In the wake of my mother’s passing, I wrote. Not unusual for me - flamboyant, insatiable, life-loving, pain-relishing artists like me often like to indulge in a little harmless, narcissistic me-time, during which we relish all of our musings, thoughts, pains, and desires, as if to put them on paper was to  actualize them. But what was significantly unusual about my “in memoriam” posts was the response –my thoughts reached people. To the extent that my first post, “me-mo-ry”, was blown up and printed on poster board at her funeral.

            So, everyone told me, “you are a beautiful writer. Keep writing. You should be a writer!” Interesting. I’ve never “tried” at writing. It just sort of happens, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a talent, but rather a defieciency, one where I am incapable of filtering the rambling, ponderous fireworks in my head as my fingers shatter away at the keyboard. So, what results, is apparently effective, since it is nothing but the truth, and in no other way than how I would say it if I was speaking to you. Hence the confusion of these first two paragraphs. (How many of you are thinking, “where the hell is she going with this?” Yeah, yeah. Hold on. I’ll get to it).

            At any rate. Once upon a time, I started this blog because I knew I needed to set the fire underneath me to start writing regularly, with a purpose other than my prose-poetry that, while I think it is quality work, probably won’t ever make sense to anyone on a recognizable level. Then my life took over, and I realized my purpose in life, yadda yadda, and the blog disappeared; and somewhere along the line I subconsciously decided that a career in music , a career in food and a career in writing were not the same thing. Not the case: as a composer, music scholar and arts administrator , my new career path of choice, I figure that some sort of combination of music criticism and lifestyle writing will suit me well. Especially because my ultimate goal is for classical music to become “everyday”, as enjoyable in sweats with a side of peanut butter as in a gown with a nice Shiraz.  Food, of course, is inescapable in the realm of art and sensuality.

            This blog is the experiment.

            So, the Culture Queen: bringing snobby music and snobby food to nice people.

            This summer, everything in my life took flight, and things started falling into place. So, I’m hoping that they can fall into place here too, and you can read about it.

            Happy listening, and happy eating! A new post with a recipe and some musical thoughts will come soon.