Alright, it is ridiculously past acceptable blogging time and I’ve driven over 8 hours today and played a show, but I had to get this out there before I crash.

You know that show I played tonight? The one in Wausau, WI, with America? It rocked. As I predicted, these well-seasoned musicians were friendly and professional, and then some. I hung out with the stage manager, Pete, for over an hour before the show chatting about the decades he’s spent touring with the band; learned about a new toy I really really want; and met Gerry, Dewey, Michael, etc backstage before my set.

The packed house (close to 1000 people) was quiet when they were supposed to be, wild with applause when I finished a song, and made that giant venue feel like the most perfect place to be. Which it was. Seriously, people approached me during the break and after the show constantly, really friendly people who buy CDs. Lots of CDs. More CDs than I’ve ever sold at one show before, with the Sara Bareilles show last December a close second.

Did I mention how great the guys in America were? They did something that no one I’ve ever opened for has done – they stood in the wings and watched my set (which, as I might have mentioned, rocked – The Grand Theater is a fabulous, huge, high-class venue and I’m going to do some begging to get back in there!).

And then, as I walked off the stage to thunderous applause (not kidding) and the enthusiastic congratulations of the band, Gerry (one of the two front men) asked me to stick around for the encore so I could come out and sing it with them.

America asked me to sing “Horse With No Name.” I am so not shitting you.

I got my mom and dad backstage (way too much fun on its own, by the way), and though we were lacking a video camera, Dad managed to nail down 128 shots in 4 minutes. One of the band’s crew taught me the two chords I needed to know to play along, the guys came offstage and strapped one of their own acoustics on me, and then I was out there with frickin’ America singing frickin’ “Horse With No Name.”

There are days, now and then, when I’m glad that I opted to do this instead of becoming a rich lawyer.

So here, my dear friends and fans, is Julie Moffitt onstage with America.

I have a show in less than 2 days opening for America. You know, “in a desert, on a horse with no name…” Yup. Kinda excited! I’m hoping they’re the kind of headliners who actually, you know, hang out with their opening act a bit. Or at least say hi. Not everyone bothers…though what amuses me is that the more established and experienced acts tend to be much more friendly than the newly minted radio stars. Willy Porter? Friendly as all hell, we hung out in the green room for an hour before the show. Mat Kearney? Ignored me, pointedly, while bitching about the fact that he was playing a show in Ohio, the poor baby.

Wait, Mat who…?

Anyway, in an effort to prepare for the show, I decided that practicing is something I should reintroduce to my daily schedule. Meaning I finally brought my piano up to the apartment this evening and then spent an hour digging through my bookshelves for the lyric book I haven’t used in almost a year. And then…

I am one of those people who revels in nostalgia. Especially the melancholy type, the sad stuff and the memories of things that broke my heart. Vacation pictures are great, but I’m far more likely to be found poring through sheafs of poetry written during my turbulent college years. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Milwaukee to sift through boxes (and I mean stacks and stacks of boxes…) from preschool through the present, forcing myself to let go of the unnecessary bits in an upcoming garage sale.

I’m practically giddy about getting to dig through all that shit.

Back to the lyric book – there are songs in there that I’d quite literally forgotten I’d ever written. Piss-poor songs I never played in public, to my credit, along with some piss-poor songs I did unfortunately play in public, but also songs that I used to play at every show, laden with emotion and heartache. Remember “Stumble?” That was a pretty damn good song…a bit long and self-indulgent, but now that I remember it exists, I’m proud to have written it.

I make a lot of allusions to people and conversations within my songs, most of which go unnoticed by everyone except me and, sometimes, the person I’m referencing. Talk about a trip down memory lane… I think I’ll stay up a bit longer and keep rehashing the past, since that’s become the theme of the weekend.

Okay, yeah, I know he’s kind of a dork and it’s rather cliche to have a crush on Justin Timberlake. Five years ago, it was still kinda creepy – I guess I feel like I’m being retro by crushing on him now. But honestly, how cute was he?!

Seriously though, tonight was one of those fabulous nights that I probably can’t accurately describe now that it’s over. I took a bunch of notes, though, so here are some of the highlights.

The ASCAP Pop Awards are kind of like the Grammy Awards, but for songwriters instead of performers – unless, of course, you’re both, like these two:

Sara Bareilles opened the show with “Love Song” and “Bottle It Up.” She sounded great, but let me just tell y’all now that I am NOT the only one who forgets my lyrics or gets distracted by mic problems from time to time. After the first song, during which she had to stop singing and fix the mic at one point, she lightheartedly busted out the f-bomb. Lucky this wasn’t televised… She was then presented with the Vanguard Award, and I turned a little bit green with envy. No, but seriously, she looked so happy and the crowd loved her – it was a great kick-off.

Marilyn Bergman (who, along with her husband Alan Bergman, has written a ludicrous amount of pop standards), ASCAP President, then got up to talk about the industry and such, and then the awards began. In rapid-fire fashion. Seriously, I started taking some notes on who won what, and completely lost track after the first two. Suffice to say, there were a LOT of great songwriters honored, they came onstage for pictures, then exited without taking time for long boring speeches or anything. It was the way awards shows should be…

For you star chasers out there, Fergie accepted a bunch of awards for songs like “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” Justin Timberlake was onstage a bunch of times for a total of something like 7 awards (I lost track after a while), Nicole Richie was in the crowd to support her dad, and Natasha Bedingfield…well, she needs a new stylist if she’s going to consider fashion extremes like that hat.

A lot of the songs that won awards were Hip-Hop and R&B, which is totally understandable (from what I can tell, most awards are given for songs that receive the most licensing and airplay – so imagine all those Hip-Hop stations and their tendency to play the same songs over and over). The funny part of this is that the people announcing the awards were well-spoken members of the ASCAP Board of Directors. Picture a woman who looks like Hilary Clinton announcing that “Get It Shawty” and “That’s Why I’m Hot” have won. It was hilarious.

The writers of Carrie Underwood’s hit single “Before He Cheats” performed the song on their own early in the show, and I’ve gotta tell you, as much as I like that song I’d rather hear their rendition on the radio than hers! Chris Tompkins (whose other songwriting partner, Felicity, was sitting next to me in the crowd) and Joshua Kear did the song as a lounge/jazz ballad, keeping all the lyrics the same. Imagine two guys belting out “I might’ve saved a little trouble for the next girl / because the next time that he cheats / oh you know it won’t be on me.” It was fabulous.

Elliott Yamin, who I’d actually never heard of before but who was an American Idol rockstar, came out with an acoustic version of his hit song “Wait For You” (along with a rather off-color remark about how he was an Oreo onstage, pointing to the big black guy on his right and the Asian guitarist on his left). I didn’t expect much, but good god, it was a really fabulous performance. Acoustic guitar only, and his voice just killed, plus he was really sweet and innocent – I’m pretty sure that joke was unintentionally non-PC. My notes for that song just say “DAMN that was good.”

And this is his girlfriend. He’s doing well for himself.

I’m pretty sure, by the way, that such shows as this are how big stars pair off with up-and-comers. Don’t be at all surprised if an Elliott Yamin / Justin Timberlake project comes out later this year.

Timbaland won Songwriter of the Year with NINE award-winning songs this year. I kinda like him too. Is it okay to have a crush on both JT and Timbaland?

There were two awards given for lifetime achievement – Golden Note awards, they call them. Lionel Richie and Steve Miller were both honored with video montages of their entire music careers (separately, of course), and I have to admit – not only did I not realize just how many frickin’ songs those guys had written, but whoever puts those montages together needs to give me their card. And a discount. I nearly cried. REALLY good.

Plus, Lionel Richie is FUNNY! I had no idea. I won’t try to repeat his jokes, just know that he was a total laugh. Steve Miller closed the show with not one, not two, but SIX songs (maybe even seven, I don’t know, we lost count). He ran the gamut from “The Joker” through to “Fly Like An Eagle” and the whole crowd was dancing along.

So, here’s the thing about the show. Yes, it was fun to attend a star-studded event, and I kinda dug having to dodge the paparazzi on my way out. But the best part was that this particular event, being surrounded by successful songwriters of all genres and levels, reminded me of what I love about songwriting:

Music is a part of every major aspect of our lives.

This may seem obvious, but think about it – lullabies and ABC songs when we’re little, pop music when we’re kids, the first song you share with your first boyfriend or girlfriend, weddings and funerals; the music your dad played on the radio when you were little, the music you and your friends listened to when you were avoiding your parents; soundtracks to movies and TV shows and commercials; every major and minor aspect of our lives is colored by music.

And when you’re a songwriter, you (me!) get to create that music. You get to take a moment that you’ve lived, be it love or loss or joy or just walking down the street, and immortalize it in such a way that random strangers all over the country and even the world will identify with your moment. And there is no limit on how many songs can ever be written, because while the subject matter for songwriting is naturally limited (there’s a reason love songs are so damn prevalent, while songs about aliens raiding your kitchen for Pringles are few and far between), the different ways of experiencing and expressing those subjects are infinite.

As Lionel Richie said, a love song 200 years from now will be just as relevant as a love song today. We’ll always want them.

Sleepy time.

I just realized that I hadn’t posted here since before the FameCast announcement. Wow. I’m slow.

Well to be honest, I just decided that winning that kind of a competition, with all the hours I’d put in and all the energy expended, merited a bit of a holiday. And with Christmas and New Year’s shortly to follow, I felt like it was the perfect time to stop working. Completely. For almost a month… Yeah, okay, I probably should have at least kept up with a few things, but when I finally let myself relax, it’s all or nothing!

So now it is 2008, and I am recovering from last night’s shenanigans in downtown Chicago, curled up on the couch with my puppy gnawing on a Nylabone next to me and Predator 2 on the big screen. Yes, I said Predator 2 – I saw the new Alien vs Predator: Requiem last week and realized that I’d never seen, well, any Alien or Predator movie. And I love Bill Paxton, for some odd reason. So here I sit.

I actually saw some really great movies over the holiday, and I’m recommending them to you now unequivocally – go, watch, enjoy, laugh those holiday party pounds right off. You will not regret it.

Anyway, I’ve been on vacation long enough, I think. Time to kick things back into gear! Happy New Year, everyone. And watch out for big ugly creatures with more than one mouth.

Gary Graff, the journalist from Billboard and Rolling Stone, did one last review of all five Singer / Songwriter finalists. He seems to like me, and that kicks ass. You can read it right here (as you’re voting, of course!).

And on top of that, I spent the day today hanging out with the newest Julie Moffitt fan. I’d like to introduce you all to Evey:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!! If you’ve been to one of my shows recently, you’ll get this.

Alright, so I’ve been pretty good about keeping myself grounded throughout my musical career. Great gigs, increasing pay scale, better instruments – it’s all been fabulous, but I still hold to my roots, remembering that I was a waitress less than 2 years ago and that there’s a lot of hard work ahead of me.

But seriously – this past weekend threw all that out the door. Total rock star lifestyle. I’m hooked. Here’s how it went.

Friday morning I was up and on the road, driving down to Arkansas. It’s a 9 hour drive from Chicago, meaning I needed to leave at 7am to get there in time for sound check. Somehow in my mind, though, I reversed the numbers and left at 9am thinking I could get there in 7 hours… Yeah, that doesn’t work. Luckily (if my police officer fans will please avert their eyes for a second) I drive really fast, and I somehow made it to Searcy, AR, by a little after 6, in plenty of time to sound check and grab dinner.

I was opening up for Sara Bareilles at Harding University, and these people treated me like a queen. My private dressing room (a part of my contract rider which is usually taken with a grain of salt) was upstairs from the stage of what they tell me is the largest auditorium in Arkansas, Benson Auditorium. Private bathroom, loads of food that I couldn’t possibly eat alone, and the boys had even picked up a lovely set of vanilla candles and a feng shui rock fountain for the room. I could have sat in there all day and been great.

The stage itself was huge, with a pro lighting guy and a fog machine (though I didn’t get the benefit of the fog for my set, I still felt cool knowing it was there). After sound check I raced out to dinner with the boys, Cole and Ryan, then spent my last remaining minutes before my show scribbling CD info onto my “DIY Rockstar” burned samplers with a Sharpie. Ah, so professional…

When I hit the stage, there were around 200 people out there in the crowd. By the end of my set, it was more like 500, and more were coming in. It was a blast. I had a great time, the audience seemed to dig me (they bought nearly every CD I had with me!), and I got some great photos to prove it happened!

I also got to watch Sara rock out from the wings. She makes me wonder if I should put together a band…but otherwise, I fell into my hotel bed around 1am and got a lovely restful 4 hours of sleep.

[Totally random side note - I've got the TV on in the background, and "Without a Trace" just came on. I never watch this show and was just about to change the channel when I saw a familiar face...couldn't figure out why...then realized it's James. James Snyder. I spent my college years singing in the SoCal VoCals with this hottie, and there he is, filling the screen in my hotel room. That's just awesome.]

Anyhoo…

So I woke up around 5am on Saturday and had to hit the road for the drive to Little Rock, where I parked my car and caught a flight to Austin. Well, my 12-string and I caught the flight to Dallas, then had to wait an extra half hour while my delayed flight caught up. The first flight was no sweat, but the second was jam-packed with University of Missouri fans on their way to watch their team get crushed by Oklahoma.

In Austin, I met up with Adam, who had flown down there to back me up during the FameCast show. We were then picked up by the FameCast shuttle, a big white van with local Tony driving us to the hotel. FameCast put us up at the DoubleTree downtown, with the biggest most comfortable-looking heaven of a bed I’ve ever seen. If only I’d gotten to try it out…

After we grabbed a little lunch at the chili place around the corner (best bathroom graffiti I’ve ever seen), Adam took advantage of the free time and fell into nap land, while I got ready to head out for the show. The shuttle was coming back to get the artists around 3:30 and I was still curling my hair when they showed up, so I raced downstairs wearing no makeup, one outfit on and another outfit in my bag, and jumped into the van with Rory Miller, Sofia Talvik, and their bands. These two lovely ladies were, of course, all fixed up and ready for the stage, so I tried to make conversation while applying eyeshadow with my fingers and trying to size up their outfits against the two I was still stuck between. Luckily, everyone was pretty easy to get along with. Rory, also from Chicago, is one kickass chick and we discovered quickly that our senses of humor were pretty similar.

Case in point: when we arrived at Stubb’s, there was a camera crew waiting to film us getting out of the van. I forget exactly what we each said, but the sentiment was exactly the same. You’ve got to be kidding me…

The camera crew was a constant for the night. They interviewed us individually (if this footage ever sees the light of day, just let me say now that I was really excited and trying really hard to come off positive and laid back instead of hyper and sarcastic, which was how I really felt, and I don’t think I succeeded…), they followed us around while we were tuning our instruments, I’m pretty sure one crew followed me to the door of the bathroom.

The other artists were awesome. I already mentioned that Rory is a doll; Matt Jones (sorry, The Real Matt Jones) was a total sweetheart with a great sense of humor, Sofia was both gorgeous and sweet (did I mention gorgeous? I had to change into my other outfit after spending a little time with her!), and though Wendy and I only chatted while we were in the ladies’ room, she seemed like a cool chick.

Here’s the thing about FameCast: it is one pro organization. Everything about this weekend was handled well, they got us where we needed to be in plenty of time no matter what, the show was smooth and high quality, and everyone I met who was associated with FameCast – from the camera guys to the man behind the whole thing – was friendly and professional with a great sense of humor. I swear they’re not paying me to say any of this. I had a great time.

Adam showed up around 6:30 and joined me backstage (“backstage” being the huge outdoor area with its own stage that gets tons of use during SXSW), and then we waited. The show started at 7pm with the Singer / Songwriter finalists – Rory first, then Wendy Colonna, then The Real Matt Jones, then me, and Sofia last. I watched Rory’s first song but then I found my Austin friend Mychal in the crowd and we headed outside to catch up.

It wasn’t long ’til Matt was heading offstage and I was carrying my 12-string up the steps in front of the crowd. Four camera crews in there, if I remember right, plus the hundred or so fans and the 3 industry experts – Aaron Burgess (SPIN Magazine), Gary Graff (Rolling Stone, Billboard, etc) and Paul Korzilius (Bon Jovi Management). These were the guys I wanted to impress. I’ve played in front of a lot of crowds, and I knew this one was going to be hyped up and excited for the show, but how often do you get to play and get critiqued by people as high up the food chain as these three?

So I introduced myself and launched into “Bound to Fade” on the keyboard they’d provided. And it sounded great. I was kicking ass. And then halfway through the song, the piano sound cut out. Seriously. I kept going, and it came back in within a few seconds, but in my head I was thinking, “No WAY! You’ve got to be kidding!! Are they going to let me redo this song? Is it going online like this??” I must have kept my cool outwardly, though, and I moved on to “Oh Hell” on the guitar with a few jokes to the crowd about the sound and such. All this touring this year is paying off! The shift in gears between songs threw people off a little, but I could feel the crowd get into the new song and when I finished up, there was a huge cheer. Adrenaline galore. Seriously, if you haven’t tried this – well, let’s just say it’s quite a rush.

Then came the critique. The guy from Bon Jovi Management didn’t have a lot to say (he was more interested in the rock bands that were playing later in the evening), but Aaron Burgess launched into some honest conversation with me. He didn’t like the dichotomy of the two songs (I believe he said he felt like he was being beaten over the head with “Oh Hell”), but he was very cool about letting me explain why I did such different songs (wanting to show off as much range as possible, knowing that both songs get a great crowd response) and that I would never put them side by side in a typical set. Gary Graff was even better. He dug the difference in songs and the range on both instrument and vocal. We had a good little chat up there in front of the cameras and the crowd.

And then it was over, and the cameras were following me out the door and backstage. They interviewed me a bit more as I was putting my guitar away, then watched as Adam and I turned on the fake tears of relief and excitement (man are we bad actors), and then they left the cameras on while we had our actual “moment,” hugging and talking about the set.

Afterward, there was much Tito’s Handmade Vodka and laughing and talking, reunions with more local friends who had made it out, phone calls to parents and friends, and then a rather wild and crazy night on 6th street. We wound up crashing on the couch at my friends’ place, waking up at 6:30am in a panic (well, I did, Adam was out cold), and catching a cab back to the hotel just in time to catch the shuttle back to the airport. Hence my not getting to take advantage of the amazing, heavenly, soft, wonderful bed at the DoubleTree. *sigh*

And then, it was 9 hours back to Chicago, me driving all the way (Adam won’t drive my car because I’m so obsessive about it – it’s a stick shift and the first brand new vehicle I’ve ever owned), and after the excitement and carousing and adrenaline of the previous 2 days… Let’s just say I would have given almost anything for a touring van with a driver. And a blanket. And a pillow.

In all honesty, I was really happy with the show. I’m excited to see it online tomorrow night. And I really enjoyed the whole experience of the Finals.

And…this post has gotten WAY too long, and I have work to do! Rock star, out.

I don’t know which is worse – catching movement out of the corner of my eye and trying to identify the 3″ creepy crawly creature skittering toward my bedroom door, or realizing 10 minutes after returning the rogue crab to his aquarium that I wasn’t remotely frightened or surprised by the event.

I haven’t been blogging lately, and I haven’t been feeling great this week, but so much has been going on! For starters, my next college tour is next week, so I’ll be heading back to Wisconsin to hit up schools like UW Stevens Point and Ripon, plus a Christmas show at Wisconsin Lutheran and a bunch of others. It’ll be nice to get back on the road – now that it’s freezing outside, I spend most of my time in the apartment and I’m going a little stir crazy!

This Friday is also my show opening up for Sara Bareilles at Harding University in Searcy, AR. When the show was booked, I knew how much she rocked and couldn’t wait; since then, she’s all over the radio and I even saw her CD on a poster display at Barnes & Noble right between Tony Bennett and Celine Dion! Her music really isn’t much like either of them, but hell, I doubt she’s complaining.

I’ve been keeping up with my Guitar Hero, now that GH3 is out. I’ve beat all the songs on Medium, gone back and gotten every score over 100,000 and 5 stars on all of them, plus at least one perfect score in each section. I’ve also started to develop a bit of a wrist issue, so I’ve cut back.

Actually, the real reason I’ve cut back is frustration – I’ve only got 3 songs left before I beat everything on Hard, and I just can’t get through them! I can do all the crazy riffs, the solos, the hammer-ons and pull-offs, you name it. But the one thing I just can’t seem to do is play speed metal. *sigh* I guess I’m never going to open for Slayer…

The big news, though, is that this Saturday, I’ll be flying to Austin to perform for the FameCast Finals!! A few months ago it was just this thing I was entering, you know, just to see what happened; today I’m looking at a serious possibility of winning $10,000, and I get to play in front of a panel of industry experts who will be critiquing me afterward!

Call me crazy, but that last part is really exciting for me. I may not dig American Idol, but I’ve always admired Simon when he really digs in and gives some honest feedback. Especially when the person onstage really needs to hear it. One of these guys, Gary Graff, has reviewed music in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The New York Times and a ton of other impressive publications, and his early critique of my song “Let Him Be” (you can read it here) was really positive. I’m looking forward to kickin’ ass and takin’ names.

So that’s where things stand right now. I’m about to go make myself some apple cider, turn on Lost in Translation, and endure the monotony of editing down my mailing list so that when FameCast voting resumes next week, I can let everyone know. That, and I should probably go count the crabs…if one guy got out, who knows how many were right ahead of him…

Okay, lame blog title, but I’m in a rush. And I’m a little distracted by the fact that the smell of natural gas that’s been bugging me for the past few hours is actually my freshly washed clothes – yuck. Apparently the dryer in the hotel needs some repair work. Double yuck. Now I have to go find my Febreze…

Anyway, I’ve spent the past 3 days here in Rapid City, just north of Mount Rushmore, and it has been lovely. I got here before dawn on Sunday, having driven across South Dakota in the middle of the night (which I hear is for the best, what with the boring landscape), and since 6am is usually too early to check into a hotel, I decided to watch the sun come up with the presidents. It was a little grey and misty, but wow, what a fantastic way to start a day! Here’s the view, along with an example of my car as a KIA commercial.

Yesterday I hiked the Cathedral Spires trail in Custer State Park. I didn’t bring my camera, and I thought about going back today to get pictures, but you know what? It’s the kind of place that pictures just never quite do justice. It’s frickin’ amazing. Look it up, especially the Needles Highway leading up to the trailhead. I’ll be going back someday, I know it.

Rapid City has been good to me. I’ve had some really amazing food (I’m actually about to go get one last pizza bagel at Black Hills Bagels), seen some phenomenal sites, played a lot of Dr Mario between midnight and 3am, and got one of the best eyebrow waxes ever (along with possibly the most painful bikini wax I’ve ever had, but that’s what you get for getting a bikini wax in a city where they don’t seem to sell bikinis). And now, I’m off, just a couple more days on the road before I’m home!!! I miss my honey, and my fish.

And clothes that don’t smell like they’re about to explode.