Giant turtle

Giant turtle
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

Eats mountain in palm desert, ca.

Da fire in da sky....

Da fire in da sky....
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

Downtown LA as the sun is setting, looks pretty. Probably one of the only times it does. We decided last minute to head to Indio for the show tomorrow night. My mate Amanda is in town from illinois and she and mate Tommy are headed down as well. The meeting place is a Mexican restaurant in palm springs. I can hear the margaritas calling my name and its great to do something fun after a week of intense planning and scheming. Big plans are a foot and we are going to drastically change our lives in the next few months. More will be revealed here soon but let's just say 'look out midwest'.

But for now, its time for some fun and laughs with mates in the desert.

Happy weekend mates

Xxm

Ahh goodwill....

Roaming though goodwill this afternoon, looking for funky alternative organic flavored items to use to display our creations on when we travel with them. We had spent the past few hours with blank paper making plans...coming up with what we want our lives to look like next. The next 12 months....the next 20 years. Scary exciting plans are in the works and we both continue to look at each other and say, 'we'll never know if we don't try'. That has most definitely become the catch phrase. Going on the road together, developing this new business idea, no fixed abode but plenty of family and great mates across the country who would house us for a period of time while we tour and work it all out. A few months a year back in Australia touring and being with da familia...recording, creating, traveling...seeing the world and trying to live more consciously...aware of what works and what doesn't. Coming up with and making a plan that fits US...no one else.

This is what we are working on.

And in the midst of all of that, we both look over and see this little gem sitting amongst the chaos.

Dream

Believe

Imagine

and I add....

= Live...


xxM

phase seven million six hundred and fifty three....

So, you know, still in overwhelmed mode over this way. Trying to keep up with musekraft orders and ideas and then show offers and requests for later in the year and in the midst of all of that, trying to make a plan for us to 'take it all up a notch'. It's really quite amazing to witness all the show offers and requests coming in and I feel like I/we are going up a nice little learning curve with negotiating asking for what we want and for me, believing that I deserve it. My astrologyzone chart for this year talks a lot about all the planets being correctly aligned and being clear about what I want and then asking for it...that it will all come. SO...you know, some emails have gone out to outlandish places lately, just for the hell of it. I figure, you don't get if you don't ask. We asked Patty Larkin a few days ago if I could come open for her on a tour....who knows. Don't get, if you don't ask....

There are some pretty big life decisions being made over this way and I read my girls blog and she talks about the fear mixed with the wonderful excitement of making changes and going after the life she wants. It's all good but as my mate Valerie says, if you don't have some fear...you aren't reaching high enough. She be right. It's all the 'pre-step' stuff that makes things hard I think....the lead up to actually DOING it.

Anyway, Dionne is out with me on a number of shows over the next month and you bet it's a lead up to more. Musekraft is going to be making an appearance at a number of the festivals I am performing at this year and we just secured a spot for both of us at Milwaukee Pride.

So...here we go mates.....no rest for the wicked.

xxM

phase two...

So, phase two of musekraft is beginning this week. Damn if we aren't having trouble keeping up with our brains right now. So many ideas flowing and we are literally needing to take a breath every day, or every few moments, and try to keep focused on one (or three) things, whilst listening (and writing down for later) all the new ideas. I LOVE it and am thoroughly excited by it all but a little weary right this moment.

This morning we worked on the first run of photo cards. We are taking Dionne's photos and turning them into packets of cards in different series. The idea is that once we really start to hit the road and travel that we will be able to build it up and create various series as we go through each city or country. So far we have an 'on the road' series, a forest series, a water series and at least a building and a nature series on it's way. And then we have that shot up the top of Dionne's old dog Daisy..that photo just makes me laugh and needed to be out there as far as I was concerned.

It's a calm evening here in Burbank as I research plastic poly bags with my feet up on the table after a day of creating and running around (and hiking up a huge mofo of a hill that kicked my ass)...I know...so exciting, no?

xxM

The sweetness of life

The sweetness of life
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

Her hand on mine, 63 miles to go....

The view from here...

The view from here...
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

Tom tom tom tells us its another 225 miles to go and we have been driving for almost two hours already. Dionne and I did our first show together on Saturday and it was a lot of fun and had really really great moments. When our voices blend together perfectly its magic and I don't want to stop singing because I like it so much. Our energy on stage together is wonderful and energetic. We both kinda get giggly about the potential...and about the prospects of being on the road together and having adventures.

It was also the first time we took pieces from our musekraft collection and were both happy with the sales and comments. Seeing the pieces we made around peoples necks is a wonderful feeling. I just got a metal stamp made of the little girl stick figure I use on my merch and we will be making some of those pieces up too! All good mates.

So, back to looking out the window at the beautiful green of the rolling hills of CA and the 215 more miles till home.

Xxm

Ohhh

Ohhh
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

I forgot to post this photo. It is Dionne and Amy Ray after her show a few weeks back. My mate Julie was playing keys in her band and we caught some of the shows. AR is a bit of an inauration for my girl so I was happy she got to meet her.

Xxm

The state of here...

The state of here...
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

There are two people who 'live' on glen oaks boulevard in Burbank. Both of them have taken up residence on different parts of the street and you can usually find them by this. A pile of suitcases and boxes and bags with all their belongings, just sitting in the street like this. I know one of them doesn't speak English coz I tried to talk to her oneday and she just looked at me confused ( or she was just surprised that someone was talking to her) (or, she doesn't understand Australian) (or.....).

Anyway, its always a very intriguing thing in a 'how did our society get like this' kinda way. And....in a 'how the hell do they move all their stuff to different parts of the street' kinda way.

It always makes me feel sad though.....

Xxm

Atop wildwood canyon

Atop wildwood canyon
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

And off in the distance, you can see some snow topped mountain....which is pretty surreal given that its 70+ degrees here today. Always amazes me that....and the fact that I can see the same version of the moon as other people do all the way across the world from me.

Xxm

i'm sorry

i'm sorry
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

But Shane and Jenny, together? You HAVE to be kidding me. I think the L Word might have lost the plot, or at least hit the ick factor on the head....at least for me.

Ick L Word people.....ick.

Sorry, spoiler alert for those of you at work right now...you know who you are.

Xxm

if

if
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

I had a bronze head sculpture at guitar center, this is what it would look like.

Xxm

Hmm

Hmm
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

What do you think this is selling?

Recycle, reuse, create

Recycle, reuse, create
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

I realized this morning as we were walking through Glendale after another storm last night, that my brain is always in r.r.c mode (read subject heading). There were palm fronds everywhere and I kept looking at them as we walked, trying to come up with something I could make out to them. At one point I was trying to envision them being used as organic drink coozies.

I have found some insanely interesting things in piles of rubbish or on the side of the street, just by keeping my eyes and my creative expression, open and willing. I use to have an entire bookcase made out of wooden vintage crates, awesome ones in all different shapes, with beautiful designs from far away places.

Anyway, I was just appreciating that part of myself. Lol.

What do you appreciate about you? Tell me all....

Xxm

Ideas abound....

Ideas abound....
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

This is the new combination Dionne came up with today. Our names and then the equality symbol. I think it looks so pretty and we will be excited to offer these idea on musekraft.com soon. We are both in the middle of a whirlwind of creativity and its exciting and overwhelming at times. We keep having to reel each other in, in a 'not yet, but great idea' kinda way.

In between making this stuff we are rehearsing for shows, which start next week, and are getting excited about all the working together prospects. Am more passionate than ever about making that happen.

In between all this, we are trying to make time to go wash our clothes....which we are doing right now. In a 'let's go visit your dad AND take our laundry with us' kinda way. Probably every good friend I have will have tales to tell of me bringing laundry. One day I will own a home WITH a washing machine.....and then all my friends can use it.

Xxm

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

To you.....

This day can be full of pressure and sometimes sadness for people. My belief is that we should honor and adore the people we love EVERDAY. I look into the eyes of my sweetheart every single day and tell her how I love her. Don't need no stinkin card selling day to remind me.

Back to looking at the clouds and making no sense

Xxm

My Ma.....

I love her...and I miss her.

She sometimes comes and does fun things with me. If she lived closer to me, she would do more fun things with me. Infact, she would probably come on the road with me. When I play in Australia she comes and be's my door bitch or my merch bitch...and she actually asks me 'if she can be the bitch'. She makes me laugh. Sometime she doesn't listen to me so much when we talk on the phone because the echo confuses her and she just keeps talking so I have to ask her to stop talking. She loves dog shows and dogs. More than people, I think. She has a new boyfriend, John, who seems like a nice man and is a good friend to her too. She lost the man she fell crazy in love with, Colin, to a brain tumor about 5 years ago now. It was horrible to witness her going through that. It was horrible because the US immigration department lost my visa paperwork and I couldn't leave the country until they found it. So I had to listen to her cry on the phone...and it tore my heart apart. I ended up leaving without my paperwork, Colin died before I got there and I didn't get my paperwork for another 4 months....the whole time I couldn't leave Australia. Which wasn't so bad.

My mum loves the woman who makes me happy...she doesn't know her yet, but she just knows she makes me happy..and that's all she cares about. She bought a book when she first moved to Australia because she had heard the word 'gay' and wanted to know what it mean't. That was in 1963...and she has had mostly gay friends ever since.

My mum always ends our phone calls telling me that she prays for me everyday and hopes that something 'good' will happen soon. No matter how many times I tell her something good happens every single day...she still tells me.

And I don't mind so much.

This post is really just to say, I love my mum. She loves me. I miss her. She misses me.

She is amazing...and should be celebrated just because she has great stories and a great smile.

Love you ma....

Me of Me

So, I think this is the first documented photo of me taking a photo of myself. See.....this is obviously where it started. The technology has just gotten better.

I am sitting here going through one of my boxes out of storage, after a morning of writing tunes and rehearsing with Dionne for upcoming shows. I found a photo album that I started putting together a few years ago that chronicles my family. We collectively don't have a lot of photos from when we were kids (infact I have never seen a photo of my dad as a kid....so weird), so I was trying to preserve the ones I did have. The album was half finished so I am sitting here with a bag of photo corners putting more in. Hence this little beauty.....

Ahh, if we could all put up our kid shots....I am certain we would be as equally embarrassed as I am now. :-)

Xxm

Yes! Yes!

There are reputable places to donate to the victims of the Victorian bushfires. Red Cross has set up a fund that is easy to donate to HERE. It's all in Australian dollars, so if you are donating from the US then even $20 will go a long way.

Thanks mates!!!

xxM

Victoria...

If you haven't heard about it, please send thoughts (and if you can, cold hard cash) over to the people in Victoria, Australia. The worst bush fires I have ever known and veterans of fire fighting have ever seen. So far 108 people are dead and over 700 homes are lost. It's devastating to watch and to hear these people's pain.

Send energy of the fire extinguishing kind

xM

Moon Rise on the I-5

We are driving back from San Francisco and this is the beautius moon that watches us as we drive (as we watch it). Its so crisp and glorious.

A car full of belongings that I haven't seen in about 15 months. I was excited today to look thru some of the things as we were packing them into the car. Photos of my family, artwork, equipment, favorite cookbooks, fav plates and cloth, my sewing machine (I know!! Bet that was a surprise). I was thinking leading up to getting it all, that if I hadn't missed it all in that long then why did I need it at all. But, I felt sentimental as I was looking at it. Knowing that when I left san fran and put my stuff in storage all those months ago, that it was mostly stuff that I decided at that moment that really meant a lot to me. There were 5 boxes of personal things (and the same of CDs and press and recordings and business 'stuff'). Parts of my story are in these things. Old journals, song writing books, photos of me when I was a kid, my family at that age, photos of my mum when she was a kid (I just realized when I typed that, that I have never seen a photo of my father when he was a child). You know, the physical things that tell our story with us.

Strangely, I actually felt relieved, almost like it was okay for me to have five boxes of belongings because of that realization. That I could make room for it in my life and in my world again and work out where it fit. I know, strange. This is my weird brain.

The moon is amazing.....that's all I really know for sure right this second.

Xxm

Mylie

Mylie
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

The wonder dog.....who I want to steal and make my own. Is that wrong?

New Things....

My sweetlove and I have been spending a lot of energy and time over the last few months exploring and dreaming up ways for us both to be working, living and earning from our creativity more. Tylers passing in November has definately given Dionne extra energy and determination to build and manifest the life that she wants. And I have spent a lot of the last 12 years on the road one way or the other and am tired of being away from the one I love....so all those things, and more, have given us both great incentive to try to make it work for us to be on the road together..supporting and developing one anothers creativity, dreams and life.

We realised last week that we were both swirling around in a pool of TOO MANY IDEAS and were both quite overwhelmed by it all. Overwhelmed in a 'lets just sit here a little longer coz we are too tired to do anything else' kinda way. We both worked that out at exactly the same time and knew that the only way around it was to take ONE THING and give it a go. See what it could actually look like and if it would work.

Long story short...we are developing the first stage of our new business venture which looks something like MuseKraft. We both own, and love, hand stamped one of a kind pieces of jewelery and both enjoy doing that kind of work together. SO...we have launched the first run of our own hand stamped, hand buffed/dappled/polished/brushed/dreamed up designs....on sterling silver and copper. We have taken bits of metal and created them into these one of a kind pieces of work using words that we both love and adore and want to send out into the world more.

Our first run of pieces is up here: http://www.martinelocke.com/jewelery/index.html and we have special prices on all of them until Feb 16th as incentive to folks to buy now. They are, and will be, super affordable and come to you with much sweat, love and energy.

Our plan is to have them available at shows now and eventually at festivals and events where we go. Probably to some people, all these changes and 'dreams' are crazy to pursue in such an unknown economic time...but fuck em, I say. One life is all we have. Just one.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we have enjoyed making and dreaming them up!

xM

Slumdog

Slumdog
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

My girl and I watched Slumdog Millionaire this morning courtesy of her work academy affiliation. Damn it was a good movie. One of those 'under dog goes through hell only to get what he's fighting for the whole time' kinda stories. It appealed to the romantic in me whilst also wondering how many people had stories like that to tell.

An hour later as I was going for a walk.....I found this on the street. Suburban Burbank no less where the streets are rather clean. Not really sure of the call it was giving me but hoped it was a reminder from the universe that this is the start of what I have been working towards coming more into fruition. That's what my astrology tells me anyway....and more importantly, my gut.

Go see the movie mates, its beautiful and sad.

Xxm

One more....

One more....
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

For my mates in the cold, snow lands. Its a super warm day here in Venice beach today. D and I are down here to have a meeting with a publisher kind of person to learn more about getting songs placed in movies/tv shows. We came down early to breathe in the ocean air. I miss the smell of salt and the water against my body. I am so drawn to the water. It brings me such peace and joy. I wanted to share it for my mates out there who are tired of the cold. Come west my friends!

So, wish us luck in our meeting. Its the next phase of where we both want to be and the first step towards it.

Xxm

How Much Can A Koala Bear?

I have been hearing horrendous stories about heat in Australia, as I have about the cold in the Midwest and East Coast. My bro told me that 12 people died in Adelaide last week from the heat. Temperatures are consistently up around the 110-115 mark and people are really at their wits end about what to do about it. A mate sent these photos through today of a little fella who knew exactly what to do....smart one that he is. Her mate had left a bucket of water out on the porch and he found it real quick.....

Take a leaf out of his tree mates.....at least then you will be stoned and hot.

xxM

The view from here

The view from here
Originally uploaded by martine.locke

I went hiking again today with a big ole fun, gay hiking group (imagine me, d, two other women and 50 gay boys = FUN!!). This time it was up behind the 'woo' of the Hollywood sign. Who knew you could even do that. It was kinda cool to stand behind it and look out across LA on this warm day.....under the watchful eye of thousands of security cameras. And of course, the achievement of actually climbing up there was great! My body is going to love me....well, it already does, in an achy muscle kinda way.

I haven't played a show in almost 2 months. I can't wait for the next one, which is in a few weeks. This time of year is always quiet for me and I have been keeping myself busy with other creative endeavors. And a lot has happened in those two months, so I am trying to be gentle with myself, but damn its tough sometimes. I get all crabby at myself and think I 'should' be doing more.

'Shoulds' annoy the shit out of me sometimes.

Xxm