Gettin' With The Times

Wow, am I ever excited! I'm getting with the times with a laptop! It's perfect timing as I'm leaving for Toronto on Friday and can't wait to use it while I'm travelling on the bus. I feel all excited, just like a little kid at Christmas. It feels amazing! Does that mean I'm turning into a computer geek? : ) It's all because of my dear computer friend Francisco. He has been a complete angel, teaching me everything I need to know about computers...Thank you so much Francisco! I haven't been this excited to play with a new toy in a very long time and I see many late night hours in my future dedicated to learning how it all works.

Having this laptop to use will help me so much. I can now keep my website more up-to-date as well as be able to check me email easily while I'm on the road. I have a bunch of new recording tools on the laptop which I'm going to try out this weekend in a very cool Toronto Island spot (it's top secret for now). I'm also learning how to convert my recordings into MP3 files so that I can share all my new recordings with you on my sounds page of my website, maybe even my top secret recording-to-be...

What an exciting time this is! I just had to share that with you as I am so happy and so enthusiastic to learn everything I can about my new toy!

Love Rozalind

I'm Lovin' This Life!

It's one of those days when I can feel that it's all coming together. It's really exciting when that happens. As artists, we work so hard each day trying to make it in this crazy biz and we often forget to acknowledge all the little things we are accomplishing from day to day. Those things are so important to remember. One of my friends explained to me that building a music career is like building your dream house. First, you gotta work your butt off building that foundation and with every added day of work, something more beautiful comes out of it. Well, I'm building that house and it's gonna be gorgeous by the time I'm finished! I'm already catching glimpses and I'm liking it.

So you're asking, what does a typical day look like for fluter Rozalind? Maybe you don't care and if that's the case, you can stop reading my blog and move on to something else that interests you as it doesn't seem like flutin is your thing. Today I have learned so much about how the music industry ticks. There's so much to learn that it can be quite overwhelming sometimes. Today I feel like I've been given some important pieces to the puzzle. I've been slugging away researching FACTOR grants, writing bios, recruiting bands for Ear to the Ground, booking gigs and organising tours for the upcoming months, emailing galore to just about every type of industry folk (my last count was 50 of them since I began at 10am), web research (about bands, festivals, online music sites and blogs), listening and preparing tunes for upcoming shows, practising my flutes to keep up my technique, teaching about flutin' to my flute students and of course, blogging. My day is not done and it's almost 10pm and I'm not complaining. I still have another three hours to go but it's the excitement of it all and the variety that keeps me going. I love it. I love learning, I love sharing and I love discovering new things all the time.

Got some cool shows coming up in the next few weeks...Confirmed for a Kingston Grad Club show with The Acorn, As The Poets Affirm and Elliott Brood on April 8th. Man, that's going to be a fun night! Just found out that I'll be making a guest appearance with Matthew Barber on March 24 at the Black Sheep. I'm playing with the In Support of Living folks for the final Blow Up in TO on March 26. And get this: I've sent an email to the management of Snow Patrol to see if they'd be interested in a guest fluter during their Canadian dates as well. They'll probably think I'm absolutely nuts but hey, it's worth a shot. The flute would be so magical in "Grazed Knees" but it's hard to prove that to a bunch of people who I have never met before and who have never seen me play. We'll see if I get a reply. Highly unlikely but I am learning that it's all about the numbers and good timing. The more I put into my work, the more I get out of it. Hey, I'm here to stay so I might as well make my presence known.

Now back to writing my Banff proposal...it's coming along nicely and I'm getting so excited by the prospect of being in the mountains as of next January...

Love Rozalind

Zombie Days

Wow, I don't know about you folks but I've been a complete zombie for the past few days! My body seems to be forcing me into slow mode, that's for sure and my mind seems to be somewhere else!

I've been seeing some great shows lately. Three Gut presented us with some fine musicians in Ottawa this week, first with Jim Guthrie and Nathan Coles Outfit on Thursday and then the next night with Sea Snakes and other fine folks. I enjoyed the sets from all three of those bands. It's good to see that Jim is being nominated for Alternative Album of the Year from the Junos. Let's hope he gets it so that I don't completely lose all faith in the Junos. Sea Snakes put on a great show for us as well and I definately look forward to hearing more from them soon. They were off to do a set at Casa del Popolo the next night in Montreal which I'm sure was a wonderful show. I was really impressed with another energetic band that performed on Thursday night, off of the Kelp Records label called Greenfield Main. Those guys got me smiling and even dancing in my totally dead state.

Still plugging away at this Banff proposal...it's coming along, slowly. Just one of those things - I find whenever there's a deadline for something, it makes me panic like a deer caught in headlights. All of a sudden, a proposal that seemed so easy before is now the most frightening thing ever!

Better get back to it...I'm determined to get it done today.

Love Rozalind

It's Time for the Wind Revolution

My time performing in Montreal last weekend was so much fun. I played a really intimate show at the Yellow door with Abigail Lapell, Mélissa Laveaux & Rob Reid and Lindsay Ferguson. I could feel all the amazing history in that place. It was quite magical. Sunday was a wonderful day for me as well. I spent a lot of the day wandering around my favourite haunts in Montreal and even got to check out Tony Dekker's (Great Lake Swimmers) solo show at Casa del Popolo that afternoon. Tony was wonderful as always. It was pretty cool to hear all his new material from his new "Bodies and Minds" CD. We had jammed out a lot of his new material in his Toronto apartment last November so it brought back a bunch of good memories. I got a copy of "Bodies and Minds" that day and listened to it the whole bus trip home. I love it. Definately buy a copy of this CD. It's well worth the money.

So now that I'm back in Ottawa, I'm feeling the downer part of being back from touring. I always notice after a major performance or important tour that I'm a little on the down side of life, mostly because it feels like I have nothing extremely important going on. Of course, that is furthest from the truth! Having just got back from Montreal Sunday night, I am already working on booking a tour for In Support of Living and As The Poets Affirm for June and have been recruiting many indie rock bands for Toronto's Ear to the Ground Festival. I've also been very busy getting Yael and my Banff Centre for the Arts Short Term Artist's Residency proposal together as well as actively working on starting a collaborative Nostalgica record label. But with all that being said, I haven't been performing as much as I normally do which is getting me down a bit as that's what I live for and thrive on.

I've been thinking lots about how difficult it is to be a fluter trying to break it into the indie music community. You see, string players are far more in demand these days. Everyone loves the sound of the cello and the violin is a commonly recorded instrument as well but rock flute just isn't very common these days. I was talking with Ryan of As the Poets Affirm recently and mentioned to him the title of my upcoming CD, "It's Time for the Wind Revolution." He thought that was pretty cool and we both agreed that yes, it IS time for the wind revolution to happen in the indie rock community. I know I've already mentioned this in a past blog but I'm mentioning it again as I think it's really important. I believe that now's the time to get us talented windplayers into the mainstream and I'm going to do my best to make that happen. Although many songwriters don't immediately think of the flute as being integral to their sound, I have managed to convince quite a few of them along the way that the sound of the flute can add a truly magical element to their song arrangements. I'm going to keep introducing my flutin' skills to the musical world and we'll see where it gets me. Give me five years and I think I'll be singing a different tune, along with a bunch of other fine windplayers.

Love Rozalind

Gotta Move Soon...

I was reading all the Canadian weeklies online today as I always do ever Thursday and noticed that one of my favourite Toronto bands, Great Lake Swimmers is featured in Toronto's EYE this week! Does it ever make me happy to see my music friends getting good press and of all people, I think Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers is most deserving of press attention right now. He's a magical performer and one amazing songwriter, that's for sure. He also has been working very hard on getting his stuff out there, performing lots in Canada and touring in Europe. His second CD, "Bodies and Minds" is to be released on March 15th and I'm confident that it will be just as magical as his first. Congrats Tony! I am so proud of everyone on the weewerk label as I think all of those folks are doing an amazing job at getting their music out there.

I was fortunate to perform with Great Lake Swimmers last October for their mini tour which ended at POP Montreal. I had the most amazing time. Reading the article of their newly-released CD and of this year's CMW lineup just made me want to pack my bags and move to Toronto as soon as possible. I'm really starting to miss all the great shows that are happening in Toronto these days and feel that I'm missing many performing and recording opportunities as well. Every week I am reminded of how much I am missing when I read those damn weeklies. I see all the concert listings of shows that I wish I could be going to. Gotta move, January 2006 is just not coming soon enough.

Not to say that Ottawa doesn't have a great music scene. Last night for example was a blast. I got to do two guest appearances, one with Kelp Record's The Acorn for their song "Books" and the other with a Dutch band called We vs. Death. I had so much fun performing with both of the bands. The We vs. Death guys have already invited me to perform with them when I get my butt to the Netherlands. So yes, there are great opportunities in Ottawa but it just seems that there's so much more in Toronto. Cry me a river! I know, I probably sound pretty pathetic right now but I'm sure that all of you who are currently experiencing the same "should I move" dilemma can relate to my whining. I love the smell of the air in Ottawa, the cleanliness, the nature at my doorstep. I like the smallness of it all but as a musician, it's simply not enough to keep me here. I need more opprtunities.

On that note, gotta get ready for tonight. Going to Café Nostalgica for some fun jamming. Haven't been there since we first started our tour. I am pretty excited about tomorrow as I will be mixing Yael Wand and my recent recordings for our Banff Centre proposal with Craig Simon in the Gatineaus. I also am also super hyped about our last "Love songs we can relate to..." show in Montreal on Saturday. Abigail Lapell, Melissa Laveaux and Lindsay Ferguson will be joining me at the Yellow Door. I'm sure I'll have lots of stories for you when I get back...

Love Rozalind

US rocker's knitting zine called, "Slave to the Neeedles." There will be an article about me in their next issue! DId you know that I used to knit a lot? There's lots you don't know about me! : )

Home Sweet Home and a Slave to the Needles

Finally, I think I'm starting to get back on track. It's funny how long it takes for me to feel settled at home when I've been gone for a while. Piles of laundry, too many emails to reply to, phonecalls to return, paperwork piled up...it's a lot of stuff to get back on top of. I guess that's the life of a self-employed artist. I have no complaints though as I definately enjoy the freedom of choosing my own schedule and doing what I love. I used to live the whole day job life, getting up at 6am to sit at a desk typing on the computer all day. I would always get irritated when I would think about the number of hours I would be wasting each day doing things that didn't contribute to my musical dreams and goals. You day job folks understand what I'm saying here...

So last night, I was looking through my journal and discovered something I wrote that I think I may make the title of something in my near future..."It's time for the wind revolution." What do you think? Not sure if anyone reads this blog or not but if you do, I'd love some feedback. It's funny how stuff comes to you sometimes. I remember writing that down after a conversation I had with someone on the road...it was memorable enough that I wrote it down. It mostly has to do with the fact that I'm tired of there being this string revolution in the indie rock scene. I think it's time for the winds to take over and start our own revolution!

Talking about winds taking over, there's going to be an article written about me in a US rocker's knitting zine (yes, you read it correctly!) called "Slave to the Needles." I have attached a pic of it above that I found on another girl's knitting blog site that I found through a google search...Never knew there was a knitting culture like this out there! I was contacted out of the blue by "Slave to the Needles" zine creator Aimee for an interview and it just so happens that I used to love knitting when I was a kid! When it comes out, I'll be sure to post it on my website.

Other cool stuff...I just had a bunch of European radio stations in the UK and Belgium request for me to send them my CDs which was a real thrill as I'd absolutely love to get my name out there enough that I could eventually do a tour, especially in the UK, France and Netherlands, maybe even Germany. I'm working on it...

OK, that's it for now. Gotta go walk my dog Sadie. What a gorgeous day it is outside!

Love Rozalind