Interview with Ellis & Terri on Lyrical Venus Radio! Tues 11/25

Back in February, just days before I left for my 2 month Spanish Immersion trip to Colombia, I did an interview with Ellis. It was my second interview on the show, and my first phone interview and I generally am a nervous wreck at phone calls, especially when I don't know the person I'm calling. It went really well (although I did have a little bit of trouble getting the exact songs I wanted to play in the right order :-P), we ended up talking for over half an hour about all sorts of things. It was actually the official release day for her latest album Break The Spell. (You can download or stream the interview here)

So I missed the concert, but I begged my husband to go and at least get me a CD. He ended up going to the whole show, and when I asked him about it he said he didn't want to tell me anything. I finally dragged it out of him that it was an AWESOME show and he didn't want to tell me about it because he didn't want me to feel bad that I missed it.

Then this summer when I went to the Rocky Mountain Song School, I found out that Ellis was one of the teachers, and she was also available for mentoring sessions. I bee-lined it for the sign-up sheet as soon as it was put out because I knew I had to meet her in person, and she only had 4 slots.

My first class that week was a guitar class, which ended up being a little beyond my skill set, at least in that I couldn't keep up in the moment with the rest of the class. And then ALL the doubts came rushing in - "See I told you that you weren't good enough to be here! You should just go back and stay in your tent the whole week!" sort of thing.

Luckily my mentoring session was right after that. I sat down with Ellis and told her I was the one who interviewed her from Fairfield and she thanked me for it again, and then asked what I wanted to get out of the session. I said I wasn't quite sure but just knew I liked her vibe and wanted to meet her in person. And then I told her about the guitar class just previously and pretty much burst into tears.

She told me that every person - student and teacher alike - at the camp was feeling the way I was feeling, or had felt that way before, or would likely feel that way at some point in the future. Which was a huge relief to hear. We went on to have a great conversation about lots of things relating to the artistic gremlins that everyone deals with, and some strategies for dealing with them.

It was really a perfect way to start the week, to have my confidence breakdown right away, and get some great, supportive words of wisdom directly after that to help me get my head on straight for the rest of the classes.

A couple days later I met her manager Terri when they did a "Musician Think Tank" class to talk about different strategies for musicians to make money and survive the touring world. Terri is just as sweet, supportive and down-to-earth as Ellis, but she also has a very focused, no-nonsense mind that makes her a perfect moderator for those kinds of conversations and ensures they keep moving along and questions actually get addressed instead of lost in vague/creative/artistic land. :)

All of that is to say really, that I'm SUPER excited that both of them are coming to Fairfield this weekend. Ellis is doing a concert on Saturday at Cafe Paradiso, and then Ellis and Terri will be doing a workshop on Sunday! Here's the workshop info (email me at LyricalVenus at gmail dot com for more details):

Host: Steve Cooperman
Location: Bonnell Building
107 1/2 S. Main St., Fairfield, IA 52556 US
When: Sunday, November 30, 2:00PM

You are invited to spend an afternoon with singer/songwriter Ellis and booking agent/artist Terri Mazurek, who will be sharing their advice and ideas on the business aspects of making music in a workshop entitled "Making a Living Making Music in the 21st Century." The workshop takes place on Sunday, November 30 from 2 to 4 pm at the Bonnell Building in Fairfield. The cost is just $20/$15 for students. Topics include: how to set direction for your music career, how to find an audience for your music, promotion and marketing ideas, and how to plan/book your own tours. All levels of performing musicians are welcome, from those just starting out to touring musicians. Since 2006, Terri and Ellis have been the official business instructors at the prestigious Rocky Mountain Song School. Their workshops help creative artists to get on friendly terms with the business aspects of making music. They tackle music business challenges with humor, optimism, and compassion. Gemma Cohen, who was part of a large contingent of Fairfield musicians who attended this year's Song School, says of Terri and Ellis, "I'd pay to just hang out with them!"

But of course, before all that, you can hear from Ellis and Terri LIVE on the Lyrical Venus Radio Hour! Just tune in to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM here in town or kruufm.com online worldwide, Tuesday from 9am-10am.

Official Ellis Website

The Coffee Song at Rocky Mountain Folks Fest 2007:


How Would It Be:

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

Update! Rachel Ries and Anaïs Mitchell on Lyrical Venus Radio Too!

Well, here I go double posting on one day again, but I'm doing a bit of last minute scrambling to schedule an interview with Rachel and Anaïs. They won't be together on Tuesday so we're not sure if they'll be able to do a 3-way call or if they will call in separately. But in any case they WILL be together when they come to Fairfield this weekend and I am SO looking forward to their show at Cafe Paradiso on Saturday. It is not to be missed!! See my previous post about their duo project - Country EP for more details on what they have been up to lately. Very excited!

Interview with Rachael Sage on Lyrical Venus Radio! Tues 11/18

When I got the Rachael Sage press packet including her latest album Chandelier and several other of her recent releases I was floored. Rachael has 8 solo albums, her first release was in 1996 and she has won plenty of significant awards since then, including one of the “100 Most Influential Independent Artists Of The Past 15 Years” by Performing Songwriter magazine. How had I not heard of her?

On the first spin, the gorgeous voice, quirky/thoughtful lyrics and bright, brassy pop sound were enough to make me fall in love immediately with her music and feel kind of cheated that I didn't know about it before. "You mean I could have been rocking out to this song for TWO YEARS now had I only known about it?!" (as in the song Wildflower off her 2006 release The Blistering Sun. Here's the video, with a cameo by Randy Jones, original Cowboy of the Village People and Pharaoh in the production of Joseph that I was in this summer!)

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

But back to Chandelier, it was released this summer and it is just as glittering as they say - glam guitars, twinkling piano and that bright horn section (omg can I tell you how much I LOVE the horns?!?! I LOVE them!) Somehow all the sparkle lifts up the songs that have heavy themes and transforms the album experience into one of hope and celebration of life.

For example here is the video for Vertigo, a song she wrote in response to finding out that someone she dated for a brief period was actually married:


Aside from the music, Rachael is a person I admire in many ways, from her fabulous fashion sense (her clothes are sparkly too!) to her producing her own records and running her own label to her generous spirit. Her MPress Records has released several compilation albums featuring up-and-coming or established-but-under-the-radar songwriters where 100% of the profits go to a charity. What a great way to raise the profile of many a cool and deserving artist, and help good causes in the process. (past Lyrical Venus featured artists included on the compilations include Ellis, Melissa Ferrick, Kyler England (of the Rescues) and Girlyman.)

Find out more about Rachael, listen to music samples and order her albums on her website or MySpace.

And tune in to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM on Tuesday for the interview! (That'd be kruufm.com if you want to listen online from anywhere in the world with an internet connection!)

photo credit: Bill Bernstein

New Weepies Video!! With Muppets!

O
M
G

I usually try not to post twice in one day, but this was too awesome not to share immediately. As if The Weepies weren't cute enough already, now they are MUPPETS?!! Be still my heart!

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

I think one of my favorite parts is when they turn around on the words "turn around". But it's all good.

From the video info:

Can't Go Back Now is the brand new video from folk-pop act The Weepies. The Weepies' new record Hideaway has launched them into the mainstream with an appearance on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and even an Obama Campaign commercial. For information on The Weepies, please click here: http://www.theweepies.com

Marykate O'Neil Interview on Lyrical Venus Radio! Tues 11/11/08

There's something kind of familiar to me about Marykate O'Neil's music, even though I'd never heard of her till a few months ago. The experience of listening to her EP mkULTRA sort of reminds me of going to visit my relatives in California. I've been there enough times that I can find my way around fairly well, and I remember little knick-knacks or houses fondly, but the visits are also few and far enough between that there are plenty of new discoveries and surprises every time.

I think it's the retro-pop musicality that provides the familiar base, because the Brooklyn-based Marykate is definitely an original. Her lyrics ensure that the songs are not bubblegum pop but more of a dark chocolate - that perfect combination of bitter and sweet. “The themes in mk-ULTRA are a bit of the morning after the party,” reveals O’Neill. “It’s a bit about the darker side of NYC downtown life... the moment in a relationship where you realize you can't save it....and the moment in time when you realize you can't save someone.”

For all of the darkness, Marykate is also super funny, as you can see in this video of her performing her song Green Street:

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

Find out more about Marykate on her official website or her MySpace page.

Her mkUltra EP is available right now on cdBaby and
Her full length album Underground will follow in February 2009, stay tuned.

And last but certainly not least, tune in to KRUU on Tuesday for a live interview with Marykate! The Lyrical Venus Radio Hour is from 9-10am Central Time on KRUU-LP 100.1 FM locally, kruufm.com for worldwide web streaming.

Lyrical Venus Radio: VOTE

My show today is meant to inspire you to vote if you haven't already! Last chance is TODAY!

I spent 12 hours helping prepare the record number of absentee/early ballots for counting, and then I stayed up putting together the radio show, so I'm ridiculously tired and will have to point you to the station blog for, well, only a little bit more info.

Tune in from 9am-10am central. 100.1 in town, kruufm.com online worldwide.

Enjoy the music. Do your duty. If you already have, help your friends and family.

It's important.

And hallelujah, it's almost over! :)