TattooYogaMommy

I want everyone to be extremely careful when walking his or her pets in Patterson Park, or any park in the city for that matter.  Even when your dogs are on leash, an attack may happen, like it did to us tonight.

My family was walking with our dog, Star, on her leash, to the duck pond.  We were crossing the footbridge to get to the other side of the pond to feed the ducks.  We passed the part of the bridge where the bench is and everything seemed peaceful… one kid was fishing, a couple of people were standing talking, and another little girl was sitting on the bench with her dad and their two dogs, one pit bull and one little dog.

As we passed, the dogs seemed friendly and interested in sniffing our friendly dog and the owner gave us no warning about his pit bull.   We had no warning; in a split second, the pit bull lunged at my dog and grabbed her neck with her mouth.  She did not let go for several minutes and I was afraid she was going to kill her.

Luckily, no one was hurt, and Star survived.  She is having a drain placed next to a deep puncture wound and will be in a cone for several days, but her spirits are still high and she’s as friendly as ever, licking the vets and wagging her tail as I left her for surgery.

The weirdest part was while the dogs were locked in this position, several other people with their pit bulls started standing around watching.  No one was helping us; my husband had our dog, and the other owner was holding his dog, and I had the little dog and the kids on the bench; but all the other guys were just standing around watching.

It was surreal; my husband was asking for help and no one stepped in.  Now I wouldn’t expect just anyone to just rush in and try to help when two dogs are fighting, but I should think big guys with dogs of their own should at least be able to ask a man asking for help, “How can I help you?”  It seems common courtesy and human nature to help, doesn’t it??

Finally after 2 or 3 minutes (which seemed like an eternity), the pit bull let go and we were able to get our dog away from the area.  The owner said to me, “You shouldn’t have let your dog get near my dog,” to which I replied, “I didn’t know your dog was going to attack!  You should have warned us!”  He of course said nothing.   I was so amazed at the uncaring nature of everyone around me, I was truthfully just furious.

Because we had our 5-year-old daughter with us any many people were gathering around with their pit bulls, we decided to leave.  Our dog was also very injured, and although I really wanted to file a police report right then and have this man held responsible for our vet bill (which will be over $600), I just felt unsafe in that moment.  (I am filing a police report now, waiting for the officer to arrive as I write this.)

If that wasn’t enough, as we were leaving the bridge, more pit bulls and owners were coming onto the bridge.  I basically freaked out and told them to go back to the other side, as I didn’t want my dog to attack out of fear or anything happen to my daughter.  Unbelievably, they didn’t turn around and in fact made it extremely difficult for us to cross the bridge by not moving to one side.  It was very frightening.

I have a feeling that this was some kind of training or exercise for this dog, and perhaps an evening out for dog fighters includes a trip to the park.  I have seen other postings on the Patterson Park Yahoo Groups Listserve where dogs are getting attacked and the owner just stands there and watches.

We are a peaceful family that loves the city and does not judge anyone by what kind of dog they have or what they look like.  However, after this incident tonight, if I see a pit bull in the park I will definitely be going the other way.

Please be careful when walking your pets and when passing other dogs.  I am definitely going to be asking people I don’t know from now on if their dog is friendly, which of course is what we should be doing anyway.

I love Patterson Park and I refuse to give up on my neighborhood due to the small population of people who have lost their way.   I’m sending prayers to them tonight and also to their dogs!

Peace, love and blessings,
sahffi

Star

This month Zach, our drummer for 3 ½ years, let us know he will be leaving the band to pursue the great adventures of Daddy-hood and his other music project, Magnet South.  (http://www.myspace.com/magnetsouth)

Although I was ready for his announcement (he has been writing some great tunes with Magnet South and I was aware of his wife’s growing belly for several months), I was not ready for how sad it made me.

When Neema was almost two, I decided I needed a band.  I booked our first show before I found one.  I trusted the universe to help me; after all, it always has come through for me before.

I first called my sister, Shelly.  She & I had been singing on and off for many years, and plus, she is one of my best friends, so really her immediate ‘yes’ was a given… unless she wanted a wet willie from her big sister.

Next I called up my friend Sean.  I actually went to Peaboy with Sean and we were horn players together back in the day… his band had recently broken up (Great Mutant Skywheel), which was too bad, because they were awesome, but I thought I had a shot of getting him involved with my band.  He’s also a great engineer and recorded my first album, and I had sights on doing another album with him.  Luckily, he had an enthusiastic ‘yes’ for me as well.

Lastly, I needed a drummer.  I knew I wanted a very versatile drummer, someone with a jazz background, but who also could rock out when needed; the only problem was I knew no one with that skill set.

I work in a dental office, now part-time but at the time full-time, so I met a lot of people throughout the day.  One of our hygienists also plays bass in a band (you know him, you love him, Regan!) and always talks about music to his patients. Luckily I overheard him talking to this one new patient about music and… lo and behold… drums!  So I excitedly asked this new patient, ‘Are you a drummer??’

The new patient kind of looked surprised and said yes.  I then rushed to get my first CD for him and explained my situation.  I could tell he was not ready for this; he just wanted to get his teeth cleaned!  But he was polite and told me that he was new to town, his wife worked in the building, he has Delta Dental… well, let me tell you, I was NOT going to let this opportunity pass; I know the universe’s ways when I see them!

The next day, his wife dropped by his demo CD, and that was that!  I had found my versatile drummer, and we started rehearsing right away… I think we had three rehearsals before our first show.

For the next three years we rehearsed in Zach’s basement, played shows, did photo shoots and recorded my second album, “Turning Tides.”  Zach has become a new member of the family and although he’s 10 years my junior and always was up against the ‘inside’ jokes of family and people who’ve known each other for decades, he was never intimidated and kept right up with our jabs.

He’s been a great support, collaborator, and a fantastic musician to work with.  I wish him the best in the future and look forward to seeing where his music and life takes him.

Now, universe, what do you have in store for me next?

Zach with his wife and new baby

I have been asked a lot lately about my name, “sahffi.”  I think partly because I’m meeting a lot of new people and partly because I’m meeting a lot of people from my past.

People from my past know me Carrie Work, the French horn player.  I’m meeting a lot of these people recently as I approach my 20-year (gulp!) high school reunion.   It is really neat reconnecting with these old friends through the help of technology that we couldn’t even dream of 20 years ago.  It’s also teaching me a lot about the person I was back then and how surprisingly that young woman was not so far away from who I am today.  (In a good way!)

About 10 years ago, after being a classical musician for all my life and then playing in cover bands for about 4 years, I decided to “go solo” and be an all-original musician.  I had an intense need to try and get out all of the music I started hearing in the wind, in my dreams, in my mind.  The horn no longer was satisfying my musical desires and I let it fall away.  It was a tough transition in my life, but I felt like this music inside of me was bigger than me and was not originating from me; I still don’t feel like it’s mine.  I therefore wanted a name that would better represent this person I found myself in; a vessel for music that needed to come out, no longer just a vessel for playing other people’s music.

I was, and still am, very much into yoga, past lives, the magic of crystals, and all of that new-agey stuff, and really wanted a name derived from the Hindu or Buddhist tradition.  After searching on the internet (it was around by then, but still unaffordable to me at the time; I was sitting at a computer at the Baltimore County Library in Towson!), I found two Hindu names I liked, one meaning “awake” and one meaning “light.”  Somehow it came to me to combine the names together and create the name “sahffi,” which I interpreted to mean “awakening to the light.”

I really liked the sound and meaning of the name and immediately took to it.  I took a moment to search different spellings (back then it was all about Yahoo!) and found this particular spelling to be available.  I unfortunately do not remember the original names, so it doesn’t make a very good interview answer… I just now usually tell people the meaning of the name and leave it at that.  If they ask what language it is, I’ll say “soul language.”  Usually gets me a few weird looks, but hey, I’m used to it.

Since I am very humbled by this music and want no ego to be involved, “sahffi” is lowercase.   Whenever I see the name in uppercase it makes me very uncomfortable; although I am sahffi, sahffi lives in me.   Carrie is the name my parents gave me, and sahffi is the name that was given to me by somewhere else… God, angels, spirit guides, or whatever you want to call it… I don’t presume to know the answers, I just know it’s there.

Funny thing is, I feel comfortable answering to either name.  I am blessed now to be answering to a third name; Mommy.  All of my names fit me just fine.  And who knows?  Maybe in another 20 years I’ll have a few more.

- sahffi/Carrie/Mommy

I am sooooo excited about our first show in New York this weekend!!

One of my goals when moving back to Baltimore was to use B-more as a home base and tour up and down the east coast to jump start my music career.  My first album came out and… I got pregnant.  Bad timing for music, but good timing for Neema!

Now that Neema is older and my second album is out, I’m trying again to make my plan work!  I’m excited to go to NYC with my sister this weekend and play our first show in the Big Apple.

If you are in New York or know someone who lives there, I hope you can make it out and/or share info on our show…  THANKS!

Googie’s Lounge

Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
154 Ludlow St. (between Stanton and Rivington)
New York, NY 10002

http://www.livingroomny.com/googies.html

Hope to see you there!

I am very excited to open for The Bowmans this coming Sunday, March 29th, at Hull Street Blues in Federal Hill.  The show starts at 6 pm. Advance tickets are $10 or $12 at the door; for tickets contact Joe Spatarella at joe@someothersoul.com or (410) 336-6692.

When Sarah lived in Baltimore, we shared a few shows together, including the CD Fundraiser Party I put together in 2002 for “…and I am not sorry.”  It was a great multi-media show (before “multi-media” was in fashion), featuring myself and my band (at the time Bill Patrick on upright bass, Chris Blauvelt on guitar, and Jaime Kelley on drums), Sarah performing solo, and Dahlia Kaminsky doing a very moving one-woman show about her experience of living in New York City after 9/11.

When Sarah decided to quit teaching, sell her belongings and move to New York with her sister, I was so proud of her!  She was living her dream and determined to make it work.  Stories of sleeping on couches and playing in subway stops have turned into working on their second album and European Tours!

My husband, Brad & I have always been big fans and we are really excited to see them again on their east coast tour.  I’m especially excited to be a part of it, opening for them with Shelly.  What a night of DNA harmonies!

I hope you can join us; it will be a show to remember!

Sarah & sahffi at CD Fundraiser

It shouldn’t surprise me that my daughter Neema is already a web-published author, since her father runs an independent bookstore out of our dining room!

Click on Neema’s picture below to enjoy her story about THE FUTURE.

Neema the author

Many people wonder why I take a month off from performing every year and truthfully, sometimes I wonder the same thing.

Most of the time I take off the month of December, as most people are too busy during the holiday season to notice me dipping out of sight for a while.  However, this year I actually did some shows over the holidays, so I decided for January.

I have always taken a month off during the winter; I am by far not a big fan of winter and cold weather.  It usually keeps people indoors anyway, even for the best show.  Also, last year I met my totem, Grandmother Bear, so hibernation makes sense for me.  (She actually explains a lot about me, which is another blog… maybe later!)

But during the month off, I get a lot of questions from people about why I’m not playing, so I thought I’d just list them off for you:

1.    I hate the cold weather.  But you already know that.
2.    I need a break!  Booking and organizing shows while trying to keep my day job and be a good mommy and wife can get exhausting.
3.    I need the time to book shows for the next 6 months and more importantly, have inspiration for and write songs.  Songwriting takes a lot of time for me and often when I’m performing I don’t get a chance to do a lot of it.
4.    The month off helps put things in perspective for me and gives me a chance to make sure I still want to perform.  Do I still want to struggle to make this music thing work?  The hours upon hours of booking, organizing, writing, recording, all while juggling and balancing the demands and responsibilities of life?  Of course, I always still want to… no matter how many years go by or what life brings to me I’m still feeling the need to get up on stage and sing these songs that come out of me, for whatever reason.

So, there it is in a nutshell… I always fear people (including my band!) will lose interest in me if I’m not performing regularly, but it hasn’t happened yet.  If I’m lucky, people will always give me the room to hibernate, understand it’s part of my process and let me keep living my dream to the best of my ability.

Much love!

I know, I know, everyone and their sister/mother/brother has a new blog about the ending of 2008 and the beginning of a fresh new start to another whole year… well, why should I be any different?

I’m just sitting here at the end of the first day of 2009 just finishing my very first proposal for my first “real” client for my new emarketing business.  Yes, I mean my very new very own emarketing business.

In theory I have run my own business for the past ten years.  Well, I guess not in theory; I really have been managing sahffi’s music career pretty well, in fact.  Booking, managing the band, producing albums… but somehow, it’s not all the way “work.”  I LOVE songwriting, music, being on stage and performing, the camaraderie that is a band, and all the hours it takes just doesn’t feel like the drudgery that one feels when one is “working.”

Wait - I’ve figured out how it is really and truly not work.  I don’t really get paid!  What I make divided by all the hours I put into it is definitely a negative number.  Ah, well, it’s worth it.  And even if it’s not, music for me is not something I can ever get away from.  It has a habit of sticking on me like wallpaper; even if it gets ripped off, sanded down or painted over, it’s still a part of my wall.

Anyway, I digress…

Over the past few years, since I’ve had my daughter, really, I’ve had this notion of having my own business and working from home or on the road, so I can better balance my family and my music life without the day-to-day stress of my “day job.”  I figure working for myself is something I can do, want to do, and would enjoy doing.

Last year I was able to go part-time at my current “day job” and spend more time on my music, thanks to my fantastically supportive husband.  I decided to put some feelers out on the whole “emarketing” idea for my business and I actually got a couple of bites!

I’ve just finished my first proposal for my first “real” client today, which is very exciting, being it’s the first day of a new year and all.  I’m determined to make my current “day job” just another client of mine and make the “life I want” turn into “the life I have and enjoy.”

When you get older, the years start ticking by, and you ask yourself… “What is it that I want?  What is really important?”   I’m starting to figure it out and it feels great.

I wish you and yours a very happy 2009!

Brad, Neema & Carrie

Today I learned of the death of a colleague and friend, Terry Long.  Terry is best known for his work in the local Baltimore Theater, but is also known as a wonderful husband to his dear love, Brian Erickson, and his work at The Children’s Guild.  Also for many, many more thoughts and memories as are apparent in his Facebook page’s many wall postings.

I knew him best as a man with a great sense of humor and as a great support to his friends.  I always bumped into him at shows, saw him at Brian’s art shows, ran into him at parties.  He always made me laugh and I had a strong sense of affection for him.

It’s strange when someone you know dies… I am a big believer in the after life; I speak with it almost daily.  So, I know in my heart he is fine.  However, I still don’t know EXACTLY what happens after your heart stops, so the mystery is intriguing.

It is hard experiencing the pain of losing someone in your life, knowing you will never hear their voice.  It’s weird; you almost immediately forget it for a moment.   It’s especially hard knowing that the person who has now vanished has left behind people who are real pain and will never be the same.  My heart and prayers go out to Terry’s fabulous husband Brian and all of his family and close friends.

One thing death does show me every time is how brilliantly beautiful life is and how fragile we all are.  It makes me hug just a little tighter, kiss just a little longer, and try to remember every posting of my Facebook status may just be my last.

Terry, we’ll all see you in the light, and may god bless your family during this difficult time.

Love and peace to all.

Maggie Spatarella was kind enough to not only take pictures the night of my Big Multi-Media CD Release Show, she also did a lovely photo montage!  Enjoy!

watch?v=Q4ZJ9rdbaDU