I am Camille Brightsmith. This is a little about me and what you can expect from my Substack.
I was born and raised in the mountains of Colorado, and I work as a writer and musician here in a tiny town at about 8,000 feet, close to Denver.
In 1987, I moved to LA and studied opera performance until I dropped out of college after four or five years because they didn’t like me singing rock and roll. So, I tried to become a rock star. In some of my essays, you’ll hear about what it was like chasing that dream in LA during the 1990s. Spoiler alert! It was wild and crazy and challenging and fun! We played shows with real rock stars, had songs in movies and TV shows, and made great music.
After that, I was the Director of Music Affairs at the Telemundo television network for 10 years and I had twins in 2006. In 2008 I moved back to Colorado and bought a house, that looks like a barn right next to a creek. I’ve continued writing songs, primarily for online publication and for progressive activism. I have two albums and dozens of other songs recorded. I have been teaching music, songwriting, lyric writing, and creative writing here in my little mountain town since 2017.
For Free Subscribers:
Stories, rants, poems, songs, memoirs, sexcapades, and essays with an agenda - to tell the wild truth! Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always honest, and often either risque or weird. Only subscribe if you believe in sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Or, voyeurism. Because who has time for drugs these days?
Why subscribe for $5 a month?
This is independent publishing. Stick it to the man and send me the money instead!
Here are more goodies you will read, listen too, and see on my Substack. Eventually, some of these will be behind a paywall.
Videos about what I am reading, the amazing authors I’ve met in my classes and workshops with The Lighthouse Book Project, and crazy stories about life in the mountains of Colorado. Sometimes I’ll take you on my walks through the woods, hunting edible mushrooms and plants.
Stories/Videos about my mom age 88 and my dad age 100 - they are incredible! I can’t wait for you to meet them. Just think - they were born in 1924 and 1936. They have seen a lot.
Songs from my catalog and stories about recording them in legendary recording studios in LA.
Lots of surprises.
My Novel
In 2022, I received a partial fellowship to participate in the Lighthouse Writers Workshop Book Project, a selective two-year mentorship program with best-selling authors like my mentor Erika Krouse whose 2023 Edgar Award Winning book is called Tell Me Everything. It has won all kinds of other awards and was a NY Times Editors’ Choice. I’m now in revision on my book, Madame Luisa, Cowboy, Billy, and the Nurse, Whores of Central City. It is very loosely based on Madam Louisa Bunch. Every summer I dance the Can-Can and perform at the annual Madam Lou Bunch Day in Central City Colorado.
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