Jullian James » music

Dragonflies

Jullian — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:52:21 +0000

Adapting to change with indescribable ease, reflecting multiple colors with changing angles of light. Capable of flight in all directions, up, down, left, right, forwards and backwards. The nature of the fly is that of a human to me. The dragonfly is so parallel with man that it’s spiritual meaning seem to be exactly what we all pray for on our own journeys to strength, and happiness. Have you ever found yourself caught in the path of the flies making way, floating fast with a slight bob in the air like the free spirit of a child? The presence of this leaves you captivated, like they know, they understand the will of living, and the rewards of a happy existence. I believe the world to be so powerful. Inspiration floating right in front of our faces, all we have to do is be willing to take a chance, and break through this mold, this barrier we have found so vital to our acceptance. Did you know the dragonfly does not beat their wings in unison like other insects do? Their front wings can be going up while their back wings are going down! I call it “living in between the beats of music; Being different.” We are so afraid to fly our own way in our own direction that we change ourselves to fly in others paths, because it’s safe, and it is “acceptable.” I find it ironic though, because we are all so enamored with the lives of those who don’t conform, who seem to flap their wings a little differently. We fall in love with them, we want to learn from them, take on their ways, and do the things they did to make them happy… But how does that fare, when everyone one of us is beautiful in our own right? We all carry beauty, we all have our own trinkets, our own special rhythm. We get so caught up in trying to be something what we are not personally, and spiritually, that in turn we literal lose ourselves, and forget truly what makes us as individuals, as “dragonflies” happy. I can not conform to someone I am not. I will work, and I will fight for what I believe. With my music I want to help people see it is ok to move to your own beat, and fly your own path. Oh how beautiful it would be to remain individuals, and enjoy the beauties of others. Because we are all Dragonflies~

My Souldier team at Sway Lounge

Jullian — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:36:15 +0000

Thanks to everyone who came out to my show at SWAY to support Musicians On Call. Your energy was great. Can’t wait to perform again soon! thankful~

Tuesday March 13th – Live at Sway in NYC

Jullian — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 11:26:55 +0000

The Record

Jullian — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:43:15 +0000

I always felt great artists could invoke feelings in people. Feelings they did not know they did not know. Feelings people had missed in themselves, maybe feelings they pain to feel again, even feelings to inspire new life. Great artists inspire this all through fearless sounds, and words with the last of their mind payed to how ugly it may be, or how close to the bone the pain of these uncoverings may make themselves, and the listener feel. February 8th 2011 I walked into the production studio with a vision. My inspiration was the world, and all that the world entails I wrapped this hefty inspiration around my life story. I took smells, sounds, movements, desires, pains, lessons, colors, music, places, things, people, cultures, time periods, and created a platform of likings for myself somewhere I could sit comfortably, and compose beautiful music. January 24th 2012 I walked out with my vision physically in my hand. In the most literal way I could possibly put it, I held my life in my hands as I walked Hell’s Kitchen uptown making my way home to take a listen. There are many words, and many ways to express a feeling, but when a man is blessed with a physically obtainable vision of all he’s dreamed, anything that could be said out loud would be an understatement to the way his spirit feels inside. Swiftly within the past year my faith has grown strong, my belief in man has grown strong, and my love for this world has grown great. What more could an artist ask for than a platform of unlimited inspiration, and beauty? I say nothing!

Debut Record: “From My Integrated Soul”

…And The Day Came

Jullian — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:23:02 +0000

…And the day came when the boy in the over-sized hat grew into his own and was able to open up his gift and share it with the world! The release party has been set to January 31st at The Hudson Terrace, 621 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036! My first single, “My Sweet Radio,” an acoustic version entitled ”My Radio (The Mississippi Blend),” and one of my feel-so-good tracks, “Don’t Trip, And Fall,” will all be released! It’s been an incredible journey with overwhelming adventures stamped into my memory for the rest of my life. I can only imagine what is to come! If I have learned even just one thing on this path into my own, it is that a second chance is always possible and that with hard work, sweat, and maybe a few buckets of tears, so is happiness! There are so many special people involved in this ever growing project entitled ”From My Integrated Soul” and I hope that they have gained and taken with them even a tinkling of the hope that I have. In essence it seemed so simple. I decided to live, focus, and remedy an itch I wouldn’t have been able to ignore any longer and that’s just making some great ol’ fashion feel good music!!! Thankful to family, friends, and my supporters. Your belief in this project has brought it to life~ Amen

In Between The Beat Of A City’s Tune

Jullian — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:25:10 +0000

Lifted brow to the sky, mild mood, hands held high. “Just give me a beat!” the old fashioned man said. Dressed from head to toe in everything but shirt to shoe cohesion, miss-matching with a bright pink top. Hat to boot, the man couldn’t be more content. All he wanted to do was sing, turning noise into music at every turn, his spirit was as energized as a young boy on Christmas morning awaiting the new family pet to show face from under the tree! This blind man made his way to what we call the city of dreams. To him it was music, the city of noise! At every corner, a new instrument, from the gallop of a horses hoof, to a dogs bark, to a taxi horn, all just enough to inspire a tune! A man most would call homely and unfortunate, on the contrary, he would say, “just consider me the lucky one. I have a gift. I hear sounds most never hear.” When asked to explain, he would reply, “have you been to the park in the village where the pigeons meet? It’s like an arrangement of bells and whistles, an ensemble of feathers, a living breathing orchestra! Or maybe under the streets where millions of feet scurry, shoes are clacking, people huffing to achieve their destinations while trains come to screaming halts. I hear subway vocalists resembling a chorus of sorts to these scurrying entities. Just give me a beat. Sight means no more to me than the excitement of your new sparkling shoe. My ears are my gratitude. The world is my symphony. I need not see what I hear so clearly…” You will find this miss-matched man dancing in the streets, a slanted grin to the left side of his face aimlessly scouring the city for the next big hit! A grateful man, we should say, a free spirit, an angel. How sweet to meet people that dance to different beats, that live and breathe in between the notes of life. How fortunate we are to experience these off-the-beat souls… Refreshing, I’d say. Grateful. I welcome you.

The Singing Dragon

Jullian — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:58:23 +0000

By chance, my producer, Nathanael Nicol, heard the charms of the magnificent man’s chords. Hearing this man, he immediately pulled out his voice memo recorder. In knowing me, he knew a special moment in time would be captured if he could get us both into the same room to do what we have done all our lives apart. Nathanael phoned me in the middle of a meeting with my manager on the Upper West Side. With a certain gratefulness to his voice he said, “Jullian, there’s something really special I want to share with you when you come in today, something we have been searching for this whole time!” Needless to say, I was very curious and thought to myself, “more magic? WOW!!!” I walked into Nightlife Studios a few hours later centered and ready for whatever news he had for me. On the contrary, it was never, ever what I could of imagined. He explained a little, pulled out his voice memo recorder, pressed play and my whole life instantaneously flashed before my eyes. His years, his pain, his knowledge, his passion flew like a cupids bow straight into my spirit. I dreamt of this man my whole life. I needed to be in his presence. I told Nathanael, “my life is about to change, please make this possible.” He responded by saying, “we’ll see buddy, I will do my best. It’s a very interesting situation. We already have the song. It’s complete, but this would take it to that magical place that we have been searching for.” A few days later, with time to brew on how to approach this amazing man with multiple names, Nathanael did it. He made it happen. I was about to experience something so important to my soul, something I truly needed to feel, something that would give me the strength to believe, and something that would just help me understand my sound. Honestly though, to just overall meet an angel was more than enough. What more could someone truly ask for? The morning of our meeting I shook, I was overwhelmed, I was scarce for words. I didn’t know how to feel or act. I didn’t know how to be. I was so grateful I couldn’t move… until I ran into him on the street. We were walking opposite directions. He was on his way to the studio barring a Yankees cap, an orange and black sweater, and a broken down cart carrying all the necessities to make a living down in the subway singing cover songs. It carried, from what I could tell, an old CD player, a big speaker, and an extra fluffy jacket. At first, I wasn’t sure exactly how to get his attention for he went by so many names, including Danny Smalls, Geechee Dan, The Singing Dragon, and The Subway Soul Singer so I just yelled out “DANNY SMALLS!” HAHA! He turned and smiled. I got the feeling it made him happy to hear his name. He has become such an internet success, he must carry around such a beautiful strength knowing people acknowledge this gift from God. I walked up and introduced myself. I felt like a child meeting his idol. All I could say was how grateful I was and what a blessing he was to me personally. I told him he was beautiful and that working with him on this tribute to Sam was more than I could have ever imagined. I’m pretty sure he was confused and didn’t understand why I was out of nowhere baring my soul, but I couldn’t help myself. Who could?… Boy oh boy, could The Dragon talk! He went on about this and that. Every word I soaked in. I asked him questions and was in awe of his responses. He had so much knowledge about the type of music I believed in, so much first hand experience with a lot of the artists that I look up to and most of them being from his time! He told me he talked to Michael Jackson coming out of the Apollo Theater when he was a part of the Jackson 5, a huge point in Michael’s career and in history. I guess they used to sing together backstage. He joked about how tall and big Michael’s afro was. He said, “It looked so heavy, I was surprised he wasn’t walking sideways.” He cracked himself up! Right before we made it up to the studio on 10th ave., he shared a dream with me. He said, “I would like to open for Aerosmith. Those guys make all the girls go crazy. They are so raw when they get on stage, they don’t give a damn about sounding pretty, they just lay it out,” and with that, we finally made it into the studio. When he first heard the tribute to Sam Cooke & his song “Bring It On Home To Me,” he was a little taken back and seemed a little hesitant. Then my producer said, “why don’t you guys just sing it together, see what happens, and remember nothing is written in stone.” Now there are times that you question fate. What is meant to be? Then there are times like these where there is no question, just blatant honesty and truth. Magic. When something happens that was always set to happen, there is a certain thickness in the air, a certain mood, and a certain “knowing” that goes on. It’s just “meant to be”. When we were done with our first round of soulful stature, Dragon said, “yahhh, I think I like it. It’s like an old Mississippi tune,” and from there he would just close his eyes, squeeze his brows together, and feel the music as if our voices were a drug circulating the room. We proceeded to make beautiful music in the booth together, laying our hearts out on that microphone like we were sharing the same exact story with the same meaning from two completely different worlds. He turned to me at one point, took his headphones off, and said, “oh it’s Aerosmith” and I started laughing, overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe he said that. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Nathanael captured this laugh on recording and said, “I’m keeping that in.” I thank this man. He has changed my life and he just doesn’t even know it. For the rest of my life, till the day I die, I know that I have met my idol and great gift of a man I call friend. When I asked him what he wanted to be called on the record, he said, “The Singing Dragon.” Thank you friend~

Please take a minute, and enjoy,
The Singing Dragon

The Summer of Soul

Jullian — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:36:25 +0000

I call this summer The Summer Of Soul. My team and I are cracking down on the album “From My Integrated Soul”. We are going into overdrive to write and produce the most soulful mixings of sound, lyric, and possible color for the album. We are staying true and bringing back old sounds from the 50s & 60s. Live musicians, a little big band, soulful stories, and a lot of feel good music! Stay Tuned!