From: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org (trajectory-digest) To: trajectory-digest@smoe.org Subject: trajectory-digest V2 #3 Reply-To: trajectory@smoe.org Sender: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk trajectory-digest Tuesday, January 20 1998 Volume 02 : Number 003 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Veda's Disc Release Concert (warning: long & rambling) [Neile Graham Subject: Veda's Disc Release Concert (warning: long & rambling) Hi, all-- I was lucky enough to be there last night for Veda's release party for _Here is a picture_. It truly was a wonderful performance. Almost a year ago, I first heard these songs at the Railway Club (noisy and crowded) when Veda played there, right at the time they were doing the recording. She performed the full song cycle, took a break, and then played songs from her other releases. While I liked the songs, I wasn't really taken by them, especially in the bar context, where her other songs came across so powerfully. Since then I've heard songs here and there at a couple of her other performances I've been lucky enough to catch, and began to appreciate some of the songs a lot more. When I got the disc several weeks ago (again, many, many thanks to meth and woj!!) I finally heard them more clearly and saw how they worked together, and the disc has since become one of my absolute favourites, and I have no doubt it will stand the test of time for me. Maybe a little has to do with a long-standing interest in Emily Carr and her work--I grew up in Victoria, where Emily Carr was born and lived (in fact, the Cordova Bay mentioned in the list of painting titles is where I grew up, and as a child I played on the beach she painted a lot), and over the years I've read and own most of her writings and a couple of books about her. A close friend wrote a collection of poems about her (_West of Darkness_ by John Barton, look it up, it's _good_--and there are two others that I know of), one poem of which was dedicated to me, which made me feel yet another connection. Also, by growing up where Emily Carr did, I share some of her obsessions with forest and the Native art of the Northwest Coast. I've also been so some of the more obscure places she travelled to and painted in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). Maybe this also has to do with how Veda's work has continued to resonate for me over time--each of her three previous recordings still give me more each time I listen to them, as though they're going through a continual opening, or I am each time I listen to them, I don't know. All I know is that I never tire of her music, and Veda is now by far my favourite musical artist. Anyway, for me the songs work magically in context, and I love how the themes, both musical and subject, are woven throughout this piece. It has the same evocative effect for me that Emily Carr's work has. So last night was powerful magic. Seeing the whole cycle live again, with a quiet and attentive audience, seated only a few feet away from Veda's piano was one of the more powerful musical experiences I've ever been privileged to share. It was worth every minute of the 3-hour drive to Vancouver and the 3-hour drive back after the concert ended at 11:00 pm. My only quibble with the evening was that I could easily have skipped the non-Veda parts of it. The first half consisted of Bill Richardson reading from his book, _Scorned and Beloved_. Actually, I enjoyed this a lot--he's a good reader and I enjoyed the section he read from his new book about Canadian eccentrics. I gather he and Veda are friends--he was MC for her _Spine_ disc release party. And his book is titled after Emily Carr's painting "Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky". But after that was Christine Taylor, a comedien. Her work was okay and I did laugh, but overall it wasn't particularly compelling. After her Kinnie Starr played a short but too-long set. I have Kinnie's _Tidy_ and haven't felt drawn to give it more than the occasional listen, and maybe last night was an off-night for her (she did say she was rusty after not performing for several months) but her work seemed entirely self-indulgent and immature. While it's clear she has talent, it seemed underdeveloped and sloppily rendered to me. Ah well, this is probably a taste thing. So then there was a break, and a wonderful, slow, evocative, silence-filled performance of the whole of _This is a picture (songs for E Carr)_. Brilliant, quiet, tumultuous, passionate, quiet, cold, stern, restrained, firey, all the things that Emily Carr seems to me to have been. As you can tell, I find it easier to write about the stuff that surrounded the performance than the performance itself, but it was magnificent. As an encore we were treated to to a new song of Veda's which is very much in the vein of the Emily Carr album. A nice complement to it. Anyway, for anyone interested, info about the new album is now up on The Ectophiles' Guide page for Veda: http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide/hille.veda.html - --Neile - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 00:03:20 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: Veda's Disc Release Concert (warning: long & rambling) Hi! Neile reported: >I was lucky enough to be there last night for Veda's release party for >_Here is a picture_. It truly was a wonderful performance. Thanks for the report, Neile! Well, for those of us in the NYC area, the word is that tickets for the Bottom Line shows this Thursday are $17.50. Ouch. >So then there was a break, and a wonderful, slow, evocative, silence-filled >performance of the whole of _This is a picture (songs for E Carr)_. >Brilliant, quiet, tumultuous, passionate, quiet, cold, stern, restrained, >firey, all the things that Emily Carr seems to me to have been. As you can >tell, I find it easier to write about the stuff that surrounded the >performance than the performance itself, but it was magnificent. Was Veda solo, or did she have the band with her? >As an encore we were treated to to a new song of Veda's which is very much >in the vein of the Emily Carr album. A nice complement to it. I've been hearing about this fabled new song ... I really hope she plays it on Thursday! +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | |***TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: trajectory-request@smoe.org***| +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ End of trajectory-digest V2 #3 ******************************