I love words as much as most avid readers. I did an English degree and especially enjoy poetic writing on topics that resonate with me such as this one, but the context in which these words were used (i.e. talking about her husband’s obsession with a Kanye West song or her toyboy being ridiculously cool) just annoyed me. We get it. You can use uncommon, fancy words. You know famous people. It took away from the real life situations she was describing rather than add anything to them and this grated on me at times. Lauded by everyone from Nigella Lawson to Lisa Taddeo, the title of Busy Being Free is taken from the song Cactus Tree by Joni Mitchell, in which Mitchell sings about an unnamed woman’s need for freedom and resistance to romantic commitment. In every case, the woman “thinks she loves them all” but ultimately is always “too busy being free.” – a notion which ties in beautifully with the melodies of Busy Being Free.

Busy: A badge of honour or a big lie? - BBC Worklife Busy: A badge of honour or a big lie? - BBC Worklife

When you find yourself not lonely, but elated - elated to be alone with yourself, who you genuinely thought you might never get to see again? to make or keep busy often used reflexively SYNONYMY NOTE: busy suggests active employment in some task or activity, either temporarily or habitually

We met a variety of men during Busy Being Free – including both her worst sexual experiences, and then, later, some of her best – and despite their frequent appearance, Emma does a wonderful job of making the memoir about so much more than men. Being busy has somehow become a badge of honor. The prevailing notion is that if you aren’t super busy, you aren’t important or hard working,” wrote Bradberry in his post How Being Busy Makes You Unproductive. “The truth is, busyness makes you less productive.” Barbara Fasano, whose fourth CD BUSY BEING FREE(MAC Award ~MajorRecording of the Year) was released to critical acclaim ("My favorite new vocal album"— Will Friedwald, WSJ) has been hailed as one of the nation’s most stunning and soulful singers. A Resident Artist at New York's legendary Birdland Jazz Club, where she performs Saturday nights, recent highlights include a 2-week Residency in Italy at Monteverdi Tuscany and headlining at the Saratoga Jazz Festival with her trio. For a fun live video clip, GO HERE.In 2022 she headlined for the third time at Music Mountain's Jazz series. For a rather surprising answer to the FAQ "How does a NYC singer prepare for a concert in the mountains?" GO HERE. Other highlights include multiplesold-out engagements at Birdland Theater, London's Pizza Express, & headlining at both Carnegie Hall & Lincoln Center. I've really never read about sex and been so sharply reminded about how much it is tied up with the fundamentals of being a woman. This deep part of ourselves that somehow gets side-lined and subordinated by everything else. This ecstatic voice we so often manage to ignore. I can hear Emma's voice though, and it's woken me up -- Minnie Driver, author of Managing Expectations Cactus Tree" is the final song on Joni Mitchell's debut album, Song To A Seagull. It's about several men who are in love with a woman, with each story tied together by the common theme of the unnamed woman's need for freedom and resistance to romantic commitment. In every case, the woman "thinks she loves them all" but ultimately is always "too busy being free."

Barbara Fasano - BIO

It made me laugh when she highly recommended being creative without having to worry about paying the bills. I wish. She moaned about not being able to afford to buy a place in London with a garden. Most people can’t even afford to live there period. But I tried to stay with her frame of reference and could see that coming from a huge Californian house would be a huge adjustment and I accepted her invite into her assimilation and transformation, warts and all. Barbara’s many New York headline engagement include concert appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s American Songbook at the Appel Room, Rose Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, New York Festival of Song, Town Hall and New York’s 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series. Starring engagements in cabaret and nightclubs include Birdland, Jazz at Kitano, The Algonquin, Feinstein’s, The Carlyle, Iridium, 54 Below, Café Sabarsky, the Palace in Stamford, CT, Night Town in Cleveland, Live at Zedel and Pizza Express Live in London, Monteverdi Tuscany in Italy, and the Royal Room at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach. Arts centers and music festivals across the country include Saratoga Jazz Festival, Music Mountain Festival's Twilight Jazz, Kravis Center, Caramoor, Arizona Jazz Festival, Jersey Jazz, Kanbar Center, Cooperstown Music Festival, Provincetown Cabaret Festival, Sheldon Concert Hall and Jazz at The Bistro in St. Louis, Night Town in Cleveland, Prince Music Theatre, and Kerrytown Concert House . David Meyer from the University of Michigan published a study recently that showed that switching what you’re doing mid-task increases the time it takes you to finish both tasks by 25%,” Bradberry wrote. Jazz writer Will Friedwald calls Fasano, "a charismatic stylist who effectively channels the spirits of the great uber-divas Lena Horne and Barbra Streisand."During the COVID crisis, times were tough for all of us, including performers. Like so many of her colleagues, Barbara streamed out the music from home. For her series of #72andsong, GO HERE. Barbara Fasano bears a distant vocal resemblance to Lena Horne... a lyrically sensitive interpreter ... turning the neighborhood into a hotbead of pleasure..."—Stephen Holden, The New York Times For those who've had children in their late teens to early twenties, as parents we usually are concerned when they meet someone and want to settle. Usually saying 'there's lots of fish in the sea' (hate that expression) and 'what's the rush, there is lots of time'. No, don't believe Joni was writing about a sad and lonely person. Rather one who was living, loved over and over again, completely. Even if a fear of a lifelong commitment made her run, because she was so full of passion and love. Each time she met someone else and loved again. Barbara Fasano's BUSY BEING FREE is sheer perfection. This is a CD from a singer who has thrilledme from the first time I heard her. She is in full command and has established herself as one of the top singers of the day." ~ DavidKenney, WBAI "Everything Old Is New Again" However, Forrest’s misery about her “small top-floor flat” seems trivial when she flaunts the wealth she continues to enjoy, including a custom-made spiral staircase, with a cut-out design to “cast light around the small space”. She goes on to move into another property, renting out the first. References to Balenciaga shoes, Gucci scarves and the numerous celebrities with whom she has brushed shoulders abound – and are always pretentious.