Sunday, September 27, 2009

It's officially fall.

How is that even possible? But here I am at Word on the Street, buying as many books as I can afford / carry.
Fall always makes me assess the year, and the speedily passing life that I'm creepily vaugely near the middle of. It's so weird.
I have a feeling it will be a good, productive fall & winter. Much on the go. Many great plans. Catching up on a few things I'm behind on. Hopefully there will be some quiet weekends curled up with tea & all of the books I'm buying today.

I'm also writing another book of poetry this winter. It's time to turn all of these "half page of scribbled lines" notes into an actual project.

Time for another lap of the magazine section... Can never have enough Canadian books & magazines!
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Friday, September 11, 2009

4 COOL EVENTS. (2 are mine, 2 aren't, but i'll be there having fun!)

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SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19

Pic a Deli, 670 Fourth Line, Oakville
(at Speers Road in the Royal Bank Plaza)
High Heels Lo Fi, Corporation, and Loaded Dice
@ 7:00 PM - $10

Loud live music + a nice cold beer = a great Saturday night!
myspace.com/highheelslofi

***If you live in Oakville, have a car, dig transit, please come out!
We need some bodies here!!!


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WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16

BAM! Youth Poetry Slam

7:00pm - 10:00pm
The Central, 603 Markham St (bloor & bathurst)

Hosted by PAN
$5 cover
Feature: Mike Bryant <<<<<
Facebook Event


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TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22

blueVenus' "Grin" CD Release Concert Party!
8:00pm - 11:00pm
REVIVAL, 783 College St. (at Shaw)

myspace.com/bluevenusmusic
Facebook Event


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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25

Stillepost.ca Fundraiser
Poor Alex Theatre
772A Dundas Street West

Dead Sexy Sheila
High Heels Lo Fi
The Whole Entire Universe

PWYC event. Doors open at 9 pm.
Facebook event

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

big show - friday sept 25th!

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Cannot believe fall has fallen

Due to health issues, I'm not permitted to have any stress until at least New Year. However, when I look at the infinite ToDoList for this fall, it's kind of giving me the willies. As Robert Rankin would say, "it gets the wind up".

I guess my only option is to take the advice I always give others. Make a list. Breathe. Do some of the list. Eat sleep breathe. All you can do is all you can do, right?

Perhaps after our two september shows the band can take a break to work on new material and just chill a bit. Although there is still a LOT of stuff to be done with the new EP... Getting it available online and sending to publishing comapnies and making press kits and getting photos done for that and losing 5 pounds before the photo shoot and I'll have to go shopping and... And...

And this is my brain spiralling out of control again. Just from ONE item on the list.

I've always been this way. Well, for the past 7 years or so, anyway. Can't really see me slowing down, that would be boring. Aye, but pacing myself. There would be the handy dandy trick.

So here I am on a subway, venting. Getting my thoughts in a row.

Weird world, this is.

One thing that is going to be convenient is some Art Bar stuff that will force me to arrive 2 hours early for 4 weeks. This will give me an actual pocket of writing time. Sitting quietly & writing is a total luxury. I am really looking forward to this new poetry collection. It's going to be very eclectic and offbeat, and different than much of my stage stuff. Different is good.

Oh yeah - I have a spoken word performance on october 25th. Details forthcoming. Will be my second reading of the year. Hmmm. Slow year. Slow is good. Mind you, I've had 7 shows with the band, so it all evens out. Even is good. To quote Mark Forward, (hope Meesh reads this!) "it's all about balance".
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Thursday, September 03, 2009

songwriting weekend & poetry collection & new pens

For ten years, every Labour Day weekend I was immersed in the 3-Day Novel Writing Contest. I completed it every year, whether the novel was 80 pages or 120. Some years SUCKED. A few were good. One was awesome. Every time was a huge learning experience and a soul wrenching trial-by-deadline.

Then I took two years off. one decade was a completion. It was solid. I was good with it.

This year, I have a four day weekend, and am going to concentrate on writing songs. I have lots of housework, a food fair, and movies to watch. But by Monday night I'll have serious progress on some new material done.

It's weird when i'm in songwriting mode. I listen to music on the subway and at work, but I refuse to listen to anything vaguely in our genre. so i listen to piano jazz, lounge, prog rock... The Gene Harris Quartet, Thievery Corporation, Hawkwind. An odd mix of interesting textural stuff that won't get a pop hook in my head.

I do think I'm getting the hang of this songwriting thing. It's not "rocket surgery". Nobody will be injured if I do it wrong. And there is sort of no "wrong" anyway. If it sounds like a song, if it feels complete, then there you go! But I'm really trying to push it... to write hooks, and a catchy chorus, and a good build, and have my limited guitar ability work for me, not against me. (Don't even get me started on how Mandy & Roy forced me to do a "punk guitar solo" at our last gig. jesus murphy.)

I'm also working on some poetry. This winter I want to complete another poetry collection. I don't know whether it will end up as a CD, a zine, a self published chapbook, or if I'd have the guts to write a full book of poetry and send it to actual publishing houses. I've read a lot of the brilliant poetry that comes out in Toronto, and I don't know how my work compares. My poetry tends to come out rambling & conversational. Which is my genuine honest style and I dig it, but might not be "marketable". Whatever. write first, analyze everything to death later.

Plus, it's September. Time for new pens & notebooks! I love buying writing supplies. It's a sickness.