Beautiful breezes and Brooklynites

So my best friend alex from brooklyn and her boyfriend ricky just left yesterday. they live in park slope, brooklyn. every year for the past 5 or 6 years, alex has been hosting the world’s best july 4th bbq. this was the first time i’ve missed it since it’s inception. boo. but i did end up making it back to the city for a show at rockwood at the end of july…it’s just not the same without bottle rockets, beverages, and various meats. it was so nice to share my little relaxing square of southern cali with some of my favorite people.

i’ve been rather busy lately. i ended up going out with enrique iglesias again for a couple more dates. we did the isle of mtv in malta with onerepublic, the kooks, lady gaga, and n.e.r.d. i even had my own little trailer! you can guess that was one sweet backstage party. too bad my luggage had been lost and i had to go an hour before the show to get an outfit, makeup, underwear (very important when traveling), socks, whatever i could grab as i ran by basically…it was a wee bit stressful. but that night was one of the most amazing nights of my life. the crowd was about 50,000 deep, there was a huge, old, beautiful church at the back of the plaza, all lit up, and at one point towards the end of our set, fireworks started going off. damn. i got a little misty up there on stage. good times.

then we headed off to vienna, austria to perform during the closing ceremony of the eurocup final game. enrique’s song ‘can you hear me?’ was the offical song of the eurocup this year. the game including the performance was broadcast on abc all over the world. you may have caught of glimpse of me working my hot dance moves behind the pyrotechnic flame throwers. yeah. what.

now i’m back in LA, doing my thing on sundays at cafe muse at 7pm. it’s free, byob, they have delicious vegetarian food, and a beautiful upright piano. they even tune it. it’s nice. also, be on the lookout for my BRAND NEW SHINY PRETTY WEBSITE. i’m a little excited. it’ll be coming very soon.

i hope you have a lovely day!

jes

It’s about damn time

seriously. it’s been, like, a month. and it has been a crazy month. i might have to go backwards.

this past sunday, may 4th, i was lucky enough to host the 3rd sailing of the 3 Hour Tour!!! This is an amazing event put on by the Music Hub (www.myspace.com/themusichub), which features about a dozen incredible local and national singer/songwriters. And everyone gets on a boat and we cruise around Newport Beach for an afternoon. now, i was a performer on the 2nd 3 Hour Tour, and just a passenger on the first one, but this time i got to be emcee. and i got to announce some amazing people such as: ehren ebbage, sonia leigh, aaron beaumont, dawn thomas, joey ryan, amber rubarth, shane alexander, chris pierce, jay nash, tyrone wells, ernie halter, and josh hoge. and i think i was really holding it together, being professional and all, and then dawn thomas handed me a double maker’s mark neat, and, well, um, i may have gotten a wee silly. but i’m pretty sure that everyone there had a super-fun time. i had a great time!!!

and the night before that:

do you know about JACKIE TOHN? do ya? well you should. top friends-check her out. well, miss tohn and i had communicated via myspace a time or 2 in the past, i attended her cd release show at hotel cafe a month or so ago, wrote her a message commending her for her mad skillz, and then i ran into her in a trader joe’s. she was advising an elderly woman on the ripeness of melons. i said, ‘hey, you’re jackie tohn,’ and it’s been on since then, pretty much. well, jackie tohn played at genghis cohen last saturday, and she let me sing a song or 3 with her. it was pretty wonderful. you’ll be seeing more of the jackie & jes. oh yes.

let’s go back to last week:

TREY LOCKERBIE and i wrote a super-sweet song! we had played a couple nights previous at cafe muse and did some harmonious harmonizing, and decided to take a shot at writing. and it proved to be a good thing. you have got to check him out (top friends-duh). he’s great and stuff, but it’s a shame about that face of his…

um, let’s go back to today:

yeah. i am sooo excited to tell you that i posted a new song today. it’s called ‘these words.’ if you have approximately 3 minutes, i’d love it if you gave it a listen and let me know what you think! it’s pretty lo-fi, all recorded at home, but i think you can get the general idea. i think i like it. a lot.

big ups to patrick matera for doing the production, playing the guitars, bass, and loopy-loops. he’s also the one who made the videos for ‘mora the mermaid’ and ‘it all ends today.’ he’s in my top friends as paper airplane. you should check him out.

FAST FORWARD TO MAY 27TH:

oh my goodness i am playing a FULL-BAND SHOW AT HOTEL CAFE ON MAY 27TH AT 9PM!!! not only that, but i am playing the set right after BRENDAN JAMES!!! that’s all i’m going to say.

higgity-bliggity-bloggity-blue.

jes

Enrique Iglesias shows

Yo yo yo. I just wanted to share some cool news with you. I will be singing backup for the one and only ENRIQUE IGLESIAS!!! I am only doing 4 shows in Central America, but I am super excited nonetheless. I’ve never even needed a passport before. Also, a lot of the songs are in Spanish, a language I do not speak. Or rather, didn’t until last Friday…

So that’s pretty sweet! I also have a super major FULL-BAND SHOW coming up at one of the best venues in LA, Hotel Cafe.

TUES MAY 27TH @ 9PM
HOTEL CAFE
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga (just south of Hollywood Blvd)
21+, $10

Did I tell you about my band? Patrick Matera (Kenna, Moby) on electric guitar and bass, Korel Tunador (Goo Goo Dolls) on acoustic guitar, accordian, and glockenspiel, and Steve Sidelnyk (Madonna, Seal) on drums! I know! It’s so much fun to play with these guys, and I cannot wait to share the sound with you.

To recap: singing backup for ENRIQUE IGLESIAS; full-band show at HOTEL CAFE; feeling very HAPPY.

Bye!

jes