Veda Hille

here is my darling bill richardson, crouched in my living room for a dreaded photo shoot. he’s such a pro. we started rehearsals for Do You Want What I Have Got? (a craigslist cantata) yesterday. i’m so excited i can barely stand it. get your tickets here. as soon as that’s done i’ll be finally finishing up the peter panties record with our motley crew. aiming for a late spring release with that one. oh, and mr carl wilson very kindly mentions young saint marie on slate, using his usual brilliant musical pinball brain. happy january to all of you, see you in line at the hot chocolate stand.

well hello there. this is a picture of me ‘n mangan goofing off at the theatre replacement jetset party a few weeks ago. that was a fun one. i won a grill in the silent auction!

and what else is up? i finally finished the score for the craigslist cantata, and we dive into rehearsals on jan 2, right after new years wears off. show is in preview the week of jan 19, officially opening on the 25th. get tickets here. it’s been a long time coming, that is for sure. i think it is a finely crafted bit of sweet nonsense. before that the fits have a show, on dec 29 at the waldorf opening for the great Great Aunt Ida. she has a new record! it has a cat on it, and it’s called Nuclearize Me.

i am also lucky enough to be part of an amazing compilation record called Have Not Been The Same, a companion to the book of the same name. michael barclay, author, asked a bunch of musicians to cover canadian songs from the 80s-90s. i picked Odette, from my favourite Circle C record. you should buy the thing from zunior (at that link), if just for the burning hell’s cover of Pop Goes The World. it has spurred many a family dance party at our house this fall.

what else? spring tour with Theatre Replacement in oldenburg and cardiff, working on a new play with Marcus Youssef called How Has My Love Affected You?, and slowly finishing the epic Peter Panties record. i’ve also been thinking a lot about the museum der dinge in berlin. always a few new plans in my tired old head. don’t forget to go to the push festival! till next, xv

look, we went to the pne. it is still great.

i just updated the shows page, found at vedahille.com for those of you reading this on facebook. new songs about earthquakes, estuaries, bachelors at the western front on sept 25. duetting with gabriel kahane on oct 1. playing next to films at doxa’s sunshine coast film fest. and then the big ticket, the symphonic Here Is A Picture in victoria on oct 11. then i will rest a bit, and unpack in our new house. moving after 13 years! we have a lot of stuff. maybe i’ll haul yard sales to all the shows. let me know if there’s anything you’re looking for.

hi all. i know, i’m barely online. and i barely care! but the fall will be around soon, and i’m going to come up with some kind of nifty trick to keep myself blogging. in the meantime, if you’re in vancouver and you feel a need for a new music venue, go fill out the survey here. 10 minutes of your precious time. see you in september!

at 3pm at the Vine Street Stage on 4th avenue. with ford, barry, martin, patsy, classic band, minimal rehearsal. come and see. free. i am excited, i’m just trying to take a break from exclamation points.

i started listening to samples of the polaris shortlist, and my two-year old had some definitive opinions. here you go:
Colin Stetson (New History Warfare Volume 2): “Good. It’s noisy.”
Destroyer (Kaputt): “I don’t like this.”
Arcade Fire (The Suburbs): “Good.” (said before the music started) “I like this.” (cried when i turned it off)
Ron Sexsmith (Long Player Late Bloomer): “Where is it?” (ron’s myspace was broken)
Braids (Native Speaker): (singing) “A B C D E F G, I don’t like this.”
Galaxie (Tigre et Diesel): “Good.” (totally not paying attention, playing with marbles)
Hey Rosetta (Seeds): “Hey wait, I don’t like this one.”
Timber Timbre (Creep On Creepin On): “I don’t like this song.” (i tried him on two different tracks, he said the same thing for both)
Austra (Feel It Break) : (i totally forgot to play him austra, and now he’s in bed. sorry austra)
The Weeknd (House of Balloons): “Where the balloons?”

the fits had fun at the Fish & Bird show, and one of the lovely band boys asked me if my band still existed. !!! i didn’t realize i’d let it slide so long. but yes, the band is still on, and i just updated the shows page to prove it. for those of you reading on facebook, you’ll have to go to www.vedahille.com to see them. that is all. except that i’m now heading out to try and find some sparkly gold tights for the jessie awards tonight, to go with my french sailor dress.

look, it’s the fits! a photo by the stalwart adam pw smith, taken at To Sir With Love last year. but you can see us fresh and soon on june 17 at the vancouver east cultural centre, helping the lovely Fish&Bird release their new albumchild. more songs about monkeys and dead horses, i promise. some aspect of hille will be playing on june 25 at W2 at a book launch for the lastingly weird Olo J. Milkman. Olo has been an artist pal and a patron and spews good ideas all the time. plus he practically gave me my first casio keyboard. he has alot to answer for.

i will also be lifting a glass at the Jessie awards this year, where two shows that i was part of have nominations: both Peter Panties and Dress Me Up In Your Love are up for Innovations awards. plus i have a nomination for PP music, thrilling! more vancouver shows are in the works, and one day i’ll leave town again i swear. i haven’t forgotten the rest of the world. i’m just so busy cleaning up lego and making rhubarb cobbler.

oh, i’ve been a lame blogger. lameblogger. i was reading about Pioneer Woman in the new yorker. she posts EVERY DAY AT 6AM. or something like that. but, I WILL NEVER BE LIKE THAT. oh well. who wants to live on a ranch, anyway.

so, a quick update. i am furiously writing new emily carr songs for the victoria symphony project. ford and giorgio are doing stunning orchestrations. i do hope we can take this to at least a few other places. if anyone has any friends who run a symphony, feel free to drop my name. also in the works: the final writing days for the Craigslist Cantata, which is going up at the arts club next january (a co-pro with the push festival). and then going on tour! next week i start recording the Peter Panties record with the Bank Dogs, a band of teenage boys who are taller and more skilled every day. also, the city of vancouver just gave some money towards a new project called Songs of the False Creek Flats, which i will be writing with Annabel Vaughan my new architect pal. that’ll go up in september. plus i’ve been coaching the teenager in how to ace a job interview, and playing dentist with the toddler (more fun than it sounds). so there, there’s all my lame excuses.

i’ll find a nice picture for the next post. promise.

man, the chickadee action around here has been off the hook lately. they’re nesting, they’re fighting, they’re humping in midair. this is a photo taken by my friend jenny. i’ll just pretend it looks like this outside today.

we open Dress Me Up at the Shadbolt tonight, running through till saturday. this show will be touring in europe next spring too. that’ll probably mark my next round of solo shows as well, and shows with symphonies if i can grab them. and next week, it’s Peter Panties The Rock Show! a reunion of VH and the Bank Dogs and the amazing cast of PP at the Wise Hall, singing songs from the show and more. that’s on thursday the 5th.

ok, i have to go and take my stuff to the cleaners. and that is not a metaphor.