Rain in Vancouver

It is well known that Vancouver is prone to rain.  I have been asking people here if the rain gets them down at all, and for the most part folks have said that they love the rain and thrive in it.  That is for the best.  As for me, I'm soaked through to the bone and craving sunshine.  

I'm in Vancouver studying guitar with Don Ogilvie and taking vocal lessons with Karin Plato.  I received an Advanced Artist Award from the Yukon Government to make this happen.  I'm here for a month and so far it has been a really great experience.  It is wonderful to have some time to focus on getting better at what I do.  Karin and Don both have strong backgrounds in jazz, so it's been fun and eye-opening for me to have that perspective.

I recently played some gigs in Ontario with Grant Simpson. We were in Kemptville, Mississauga and Toronto..... then we headed west performing on the train across the country.  It's such a great way to travel, and we met alot of neat people.  I'll be heading back to Whitehorse in November in time for the Yukon Women in Music CD Release concert that I am playing at with Home Sweet Home (Keitha Clark, Boyd Benjamin).  

I had the opportunity to go hiking on the weekend in the mountains across the way in North Van.  It was nice to get out of the city and be near all those cedar trees.  The area that we were in was logged way back when, and the huge stumps are still there as ghosts of the giant trees that once stood.  It was fun to be in the mist of the rain coast and find ourselves in patches of snow.

In other news - I turned 30, and sadly realized in hindsight that I had spent the past decade in my roaring 20's.  Hopefully the dirty 30's don't live up to their name.  I am currently re-evaluating my entire life.  I haven't decided whether to become more or less serious about things.  It could go either way.  In the meantime, I've decided to at long last order a guitar from luthier Oskar Graf.  This was a big decision to make, and it feels like a really good one. I am excited to have a beautiful guitar to play and be inspired by.

Here are birthday kisses from Vega,

Wish me luck on being a grown-up!

Kate

Whitehorse to Clarendon to Halifax to Whitehorse

Hello!
I am writing from Whitehorse - I'm here for a few weeks before heading south to play a few gigs in Ontario with Grant Simpson.  We'll be at the Branch in Kemptville on Oct. 5th and the Free Times Cafe in Toronto on Oct. 14th.   I'm looking forward to participating in the Music Yukon Showcase at OCFF in Mississauga along side Annie Lou, Blue Hibou and others.  

I had a great summer in the Yukon playing shows with Grant Simpson, Keitha Clark, Amelia Rose and Graham Poile.  I'm really looking forward to spending a month in Vancouver this fall thanks to the Advanced Artist Award I have received from Yukon Government.  I'll be doing intensive lessons with Don Ogilvie and Karin Plato.  Don is a gypsy jazz guitarist and Karin is a jazz vocalist.  It will be great to spend some focused time working on my playing and singing.

I had fun this summer collecting wild edible plants from the woods around where I live.  This is a picture of dandelion root that I cut up and roasted for tea.... mmmm!  below are the cranberries I picked this week on a section of the Yukon river I've never been to before.

I spent the last week of August in Halifax with my Mom.  We took the train and spent our days eating good food and basking in the sunshine by the ocean.   I'll be taking the train west from Toronto to Vancouver in October with Grant Simpson.  We will be performing on the train, like I did last year.  It was such a great experience last time - I really look forward to taking the trip again.

See you down the road somewhere soon!

Kate

Gearing up for Cole Porter....

Hi Folks,

Here is a photo from when I played at Rendezvous (the Yukon's winter festival) with Home Sweet Home.

Well.... on May 5th I'm doing a show 'LETS DO IT - the Songs of Cole Porter' with Fawn Fritzen, Nicole Edwards, Grant Simpson, Selina Heyligers Hare and Dave Haddock.  It's at 8pm at the Old Firehall in Whitehorse.  It should be a really fun night of collaboration with some folks I don't often get to play with.  I recorded Cole Porter's 'Dream Dancing' on the Beneath the Yukon Moon album with Grant Simpson.

I'm working right now on the current Yukon Women in Music compilation CD project as well as a short tour with YWIM to Watson Lake and Marsh Lake.  The dog mushing season is drawing to a close as it has become literally quite mushy out there.  It always feels sad to watch the snow go, but we'll be out in canoes soon I hope and that is a comforting thought.

Grant Simpson and I are looking ahead to the fall and starting to line up some tour dates in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and BC for mid-October to mid-November.  I'll also be playing some solo shows in Ontario August/September.  Let me know if you're interested in being on my mailing list or if you're interested in hosting a show.

until then,
keep on keepin' on

Kate

Whitehorse CD Release Concert - what a blast!

Grant Simpson & I released our CD "Beneath the Yukon Moon" in Whitehorse with a 7 piece band!  It was such fun to play with Keitha Clark, Marg Tatam, Bob Hamilton, Rob Bergman and Marc Paradis.  Keitha and I are playing a kids show at the Frostbite Music Festival, Feb. 19th at 1:05pm.  I'll be doing some shows for the Arctic Winter Games in March and am trying to get in as much dog mushing as possible.  It feels good to be back in the north.

Kate

Back from Tour!

I'm back in Whitehorse after a fantastic tour of BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba & Ontario with Grant Simpson, releasing our new CD "Beneath the Yukon Moon".  The tour started out in BC with a gig on Thetis Island.  We had such a warm welcoming from the folks on Thetis - what a thriving community of like-minded people!  We stayed with friends in a house right on the ocean with a view out to many small islands.

We played our first 'condo concert' (like a house concert, but in a condo) hosted by Grant's brother & sister-in-law, as well as a show on Gabriola Island.  It was neat to spend some time on Gabriola and meet the arts community there.  Here are some photos from a bike trip we did around the island with a stop to hike along the ocean....

After the BC gigs we headed off to Winnipeg to play a Home Routes house concert tour.  We played 13 house concerts over the course of 15 or so days.  It was great getting to see so much of Manitoba & Saskatchewan, and to meet so many great people.  I find these tours really give me a new sense of Canada - the kind of people who live here, the kind of lives they're living.  We were able to visit with a few people that we've met on previous tours, it was nice to have that connection and come home with some Manitoba honey!
Here are some shots from hiking in Riding Mountain National Park (north of Brandon on our day off), a wildlife preserve north of Winnipeg, and a sunflower at Ft. Garry historical site.

We had a really beautiful drive in the..... inter-lake district between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba.  We stopped in Gimli on the way for a bite to eat.... and I wowed the crowds with my air-piano playing!

We headed to Ontario and played at the Finlandia Hall in Thunder Bay.  The place was packed with Grant's relatives and my long-lost friend Alex!  Then we headed east to play Ottawa, Kemptville, Kingston & Perth.  It was great to see my friends and family in the area and the festive season in good company.
Here is a shot from our show in Kemptville with my pal Derek up helping out with actions for my Sled Dog Song!

Now we're back in Whitehorse, basking in the balmy zero degree weather, getting ready for minus 30 this weekend..... good ol' climate change keepin' us on our toes.

We've got our CD release concert here January 21st and then..... fantastic adventures lurking around every corner!

From,
Kate

CD Release Tour with Grant Simpson! - 'Beneath the Yukon Moon'

I'm heading out on tour this fall with Grant Simpson (stride piano player/vaudevillian) to promote our new release "Beneath the Yukon Moon".  The album features original material from both Grant & I with instrumentation ranging from banjo to erhu.  We'll be touring BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.  For a full list of dates check out the calendar page on my website.  The album will be available to purchase on-line SOON!  For a sneak peek, check out the EPK page on my website.

I recently had the opportunity to perform on 'the Canadian', VIA Rail's cross-Canada train from Toronto to Vancouver.  It was a really unique performance opportunity, as well as a beautiful way to see Canada.  I met alot of great people on the train and was sad to see the trip come to an end!  However... at the end of the trip I headed up to Whitehorse and got to play a few shows with Keitha Clark & Home Sweet Home, which was alot of fun.  I also did an interview with Jennifer Hawks for her on-line podcast radio show "My Yukon Life".  It will debut November 7th, be sure to check it out.

In August I spent 18 days in Scotland with my family and got to see LOTS of bagpipers - which was great!  We unintentionally timed our trip to be in Glasgow for an international piping competition.  We were also in Oban for the highland games and paraded down the street with everyone on the way to the games field.  The picture above is from a casual evening performance by the highschool pipe band.  It was really wonderful to see the piping tradion thriving and to get to hear so much music first hand.

For now.... I'm on Gabriola Island, getting ready to head out on tour and enjoying the lovely salty air!

Till next time......

Kate

ohhhh it's a busy life....

Hello Everyone!

I'm in Ontario right now, visiting family and friends and looking back through pictures from a busy spring and summer in the Yukon.  The photo above is of a hiking trip I did in the Bonneville Lakes valley.  The view is from the top of a ridge looking down to Fish Lake, where I mush sometimes in the winter.

The spring was packed with Home Sweet Home tours to communities throughout the Yukon.  We went up to Old Crow, released our debut CD and taught fiddle classes in Teslin, Watson Lake & Carcross. We performed at Canada Day in Whitehorse, the Adaka First Nations Festival and the Atlin Arts and Music Festival.

In June I participated in the Chilkat International Bike Relay from Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines Alaska.  I was on a 4 person team and was thrilled to pedal through alpine tundra and then decend into the coastal rain forest. 

Grant Simpson and I have finished recording our CD "Beneath the Yukon Moon" and will be touring throughout central Canada and Ontairo this November and December.  We're also looking forward to our CD Release in Whitehorse on January 21st, 2012.  Stay tuned for info on how to purchase "Beneath the Yukon Moon".

The photo of all the well-dressed folks is from Blue Skies Music Festival, post-parade celebrations.

thanks for reading,

Kate