Hey there,

Lots of things are going on right now. This birthday month of mine has been chock full of stress, wonder, happy, melancholy, inspiration, trepidation. And one hangover. Yes, only one and I did not relish it.

Anyway, my site is getting redone. In a little bit, there will be a brand new blog on there and I will permanently live within it. As much as I like Twitter, and Facebook has been good to me, I am a writer at heart and like to be able to string out my sentences, taste them and add this and that at leisure. Kind of like gourmet cooking. You stir in a touch of spice, blow on the spoon, stick your tongue into the mixture and take your sweet time. Twitter is all about fast food to a degree, soundbites. mind you, my Twitter will be linked to my blog. Me= soul of efficiency. Hmm..

Perhaps Twitter is a haiku sort of creature. I am a sonnet kind of girl, tending towards a novel in the making.

I am finally making my acoustic album. My real debut. This child is all mine and will have no fancy swaddlings. It is pure and raw. It is being recorded ina 1892 church in a lovely small town of Hudson, NY. There are currently lights on the trees there and it snowed the last night I was there. It is on the Hudson river and when I fly in to NYC, I  then make my way to Penn Station from which I take the train. The train runs by the Hudson river the whole time and it's a magical ride.

There are some other news to be announced by the end of this month. Mostly they all relate to the fact that 2010 is going to be the year of MUCH new music and MUCH travel/touring for yours truly.

Perhaps it is a portent of things to come that on my birthday the 26th I will be on a plane, then car, and finally train back to Hudson to finish the album.

But I am getting to the point here.

I just wrote and recorded a Christmas song. It is yours. And I need your help, if you can spare it. You can hear 'Christmas Story' on the MySpace player above, but the link to get it is right here:
http://www.elizaveta.net/christmas

I am not afraid
Ok, maybe a little bit
but even if I am
it's just a temporary place.

But this much I do know:
The straight lines and corners;
illusions that we make
and clothes we wear
to separate ourselves:
they are not us.

Now and then I get this
aching desire to let go
of everything I have ever learned
about who I am
where I am going
and what I truly want.

There is something here
I keep seeing out the corner of my eye.
Perhaps, if I move sideways
instead of forward, or backwards
or even standing still
I will know what it is.

Now and then
I get weak at the knees
from the love I feel
for this world
and tonight they're within me:
the knowing, the fear, the pleasure
of being human
and alive.

I have vices. Humans must have vices, or you are not human. Is that not so?

This morning my vice is coffee - lots of it. But over great conversation.

And now, must get ready and off to warner bros records, where I do some show and tell and meet some amazing people.

My energy is flowing right today, after swerving a touch last night. Sometimes sadness just descends, for no particular reason. Those are my, by definition, 'Russian' moments and I have learned to welcome them just as I welcome the sun in my heart on other days. OK maybe there were a couple of reasons.  But the sadness got washed away in the night by all these intense dreams I was having. I don't remember any of them, really, except for one, perhaps. I am going to really - this time REALLY - keep a dream journal now.

Serendipitously, I turned on the TV last night which I hardly ever do and watched 'What's love got to do with it'. Besides just being purely jealous of Angela Bassetts athletic body of a goddess, that movie and Tina Turner's story always inspire me. What a fighter, what an incredible talent, who has defied expectations and limits and is still going strong. What a story.

Lately I write more and more poetry....some of it to be set to music shortly. But here is a musing..from tonight, as the blue evening falls on top of Los Angeles and I am wishing I was in London.. and feeling a little confused in that Russian way that I am still beholden to.

Un Moment Perdu
(written/channeled June 24, 8 PM, venice CA)



and so it grabs me
this unspoken longing;
although i have studiously avoided
naming it lately, and
it has been dormant and acquiescent
suddenly it is right here
in my chest
fighting every breath I take.

I know it's only for tonight
the blue evening beckons
and I need no anesthetic
because I have learned to welcome
this pain of being alive
and wanting, somehow
to be a part of you.

It is the trick, isn't it
to love without holding
to sing without a sound
and be without attachment.
But there is air in my lungs
even though it doesn't feel at all
like I am breathing
because I inhaled a long time ago
and you are the breath
I am still holding in.

From an interview with Dan Lanois from a couple of years back:

What did you learn working with Eno?

At the time I thought it was all eccentric and completely out of step with anything commercial — and I still feel that way. [Laughs.] But funnily enough, they are the records that people will keep talking about. It’s what got me the gig with Peter Gabriel.

It’s kind of interesting: When you do things without a commercial thought, but it just reaches somebody’s heart somewhere, that may ultimately lead to commerciality. Having that kind of naive intention, where you’re just trying to do the best thing you can with what you have — those kinds of pure forms speak of honesty, and people respond to honesty.

And as obscure as those ambient records with Eno were, we were really dedicated to the thing, we were living it, and it was a great time of revelation, because at that moment I thought: I will never again do something that I don’t want to do.

wake up wake up
are you so afraid to see
you are always asleep
and you choose to be
as minutes pass you by
and distractions abound
you buy into billboards, words on tv
wake up, look around
it's all connected
you are never alone
regardless of screens, machines
and telephones
as you walk blindly
through your day of hell
and you tell yourself:
I'm ok
although,
I don't know bliss
I have no stories to tell
and you make excuses
and you eat and drink
and stay up late
try not to think
because you know
inside you
time's passing by
so you do one more shot
and try not to cry.
You say: i can't change
that's the way it goes
the wind dies, eventually
the river flows
I am nothing
I'm a mote of dust
I have no power
and I hold no trust.
But can't you see
if you let go
and feel your heart
learn what it knows
and open your arms
let your passion unwind
the storm is coming
but it is kind
fear is a trap
step out of its reach
there is no map
you learn and you teach
and on this path
just out of sight
you'll turn a corner
and find delight.

(EIK, June 23, 2009)

So I will be in London and will play a couple of shows. Will post venues and details asap:-)

http://www.blurt-online.com/news/view/2282/

It’s Pink Converse Time for Elizaveta

05/18/2009

 

 

Singer songwriter finds a new way to get her tunes heard.

 

By Blurt Staff

 

 

It ' s kinda awkward, and kinda sweet, and a whole lotta tuneful: that ' s the song "You Said No To Prom," by L.A. singer-songwriter Elizaveta Khripounova, whose breezy-yet-plaintive vocal and laid-back jazz-pop style invests the tune with just the right balance of power and restraint. What ' s interesting is that Elizaveta chose to debut the timely song - it is prom season in America , after all - not via the standard channels, but as an online video through an unusual alliance with mega-shoe company Converse.

 

In the vid, Elizaveta is depicted alternately in a classroom daydreaming and scribbling in her notebook, and in the lunch room serenading a guy who turned down her request to go to the pom with her. (There ' s also a quirky moment when she ' s in the men ' s bathroom playing her guitar while they guy is taking a whizz in the urinal.) Oh, and throughout, she ' s also wearing - big surprise - pink Converse hightops. Yet aside from the corporate logo that displays onscreen, that ' s the only instance of product placement, and it ' s easy enough to just get drawn into the tune itself. It doesn ' t feel like an ad, and it ' s not intended as such, either.

 

"Converse is dedicated to being a catalyst for creativity in the worlds of music, sport, art and fashion," said Geoff Cottrill, Chief Marketing Officer for Converse, in a statement. "We also like to entertain and surprise fans of our brand. Elizaveta is a tremendous talent and we ' re excited to provide a vehicle for her originality in this sweet but unusual tale of prom-time angst."

 

Go HERE to view the video.

 

Elizaveta, whose father was a well-known Soviet diplomat in the times of the Cold War, was born in New York, where her parents were stationed at the United Nations, and grew up in Moscow, Russia, playing piano but refusing to learn how to figure-skate. She left home in her teens and in the process has traveled across Europe, learned Italian and French, graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in opera performance and learned how to drive a stick-shift and ride a motorcycle.

You may have already heard her, in fact: her previous releases include Breakfast with Chopin, which was a songwriting tribute to her favorite classical composers, such as Beethoven, Chopin and Tchaikovsky. It was followed up by Like Water, the title track of which was featured in the Sony Pictures film The House Bunny.

Elizaveta currently lives in LA, but says she dreams of moving to New York City , scoring a Japanese anime and buying a used Harley Davidson Sportster. In the meantime, she writes a lot of poetry and is recording a new album.  For more information, visit www.elizaveta.net.

 

 

The video is now at http://www.converse.com and so is the download link.

I just moved to Venice!!... planning on going to NYC late next month, probably, and spending a couple of months there.Converse

Why did you say no to Prom?

I get to live my very own John Hughes scenario:-)

The link opens into the video. Enjoy.