My Talented Friends: Part Three

Welcome to part three of the "My Talented Friends" series! Today I will tell you about Rachel Lynn Sebastian.  You may remember Rachel from my Starry, Starry Night post.

Rachel is my opposite in almost every way.  She is upbeat and optimistic.  My nickname is Worst-Case-Scenario Girl.  Rachel is a focused and driven musician who works seemingly unabated toward her goals.  I gave up on music after a couple bookers were mean to me.  She is spiritual.  I cringe at the word "hallelujah."  She is open.  I am certified in masonry (the wall-building type, not the Grand Lodge type).

Perhaps because she is so opposite, I am very grateful to know her.  I learn something from Rachel every time I see her.  And I love it.  Her joie de vivre is nothing short of inspiring.

Sunday night Dan and I went to see Rachel perform at the Room 5 Lounge.

The intimate atmosphere was a perfect setting for her engaging style.  She performed with transparency and unrestrained emotion to the packed room - even inviting us to sing along - which of course made me very uncomfortable.  Someone is reaching out to me?  Avoid!  Protect! 

Now, Rachel is not all bubbles and sunshine.  She performed her song 'Don't Touch Me' with fierceness and even anger, but she seems to have mastered the art of channeling life's kicks into song and weeding the effects of those kicks out of everyday life.  

As Rachel mentioned in the above video, she wrote that song in Korea.  And speaking of Korea, here is a video of Rachel rocking a cover while there. I have watched it about 10 times already.  This girl  embodies a daring charisma on stage that I can only dream of harnessing. 

You can check out more of her music here.  Rachel also teaches voice and performance.  If you are interested, check our her website here.

So, here's hoping that some of Rachel will rub off on me.  Cheers.

Starry, Starry Night

When I look up into the sky on any given night in LA, all I see is an orange glow.  No stars.  No nuthin’.   Joshua Tree National Park is a 2 to 3 hour drive outside of the city and my favorite place to stargaze. 

Last year I drove to Joshua Tree with a few friends to watch the Orionid meteor shower. “Orionid” just means that during this particular annual shower, the meteors appear to be emanating from the Orion constellation.  Most meteor showers occur when the earth travels through a comet’s debris path (Haley’s comet in Orionid’s case).  As the debris crashes into earth’s atmosphere we see bright lights streak across the sky – as a kid you knew them as shooting stars.

I had such a great time last year that I was hoping it would become a tradition.  As with most hopes, I took it upon myself to see it fulfilled.  Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I drove out to Joshua Tree with my husband and friends Patrick and Rachel in tow to watch the Perseid meteor shower.  Constellation: Perseus. Comet: Swift-Tuttle.

After a few unexpected adventures (a note to California roadway engineers: you make it easy to get off the freeway; could you try remembering that we must eventually find our way back on?) and lessons (did you know that it is creepy to whistle in a rest stop bathroom in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night? I didn’t.) we made it to the park.  The feeling you get when you step out of the car, look up into the sky, and see millions of stars where a few hours earlier there was nothing but an orange glow… ah, that is a good feeling.

We blew up a couple air mattresses, laid back, and watched the sky fall.

Patrick made a valiant attempt to fuel our adventure with coffee.

Black and Decker fell through on this one, so I drank Red Bull and whiskey instead.

{ Cup reads: Best Meteor Shower Ever }



The sun came up fast and hot.  The feeling you get when you look around and know that there is no one else around for miles… ah, that is also quite a good feeling.

Joshua Tree offers more than just stargazing.  Another favorite activity is rock scrambling or bouldering.  Before heading back to the city, we did a little scrambling to the top of this nearby rockpile...

We did not want to leave, but alas, it was over 80 degrees before 7a.m.  It was back to LA for the 4 of us.



What were you doing yesterday morning at 3am?  Well, officer, I was laying on the desert floor in the middle of Joshua Tree National Park watching a meteor shower.  What were YOU doing?