Megan Munroe in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer




All Seattlites word up:

Pick up a copy of Today's Seattle PI and catch up on what I have been doing in Nashville. Gene Stout was kind enough to take some time out to interview me last week and write up a cool little Q&A.

Support the written word, buy the paper- grab a cup of coffee (Vivace!) and read on.

xoxo,
Megan

Yes it's true!!

Megan Munroe now has original merchandise that you can purchase!

Perfect for first dates (a great conversation starter), perfect for meeting your significant others parents, (you should ditch any gear that screams status, like anything from Diesel, Megan Munroe gear is an equalizer), and the shirts and shirts are absolutely made for vegging out in front of your favorite show.

The caps are great for Gramps, and the buttons are great for the kiddies, the mugs are great for ANYONE, and the magnets are perfect for those who love cluttering up the fridge (me).

While these pieces of high quality clothing are not stain resistant, sweat wicking, or glow in the dark they do promote independent music and small businesses- which are both worthy causes.

And for all those hipsters...these might be the most uncool clothes that you can buy- think about how anti-establishment that makes you.

Ready to shop?

Go to cafepress.com/meganmunroe

and begin the spree.

I can guarantee if you are looking for clothes with my face on them, or my name- you are in luck!

Support music. Support Cafe Press. Support the economy. Spend.

Writer's Notes: So I have already gotten some mixed thoughts on this blog I am about to post, but after my market research was done, if you missed it: I needed you all to vote on "who you would rather marry"- which was my last blog post, but I wasn't actually researching anything about marriage although the results were fascinating.

However, I do want to preface the blog with this: I am NOT saying that digital friendship is entirely without merit, I am thankful for every single person that has made a positive comment about my music, or wanted to support me in my musical endeavors, or an old high school buddy that genuinely wanted to catch up...this blog is more about trying to touch upon a problem that I think has the potential to destroy real, blood flowing, heart touching, hand holding, face to face, relationships. I wish that I knew every single one of Myspace friends personally but I don't...while technology does bring so many people together that would have NEVER come together in any other age, I just want to remind us how important the friendships are that we have in our own backyards, within our communities and in our homes and families. No amount of texting, emailing, or blogging can replace the real satisfaction we are fortunate to have through human interaction.

I appreciate you all!

Here goes:

Do you ever get the feeling that despite the pseudo-personal connection that the internet provides through the virtual chloroplast of Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, that we are in some ways fanning the flame of fabricated interconnection?

It's like the witness protection program, we can all hide behind cute profile names and witty banter,while not really having to invest in people personally. Don't misunderstand- I love snooping around these online yearbooks, it's like spying with a backstage pass. Besides how else would I have known that the paste-eater in my third grade class would turn out to be my mom's veterinarian- let's hope that glue wasn't a gateway drug to start sniffing Lassie's formaldehyde.

I guess my point is, while we can assuage our conscious by saying that we commented on so-and-so's profile- does it actually qualify as a substitute for a flesh and blood phone call or a face-to-face over coffee?

I can't help but notice that my generation is privacy obsessed. For instance, if I were to pick up the phone and call someone, is that crossing some kind of boundary? To me, sometimes it seems invasive. How "friendly" do you have to be with someone to graduate from online to real life? Has virtual reality made the art of conversation nothing more than a "lazy man's letter"- a series of back and forth, tête-à-tête where we no longer stand on our own two feet but we rely on the font-friendly social crutch of texts and one liners?

For me, it's becoming a wheelchair! I love words, I am much better at commenting and writing letters than talking on the phone. Phone's make me nervous, and I am somewhat of a fast talker- I am constantly getting caught in that "talking-over-you-talking-over-me" thing- it's exhausting.

Which leads me to this: If I add up all of my"friends" online I have a total of 1,773. Whaaaaaa?? And yet when I look through my phone I have a total of 40 contacts. Granted, I don't want to have over 1700 numbers in my phone, but the fact of the matter is this: internet friends are somewhat like high school friends. You all hang out at the same place but when it comes to showing up for an event that you post, or reading your blog, or commenting your status,it's just too big of a school for everyone to care.

Egocentricity is king these days, so I decided to run a little experiment with my online clout. Aside from my fellow bloggers, who are all so diligent at reading each others blogs and encouraging each other to keep on being creative I wanted to recruit all of my "friends" online to see what kind of turn out I could get for my marriage blog/survey.

Thejury is in... a total of 11 people voted. And that's just about right.If you can get 11 people to take a minute out of their day to read your sporadic, typo-ridden, "look at me, look at me!" ramblings, I'd say that's pretty good.

Here's the people's vote: Marrying your Best Friend is the way to go by 64%. My advice is this: If you are going to marry your best "friend" make sure you get a real proposal, and not via text or an online "gift" digital ring in your inbox- which may be the next wave of humanistic abandonment, God forbid.

I hate to say this, but "virtual" friendship is just what the dictionary says it is:"noting an image formed by the apparent convergence of rays geometrically, but not actually, prolonged, as the image formed by a mirror (opposed to real)." Not real. Hmmm...

So call someone today, hug someone, or write a good old fashioned letter. Technology is great, but investing in those REAL friendships, there is no amount of convenience that can replace the satisfaction of that.

So, I need some help. I am working on a creative writing project and I need some solid Myspace research. Please follow this link and vote on this poll. http://www.polldaddy.com/p/1254483/

I appreciate your help everyone! Happy Wednesday : )

xoxo,
Megan

The New Year has begun, but if I am honest, it feels overwhelming. The truth is that every New Year feels that way to me. It's easy to figure out why, I blame my blind ambition. I make a goal list every year full of inexhaustible, uncompilable, over-achieving lofty aspirations, which one could never complete in one year let alone a decade.

All of those goals I didn't reach; those triathlons I didn't run, the number one song I didn't pitch, the writing contests I didn't enter, the novel that is still stuck in neutral- it's all these little missteps that cause me to once again reevaluate my life and wonder what goals should I make this year? Instead of making goals like, starting my own magazine by traveling around the world recruiting investors and learning two new languages it will be something like...read more books that aren't written by American authors or drink less diet soda.

You see, this time- and this year I want to be able to wake up on January 1st of next year and feel accomplished and progressive in my own behavior and thoughts. So this goal list for 2009 will be things I can and will actually do. So when the first decade of the New Millennium rounds itself out I can say , "Look, I did everything I wanted to in 2009", even if that means that getting nominated for a Pulitzer falls from the list with a thud.

There is something to be said for stretching yourself, and pushing yourself to do more than you thought you could, but there is also a joy in realism. When you come to a place that is in juxtaposition between the two, it is then that you can enjoy little victories which over time compound into larger ones.

So for my simple little self here are a few things that I would like to accomplish this year:

1. Be content with my life on a daily basis. This will look something like: don't curse the gods when those lopsided burners inside my oven burn up every pizza we make- instead, just eat the unburnt side and be happy that we even have a working oven.
2. Be thankful more and think about my self less, and stop wondering "What am I doing with my life?" (Since I don't want this to end up on the things I didn't accomplish in 2009, because how impossible is it for a melancholy artist to not ask such a question, I will change it to " What can I do today that will add value to the quality of my life?".
3. Enjoy coffee, but have at least one cup of tea a week coupled with a good book in my favorite chair.
4. Write a whole lot of awful songs to completion. I am notorious for stopping mid-way through a song when my I realize how ridiculous and awkward the progression is- Oh and I need to stop worrying that someone has bugged my house and will post the whole lot of melodious crap on You Tube.
5. Call my husband by his nicknames even when I am angry. They are so silly, that I am pretty sure I would crack up right in the middle of an argument if used. Relational tension diffuser? Create stupid nick names. (ie: Beanser)
6. Give myself a break. If I don't make it to the gym, or if I have a chocolate craving that I cave in to or drink too much wine- I refuse to berate myself. Guilt is sooo 2008 and I am leaving that one behind.
7. Stop hiding out in the comfort of complacency. I may work forty hours a week but I am tired of using that as an excuse to not be creative, play gigs, write stories, paint canvases. I have the rest of my life to get good sleep (giving up sleep is a huge sacrifice for me), so I need to do other things outside of my comfort zone this year that don't involve coming home, hitting the couch, watching TV and zoning out.
8. Stop thinking about going home. I am in Nashville for a reason and with a new home, there is no point in fantasizing about a place that isn't the way I remember it as being. Home will always be there for you, but adventure? Well, that is a destination that few ever find.
9. Money comes and money goes. Bottom line. Don't waste any thoughts on worrying about money.
10. Take better care of my skin. Drink more water. Floss every night (hmm...at least four times a week).
11. Dance.
12. Learn to cook.
13. Don't expect anything, just enjoy surprises as they come.
14. Throw out all of those clothes that I am hanging on to because they used to fit...like um, seven years ago. Just toss them and embrace the new me.
15. Laugh at myself more.
16. Stop relying on other people to make me feel important.
17. Cry when I feel like it.
18. Use real butter.
19. Get nervous more often. This usually means that I am doing something unfamiliar, and that's always a good thing.
20. Pray constantly.

* I get a nod from 9513 right alongside Willie...

* Check out this review! It is so nice to read an article about your music when you truly feel like the person who wrote it completely encapsulated who you are. Thanks to the Melodic Sunburst and to 9513.


http://www.the9513.com/willie-nelson-goes-naked-for-new-album/

http://melodicsunburst.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/megan-munroe-one-more-broken-string/

xoxo,
Megan

I am now a member of My Country Space that is generated by CMT! Go ahead and check it out or sign up for your own profile if you are a fan of country music. There is some great talent on there.

Yippee!

http://mycountryspace.com/MeganMunroe

Today's Country Magazine Online, Countryhound, and Canada's own That's Country picked up my blurb....sweet. What a great way to start a Wednesday.

http://www.todayscountrymag.com/meganmunroe128.htm

http://www.countryhound.com/megan-monroe-enters-national-stage

http://thatscountry.com/am2/publish/Country_News_2/004893.shtml

xoxo,
Megan

So....I have been notified that my tunes have been seeing some action. If any of you live in these beautiful places, tune in. I am international baby, this makes me all warm inside. : )


1.    THE NETHERLANDS: Havenstad FM- Dutch Playlist (Roel Stäbler MD/DJ - C. Houtmanstraat 41 - 9934 HE Delfzijl –site:  http://www.havenstadfm.nl)             
WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Nothing is Easy Anymore

2.    SWITZERLAND-RVM-FM- (Dr. Massimiliano Capezzali- ECUBLENS (VD)                                                                                  
 WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Angel on Fire

3.    MARMOUTIER, FRANCE: OLD TIME & NEW COUNTRY (On Tuesday & Friday-from 07.45 AM to11.00 AM JEAN CASTRO                                                                                                               
WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Pennies in the Ocean, Angel on Fire, and Angel on my Shoulder (Devil on my Back)

4.    THE NETHERLANDS- Country Style 922 & 509- Stadsradio Helmond (107.2 MHz (ether) www.stadsradiohelmond.nl/countrystyle-Centraal FM Radio, 105.7 MHz (ether) Www.omroepcentraal.nl                                                    
WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Nothing is Easy Anymore

5.    BELGIUM: American Music Belgium playlists 3744 & 3745 for Thursday December 4, 2008 from 9-11 AM local time. American Music online through:-www://americanmusicbelgium.homestead.com
WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Shameless Fool

6.    CANADA: Randall Cousins Brave New Frontiers-Brampton ON, L6V 3T5 www.alleged-iguana.com/bnf.htm

7.    SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: THE COSMIC COWBOY CAFÉ (est. 1996) 2RRR 88.5 FM Sydney, Australia
WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Nothing is Easy Anymore

8.   THE NETHERLANDS: Program "Countryland" Radio Barneveld
Mail studio: countryland(AT)radiobarneveld.nl Listen Countryland live:    www.countryland.nl.
WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Nothing is Easy Anymore

9.    SCOTLAND:    http://celticcountryplaylists.blogspot.com/
WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING: Angel on Fire

hushandsuch.blogspot.com

How did I just discover a home for my poetry and ramblings?

xoxo,
Meg