Song Diary 2 - If You Ask Me

I had literally just finished writing this song...it has it's roots in the sadness of kids who deal with bullying on a daily basis. It's an epidemic in our countries, our cities, towns and homes but it can be solved the moment we all realize it starts with us and what WE put out into the world.....

Virginia Women's Music Festival

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Kickin it...

Hey Mates!! I just set up a kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the new live cd that will be recorded in June. Check it out here and please consider supporting the project! We reached the kickstarter basic funding level in 2 hours and have about $3500 more to go to realize the budget for the cd recording and touring. All help is appreciated!

13 Simple Steps To Get You Through A Rough Day

Step 1: Print this picture and hang it over your desk.

Source: epic4chan

Step 2: Be uplifted by this inspiring corgi cross stitch

Source: etsy.com  /  via: tumblr.tastefullyoffensive.com

Step 3: Feel pretty.

Step 4: Imagine you are this penguin.

Step 5: Feel empowered.

Step 6: Remember that these dogs are on your side.

Step 7: And this dog with a goat will fight for you as well

Step 8: Be happy that you aren't one of these people.

Step 9: Be happy that these are not your taco shells.

Step 10: Hey look, Johnny Depp had to iron cheese sandwiches too!

Step 11: Allow yourself to enjoy these pictures of dogs.

Step 12: Look at this cat riding a rooster.

Step 13: Look at this hedgehog wearing a tiny hat.

Taken from Buzzfeeds.com

Live CD Recording Pre Sale!!

YAY!!! It's that time in the world again!! I have decided to do another live cd recording in Indianapolis on June 16th, 2012 at the Irving Theater. It's become a fav venue to perform in and it sounds amazing!!

This one will be different than the last one in that there will be a number of straight up acoustic songs combined with songs from a stripped down band. Lots of harmonies on those tunes and hopefully a few guest musicians to keep things interesting for all of us!!

I have created a number of packages from $15 - 1500 and beyond that will hopefully fall into your budget and enable you to help us create this cd!

Please head over to http://www.martinelocke.com/pages/presale.php for a look and please drop me a line if you have any questions or suggestions about other packages to offer!

Thank you, as always for your support!

Martine Locke

R.I.P

So, I had an interesting epiphany yesterday as I was watching, with heaviness in my heart, the dedications to Whitney Houston (who, for those of you who don't turn on the tv, passed away Saturday afternoon).

I was thinking a lot about how so many of us artists & musicians and creatives spend a good chunk of our existence working to try to get as famous as we can. I know for a good portion of indies that really means trying to get as many people to know what you do so you don't have to keep working so damn hard to get people to come to your shows and buy your stuff...but, there are definitely those indies who really just want a record deal and fame & fortune. I have nothing against that or those people that so passionately want for that but I just continue to realize a few things...

1. No amount of fame & fortune will matter if you don't have your shit together.

2. That even WITH all that money & fame and probably never having to worry about how to pay a bill again, it still won't make you happy.

3. If you take drugs and mix alcohol or just take drugs, or just drink too much alcohol...it will kill you. It won't make you happy. It won't drive away whatever fucking demons you think you have. You won't be a cool person that healthy happy people actually WANT to hang around with. And.....your fame & fortune most likely wont bring anyone but your greedy uncle Merty happiness.

I think about the times in my 20 year musical career that I have wished for more success and more money. The times when I have looked the lives of people like Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson (well, okay, his always did look a little unusual) and thought it must be grand to just be able to make and sing amazing music. To not have to book your own shows year after year or hope that people turn up or that you have brought in enough this month to cover your basic living bills or do you need to drop health insurance coz you really can't afford it any longer. In my head, people like those three just have to wake up in the morning and sing...if they want to. (Might I just add in these little brackets that I get that their lives are far more complicated than that...).

But here's the thing I know I have that none of them have and now, will never have.

Happiness.

I have people around me that I am loved by, people I can trust with my heart. I have a family that supports me and would jump in if I ever really was in trouble. I have a sweet home with the ones that I love and I have been fortunate in my life to be able to work through my stuff. Not for one moment would I trade lives with Whitney Houston, even before Saturdays tragic events.

On Sunday night before the Grammys I was watching an interview with Adelle, who let me say, I LOVE. My favorite part of the entire grammys was when receiving the Album of the Year award, she wiped her nose on her arm and said 'oohhhh, snot'. I laughed hard and applauded her BIG (and prayed to the musical gods that she would always remain the same). She was talking about how she has been struggling with so much fame so quickly. So much so that she has had to devise a plan of telling her groups of friends different stories about things that are going on so she knows when one of them has leaks it to the press...then she can get rid of that friend..

It made me sad for her. None of my mates have leaked anything to the droves of paparazzi that sit on my lawn day after day...waiting for something juicy to print. And for that, my mates, I thank you.

At the end of the day, I realize my life has substance and adventure and challenges that make me a more solid human being. It has love and peace and art and community and real friends and a real lover, and yes I am trying to work out if I really can afford to keep health insurance anymore, but I am healthy and have respect for my body and for what I put into it. I have people around me who aren't afraid to challenge me or to kick my butt if I am making unhealthy choices. They would NEVER sit around and watch me party so hard that it started to destroy me.

Whitney Houston's money and fame is going to do her no good now and she leaves behind a daughter that she will never see grow up.

My heart breaks for her.

Thank-filled for my life and the realness of it....

my new favorite...

And now...

for a wee bit of music....

This was some cell phone footage captured from our show on November 12th this year.

Somedays....for those days when you forget it all gets better

These things.....

It's the beginning of the holiday season over here in Indianapolis and as I sit here at my dining room table looking out the window watching the sleet fall, a chill hits me.

I hate winter.


There. I said it.

I am an Aussie, born in the center of Australia, lived most of my life on the coast, had way too many sun burns in my life, spent one full winter ever in my life in snow.

I like it for a minute, and then it wears off.

The snow, that is.

And here I am. In the middle of what will soon become snow hell. No sun in sight for months. No coast line to run away to. No waves to frolic in.

How did this happen, you ask?

Well, it all started when.........(insert long and winding story here).

It just happened (short story).

So, as I sit here and write....thinking about the cold. A fire about to be built in the fireplace, surrounded by all the creative projects I have to begin now to fulfill xmas orders for people, my walls full of instruments that need to be prepared for their winter as well, a copy of the new Curve Magazine interview on my screen and music playing in the background I feel less like the rock star I sometimes pretend to be and more like the hard working creative individual I actually am. I want to share with you a new 'thing' I have started. It's called The Front Porch Collective...and really, it's just me and a few mates who literally sit on the porch and make stuff that we have started to sell. I just built us a website, and an etsy store and we are hoping as you start to buy gifts for your loved ones this holiday season that you will consider going local and/or independent and buying from us. All of us can make custom pieces too and all of these pieces are one of a kind.

So, warm your  heart and ours...and check out our stuff here:

November 12th....

Now, THIS, is some serious promotion.....we don't do anything by halves over here.

So, you heard it..

November 12th
The Irving Theater
5505 East Washington St
Indianapolis, IN 46219

Martine Locke & Band
With Jenrose Fitzgerald (from Kentucky) opening the show

Doors open 7.30pm

Tickets $12 pre sale through Brown Paper Tickets:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/206120

Or $15 on the door

Pre holiday trunk show will also take place throughout the night with handmade holiday gifts from Martine Locke, Jamie Price & Dionne Ward. Check out www.inthislifenow.com and www.musekraft.com for some of the items that will be available to purchase. Get your holiday gift giving started early and buy local and handmade!