Veda Hille

hi there! we’ve been experiencing a little computer trouble here at hille inc., hence the blogsilence. a new power cable should be saving my life fairly soon.

but some nice cbc news:  the glenn gould evening that i was part of last year, titled Idea of North, has won a prize.  in new york!  the Bronze World Medal for Best Music Special at the New York Festivals International Radio Awards.  congrats in particular to caitlin crockard and alan neal for putting it together.  

and also, as raff kindly pointed out in comments, the cbc radio orchestra Canadian Songbook Two is finally up online.  right here. this is where we have ndidi onukwulu singing bto, michel rivard singing his own great songs, and myself gently attacking neil young. i get all choked up when we do hallelujah at the end too, not for our singing but for the audience’s contribution at the close. all hail the canada’s orchestra!

and tomorrow i’m off with the band to sing at toronto pride, which should be a fine time.  we’ll be accompanying ivan coyote, as well as doing our own set.  all at 6pm at the corner of carlton and church.  i’ve got to get my hair cut today, in order to look just a little more fabulous.  xv

exciting news people:  this riot life has made it onto the Long List for the polaris prize!  alongside some of my very favorite records from last year as well.  go to that link to see the exalted company.  i’m totally chuffed.

in other events, you can watch some pretty amazing footage of a beluga whale giving birth at the vancouver aquarium just a few days ago. right here. a bit bloody of course, but exciting. they had quite an audience as well.

howdy there folksens.  at last, a few tour photos!  taken by henning rechs in stuttgart, at our show at laboratorium.  a really fun night among many.  there we have p kleinenstein, and then me being a deer, and martin and skye doing their concentrated thing.  i have yet to get my own photos out of the camera, but soon i will make a page devoted to our off-day zoo tours.  see patsy klein with many exotic animals!  

in other news, the word from ape is that those bonus tracks are NOT going to be on itunes after all.  they are working on a special download situation from the ape page itself.  i don’t have a release date yet, but of course i will alert you when i know.  same with the video for laboratory.

oh, the heavy rain has started here in vancouver town.  quite the coldest june that i can remember.  i’m having the urge to make lasagna and fruit crumble, usually dishes reserved for the fall.  of course, aside from cooking i’m down at the magnetic north/hive2 festival every night, where a bunch of bands of my own choice are playing.  577 Great Northern Way in vancouver, good theatre and music every night this week from tuesday thru saturday.  including the triumphant homecoming of No Kids, playing thursday!  i’m picking them up at the airport today, can’t wait to see their road-addled faces.

what else?  getting ready for my last gig of the summer, playing at toronto pride on june 28 with the band.  the band being patsy, barry, ford, shaun brodie, and scott malin this time around.  maybe that’s when i’ll see some sun.  til next,    xv

hallo all, have arrived safe and happy at home, working on getting the tour photos up, but also catching up on, you know, life, so in the meantime here is a picture quinne took of me being totally absorbed by a tiny gold sheep. yay quinne!

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ah, a rainy day in austria.  we are getting ready for our final show of the tour, so swiftly it arrives.  but i am also ready to go home and see the kid and the cat and the pals.  the poor girl running this call shop is crying into the phone in a language i don´t understand.

we had such a lovely time in bern!  nice people, nice piano, beautiful river, a meret oppenheim sculpture, and the swiss soccer team was staying at our hotel!  patsy got to drink beers with them in their underwear.  if only i had been awake to take photos.  our fortunes would be made.

and i have decided to call bats “leathermice”.  a mistranslation from the german, but so pleasing.

this afternoon we are going to shoot a little video for ace of the nazarene.  these viennese girls make lo-fi live sound videos on location in the city.  when i get their myspace again i will link to it.  it is quite wet, so we may be huddled in a doorway or the van, but i look forward to another youtube production.

okeydokey, time for tee und kuchen.  tschuss, ciao, a bientot.  xv

hello peoples.  i must be quick, i am in an internet shop in mannheim and we have to hit the road soon.  just wanted to answer some of those questions about the itunes stuff.  it should be available in the uk, usa, europe and canada.  ape told me that it would be up on may 12, and that the laboratory video would be up too…..i haven´t been able to check but i think for some reason it is not there yet.  all i can say is keep checking, and if i get any info i´ll let you know as soon as i can!

we´ve been having lovely shows, thanks to all who are making the drives and clapping the claps.  3 more shows!  and my health is excellent, just so´s you know.    xv

my pal maiko reminded me this morning that our production Sexual Practices of the Japanese is currently running in toronto. this is where the song Soapland Serenade comes from, and a few others that haven´t been recorded yet. i´m not sure where it is, but you can get all info at the theatre replacement site.

last night in berlin we went to see a beautiful concert of brecht songs at an old building. the room we were in has not been used since 1943. faded glory, bullet holes, the whole berlin deal. the music was stunning. i am embarrassed to say that i cannot remember the players names (it was thomas and iris and wolfgang, but that won´t help you). i loved it. some of them are in a band called art af oryx that i like alot too.

ok, must fly, berlin awaits! x v

in all the fuss and travel, i forgot to mention that skye and i had a great trip to new york a few weeks ago. this is him asleep at the chelsea hotel.

but now we are in berlin! at pentecost! there is something called Karnaval de Kulturen going on down the street, apparently there are one million people being cultural right now. i will go out soon and check it out. we´ve had our first two shows, in ingolstadt and fulda, and are gearing up for the next round starting tuesday in berlin. the band is in good form, the fits seem to be confusing people (despite our awesome new dresses), and my health is stellar. alle is gut.

newsy stuff: you can now listen to a 20 minute podcast that i recorded at my brother´s house all about the making of riot life. it is here on the ape site. apparently there are some good reviews coming out in the uk, despite my rude show cancellations. and most exciting for me, the 4 extra songs we recorded for riot life are coming out on itunes this week! that´s the japanese version of soapland serenade, the brecht/eisler tune song of the moldau, a little instrumental called lost, and the ever-popular first in your laboratory! which people ask about at every show, i´m happy that you can finally buy it for a buck. plus, my pal quinne and her posse of video makers have shot a video for laboratory, and it should be up on the ape site next week! we made it cheap and dirty, kind of an alien abduction blair witch project kinda thing. shooting on the fly in the vancouver woods in the middle of the night. with teenage extras. fun.

and fun for me, i get to see my husband´s band no kids at the volksbuhne tonight!  and maybe go to my favourite greek restaurant.  and wash my scanties.  a fine day off.  til next   xx v

  hello pals, and welcome to our updated wordpress existence.  the changes are subtle but important, and hopefully will ease your navigation, buying power, and general life expectancy.  do let us know if you find any oddness.  there are postal charges on top of basic cd prices now, and one column still isn’t registering the proper total, but rest assured you will be charged properly.  

and so many other things!  like for example, this picture here.  taken by my friend mark mushet at the red square (the excellent smoky smoke is from shirley’s bbq on the back deck), this photo has been nominated for the Best Portrait of the Year in the national magazine awards!  mark is a co-editor of the vancouver review, a fine arts mag here in our city.  they’re up for a few awards this year, good luck to them.  oh, and mark has a show opening at zulu records next week, more great photos of musicians.

and more:  the show Bone in Her Teeth, which contains the music that i’ve called The Raft of the Medusa, will open in vancouver on may 21.  that is of course with the leaky heaven circus.  i will not be playing live with this one, but i’ve passed the duties over to the lovely and talented chrisariffic.  i get home in time to see the darn thing at least, and i’m looking forward to it.

and of course, we’re hitting the road in germany, austria and switzerland next week.  band practices have been great, my health is fine, and we’re raring to go.  my husband’s band no kids is also on tour (check that link for details) and i’ll get to attend his show in berlin on may 11th!  fun!  ok, back to laundry and housecleaning and eating bon bons for me.   xv

so, yesterday i had the thrill and the honour of performing once again with the cbc radio orchestra. we premiered a set of 6 neil young songs with arrangements by giorgio magnanensi, as well as an additional song by buffy sainte marie and leonard cohen. it was a crazy few days of lead up, with scant rehearsal time, but as usual the orchestra and their fearless conductor alain trudel delivered beautifully on stage. giorgio’s arrangements are wonderful and overwhelming. it will be broadcast on cbc radio and online, but probably not for about a month. mixing these things take time. as soon as i know the details i will publish them. i can’t wait to hear it myself, actually.

and now back to band rehearsals, and writing songs, and presumably getting around to taxes at some point. life goes on and on, doesn’t it? the glamour is bright and brief.

xv