Posted June 27, 2011 at 4:47 am

wet suit!

I now have a wet suit! After all this time, I am planning on becoming a surfer. This is going to be fun.

Thursday night performance went rather well, I think. But it reminded me that I need to work on a few things… namely centering myself, performing with others etc. I did not get to use my looping machine this time, because the sound situation was a little less than optimal for that particular set-up… but the quintet + piano worked so beautifully together. Joel McNeely's arrangements shined in this chamber scenario in a completely different and surprising way. Which was a lovely thing, because now I know that I can get a beautiful and dynamic sound, just by adding a quartet or quintet. Exciting!

I was lucky to have Sonus Quartet perform with me – they are so gooood – and Michael Valerio was on acoustic bass. He did break out his killer electric bass for one of the songs, though, and it was quite a rocker, although it was only me on piano, him and quartet. Plus he could do that thing where he would keep time/play percussion on his bass, besides just playing. Wow. I wish I could just clone him and take in a suitcase everywhere. At this rate it will certainly be to a recording studio soon! More about that later…

There were a lot of "beautiful people" at the event I was performing at: Beverly Hills variety. I am usually a bit of a klutz around people like that because I never know Who is Who. And apparently everyone knows Who is Who, and They are the The Who (I don't mean the band. I mean: the people one should know). Everyone looks absolutely stunning and put together and you just know that they do yoga and meditate and probably have a little fluffy dog and a fancy car (or two).

But here is the thing – music is the one thing that people respond to equally, no matter what social class or neighborhood they belong to. That is a pretty amazing thing, if you think on it. I remember performing at a Boys and Girls Club somewhere in the Valley, and a bunch of pretty disenfranchised kids were talking to me afterwards, telling me they liked my music and asking me all sorts of questions. And same thing was happening at this event – the Beautiful People were coming up to me to let me know they had connected to my songs. Music is the great healer and equalizer, is it not?

I am here for another two weeks, working hard, and then taking some time off until August… when everything album-oriented begins in earnest. I am going to start doing some creative covers for your pleasure as soon as next week, and we should accumulate quite a few by the time the record comes out. I decided each cover should come with some sort of visual art piece, and will involve different artists in this, so it should be quite entertaining and hopefully impactful…

I think tonight is the perfect night to write a poem – I have not been writing any poetry recently, but perhaps I can be forgiven, because I have been writing new songs? I surely hope so.

June 23rd, 2011; photo + styling by Melissa Washington, make-up by Marian Filali.

Posted June 26, 2011 at 3:21 am

just saying hello:)

Posted June 20, 2011 at 1:09 am

and just as you were wondering….

We are off… well, almost. It's all starting. I am a little on edge, because this Thursday I have a pretty big show. With a string quintet, too. My stomach is churning a bit. For different reasons, mind you. Maybe I should stop coffee, after all.

Yesterday I spent too much time in the sun, and now my face is really dark. It's strange, I don't burn, but I turn dark, although I have very fair Russian skin. I also went for my first splash in the ocean. I wouldn't call it a swim, because it was rather short. The water is still very cold, but it was very, very nice. I love the ocean. Being in the water always feels so primal to me. And in a way, this was like a baptism for me – today we unveiled my little EPK video and two songs from the upcoming record.

Did you know that it's also Summer Solstice? How appropriate, then, that this is when I get to do this. This is my first harvest. But I didn't time it like that – it just happened.

There will be plenty opportunities for me to be grateful or nervous in the coming months. But for now – watch my EPK below and you will hear quite a bit of music from the upcoming record — and – join my Facebook artist page, because that's where it's all at, including two songs in their entirety. Yes. Go here: http://listn.to/Elizaveta (after you have watched the video, of course;)

Note about the video: it features footage from the Nokia show I did recently. And I owe love and favors to so many people who helped me put it together: EightVFX, Missy Washington of i102fly, Lawrence Watson (amazing photographer), Marian Filali, Sergio Tarrero, Greg Wells, The Stronghold (Venice), Club Nokia, Joel McNeely, Seth MacFarlane (I opened for him at the Nokia), Mark DiDia (my manager)…well, Universal Republic, of course. The list goes on. I'll have to add more names. It appears that if no man is an island, this whole artist thing is a total community effort!… (food for thought).

🙂

Posted May 13, 2011 at 7:33 am

exhilarated

hey, guess what? The record is donnnneeee!!

It was mastered yesterday.

I am in Moscow, visiting my mom. Right now, as I am typing this, sunshine is coming through the window, beckoning me. Clearly it's all about me, and I brought good weather to Mother Land!;-)

Stay tuned for more… I need to go hunt down some croissants stat.

Delta Airlines lost my luggage, too, but it arrived a day later, and was delivered to me, so all good things come to those who wait… including FULL RECORDS! Yes! It's a bit unreal, all this, although why it should feel so, I have no idea.

Posted May 11, 2011 at 10:09 am

back in LA

And so, back in sunny Venice, I am still processing my trip to Moscow.

But I am also starting to prepare my live show. Starting July, there will be performances, with touring to come later. In a way, I am sensing that this is a lull before a storm… once the activity starts, it won't stop for a while. I need to be ready.

So I am taking advantage of this time to balance myself out a bit… and prepare. I spent quite a while in the 'making of the album' mode, and now it is taking me a moment to shift into 'living it' mode. And presenting it to the world. A bit scary. But exciting. Well, these two words summarize most of my life, really.

I think I am pretty sure what the title of the album is going to be, as well. More on that later.

Going back to Moscow was not an easy thing. I operate on the principle of being new every day, as much as I can. I have moved so many times and put down temporary roots over and over. In some ways it can be traumatic. But, there is also a joy to being free and saying to yourself: this is who I am today. This is who I want to be today – and tomorrow. My past does not define me. Where I come from does not define me. I define myself, and I use everything, but I am the one making those choices.

In a way, California is a perfect place for me to be able to access that, because of its timeless weather and lack of architectural history. I am here, facing myself and what I create. Well, for many of us even that is quite enough of a task because we can be our own worst enemies at times.

But in Moscow… it is me and years of family history. Not even my own history, but family history; the history of the relatives, my mother and father's ancestral history. The history of my childhood. The metro stations, trains that still look exactly the same as they did when I took them to attend my music school, and sat reading books about zoology and the South Pacific. The history of the city and the transformations it has undergone, as have its people. The heaviness of its presence upon everything.

As I am back in this Neverland, which is California, my time in Moscow still weighs on my mind. I am working on reconciling who I have become and what I yet want to become, with who I was and what was written. But this time around I also had a glimpse of what is possible for me there. Not a homecoming just yet – but a possibility of one. I will go back again soon – and this time it will be a trip about music.

What I have to remember is that I am incredibly blessed. With my music, with the stubbornness that has brought me here. With the ability to change and grow. And also with the opportunity to choose. Most people do not have this opportunity. I did and I still do. Such a rare thing. Because I was born in the US, I could travel and follow my dreams – most Russians do not have that opportunity. I crashed often and hard, but I always got back up and kept going. And here I am now – working with the people I always wanted to work with, and about to release the record I have always wanted to create and share with the world.

This blog was started a little over two years ago. I often forget how far I have come since then. Perhaps it is because I have this relationship with the past: I put it away and choose to leave it alone, sitting in a drawer. It is not a bad strategy for moving forward and feeling less weighed down. But, it also keeps one from counting the blessings and being aware how much progress has been made.

So going back to Moscow opened all the drawers for me. Many things tumbled out, and I am still putting them back in there. This time I am forcing myself to acknowledge and organize a bit. And some will go in the wastebasket.

Because now a new phase begins.