Hmmm: Or, Amanda Palmer's TED Talk on Crowd Support

 

Hi. Remember me?

I decided I had to blog, because I just watched this Amanda Palmer TED talk that all my musical friends seem to be talking about. Fascinating distillation of what is now not a radically new concept, but is still pretty novel, especially when it works (ask, don't force, people to pay for music, and they DO??). Now I find myself wanting to hear what articulate people think about it, especially other artists. If anyone has links to interesting responses, I'd be happy to have them.

 
It's been on my mind lately, too, with this whole CBC Searchlight Contest thing happening. For the record, I have decided to abstain totally from voting on this one. Too many people I like involved in it. But I don't know if I like how these contests work, with people having to hassle people to vote all day, every day. It seems annoying, and beside the point of THE MUSIC. Is crowdfunding like this, too? I really can't decide at the moment.
 
Still, despite my misgivings, I have taken away some juicy food for thought from this talk... Juicy because I don't really know what my opinion is, and that's an interesting, energizing feeling.
 
Also I feel that this very directly relates to my own life and the direction it may or may not take. As it does for lots and lots of other people...
 
Watch Amanda Palmer's talk here.
 
xo K.

The Action of Grace

 

It's Thanksgiving Day in Canada. In my hometown, this day is called l'action de grâce. That phrase always resonated with me; I like the idea of thanks-giving (the English name has a homeyness to it) but I also like the idea of bearing witness to, specifically, the action of grace in ones life. 
 
I'm not sure what grace is, exactly, although the term has fascinated me for a while. Once I wrote an essay about a book of stories that got me thinking about the idea of it as a certain kind of openness, a certain kind of receptivity. (Or at least I think that's what I said--that was a long time ago and grad school days are a little hazy now. You can go find it in the Spring 2005 issue of the journal Open Letter if you're really interested.) Of course this question could also go in a religious/theological direction, but I'm certainly not going to take that on here. Whatever grace is, I'm pretty convinced that it is a thing that acts, a thing that causes changes. Or maybe it is a way of acting or changing. Even waiting, when it is done with grace, is a definite action, a purposeful gesture.
 
It's been a few months since I posted anything in this blog, and I guess in a way I have been trying, during that time, to enact some kind of graceful patience in my life; that has required some silence. My last post was about my mother dying in August, 2011. About a month after I posted that, my marriage of seven years also died. That's a lot of loss for one year; I still can't quite believe it. So the musical hiatus I had just been thinking about ending, when I wrote the last post, ended up needing to continue. Music was and is still happening in my life; I just haven't been able to perform or travel. All my energy has been going toward starting a new part of my life, while mourning what came and went before.
 
I am unfamiliarly far away from family on this Thanksgiving. It's strange not to feel the bite in the Montreal air, to see the explosion of colour in the dying leaves, to smell a family meal. But I want to resist getting maudlin about it. Instead I am quietly marking the occasion by myself, in the gentleness of a Vancouver Island autumn day. I want to recognize the action of grace upon my current circumstances. The inner strength that has gotten me this far, the friends and family who have helped me, the way the universe has of turning loss into new potential, especially when we can't see how it will. I offer thanks for all of these things, and to you for caring enough to read this. I truly do.
 
And, for what it's worth, music will resume in my life, possibly quite soon. A few new songs have come to me, and I feel that there will be more, once the silt in the river has settled. New collaborations have been happening, with good results. I've been listening a lot, too; especially important to me this year has been Kathleen Edwards's beautiful album Voyageur. I admire the way her songs of loss have such rawness in them. They tell it all so well, so unflinchingly. Eventually I think my wounds will be not so fresh anymore, and maybe they will translate into something beautiful, too. 
 
Happy thanksgiving, all. Bonne fête de l'action de grâce.
 
Love,
Kaya

Promises of spring

Hi, everyone,

Thought I would just check in to let you all know I'm still alive here in balmy Victoria, BC. A grey and rainy day on the island, today is the six month anniversary of my mother's death. Although there is still a conspicuous, painful void in my life where she used to be, things are starting to move in a forward direction again. I recorded a couple of new songs last night at a friend's house--the first new material in a long time. It was so, so good to do that; it reminded me how much I love, well, writing songs and playing them. Who knew. I am extremely grateful to Carl and Dave for the opportunity to get some new music on virtual tape.

Before you ask to hear them, I'll say that the tunes are still a bit too green to share on a large scale, but I'm working with a new little performance band, and we may debut them soon. Ah yes, the band. I have collected some very nice lads from the Victoria area who have kindly offered their talent and enthusiasm for an open-ended project with me. Not sure where it's leading just yet. At least some local shows in the middle-near future. Possibly some short-distance touring (such as going "overseas" to Vancouver). Keep an eye open for live dates to be posted. No name as yet. Sonic Death Monkey not ruled out.

But seriously. I had sort of forgotten, since it had been so long since I last wrote a new song, the feeling of grateful humility that writing instills in me. It may sound trite, but it honestly makes me feel indebted to a higher power when I am able to make something new that reaches toward beauty. That is one half of this whole pursuit. Your listening to it is the other half. Thank you for doing your part; I promise I will try to do mine.

Love,

Kaya

A loss; a hiatus

Dear friends and listeners,

This is just to let you know that I'll be taking a time-out from musical things for a little while, as I try to absorb the sudden death of my beautiful, talented mother, Donna Louthood. If you think I can sing, you should have heard her. 

I may still do the show scheduled for Sept 26 in Victoria at the Well, with Gabrielle Papillon and Kim Wempe. Other than that, however, I'm going to have to cancel some shows and pull back for a while, just to recover from this shock and support my family.

Not forever, though. Stay tuned for new projects and live dates. As my Mum would always wisely say, life goes on.

Much love,

Kaya

PS: Please call your mum and tell her you love her.

 

Goin' back to Hali

Hey guys,

Just a quick note to say hi. I'm in Halifax right now. Somewhat sadly, I'm not here for musical reasons--but very happily, they are reasons to do with a new baby about to join the family. My sister is due, well (checking watch) any minute now. So I'm here for moral support and to help celebrate the big birthday when it comes. I have learned a whole lot about the human reproductive system in the last little while. I will refrain from sharing that knowledge here; all I can say is, it's pretty effing amazing. If you get a chance to share this experience with someone, TAKE IT.

Anyway, as you can see, I have a few shows coming up around BC. This is good, and I hope to see some of you, dear readers, at these events. I'm very hopeful that just playing live a little more often will help unstick the writer's block I have been experiencing. 

I also think buying a new guitar might help. But my bank account would probably disagree.

Okay, back to family time. I'll check in again soon.

Bi-coastally yours,

Kaya

New gigs...

Hey, I have a few gigs coming up! You can see them in the new gig widget here on my website. Still playing with how things look but at least the info is here now. So is some music for you to listen to. 

More bloggage to come, I promise. 

Love,

Kaya

PS: NXNE was super fun. Many, many thanks (belatedly) to all who came out!

NXNE update

Just a little update about my North by Northeast appearances next weekend.

I have two sets, both on Saturday June 18.

Set one: 11:30 am at Harbour Square Parklands. This one is outdoors, free, and all ages. Did I mention free? I'll be playing solo for this one.

Set two: 9 pm at Czehoski, 678 Queen St. W. This one is indoors, and it costs $10 at the door if you don't have a wristband. I'll be backed up by Jonathan Davis on drums and Chris Ingram on upright bass.

Hope you can make it!

Remember, until my website is fixed, music samples are on my EPK: http://www.sonicbids.com/kayafraser

xo K.

Reminder...

Just a reminder that the music player is still under construction on this site, but you are welcome to listen to me on my e-presskit:

http://www.sonicbids.com/kayafraser

Sorry about that! Fix to come soon!

Love,

Kaya

NXNE

Hey friends,

Happy news: I've been invited to play North by North East in Toronto next month! Here's the skinny:

  • Saturday, June 18th
  • 9 PM
  • Czehoski
  • 678 Queen St. W.

Admission: 1-day festival wristband is $25. More info at http://www.nxne.com

Come one, come all! It's been a long time since I've played in Ontario, so I'm really hoping to see a lot of familiar faces. My much-missed bandmates from London, ON will also be joining me for this one.

See you in T.O.!

Love,

Kaya

PS

I'm having some trouble with the music player on this site, and it doesn't have samples of my most recent work. I'm working on getting this fixed. Please accept my apologies and, if you want to, check out these other places to hear me:

http://www.myspace.com/kayafraser

http://www.sonicbids.com/kayafraser

Love,

Kaya