ok, turns out my finger is actually broken. from taking off my socks. watch out people, danger is everywhere.
so i won’t be playing at the doxa event, or the clancy’s angels event, or even the theatre replacement event. rest and relaxation, and jeez i should probably stop typing too.
xv
hey gang
i seem to have bunged up my finger while taking off my socks (!?!), so i’ll make this quick. my good old post box, 4763, which i’ve had since 1996, has expired. i was too busy with anders to notice that i was late on payment, so it has gone away from me. oh well. for now, send things to me via gary’s postbox (check the contact page, i’m too lazy).
and once again, you can vote for lucklucky and many other great musics at the cbc radio 3 bucky awards! this is a fun one, go check it out. and no kids is in there too, and christine fellows and new pornographers and black mountain and chad van gaalen and lily fawn and all my faves. ok. gotta run, my burger is ready.
hello there folksens. i call greetings from the milky island where i live now, where time is crazy elastic. the days are long and very little gets done, yet we are all exhausted from being so busy. anders is asleep for a moment, so let me tell you about the upcoming things i am attempting in the Outside World.
i’ll be playing music at the fundraiser for the doxa film festival on november 22. that’s at the vancity theatre, 1181 seymour, in vancouver. tix are $35, should be pretty darn chic and fun.
i’ll also be playing at the theatre replacement annual benefit DC6 on dec 6, location to be announced. maybe a sneak preview of our 20 minute musical…have i even mentioned that? i’m writing a 20 minute musical with the honourable bill richardson. it’s called Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata. other people writing little musicals are nick krgovich, juana molina, and geoff berner. all premiering at the push festival in jan/feb.
what else? oh, i’m going to guest with Clancy’s Angels on Dec 13 at the wise hall. a christmas party! i’ll be performing lucklucky with a 20 person choir! and maybe a little zeppelin as well. who says that being a parent kills your rocknroll cred?
happy thanksgiving to you all! (in canada, we are thankful a whole month before the americans, the results of which are murky but we do tend to have nice weather for our turkey dinners.) thanks in particular to everyone who diligently voted for lucklucky and the echo prize, which ended up going to my friends and excellent songsmiths, those upstanding fellows in the weakerthans. and thanks to them, because they have very kindly cut me in for some of the prize money. so i have the multiple happinesses of being voted for by friends, fans, and fine musicians. does it get better?
hello friends! i am happy to say that my son anders hille kellam was born on september 23, a healthy 6 1/2 pound boy with lots of hair, dark eyes, and an ability to make a sound like a baby eagle. we are all doing well, even nucat who has been displaced from his baby-like position in the family.
this of course was the reason that i had to cut down on touring this year, so i am pleased to finally be able to let you know that i have not been ill, i was just in the mothering way. and he was worth all the caution, believe me. just look at his little philosopher’s face! same birthday as coltrane, ray charles, and bruce springsteen, by the by.
i’ll try to keep up with posts, but my hands are often full at the moment. i’m sure you understand.
til next, xx veda
photo by nick “annie liebowitz” krgovich
isn’t it amazing how the first day of school still feels like the first day of school even when you are not going to school?
my song lucklucky has been included on the list for the Socan ECHO songwriting prize this year, which is very nice. very good company on the list too, weakerthans, sandro perri, wintersleep, and socalled. and now the winner is determined by a public vote. you can log on to www.echoprize.ca and register, and then vote once a day every day. until september 29. vote for any of us, just get out there! it’s nice to have these prizes that are unattached to any kind of conventional success. works for me, anyway. plus i happen to know that the 5 grand in prize money would be well used by any of those artists. if i should be so lucky i promise not to squander it.
oh, and last night i dreamt that i wrote a song about israel, and managed to fit it into my children’s opera about trees. the only lyrics i can remember are “israel, israel”…..i also dreamt i had to make 100 paintings of the letter S.
i continue to sort through a million things in our house this summer, and i found this photo from around 1999 i think. why on earth did i not use this photo on our poster? i used the “we are serious musicians come to kick your ass” photo, but really, this is us. at least i hope so. i seem to recall barry taking issue with the apparent length of his arm, but i love the long arm of barry. i love clinging to it, like a raft in the middle of the sea.
I dreamt that i had a tiny tiny monkey living on a noodle around my neck.
how do. i’m taking a brief respite from opera scoring to let you know that my quiet summer is going quite well. we’ve been having a tiny series of backyard concerts, and here is a picture of the fits cavorting outside the garage. i like how justin made sure that the morning glory was in focus, rather than our fitsfaces. i also like the bit of badminton net, proving that in our house badminton takes precedence over gig aesthetics. one must be ready for a game at any second. we had geoff berner and father/daughter at this particular show, and for my birthday party last weekend we were graced by no kids and wax mannequin. fun, even in the rain! and my friend dexter (progeny of peggy lee) said that it was the best concert he had ever been to. which is no slight praise. there is something fantastic about listening to acoustic music mixed in with traffic and nearby generator noise. and getting to lie down, that’s a new obsession for me. lying down at concerts. not recommended in dingy clubs.
oh, and i must report a small triumph: you know that thing in the paper where they say “if your birthday is today” and then list celebrities for you to align yourself with? i was that celebrity on monday! in the vancouver province, and also the chicago sun-times. if that’s not some kind of cosmic/media whore arrival i don’t know what is. also i am ready to report: so far, being 40 is excellent.
ok, back to work. there are many exciting things happening in the fall/winter/spring, but i’m going to wait a bit to announce them. til then, happy bbqs to you all. xv
well, suddenly it’s just video central over here at hille inc. the nice gals at playgrrrround in vienna shot a video of us playing ace of the nazarene in the courtyard of the sargfabrik, and it is ready to see right here. it was the quickest video ever made, as all it took was to play the song through once. i wish you could hear the band a bit more, but the dancer in the background is completely awesome. i love how we finish the song and all sit up straight like we are in kindergarten.
and then weirdly, when no kids (my husband’s band) were in vienna 2 weeks later, it was also raining and they also had some people shoot video of them playing in the street. vienna people are so cool. you can see their stuff at They Shoot Music Don’t They?. the people sitting next to them in the video offered to get them gigs in croatia next time. excellent.
