Working Gal Rock and Roll Poet: Even hard times can bring some happiness

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Even hard times can bring some happiness

I didn't want to work on my finances, but I did. And a reward came when I called my bank. One of the cool things is they hire people from different countries so I can call at 4 in the morning and talk with a human being in India, for instance.

This time I got Ashrith, (meaning, "one who gives shelter") on the phone. I could have sworn I had spoken with him before, said, "We talked about music, you had a band. You knew who the guy was that wrote the movie about the homeless kid who won the TV game show. You know the movie, what's it called?"

He said, "no, that was my friend Ashith (which means "happiness")."

Even so Ashrith and I talked about everything from music to what bands really make in India, and how it costs the equivalent of four or five dollars to hear Jethro Tull in concert iwith other bands) in Bangalore.

And then he turned me on to two bands:

Bhoomi

and Parikrama

My book is called THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION, which is a title I've played with throughout my entire adult life. It's based on The Music Explosion who rocked with a favorite song, "A Little Bit Of Soul." It's optimistic, and self-empowering, which is a quality I love in art... Three things have been constant in my life—- writing, music, and animals. Likewise, I've adapted the words to Frank Sinatra’s hit, “That’s Life.” I sing, “I’ve been a poet, a pauper, a publicist…. up and down…..” My poetry book, The Leighton Explosion (Soul Asylum, Canada) shows my range of emotion and different interests, especially rock music. My publisher Ken Cowle says I “made him laugh.” Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson, who writes the book’s foreword, praises my “lilt” and “personality” in an encouraging note. While I usually work as a music publicist with musicians including Jethro Tull, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Sharon Katz & The Peace Train, and Michael Veitch, I've also made money from my poetry. This includes the Grammy-nominated album, Healthy Food for Thought: Good Enough to Eat, (Audio & Video Labs) with me reading my poem “Feed Your Parents Well.” My poems have been published in The Indie Collaborative’s “Holiday Program,” “The Literary Parrot Anthology,” “Elephant Journal,” “BOG GOB,” “Powerline,” “the Aquarian,” and “Nickel.” I've performed live at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Peter Max’s Studio. Some of my plays have been performed live—one by the Poets Repertory Theatre of Long Island and another by the San Antonio Living River Church, and at New York City’s Howl Fest. My other books are Paws For Thought: How to Understand What Your Cat is Thinking (Rockwell Books, UK), Using Your Art & the Media to Comfort People (Free To Run Books, West Hills, CA), and the self-published e-book, Get the Gig (Common Sense Career Consulting). I recently started producing pop music singles, which can be heard at soundcloud.com/leightonmedia/sets/anneleightonsongs.