Well, it has been quite a couple of months! I apologize for not keeping you all updated. I spent the past 4-5 months in London and then traveling around Europe, practicing and learning Spanish and Italian, working on farms, visiting friends, and meeting distant relatives in Scotland and Sicily! My travels have inspired me and set me back into a new wave of songwriting that I am very excited to be working on. I am becoming more and more open to the idea of playing with other musicians, and would love for people to contact me who think they'd be a good match for me.

I am now settling back down into Portland, Oregon, my other home which I absolutely love. There is so much beauty, and positive company, community dinners, bike rides, and great live music and thought provoking art to be enjoyed. On my job search I came across Living Room Theatres and instead of offering me a job they offered me a gig--which is almost better in my opinion! So if you happen to be in town June 2nd, Wednesday, at 6:30pm please come by to their lounge/bar and listen to the tunes. The show is free and I'd love to meet some people in the area and/or see familiar faces! Thanks for visiting my website and supporting my music. Take care,

Jodi

Well, it has been quite a couple of months! I apologize for not keeping you all updated. I spent the past 4-5 months in London and then traveling around Europe, practicing and learning Spanish and Italian, working on farms, visiting friends, and meeting distant relatives in Scotland and Sicily! My travels have inspired me and set me back into a new wave of songwriting that I am very excited to be working on. I am becoming more and more open to the idea of playing with other musicians, and would love for people to contact me who think they'd be a good match for me. I am now settling back down into Portland, Oregon, my other home which I absolutely love. There is so much beauty, and positive company, community dinners, bike rides, and great live music and thought provoking art to be enjoyed. On my job search I came across Living Room Theatres and instead of offering me a job they offered me a gig--which is almost better in my opinion! So if you happen to be in town June 2nd, Wednesday, at 6:30pm please come by to their lounge/bar and listen to the tunes. The show is free and I'd love to meet some people in the area and/or see familiar faces! Thanks for visiting my website and supporting my music. Take care, Jodi

There's nothing like being home!

I just had a show last night at the College Perk Coffee House, and it was such a wonderful experience. Amanda Lee opened up with her beautiful voice, wonderful songs, and her talented bass player Posido Vega. They're good friends of mine and I called them last minute and they were able to come open for me, and I'm so glad they did! College Perk and I have a great history, and I was able to reminisce a little bit with the manager there who remembers the first time I came in to play at open mic nights there! I was 16 years old then, and I think College Perk was my first real open mic experience. And I felt so at home in those old couches with all sorts of artists wailing away on the microphone, sharing a bit of their lives over music. Since then, so much has happened! I put together open mic nights hosting other artists, I've produced two CDs, I've gone to college, I've met all kinds of people, written lots of songs... and returning there, and seeing familiar face after familiar face, faces belonging to such wonderful people who've filled up my past with so many great memories, and being with my best friends from home was just inimaginably perfect!

We're already planning the next show. After 5-6 years of being best friends with Rachael and Kathleen, it finally hit me last night as they were singing all of my songs and adding sweet percussion rhythms on a random snare drum in the house, and making me laugh and smile as they danced and sang-- it finally hit me that we've never done a show together! And that we need to! So all of you visiting this website from Maryland, look for me sometime around Thanksgiving to be performing back in the area with my best friends. It will be a joy for all of us, I promise! In its own improvisational way.

I already feel refreshed after spending 24 hours at home. There's just something about knowing people who really know my soul. My music really lives in my soul, but it takes a lot more time and years of knowing others to be soul-friends, and I'm so lucky for the ones I have. After spending the night in College Park I got to spend some quality time with Jen Lemen, as she painted and shared her art and I watched and sang shared my music. If you are ever feeling like you need a soul-friend and you don't have one around, just read Jen's blog and it will probably make you feel more connected to your soul!

In other news, I will be returning to Portland for the rest of the semester at Lewis & Clark College and then I'm off to London in the spring of 2008 looking for someone cool to volunteer for in the music industry! If you're interested, or know anyone in London, talk to me! settle4more@gmail.com. I'm working on new music and looking forward to so much. I can't wait for my trip to Arizona to be with Krista as she returns from travels in Chile! I just feel fortunate to squeeze so much greatness into these weekends and days that make me so happy to be alive. Keep yourself surrounded with good friends and good artists, thanks for your support in the dreams i get to do on magical days like this one. keep your own dreams alive inside of you,

with love,
jodi

hello there!

I am here to report one of the most fantastic shows I've had in a long while. Tonight at the college perk coffee house was such a treat for me. To see so many familiar faces, and people who I've just recently met, and two of my siblings, and all my best friends all under the same roof was just fantastic! I know I was complaining about my guitar being broken (slightly unglued in the back), but I'm pretty sure this show will completely pay for the repair. I love when things fall into place like that. But it doesn't just happen like magic (at least not completely), it really comes down to people like you who come to shows and support the music!

I just had to write here to thank everyone who was at college perk tonight, you made my night and I hope that you enjoyed your time there as well! Thanks so much for the encouragement and support. Reminds me why it's true that "there's no place like home."

**also latest news-- new cd's are in the making, I sold my first solid copies tonight and the rest will be complete by the end of the week and into the mailbox for those who have pre-purchased or bought the cds online! This time i was sitting in front of the cd printer and duplicator watching my cd design (using krista's fabulous photographs) appear line by line on the inkjet printer. It's amazing what you can achieve in spite of the financial obstacles that look so huge. I'm learning more and more to believe in my dream because others have gracefully dived in to believe with me. Thank you so very much for being part of this collaborative evolving experience! May it inspire you to take the journeys you've been afraid to take, and open doors for you to try something new and near-impossible-looking.

GREAT NEWS!!! I'm working on my next CD in the midst of finals and springtime and friends and love. I will finish recording by May 11th and hopefully have a finished product by the end of May, but I need your help!

Recording is expensive and so is CD production. I've searched for quality inexpensive ways to make this happen and to print 100 CDs would cost in the ballpark of $450. If 45 people buy the CD as the project is in process, yet another dream of mine will be created and distributed to your mailbox :)

If you're living in Portland you can pre-buy the CD by simply giving me your mailing address along with 10 dollars. If you are not living in Portland or you just like the internet -- then I have created something beyond this world using PAYPAL, just click here:

Email Address (optional):

CDs will be mailed to your mailing address and all the names of the pre-buyers will be up on my website: www.jodimclaren.com, and written in my heart forever, because this project wouldn't exist without your support!

For anyone who hasn't yet experienced the essence of KUKU, please visit his myspace page and watch out for his appearances in DC and beyond. It was a pleasure having him here at the LC Co-op, our "campus living room," I think each of the 20 of us there felt very at home and very thankful to be there enjoying the love songs and the company. I'm looking forward to playing with him in the future back in Washington DC/other places on the east coast.

Since I wrote here last I went through the horrible painful experience of getting Mono. It's been a month and I'm lots better, but I'm measuring out my daily activities so that I don't relapse into a world of not being able to swallow or walk to the bathroom without wanting to lay down on the floor on the way... yes it was a sad sight that week! But since then I've had the pleasure of performing with KUKU twice (the co-op and the mississippi pizza pub- which was an incredible experience filled with lots of people from different areas of my life who managed to make it out to the show: LC friends, my Dad!, my voice teacher Anna, friends from The Bridge, Brittany and Dan). Also I MUST thank Kat Klopp for her amazing help with publicity and posters, she's incredible! I also have been performing with two lovely ladies Julia Crager and Lynnae Griffiths, we had our first show on Friday on campus opening for Munley and others. And last night I played "The Birth Song" by Cynthia Brando at the end of the Vagina Monologues which was such a great show! Many thanks to Callie for inviting me to play.

Lastly, but not leastly, I'm going to Flagstaff to visit Krista, who I love more than anyone, and playing a show at Macy's Coffeehouse. There's more info on the "tour" tab, so if you live around there or know someone who does, tell them to come get brunch! Otherwise, next weekend will be filled with the grand canyon and the grand company of a good friend. Thanks for checking in with me, send me an email if you would like to connect or set up a show with me someplace!

Jodi

Well hasn't it been a WHILE since I wrote here last??? College life can do that to a girl, take her away from what she loves spending every free second doing!! And that love would be playing music of course. I've had the joy of having the entire house to myself for the past week and half and not only has that been extremely relaxing but I've also had the space and time to sing and be finishing a number of new songs. My next show is at the Daily Grind Coffee House & Cafe on January 13th from 3-5pm. This is actually the first show of the new year and the first full show I've done since a few months ago! But fear not-- my time off from performing has provided the right amount of sunlight (vacation in florida), water (do you know how much it rains in Portland??), and time for my new songs to peak their heads out.

This February I'll be doing a big show with nigerian singer-songwriter KUKU at the Mississippi Pizza Pub in Portland, OR! This place is a big deal, I can't wait to sing there. Keep visiting, send me an email about hopes and dreams or funny things that happened in your life recently and maybe I'll write back, or maybe you'll just make one of my busy days at school (I go back to Portland the 15th). Thanks for checking in with me!

Jodi

Hello!

I've just returned from a trip to Beaver, PA-- dangerously close to the Ohio border, and a good 5 hours away from the good old Laurel Maryland area. You may be thinking, what is in Beaver PA? As I was thinking... and first you get what you see when you drive... beautiful hills and trees and streams, apple orchards, corn fields, sheep, tall grass, pick up trucks, gravel roads, the token Walmart, and a lot of churches. But what you didn't know about Beaver, PA is that there are also some VERY great people who are worthwhile to meet and spend time with, and even crash on their couches for two nights. This family is the Robinson's, owners of Logos Bookstore. David Robinson invited me out for the weekend to play at his bookstore, and he went even further to connect me to the only starbuck's in the area, along with Prince of Peace Episcopal Church. I traveled there with my three adventurous fun and dedicated friends Mike, Judy, and Jess, all of whom were a pleasure to be around for 3 days straight. We braved the long drive, equipped with many mix CDs, some dating back to some pretty interesting tastes in music.

Well, this could go on for quite some time.. but basically this is one of my first "tour-like" experiences, driving out some place I've never been to perform for perfect strangers and then come home afterwards, and it was VERY rewarding, thanks to my new friends in Beaver, especially the Robinson's. Those people know hospitality like nobody else. The Starbuck's show was a lot of fun, lots of very different people came and went, and some were intrigued enough to sit down for a little while. I was just happy to be playing, and to have come out to such a new place. The church was also a pleasant surprise, the congregation was very open to my music and many people went ahead and bought a CD (or even two!) after just hearing me sing two songs. I especially want to thank Lynn (and apologize for writing the wrong name on the CD!! We stayed with a Linda, I got mixed up), for being so kind to me at the church. She introduced me to everyone and made me feel very comfortable to just sing what I had to sing without being conscientious. I met a lot of great people, and I hope to be able to do stuff like that more often.

If you're reading from the Baltimore/Washington Area, I've got a show this Thursday Aug 3rd at College Perk, AND my great friend Shannon will be performing there as well, an artist who I am always up for listening to and who I think you'll gain something from listening to her sing. So please check that show out. 8:13pm. www.collegeperk.org -- or my "tour" link above for more info. Thanks for keeping up with me here!

Jodi

Why hello there! Good to see you visiting again in internet world. Thanks for checking in with me. The latest news: I'm currently working at the Daily Grind, a coffeehouse in Maple Lawn, MD, saving up some money for the fall and maybe some savings for later travels throughout college. Even more exciting news, I'm driving to Beaver, PA to perform at Logos Bookstore! If you're in the area, or know anyone in the area, I'd love to have you stop by. Otherwise, I'll be excited to meet new friends in that area, and many thanks go out to David at the bookstore for setting the show up from afar! It will be July 29, 2006. I'm working on performing around here, pretty soon I think I'll just open up my living room again to share my music with you local Marylanders, I miss playing for you guys! On a world cup note, Italy made it to the finals, and I'm half Italian... watch the game on Sunday with some friends and cheer for those crazy Italians! Ciao for now.

Summer is underway, my road trip is complete! Please feel free to read our reflections as the trip went on at biloxidrive.blogspot.com. It all started June 2nd, first stop Asheville, NC. Cool mountain town, very liberal, very beautiful, lots of great local artists and galleries filled with their art. Then came huge Atlanta, staying at an international hostel, playing at Eddie's Attic open mic-- hearing some GREAT musicians there (Jeremy Aggers, especially great), interviewing Paste Magazine - a magazine worth checking out for some good taste in music, and playing at a new coffee shop called Urban Grind. Then the three of us (Rachael, Judy, and I) continued on to the deeper south, through Alabama, all the way to Biloxi MS to do relief work from Hurricane Katrina. Whole buildings were wiped out completely, whole neighborhoods reduced to vague plots of cement floor absent walls, doors, furniture, everything sort of mixed into the soil or already cleaned up by trucks... the ocean filled with trees, parts of houses, miscellenious items, toys, oil, who knows what else. After painting some ceilings, and ripping up wood floors, we made our way to the Made with Love Cafe in St. Bernard, LA outside of New Orleans. The whole city had been flooded with 15 feet of water... every single house was flooded, every single family was displaced, a few were given trailers, but not enough! And we cooked meals for 4 days with Emergency Communities, cooking for over 400 people in the kitchen of an elementary school that was continuing to be rebuilt. The trip was meaningful to me on many levels. I got to know a lot of strangers, fairly deeply in a short amount of time. I ended up giving away more CDs than I sold... I think that was my way of giving what I could to people I had gained a lot from being around. I did make another order of CDs before the trip, so I'm ready to trek out this summer and perform as often as possible. I'm always open to performing, so if you like the music, spread the word and email me about any potential places to play including living rooms or backyards. Sorry to throw down such a long post here, but this is just a small taste of what's been happening lately. I've got a song or two brewing, and a few days where I can sit in my basement and have it out with my guitar. I hope to be sharing the new material with you all soon. Speaking of which Flashing Yellow Lights is now available to listen to on myspace - www.myspace.com/jodimclaren. With the help of Johnny Askew, I recorded it at Lewis & Clark in one take! Have a fabulous day/evening/life.