In the midst of researching the new holiday record I was inspired. I was studying the story of the Holly King and the Oak King of the Pagan traditions and I came across the Triple Goddess. Now you know the minute I read that I was intrigued! The Triple Goddess is represented by the maiden, the mother and the crone. Here's what they represent respectively:

• The Maiden represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm, represented by the waxing moon.
• The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life represented by the full moon.
• The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings represented by the waning moon.

I was interested in the fact that this was a trinity of female archetypes as opposed to the male ones in Christianity. Nice to see more than the virgin and the whore for a change.

Reading this led me to write the first original for the holiday record, titled The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone. The lyrics to me are more like a poem than anything I have done in quite some time. Here's a sneak peek:

The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone
Music and Lyrics by Casey Stratton

The Maiden enchants here
In youth she dissolves fear
A moon that is waxing
Expands as we're retracting

The Maiden enchants us
A sparrow may warn us
Our youth may deceive us
We may risk too much

Is our fate to repeat these mistakes?
Is our destructive force the same?
Wonder reflects a childish gaze
These are the dangerous days

The Mother brings power
She sits in her tower
A moon that is full now
Will reign over these hours

The Mother is with child
She knows when we've been wild
She's ready and willing
To find him fulfilling

She may curl herself around the winter air
And hollow out our souls
Bring some peace to it all
And we'll come back
We will not lack for strength
We'll have power
In these hours
Our force will remain

The Crone is a wise one
In death she will go on
Her sageness will comfort
The weakest among us

She remembers all the stories
She remembers the past glory
She remembers where she came from
She remembers why she made us

Her moon is waning
Her moon is waning

Love, Poetry, Creamed Corn, Sushi, Paper Towels, World Peace, Sarah Palin's Book (to start the fireplace up this chilly winter), Gigli, Q-Tips and a nose flute.

Naturally.

God I miss New York. I spent all day last Tuesday just walking around the West Village, my old neighborhood. Everything is the same yet everything is different. So many shops are gone. The truly weird part was seeing how many storefronts are now simply boarded up and empty. Seeing the recession even there was somewhat eye-opening. How I wish I could live in Manhattan again, in the Village in particular. Not in the cards at the moment, but a boy can dream. Even though it bled me dry, I don't regret living there when I did because it was an experience I had always dreamed of and I am the kind of person who likes to make dreams reality. I have been relatively good at that over the years. Time to dust off that technique again.

This week I am going to record a new holiday record. I wasn't planning on it, but it seems that I will be anyway. I really should record them in the summer like everyone else, but I like these last minute projects and recording holiday records during the actual holiday season is better anyway. This will be my sixth holiday record. WTF? Who records six holiday records? I am wondering if I can even find enough material I haven't already done that is not Frosty or something. I am taking any and all suggestions and also doing a lot of research. Looking specifically for Channukah or Pagan (Midwinter) songs.

Of course I will be writing some originals for the holiday record as well. I'd also better get my classical chops going again as well. Lots of singing to do in the coming days.

I can't believe Christmas is in 5 weeks. I can't believe winter is coming! They are calling for a bitter cold, very snowy, very LONG winter. Blast! I hate winter. I always get depressed and crazy. I feel trapped. Oh well. I guess I'll make a concerted effort to rise above it this year. Like I told a friend yesterday, I'll be in Paris. See you in June. I wish!

Here's the setlist from the show at The Bitter End in New York:

1. Sea Change
2. Your Ghost Passing By
3. Ocean
4. I Fail Again
5. Shut You Down
6. Starry Night
7. Opaline
8. Blood
9. Say It Once More/ You Were My Religion

I spent nearly 14 hours in a car alone yesterday driving from Grand Rapids, MI to Westport, CT. It had been 3 years since I made that trek and I always forget how long Pennsylvania is. LOL I was very antsy and annoyed for the first 5 hours or so, and then I settled into it and the rest if it was fine. The only drama happened when I forgot that all gas is Full Service in New Jersey and I am not used to driving very often so I didn't realize how badly I needed gas until it was too late. I stopped in some tiny town and BOTH gas stations were closed. I was on empty, with the gas light on and had no choice but to get back on the freeway and find the next station. Finally found a 24 hour one and filled up JUST in time. I was in a panic for a minute but it passed.

Today I'll be hanging out with friends in Westport and going out for dinner at Outback Steakhouse which I LOVE! Tomorrow there's an Interlochen Gathering in New Jersey that I'll be attending and of course Monday I'll be heading into the city for the show. I'll spend Tuesday and Wednesday in the city before heading home on Thursday. Quick trip! I can't wait to spend some time in Manhattan again. It has been WAY too long.

Here's the setlist from Friday's show:

Casey Stratton
Harvest Coffeehouse
Frankemuth, MI

1. Sea Change
2. The Window Will Close
3. What If?
4. A Dangerous Mind
5. Sorry I...
6. Shut You Down
7. Harvest
8. I Fail Again
9. Between You and Me
10. Starry Night
11. You Came...Walking
12. Fade Into You (Mazzy Star cover)
13. Slow Motion
14. Hiding Place
15. Opaline
16. Highway

OK this is funny. Well maybe it's only funny because it's 7 am. Still...

Taken from the randomly generated Infinite Teen Slang Dictionary.
Look up another word:-

Happy 33rd Birthday to me. I'm basically starving. I think I'll allow myself to eat anything I want. I'm feeling restless.

It is cold and gloomy but I am not going to let it get to me. I think some retail therapy may be in order. That always helps.

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes on the interwebs!

Wow I haven't written here in far too long. I got caught up in a bunch of stuff it seems. So what's new?

Well I attended my 15 year Interlochen Arts Academy reunion the weekend of the 2nd. I had been looking forward to it for over a year and it did not disappoint. I saw many old friends and classmates that I had not seen in many, many years. As is always the case with Interlochen people, it was not a pre-requisite that we were close back in the day to feel close over the weekend. There is a shared experience of that place that binds us all together. Interlochen is such a huge part of who I am and one of the times in my life that I look back on with such fondness and intensity. Also, as is generally the case with Interlochen people, even though it was a high school reunion I didn't feel any sense of competition or one-upmanship from anyone. Even though it is a very serious school and competition exists on its face, I never felt a sense of rivalry with anyone then or now. Whether we went on to work in the arts or not didn't matter. Everyone felt the same to me, we had just grown older. It was a magical weekend and I will never forget the new memories we created.

I had been wanting to record an album of piano/vocals written during my time at Interlochen for many years, and after the reunion I felt the timing couldn't be better since I was in that head space. So last week I recorded 13 piano/vocals, 12 that were written there in 1993 and 1994, and 1 new song that I wrote while I was there for the reunion. I was rehearsing for my performance there (I performed at what they call "Coffee House" which is like an open mic. I had RULED Coffee House back then so it was a big deal for me to perform again. lol) and I came up with a song idea so I threw it down on my iPhone really quickly as to not forget it and then finished writing it once I returned home. Anyway, not sure when I'll release the project, but it is basically finished.

Now I am gearing up for my birthday weekend. 33. I don't have major feelings about it either way.

Also starting to think about what to perform next weekend in Frankenmuth, MI. Check out my main website for more info if you'll be in the area. I love playing there!

Other than that I am beginning the process of writing and recording the next record this week. I am not sure the shape it will take yet but I have some definite ideas. I'm feeling an intensity building to be certain.

Wendy is staring me in the face on the coffee table. Doesn't she know I'm trying to blog? I do apologize for not being very good with updating lately. I have been so busy and the new face of "social networking as part of your job as an artist" has me all over the place. So even though most tell me that blogging is dead I refuse to believe. It will come back in vogue, much like singer/songwriters do.

This leads me to my real point. EVERYONE should read Amanda Palmer's latest blog regarding artists taking money from their fans. I am in agreement. In the past musicians had record companies and publishing companies to get money from the consumer so we didn't have to look like we were asking for it, but ultimately we made far less money that way. Why is it that certain artists are feeling backlash from their fans for wanting to make a decent living? Why do so many think it is NOT OK to be well off as an artist? Why do so many put some weird cap on how much people should be allowed to make before they can justify stealing from them?

If Target has a good quarter I don't start loading up my man bag, you know?

Also - why is it that in one breath people justify stealing music because they think they're only stealing from giant companies and megastars and then get all tizzed out when an independent artist makes $10,000 from something? Don't you want the artists you love to live well IF THEY CAN? If you get the word out and enough people are buying then ISN'T IT YOUR RIGHT TO PROFIT FROM THAT SUCCESS? I am baffled sometimes. Would people REALLY rather an artist make $1 as opposed to the record company's $8 for a CD purchase? I know I'd rather support indie musicians who get more of the take. You see here's the thing:

Deciding to go indie means you generally don't sell as many units. Not even close. The price I pay for making records on my terms, which in turns keeps me 100% authentic for my listeners, is that I know I will sell far fewer of said records. Of course I could choose to go with another label and take my chances. Still that is not really the point. If people are into your work and are willing to put money into it by buying product, coming to a show, subscribing to something or donating to you then who is that hurting? If people don't want to then they don't have to but THAT NEVER JUSTIFIES STEALING. Back to my Target example, I highly doubt my defense if charged with shoplifting could be that the 300 other people in the store at the same time paid so they should just be happy to have THAT and surely they must have made a profit that day.

Anyway, I guess that's all I'm going to say for now. And before the naysayers come flying at me to disagree, please keep in mind that this is how I make my living and try to show some sensitivity and respect my right to have an opinion about...I don't know...THE MUSIC I MAKE. Just because "everyone else is doing something" doesn't mean ALL artists have to. Change does not come by sticking with the status quo.

I would want a gift certificate for Musician's Friend and I would absolutely, without a doubt use it toward the purchase of a new keyboard so I could have some new sounds to use on my records.

rhiannonhero expressed to me in a comment on my last entry that she would like me to write more about Memories and Photographs. I realized that with Facebook (Become a fan or add me as a friend), Twitter and the podcast I don't seem to remember to blog about things much these days. Naughty!

First let's get the plugs out of the way: You can buy the new record digitally HERE or pre-order a Limited Edition CD version HERE. iTunes coming VERY soon by the looks of it.

So let's go back to April of 2008. Even though I had finished Signs of Life in August of 2007 I had not started a new record yet. I had written The Darkest World EP and started some other projects that are STILL unfinished, but no new record was underway. I made a conscious choice to begin writing again, and this time my overall feeling was not what I wanted the record to be but what I didn't want it be. Signs of Life had been such a heavy, epic record based on some very bad times in 2007. I decided that I would write anything that came to mind as always, but try to be a bit on the lighter side (for me that is!).

The first song I wrote for the record was Highway, followed by What If? and Broken Sky. I wrote and recorded those 3 in the span of three days and then life happened and I stopped for a bit before continuing. With this record I took the same path I did with DIVIDE. I recorded mulitple discs of material and structured them as their own records, on their own and then pared down to one record with separate B-sides records. DIVIDE had 4 discs but Memories and Photographs only ended up with 2. With all my other records I assembled temporary tracklistings as I went and B-sides tended to be B-sides from the get go. Not so here.

I wrote 12 songs for a "first disc" and then got about 4 or 5 songs into a second disc before I took a long break for no reason I can recall except I just wasn't feeling it. From September to January I didn't write a single song. I NEVER used to have these kinds of dry periods but over the last few years I have and I don't mind. It is what it is. When I came back to writing in January I cranked out the final songs on the second disc, wrote 14 songs for an as-yet unreleased acoustic-esque project and Messages Sending all in the span of a few months. I guess I was back!

Once I lived with the 2 discs for a while it became time to separate them into an A-side disc and a B-side disc. As is generally the case, they just kind of know what they want to do and I go with my instincts for the most part. It always seems fairly obvious to me. I lived with both discs in this form for a bit, spending MANY nights at bembacolora's dining room table listening with him and discussing it.

As I have written about before, I started going through a very rough patch with this one. I started thinking it wasn't good enough and wasn't traversing any new territory and blah blah blah. I got over it eventually and now I really do love it very much, but those feelings lasted quite some time and it was highly uncomfortable and depressing to me. I don't know why that happened but as I have told a few people, I feel that at this point in my career if I don't question everything I am probably not doing my job.

Anyhow, as the album took shape I started to feel a real nostalgia coming from the material. It felt like a lot of it was tipping its hat to the past, good and bad and in between but not in such a tortured way as usual if that makes any sense. I just saw everything for what it was and made peace with it. This record feels like closure for me in respect to many things in my own life.

Of course what it means to you is a whole different animal and one I frankly enjoy even more.

I feel like no one blogs anymore. I kind of miss it, and yet I don't in a way as well. I will keep this brief as it seems not many can read more than a status update or a tweet these days.

I was thinking today of how I care very little about my appearance. Unless I have a show or a photo shoot or something, I will sometimes leave the house and realize I never even did a quick look in the mirror to make sure I wasn't a complete wreck. I have noticed lately how many people are truly obsessed with how they look. I'm not trying to judge, I just wonder about it. I feel like I am more concerned with just being who I am on the inside and I don't really care very much what the outside is doing. I do think it's true that some people truly express themselves physically but with most who obsess about looks I just feel like maybe insecurity is underneath it. Our culture puts far too much emphasis on physical appearances. I know I've fallen for it.

As much as I'd love to be above such things I will never forget the brutal honesty with which Sony and some stylists at the time tore my physical appearance to shreds, pointing out every conceivable flaw in the name of "marketing." Funny, they probably listened to my album twice, but god forbid they weren't prepared for every possibility in regard to how the public would feel about sleeping with me or kissing me or whatever. It's a sad state.

Overall, I just wish life could be about our passions and our talents, our strengths and our humanity. I don't think we're anywhere near there yet.

I just looked and apparently it is Cruel Hand of Fate by Casey Stratton, which would be me. Someone had a star-crossed crush in 2006 it seems. LMAO

The most played non-me track is Elegy For Dunkirk from the Atonement soundtrack.

You can now purchase the digital download of Memories and Photographs from my new store at store@caseystratton.com. Easy to remember that, right?

This new store utilizes flash so you can purchase and download right there. No more waiting around for links to show up. No more broken links. We will most likely be moving a lot of my stuff over there in a while.

Also - this record can be downloaded as one file with a digital booklet included! No more downloading song by song. It used to be the way it was. I had been looking for another way to get caught up to the present for some time. Hope this store is a success!

This was my horoscope for yesterday, the day I decided to make an entire digital booklet for the new record when I had only gotten the photos that morning:

You're on track to try something totally new today, but it may be a while before it starts to make sense to you, the odds are good that you feel okay with that, though, as you're needing a diversion.

How funny.

I am buried under work today, but I keep reminding myself how good it will feel when I'm done with it. Then and only then will I lay on the couch and VEG OUT!

Wow, you know LJ is dying when Senator Edward Kennedy was reported dead over 12 hours ago and there is not one single mention of it on my friends list. Either that or you're all self-centered drama cases. I kid. Ted Kennedy would want me to.

Seriously though...Rest in Peace Sen. Kennedy. I truly wish we would have seen real progress in the US Health Care system before he left us. I really wish that. I hope the occasion of his death will only strengthen our resolve to reform health care in a way that will make a true impact on all Americans.

Last night I attended the BonTaj Roulet show in Grand Rapids. I had never been to the Meijer Gardens before and it was a very nice place to see a show. It is always a great experience to see Bonnie Raitt perform and I really enjoyed Taj Mahal's performance as well. When they put both bands together for the third act things really got going and we were all on our feet and dancing. A great show.

On a personal note, this show was exciting because of the shout outs. First, when Bonnie came out to perform her set she said "This show is dedicated to Mario Leon (bembacolora) and Mario's family. He's my number one fan!" She even changed some lyrics to Thing Called Love to add Mario's name into it which was funny.

Later in the show, right before I Can't Make You Love Me, Bonnie said something like "This is for Casey Stratton. He has a beautiful soul and a beautiful voice. He sings the hell out of Angel From Montgomery as well as his own stuff. He's a local artist. Casey Stratton!" I was very touched and honored that she would do that. I covered I Can't Make You Love Me which many of you know so it was a very fitting dedication. I had to laugh because this guy that used to live upstairs from me was at the show and I couldn't help but feel vindicated for some of my singing and recording in the house.

After the show, Mario, my Mom, my Sister (whose birthday it was) and I went backstage...well if you could call a botanical garden "backstage." It was humid as hell in there but we braved it to have a few minutes to chat with Bonnie. I gave her Memories and Photographs and apologized for always giving her so many CDs and she joked that she had a whole shelf for my CDs at home. She told me to keep at it, that I was "firing on all cylinders" and that she thought it was great that I haven't sold out to the modern music business.

It was a really great evening. Thanks to bembacolora as always for bringing me along. You can read a review of the show here that mentions me.

Here's a photo of all of us in the garden: