xoxoxo

M

Chapter One-Bald is Beautiful

September 20, 1978, Lawrence County Hospital, 4:00 pm-An exceptionally fat, long, baby emerges abnormally large head first to greet the world. Noisily showing an early distaste for being told what to do, baby is placed lying down on mother's stomach, when she suddenly stops crying, conserves all her energy to lift up that big bald melon, and gazes all around the room as if to say "Okay, I'm here now.  You may commence adoring me".

After much conversation, it is determined that baby girl Dodson will answer to the worldly moniker of Marti Lynn.  As an adult, the fact has not escaped me that my father's favorite country singer in 1978 was Marty Robbins.  No one will confess to this....but I do feel oddly compelled to sing the song "El Paso" on a weekly basis.  Coincidence?  I think not.

2 years later-head is slightly more proportionate to body, but still devoid of anything that could be mistaken for hair.  Ambitious mother scrapes together some dandelion-esque tufts to clip into a goody barrette (pink, of course) thereby proclaiming "See! IS a girl!"

The next few years are the short but prosperous time when I was the baby...I like to refer to this glorious time as "The Rummage Sale Era".  When you're 3, and you get to alternate your two favorite t-shirts every day (yellow with ice cream cones, and mini cleveland browns jersey), life is pretty darn good.  Every day I put on my football jersey and went to work in the front yard building my bridges and highways out of sticks and rocks, and then singing stick and rock songs to the ant travelers.

Any days I wasn't perfecting modern architecture, we had two other game plans: story time at the library (read:mommy needs a break from you) and going Rummage Salin'!  Nothing is more appealing to a toddler than gathering a collection of items that other people would like to throw away.  By the time I was 5, I had a closet full of old lady purses and shoes that Carol Brady would have killed for.  Not to mention a FULL copy of the Grease soundtrack on a 58, lyrics and all! (Mommy, what's 'lousy with virginity' mean?)

The downfall of the rummage sale era began when I started accidentally selling out my mom about the junk we were buying.  Every time I'd visit my mamaw and she'd ask me where I got my cute (shirt/shoes/toy), I'd dip my head and with a coy smile, say sweetly "rummage saaaale". No matter where I got it.  'Rummage saaaale.'

When mamaw asked if there were money problems she needed to know about, that was pretty much the end of the rummage sale glory days.

Things were still pretty smooth for me though.  I had a big sister who would read me Christopher Robin and Winnie The Pooh tales at bedtime, a brother who would fly me in the air so I could pretend to be the dancers on Fame!, and a dad who would save me the little debbie cake in his lunch box when he came home from the plant at night.  What more did I want?

Well, I'll tell you what I didn't want.  Which leads us to chapter two.

"The Brother That Nobody Wanted" (and by nobody, I mean me)..a word of advice to adults...when a child is accustomed to being the the baby in the family, the 9 months of pregnancy are not enhanced by constant reminders of "Oh, who's not gonna be the baby anymore?  Who has to be a big girl now?  Who has to help mommy and daddy with the baby cause they won't have time for you? And if we're being honest, you're growing out of your cute phase so why don't we send you away so we can all just take care of the baby?"  Seriously, people. PBGSTSD.  Pre Big Sister Traumatic Stress Disorder.  It DOES exist.

Six years old, last day of school, and the day baby brother comes home from the hospital!  Kind of excited about it now, after all, he gets presents, I get presents, you know?  Running down the driveway, get to the front door...WHAT IS THAT SMELL??

Oh, he just had a little accident.  Diaper change time!  

WHO ORDERED THIS BABY?

to be continued..

So I'm ready to reveal one of the things I've been working on...I'm a big fan of all the vampire stuff that's out there right now, including Twilight and True Blood and the books that inspired them.  Just for kicks, I wrote a song with some friends of mine about vampire lovin' and the record label really liked it, so we ended up doing a whole project!  Here's the link:

In case that doesn't work, the page is also the number one friend on the SJ page and you can link from there.  I'm super excited about this, and it was REALLY fun to work on.  I forgot how much I love being creative just for the sake of being creative, and not worrying about writing a "radio-friendly" song.  

Check it out...happy halloween, see you soon!

xoxoxo

Marti

After a few years in this biz, I am pleased to say that I have learned a few things.  For example:  Don't sit next to Brandon the morning after he pulls an all-nighter.  Always be grateful for the opportunities you have.  Gargle with saltwater right before you go onstage.  Laugh, always.  Speak up for yourself-nobody else will!  Be kind to your friends, fans, and strangers.  Avoid most gas station pre-cooked food.  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER read reviews or comments that people leave about you in public forums. 

Guess which one I did tonight?

I am good with constructive criticism.  If you can tell me what I'm doing wrong and how I could do it better, I am all ears.  (I'm kind of all ears anyway, thanks to my genes..you should see my kindergarten picture..gives Dumbo a run for his money.)  But I'm a little (okay, overly) sensitive.  When I see other people cry, I get a lump in my throat (they don't even have to be real people-tv and movies work too, including that ad campaign Kleenex ran awhile ago..choked me up every 10 minutes or so).  Once I drove past a homeless lady with a kid and a will-work-for-food sign and I felt so bad that I went back out 3 hours later, bawling, with McDonald's and some money and drove around until I found her.  Not because I am such a noble person-because I'm a sucker for a sad story.  And even after all this time, when people say mean things, it still hurts my feelings.  (Clearly I am well-suited to a life in the public eye, eh?)  Tonight I stumbled upon something accidentally.  I was online letting my mom hear a version of one of my songs recorded by somebody else...a version I happen to love, for the record..and I made the critical mistake of scrolling down (ugh-I KNOW better!)...came upon an argument between multiple people over which one was better.  And of course, though lots of people said nice things about me, the nasty ones are sticking in my gut.  And of course, once I started reading, I couldn't stop.  You would think after many years of criticism AND positivity, I'd be over that crap bugging me..which is why, for the most part, I just avoid it.  But alas, here I sit, like a big old turtle without a shell.  ('Cause I'm a softie.  Not because I'm naked.)

Actually, just writing this is making me feel better, because now instead of thinking about that, I'm thinking about you guys and how great and encouraging you always are.  Way earlier today, mom and I were talking all the hate in the world.  Let's face it, people..life is hard.  For ALL of us..no matter what color we are, how much money we have, what we weigh, and who we choose to love-these are tough times.  And I guess I just don't see the point in putting more ugliness out there.  Occasionally, when I feel like I'm sinking low, I do challenges with myself..I go 72 hours without saying anything that's not positive, or if I think something bad about somebody, I make myself think of 2 good things about them.  Frequently I lose..but the point is, though I can be a jerk too, I'm trying.

This is getting really long, and I guess what I want to say is, let's put more love into the world.  I'm sick of haters and unhappiness, including my own.  Some of you guys will comment on this-it would be awesome if in your comment you could tell me something good about somebody..anybody..someone you know, someone you don't..so we can all share it.  In the wise words of those poetic geniuses, Ren & Stimpy:  HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!

And also, if you ever have a day where you are a shell-less turtle and you get stepped on, you just let me know and I will break their legs. Er, wait..that's not nice.  What I mean is that I will give them a stern talking-to about turtles and kleenex commercials until they are either so bored or so guilty that they will never be a butthole again.

xoxoxoxo
M

The song I set it to is one we wrote back in the spring called "Once In A Lifetime".  Here are the lyrics:

This is the kind of moment

That you can hang your hat on

Ordinary comes and goes..

These are the kind of memories

That make a life worth looking back on

Follow everywhere you go

Breathe it out and take it in

You'll never pass this way again

This air, this sky

This long goodbye

It's once in a lifetime.

Those words, that kiss

Don't blink, you'll miss

You were made for this..

It's once in a lifetime.

There's never one right answer

No magic word or number

What you see is what you get.

You live it now or never,

Nobody gets a million years 

To wait for what hasn't happened yet.

Breathe it out and take it in

Once in a lifetime, you walk in the sunlight

Open your eyes, don't you hide cause it's too bright

Once in a lifetime, you dream and it comes true

Once in a lifetime, it's all for you.

I posted a new song for you guys to jam to..."Love Can't Save Us Now".  yep, that's right, it's a real uplifter ;-)...

Onto my survey (I keep typing surveRy...not a word...but is kind of fun to say...)...if you guys were gonna pick a song from recent months that I posted up here to be our next single, what would you say?  I need to decide on one that works with what's currently out there...there's lots of 'em on the page, take a listen to any of the ones that have "demo" after the title....

xoxoxo

Marti

p.s.  My hotel room right now is clean.  I'm not even a little bit itchy.

I posted a new demo, this is one of my favorites out of stuff written in the last 6 months..it's the tale of that boy (or girl..) that just WON'T go away.  Hope you like it...

xoxoxo

M

Baby when it's dark, that's when I put my sunglasses on

When I go out at night I walk right past all the velvet ropes

Everybody loves when I get wasted

They all wanna be my friend on facebook

I get everything I want for free,

Rules do not apply to me...

Every door is open and you never have to wait

When you're famous (you get everything you want)

Lots of cars and lots of money

Throw it at me, wannabe

Famous (you get everything you want)

Every move I make shows up somewhere on the internet

Every time my mouth opens I say something more stupid

No amount of money I can't spend

And every week I have a new best friend

I don't ever have regrets,

'Cause someone else cleans up my mess...

Paparazzi, take my picture

Make sure I stay young forever

Put me on the front page story

Don't believe the things you see.

The sun will always shine on me, cause I'm famous

I get everything I want for free, cause I'm famous

And you never sleep alone.