Been working on my November promo tour in Europe. All
signs pointing east for me right now and I'm looking forward to being back there
for a few weeks. While waiting for return e-mails, I've discovered why MySpace
can become an obsession. And You Tubes is brilliant. I posted the music video
for All Around we shot in Vancouver last year.
October 12, 2006
12 pm est: It's snowing in Muskoka. Need I say more?
August 28, 2006
Is it just me, or is it incredibly peaceful around here
these days? I'm in the studio quite a bit working on the new songs, and might
be projecting a lovely happy blissed out musician in her own world perception
onto everything. Regardless, there is a strange calm around here. Maybe every
living thing is soaking in the last few drags of summer warmth and green, and
we don't want to move too much in case we miss some.......I have a long list
of things to do right now, and long lists make me feel like taking a break.
Meditate. Get some distance from all the details, see the bigger picture. Remember
the long days of summer.
I'm working on a few new songs that have to fall under
the category of Rocking Blues. This is what the songs are, therefor, the blues
is where I am at!!! I'm not sure why I should be surprised, because 1. Sonny
Terry and Brownie McGee were in my teen record collection and I did belt out
their songs as I rode along on my bicycle. 2. I am a self proclaimed devotee
of Billie, Ella, Aretha et al and 3. wasn't it Gladys singing "I'm leavin'....on
that midnight train to Georgia...." that made me turn up my radio EVERY time
it played on CJBQ?
I've been wondering about the future of the CD, hearing
a lot of arguments against the format; reading the forecasts of doom and gloom
regarding CD sales. Seems like it's going to become a very expensive hobby,
much like playing bars across Canada.... But, then suddenly intercepting my
concerns comes an e-mail to remind me; There is reason in creating a lovely
package full of pictures, lyrics, musical references and an object to hold.
Chris, a fan, introduced himself to me a while ago and he agreed to let me share
his words: "A few years ago on mp3.com, when it was still useful."Ê I'd spend
quite a bit of time looking around for indie music, being tired of all of the
fluff they play on the radio. Actually, at the time I was looking around for
some chillout music and was looking for some stuff with the mandolin as the
lead instrument.Ê Your song, Mandolin, ended up on a search hit and, lo, I found
your page. I downloaded three of your tracks - Betty's Room, Mandolin, and Roll
Into the Light. They kind of got shoved to a corner of my hard drive and forgotten
about until they resurfaced when I did a blind load of a bunch of my MP3's to
my girlfriend's iPod a couple weeks ago. When they played again I thought "damn,
I'd better get the CD", as it remains some of the best stuff I've downloaded
to date. Thanks Chris, your words are solice for fainthearted recording artists....
I am reading Ulysses again. Yes I've read it before,
well, skimmed and slept through most of it, but this time is different; I am
reading it for pleasure, not because I think I should, (though I was inspired
to pick it up again because of the Jian's Canadian challenge). I am loving this
crazy book, all it's sumptuousness, whacky wordy play, it's endless poetry drifting
through the minds and plotless challenges of it's many characters. A fitting
book to read in this last gasp of beautiful summer. And a perfect digression
from long lists.
July 12, 2006
I'm flying to the UK Monday, packing up this weekend
and trying to keep it light. I have to teach my classes at Seneca College during
the day, and remind my students I'll be gone for a few weeks, but I'll be back
in mid August to finish up the courses. This will be my last semester teaching.
I have decided to give up professing for the time being, and concentrate all
energies on the business of being an independent artist. In other words, I am
giving up the employment that actually pays me on a regular basis for the joys
of never knowing where my next meal will come from...Hmmm. In other news, I
have been swimming in a warm lake these days, soaking in the gloriousness of
this northern Ontario summer clime; sunshine, quiet, nature all around me. I'll
be leaving all this for a few weeks to tour in the UK. In other words, I am
leaving paradise for rainy noisy Britian where I won't be sure where my next
meal will be....Hmmmmmmmm. OK, well, maybe if I listen to my head, I might hear
it is trying to tell me that the choice of being an indie artist is not necessarily
the most practical. But my soul is playing tunes really loudly, I can't hear
'just plain' words that clearly, and my heart is deep into the rhythm of YAY!!!
See you out there......OR.......Talk to you when I get back. xo
May 17, 2006
Thinking about Songwriting...
To write a song is to experience the miraculous. Like
birth, parent and child, Art is the relationship of artist and medium. As the
painter is to canvas, brushes and paint, the songwriter is to song structure
, melody and lyrics. The artist is the vehicle that brings the elements together,
the channel for the art. The best skill an artist can learn is to get out of
the way of their art. You have to let your body be used to bring form to the
possibility. You have to let the life ie creativity, flow through you.. If you
stand in the centre of your song with the intention of letting inspiration flow
through you, you can experience the miracle of art, amd stand a chance of manifesting
something miraculous, something to love.
These days my songs are all about the journey, parallel
space of place and no place, themes of stillness vs motion.
I am the Grand Canyon, the Colorado river is flowing
through me, revealing ancient.
April 5, 2006
Back from Halifax and the Juno's weekend, which altogether
provided some hefty turning points; first, in my thinking about myself as an
artist in Canada; second, in my attitude towards the music industry, and third,
in my feelings towards a fine seaside 'Port of Call'. Halifax is a sweet city,
easy to get around, and some great music clubs. The down side for me, it's not
too easy to reach the ocean with your toe from the pier and that is one god
forsaken ugly site across the harbour to the oil refinery. And I won't
pretend the spectacle of the Juno's was in any way my idea of a celebration
of the finest musical talent in Canada this year. Because it wasn't, in any
estimation but that of power brokers leveraging their domination of the trade
of culture. ...but I don't want to feel bitchy about it either. The awards ceremonies
also attract some really great people who are out there doing great music and
loving what they do. The Junos is a big commercial. Period. And when those power
brokers holding court talk over the ceremony to bestow honour on those who are
at the centre of the creation of their power, the best thing we musicians can
do is keep coming back to our music, thanks Jim. Highlights....Songwriting
Circle, Mesha Brueggergosman singing back-ups for Jann Arden, Ron Sexsmith singing
all his new songs, beer at Maxwell's Plum, fresh haddock almost as good as my
bestemor's, mmm...
March 25, 2006
Happy spring. There is still snow here in the rocky highlands
of Muskoka but I can hear it melting. I know my pals to the south are
contemplating buds on trees, while up here we are still wondering if it's safe
to ski on the lake. What a difference a couple of hours makes. I have been watching
the weather out my window, as I dream of opening it up wide and letting the
fresh air in. I am daydreaming right now of sloshing around in fresh mud, of
breathing in the first gasp of the land as it escapes from under all this frozen
frozen-ness. I am imagining myself with my boots on, kicking through some of
the everlasting layers of snow, and helping suffocating dirt get an early start
at feeling some sunshine....
Next weekend is the Juno's, and I'm off to Halifax to
check it out. There is going to be lots of great music everywhere I know, and
I'm excited to check out some new venues. Besides all that, I'm really
looking forward to standing beside the Atlantic ocean again.
February 15, 2006
Andy has been reading excerpts from The Party's Over
out loud lately, while I have been trying to figure out how to make a musical
sojourn across the big landscape, fulfilling my romantic notion about the grand
generousness of this country, partaking in the noble tradition of troubadour
mystic shaman wizard carrying the deepest of wisdom offering new possibility
to the lives of the people who can hear her. I don't have time to contemplate
the potentially catastrophic implications of declining oil resources.
Winter 2006
When, shifting with uncomfortable thoughts in the shadow
of the full moon,
Your words have purpose friend,
the stuff to lean on
wrap round these shoulders
wear atop this old aspiring.
To be deliberate.
To keep perspective.
Ancients deliberate
Ancients perspective
Steady atop our precipice.
I wonder for a place I can arrive at saying, “Here,
this is where happy is, and here a little, this is contentment. Welcome.”
I wondered at the toppling of these words, too round
to still, dear friend
not cackling crows like tricksters cackle remember, 'coexist
with these dark times'
like the flow of totem hawks, circling slow, remember
high intentions
Over here like those.
Like
Your words friend, shifting mind from uncomfortable
)
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