thelesbianlifestyle.com

Hi, All. This is the TLL Music inaugural interview! I’d like to thank Kelly for allowing me to do this, as well as our first brave soul, Nora Ricci, with whom I had the opportunity to sit down (via email).

Very few things translate well through text, but I was immediately struck by Nora Ricci’s ability to communicate through music. She is light years beyond the whiny acoustic wannabe whose melodramatic attempts at folk, poison your late afternoon espresso at the coffee house down the street. She is a well-educated, experienced, professional musician. Despite her studies, she remains passionate and articulate about her creative process. Furthermore, I have once heard it said that if you write down your goals, you are more than twice as likely to accomplish them. Read about how song-writing has helped Nora Ricci change her life.

C.C. – Hi! First, I’d like to thank you for your time and for checking out our blog! I noticed, from your bio, that you are classically trained in music theory and percussion. Which instrument, if any, have you come to regard as your first language?

NORA – I have been playing the piano since I was about 3 or 4…I took lessons for only 4 years, and then gave up my seemingly tedious piano lessons (advocated by my mother) for, of course, soccer (which was coached by my father)….however, after a year, I felt a longing for those keys, and, instead of resuming lessons, I taught myself by ear and would mimic songs I heard on National Public Radio (which was always playing in the house): Mozart, Chopin, etc., and then I gravitated more towards jazz and blues. The piano is my reflection–it is attached to me–I am nothing without it, even though I play the guitar most of the time with the band. There is something so passionate and soothing about the sound of the piano–it’s esoteric, ineffable, and ethereal.

C.C. – How was the switch over to guitar? Was there anything in particular about what you were trying to communicate that lent itself to the guitar as a performance medium?

NORA – I gravitated to the guitar, simply, for practical reasons. You can take it anywhere, pick it up anytime, and, I believe it stimulated me as a challenge to learn a new instrument with absolutely no training what-so-ever. I have never taken a guitar lesson, though I HAVE taught, lol! What I found intriguing about the guitar was that, because of my extensive percussion training, I was able to incorporate that percussive nature into a harmonious language. The songs I write on guitar tend to be very syncopated and percussively guttural.

C.C. – Please tell us about your current band lineup and what they bring to your music.

NORA – I have attempted the “band” thing before, but it just never felt right. Being in a band is like being in a relationship: you have to have chemistry, respect, honesty, love, and the same goals for the future. To find that in one person, let alone 3, is incredibly difficult, as we all know. My boys, though, are amazing. I have Richie DiStefano on drums, Jim Kinler on bass, and John Marcus on lead guitar (the band, of course, is called JeNDeR). These guys have played with or opened for the likes of Sheryl Crow, 38 special, Molly Hatchet, Gretchen Wilson, etc. They have been in this business much longer than I have and I learn more and more from them every day. Already our calendar is being booked at an exponential rate. We have only been together since January, and we have over 60 shows booked through the end of the year.

C.C. – How did the “Beer goggles” song come about? It’s pretty funny. Is it based on personal experience at all?

NORA – Beer Goggle Blues, is a song that any one of us could have written, you know? It was inspired by too many instances of meeting someone for the first time under the influence of alcohol and then seeing them again when you’re sober, lol! I know that makes me sound like and ass (and a drunk) –I, of course, even say that in the song (that I‘m an ass), anyway, but what’s great is that I recognize that surely someone must have felt the same way about me at one time (or maybe a few), lol! It’s a song that is just so much fun to sing/play AND to hear. We have so much fun with it. Audiences love the band to play it. It is one of our most requested originals!

C.C. – Is there a woman in your life right now? If so, how has being in a relationship influenced your music?

NORA – There IS a woman in my life. I hear that it’s better to keep that kind of thing a mystery as an entertainer; however, she is my rock, and there is no way I would ever deny her role in my life. She has saved me, inspired me, and teaches me how to be a better person every day. We share a beautiful life together with two dogs and two kids. I was a wreck before I met her; completely lost. Being in this business is a wonderful and yet dangerous experience: you are exposed to the underbelly of entertainment, everyone tries to be your friend, or so you think, but their motives are always to be questioned. Instead of hugs and warm dinner parties with friends, you get drugs and 3-day after-parties. As an artist, as I consider myself (not just a “rock star”), you are so fragile and easily influenced that your innate curiosity for the world leads you down a very dark, spiraling, path. I’ve been clean (as I am typing you this today) for 1 year 2 months and 20 days.

Being a career musician pours the pavement for a very abnormal lifestyle, but she (Kerrie) and all that we share together, make the most sense out of my non-sensical, abstract, artist world. I could go on talking about how wonderful she is, but I think the interview is supposed to be about my music, lol…so…

C.C. – Burning slowly is a beautifully haunting song. Your work on piano is especially nice! How did this song develop?

NORA – Ahhhh… “Burning Slowly.” What a song, eh? “Burning Slowly,” as well as quite a few of my songs, actually, are introspectively inspired. I wrote that song on a sabbatical trip back to my home state of Virginia. I was in the middle of a chaotic time in my life (drugs, etc) and I knew that I wanted out, but just didn’t know what to do, or have the strength, honestly, so I went home. My mom teaches at my old high school and still has my cherry baby grand piano (that was my 16th birthday present) sitting in the living room. That week I was there, I sat at the piano 8 hours at a time just playing–letting all of my confusion, loneliness, and weakness out on the keys. That is when “Burning Slowly” began. The music arrived first, a very haunting progression and I was just overwhelmed. I think, actually, that it would make an amazing orchestral piece.

I never really know what I am writing about until it is all said and done.Then it makes perfect sense. I don’t always write in the first-person, but that doesn’t mean that it is not autobiographical, you know? I think the songs I write that don’t sound like they are about me, really are. I knew enough, when writing the song, that I wasn’t a bad person, that I just made bad decisions, and that I wanted out–out of everything in which I had immersed myself. At the same time, was I strong enough to get out? Could I leave the demons behind? Because most of the time demons are masqueraded as angels, and it makes for a very confusing situation, especially for someone so empathetic and vulnerable as myself. I mean, think about it–here are the lyrics:

“Lonely people, everywhere/are we evil/or are we just scared/of the demons inside/the devils we hide/so I’ll cry on the night the stars said goodbye/ I might start a fight with myself and all these lies/the world is lonely/burning slowly tonight/ the moon has fallen to the floor/ devil’s makin’ promises at my door/ for the soul I’ve given/ the hell I’m gonna’ live in/”

It’s funny how a songwriter can write something as jovial as “Beer goggle blues” and as melancholic as “Burning slowly,” don’t you think?

Anyway, needless-to-say, I returned from the sabbatical and was unable to make a turn-around, but it was the beginning of a readiness, so to say–it was the first musically-documented acknowledgement of my desire for change.

C.C. – Any significant influences on your work including other artists and life experiences?

NORA – Significant influences. Hmmm…Well, again, I come from a versatile background. I studied with Rstropovich and the National Symphony Orchestra in my early teen years. I was obsessed with Harry Connick Jr. when all the other girls were listening to New Kids on the Block. I was raised with classical music AND folk music streaming through the house (my parents were wanna-be-hippies, lol.) I studied neo-classical music composition at The University of Siena during my late teens. I don’t know–Now it seems like every song I write has a different style or influence to it–Some are bluesy, some jazzy, some country-esque, and some just good ol’ rock ‘n roll.

C.C. – Have you been experimenting with any new songwriting strategies?

NORA- Songwriting strategies? Hmm…Truthfully, I don’t control the songs; They control me. When a song wants to come out, it does…and it comes out in full force. Luckily, my degree from Salem College included a major in Poetic Analysis and Composition (as well as Philosophy), so I am able to successfully guide and contain the stories and emotions as they birth themselves through the music.

C.C. – Is there anything else you would like for the readers at TLL to know?

NORA – I want everyone to know that I am silly as I am serious. I love to be poetically jarring and in the next breath (or song) make a complete ass of myself. That’s what I believe you have to do, in life, in order to maintain some sort of sanity. I was made so much fun of when I was in middle school (such an acne-ridden awkward stage–I was a little skater girl), it’s surprising that I have chosen a career that places me in front of large crowds (with a huge target on my face).

Check out Nora Ricci’s music at www.myspace.com/noraricci, then go put on your beer goggles and see her solo or with JeNDer on your next trip to Florida!

-C.C