Gremlins, Arika Kane, and Jillian Ann

It’s not that today is going badly. Actually, it’s been pretty decent. I’m getting stuff done. It’s just those pesky, little surprises . . . I mean, I knew I had to get a part for the sump pump, but I didn’t know the sink was clogged, too. I knew there was construction on three of the roads I take to get to the hardware store, but I didn’t know I had a flat. Those little sour bonuses, not enough to make me cringe and whine, but enough to taint the taste of an otherwise scrumptious day. Maybe just a slight nose crinkle?

But there are happy unexpecteds, too! For instance, I just saw that the elegant, classically chic Arika Kane has released her latest single this week. “Waiting” delivers everything I’m craving when I’m in the mood for some Arika: tender, soulful R&B with real substance. “Waiting” is the artist at her best, singing a timeless slow jam with a gentle sophistication and a contagious passion. Kane’s airy vocals shimmer with a beguiling glamour. It’s obvious that Arika’s music blossoms from her inner beauty. Close your eyes; fall in love. [www.arikakane.com]

Music like that definitely chases away those evil, fate-twisting gremlins that skitter around clogging sinks and flattening tires! Those critters simply dissipate when bathed in the warming light of such a compassionate soul.

Uh oh.

I just clicked on an email from the crisp and perpetually dynamic Jillian Ann. It seems those annoying critters have pounced en masse on her life and they are showing her no mercy. In the midst of writing and recording her forthcoming album, her laptop was stolen!

If you are not familiar with Jillian Ann, she is a bold, sharply defined, self-made, haute couture artist who truly believes art was meant to have purpose. She is an edgy dynamo who is as at home weaving expansive ethereal sound textures as she is hammering out a furious, mecho-techno dubstep remix. Jillian Ann is as mindbogglingly inventive as she is profoundly surefooted in her creativity.

To make matters more dire, next month she is slated to play before Flo Rida!She is desperately trying to get by on her old laptop, but she writes, “I wake up in fits of sweat thinking about my old laptop dying in front of thousands upon thousands of people for this huge gig coming up in November.”

If you want to learn a little more about this artist, or you are a benevolent soul with the means to help her chase away her evil, fate-twisting gremlins, check her out at www.facebook.com/JillianAnn3.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go crank up some Arika Kane to keep my little corner of the world safe, chill and gremlin-free!