I Need Your Advice

Hi Folks,

Long time no speak for some of you and others are hearing from me after spending a beautiful night together! : )

I am sending this message to you as I would like to ask for your advice. Thanks in advance.

So I did my big last show in Ottawa last night. Many of you who I am sending this to were there. Thank you for coming out and for helping me get to the Banff Centre. It was a great night. Man, I could have played for longer! 6 hours actually felt too short. But I got to play many of my favourite tunes with many of my favourite singer-songwriters. Playing on my own with guitar and voice was such a magical experience for me. I can already see that I am growing from all of this which is so much fun...

So how was the night for the benefit part of it? Well many people who came out were so generous that it was really touching. All of my paintings were sold and I sold a number of Gas Station Sessions - seven songs for seven years CDs as well. The unfortunate part was that not enough people came out to the show. That was the part that kind of upset me. It was a magical night and so many people who I admire and greatly respect in our creative community simply missed out and did not venture to experience the magic happen. That's alright, I'm not upset about it, only disappointed as I need to find a way to raise this money and am currently not successful with raising what I really need in order to attend one of the best art centres in this country. This puzzles me, especially after I had numerous articles written about me (ChartAttack, Ottawa Citizen (like Toronto Star), Ottawa Xpress (like NOW or EYE), Centretown News and the Charlatan. I did many radio interviews (CKCU and CHUO both twice), was on television twice (CTV and Rogers Cable). All of these articles were beautifully written and presented. One in particular, Fateema Sayani of the Ottawa Citizen put in a huge colour picture (Ami Jarvis) in her touching article. I could not ask for better from the media and radio. They were all so much fun to talk to and made it a really great experience.

In the end, I raised $720 dollars. This was after having to pay for sound ($150). I also have to pay a lot of that back to folks I borrowed money from. Unfortunately, I needed to raise a whole lot more than that ($5000 in total) and have been putting in 16-20 hour days (sometimes sadly more than that) already. I simply cannot do more. I have recently applied for a Canada Arts Council Professional Development grant but only find out in January whether I got it or not. I am now attempting to find some office work to do until I move (third week of December). I have until the end of the month to find the rest of the money I owe to The Banff Centre or I won't be able to go. Needless to say, I'm devastated by this recent dose of reality. It's been a challenging time lately, just lost my 12 year old dog, best friend Sadie. Anyone who's lost a pet seems to understand why that's a difficult one to handle. Needless to say, I was confident that the Ottawa creative community would want to support an artist during their special departure and new beginning. It certainly was a beautiful night and I do see a very bright future ahead for me. Anyone who was there truly understands what that means. For me, it was the connections with so many talented people on the Zaphod's stage one last time (for a little while at least). Gonna miss you.

I am writing to you to ask what you would do if you were in my shoes? I need some advice. I want to thank you in advance for taking the time to think about this and sharing your helpful incite.

Thanks again,

Love Rozalind
www.rozalindmacphail.com
(613) 244-7234

The Charlatan

Hi Friends. Bet you don't know a lot of this about my past...

Love Rozalind

A singer/songwriter’s rebirth

Rozalind MacPhail is starting a new chapter in her life, and the Charlatan was there to hear her speak about her past, the good and the bad

by Rahul Kalvapalle

Flutist Rozalind MacPhail grew up in a small but creative community in Toronto Island, a tiny piece of land off the harbour.
She suffered from severe chronic asthma as a child. Surprisingly, the ailment actually led her to the flute. A newspaper article describing the positive effects playing wind instruments can have on asthmatics led her parents to make her start playing the flute.
Initially though, MacPhail was reluctant to take up the flute because “the whole idea at that age of spit was really disgusting.”
But she soon got rid of her spit inhibitions and developed a passion for the flute, as well as other arts, such as painting, sculpting and acting.
“I had a really lonely childhood. I didn’t fit in and didn’t have many friends in public school,” says MacPhail. “I wanted to be in an environment that would be very creative for me and would accept who I was.”
It was this passion for the creative arts that lead MacPhail to pursue a diploma, majoring in flute performance.
“It was there that I found my group of friends and was able to feel accepted and part of the community for the first time as an artist.”
Soon after, MacPhail decided to pursue a classical music career as an orchestral performer. However, after completing her degree at the University of Toronto, she realized orchestral playing wasn’t for her. She then decided to move to Ottawa to study contemporary Canadian music under nationally renowned flutist Robert Cram, a professor at the University of Ottawa.
However, just weeks before she was to leave for Ottawa, catastrophe struck. MacPhail was raped by a man who slipped date-rape drugs into her drink.
The horrific incident nearly destroyed her entire life.
As MacPhail points out, most rape victims display suicidal tendencies and veer toward alcohol and drug abuse.
“And lets just say I dabbled in quite a bit of all the above.”
To make things worse, she also had to work two full-time jobs while studying in Ottawa. The excrutiating pressure became too much and after completing only a year of her studies with Cram, she left.
Soon after, she quit playing the flute for six months — a period she describes as “probably one of the most miserable times of my entire life.”
The situation soon started to change for the better. MacPhail began staying with flute teacher Tina Fedeski to “get myself playing again.”
Fedeski helped MacPhail regain her love for the flute and classical music.
“Since then,” reflects MacPhail, “I made a 100 per cent — 200 per cent maybe — turnaround.”
MacPhail soon started visiting open stages across the city, where she gradually began to discover her previously unearthed talent and passion for improvisation.
“I really enjoyed not having the written page in front of me. There was just a type of freedom in improvisation that I wasn’t able to get with classical music.”
After playing with a band called Lighthousekeepers for two years, MacPhail was left high and dry when the band songwriter Neil Gurster decided to pursue a solo career, effectively breaking up the band.
It was after the break up of Lighthousekeepers that MacPhail began making unplanned guest appearances on stage with bands such as the Great Lake Swimmers and The Constantines, the latter in front of 6,000 people in her hometown.
She has also performed with world-renowned musicians such as Yo La Tengo and indie-rock great Lou Barlow. Again, both performances were spontaneous and unplanned.
Soon after, following advice from a member of the Great Lake Swimmers, MacPhail decided to start writing her own tracks and began to develop an aptitude for songwriting.
After learning to play guitar in order to back up her songwriting, MacPhail began penning her own songs. Not long after, the Gas Station Sessions EP was conceived. MacPhail collaborated with singer-songwriter Lindsay Ferguson on the seven-track EP — “seven tracks for seven years in Ottawa,” explains MacPhail — all under the wathchful eye of producer Dale Morningstar.
The EP includes four of MacPhail’s original tracks, which feature her on the flute and guitar as well as vocals.
The EP celebrates the seven years MacPhail spent in Ottawa and marks her last album before she relocates to Alberta in January and joins the Banff Centre for the Arts, where she will take part in a songwriting residency while also learning about and studying her latest obsession, the North Indian bamboo flute, or bansuri.
Her plan is to eventually release a full-length album after completing the residency in Banff.
So after three recordings and working with numerous musicians, the question remains: What genre does Rozalind MacPhail belong to?
“Alternative folk with an indie vibe,” says MacPhail, who learned about indie-rock from her ex-boyfriend.
MacPhail says he left a strong but dubious mark on the Gas Station Sessions EP. “He gave me a lot of inspiration for the CD actually, not in a good way though. He’s not written about in a nice way, let’s put it that way.”
It’s also worth mentioning that MacPhail successfully negotiated a difficult audition with the world’s most prestigious circus company — Cirque du soleil — and is on their list of potential performers.
So if the offer does come from Cirque du soleil, would she leave her songwriting aspirations behind for the dazzling lights, high-roller audiences and big money of the circus?
“No.”
“I don’t think so, ever, because I don’t think I ever want to be in a position where I’m sitting and playing the same show for a year straight on contract. I think it would suck all the creativity out of me. It would be great for income by all means, but it wouldn’t help in any other way.”
MacPhail says her eventual dream is to go to India and study under Indian flute maestro Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia.
“I just love the haunting sound of the bamboo flute, and I want to incorporate that into my alternative folk sound, eventually.”
The Gas Station Sessions EP is set to be released Nov. 27, following a six-hour CD release and benefit concert at Zaphod’s, to be performed by MacPhail along with her numerous friends from the Ottawa music scene.
On the EP, MacPhail asserts that “people will appreciate it if they listen to it not for technical expertise and not listen to it for perfection, but more to really go inside and see what it’s like for a singer-songwriter at the beginning of their songwriting journey.”
“I want to document everything that I’m doing, you know. Every CD that I record, I treat as a chapter of my life. It’s my musical journal, and so this is just another part of my musical journal.”
WHO: Rozalind MacPhail and friends
WHERE: Zaphod Beeblebrox - 27 York St.
WHEN: Sunday Nov. 27, 5-10 p.m., $15 at the door

Sexy Sadie Takes Her Own Journey...

Sadie, my bestest friend, my dog, passed away late this morning. Many of you met her or at least knew about her. She was one cool dog! I wrote a song for her this morning, before she passed away. She was cuddling up to me on my bed as I was jamming away on the classical guitar.

Here are the lyrics:

PRETTY GIRL

Why so many goodbyes?
I just don't want you to leave.
But the time seems right,
fate plays its role...
And us best friends bid farewell for now...

Will you run with me on my adventures around the world?
Will you stick with me in the hot and in the cold?
Will I feel your warmth, your unconditional love?
Will you keep me safe?
Will you watch the world?

I stare at you, hold you tight.
Don't want to say goodnight anytime soon
Can't imagine the world without you.
Your time's up too soon.
Gonna miss you.

Will Opa meet you at the gate?
Will you visit me when it's getting late?
What will life be like without you?
That time has come far too soon.

Love Rozalind

ChartAttack

Here's the first article...Let me know what you think!

Love Rozalind

ChartAttack.com - Ottawa Buzz: Rozalind MacPhail Moves Beyond The Flute
Friday November 18, 2005 @ 05:00 PM

Rozalind MacPhail Moves Beyond The Flute by Caitlin Crockard

Rozalind MacPhail is facing both a beginning and an end. Her new Gas Station Sessions EP marks the first set of self-penned songs that she's ever released (along with a few from friend Lindsay Ferguson). It also marks a departure. After seven years in Ottawa, MacPhail is ready to head off on new musical adventures.

"It's a new journey for me, and I really want to give a gift back to Ottawa," MacPhail says. After all, it was the capital that helped transform her from a classically focused flutist to the "Mystery Flute Girl" who has jammed with both local and international indie rock bands, including Yo La Tengo.

MacPhail may have just seven months of songwriting and guitar playing under her belt, but she says that it's important to get the songs on tape. "It's completely honest. It's the first chapter. People can now hear a songwriter actually developing her craft."

The EP includes a lot of melodic flute lines, of course, as part of MacPhail's plan to bring about a "wind revolution" that will "make the flute more visible in the indie rock industry." One way she'll do it is by moving to Alberta to spend three months in a songwriting residency at the Banff Centre For The Arts.

As a farewell to Ottawa, MacPhail will release her EP and raise funds for her trip at Zaphod Beeblebrox on November 27. Also on the bill are a bunch of friends and supporters, including Marc Charron, Melissa Laveaux and Melwood Cutlery.

Pics of My New Guitar!

These are some cool pics from a recent trip I made to Toronto.

These pics were taken by a photographer I met named Victor who was shooting pics in Trinity Bellwoods Park that sunny Saturday afternoon. I had just bought a used acoustic guitar from the generous and helpful folks at Capsule Music and had excitedly dashed across the street to try it out. These are pics of me practicing my tunes. I was feeling super tired after staying up until 3am recording the night before...hence, tired Rozalind pics but a special moment nonetheless. It was such a beautiful day and I was so happy to have an acoustic guitar I could call my very own! Man, my fingers still hurt when I practice... I can't wait to get better used to those steel strings. What a suck I am! : )