Dallas Does Johnny Cash

This Saturday, you are in for a treat as we participate in "Dallas does Johnny Cash." It's going to be a great night of wonderful songs and talented local performers. See all the info, below, in this beautiful promo pic:

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. It would be even lovelier if you'd spend part of it with us, at Opening Bell on Saturday night as we pay tribute to the man in black.

Happy Friday!

Happy Pho-riday!

A picture from Pho is for Lovers in Dallas, from this blog review of the restaurant

It's time for my first post of the year in which I complain about having a sinus infection. The cure? Without a doubt, my favorite remedy for upper respiratory troubles is Vietnamese Pho. It's basically a glorified chicken soup (or you can get it with beef or seafood) but it's delicious and perfect for making me feel better. I'm looking forward to having some tonight in hopes that it will kick this sinus crud in the tail before the spring semester starts again on Monday.

Speaking of which, in light of the new semester and my looming dissertation duties, it saddens me to say that after a year of blog progress, I'll have to cut back on blog posts when the semester starts. It doesn't mean the blog is going away -- I'll definitely keep you up to date on music news -- but there's not enough space in my brain to deal with everything that's required of me this semester, so I'm afraid the blog posts will be few and far between.

If that saddens you, I know just what you should eat to make yourself feel better -- a hot, savory bowl of Pho!

Happy Friday

Happy Friday: New Look for a New Year

Allow me to be really frivolous for a moment. Yesterday, I got my hair cut. I only do this about twice a year at the start of school semesters. Anyway, a blow dry was included in the price (at JC Penney salon, which turned out to be pretty awesome for the price), so I had them do a straight look for me:

I think I'll be doing this more often this year. It's fun to try a new look and to realize that I'm not defined by curly hair. (Don't get me wrong; I'm perfectly happy with my usual curls, but I like knowing that this is an option, too.)

Are you trying something new for the new year? 

Happy Friday.

News, Reviews, and the Muse

It's been another year of kept resolutions here at Christine Hand music. For 2011 I resolved to record an EP and did, and for 2012 I resolved to blog regularly, and I did. Apparently, making resolutions in public (even if no one's really reading) is the key. This year, I blogged at least twice a week -- not all that often in blogging terms, but a big step up for me -- began semi-regular "Dylan Diaries" posts to document my dissertation musings, and established "Happy Friday" posts so that I could justify writing about all the random stuff that goes through my head each week that has nothing to do with music. One of these Happy Friday posts, "5 ways to combat writer's block," was the most viewed post of the year. Which is kind of funny, because I spent a lot of the second half of 2012 with writer's block as I stared dumbly at my dissertation mess. In fact, let's just call it the messertation. That's better. Speaking of which, my big 2013 resolution is to clean up that messertation until it sparkles so that I can graduate and you can call me Dr. unemployed musician.

Actually, I'm going to have to stop using that joke about being a musician with no work, because one of the big pieces of news of 2012 is that I am now officially leading worship music at Highland Baptist Church. This has been very exciting for me and I'm still kind of pinching myself that any of my legitimate work duties have to do with playing guitar and arranging music all afternoon. I love teaching, and am grateful for that income source as well, but grading papers will just never be as much fun as playing music. But beyond the 'fun' aspect of it, this new gig fulfills a deep sense of calling in me and has refocused my creative efforts toward songs that express Christian themes. So you may see some changes in my songwriting this year, as well as another exciting new musical project for 2013 -- but I don't want to say too much about that just yet. I only mention it because I seem to keep the resolutions I make here on this blog. Apparently the muse speaks best through the vague threat of someone on the internet having negative thoughts about me.

So here's to another year of blogging, songwriting, and dissertating. Many thanks to those of you who read this and, in so doing, give me that extra burst of motivation to keep working and creating.