Veda Hille

so there are a few bugs in our ordering system, but everything is still going well and people are receiving their records. basically, any money coming in through paypal is working great, but a few times the order hasn’t shown up through word press. in these instances, i’ve been emailing folks (because paypal sends me contact info with the deposit notice) and finding out what they’ve ordered and how to send it. weston (my superb webmaster) is sleuthing around, but if anyone has notes on the process and how easy/awkward it is please send thoughts over here. never fear, the orders are going out fine. you people are keeping me busy! thanks.

and here is a song from silver, my ep that sold out long ago. i’ll be throwing the whole thing up for download over the next while; this song is called Stepdaughter’s Delight.

 

 Stepdaughter's Delight: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

here is the promised picture of my little caravan shack, along with the stunning horse jason (nee jesus). we had a marvellous three week residency at the farm, worked on the show (that’s jaime and maiko running sarah’s choreography, with mirae filming), hung out with the horses, swam in the river, and cooked grand meals together. i’m already plotting my return to the caravan, whether they want me or not.

the past weekend’s shows were fabulous. the fits album is officially out (check the music page!), and being snapped up by discriminating oddballs everywhere. my favourite quote of that night was ida’s father leaving the room after our set, exclaiming “now that’s entertainment!”. not a comment i inspire often. and the duplex set at word on the street was pretty good, despite the fact that our thirteen year old members are taking a hiatus. to work on other projects. such as grade 8.

next up for me: a short fits/hille tour of the bc islands this weekend, then into headlong prep for our european and uk tours in october and november. i’ve had a good break from shows, and i’m ready to rock. see you out there!

some excellent news! the video for bedlam (made by quinne rodgers, david henderson-hean, and aidan kasta) has been nominated in the best video category at the western canadian music awards. alongside some stellar westcoasters, too. you can watch bedlam on myspace. and we’re working on a more computer friendly version of the video, which will be up on this site soon. they made a lovely thing, those three.

we had a nice show here at the caravan on saturday. some new things, some silly things, and field study.

and don’t forget, the fits’ new record Seize to Amaze comes out sept 23, with a show at the western front in vancouver! and of course, available for sale online the same day. here i am, rolling the thunder.

ok smokies, the electronic buying-ness seems to be fully operational! in fact, i just sent off two orders today, from the farm. is that service, or what? not to say that service will be faultless. hopefully the personal nature of the thing will suffice. it’ll either be me or quinne, my internet soldier, sending orders out over the next few months. we may not always be as fast as some of those crazy ebay enthusiasts but we’ll try. if you’re worried, you can always email us at payment@vedahille.com to find out what’s up. i’d make that email a link for you, but i’m working on windows 98 here folks. sloooooowwwwch. driving me crazy in fact.

in other news, the show is coming along well and weirdly. we’re working with sarah chase, a great choreographer that i happened to go to high school with, but haven’t seen in 20 years. we seem oddly the same to each other.

ok, time for a sauna at the goat palace!

Alrighty, we’ve got it working! This is the video for sweet, one of my favorite video things i have. Shot on super8 mostly in my little apartment (oh, i loved that apartment) by my good friend Shawn Chappelle. And then he just took it away and fussed with it and added some landscapes (footage of the journey to my family’s cabin, another place i love) and made it perfect.

a beautiful dark day here at the caravan farm, the first damp of the week. clouds rolling in over the hills, smatterings of heavy raindrops, we may be able to light the huge bonfire tonight finally. both the moon and the sun have been dark red from the forest fire smoke all week. there is a chickadee in the rehearsal hall, it seems to gravitate towards the piano. in my mind, at least. and yesterday we flushed a brown owl in the woods, playing snare drum. jamie was playing snare, not the owl.

a new and interesting project on the horizon: i will be performing buffy st. marie’s songs with the cbc radio orchestra next spring. giorgio magnanensi will be writing arrangements, should be a thrilling event. a live concert at the chan centre in vancouver, broadcast on cbc of course. and no, we will not be interpreting “up where we belong”.

nicky is making roast leg of lamb tonight, and we bought mint jelly at the farmer’s market. and here comes the real rain.

hello friends, it is me, the grimy farm girl. checking the site on dial-up! we may not have so many fancy pictures and things for the next while. if i could put dust and crickets up here i would. and a picture of the A-frame shack that i’m living in, where it is so quiet at night that i have to put my earplugs in.

thanks to those who pointed out that the sweet video is in fact sweek (a cross between sweet and weak, taken from the p:ano dictionary). but what would life be like without things to wait for? over. it would be over.

so even though it appears, through my marvellously steady blogging, that i am at home crazyglued to the computator, i am actually on a farm in armstrong bc. the caravan farm. where they have clydesdales, outdoor showers, little cabins, and a bunch of theatre geeks. i’m there with my pals in theatre replacement working on a musical about ufos. called yufo! here’s a picture of maiko.

the show will go up in vancouver next march, and although it is not finished yet i can reveal that it will include theremins, smokey amps, and slow food.

this is a live track of my band (barry, martin, patsy, peggy, ak) with nick krgovich as a Special Guest at the album launch for kildeer in vancouver, april 2005. nick is the ringleader of the band p:ano. he arranged and played all the instruments on the kildeer version of bedlam, and for the show he came up with a completely different arrangement. full of arrangements, that guy.

 

 bedlam live w/nick: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

alas, although we have debugged our paypal connection somewhat, it is still not up and strong and walking around. and now weston, my webmaster, has gone off to gambier island for the long weekend to build an outhouse. which just goes to show that even internet geniuses still have to deal with the stinky physical world.

so fingers crossed for next week, as with all the other indistinct elements of the site. but there’s still lots to look at! and here’s one of my favorite songs from Silver, played live at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre last year with barry, peggy, ak, martin, and patsy. a toast to good ideas. happy labour day.

 

 a toast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download