Times Squared

Thursday, May 1

I always like to believe I can find a few minutes to write a post online after each show, but rarely in the whirlwind do I ever get the chance…so here I am- back home, jet lagged and low on clean laundry to write a little note on how my trip to NY was…

The band and I spent our first few days in lovely Jersey (and I mean that) rehearsing and telling stories and tramping around. Jersey reminded me of my birthplace-Windsor, Ontario; industrial but lush somehow. Everyone was incredibly nice and must have picked up on the fact that I too think Springsteen is a music god.

In the first few days we also travelled into Manhattan a couple of times to at least get an idea of what the city is like and also to catch The Verve (awesome) at MSG and sneak a peak at the venue. I have never seen anywhere like New York City. I don’t think all the movies and tv shows I’ve seen really do it justice. It was busy and unrelenting and cool, cramped and intense and still fun and serene and bubbly all at the same time.

On Tuesday night we rocked out our show at Pianos and had a great night. Perhaps it was the first show I’ve played where I could actually breathe and steady myself right from the start. I was painfully anxious prior to the set; for months I’ve been acutely aware of how fortunate I am to even get the chance to pull a show like this off. My manager and I were both a little nervous I’m sure right up til it was over- but it was solid and well received and really a coup for us both.
The following morning (yesterday!) I was invited to perform for MTV offices in Times Square at 1515 Broadway, just before heading back to the airport to fly home…really we did everything we set our wee minds and hearts to in terms of music/NY/good people etc. If you like, check out a low bandwidth clip of our Soundcheck on YouTube.

APRIL 29th SET:
In Your World
Passing In The Dark
In The Noise
Hesitate
My Hour
Grace Is
Beast
South Pacific
Closure

As Always,
Namaste

This great shot was taken during the show by Russell Giffen- thanks Russell!

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New York New York

Tuesday, April 15

The first time I sang in a talent show, I sang (you guessed it) “New York, New York”. I was digging my dad’s Sinatra collection and thought it would be an awesome song to sing in costume and act out…yeah well, I was thirteen right? A little foreshadowing when I write my memoirs…

I feel just as excited now as we approach only a couple of weeks until the New York debut showcase. I have never been to NY before, although through hundreds of the movies I love, I feel like it’s part of the fabric of my consciousness. This has been a whirlwind 4-5 months, and I know we’re only really just getting started.

If you can make the show and live in the area please come out. We’d love to perform for you. If you know people in the lower east side of Manhattan who might enjoy my show, please let them know- we’ll happily perform for them as well.
Namaste
~a
Tuesday April 29th 2008
Anita Athavale 7pm sharp @ Pianos 158 Ludlow St. New York NY

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Midnight Music

Sunday, January 27

Back in Calgary now and recovering from the tremendous excitement and efforts surrounding our showcase. It was a very cool experience and we got to be a little touristy on the front end of the trip, which helped to round it all out. Hotel Cafe is a great venue, a lot of talented musicians pour through the green room; I loved listening to some of them running through their set on cellos even…

We filmed some clips where we could of our adventure, by the end of it all I had no idea what day it was (truly)! I have toured a little in spurts in Canada and done showcases and many many acoustic shows, but the spontaneity and morphing vibe of traveling with a band is a whole other ballgame. I do love the unpredictability of shows “on-the-road style” and I picked up some worthwhile lessons on this trip. The Runaways “Midnight Music” alludes to their band blowing up in the U.S. and traveling, touring etc and we had fun closing the set with it- apt no?

Yeah yeah yeah!
Namaste

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The Pools Of L.A.

Friday, January 18

The last time I flew into Los Angeles was in 1998, on a short vacation to Laguna Beach CA. There’s a reference to taking in the sights and of the pools of LA, in a song called “Engage”(a song we might do on the next album…)

Tomorrow I leave for California on a different kind of journey, a musical one. For most musicians Los Angeles has special meaning; without exception, our favourite bands have hashed it out there and marked a path. I am packing today and trying to get little details in order for the show. If you can come and check it out, or you know someone in Los Angeles who loves live music- send them my way.

Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 Cahuenga Blvd.
7pm, Thurday January 24th

Namaste

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Name In Lights

Wednesday, January 2

On Saturday December 29th we played at the Marquee Room in Calgary for a Matinee showcase. There were candles and bottles and chinese lanterns galore.

Our set:
In Your World
In The Noise
Passing In The Dark
I Know
Modest Lovely
Grace Is
Beast
South Pacific
Closure
Goin’ Down

Thank you all for coming. Next up is the Hotel Cafe in just a few weeks…
Happy New Year-

Namaste

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The Marquee

Saturday, December 1

You can catch Anita Athavale and her band live at:
The Marquee Room on Saturday December 29/2007.

The Marquee Room is located on the upper floor of the Uptown Theatres on
8Ave SW and 5th ST in Calgary, Alberta. This is an intimate show, featuring songs from
her latest album “In The Noise”. Show at 6.30pm. Door $5.
More details will be posted in late December.

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The City Of Angels And The Digital World

Monday, November 19

It’s true and not a misprint!
I will be performing in Los Angeles California on Thursday January 24th 2008 at The Hotel Cafe.
This event/show/spectacular is something I’m very excited about and I hope you can come- or if not, invite those you know in the area to come see me and my band perform songs from the new album.

I’ll have more details as we get closer or if you have any questions about the show, click over to the contact page and let me know.

Also this week, I am a speaker at “The Future of Music Digital Alberta” Panel Mixer. It takes place on Thursday November 22nd and the event and interviews will be featured in January on NuTV – the television station for the University of Calgary.

We’ll be talking about how digital changes to the music industry, music itself and the Internet have shaped the state of the art. It’s a topic worth reflecting on; as a musician that started recording on tape, and then came to know Protools, to being more comfortable with the splicing, graphing and burning that comes with the studio experience presently.
Not to mention: e-mail and websites and all the various promotional and communication streams that stem from it.
I’m flattered that I was invited to speak, then again, I’m hardly ever speechless.

Namaste

Reading: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Listening: “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story Soundtrack (Bernstein’s a genius) and
“No Reply At All” by Genesis

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My First Guitar

Tuesday, November 6

When I was about 16 years old I was starting to sing and write songs. I would perform at coffee-shops and the university and the arts warehouse in Prince George. I was often accompanied by a girl I met through a friend, and she had talents on the acoustic similar to Ani Difranco/ Joni Mitchell. So of course, the guitar writing and performance fell into her lap and I wrote words and melodies. I was young and a lot of my material was selfish, bleak or obscure. (the teens…thank goodness that’s a one time deal)

Over time, I felt like I was held hostage a bit by my lack of guitar know-how. I wanted to be able to write at home and come up with a complete lyric and sonic idea, so I started thinking about getting my hands on a guitar. My lovely friend Clarence had a guitar hidden away in his closet which he never played and which he gratefully donated to me. Although the neck was bowed from neglect and strings constantly broke onstage when I played- I had a guitar to muck around with. At a house party, a buddy showed me how to play “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” by Tom Petty, and I was ready to begin my journey of strumming chords and putting songs together. I found it painfully difficult to get my fingers to change from one chord to another at first. But like anything, practice got easier as time went on. I painted the guitar case with images of favourite albums from the time and felt like a real songwriter!

A year or so later, I donated Clarence’s guitar to another fledgling player and I think she still has it. She is now much more of an advanced player than I am and I know that guitar is being loved and looked after. When I turned 18, I was given a Simon & Patrick acoustic from my step-dad, and that is the guitar I still perform with today. We were just getting to really know each other and that gift meant a lot to me. He took me into the music store and told me to look around while he pretended to have some business with the owner. When he came back and found me with the Rosewood Top guitar on my lap he asked, “Do you like that one?”

I loved the way the bridge seemed made to fit into my hands and how warm and rich it sounded. I also liked the orange swirly machine heads, the gold pegs and the action on the strings. I told him I thought it was a nice guitar, and he smiled. He had just finished paying for it and informed me that it was now “my guitar”. Instruments given to creative people who have no means of obtaining them by themselves are most precious. You are as good as the tools you use, and every time I pick up my guitar, I know I trust it to be steady and receptive.

Namaste

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Much Music takes requests

Wednesday, October 17

Now is a lovely time for you to promote your enjoyment of my music.
Much Music has added “South Pacific” to it’s programming, but due to smaller windows of actual video flow, it may not get the exposure it’s due.

Please click here to get the info and contact links to Much’s Indie Spotlight program where you can request they feature “South Pacific” from 2:15pm -2:30pm on weekdays. Alternately you may choose to click on this link: Much Music’s request form page to reach the request centre. Lastly MuchOnDemand also takes requests and (gasp!) they also slot in videos, so why not try them too! Delightful! Why not try all three?

As always, thank you for listening, clapping, purchasing and spreading the word.
Namaste

Listening to: Bloc Party “The Prayer”
Reading: “Lullabies For Little Criminals” by Heather O’Neill

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In The Noise (what does it mean?)

Saturday, October 6

When I’m interviewed about the new album, I now say that it’s about “growing up, learning to create a calm center in the midst of disconcerting events and politicking people”. But I didn’t really know on a grand scale what this latest album was about until we started to put the songs in order for mastering. I would compare the process to a kind of chapter sorting.

If you wrote a novel you would typically write the story from start to finish. In my case, we were looking at a collection of short stories, written about completely different things over a long time period, that needed to flow and tell a story. The songs we choose to record did have a common thread from a bird’s eye view. As is turned out, the title song “In The Noise” embodied the theme.

It’s funny, but even if you feel you have a certain clarity on what your next project will be like, it takes on it’s own identity and life once you actually start to put the pieces together. I love that process and I like being pleasantly surprised.

I had a revelation when we were working on the post-production elements of “In The Noise”. Before we even began recording, I had many foolproof ideas about the album title and theme, none of which had to do with the final outcome. When we started looking at song order and title, it came to my attention that I would be disrespecting the album by forcing it to “be” about something it wasn’t. Luckily I have some collaborative friends who encourage me to look at things from many points of view.

Each time an artist thinks of creating an album he/she will of course, think about the album title, the goal, the perspective, the theme of the compilation of songs. This kind of thinking brought me to edit out, include and modify the songs I thought would best fit the context of where I was in my life. There are a handful of leftover gems in my back pocket I’d like to polish up for the next album though. I haven’t yet decided on any themes or could-be titles…In the future, I’ll be looking forward to the surprise.

(Snapshot taken at Sundae Sound Studios during the vocal tracking sessions on “In The Noise”)

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