Veda Hille

well folks, once again the oscars served as a fabulous excuse to drink fancy cocktails and yell about fashion. head on over to what we’re wearing to catch a glimpse of our own choices, as well as some examples of fetching winter ensembles.

speaking of winter, i’m heading up to whitehorse on thursday with the fits and the vh band to play at the canada winter games. it’s -40 up there today. and we’re playing in a tent downtown. but when we play with kim barlow we’re indoors, thank heaven, both at the cultch in vancouver on feb 28 and at the yukon arts centre on march 1. i’m happy to have a week of playing ahead. oh, and of course i’ll be doing research at the winter games for the new theatre replacement show yufo, which involves alien abduction, slow food, and the olympics in its convoluted plot. plays in vancouver at performance works in late march!

ok, here’s a last minute notice for you; theatre replacement’s production of Sexual Practices of the Japanese is playing in seattle this weekend at on the boards. lee hutzulak and i made the music for this show, and it includes some showstoppers, let me tell you. and a vibrator suite! not to mention some great theatre writing and performance. so if you’re in the hood head on down, and say hi to my friends maiko and jaime if you see them.

hello all, and thanks for all the lovely mail that’s been coming in since my interview with my favorite bill richardson on sounds like canada this morning. (maybe that’s up online somewhere? anyone feel like checking?) he is so easy to talk to, in the best way. and so here i will post again the song lucklucky, so that you don’t have to search it out in past postings. this is a demo version of the song, recorded on barry mirochnick’s birthday. as you will hear. i know that it is very sad that the album will not be out for a year, but we haven’t even started making it yet, people. i will attempt to “roll the thunder” without “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, and will post little tide-you-over type things in the meanwhile.

thanks for listening, as always.

 

 lucklucky: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

i went out to the push festival last night and saw tim crouch’s play oak tree. tim crouch plays the character of the Hypnotist, and a different actor plays the role of the Father every night. the fresh actor has never seen or read the play, and yet it the performance contains no improvisation whatsoever. it’s fully scripted, and tim crouch guides the actor through the role with a variety of instruction methods. it is a fascinating and intricate construct. you can read notes on the process here and here. i’m still thinking about it this morning. i wish i could see it again. there’s a london run of the show coming up, as well as calgary.

hey all there’s a nice interview with me here on the online magazine being there. oh my goodness, there’s a hawk outside my window right now! and since we’re talking about birds, i finally identified a new little feed pal as a ruby crowned kinglet. hopefully not about to be eaten by this hawk.

and another reason the blogging has been slow is that i’ve added a new page to the site, a must-see for fashionistas around the world. what we’re wearing is a new and passionate look at style, shot lovingly in kitchens and other low light situations.

okay okay, i’m running a bit slow here. has the new year really started? are we really halfway into our first month? yes. thanks to the Lazy Blogger Squad for giving me that initial warning. i can claim truthfully that i was a tiny bit busy making a podcast Guide To The Kildeer, which should be up on the the ape records site soon. listen to hille talk about her songs!

aight, and in the news here at vedahille.com; webmaster weston has become the proud father of two baby girls! piper and josephine and mama leah are all doing fine, and looking very cute i must say. otherwise, it’s been a quiet start to the year. i’m busy in rehearsal with my fab band for the show on jan 28 at the cultch. oh, and the fits are playing on jan 19 and 20 here in vancouver at the railway club with the buttless chaps. it’s snowing in vancouver, which is cause for beauty and alarm. the beauty alarm is sounding.

also, the push festival has begun, and i’m planning to catch as many shows as possible. quizoola by forced entertainment was riveting, although i didn’t manage to stick it out for the full 6 hours.

and here is, i believe, the last song from silver offered up for you. i’ll post a track listing soon, and then you can get all your download ducks in a row. happy january to everyone! careful on that ice.

 

 who will protect them?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

so the push festival has launched their 2007 program, which looks superb. these are the folks that have commissioned a new set of songs from me, to be premiered with a swell bunch of musicians on jan 28 2007 at the vancouver east cultural centre. so that should be fun, and truly everything else in the program looks great too. go take a look!

ok, i spent the morning putting together a little photo book for y’all. if you go here, on the projects page, you can see pictures of me and skye and martin and various euro/uk pals. including this fellow here.

in other news, i’ve been working all week with matthew mcfarlane at the cbc, putting together a pilot radio show. a simple idea really. me talking, songs playing. we have a great playlist. john southworth, el perro del mar, shaun driver, tom ze, the bittersweets, destroyer, neutral milk hotel, a little brecht of course, and a track off of the new calexico/iron + wine album. if i wasn’t so tired i’d link all those for you. but you’re all old enough to do google searches i’m sure.

also, the fits have a coupla gigs coming up. dec 2 with the wizards in Bob’s Lounge, at montmartre (not the one in france, the one in vancouver) and dec 10 at the theatre replacement christmas party. must get that christmas medley on the go….

well people, the tour is hurtling to its close. two more shows, lancaster and then london, and then away back to canada i go. to write songs about ufos and practice buffy st marie with the cbc radio orchestra. and make christmas cookies!

lovely show in oxford last night, with a cosy crowd of 30 stuffed into the small and sophisticated bar at the phoenix. it did feel like a great living room party, with drunken bonhomie and all. and then the night before at the ccanw in exeter, i found my place! a shed in the woods near the moors, with birds around and excellent people. we got all caught up making plans for the future; more shows, maybe staging an opera on dartmoor…..anything could happen. it’s great to find these pockets of enthusiastic sanity all round the world.

when i get home next week i’ll post a bunch of tour photos. mostly of taxidermied animals (thanks chris and ulrike, most perceptive of hosts) and great food i’ve encountered. alright then, tea’s ready. ttfn.