Hey everyone, just checkin in....getting close to delivering a
complete album, and I thought I would give you an update....there is
an album title floating out there, of Plain Jane, which leads to a
question that I am getting a fair bit now...

PLAIN JANE......."why?"

There is a song on my album entitled PLAIN JANE

I lead a very unique life I think, not because I am a singer-
songwriter, but because I am a singer songwriter whose material is
most celebrated in my native country - Canada, but I live part time
in another country.
In California, where Raine and I have a home/home studio, I am simply
a mom - a working mom, yes, but I am mostly a typical mom.
In Canada, I am a singer, who does interviews and has videos, a
commercial and lots of very public advocacy work for many
organizations I believe in - which puts me far more "out front."

Anyway, I feel like I lead a double life.
I won't get into the insight I get into fame AND obscurity, but
wow....it is quite a trip to live out both.
In the song Plain Jane, I explore the beauty of anonymity and
privacy, and the realization that quite frankly hard work and
obscurity makes a much more grateful person of you.....I abhor
entitlement...the belief that one ACTUALLY deserves the privileges
they find themselves basking in, and I have come to appreciate the
TRUTH the comes from being immersed in a life of typicality and
unpretentiousness. I realize that I am living out my life as it is
supposed to be lived....having the ability to appreciate the little
things, because I am not entitled to anything, really.
Of course I recognize HOW incredibly lucky I am, duh....I know what a
crazy great life experience I am having.
But I have friends who struggle living out the life that EVERYWHERE
they go, they are "known" and cannot get away from it.
I feel incredibly fortunate to not be in that ridiculously "high
profile" situation where there seems to be pretense attached to
everything.
i see the way that it can affect someone over time.....and cause them
to become a mutated version of who they should have been.

Anyway, that is a bit of an insight into Plain Jane "the song."
NOW, the ALBUM TITLE "Plain Jane" is of course pulling from the song,
but not really the lyric of the song.....the album title Plain Jane
reflects more my feeling that I am an incredibly plain person.
Everyone I tell that to laughs, but I always truly feel so plain and
"safe."
I see people like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, and i am like, WOW, I am
SUCH a prude, plain jane.
Ha!

Oh well, I am who I am.
Anyway, that's the title in a nut shell!

(I have heard that for my Garnier Hair Campaign they are going to be
taking my hair into a LIGHTER colour direction! THAT should be tres
riske for me!)



I think there is a bit of footage on my myspace page of me delivering
the vocal for the song TODAY....I am really excited about this song.
I hope it is a single. I love singing it live, and it reflects my
whole-hearted belief that we need to be present in the moment, and
not wishing we were somewhere else EVER, be it in another place or
time! The past is OVER, and we cannot go back! AND don't bother
living in the future, because you will miss YOUR LIFE!

All we TRULY have is where we are, I feel right at THIS very second.
That is all.

I am excited about my album.
In some respects I am not happy about the process, because I was
pregnant, had a new born, was working on other projects, so I was
always going back and forth, in and out or MY album making process.
It created an album that reflects an extended period of time, and so
I am somewhat nervous about it not sounding fluid. However, I also
think that due to the way that is was made, over time as such, I
ended up getting a diverse album, and I certainly did not write the
same song over and over again!
SO, people may at least find it very interesting and entertaining!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE a few songs on this album, perhaps more than any I
have ever had.....the song (first single) called INVINCIBLE - I am
just so pumped about it, such a joy to perform. I am SUCKED right
in. Also, a love song called 5000 days - sort of part 2 of Until We
Die, which is a love song about Raine and I from my second
album.....Half of Me is truly one of my favorite songs I have ever
written, because it just "came" to me in this very magical way -
which I feel is how all songs should come - the world would be a
better place!!! I SWEAR IT! Bibi, our beloved nanny, my sister from
Africa - she and I wrote and performed an African language song for
the album called Na Miso, and it KILLS me - to hear her voice on the
album...it is SO touching, and for me is a culmination of all of the
choices that Raine and I have made in our life together, what to do
with our energy and time and resources.....she is the manifestation
of so much that we care about....she is from Congo, and I have
learned of her plight, and the plight of so many from her region. So
many are separated from those they love due to escaping persecution,
and it has been my honour to write a song with her on the subject of
connecting with loved ones, and singing it with her in the studio.
She sings a verse alone, and I feel a sense of great contentment to
hear her voice, to hear her being heard and validated. Truly a
privilege, and so transforming. I hope that others will hear that in
her when they listen to the song. I feel a compassion for all people
of this world when she sings her verse, I cannot explain it, but
there is a vulnerability and purity in the way that she sings. UGH,
it friggin kills me.

ok, I have also been asked to mention my feelings on the subject of
twitter.
I dunno...its bloody weird. I don't think that I am destined to be a
twitter hit....as I teeter totter too often on my feelings about it!
SO, I don't tweet for a while, then I retap into the twit again.
Anyway, it seems sort of ridiculous, but hey, if peeps are into it, I
will try to do it from time to time, as much as I can while there is
a demand for it. Ugh.

The album is droppin in September, and I cannot wait to get out and
perform.....the new set ( i am doing a few shows here and there,
including at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood over the summer before the
official release) has so many new songs in it, and not because I feel
the need to showcase new music, but because I am truly fulfilled when
playing so many of the new songs!!! So, between those songs and the
other songs in my set that are already known, I really feel it is the
best I have had yet to offer in terms of the live experience. Maybe
this is a bit self deprecating, but I used to think I was a little
over the hill to be trying to come out with new music and expect to
be relevant, and now, with these songs, I feel the opposite - I feel
more worthy to get up in front of people, and I feel like rather than
having faded, I have finally arrived.
See ya soon.
xx
chantal k

Hey everyone...
Thanks for your patience.

It is really quite a constant flow/show around here. MY goodness- one minute I have a babe on the boob, the next I am searching for the right keyboard/synth pad, the next I am planning and configuring travel with family/nannies...who stays who goes....It is just MADNESS....we've had a child get his tonsils out, we're constantly fighting off the latest cold/flu from the kids preschool....someone needs to be on a nebulizer on a schedule.

Exactly HOW does one get out to do the groceries? Let alone finish an album? And Sleep!!! WHEN does one sleep exactly???? what a bout a date with the husband/producer???

If I had the "ambition" I would have had a camera follow me around for the "making" of this album.

Note to SELF - in the next life, maybe try to hold off on the birth of next baby until finished with recording of album.
Ha!

THAT doesn't work anyway, because one is just finishing one, and the next one is to begin, so SO much for that plan!

Now I am in the final stretch....and it is getting really fun...mixes are comin out, songs goin into the mixer...
GOOD times.

I am really happy with how things are sounding.

It is definitely a diverse album, but I guess you don't need the same song over and over again, right?

I feel like telling you the name of the album, so let me just check in with my team, and see if they're cool with that!

It's certainly an easy title to remember!

I am going to be doing some traveling coming up for the Junos (Garnier is major Sponsor) and then some touring dates around Ontario, so I have SO much to do before I go, it is a bit stressful.

One moment at a time.

I must fold in to my list of activities....
depression.
I was frozen for some of the day the other day, feeling so helpless - I was reading up on the current situation in Eastern Congo...there is an increase in tribal conflict.
Why is it that women and children suffer the brunt of that increase in conflict? (and seemingly all conflicts)
Rape is on the rise, but it is rape in ways that I have never thought possible....destroying the insides of not just women, but babies, with rifles, releasing bullets into womens' vaginas, etc.

It was Tuesday that I read this article, and I could only weep and feel disturbed and disrupted, and hope for so many miracles.
One doesn't want to ruin the mood of others around, so I just keep it in that I am aware, and that is kills my spirit to know that beautiful innocent babies - babies 11 months old, who now go into hysterics at the SIGHT of a man - are being victimized by men, who if I am to analyze, are themselves are or have been a victim in one way or another. This cycle of violence. I knew that my friend Sam at Warchild could handle it, as she is one of the people who makes these discoveries, and through the programs at Warchild Canada, attempts to help.....her prompt response was comforting, but not because she took away the reality, or in a word fixed anything.....it was comforting because we could actually communicate about it. I guess part of my profound sadness lies in the reality that it is almost taboo to discuss these atrocities, as it is just too much of a joy kill.....we've made a bubble around ourselves, and if anyone says something dark and true, it would be regarded as too heavy. That is such bulshit. If reality was bankable, what a truly different world we would live in...instead, we are affected by the Kardashians, and the Bachellor, and DWTS.....WTF?

I just don't understand. Am I alone?

Ok, back to the album......see? Get my life???? HOW on earth do I even get OUT of bed in the morning?

xoxox
chantal

Chantal now has an official facebook page...

Click here to join Chantal on facebook and get all of the latest news!

I wanted to choose a category of how I feel at the moment, and there was not a category for Grateful.
There should be.

I am not sleeping much at night, my baby Salvador has 2 eye teeth coming in, his accompanying cold is a nasty one!
Babies need to be held the WHOLE time they are sick.
No one tells ya that one.

There, now I have told you.
They will NOT sleep while sick unless you hold them, not you, no....let me correct that MOM.
MOM has to hold them while sick, or they will not sleep.

I kind of love it...I am fully sleep deprived, but what are the chances that I will have a fourth baby? I dunno, not great. It is a LOT.
I am still breastfeeding this one too, greatest achievement of my life besides delivery without drugs
YAY!!! THE TRIUMPHS continue.
Anyway, enough of the tooting of my own horn.
Why am I so grateful right now?

For my comforts....the comforts and freedoms that we take for granted everyday.

The first thing I read on the news page this morning was the story of a woman who was accused of sorcery/witchcraft in New Guinea, and she was tied to a log and set ablaze this past weekend. Burned at the stake.

My beliefs, as conventional as they may seem to some here in the Western World would probably constitute a burning at the stake as well in some parts of the world today.

I had a pain go through my person (soul or body or both, not sure) when I read this article.
There is nothing I can really do about her fate.
I can wait for change, hope that the communication and progress we are seeing in this generation will influence even the most remote areas of the world, and convince people that each human is an individual with their own unique imprint on their world waiting to be cast.
We all have a force inside of us that is designed to electrify this life differently, add a different colour to the landscape of the world....it cannot be denied.

I will celebrate her efforts and her life today, by being grateful for my own freedoms.

Her life will not be wasted as the rest of us utilize every moment of our lives, never wasting our opportunities to express, or be grateful for our liberty.

My album is going well, the sights are set high, so thank you for your patience.
Help me with mine!
best
chantal k

Hey Everyone.
It has been a while, I know.
Things have been pretty busy, to say the least.
Being a mother to 3 is a pretty wild ride.
I barely come up for air.
I have learned a lot from the life changing experience of having 3 kids.
Having two, well of course, we were a family, but now we are REALLY a family - I mean there is really not much time for much else.
No pettiness or dwelling.
If there is a spare minute, I take a shower, or have a glass of wine (sadly even alone some nights - though, it doesn't feel sad- feels like heaven!)

Anyway, you change.

I have noticed that between 2 and three children, I have changed, at least my life style has.
It has really exposed the differences in values and mindsets of some friends and I as well.
I sort of don't feel like I relate to some people anymore!
I just feel so positive, and anything negative, well....no time for it.
I am tougher now. And I like it.
I used to be so damn guilty!  I might as well have been raised catholic!
No guilt now.
The filter is OFF...I just say it like it is, and there is just not time for anything else!
I don't know if I will ever waste another moment in my life.  I truly see how precious time is, that once it is gone, it is gone forever, so we should just really honour every moment possible.

Well, aside from all things "mom," I am of course OVER the moon about the results of the US election.
I was kind of nervous there for a second.
There was some crazy email going around saying that Obama was a terrorist/fundamentallist muslim - the Anti Christ in fact (kinda funny, really) and I knew there was trouble when I even got one of those forwards from a relative.
Granted, they're fundamentalists themselves and they are from a red state, but still...frightening...you wonder, if it is coming from someone I am RELATED to, then heck, maybe the propaganda is working!
Thankfully, justice (finally) has prevailed and we have a wonderful man to lead the United States  - a man of sanity, intelligence and general character.
I cannot remember ever feeling so so thrilled.
I feel like it is a privilege to be alive right now and to actually get to experience this....watching the people on tv when he won. Wow.
I felt like I was alive to see hundreds of years of injustice eradicated in a moment.
I know it was a long haul, and it took a lot of work and it did not happen overnight, but the feeling to be alive and watching at that moment.
SO powerful.
I feel like the very premise of the United States of America has been reborn, and that all that it stands for did not die....that it is "that" place that commands the great compliment of immigration, the place built on freedom and liberty for all!
I am Canadian, but I live in Canada and the United States, and I have never felt so inspired to have one of my feet in this world!
I'd love to see Canada (never thought I would say this) follow in the footsteps of our neighbor to the south, and perhaps infuse a little more of a representation of our cultural landscape into leadership in our govt.
I am kind of disappointed at the moment with the state of things.  I thought that CANADA with its Mosaic foundation would have by now given more trust and opportunity to a truer reflection of its body of people.
What happened in America however does teach us not to give up hope!  
And so I am not going to give up.
My dad keeps telling me to run for office.
haha
I think that is his way of telling me I am too opinionated.
Love you dad.

OK,
My album:
I am SUPER psyched, getting it all together.
There are about 12 songs, but I think there will be 10 songs on the album and 1 or 2 of the others will be bonus' that will be made available....for fun.
This album is different I think for me. However, it feels really natural to me.
One thing that writing for other people has taught me, is not to feel like such a foreigner when touching on other musical ground.
Don't worry I didn't make an acid jazz record or a dance album.
However, I think I am definitely exploring new musical territory, and it has been really fun and NOT boring in the least.
The album has a lot of subjects - love, its maturing process (Raine and I are going to be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary next year!) and helplessness - still wish I could save the world, and it also (I think from now having 3 kids, and being so overwhelmed) has a lot of "connection" on it- I feel like having a pretty big family and a lot of responsibility makes me feel closer to the whole world - we're all in it together, working hard, doing our best.

Well, I have probably babbled on long enough.

I will try to keep in better touch, I promise.
Like I said, doing my best.

Hope you are all doing well, and enjoying the current change of season....on all levels.

Much love,
chantal k

Hi everyone!
Sorry I have taken so long to make a proper birth announcement.
It has been a busy time.
Salvador Daniel Maida was born, 06/28/08 at 4:48 a.m.
He is healthy and we are all very happy.
It was a really special labour and delivery....Sal came to us COMPLETELY naturally, without and intervention of any kind, no drugs or anything, and this was truly an exhilarating life experience.
To those of you considering this approach for labour and delivery, I say GIVE IT A GO! Of course, the most important thing is that baby arrives safely, and is healthy.
That is ALL that really matters, but if it works out, and you don't have an emergency situation or a labour that goes on and on, I think it is a really amazing right of passage for a woman!
Now that I have done it both ways, I feel lucky to know the difference.

Anyway, enough about that, Salvador looks like his biggest brother Ro (to me anyway) and he would have probably been our biggest baby! He arrived 3 weeks early, and was 7 lbs, 3 oz!
Holy, he would have been nearing on 9 lbs!!!
Yikes!
He is 19 and one half inches long, and he has a good head of dark hair....the LONGEST fingers and toes, and FEET!






Thanks so much for your comments of support, and I'll check in again soon. We have started to record my 5th album! We did drum tracks with Randy for 2 of the songs already. LOTS of fun. Cannot wait to get back into the studio!
BUT for now, I am in heaven with our new little Mignon!

Best wishes to everyone,
chantal

It is with great sadness, that I announce the passing of my dear gram, Isobel Walaschuk, this past March 28th, 2008.
I loved my grandmother so much....her infectious smile, laugh, touch and kisses.
She was the perfect grandmother...she loved her family so much, loved children, the young and the old alike.
She just loved people, and companionship, a good chuckle, and a great story.
She was very smart and wise, generous and gentle, yet very strong, having come through this century, enduring all the hardships of so much transition, and suffering the loss of her son from a horrible accident he had at just 39 years of age.

She was humble, though she had so much personality.
She was talented, being my first memory of music; playing always with my grandfather throughout my childhood - she on harmonica, he on the fiddle.
She led a simple life, her expectations never too high...a simple bouquet of flowers meant the world to her.
She loved to make beautiful simple homecooked meals, loved to garden and crochet, and did everything so impeccably well.
I am so proud to have been her grand daughter...so honoured to have known her, gained the influence of her joy, her compassion and her sensibility.
My grandmother personified tolerance and forgiveness, and I promise to keep her alive with all that she has instilled in me.


In her honour, I would like to provide Villa Rosa, a shelter for young expecting mothers, in my hometown of winnipeg manitoba with as many baby carriers as possible, by a sponsoring company, "HOLD ME hand woven baby slings" so that as many babies as possible might feel the security and love of their mothers. My grandmother loved babies so much, and I know just the sight of a baby in a sling next to mother's bosom was something that would touch her in a sincere way. She would love to know that in her name, many new mom's struggling in adversity will be able to provide this comfort to their newborns.
If you would like to contribute, please phone JUSTIN RUBIN at 310 663 4535, or email him at justin @holdmebabyslings.com, and he will be happy to set up a sling at a discounted rate in memory of my gram....the musician, the teacher, the friend to so many, and my great matriarchal inspiration.
I love you so much Gram, and you will never be forgotten.

Hey everyone.
I have been really busy...working, being with the family, traveling etc.
And now, I am going on tour with Raine...to perform the parts I did on his album, live.
I cannot imagine anyone else doing my job! Perhaps I am a control freak. I know that eventyally, I am going to have to let other people step in and take over my keyboard and singing parts, but for now, I am happy to live out my role as long as possible.
God I really need to change my photo on this site. I suppose I look NOTHING like the girl on the front page right now. I am a big fat pregnant lady right now!! (or so, that is how I am feeling!)
Anyway, I am both nervous, and excited, to for the first time be playing on stage, NOT for my own show, but rather, supporting another artist.
I have done a few things as such here and there, but this is the real deal!
I imagine it will be nice to NOT feel any of the responsibilities that I do when I am carrying a show on my own. However, it may also be intense for me. The venues are smaller than I am used to playing, and while I think it will be fun, I am also feeling a little shy! Especially because I am the big fat pregnant lady (or so, that is how I am feeling!)
Anyway, good fun, new experience, and once again, our third child will be inundated with music...LOUD music, from his mommy and daddy's hands and voices.
I love it.
I think ultimately, it will be kind of cool, for the first week, anyway, until the children come out for the rest of the tour, to have a lighter load - (certainly not in the physical sense) I will hopefully get good sleeps, do a walk in each city, catch up with friends and family either on the phone or in person, and maybe even do some writing. I will be able to experience the rushes and melancholy of a touring musician! I look forward to nice long dinners, and ordering breakfast the night before, on the way to sleep on those hotel room cards.
I look forward to things being relatively simple for a change. Probably not how it will turn out, but that is how I am mapping it out in my head.
By the time the children join us, I will be DYING for them, and all hell will break loose again.
Looking forward to seeing you all out on the road.
Hope you are doing well,
best
chantal

Hey All.
Happy 08. I wish you all a healthy, joyous year.

I would love to start the year, with a simple link for everyone to check out.


http://www.storyofstuff.com/


This piece is shocking, clear and informative.

I really hope that this truly is the year of change.

A shift has begun, but a whole movement, by our entire society must begin, in order for there to be security for the world and its people in the future.


Also, if you missed my article on Climate Change (through the eyes of the Polar Bear) that ran in last weekend's globe, here is a link to that as well.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071228.wcentre29/BNStory/National


As you may have heard, I am having another baby boy.

I am more than ever, (I suppose I HAVE to be) hopeful that the winds of change have arrived, and that we will be presented with GREAT leadership; concsious, honest and pure leadership that will take us to the optimum level of humanity...

I would like to thank everyone who over Xmas, honoured their commitment to donate to the Congo School that Raine's busking spearheaded.
We reached a great point just with donations from friends, colleagues and the public who gained awareness via that video etc.
Raine and I have committed to the rest of the cost, as the donations seemed to peak around 23 grand.

I would like to, while I am pregnant commit to several more rebuilds, perhaps via concerts and otherwise.

Much love to everyone.
peace, and enlightenment and the world's beauty at your door.
xx
c