I didn't start singing until I was in my mid-twenties. My
first song
was written on a roll of toilet paper at my boyfriend's apartment. I
had had a really terrible day and I was at his place by myself. All of
a sudden this idea for a song hit me and I searched desperately for
paper to write it down. Couldn't find any so I grabbed the roll of
toilet paper out of his bathroom and started to write. What emerged was
my first song. Song writing is like that for me. It is difficult for me
to just sit down and write one. It has to come to me but when it does I
have to get it out. The song Everything Matters came to me in a dream.
I woke up from this dream in the middle of the night and ran and got my
guitar and wrote it out. The song that emerged was nothing like the
song in the dream except for the line You made a difference just
because you tried. I'm a teacher by profession and at the time I was
having a difficult time both personally and professionally. Nothing I
did seemed to be going right. This song is for all of those people that
just keep trying to make it work when the whole world seems dead set
against them. Sometimes you just have to go with your heart and see
what turns out. The first band I played with was called Just Us. It was
comprised of my husband and myself and a really good friend. We did a
lot of Bob Dylan stuff and Neil Young. A lot of really great tunes.
Then we had a percussionist join us whose name was Louis so we became
Julius. For Julia, Louis and Us. He moved on and we got a bass player
to join us. He was totally awesome. His name was Cesar so we became
Julius Cesar and our first album we cut was called Tossed Salad. Then
we got a damned fine drummer to join our ranks named Nick Sanchez. I'll
never forget that day. We'd tried out all kinds of drummers. I've found
the hardest people to bring into a band are bass players and drummers.
It either works or it doesn't. Anyway all of the drummers were just
crazy. So this guy calls us and says he wants to come over and try out
but he needs some help getting his gear over there. So Jerry goes over
with his truck. He comes in and says you guys aren't going to believe
this. This guy is only fifteen. We just looked at each other and
laughed but he was so good. We had to promise his mom we wouldn't let
him drink. So then we decided we needed a new name. We became The
Aborigines. I've always been fascinated with Australia and the
Aboriginial culture and I just liked the idea that it meant we were the
originals. So we went with it. What an awesome experience. Those guys
were terrific. We had the best time. Then Cesar went back to El Paso.
He had the masters of the last album we had cut and we had to hunt it
down from him. Finally our good friend Robert went to El Paso and
convinced him to send them to us. Nick moved on to bigger and better
things and Jerry, Aaron and I just kept trucking along. Well this past
year Aaron and I split up. So the band did too. So now it is just me.
Music has been good to me and luckily I have friends that I can play
and sing with. I just really love it. It's not my career so I wouldn't
consider myself professional and I'm not sure where this path is going
to take me. I'm just getting my feet wet. But it is fun. I went to the
Kerrville Folk Festival and camped out with Camp Ducttape at Little
Folk this year. What an awesome experience. I look forward to doing
that again. I've been singing around town with various bands and at
various jams. I'm just enjoying the ride right now. Anyway if you
happen to come across this page, let me know what you think. I'd
appreciate it. Thanks! ----Julia
Which Magical Dark Creature Are You?
