Leila Adu

— Tom Scheponik & Rosie Langabeer

Made the most of the vertical time space continuum by resonating with a fellow kiwi who is gracing Philadelphia with her musical presence, Rosie Langabeer. Tom and Rosie played a duo followed by my solo at the benefit for Subcircle movement theater company at Christ Church Neighbourhood House (yeah, not the NZ Christchurch – the Philly one.) We caught the feeling in the streets a bit…

Occupy Philly

Free Tibet protest in Philly

So, as I found out the hard way, America is different from Europe, mainly because of this (see above.) Not that that’s a bad thing for your mind but your arteries might complain a little later down the line.

I flew to Rome to start the European leg of the “Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker” CD release tour with drummer Daniele De Santis. While in Rome we also shot a video for his electronic project MDF (Midi D’Un Faune.) for the “Prendi Uno” single – out in May on Italy’s foremost electronica ‘Minus Habens’ label (Aphex Twin, Brian Eno…) – aided by a small classy dog, very Italian.





MDF video shoot, Rome

Rome

Pisa

Leaning Tower

Sicily

Goodbye Sicily

Berlin

We had a wonderful time in Italy, Berlin and London and Alison Blunt even shot the footage of our show in Berlin, for our ‘Fortuna’ video, shot by Boston Fielder ‘Fortuna’ Music Video

We recently heard of the devastating earthquake in my hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand. I’ll be over there for a bit seeing loved ones.

ATLANTA

Bakery

Joyscout

LOS ANGELES

Waberi

Pulp Fiction parking lot

Leimert Park by night

Winter in Leimert Park

Kaos 3333

Rehearsing with Oddrocker at the Kaos Network

me, Ben Caldwell & Orlando “Oddrocker” Greenhill at the Kaos Network
— Caldwell says “the Sanskrit term for chaos is ‘where brilliant dreams are born.’”

‘Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker’ drops tomorrow and is being sold from boutique stores to Amazone and Best Buy! In the meantime, I’m gearing up to go on tour, playing in LA and NYC with concerts in Rome, London and Berlin in between. I’m really looking forward to playing at the Mezz in LA, as I had such a great visit last Spring playing with Voice on Tape and Howard Amb at the wonderful and now defunct artist space, Echo Curio. RIP. I also got to go to DISNEYLAND which I thought I would hate (I’m more of a Warner Bro.s, Mel Blanc kinda girl) but I loved. It was totally surreal, like being stuck inside one of those ‘Disney Read Along Books’ that had matching cassette tapes played chimes when it was time to turn the page. “You can fly, you can fly, you can fly!” I’m a total wuss and got very scared on the futuristic ride (the name of which I have traumatised out of my memory.)

On the news front, I’m also going into the studio in London to start to realise some new songs from a twelve song demo into a new album…

Gidday,

So… of course I meet squillions of people who are cool every year. That means, I’ll focus on some artists whom I met whilst on tour etc.

Dearling Physique is a name you’ll be hearing a lot in the near future, they played at Urb Alt Fest last Summer and here’s their amazing new video!

Orlando “Oddrocker” Greenhill of Millions of Shaved Heads and more. I played a gig in LA with this dude and after one rehearsal he had the songs down.

Howard Amb – the nicest musos you could hope to meet in LA with an uncanny propensity for drinking bottled green tea

Maigin Blank in Chicago – super chick with a radio voice and DIY stylz (p’rhaps coz she spent some time in Chch as a teenager…)

Rachel in LA does heaps of stuff like VJ mashups, member of Dubbumba… um – yeah – rocker but here’s a ten second tribute

Met Twin Shadow at Urb Alt Fest last Summer too; they are a neat band from New York, currently garnering international acclaim and the members are real sweethearts

I was racking my brain to think of someone I met in Italy, as I lived there over two years but that was early in the year and my long term memory is getting a bit rusty… then it hit me! In Bologna, at Scuola di Musica Ivan Illich, I did a gig with the duo of Gianni Gebbia and Eiko Ishibashi. You can see them in Tokyo here:

Based in Atlanta (like Janelle Monae) maybe there is something in the water because the Dolldaze could sing the spots off a leopard. See for yourself:

I could go on but that’s enough for now. Stay tuned for more posts such as “Cool people I already knew that I saw last year,” “People I thought were cool who turned out to be tossers” and “People I suspect are cool but haven’t actually met yet”

 
P.S. I must confess at this point that I base my definition of cool on The Fonze and Madonna in Desparately Seeking Susan… Doesn’t everyone?

OK, so I’m more of a “what’s next?” than a pat yourself on the back kinda girl. That means I have to make myself look at what I have achieved with the support of some beautiful people. Here’s a short chronological list:

— Toured to UK, Italy, New Zealand and US with Dark Joan album (see below)
— Launched Dark Joan video in London with director Stephen Bain, Nisha Madhan and school children from Ambrit Rome
— First shows with other musos in the US – Orlando Greenhill in LA and Federico Ughi & Andrew Weeks (New York) for URB ALT Fest 2010 @ 92Y, New York
— Produced ‘Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker’ album in Rome with drummer Daniele de Santis (Jan 18 2011 global release date)
— Had stunning shots with world-class Atlanta photographers Tania Calderòn (see above) and Leon Dale
— Recorded a new demo album of electro pop songs in the US
— Started this blog for photos, videos and impressionistic splashes of thought
— Transitioned with the sheep from facebook group to the snazzy new facebook musician/band page

JIM CAMPBELL: SCATTERED LIGHT sculpture in Madison Square

“You must realize that you have the right to love beauty. You must prepare to live life to the fullest extent… Listening can be one of the greatest pleasures. You must learn to listen because by listening you will learn to see with your mind’s eye. You see, music paints pictures that only the mind can see. Open your ears so you can see with the eye of the mind.”
— Sun Ra

(sleeve notes to Sun Song, as quoted in Forces in Motion ‘The Music & Thoughts of Anthony Braxton’ by Graham Lock)

3 + 3 + 4 = 1