Win A Signed Copy of Priscilla Ahn's New CD!

Priscilla Ahn's debut full length CD A Good Day has been out for a little over a month now, and the response has been great! Here are a few quotes from recent reviews:

“from her first breaths in ‘Dream,’ she possesses a presence that can’t be overlooked. It’s not just the startling clarity of her singing, but also the lovely and occasionally wry songwriting that’s bound to capture listeners’ attention and imaginations.” – NPR

“lithe, lovely folk-pop” – People

“a classic folk album for the iPod generation.” – Paste

In other good news, Priscilla has just announced her summer tour with her first headlining shows! That plus a few opening slots with both Willie Nelson and Amos Lee, as well as some summer festival slots. (She already hit the Targhee Fest alongside folk greats Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett, and will play the Folks Fest in Lyons in August. I'm going. SO EXCITED.) Tour dates are posted on her website and her MySpace. (MySpace seems to be more up to date, it has more dates filled in.)

If you are a regular reader, you know that I'm a big fan of Priscilla, and even got an exclusive email interview with her a few weeks back. Well, I'm happy to announce that for the first ever contest on this blog I've got a *signed* copy of A Good Day to give away!

There's just two little things you have to do to enter the contest:

1) Leave a comment on this post describing a good day for you. It can be one that actually happened, or one that you wish would happen. You can give me a nice big story or it can just be simple like - "A good day is when I get my paycheck." (I'm going to put all the names of the commenters in a hat and have my brother draw one, so you don't have to worry about your comment being the best one or something.)

2) Send an email to LyricalVenus at gmail dot com so I can contact you if you win! Even if you sign in with your email to comment, Blogger doesn't show me what it is, so this step is really important. If I don't have your email I'll have no way to get a hold of you and I'll have to give your signed Priscilla CD to someone else! How sad would you be if that happened? Just tell me the name you used to comment with, and don't worry, I won't use your email for anything else other than contacting you if you win.

So one more time - leave a comment about a good day AND send me an email. Simple right? The drawing will be on July 31st, so you have a week, but go ahead and do it now before you forget. If you've been reading for a while but haven't ever left a comment, today would be a good day to start! (oh man, pun not intended, but so good I had to leave it!)

And if you don't win, you can always download A Good Day on iTunes!



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Interview with The Rescues on Lyrical Venus Radio Tues 9am

I've been a fan of Adrianne ever since she came through CSPS with Girlyman. Lately I've been discovering that she is quite the busy musician, collaborating with a number of talented artists around the country. Out in LA, she joined together with Kyler England and Gabriel Mann to form The Rescues.

The Rescues have been described as an Indie Supergroup - three talented singer-songwriters and friends with solo careers, brought together to perform at another friend's wedding only to discover that the whole was more than the sum of the parts. And when you've got good parts to begin with, well - get ready to have your socks rocked! I'm betting you'll love the soaring harmonies, driving beats and heart-swelling ballads these three pump out time and again on their album Crazy Ever After as much as I do!

I also admire them for their creative marketing efforts, seems like everyone in the music industry is cooking up ideas to get people to come out to shows and this Rescues blog is one of their latest ideas that really gets the fans involved.

Join me on Tuesday at 9am for an interview with the two female thirds of The Rescues - Adrianne and Kyler. (Love you too Gabe!) 100.1 in town, kruufm.com online anywhere!

Listen to tracks on their websites:

Official Website

MySpace
(WARNING: You may become addicted and be unable to turn of the computer to go to sleep! I am not, *ahem* speaking from personal experience, ok I am.)

Once you're hooked, you'll need to buy the album so you can listen any time!
On CD Baby
or

Feist Counts to Four on Sesame Street!

I know, I know 3 posts in 3 days! But I just saw this on my friend Jana's blog and couldn't wait to share it!

You probably remember back when Feist's song 1 2 3 4 was on the ipod Nano commercial, well, she's gone and reworked it for Sesame Street and sings with Muppets! Be still my heart!


Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the videos

I'm not sure if it was Feist's or Sesame Street's idea, but it does put out an interesting idea for songwriters because plenty of "grown-up" songs could be reworked for kids. One of my favorites is still Letter B by The Beetles:


And REM's Furry Happy Monsters is pretty brilliant too. And the person who posted that has a bunch more... must. tear. self. from. computer.
(Oh my sheesh I love YouTube!)

Catherine Feeny's Mr. Blue Video, New Dar and Catie Coming Soon!

A friend just pointed me in Catherine Feeny's direction, and I'm sure glad he did. His first suggestion was the beautiful I Still Don't Believe You, but since I've still got colors on the brain from being in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (two more weekends of performances to go!) I of course had to check out Mr. Blue. I love the light and playful feeling in both the song and the video - all the balloons make me happy!


Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the video

You may have already heard Mr. Blue on The OC, Running With Scissors or a documentary on NY guerrilla artist Stuart Ross.

The Philadephia-born singer-songwriter is currently based out of England, but it comes as no surprise to me that Catherine seriously got into songwriting at that place so many of my other favorites got their start these days: The Hotel Cafe.

Find out more about Catherine on her website or her MySpace.
Get her album Hurricane Glass (which includes both I Still Don't Believe You and Mr. Blue) on or on Amazon.

And in other music news from the world of female singer-songwriters:

- Jessie Baylin has a new website to go with her new album Firesight, which is is getting great reviews.

- Dar Williams has a new album coming out in September! From her website:

Dar Williams will release her first album of original material in over three years, PROMISED LAND, in September. With clean, driving production by Brad Wood (Pete Yorn, Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins), the album features 12 songs that showcase Dar's signature wide range of stories and social themes on songs including "It's Alright," "The Easy Way," and "Buzzer." Dar also does a cover of "Midnight Radio" from the acclaimed rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as well as a cover of the Fountains of Wayne song "Troubled Times." Lending support on the album are such renowned artists as Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw, and Gary Louris (of the Jayhawks). Stay tuned for more details on this exciting new release!

- Catie Curtis also has a new album coming out in September:


Hooray for music!

Interview with Lauren E. Davis on Lyrical Venus Radio

So remember how last week I mentioned that Claire Wellin plays the narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on alternating performances? Well, I got lucky and got the other narrator (who is ALSO a talented songwriter) Lauren Davis, to come in for an interview this week! I can see why both of these gals got cast, they are both so good it's impossible to choose one or the other. In any case, it's too bad we don't have a piano in the broadcasting room, because this girl from Ohio can seriously tickle some ivories.

Tune in Tuesday at 9am to hear Lauren sing and talk about her songwriting and acting experiences. 100.1 FM in town, kruufm.com online anywhere!

Plus, as always, there will be some great music by female singer-songwriters, including a brand new one by Imogen Heap!

Oh and the show went really well this opening weekend, see my MySpace blog for details.

Claire and the Amazing Technicolor Radio Show

Ok, so for the past two and a half weeks I've been rehearsing like mad with a bunch of super-talented interns at the Sondheim Center for the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I've never done a show on a summerstock schedule before where we have rehearsal essentially from 9am to 9:30pm every day and the whole rehearsal process happens in a little less than three weeks! Other than being highly intimidated by all the talent and totally exhausted by the brutal dance rehearsals, I've got colors on the brain!

Lucky for me there are a bunch of great songs by female singer-songwriters that have to do with color that my online buddies helped me find. (Thanks Gayla, Jana and Ananda!) Lucky for me our tech rehearsal doesn't start tomorrow until 10am, so I can do my radio show live this week! Lucky for you it turns out that one of those intimidatingly talented interns I just mentioned is also a songwriter, and she's agreed to come on the show and sing us a song! Claire Wellin (half of the jazzy folk duo Rainy Day Lasagna) plays the part of the Narrator (on alternating performances) so you'll get to hear a preview of her gorgeous voice before you come see the show this weekend. Because you're coming right? :)

We open July 11th! That's THIS FRIDAY! OMG!!

July 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27
Evening Performances are at 7:30 (Thurs-Sat)
Matinee Performances are at 2:00 (Sat & Sun)

Either way, tune in Tuesday at 9am to kruufm.com online or 100.1 here in town for some great tunes about color!

P.S. Oh, and did I mention the Cowboy from the Village People (Randy Jones) has come to Iowa to play the role of the Pharaoh? For reals people. He's really nice. He has an iPhone. And he came to our first rehearsal with the orchestra in a cowboy hat, boots and bolero tie with a scorpion on it. Sweet.