spread. I told my friend, “Wait, I have cancer?! I don’t feel like I have cancer!” No pain. No symptoms.

I was so rummy and in shock, we went to the hospital across the street and a person told us to go to the E.R. part for imaging. We’d been given no instructions on where to go, which had me in the wrong building using out-of-network doctors. If I had only been clear-headed, I might have avoided this decision. My poor friend was in shock as well, I’d thought we’d do this thing and grab lunch, instead of seeing if my brand new cancer had spread or not. CT Scans came back without showing a visual spread. I was connected with a surgeon immediately, who said he would have to remove 3 feet of my guts.

My stress level was indescribable, especially the first week of waiting. I continued to do my radio show, talk about concerts and contests, and between every sentence I’d say, I’d hear in my head, “I have cancer.” Here’s the thing about that. When you hear “You have cancer,” that’s how it all starts for every person who survives it or not. Priorities were suddenly very obvious and rearranged. You don’t care about money, image, superfluous things. You care about NOT having cancer. Period.

The things people said to me :

You should get a second opinion.

I guess you won’t be riding your motorcycle anytime soon.

What stage is it?

This is the beginning of the biggest fight of your life.

You’ll be fine.

A friend reminded me that “We never get out of this life alive,” and that being grateful is what keeps her positive through checks and appointments for remission.

I also heard amazing success stories from friends and their families. People with 6 feet or all of their guts removed, brave survivors working around these challenges and living for years.

The hardest part of this has been the fear. Is this it? Am I going down? Did I do everything I wanted to do? I had a dream that some people were trying to put me in a purple body bag, and I could see them through it. I read that fear and excitement are closely related, so I tried to psyche myself into being excited about the surgery. The next hard part has been being solo. I keep hearing in my head, “No one is going to come and save you.”

That’s thankfully not been completely true.

I had surgery 1/26. They removed one foot instead of 3 feet of my guts. The hospital was chaos. A guy wheeling me around said he walks 5-15 miles per day, and they are so under-staffed from Covid that the remaining people are working so much overtime that their immune systems are shot, giving most of them Covid. The heart monitor in my room wasn’t working, so they wanted to move me. Anxiety had made my BP and pulse over the moon. When moved to my new room, my first “soft” food was a ham and cheese sandwich on toast? I think they made a mistake, I certainly paid for that later. People came in to give me a shot, then another person tried to give me the same shot 10 minutes later. I could hear a person wheezing a long, Covid cough down the hall. The surgeon wanted me to stay 3 days, but I knew I was not healing there. On the 2nd day, the surgeon put his weight on my biggest incision and looked at me. It was like a wild west standoff. I knew he was testing me. I looked him straight in the eye and didn’t blink or make a noise. He said, “You are really tough. Most people flinch when I do that. I’m sending you home today.” Did it hurt? Hell yeah. Was I going home? Hell yeah.

Friends have been amazing. I’ve been set up with this bland food I need to eat for weeks. Friends have dropped off Tylenol, Gatorade, coloring books, lotion. Smart Water and Path Water are keeping me going. I have a gift card that will help me get groceries, as I can’t drive any time soon. I am most grateful that I can work from home as I go through this healing process. The doctors want me away from Covid for as long as I can be. Supposed to be 6 weeks of healing. I sneezed the other day and thought I had turned myself inside out, it was really painful.

Getting up is the most painful part of the day. I use a cane to help me out of bed, then have to catch my breath. Clean the fridge? Catch my breath. I have to give myself daily blood thinner shots in my abdomen. I just have to suck it up and do it. There’s no one here holding my hand. While this would be much easier to get through with a companion, I am thankful for so many friends who just check in, or just chat about stuff. Covid has made the experience much more lonely. People drop things off and I watch them drive away as I’m being extra cautious.

My gut is a symphony of disagreement. I picture it like a bunch of construction workers on I84 and The Flying Y. The traffic report would be something like, “Having some slow-downs in the construction area, as traffic is re-routed from the removal of the Fred exit. (Naming my removed cancer “Fred”). Traffic will be stop-and-go for a few weeks until construction is finalized. Proceed with caution, and only eat soft, bland foods.”

Here’s the biggest thing I’ve learned. Everyone else’s story isn’t your story. This is your life, your path, your experience. All we know to do is to share with others our own experience. We may or may not need the chemo, colostomy bags, radiation that others talk about. There may be other treatments available that weren’t available to other people. Things are always changing. Positivity is necessary to just get through the process.

My follow-up appointment is next Tuesday, where I will learn if they got everything, or if it had spread to the lymph nodes. If so, chemo would be the next step. Obviously hoping for the best, and thankful for all the friends holding me up. I just want to have friends over for a fire in my back yard while we sip cold beers together. Soon.

Putting things into perspective, a friend of mine had to say goodbye to their friend Lani Forbes yesterday. Lani was a successful local author, wife, and mom of 3 children. She had stage 4 endocrine cancer, and had been to several specialists. When she was pregnant, a nurse noticed she could not use the left side of her tongue. Loni did not make it, and as I went through her Facebook page I saw what a phenomenal woman she was. Here is her family’s GoFundMe page, which will help the children.

Perspective.

I don’t know how cancer picks its victims, but I do know that early detection is priceless in avoiding many unhappy endings. My random home test could have possibly saved my life. Side note-if not, please make sure we play a weekend of sessions I’ve remixed as my last wish, whether this gets me or something else while I’m working here 🙂

I’m encouraging you to get a home test, FIT test, Cologuard at the very least. Around $40 or covered by your insurance. Get a colonoscopy done. If it’s clean, you avoid that for another 10 years.If not, you’re alive and get tested more often. Give extra love and compassion to those you know with cancer, and especially to those you know supporting their friends and family with cancer.

Finally, a friend of mine has started a GoFundMe for my own expenses related to my own adventure. Do not feel obligated to donate. Here is the link, https://www.gofundme.com/create/mfa?redirect=/withdraw/help-rochelle-meet-her-medical-deductible/

You can avoid fees by a Venmo donation to roxxboise@gmail.com.

If it’s between me, or investing in a kit, please invest in yourself! Much love to friends, family, and coworkers for getting me through this. Much respect to all medical and emergency workers being overworked and underappreciated during Covid. Thanks for following my journey.

Have questions or comments? Email me.

EILEN JEWELL

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First things first, countless times I’ve heard people tell their friends about this artist. They say, “You’ve gotta check out this AILEN Jewell.” Or heard during Treefort, “EILEEN Jewell has a great new album!” She would likely never correct you herself, but just so we’re all on the same page, it’s pronounced “EE-len.” Rhymes with “how ya feelin’?”

Eilen kindly accepted an invitation for an interview and session during our noon hour. You’ll want to catch the show this Sunday Night, Charlie Sutton is the opening act for this show at The Olympic Venue on Main Street. This is the bar just above Mulligan’s.

We had a great visit, and she did a couple of songs for us. This is “Rich Man’s World.”

Boise is spoiled to have artists like Eilen play in town, between spots on the world tour they are planning. She’s playing Portland and Seattle this weekend before returning for the Boise show.

During our chat, Eilen said she really likes Ray LaMontagne for modern music, and Lana Del Rey. She says friends tease her for being late to the party. I asked her if there was a location in her history of touring that pleasantly surprised her. She said it was Sweden, because it is beautiful and spread out like Idaho.

Here’s one of the songs from her latest album, “Gypsy.”

If you need a comfort song, close your eyes and listen to this. I asked for a holiday song we could share next month. We will have enough now that we can do an “Eilen Christmas” Lunch in the Library! This is a beautiful classic song covered by many, including Roy Orbison. It was written by Willie Nelson.

Have questions or comments? Email me.

The Hu session remixes and film updates

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Sometimes I forget that I get to do cool things. If I had to pick some of the coolest things from 2021, this is top 5. I mix all the sessions for 2 of our stations 94.9 The River and 100.3 The X. The X hadn’t had a session in 2 years because of Covid. I was so excited to hear that we were getting a session with the Mongolian Throat singers, “The Hu!”

I want you to know how magical it is to do remixes. With a session like this, I mix it live and then I go home and remix by isolating the tracks and putting certain EQ and effects on each channel and making them stereo, and then sync them to video. Hearing individual channels brings out all of the harmonics and crazy throat singing this band is doing, the full session doesn’t really do it justice. Many sounds are coming from each vocalist, it is very goosebump-worthy. On this next song about one minute in, they make their cellos sound like horses!

The Hu made my year, what a great session. They used a translator for the interview, and were all very kind. The instruments were all pieces of art, the cellos had horses heads on them and it was all unlike anything we’d ever seen. The mouth harp player sometimes played flute with his teeth more than his mouth. I could have listened to them all day.

FILM STUFF

There’s a yearly film competition for My Rode Reel. I will forever swear by Rode microphones for anything to do with film. Many of their mics have a 10 year warranty. Anyway, they do a yearly 3 minute short film fest. My entry this year is based on my last 2 interviews at work. This time I excluded my questions, which were fairly controversial. This film only shows the answers. It’s called “What Was the Question?” Feel free to vote if you want to. Features the amazing Mary Lambert who was here for Boise Pride, and also Orchestra Gold from Mali, Africa, who played at Treefort Music Fest. At the end of the Orchestra Gold question, I needed time to try not to cry. Both of these interviews were on the weekend with no staff or audience, so I felt a little more safe to ask non-traditional questions. One of my favorite things is to ask musicians about non-musical things.

My Rode Reel - "What Was the Question?" (Rochelle Smith)

Please watch and vote HERE!

“Violin Scratches” is in yet another film fest after 2 years on the film circuit. It will be at India’s “We Care” disability film festival. I am so excited to see this film there, as Gaelynn Lea continues to rock the world AND BROADWAY and is currently making music for MacBeth! Nothing from this amazing woman surprises me anymore! I was so lucky to interview her at Treefort and make this film.

BOISE SHORT FILM FEST

Locally, I’m really honored to be a part of Colossal Film Fest in Boise November 7th.

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I LOVE this local film fest! They have been so supportive to include me in their local all-star cast of filmmakers. My stuff is usually pretty low-budget, and this movie “Firedance,” was literally recorded mostly inside of my VW van when people were most afraid of Covid. I love poi and fire poi. The biggest thing I got our of this evening was that I had watched a breathtaking fire performance from one of the artists. I asked if I could list her name. What I had just watched was amazing. She said, “probably not, because my parents had expected so much more from me.” Yet, what I’d seen was unbelievable. Please buy tickets to Colossal Cinematic Showcase HERE. It’s really fun and supportive of local short film folk. You can get a red carpet photo, grab some popcorn, then meet at Mad Swede for beers!

The featured filmmakers of the November 7, 2021 Colossal Cinematic Showcase are:

Steven Zunich- “Unter”

Rochelle Smith- “Firedance”

Heather Horner- “Affective”

Elizabeth Findley- “The Task of Reconstruction”

Hutt Wigley- “Max Helm: Curse of the Relic”

Timothy David Orme- “Grip”

Cary Judd-  “Give Me”

Tom Sanford- “Going Back”

Brandon Freeman and Christina Lane Hawkins- “El Matamoscas”

Andrew Ellis- “Mentor the Drone”

Nichole Stull and Brian Morgan- “Girl From the South”

Jordan Gore-“Lethal Jack”

Film Updates

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The success of my short film “Pink Feather,” has been amazing. It has won several awards, and been accepted in festivals worldwide. Any time I get any amount of extra money, I enter into another festival. This film’s message is one I’d like to see spread far and wide. Festivals can cost between $20 and $60 to enter, and only some of them will choose your film. If you’re reading and would like to help, please venmo @roxxboise. Every penny goes into film festival entry fees!

A recent acceptance includes a festival in Singapore, they are waiting to send official announcement news.

This movie was filmed mostly at “Somewhere” bar in Garden City, formerly The Ranch Club. The owners were gracious to give us early entry, and we were lucky to film before the old signage had come down. This building is rumored to have some huge Idaho history, having been a brothel and gambling house at one point in possibly Homedale. Gambling was legal there, but when it was outlawed, people took this building apart piece by piece and moved it to Garden City, where gambling was legal there a few more years. Some filming happened on Chinden, where just down the road Roger Miller wrote a song about a sign he saw : “Trailers for sale or rent. Rooms to let 50 cents.”

The Ranch Club also makes an appearance in Clint Eastwood’s film, “Bronco Billy.” This corner of Orchard/Chinden is still a mix of old and new traffic, with both new cars and horse trailers driving by. The name is different, but the pony remains.

These historical connections, and the message of acceptance, helped the Idaho Film Commission to sponsor a small grant for my film. The best part is that “Pink Feather” will also be archived into the BSU’s Albertsons Library for future generations to see!

The movie setting is 80’s-meets-now, where some redneck ranchers are in town for a cattle convention and look for a drink when the day is done. They wander into a bar that is LGBTQ+, adventures, disagreements, and finally acceptance all take place. This movie had been a thought in my brain for months. Once I finished the screenplay, I invited friends to help, and recruited friends that are new to me to help with this no-budget passion project. The support has been incredible. I love using real people vs actors. I let people play with their lines, and everyone offered up great ideas on set. Even though many of our actors are drag performers who had very late shows the night before, (Karma Rose, Coco Freeo, Maliha Gemini, Sid D’Licious, Mikey Likesit), everyone arrived early on Sunday mornings to film before the bar opened. My friend Jeff agreed to take an extremely challenging acting part. He has been in 2 of my western movies for 13 Stories, “Revolve” and “House of Helen.” I’d met Theresa Palmgren at a LezBe Kings drag performance shoot at the old prison and asked if she’d help me with this film idea. I have lots of ideas and no professional camera or new computer. She agreed and got some amazing shots. Editor Lynzsea Sky Williams made all the magic happen, hire this genius from Orphan Hilll Studios. Behind the scenes, friends helped with release forms, snacks, lighting, slate, sound, and photos. I am so proud of this cast and crew, my largest short film endeavor to date.

Boise State University will be showing “Pink Feather” for free, this Monday, October 11th. Please join us upstairs in the SUB, in The Berquist room at 6pm. We’ll have snacks, show the film, and then have a panel with myself and 3 of the actors for a Q&A afterwards. This is the film’s 4th showing in Boise. Please come and support local actors and film!

MY RODE REEL

I’ve entered a short film into a yearly competition, “My Rode Reel.” I have entered every year for several years. If you talk to me at all about gear, I will tell you how Rode microphones are my mic of choice for film. Their warranties are unmatched, often coming with an up to 10 year guarantee. I’ve had them happily repair an 8 year old mic without cost. This film competition is open to worldwide entries, films must be under 3 minutes long.

My film is called, “What Was the Question?” With permission from a couple of recent band interviews I did, I made a film of 2 very passionate answers.The film features singer/songwriter Mary Lambert, and the group Orchestra Gold from Mali, Africa.

HERE is the link to watch the film, and please vote if you like it!

Orchestra Gold at Treefort Music Festival

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Erich and Mariam made time to stop in to visit with us in the Blue Moon Listener Lounge. I was really excited hear some psychedelic music from Mali, and learn about their projects.

Miriam teaches online African dance classes. Learn more HERE.

Orchestra Gold would love to return, and bring some drumming and dance classes to Boise! We’re hoping we can help them make that happen.

It’s really fun that they encourage remixes and offer a membership to do that with. Info on The Vault, HERE.

Their full band has 7 members, and Erich mentioned he had an adrenaline crash after playing their show the night before. Their songs have so much energy!

Watch our full interview with song remixes below. We talk about music, cultural appropriation, Islam, and dancing. They were so kind and appreciative.

Japanese Breakfast at Treefort Music Fest

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There were some great things happening at Storyfort, including a book reading and signing from Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast.

A small crowd gathered on the lawn to hear her speak. She talked about her Korean-American heritage, and read a passage from her book, “Crying in H Mart.”

This NY Times bestseller is soon to be made into a movie by MGM Orion. What a year for Michelle! We were so lucky she was a part of Treefort Music Fest.

She is really excited about the recent music she contributed for the video game, “Sable.” She says this is one of her favorite songs she has ever written.

During the Q&A portion of her appearance at Storyfort, she joked about being older than she looks because she is Asian. She listed a few favorite food books, including one on gastronomical tours, books by author Anthony Bourdain, and “The Vegetarian,” by Han Kang.

Brooklyn Vegan posted some fashion photos, where Michelle is modeling for Tom Petty Official merchandise. Check it out HERE.

On the Main Stage with her band, Michelle often smiled and danced. She played a giant gong in the center of the stage. Earlier at Storyfort, she joked about their bass player leaving them to be in a more famous band. She said that band had fired him, and he was their bass player once again.

Sorry for the late-ish post, as we were waiting for photo approval. All photos by Rochelle Smith, and approved by Tenatoms Management.

We can’t wait for Japanese Breakfast to return!

Have questions or comments? Email me.

Smokey Brights at Treefort Music Fest

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Day 2 of Treefort started with a lovely book reading/signing from Michelle Zauner at Storyfort. She spoke of her Korean heritage, and upcoming movie for her book “Crying in H Mart.” She has so may projects going on, including doing music for the video game “Sable,” which was just released today!

This husband and wife duo gave us a great daytime set at The Record Exchange. It has been so long since we’ve hand an in-store performance there, and so great to have this Seattle group be a part of Treefort Music Fest.

This is a new song that they will have out next month!

The Record Exchange is like family, it felt so good to see live music on their stage again. Much love to the new owners/employees who will keep their vision and culture alive in Boise!

You can catch Smokey Brights again at El Korah on Saturday, and The Hideout on Sunday. They are a great band I encourage you to check out! Learn more about them here.

Have questions or comments? Email me.

Lake Street Dive at Treefort

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LAKE STREET DIVE AT TREEFORT

In the press room, I head people talking about Lake Street DRIVE, and Michael FranTAY. I loved that they were excited about their music, but the mispronunciations made me grin.

I started Day 1 of Treefort with Storyfort, and a workshop on Activism during Covid. There were some amazing stories of perseverance and privilege.

Most people were masked at the Main Stage Venue.

I saw a few other groups, but was really excited to see Lake Street DIVE. We’ve had them in studio before.

Rachel Price somehow only gets better. They played an amazing set at Treefort Main Stage, including extra songs at the end, and a couple of covers. Sorry for the lens flare, but their version of Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Tme” was SO good!

Today, Treefort brings us a book reading from Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. They will be on the Main Stage tonight.

I caught mantis puppet/neighbor Bitsy dancing under the moonlight. Excuse the drunk people swearing behind me. I tried to stand in the right place, it looks like some sort of animation. LOVE the puppets from Colossal Collective! (NSFW)

Seattle band Smokey Brights today at 3pm.

Mary Lambert Interview and Session

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There was so much to do in Boise last weekend! Art in the Park was happening in Julia Davis Park, and Boise Pride Festival was happening at Cecil D. Andrus and all over town! Mary Lambert was a performer on the main stage Saturday, and we scheduled a rare Sunday interview and performance with her at my work.

I thought it would be fun to do something different this time. I’d heard she used to be a bartender, and asked if she might make a cocktail for us. I didn’t realize she’d stopped drinking a couple of months ago, and she asked if she could make a Mocktail instead! I told her that sounded great, and started gathering supplies for her Spicy Basil Mojito. It was fun and hilarious, once Mary realized she was using the wrong end of the muddler! See for yourself in the video below.

Mary arrived with partner Wyatt from Massachusetts, who is also a non-drinker. Wyatt is a super-smart college professor, who was on Jeopardy last year. Mary tells us Wyatt’s scholarly background includes English, Grammar, Rhetoric, and Composition, and that they are both Bi-Polar. Wyatt credits this book and podcast in helping them make the changes away from alcohol, and being a choice that doesn’t mean having to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. To learn more about their journey away from alcohol, check out “The Naked Mind” podcast HERE.

While muddling the basil for the Mojito, Mary Lambert told us she was born with no sense of smell. It’s called “Anosmia.” She says, “These are just pretty little leaves.” She says she also can’t taste the difference between different kinds of soda. Mary mentioned that she had quit smoking 2 years ago, after smoking for 15 years.

Mary told us about various projects she’s involved in, including “The Manic Episodes” podcast with partner Wyatt. It is both serious and fun. Find it HERE.

During the winter, Mary had fun voicing a character for “Arlo the Alligator Boy.” This is an animated musical and series you can find on Netflix. It’s really fun to watch her character Bertie, and I love this song she did for the show!

She is also doing a bit of life coaching/teaching in her Everybody Is a Babe workshop. She explores body positive ideas, self esteem, sharing feelings, and even some dancing. You can do Zoom meeting either live, or when you have time. There is a live Friday dance Zoom. The workshops are 4 weeks long, and the next one starts October 4th. Sign up HERE!

It was great spending Sunday morning with Mary Lambert. She is brilliant, and full of smiles. My friend Jenn Snyder loaned her fancy keyboard, and my friend Theresa Palmgren offered to film. When our visit was done, Mary mentioned she was off to see her Grandma, who lives in Nampa. She says she is the 5th “Mary” in her family, and they all like to sing. Mary’s Grandma went to Boise Pride to watch her perform! Mary said they would likely sing lots of church hymns and rounds when she went to visit.

I was grateful for Mary’s visit, and it’s so refreshing to have a guest so genuine, hilarious, and easy to connect with. She gets real, talking about emotional healing, and super fired-up talking about Texas! It was such a fun experience, and we can’t wait to have her back. Maybe when she’s done writing her book, we can talk about it.

To hear the full podcast including her views on Texas, find my podcast “She Likes To Go Slow” HERE.

Here, you’ll find the full interview/music performance remixes on YouTube.

I know it’s not Christmas yet, but I’ll leave you with this treasure I found. Love these adorable nerds!

Have questions or comments? Email me.

Live Music Schedule

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Recent feature on KTVB Channel 7

My friends Jenn Snyder and Meghan Watters recently played a benefit concert for a friend who had unexpectedly lost her brother. The concert helped with funeral and medical expenses. KTVB was there doing a story on the importance of music.

Here are some future upcoming shows, including a couple of rare solo shows!

LIVE MUSIC SCHEDULE

(I’m so lucky to play Art in the Park twice! I’ll be joining Jenn Snyder 3:30-4:30 9/11, then stay on stage to join my friends Blaze and Kelly at 5 pm.)


Sat Sep 11 2021
3:30p
Art in the Park
Boise, ID
With JENN SNYDER
Age Limit: All Ages   Tickets: FREE
Details: Jenn Snyder and Rochelle Smith playing Art in the Park, 3:30-4:30 pm!

Sat Sep 11 2021
5:00p
Art in the Park
Boise, ID
With BLAZE AND KELLY
Age Limit: All Ages   Tickets: FREE
Details: Blaze and Kelly with Meghan Watters and Rochelle Smith, 5-6 pm!

Wed Sep 15 2021
6:00p
Lucky Fins Seafood Grill -…
Boise, ID
With ELIZABETH FINDLEY
Age Limit: All Ages   Tickets: FREE
Details: Elizabeth Findley and Rochelle Smith live at Lucky Fins Boise, 6-9 pm!


Fri Oct 1 2021
4:30p
Boise Consumer Co-Op
Boise, ID
Age Limit: All Ages   Tickets: FREE
Details: Celebrate FIRST FRIDAY with great deals, and live music from Rochelle Smith 4:30-7:30 pm!

13 Stories-Revolve

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The Old Idaho Penitentiary has a film fest on stories of their past prisoners. It’s called “13 Stories.” Right now I’m working on “House of Helen,” about bordello owner Helen Hall.

The fun fact about this film is that it ties in with my last film, “Revolve.” Both of these movies feature some very good friends of mine, including Jenn Snyder, Jamie Borge, and Jeff Schoedler.

Feel free to catch up on the story by watching my short film “Revolve,” on the Amazon Link HERE.

Eilen Jewell

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It had been well over a year since our last session. We all laughed as we were beginners again at everything. What side of the TV does the USB plug into? Did someone ask Eric for a graphic? Where's Tim's music stand? There were 2 times that I pretty much closed my eyes and pushed a button on the mixer to get where I needed to go. We could go live on Facebook, but with no audio. We were all very rusty, but couldn't ask for a better person to start our year of sessions.


Our winners were so excited to get together and have amazing lunch from Piehole Pizza! They gave us a great vegan pizza  and 3 others, I was so excited to see my favorite potato bacon. 


As we got ready to go live, Eilen mentioned that it was "great to live life again."





During Covid, Eilen said she did a little writing, but no full songs yet. She is just happy to have a healthy family. Before the session, she mentioned being nervous as daughter Mavis is off to her first summer camp!




Eilen spoke of the loss of a great Idaho songwriter, Pinto Bennett. I used to watch him play when Lock, Stock, and Barrel was on Emerald. Eilen and Jason had produced Pinto's last album, "The Last Saturday Night." When asked about the loss of Pinto, Eilen said, "The world just got a little less interesting."






When the session was done, listeners mingled ate pizza, shared hugs and stuck around. Our friend Carrie noted that people never stuck around as they have to get back to work. Eilen said, "There was a time when I thought this would never happen." We couldn't agree more, and no one knows if we're past this or just between quarantines. We hope you can hear some great outdoor music this summer, including weekend shows with Eilen at Kin.


Have questions or comments? Email me.

Pink Feather Film debuts

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A couple of months ago we did a thing. Several friends old and new, gathered to help my screenplay come to life!

Most of my films have been documentaries with few people involved. As time goes on, I’m trying to grow my film game. Pink Feather involved new equipment, lights, and nearly 16 people in actors and crew. We are all learning as we go. I was blessed with professional video and editing techs, a friend to do sound so I could direct, even people helping with makeup. A few friends and I spent hours adding the finishing touches of local music.

In the last week, Pink Feather has been shown to over 200 people, at some huge fundraising events. It was great to have most of the cast see their hard work, and especially to see the crowd reactions and see what parts they thought were funny.

It was such an honor to have the support of Idaho Film Commission in sponsoring part of our sound costs. It was, however, a small portion of budget on this important film. I’m really hoping to get this message out into the world by entering several film festivals. Those costs can be $20-$90 per festival, with no guarantee of acceptance.

I’m working on a couple of other possible Boise showings. People have asked how they can help. Covid shutdowns cut about 1/3 of my income, then I had to go and break my shoulder. There are many creative ideas in my head, but I need some things to make them all happen.

If you feel like donating to my film projects, my Venmo information is below. Funds will be used for film festival submissions, education, and small equipment purchases. These are all passion projects, and please know that your donations are incredibly appreciated! Thank you so much to those who have already supported my dreams.

Violin Scratches featured in Agenda Magazine

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2 big things happened today. First, “Violin Scratches” was accepted into its second film festival in India.

Cd sticker

This New Delhi festival is the first that I paid to have pro subtitles added to the film, and the first ever disability festival it has been accepted to. I am SO excited for it to finally have this exposure, as Gaelynn has been so dedicated to her disability survey and upcoming book. It is so exciting to at least imagine this film showing around the world. I wish I could see it in person.

Part deux.

I was out tonight with friends, and got a notice that “my article” was ready. I answered some questions about a month ago and figured nothing had become of it.

AGENDA Fashion and Lifestyle magazine printed my entire interview! Please take time to read it HERE. I am so honored and grateful.

The “Pink Feather” film, which is my baby, is in post-production. I hope to have it out to festivals in a few weeks. After that will be another local western film featuring a female prisoner from the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. “House of Helen” features a brothel owner who was imprisoned for serving a minor.

After that, I am circling back around to documentaries. Hope to have a couple of surprises by the end of the year! Thanks for following along.

Shankar Vedantam Interview

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This scientist and author has been writing and podcasting about “The Hidden Brain,” for years. Shankar Vedantam’s new book is called, “Useful Delusions.” Learn about the power of both positive and negative thinking, in this intriguing interview that is well worth your time.

LP Interview

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I’m going to start backing up a few work blogs on this site. Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with our friend and amazing talent, LP.

If you’re not familiar with LP, look into this brilliant person’s success. LP has written songs for Cher, Rhianna, Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, and many other’s. If you get to see a live LP concert, you will witness a charisma like you’ve never seen. With global fans, LP sells out shows worldwide. At Bumbershoot, I watched fans throw ukuleles onto the stage.

We have been lucky to have LP in our Blue Moon Listener Lounge in the past. With a voice like a songbird, LP quickly had us all captivated.

It was so nice to catch up again with this Zoom interview. Within this, you’ll hear a brand new track.  You will get to meet  Orson, the dog, and you’ll hear discussions on gender identity, and the upcoming new album.  I love the realness of LP. Sometimes the discussion is flirty, sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always genuine. Note to folks viewing at work, this is UNCENSORED and full of colorful swears. Hope you enjoy it! ~ Rochelle

Have questions or comments? Email me.

“Violin Scratches” wins Artemis Films Award!

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The Artemis “Women In Action” Film Festival is one of the coolest festivals I’ve been involved in. The organizers and curators are extremely passionate about promoting women creators. This award is tremendous incentive to do more films in this direction. Someday I would love to attend this Santa Monica festival in person. Thank you Gaelynn Lea for this great interview during Treefort Music Fest. Get your passes now for the Artemis Women In Action Film Festival!