Kidnapped by a rock band to Sturgis.

Kidnapped to Sturgis by the Jasmine Cain Band

As you all know, I always ride my motorcycle, Tigerlily, a chopped out 1999 Harley-Davidson Sportster, to Sturgis, South Dakota for my annual wild west cruise.

This year, whilst preparing for the journey from Nashville, up drove rocker Jasmine Cain and her guitar player Jeffro who sequestered Tigerlily, threw her into their gear trailer and then hijacked my ass into the Ford Explorer, and west ward ho we were bound.

It was a straight drive-through, all of us pumped up no sleep with huge amounts of Pilot Travel Center's undeniably and steamy intense energy coffee. We were no doubt wired. My kidnappers wanted to see just how much coffee I could drink because they were placing bets about how fast each one could make my heart race!

Because they stole me so unexpectedly, you will see me in my hippy moo-moo dress, without makeup and with my eyeglasses on....unshowered. Yes, I was kidnapped right before I was to get all bada$$ primped and therefore ready to mount my chrome steed and gallop west.

(Besides being kidnapped by a rock n roll band and forced to sit in the passenger seat of an SUV enroute to the world's largest motorcycle rally with my motorcycle locked away in a trailer PURE TORTURE!!!! OMG, these videos are a rare glimpse into the unkept, schlep at home look -- however, I did wear fabulous shoes.)

THE FACTS: The captors

Jasmine Cain Beeeech. A notorious head-banging rocker chick and NO patience aka Pixie with an Axe

Jeffro Bo Dean a guitar slashin fool aka SLASHER

The captured Sasha aka Chrome Cowgirl.

Miss Tigerlily, Sasha's beloved Harley-Davidson hidden in the captor's gear trailer.

So without delay, let me share with you below some random video secretly captured about our journey to Sturgis.

VIDEO 1 - about the kidnappers. see me delirious from too much coffee. I'm forced to speak about the good time I'm having... what do they want from me? !!!

VIDEO 2 more about the kidnappers. . .she's the diva kidnapper. oh, and they made me wear 7" stilletto heels so that I couldn't run fast.

VIDEO 3 trying to catch some wind! i can't take it anymore as we speed down interstate 90, past the Badlands, without my trusty motorcycle roaring between my legs! I try to escape but they pumped me with so much caffine and Jeffro keeps threatening cruel tickle sessions; just the anticipation of another tickle attack makes me convulse in laughter! Those who are feverishly tickelish know what I'm talking about!

VIDEO 4 the kidnappers owning the road by scaring drive-by folks. An example of "owning the road," by Jasmine Cain - beeeeatch.

VIDEO 5 skillful kiddie carousel riders at Wall Drug. Or maybe not. I try to make light of an insane situation....this is just how bad I need to ride...you see how I'll ride anything at this point so I hop on a kiddy ride with the two kidnappers. Jeffro had to get off of it tho, 'cause the ride wouldn't move bein he's such a strappin' lad.

VIDEO 6 the kidnappers testing my skill at water spout trials. I know I won this...but I had to let the kidnapping diva Jasmine win or else who knows what she'd do with sweet Tigerlily!

VIDEO 7 the kidnappers try their hands at some games. they ain't so lucky as they think! I withheld my lucky charms. Then, a little babe barters and diva kidnapper girl gets what she wants in the end while Jeffro Bo Dean tries to prove his might.

uploading....please return later on to check it out...

VIDEO 8 JC breaks a boy's charm just because she can, and then wraps him up in pink...hear the tale he has to tell to avoid being kidnapped and turned into a rock n roll stage slave.

uploading....please return later on to check it out...

VIDEO 9 Victory as the rock star kidnappers are tortured with shockingly out of tune instruments and left utterly confused. I flee whilst their ears melt. And away I go!

uploading...please return later on to check it out...

See below the ransom photo: FOLKS, I NEVER DID FIND OUT WHAT THE RANSOM WAS! Jeffro had a hard sharp object pointed in my lower back. I never did find out if that thang was loaded or not. He said to me while we took the photo, "Look happy, don't move, or else it'll be a double banger!"

Click the ransom photo to enlarge.

photo captions

1. the "look happy" photo by order of Jeffro . . .

2. i think about how to run, while the kidnappers decide what to do with me . . .

3. here I am making a MAD dash out the photo booth curtain . . .

4. then i'm yanked back and forced into a sing-along led by Jeffro Bo Dean crooning "I Am IRON MAN". . .

http://picasaweb.google.com/chromecowgirl/Sturgis08# - see a pictorial about STURGIS 2008!!!

Wide Open 'Til You See God Then Break.

I found a helmet sticker that reads: Wide Open 'Til You See God Then Break.

It applies to life in so many ways.

I like to live my life wide open which I do here on this blog. It's gotten me into trouble over the last few months. People don't like to hear the truth. They expect you to be quiet and say nothing. If you speak up, it's uncomfortable for others to take. So, they tune you out. They don't listen. And you feel unheard.

So you decide to contemplate aloud some things. Which is why writers are an unusual breed. We write what we feel, what we think. Some people love it; some do not like it at all.

Truth is knowing. That's all it is. Expressing oneself is about being bold. When you see something in writing it's vivid, alive, intense....undeniable. It can be read and re-read; it can be misinterpreted like anything can because we all live with colored filters over our eyes, our minds, our hearts. We live through the lense of judgement. We live through the lense of ego.

I do, so do you. I work to not live that way, to examine the way in which I live and breathe. But one thing for sure is. I like to speak up. If I hit a nerve, good or bad -- that's an opportunity for growth in you

and in me.

When will I break here on earth, while living wide open? I'll get my break when I die or when I need to take another direction in life.

Riding a motorcycle is about living wide open. I got nothing to hide. I wear my heart on my sleeve. And YOU?

Sure there are some things that are utterly personal, you don't share. They belong between YOU and GOD; and then there are things that belong outward....to be shared as lessons, longing, and contemplation.

Think about all those put to death for speaking, for thinking, for contemplating. Especially those that speak about injustices, or heartache, all those who communicate aloud for all the world to know....

Many have been silenced.

But the written word....is testimony. Oh you can burn the written word so it'll never exist again. But it did exist. Just like the words spoken.

We say things we didn't mean, or we say things in a manner which was communicated through a pain-body like the way Eckart Tolle will describes; we communicate things through a pivotal emotional point or while in a life transformation. We are a people. Human beings....being in life.

Compassion has gone out the window in many situations which leads to such disharmony. Compassion...to love, to be concerned, to understand, to take the time to go deeper. Are you too deep for shallow waters?

Shallow waters. This was a sermon I heard at Mt. Zion church in Nashville. My Poppi was way too deep for shallow waters. He was a man of little words. When he spoke, however, it was important and moving. Thought provoking. Oh we didn't see eye to eye on everything, no, of course not. But his words moved me. Poppi wasn't a bold speaker, he didn't have to be opinionated. He didn't much care what other people thought anyway, therefore, he didn't care to have the last word. To be right.

Deep waters is searching. Some of us, though, like to contemplate aloud. Like to share thoughts and be bold and vulnerable -- living wide open, 'till God says SHUT UP. Then you brake, and consider things.

But, maybe when it's time to BREAK...it means to take a break. Be quiet. Go into the shell of healing. Go into the shell of letting go. Go into the peace of mind zone. Go into the place where you abandon all you know and you say, go ahead God, do what you will with this wild child....this one who lives wide open, wondering and contemplating, and all for it gets into trouble for speaking aloud.

I enjoy sharing with you in my blog, but my friends, I've had some rough situations occur because of me being so forward herein. I want you to know. There are people that do not like when I speak aloud about things of injustice; about life experiences that are hurtful and thus I expose the healing journey of Sasha.

I can only say that, I'm living my life, and these are my experiences with my life. That's what Down the Road a Peace is about. Going down my road....albiet with PEACE in mind and heart; but things are not always PEACEFUL. Sometimes, it feels like PIECEFILLED. Or PIECEMEAL. And rather have it be PEACEMEAL.

I'm wondering aloud about my life and experiences here for all the world to read because I seek answers, I seek your stories and experiences to be shared with me.

Because I want to share with you. There's tremendous love out there. We're all connected. We're all one. I care about you so very much.

Sometimes, I've spoken up about things to particular people of subject, and have not been heard. So, I speak from the rooftop and then I'm heard.

Whispering does no good sometimes. There's no secrets, really. At the same time something is hidden it's revealed too. It exists because it happened.

I can't apologize for my blog. It is what it is. Just me speaking. Just my thoughts, and you don't have to care. If anything I've written offends you, or reveals something that you've been involved with that wasn't particularily agreeable with me, or you have an entirely different opinion of it, well, I can have my opinion of it, too. After all, it is my opinion and you can just tune me out.

So, why do I have to post certain things in my blog?

Because I want to. Sure there are issues that are confidential and I find it a wonderful beauty that folks have taken me into confidence to discuss their lives. It's an honor to keep those words and thoughts between you, me and GOD. Because that is where it belongs. It doesn't get posted here and never will. But there are some things that are my own personal experiences with living my life that I post here that directly affect my wellbeing. And I contemplate aloud about it...because I want to and maybe because I need to...

Yes, there are the things that I want to contemplate outloud. Wonder about. Those things I've touched upon here, well, right now many of those things have to do with losing my father to Leukemia. This tragedy has totally altered my life right now. It's only been four weeks. In those four weeks I can count on my one hand how many times I bawled about it. I should have used up all my fingers and toes about a dozen times over counting. I should have lost count by now. But, the enormity of this reality is so overwhelming, so frightening to me, that I cannot go there. I cannot think him too much. I can't look at his photos too much. I'll collapse in grief and be a total hermit for months. I know this about me. So, I am aggresively fighting the grieving process. Without my Poppi, my colorful crayon world feels like it has melted into a puddle of hard wax, and I'm left with charcol to draw my world. This is my spiritual journey at maximum overdrive. I need to go for grief counseling now. In fact, I should make that call today.

With regards to the artists of the world. Well, the victim thing happens all the time to artists and this is something I feel strongly about, so I therefore write about it from time to time. I want to help other artists feel strong and powerful. I've been through all the phases of being an artist. It hasn't been pretty. And at other times it's been the greatest high ever.

Most artists have tragic stories to tell because their passions run deep; their passions to create incredible works of art is how they breathe. We live so painfully wide open in life because we are creators of works of arts that move YOU. Your soul is inspired and understood through art. So, us artists have to have thick skin to heal from the bruises of being kicked as puppies by big corporate dogs who lord over our art taking enormous percentages of our income, for the bittersweet opportunity of getting our art heard and respected. We put up with so much that most people know nothing about. And we don't want you to know most times because we want you to enjoy our art work and not get tangled in the bully web that we had to endure to get our work out to the world.

Talk about warrior souls, sit with an artist from any discipline of art and listen to their stories. Especially the stories of the artist with no family support whatsoever who have had to painfully carve an existence out of nothing at such young ages and under insanely challenging emotional circumstances. And that my friend, is the subject of some of the most moving pieces of art in all disciplines the world over... The artist can find the beauty in the pain.

At the same time, I've written about very enlightening topics, very inspiring and moving words I have shared with you here. How in the world do I know these things and can communicate them in a way that receives extraordinary response to a particular blog? It's the higher self. These words come from a higher power and so I share them....like in a writing trance. At the same time, I'm moved to share the human experiences and how I might be struggling with dealing with something as a human, from the spiritual perspective, because I'm not entirely aligned with the super higher self -- so therefore, I'm at a loss, say, and lack wisdom, so I wonder aloud to receive the pretty grace of being filled up by receiving the insight from YOU who may be an angel in disguise. Oh, the fragility of the human experience can surely, no doubt, shadow the lovely divine presence at times.

The last two months, I have been extremely fragile.

And that is how we learn. That is how we love, by moving through things. I move through things on this blog. I expose my vulnerability as merely a little spirit having this human experience.

Sometimes I get it right; sometimes I don't in the eyes of the world and their limited perspectives.

My motive is certainly not to offend anyone...but simply to share my human feelings, my thoughts...and any divine movement in my life. And pray, that I can also share a perfect balance of body, mind and soul in total perfect alignment with all things divine.

But, you know what?

Like YOU. . .

I sometimes just don't get it right, according to being more spiritual, more intellectual, mo' better than the lower registers of existence.

And so, like YOU. . .

I try again.

And again.

So, my moment right now, because, of course, the goal is to totally live in the moment and not in the past or in the future....but in the perfection of just being in the moment -- therefore, my moment right now is to tell you all that: I hear you. And I want to hear from you. I want to know you about you. I care about your voice and your thoughts and how you live. You're awesome. Every single one of you. We are all ONE. And you are Precious. See me as Precious and a child of GOD who wonders, too.

You can be wide open with me. Maybe you will see God. And take a break in life, thereby changing direction or rejuvenating and moving forward again.

I see God in you, and therefore I break so that I can be perfectly still with YOU.

With love and sympathy, in symphony with all that is living.

HURRAY FOR THE NAYSAYERS!

Among the people she thanked were naysayers: “The ones that said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn’t sing, that I was a one-hit wonder,” she said. “They pushed me to be better, and I am grateful for their resistance.”

This is an excerpt from Madonna's acceptance speech at The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame reception at the Waldorf Astoria. It struck a chord in me, a Bsus chord, one of those sparking chords, and B for B yourself. Suspended as in (hang freely or to hang so as to allow free movement).

Welcome the naysayers in their ignorance of an individual's talent. They can't possibly know the depths of anyone's desires or talents if their hearts are not even open to their own! The naysayers do not let talent hang freely to allow free movement. They think of suspend as to halt something, and even then, those talented ones with the passion in their hearts will love the suspense, and pursue their passionwork with even more dedication than ever before.

Because they OWN it. They own their talent. They enjoy the unfathomable depths of their creativity because it is directly from the source of the ONE great creator. And the only way to experience the ONE great Creator is in the moment of truth. The present second in which we live. The feeding tube of talent is an open heart. When the heart is open full bloom, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the naysayers spat, the heart is fully open to the solar energy of the Creator. In my situation, the divine Miracle Grow for my bloom is of the Creator -- Mother/Father and my brother Jesus and sister Mary. My HOLY family who I treasure and adore. I flourish in that Garden.

Naysayers will always be in our lives because they are all around us. They visit our enthusiasm like scary monsters in a pretty dream. But let us be valiant and stand up to them with our slingshot of sparkling talent. Be our selves. Bsus chord. Play the B chord and then play a Bsus chord it is lovely, it is a step further. Take the lovely step further.

Here's a Tea Thought for the day, click to enlarge:

xo S

Here's another thought:

The forces of mediocrity, by Seth Godin http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
Maybe it should be, "the forces for mediocrity"... There's a myth that all you need to do is outline your vision and prove it's right—then, quite suddenly, people will line up and support you.

In fact, the opposite is true. Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance. And when you start to make progress, your efforts are met with even more resistance. Products, services, career paths... whatever it is, the forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until it's over. If it were any other way, it would be easy. And if it were any other way, everyone would do it and your work would ultimately be devalued. The yin and yang are clear: without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it's unlikely it would be worth the journey. Persist.

I've Got The Music In Me.

Bound and determined. Is that what it takes? I've got an itch I need to scratch. It's musical. It's a need to get my songs and motoroadeoMC magic out to the world. I'm on a mission. It feels really good. I'm filled with inspiration. Filled with this vision. I've got the music in me...

There is power in faith. I'm faithfilled. Just doing and enjoying each moment of doing...of the process. I used to get frustrated and sometimes cry about my dreams seeming so difficult to achieve. But not any more. Because I enjoy the process, now. The art of doing. The art of being fully in the moment and engaging myself in the activity of now. Right now.

Right now, I'm communicating to the world. What motorvates me to do this? Because I just love so much that I want to share my existence. I want to know about your existence. You inspire me to create. I inspire myself to create. The act of living is inspirational. I like to share things I learn and I like to learn. I can only do that by making myself known to you. And likewise, you known to me.

I've got the music in me. Some interesting rhythm, I'll tell you. I do hear a song in everybody. It's been said that every person is a storybook. I say every person is a song, many songs, many melodies.

I want to share my songs with you. My melodies. Tonight I'm mixing...rough mixes. Preparing and grooming my music to be sent to a professional mix engineer, who is the finest mixer in the world out of NYC. He rides motorcycles, too.

Ziggy, my new guitar, and I are totally into one another. I've composed something with Patrick that is just so pretty, very Beatles sounding meets, me. I don't know what it will be yet. I love the chord changes. I've been studying the Eagles' music. There some dang gorgeous chord changes. I've realized that music which is truly pouring forth from the soul in its purest and truthful form will move other souls. It reaches the core in its truth. The type of melodies that the Eagles write, is like choregraphed physical movement, though it makes your spirit dance and moves you on a journey...that's where your mind is able to connect, because first your soul is swept away by the music, then your mind is able to fall into a place of awareness. Embracing and engaging your whole being with the sound that becomes a taste that becomes a scent that becomes something you sware you can touch -- while your mind paints pictures to see.

I've got the music in me. Like you do, too. The key right now is getting the music completed and into the world for all to enjoy and feel inspired.

I encourage you all to pursue your deep dreams that are in you, yearning to come forth.

With love and artistic passion,
your friend,
Sasha

WHERE IS SASHA!

Hello my dears.

I've gotten your e-mails asking Where is Sasha! since it's been quite awhile since I have written in my blog.

Well, as it is, right now I'm trying to finish up my book The Chrome Cowgirl Guide to the Motorcycle Life which is a fun, kitchy little read, sure to delight and fit in your back pocket to be taken along for the ride of your life...

Also, I have accepted my Chrome Cowboy's hand in marriage and so am planning a nifty elopement which has now turned into a backyard southern style gathering for this spring. Complete with a pig roaster and all the BBQ you'd want to feed upon. So, that just came up a few days ago. Quick switch from the fancy fairytale elopement in LaJolla to a backyard hoot and hollerin' honky tonk, tent city, BBQ in my new backyard on the Cumberland River.

Oh, and my husband to be bought us a new house. Not just a house...a freakin' PAD my friends. It is on the river...a total hippie house on the river. The folks that owned it before were loving and amazing with divine energy and angel attraction for sure. They have infused so much love and serenity on this property. There is a Japanese meditation garden and stone steps leading right into the drink. This is a dream, ya'll. I knew I could always live in my Vantastic down by the river, but now I don't have to....I can live in a real house down ON the river.

Two of my songs have been requested by the ever laudable Smithsonian Institute's new Smithsonian Channel documentary, "Sturgis" which will debut sometime next year. You can go to my Patrick's myspace and dig on the two songs that were mixed and mastered (and they are still not all the way done, but I got 'em as done as done for this awesome opportunity) www.myspace.com/patlassiter - listen to the songs here!

What else? Um, my darling best wind sister friend Betsy Huelskamp will be co-starring in the controversial Beyond Everest Discovery Channel mini epic adventure debuting on 10/30 -- 12/18 -- so go to the Discovery Channel website for listings. She's a tremendous inspiration and character for sure...quite beloved by many. Photos to come. http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/everestbeyond/everestbeyond.html
Betsy and I will be revving throttle next week together in Los Angeles...so dig that!

Also, my book The Chrome Cowgirl Guide to the Motorcycle Life with Motorbooks International will be completed in a few weeks....it's awesome. My editor sent me some book covers that are just knock outs. What a tough assignment, you know why? Because I struggled to complete this project...and it was due to the many changes in my life...sort of like, the book was evolving as I was evolving and now it is such a God inspired, powerhouse little presentation. I started out with it being something other than what it is and now it has taken on a life of it's own. And that's bound to happen when you compose and let the creative spirit take you over...it just grows and evolves. It's set to arrive on book shelves in Spring 2008. I adore my editor because he is a beautiful soul. He understands the divine movement of creativity....or else he just tolerates this quirky little artist!

There are lots of other projects that I just can't wait to get to. I have a couple more books in me, that are eager to find a home: a fiction book and a children's book. And there are alot more after that.....

Let me close this and get back to it, my precious friends and readers. I need to pay attention, focus, focus, focus on my task at hand....writing my book...

U R loved by me!
Sasha

STURGIS...THE JOURNEY.

On the road to Sturgis...this is a dream. To reunite with my friends and "family" those who I totally adore... Do you know I forgot to take photos, too? Because I was so immersed into the moment of being with my beloved friends on the road that I didn't think about preserving the memory with a camera....my heart was enraptured and captured the moment.

I took a handful of photos on this journey....certainly for my new book. This one will be one of the photos indeed. Note how this bungee queen is able to carry all of her treasures on the ass end of Tigerlily my little chopped out Sportster.

Do you know that I learned so much while on the road...this trip was unique because I focused on the Spiritual elements of the journey...very much so and there's more spiritual moments to be had as I'm planning another journey to support this book. As I rode along I realized just how fragile I am...how little as I struggle to climb the mountain of my dreams... How no one has the power to remove from me opportunity, except myself. I can calmly and softly create opportunity. Calmy and softly respond to opportunity, but if the receiver of the project energy cannot be soft and calm and in a receiving mode....then opportunity can be altered... that is why we must be ever mindful of our actions. So as not to CRUSH someone elses' dreams, but RATHER to encourage...softly encourage and gently nourish dreams for others.

As I rode along in the terrible heat index on my way home from Sturgis, I realized that I have boundaries...the heat of hell is a boundary for me. I do not want to suffer from triple digit heat index, so I must know when to stop. When to rest on a journey when the heat is too much.... the heat was so dangerous this trip. I didn't realize how much it affected me. I had to stop and shake off the willies...I was feeling sleepy and couldn't breathe while I rode! How crazy is that.

Riding is a life or death situation, but so is living... You either live while living or die while living. My meanderings proved this. While I twisted the throttle and witnessed the asphalt rush beneath me at 75 MPH, I thought about the speed of life...how it carries me. There were times when I purposefully rode at no more than 60 MPH even when the speed limit was much faster. I did this because it was important for me to immerse myself every so clearly in the moment of riding and absorb my surroundings...the prairies, the Black Hills, the serenity....

I realized that God spoke so much more clearly to me when I took my time. It wasn't all a blur...

There is much more to this journey...but it will be available in my new book Chrome Cowgirl.

Love and kisses...

Sasha

A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney for having no good ideas

I find this info super encouraging as you and I achieve our most desireable goals:

Did you know that:
· Einstein’s teachers told his parents he would never amount to anything.
· Thomas Edison went broke four times.
· Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
· A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney for having no good ideas.
· Steven Spielberg was put into a class for students with learning disabilities.
· Colonel Sanders talked to 1005 people before he could find one person willing to try his recipe.

What’s inspiring to me about these highly successful people isn’t just their eventual accomplishments. It’s how they were able to overcome their early failures and go on to achieve greatness.

How did they succeed where so many others fail? Because they each had a grand and sincere vision of what they wanted to accomplish. With a grand vision, there are no such things as permanent failures. There are only temporary setbacks. *

So, friends, hang in there and never give up. Last night, oh, I was a weepy girl....feeling blue about the struggles of juggling all this magical career stuff and making dreams come true...but I believe God blessed me with this sweet info today...so I'm passing it along to you because you know that I love you all and care so much about your well being and your own dreams coming true, too. Be true to self. Own your life.

Read this my dears: http://www.topachievement.com/persevere.html

Love, Sasha
*I found the above information at: http://searchwarp.com/swa141107.htm

THE REAL WORLD!

Mother Earth is crying...

The Real World is cradled in her palm...she is the FEMININE FACE OF GOD. [click on the artwork to enlarge it!]

She gazes upon her little World with all Her children inhabiting the Globe and wonders why can't they understand that THEY ARE ALL RELATED?

Why can't they help one another, as I have encouraged them to do so? Why do they IGNORE the cries, why do they silence the laughter? Why do they DO NOTHING when a whole lotta something needs to happen? And how can they think that all their failures have to do with me? And that all their successes have nothing to do with me -- that they have achieved everything they possess and all their accomplishments without the gifts of achievement, intellect, resources -- and so on...without an instant of my DIVINE GUIDANCE? This is what our GREAT MOTHER EARTH ponders.

Most important, why can't they take care of the GARDEN Earth that I have provided for my children to play, and dwell, and experience their physical lives?

The little earth spinning so fragile in space is simply linked by a single thread of gravity at the axis. What can I do? -- Mother Earth thinks out loud as tears pool around the moon of her right EYE. The SUN carries hope in the passion fire leaping off its surface...her watchful left eye that warms the globe.

Mother Earth wants every individual on Her Globe, Her Real World, to greet the SOUL of another, never mind just receiving the name, a hand shake, offering a simple "hello."

No, she asks that when we communicate whether with a family member, co-worker, acquaintence, or a stranger -- we need to greet their soul as an initial communication....because that is where the TRUTH RESIDES.

If we gather in the TRUTH as all times, the idea of activity follows next.

Let that activity be an action of love, no matter what.

She is highly estatic at the activities of her children who so care and so love one another and the Garden EARTH....our little home spinning in the Universe. But that is not enough. WE ALL NEED TO LOVE AND CARE FOR OUR EXISTENCE, OUR EARTH, ONE ANOTHER. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.

Because, that simple little thread of gravity that keeps the Globe ever spinning - is the AXIS OF LOVE.

This, my friends, is truly THE REAL WORLD.

Love and happy day,

Sasha xo

Note: artwork is mixed media with jewels on gessoboard, by Sasha.

A Special Day to Thoroughly Remember. . .

Today they got up early. To get ready to be remembered and to remember.

But the average middle-school kid polled said that Memorial Day is the day when the pool opens and school closes. It's for shopping. Big sales, you know. It's for welcoming summer.

When folks say to me have a Happy Holiday. A Happy Holiday? I think. For Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is sad. It is hard reality. Cold truth. Tears for loved ones who gave themselves for this country. It is somber. It's about fighting and struggle.

Please review this photo journey:

http://picasaweb.google.com/chromecowgirl/MemorialDay

Then click on "slide show" - it's best to see it that way if you wish.

"Do non Veterans recognize the significance of Memorial Day?" This rhetorical question was pondered during a service today that I heard on NPR. "It is our job to keep it in their attention span."

I went to a service here in Nashville. It was poorly attended. Though there was quite a number of folks there before I arrived, still, it was poorly attended. There were a sea of seniors, with tears in their eyes. There were families. Some camped out at the gravestone of their soldier. It is another world to be at the veterans cemetary.

If this is a Holiday, then it should be observed the way Easter or Christmas is savored. There are no big stores open on that day. Just as Jesus was born and died and we remember, let us remember who gave their lives so that we can have life.

A note to me from my Aunt Olive, New Yorker born and bred:

Thanks for the great pictures. It isn't often you see WAVES any more. Like the men, we are losing many of the best ones. I was sad on Memorial Day because I could hear the taps and the guns from my house. I love the parades. We used to watch the parades from our window in Brooklyn. They were big stuff in those days. Now it seems like it is a dying art. Sometimes the Veterans bring tears to my eyes. They gave up a lot. Some were only teenagers when they left home. I was stationed at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland and saw many wounded sailors and marines. Their spirits were always great. No matter what they always had a kind word. I sometimes wonder where they are today. Oh well, just reminiscing!!!! Hope all is well, Love Aunt Olive

God bless you, treasured souls who have passed and served this country. God bless you, treasured souls who have served and are serving now. U R LOVED.

Thank you so much for giving and sacrificing...

To my Rolling Thunder friends, I missed you this year. Bravo on a successful record attendance for the 20th annual.

-Sasha

Marriage.

Okay.

A Southern Man asks a Northern Chick to marry him. Be with him FOREVER. He's a gentle giant....loving dude. Just loves me for me. Doesn't want to change me in fact encourages me to be even more of myself than I even knew that I was. The dude loves New York City. But he has to live here in Nashville, for his job, his job as a professional, touring musician. He's on the road all the time! So a great deal of the time I'm pretty much alone working on my art projects and so on. That's when I get wrapped up in my thoughts and wondering where I ought to be in life...you know. But he's a pretty strong draw and a safe haven...all that love he blesses me with is so DIVINE. This freespirit is such a freebird. And he wants me that way. Has no desire to change me....encourages me to fly and experience life full throttle. "Jest call home, baby," he'll say in his South Carolina drawl.

I've NEVER been married. Neither has he.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

He's an amazing person. Very loving, kind, social, extremely talented -- a good ol' boy. His friends are also really great. He's a care giver in the most charming sense of the world. He's everybody's rock.... loves to love and be friendly.

Dude loves me so much that he just stares at me with a big smile and tells me how pretty I am. All the time. How smart I am. He encourages me to be high voltage, high octane silly and pure as a Sasha belle can be ... Pure in the sense of : the truest form of little ol' me. And he's brought out some nice flowers in the garden of this Eve. Flowers I didn't know I could be.

The other night, I was all wound up -- going at 200 miles per hour. I was all emotional about missing my family, friends and home. Well, that man just swept me up in his arms and feather lightly placed me in his arms and just caressed me and stroked my hair and my face. Well, I was OUT like a light. His touch is like a DRUG, people. He would say sweet things to me while he was lovin' me up like that. I felt like a tiny faerie in his arms because he's such a big guy. His voice is all soft and deep and completely healing.

I think he's an angel. Truly. An angel in disguise. He let's God use him all the time for things. And you know what, he's rarely ever been to church. Doesn't know a lick of the bible. But he's more Christian than many Christians I know. He loves Jesus very much, even though he doesn't intellectually know much about the Son. He knows the Son, believe me.

So, this idea of marriage is a big one. That would mean that I would have to live in Nashville, though, he's thinking of buying an apartment in the outer banks of Brooklyn together someday, which would be awesome...out in the hood somewhere. I'd live out in the hood for sure. Near the water...oh yeah. I'm make it work. It may not be Manhattan, but, folks, to be near my beloved amazing family and super friends up North, in addition to being a Southern chick, okay...that sounds peachy. Plus my man would be able to take those stellar musical skills and jam with my many jazz and rock music friends in NYC.

So, once again, I consider, "Who Said A City Girl Can't Be Country?" especially when she has a gentle giant music and motorcycle chrome charming, as her southern rock.

And, quite frankly, I don't need any other rock...but my southern rock.

Sometimes, you can't go home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/nyregion/10rent.html?em&ex=1178942400&en=54d190f9afd3696c&ei=5087%0A
Oh, NY is for the rich only. : ( all of us artist's are being pushed out! It's soooooooooo SAD. We love NYC so much. Even Brooklyn, Queens is becoming too expensive for US! The BRONX is the only reasonable $ place left? Sigh.

and read this latest article from Crain's NY
http://www.crainsny.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070514/FREE/70514009/1059
Tell, me, why every rich person in the world is buying up all the apartments and renting them for insane $$$$$$$????? So now the most amazing city in the world is ONLY for the wealthy who USE our gorgeous, bohemian town as a place to invest and shop. While we artists and natives LIVE and BREATHE NYC....it's in our blood. It's our pulse. These people...those with the money to buy up our little Manhattan ISLAND. . . .don't even know what it's like to ride a subway or a bus. To be ONE with the beat and the rhythm of this tiny little piece of land that is the most important influence to us native artists there.... We're being driven out!!!!

We CAN'T go home!

Being away from my hometown, is being away from my family. My mother, my father, my sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, and life long friends. It's being away from all I know and love.

Maybe I chose a way that is, well, too hard? What the heck. I don't know. I'm so confused sometimes.

My hometown is New York. My hometown all of my adult life has been New York City. My mother comes from Long Island. My father is from Queens. My Grandmothers are from Brooklyn. Oh we bounced around alot, just outside of New York; my dad moving whereever he could find work in the early days.

New York...the boroughs....New York the lifestyle. These are my roots.

Since losing my NYC apartment to circumstances bitterly beyond my control, it has been a struggle on a daily basis to accept my life in Nashville.

I had to leave behind sentimental furniture in New York because I couldn't afford to move it. I could barely afford the gas to go and get my things. It was an emotional hell, I tell you. I left New York with an ol' 82 dodge cargo van peeing oil, and she decided to overheat and stop rush hour traffic, at, yeah, you got it, the Lincoln Tunnel. Lucky for Port Authority, they guided me to get me out of the way of the Tunnel's mouth leading to New Jersey. There I was, at their rescue garage, near broke, all my shit packed up in this ol' van...having coffee with the rescuers, thinking.... okay, I've got to be strong and get through this....

That was last year. Last May. It's been a year since. And it doesn't get any easier. Even though it will...I have to have faith about it. I lost my tiny apartment on 82nd Street, while I was living temporarily in Nashville, working on a music project and just taking a break in the south.

Yep. I want to go home. I want to be at home in New York City. My mother earth. But I cannot go home. Read the article above. And you'll know why. It's so painful. It's a knot in the stomach. I miss summertime at the Jersey shore and out in the surf of Long Island.

Oh, don't tell me about it's meant to be. If everything operated on the "meant to be" trip, then we'd have no freewill, no choice -- and things wouldn't occur just on circumstance. Meant to be is reserved for those who truly surrender their will to GOD. To the FATHER.

If you surrender your will, and say, Lord, only thy will be done...then things are, meant to be. Your will entirely becomes the will of the Lord.

But it doesn't save you from the trials and tribulations of life. No, it helps you to cope with them.

Is it the Father's will that I'm here. In Nashville? Maybe. I'm renting a fantastic cottage. It's spectacular. Though I can't afford to pay my gas bill from this past winter.

I have a hard time coping with the loss of my New York City apartment. Yeah, I shed tears about losing my home....that was only about 400 square feet in size anyway. But, it was my home...nestled in a city that was mother earth to me.

But now I have to find a new home, maybe? And new roots. Could it be Nashville. Folks, I don't know. I don't know if I fit in here. I'm too artsy fartsy...

Nashville and New York City. Can it go together? Well, according to the CMA it could with the CMA Awards going to NYC two years ago for Country Takes Manhattan. But they didn't care about us country musicians who actually live in Manhattan....we were left out of everything, except the mayor's office invited a few of us citybillies to his mansion for a CMA shindig he was hosting. cool....but I was here in Nashville at the moment...working on a music project.

Well, me being here is: Manhattan takes Country. And I'm called a Yankee anyway. I feel like I'm in a meadow, alone. Just me and my art, and Miss Gypz Jingles, my cat....and Tigerlily, my motorcycle. Miss Tigerlily had to surrender her beautiful NYC license plates two weeks ago. Sigh.

Who Said A City Girl Can't Be Country? - Well, who cares?

I just want to go home and have a delicious Katz knish with spicy mustard, and a plate of crispy french fries. I want to go see my friends play at 55 Bar, Hank's, at SouthPaw, at Pete's back room, at the Baggot Inn.

I want to curl up in my dad's lap and watch the news. I want to annoy my mother with my silly antics that make her laugh anyway. I want to have a Starbucks with my big sister, Donna, and race around the Hamptons in her corvette that her awesome husband bought her for her birthday. I want to play cowboy and Indians with my nieces and nephews. I want to get ridiculously silly with my two sisters and brother Linda, Lou, Brian....and laugh, laugh, laugh.

This weekend is my nieces communion. In Yorktown Heights.

I won't be there. Fu*k.

I want to go home. But I can no longer afford home. And I don't know where else to go.

So I stay in my home in Nashville and do my artwork. I hoola hoop in my yard. I bartend at a local bar in Antioch. I pick up odds and ends work whereever I can, while I do my art. I'm in the land of $8 - $10 an hour.... $20 below what I made in NYC. And they say it's because it's cheaper to live in the south, that's why.

Bullshit. Gas is still nearly $3.50. Food costs just about the same. So does utilities. The only difference is rent. And, let's see, last time I checked you're still talking about somewhere between $700 - $900 for a decent place to live here in the South. In NYC, it's far more money now....but still. Who can make ends meet on $8 or $10 per hour? Anywhere!

That's why our economy is in such trouble with this false reading that it's flourishing. IT'S BECAUSE OF CREDIT CARD PURCHASES. I don't know one person, outside of the socialites and celebrities, who can live on their income. NOT ONE. Most people have credit cards, or have inherited money, or something like that.

But, here I sit trying to figure it all out. Where the hell on earth do I belong? Nashville is okay....but I NEED friends and family. I've got to get out and make friends...but WHERE? Sitting at a bar? Gosh....no I need to figure out the art community here....burst onto the scene somewhere and find some cool people to hang out with.....

Oh, how I miss my little piece of earth in NYC. The little piece of earth that I hung onto for years....the humble one room that I rented for $975 per month...so tiny and incredibly modest. It's gone...long gone...now being rented for over double that. God, what to do?

Dig into Nashville, perhaps...yes...okay! ? It's a sweet little town. I can get used to it....but,

I want to go home. But can no longer afford home. But that's where the decent jobs are that I can secure that support my art. The jobs where you don't have to have a degree. It's all about experience. Now the ratio of income to rent price is so off kilter. People are living in their offices, folks. Or you've got a one bedroom shared by four or five people....just to engage in a job that is the ticket to a strong career? Oh my goodness....is there any government person that cares what's happening to our world? When one can't go home.

I don't know where to go. I don't know what the f*ck to do.

CHOOSING THE HARD WAY.

Most people do not choose to go the hard way.

The challenging way.

The way where there is no definitions.

The path where the outcome is so blizzard over and one cannot see beyond the bend. Or else it's empty with seemingly no direction, except the inner divine compass that's often times so hard to read and accept, but yet the most resourceful tool. Maybe there is fog...as in foggy notion if the desired result will be achieved. There is nothing sure about the path. The only thing that is sure is the path leads to a summit, a goal, a rainbow's end maybe. Something desire is at the end of the path, that branches off to a new found perspective, once all the challenges have been overcome, once one has been pushed to the limit. Once one has burst through their life experience boundaries and accepted that there is much more than meets the eye, and the unaware mind.

The climbers on Everest right now so deeply inspire me. The soldiers in Iraq so deeply make me wonder. The plight of genocide now assaulting African communities is deeply troubling.

Let me talk about the Everest climbers, of which within the Himex climbing expedition there is my very dearest wind sister, Betsy Huelskamp. She is climbing Mt. Everest. But, I'd like to discuss the PEAK. The SUMMIT. THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN that seems so near impossible to attain. It puts the human spirit, mind, and body to an extreme test of will, of faith, of power. Pushing past limits. Climbing is an extraordinary of activity because the most demand is placed on the body first. Then the mind. Then the spirit. Because the spirit can achieve many things, beyond what the mind and body are capable. Because the mind will place insane limitations...the mind, the filtering system of earthly existence. The mind that makes choices that governs activity.

If we attempt goals that we know will be ridiculously difficult, but the will we have inside and the confidence that we possess suggests that we have a fair percentage of achieving the desired summit, what a beautiful way in which to test are abilities and fully live life. So many of us have bottled our extremely precious energy and reserve it for nothing.... It is dormant. We do not allow ourselves to think beyond our own psychological limitations based upon our experiences...whatever they maybe....based upon the good, bad and ugly there are definitions of what we can and cannot do, without even trying we decide and make the choice to close a chapter of our lives that begs to be explored. To close the door of opportunity or slam shut the window of possibilities, because there is a degree of discomfort so we'd rather seal ourselves up in the fake comfort zone. Like rolling the windows up and blasting the aircondition so that NO real clammy, hot, discomfort can reach us; or we blast the heat in our sealed container, so that NO nasty COLD can make us shiver -- and experience deeply the sensation of a chill.

The climbers are fully exposed to the grueling climb to achieve their dream to summit the mountain. How can we fully expose ourselves to gruely climb and achieve our own dreams which nag us on a daily basis....to summit...to narrowly edge along a slim traverse, to hoist ourselves up the ropes of that cliff and climb, climb, climb! Whether we make that summit all the way to the tip - top, or not....it is the attempt and where will that lead us? What other path or summit awaits us near or at the top?

The soldiers in Iraq who are engaged in battle. Who are laying down their lives. Who are not sure of the outcome and cannot see the destination at all. It is a gigantic mystery. But they are serving, selflessly. They are sacrificing so much. They chose this path of service. To defend. To protect. To be like Archangel Michael. There is no guarantee. You skirt death. If you can. You greet each day with the angst of the mission. But you march on. You wonder what the day holds. You wonder about many things back home where it is comfortable and secure, but now you are locked into the mission. There is no time for self. Only service. The is choosing the hard way. Especially when death and mystery surround you.

Death and mystery make me wonder. We know that we die and depart the earth. It is a mystery. It is a path. And we think we can choose the easy way out of this. There is no easy way out. The mystery is in the living. Well, and as best as one can. And in service. I believe that service should be incorporated into daily living. Some kind of service. In our jobs, no matter what we do for a living, we are servicing someone of something and we should do so to the absolute pure degree of perfection. Of pushing ourselves past the limits of mediocrity and be as the highest skilled craftsman who take enormous pride in their work. We need to take our activity in life and execute it to the degree of perfect beauty...to the absolute purest ability to do so. We can because we have the freedom to choose and do so. We can choose the way in which we live based upon our physical and mindful ability to do so. And I say the very absolute purity of our physical and mindful ability. If we are born with a challenging physical disability, we find the purest ability within it so thus there is no dis-ability, but pure ability within the uncontrollable disability. For example, the great scientist, Professor Stephen Hawking, has Motor Neurone Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. But this does not stop the great Professor http://www.hawking.org.uk/ - his mind and spirit explodes into the greatest absolute purity to overcome his physical limitations. The challenge is beyond comprehension as he painstakingly sits in his wheelchair and composes books, with an assistant, who must read his facial expressions in order to understand just what word he intends to "write" while composing a volume of scientific findings and theories via a special computer program with pull down word choice menus. Professor "speaks" at 15 words per minute through a synthesizer. This is choosing the best possible way in which to live, which is far difficult than our lives.

So how do we choose our lives? Many opt to place unnecessary challenges that are illusions.

The plight of Darfur, however, is not an illusion. www.savedarfur.org - this is absolute hard way imposed upon a population. This from their website:

Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years.
At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians
have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in
Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men,
women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival.
Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated
campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.

Since early 2003, Sudanese armed forces and Sudanese government-backed
militia known as “Janjaweed” have been fighting two rebel groups in Darfur, the
Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM). The stated political aim of the rebels has been to compel the
government of Sudan to address underdevelopment and the political
marginalization of the region. In response, the Sudanese government’s
regular armed forces and the Janjaweed – largely composed of fighters of nomadic
background – have targeted civilian populations and ethnic groups from which the
rebels primarily draw their support – the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa (notes about
our use of ethnic terminology).

These are people climbing a mountain of faith and hope to get to summit where they will find they way to peace and community; to free will and the safety of their heritage before the violence. These are a people who have been robbed of their ability to experience life and live fully and wonderfully. The horrific experiences that they must survive on a daily basis is beyond out comprehension. This is a vastly different definition of what it means to choose the hard way. Because, these dear people, they have NO choice to live. The don't even have a choice to escape this genocide.

When you hear about these terrible episodes around the globe, remember, people, to step out of your comfort zone and pursue those goals that seem impossible, and expand your horizons because these precious and incredibly innocent civilians of Darfur cannot. . . Though it may seem like a mountain to climb, choose to serve in some way, those who are so less fortunate due to circumstances beyond their control.

So, with this my dear friends I say choose the hard way which helps you to expand and grow and reach beyond your limitations, beyond your comprehension, the path whereby the resistence is simply overcoming your fears, inhibitions, and conquering self-doubt, hurdling over the moments when you feel like you cannot forge onward because your legs are tired from climbing, your arms are tired of trying to embrace the wall you wish to scale.

To reach a goal in life is not easy. And anybody or anything that tells you that life is easy, is not explaining something well. You see, what we gather along for the journey, such as the ropes to help us climb, the experience to scale a larger mountain, the basic training in order to serve, etc., are the skills that assist us to achieve our goals set forth.

Don't let life pass you by because you want everything comfortable and easy. Step out, climb the wall, serve, and be sure to realize that we are all one. We need to be the best we can be in this life so that our contributions can be used to better this world, can inspire, encourage, and give breath to purpose.

Peace.
-Sasha

Hang In There My Friends - NEW SONG.

Hang In There My Friends - NEW SONG.

New song written, recorded by Patrick Lassiter and ME, Sasha. And God. It was Jesus speaking to me on Easter Sunday. The link is at the end of this blog.

I'm convinced the song was delivered to me because I was feelin' blue...heavy in soul. I missed my friends and family in NYC. My daddy's been ill with this mylodysplastic bullshit disease and I just wanted to be with my daddy and mommy. Yeah, my daddy and mommy and hunt for Easter Eggs with the lil' nephews. My sister and her boys went to visit the folks. I wanted to be there so badly. But circumstances didn't allow for the 20 hour journey north.

I dragged myself to a church on West End Avenue here in Nashville. I so longed for my Central Baptist Church on 92nd Street in Manhattan. But I visited this Catholic big house. Couldn't see a thing. Standing room only in a jammed foyer. I figured, wow, so many folks come for a bit of gospel. Well, that makes for a loving world if only for a little while.

I propped myself up against the wall and heaved a heavy sigh. I sighed about missing my home, my family and friends. I sighed about alot of things. But I signed to, as a , whew, thank GOD I'm alive and Jesus is raised. I hung around the church for awhile, had the communion and said my grace while walking around in the street.

I didn't want to wait for the grand blessing that would end the service. I thought I'd just....well...talk to Jesus as my own grand blessing.

Oh, I whispered, Jesus, I'm sad. I ache for my friends and family. What am I doing? Should I stay in Nashville? I'm working hard to make all my dreams come true and I'm standing in the zone of dreams come true. Right there! But it's been so much sacrifice. It was times like these, the holidays, the gathering moments with long beloved friends and family NOT THERE, that makes the heart ache. The soul feel heavy.

So, the small still voice spoke: Hang In There My Friend. And then the song was born. Out of my gut. Out of my heart. 'Cause I was out of my mind with the hard core effort of striving to make a living as an artist. That limbo stage where ALL this amazing stuff is just about to happen in my life...but I'm hundred yards or so from the summit of the mountain top. The air is thin. And I ain't givin' in, givin' up, or givin' out....and it could be sooo easy to do.

The inspiration came on fast, and strong. I wrote that song in 15 minutes. Pat and I recorded it that Easter afternoon. There was no family's house to attend for the holidays. So, we held a jam session. Hang In There. It's a work in progress.... and I want the whole world to hear it because, it's presented with sheer Hang In There passion and I hope it becomes a blessing a true blessing that will help many folks to Hang In There....because I care as a fellow human being who's been there.

Hang in There. That's what Michael Parks tells the dude in the "cage" on Then Came Bronson when he rolls up to the stop light on his coolio Sportster.

So, Jesus told me to Hang In There. I imagine he would roll up on a shovelhead lowrider with a beanie cap on that says something like "Lifeguard" you know.

He's the ultimate Lifeguard....Hang Ten and Hang In....friends. Keep your dreams alive. Persistence is key. Never give up....

Check out the new tune on Pat's myspace: www.myspace.com/patlassiter

Much love, fire, wind, water, earth....
Sistah Sasha

Okay, sigh, I'm artistic

You know, all these years I tried to BE other than an artist. I mean, I would be creative, and be artistic, but I wasn't an artist-type, because I would force myself to think average so that I could secure a regular job and pay the bills.

Now that I'm comfy in my personality more so than ever since riding off on my Harley some nine years ago and never looking back at that time when I was a square peg jamming myself into a round hole which surely was the round dot that sits below the swirly question mark, I'm able to get lost in creative moments and create works of art.

The funny thing is, I enjoy being the artist. I love it. I think on multiple levels and drift in a thinking state of mind. I love to spend time thinking and thus creating. To think is such a lost art. I don't want to be just a do-er, a busy body, doing tasks all the time. Many of us get caught up in this taskmastering crap. I want to think; really think some idea through and through and then do-it. Become active and turn the vision into reality.

In order to turn a vision or thought into a reality, one has to think a long time, and begin to sketch out the idea to bring it to life...to give birth to it. And then sometimes the vision happens in a flash, like lightening cracking and whipping across the sky, and then, trance like, we are like mad professors that quickly produce a fantastic piece of art.

I like to take the time to truly think about a project before I begin it. Though of course, I leave plenty of room and welcome those bolts of creative energy that may produce something at lightening speed, leaving me breathless and wild-eyed.

And when I begin a project, I'm thinking the whole time, and taking notes. Copious notes because I like to have a plan and possibilities. Sort of like here's the NUGGET of the vision, and then there it webs into a possibility of all kinds of wonderful opportunity for that NUGGET.

I like to be in my solitude and create works of arts that have a brilliant life of their own. It's like starting the bike and going on the journey, to a destination, oh yes, but what will occur in between MUST have a life of its own. There are many disciplines in which I enjoy creating projects and seeing them through to completion. Like music, writing, arts&crafts, sewing, motorcycle stuff, film stuff....etc.

And thus, accomplishing something fantastic....from these art forms.

Even if it's only fantastic to me, but I quest to create something fantastic for lots of folks to enjoy.

And God.

It's a created something. A vision come to life.

Taskmastering a bunch of routine things doesn't bring things to life but keeps us bound in a frame of routine thinking. To take the time to really think about stuff, and I don't mean just solving a life problem type of thinking. I'm talking about having an idea that you know is from your heart and soul and it wants a life. But, one must think about the idea, the thought needs breath and space to grow and live and morph and manifest outside of the brain.

All of us are artists. Creative and gifted. And, sigh, yes, I'm an artist and I will take such beautiful care of this reality. It's precious to have a passion for creating something for manifesting a dream, a project, whatever that creative thing is you have. Be the artist that you are.

Allow yourself the indulgence of time to think. Afford yourself the opportunity to just think. And then create the thought further by writing down the actions necessary to create the vision. And then make it all happen.

Sigh. It's the best feeling EVER. To create. To be an artist. That is truth. And if I'm thinking deeply and seem a bit flaky, it's because I'm lost...in glorious thought. If I forget to do a simple routine task, it's because my brain is occupied with fabulous creative visions. Not because I'm forgetful. Creativity requires responsibility. Dedication. And sheer Passion for LIFE.

I remember working at the record labels and THE ARTIST would arrive and I'd emerge from my cubicle to attend a meeting with them and their crew. And I knew I didn't belong working 9-5 because I'm a round the clock work whenever, whereever type of gal...the artist in me. But they would arrive as if from another world. They looked at everything like it could be turned into a lyric or a painting or a dance or poetry. They looked at things the way I did. But, I would have to work superhard at NOT daydreaming about artistic concepts. I had to be a focused corporate type of person (though I've HARDLY ever really been anything remotely corporate) . I was acting....at this role...to be the level headed realist.

Oh, the excuses. Well THEY are the artist and they can't be concerned about bogging their creative energy down with business things so don't ask them about that or this. I would think...gee I wish I had reps that would say those things about ME. "Leave Sasha to be the creative person because she's a powerhouse visionary and needs to focus her energy on creating." And the rep would of course keep me informed about all the business about my creative output, however, I wouldn't be bogged down with the darn details, the taskmaster crap, the solicitation of the art, you know what I mean my fellow artisans.

For every single project I create I also have written a business plan. Why? Because for me, as a creative person I want to understand the best way to deliver the creative project for which I am manifesting. Because part of being an artist is to be a great creative visionary.

These business plans also provide a linear manner of thinking for me when I am lost in wild creative thought where ideas and paths are like a glorious maze of mysterial creative energies popping and snapping and bursting with power.... and then I can get joyfully LOST in my creative jungle, that rainforest of epiphanies and I can sit upon a star and be one with the galaxy of artisans....creating and manifesting and contemplating all that is.... inspiring such brilliant energy to CREATE something from NOTHING....from the ethers of GOD's Will for His little person.

So, thus, I continue to meet with managers and agents. These are the folks who are a blessing to the artist. I've met two very WONDERFUL folks: Stan and Chris. I adore these two representatives of art. They are smart, they ride motorcycles, and they RESPECT the entire craft of being a visionary, thinking way beyond the boundaries of been there, done that. They are artists too. Because they are thinkers and dreamers, and believe in the possibilities of new art and old familiar love affairs, like how a rider loves to ride a motorcycle.

While we continue to meet, to discover the vast opportunities as a collaborative creative force, I pray....Oh LORD willing, that this artist, sigh, will be able to secure the business reps, in order that I may dream....get lost in thought, and focus all of my powerful energies on all things art, so that I can be locked into my purpose and deliver the fruit of my God blessed talents to the world.

Let me whistle while I work, and then get ready to go bartend at the hard core honky tonk, where I am the customer's favorite "yamn dankee"

Peace, Love, and DRIVE..... Sashxoa

Jeremiah

Dig this:

Jeremiah 31: 21
"Set up road signs;
put up guideposts.
Take note of the highway,
the road that you take."

This passage from the NIV Bible spoke to me this morning. And rightly so because God the Father and His Son, my hippie God Jesus, and I engage in discussion about highways and roads and road signs and so forth because the Road is My Home. I love the road.

On my journey, dialog has always included the request to "show me the way" and I realize that when God indeed does "show YOU the way" he wants you to place markers on the route in case you get lost, you know, head in a direction that gets you tangled up in the weeds, or trapped in the mud and muck of a wrong decision. So, He tells us to, you know, set up a road sign or two. He tells us, yo, put up a guidepost for yourself, will ya?

He tells us to TAKE NOTE OF THE HIGHWAY, THE ROAD THAT YOU TAKE. So, in other words, be aware of your journey, the destiny that you choose.

What's up there....glowing on your horizon? Go for it. Don't worry about some of those dark rain clouds along the way. Yeah, it might rain, but so what. Keep on.

Pray for the right way and keep on s'milin.

Love,
Sasha

Stiffed.

Eff.

I was stiffed by a freelance job and I'm pissed.

So here it is V-Twin Cincinnati weekend, the motorcycle industry hang, and I get a flat wallet and can't afford to go last minute. My friends are so amazing, they would do anything to get me there. But, I'm too prideful and want to take responsibility for trusting an employment situation that was iffy at best anyway. I've got to get a job and not think about fun.

Today, I will seek another honky tonk bartending gig. There's some options. I'm a little concerned about one opportunity because the bar gets robbed by junkies. Sigh. If I was still living in NYC, I'd dial up my beautiful friends at Skadden Arps and go word process again on the overnight shift. I love my friends from that gig....all beautiful amazing people. I miss them.

But here in Nashville, there are no funky last minute jobs you can pick up like in NYC. So, it's a task to find a job here. I don't have a college degree either. In NYC, well, if you have the life experience, they'll take you on in lieu of a college degree. Here, it's more strict. If a Nashville employer states college degree is necessary, they mean it. So, I gots to use my street smarts to survive here too.

Did you ever just sit and wonder about the concept of work and what it means to work today? I love to work. Working is fun for me. To accomplish something even if it's making a cocktail as a bartender. However, I'm a Jill of many workable talents. IT's just that it seems that the work ethic has been sorely whittled down to survival of the fittest. There's no much loyality in return from employers like days of yore.

As a worker bee, I'm as loyal as a doggie. I'll do whatever it takes to get a job done. I'm eager and willing. A team player. Not someone who'll sit there and say, not my job, because those three little words to me represent a ball that could drop. You may say that I'm a caregiver type of worker. And it's tough for me to draw boundaries sometimes....I work at projects with an entreprenurial spirit. I've got a penchant for perfection...too.

Today, however, right this second, I've got a deflated wallet because I was NOT paid for my services as a PR and marketing consultant on a music project for which I was hired for a lengthy term. I was not paid because oooops there's no money right now. This after being told that there's plenty of funding for the project. I believed. And that is my problem. I will not hide behind a smoky mirror, friends, and pretend that things are just smoothly sailing along. Look, it's a tough climb to realize dreams. I ain't given up.

I believe people when they tell me things. I believe them without a doubt, unless they give me reason. I didn't see a reason to doubt. But there were probably signs and I chose to ignore them I bet.

Not being paid for my services as a 1099 employee for this company really sucks. So last minute too. I hung in there when my employer told me the money was being deposited into my account.... several times I was told this and nothing happened. I hung in there when he told me that there was a wrong signature on my check which is why it didn't clear. I believed, and continued to put my head to the grindstone. Those were perhaps signs.

But I don't believe anymore. And now today I'm going back to bartending. It makes me sad. I mean, bartending has been good to me, yes. But, I don't want to do it anymore. I want to move on from it and do other things with my talents that make me happy and are profitable. It isn't easy, as you know.

I've been working hard to make dreams come true so that I can work at what I love! This is a temporary set back, but it's a drag. It's a drag that I'm so naive and gullable. I've got to be tougher at this. More protective. I'm such a darn handshake sort of business person which is stupid. I want to do business in a world that no longer exists like that. I have to be a tougher business person and this I'm working on, I promise.

So, I'll report back on where I'll be bartending. Maybe you can come visit me and we'll share a few laughs and have a good time. . . while I work hard to make my dreams come true. I'm still writing a book, still in the studio recording music, still preparing for more filming. It's not like I'm rolling bank on these things....yet. It's all passion works right now. The tiny advance for the book is long gone. The prove yourself concept still reigns supreme in lots of artistic discipines in which I choose to exist. I am proving....and all will be awesome. Just wait and see. I want to be an example of the grind to achieve the dream through the most difficult times...just keep on rollin' when things get flat.

Off to find a job....see ya.