we were in japan from may 27th to june 2nd and loved pretty much every second of it.
this is the first set of notes i could think of posting. sorry it took so long to post, i haven't had much time to do so... also, for those who follow the facebook page, sorry for cross-posting. although, i have added a note on MJ's death here.

1. i break my shit here: 1 favorite bra, 2 favorite flat shoes, many stained t-shirts.

2. Shibuya (neighborhood we're staying in) has as much greenspace as it has crazy neon signs and giant plasma tv screens

3. the sun rises sometime between 3.30 am and 4.30 am, hence the expression «le pays du soleil levant»

4. moriarty is one of the best bands to be on tour with ever. we played 2 shows and 1 tower records showcase with them. (in this case, with means "before"). In a country where neither band speaks the local language, they still managed to show craftiness and enginuity and entertained the audience with the few japanese words and sentences they had researched and found the space where french and japanese humour meet.

5. my bedtime has consistently been 4.30am. I've had a headache for a straight week now...

6. some signs are international and can get you a long way

7. thought i liked shopping until i came here. Am overwhelmed with shops and perhaps i've grown out of my need to consume just to consume.

8. The best souvenirs are found in some of the most unexpected and welcoming places
grocery stores sell cheap brand name film as well as great tasting matcha powder

9. i've developped an addiction to green tea (matcha on and in everything!)

10. plankton is the best japanese labela gal could have asked for. hard working, efficient, in LOVE with their jobs (like many people i met in tokyo! what a concept? people who love their jobs...) quirky quirky and kind! Exceptionally hard workers. Professionalism at its finest. i can't wait to come back. thanks everyone :)

11. went to my first shrine wearing the most broken flat shoes i could wear on the day where i had to walk the most and ended up getting lost anyway. finding the right bus to bring us back downtown made it all a fun adventure in the end.

12.and of course, this video speaks for itself.

bon! alors le concours est terminé mais j'ai pas encore choisi de gagnant(e)...
si vous voulez voir les photos prises. les voici:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=25163138&albumId=2650224

ce qui est cependant dommage c'est la réaction positive qu'on a eu de la part de tout le monde et le manque de gens qui y ont vraiment participé... sinon, je suis super heureuse de voir que des gens y ont mis autant d'effort! MERCI!!!!
et avec si peu de participants... impossible de voir des perdants.

in other news.
i would like to encourage everyone to read or listen to anthony joseph.
why? cause the dude's a great poet, author and musician.  i am about to finish a book he wrote some ten years ago "the African Origins of UFOs".
 i had read an exerpt of it in the "Dark Matters" anthology. For people who are sci-fi nerds it's basically a collection of literary works that have come after octavia butler. so when i came to give an interview on an RFI radio show with an anthony joseph, little did i know it was the same guy. and little did i know i'd be fangirling him and his band. since then, i've seen him play a few times (he opened for saul williams recently) and since then, i've been eating up his words. he writes beautifully, chaotically and with heart. you might be pulling out your hairs trying to understand the first 5 pages of this book, but after that, it's a crazy ride. keep reading. it gets even better. and if you can, catch his poetry blending with his exceptionally funky band - the spasm band - at the NEW MORNING this weds. the new album is called "bird head son" after his most recent more autobiographical book (nothing to do with sci-fi). i haven't read it yet. but i'm sure it's worth it.

i'm pretty sad i won't be there to see anthony + spasm band. (free tickets to see tamara williamson) but i know everyone else will be....

speaking of tamara williamson
i'm looking forward to seeing her play because in her band there is/has been two people  i know morgan doctor and alex mcmaster (both played on my album!)
unfortunately, i'm not looking forward to supporting the festival that's having her play. i promise to tell you why in the next entry. and i'll add the contest winners as well...

Bonjour à tous,

Je fais un concert à Paris au Trabendo le 6 mai
2009. On a donc pensé à un p'tit jeu / concours à vous proposer si vous
êtes sur Paris et que vous comptiez venir au concert.

Je
reçois beaucoup de messages de la part de mes amis qu'il y a des
affiches pour le concert dans le métro. Comme je ne peux pas être
partout, je ne peux pas voir toutes les affiches en personne. Mais
j'aimerais bien savoir ce que vous, vous voyez.

L'idée est donc très simple: dès que vous trouvez devant une de mes affiches:
1.vous vous prenez en photo devant
2.vous
nous envoyez vos photos (avec sous-titres!) à l'adresse suivante
meldanslemetro@gmail.com jusqu'au 13 avril minuit en nous disant qui
vous êtes, où et quand vous avez pris la photo, etc.



Vos photos
seront affichées sur mes sites Myspace et Facebook et ceux de mon
label, NØ FØRMAT!. Nous choisirons nos 20 photos préférées la dernière
semaine d'avril avec à gagner des invitations pour le concert du 6 mai,
des albums et des affiches dédicacés.

LES PRIX!

Prix 1 à 5
2 invitations chacun pour le concert du 6 mai au Trabendo
La personne gagnante du concours sera invitée à monter sur scène avec moi pour un titre lors du concert au Trabendo.

Prix 6 à 15
un album dédicacé

Prix 16 à 20
une affiche dédicacée

---
Alors tous dans le métro. Soyez fous, inventifs, décalés, anyway, j'attends vos photos !

bises,
mel.

today's gig was really nice and intimate. i don't get the chance to play such small intimate gigs so often as i tend to play more shows as a duo or trio act. i particularly enjoy gigs like these because of the chatter and the connection with the audience. things come out that i would never say and i get a drunken-savant kind of new insight on my songs as i attempt to explain them, mixing languages, a little tipsey on a single glass of red wine and riding on the crazy energy that comes with catching someone gaze.

a band that knows disaster
for once, nothing bad happened. and this is strange, because i usually have a long list of gig antics and shenanigans. i'll make a list in another blog. this would include things like:
- getting escorted out of the Gare du Nord Eurostar station by the police
- French audiences who didn't support the general strike in Guadeloupe
- venues forgetting to rent backline equipment (i.e. amps! we just need 2 amps!)
- bands we open for being 2 hours late on their soundcheck, meaning we either soundcheck and don't eat or eat and don't soundcheck
- and much much more.

a band to watch
the good thing about the gig being so quiet is that i suddenly realized that everywhere i'd played a gig in france in the last 3 months, i've been listening to Mansfield TYA playing each venue's house music mix. each venue has had to repeat the name each time and each time i'd forget to write it down. which is annoying because i would have found out about this band at the same time as everyone else. so, of course, i'm 2 years behind on their buzz but still: i love everything about this band from their style to their melodical and lyrical economy. the music's bare, slightly off kilter and just beautiful.

www.myspace.com/mansfieldtya 



a band of friendly folks
everyone i met tonight loved their jobs. everyone had great anecdotes and was happy. and even though it wasn't a full room (which is alarming in this industry) they were too busy enjoying the music and the company. i'm grateful for night's like these. when i'm not sure i want to play and it turns out to be even better than expected and vastly underhyped. on top of this, i get to meet and listen to jim yamouridis and his upright bassist sarah murcia, whom i opened for. (sidebar: i was happy and sad to see a lady upright bassist. happy because i rarely see women musicians here. sad, because i shouldn't be excited to see a women musician, it should be the norm and yet it still isn't. things are changing though...)
www.myspace.com/jimyamouridis 

and a troup of berliner artists with an exhibit in lille. i kinda wished i was here a little longer just to see it :-P

http://www.laconditionpublique.com/pages/programme/programme.html

i'm slow with a few things.
for instance, it's recently taken me a year to stop wearing a certain pair of shell earrings. i kept wearing them then losing them, wearing then losing until one fateful day (day after my 24th birthday, last saturday, went far aw) i broke'em.



i sometimes do the same thing with music. it takes me a while to write the lyrics or the guitar part and then eventually i'll forget the song altogether.

thankfully, i can't exactly "break" other people's songs. but it's taken me a heck of a long time to get turned to fionn regan's music. i fell in love with songs like "put a penny in the slot" and "the cowshed". i would have dismissed it as "just another folk album" but i was so frustrated with my latest sansa (mp3 players for the ipod deficient) mix that i turned back to this album and searched for something i hadn't found in the first place. what a treat!! well worth many a listen. even tardy ones like mine...



in other news, i just found out i'll be "playing with" as opposed to "opening for" ME'SHELL NDEGEOCELLO in april. i don't know what i'll do with myself. i'll probably explode of excitement. these are some of the worst gigs though - how to present yourself to an inspiration?? won't they get weirded out and say "nah! i didn't inspire you... here's an old me'shell favorite for your ears featuring talib kweli:



 tomorrow i play a gig in groningen, netherlands for the eurosonic conference. any dutch readers? please come to my showcase! seems the other bands should be pretty good so it'll be worth your dutch dime...

a few hours before the end of the year. actually 45 mins before the end of the year in paris.... but i'm not in paris this new year's - i'm in ottawa with friends and family.

it's a treat to get to go home. but as much as i spent my year whining about how much i hated paris. the city's started to grow on me. and it's a treat to celebrate two new year's eves in a day so i'll be grateful for that too. and so it looks like i'll be staying here just a little longer than expected. a few years longer. i've started to grow up here. so if i look back, i can recall doing the following:
- made friends, great aquaintances, colleagues and roommates
- counted my blessings
- wasn't afraid to ask for help when i needed it
- found and kept love
- worked really hard
- worked even harder
- wrote songs
- let myself be in awe at things every day
- i grew up some more
- got over my fear of change, adapted
- travelled (lots)

this year i was sad to note the deaths of eartha kitt, miriam makeba and odetta holmes.
of course many other really great people left too (i.e. paul newman!). but i find the last three most recently meant more to me because they lived the lives of bad-ass rebel women. i aspire to live a life even just half as amazing as each did. they're a reminder that you have to be vigilant in sticking to your plans and telling it like it is - to others as well as yourself. we can't always be righteous or graceful but if we can live with the memories of how we got our scars, we're doing pretty good.

my thoughts go out to those who died before their time this year because of needless and incessant violence.

happy new year
happy holidays

helloooo
i think there are far too many gaps between my blogging times.
am going to try to blog at least once a week...

so this is just to jot down a few facts about this week:
- the album (CAMPHOR & COPPER- version NoFormat!) is featured on deezer: http://www.deezer.com/#music/album/253835
please have a listen to the whole thing and if you like, leave a comment...

- the ambum is out in Virgin and Fnac stores across the country (France) as well as a few select independent libraries in Paris.
thank you to the folks at Virgin for displaying it -really- well at their stores.



finally, a lot of people have been sending feedback about my voice. a lot of comparaisons come up but the one that comes up most often is asa. which is really funny because i hadn't heard of her until i moved here. and then i actually met her. her voice is really strong, so is her songwriting. and she happens to be an extremely nice and supportive person. it's not awful... but i don't have anything bad to say about the comparaison, other than - i'm flattered, i really am, but it just ain't true...

nonetheless, pour ceux qui insistent que mon timbre ressemble à celui d'asa, une photo pour vous:




FINALLY: something really great happened this week. after three years of waiting to see this artist, i finally met her and got to sing backup hums with her on stage on my favorite song of hers (rubber and soul). ane brun was in paris this monday and played at a tiny jazz club accompanied by a new discovery rebekka, another norwegian swede (with a great whistle register!). it was probably one of my favorite gigs to see ever. something i'll share with my future apathetic grand kids... please let me know if you're also a fan or if you were at the concert. i would love to discuss it and the latest album with fellow fans. a very strong performance in my opinion... but what did you think?

hello and bonjour,

i just realized i haven't posted in a little while, so i'm going to write a few bits about the last few months. i've been really sick for 3 weeks now with a dry cough that turned into a wet bronchial cough that turned into a wet cough and a stuffy runny nose and a blocked left ear. i know i need to go see a doctor.. but i also need to pay rent. before i start ranting, let's see the upsides to this week:

1. the album is mixed and will be mastered on monday! by the wonderful bénédicte schmidt at studio labomatics. i'm glad it's over. the boys at noformat, myself, majiker, and lisa patterson and i have been working on this for about a year now. i'm very fortunate that the care of this album has gone into great and friendly hands. i can't say this enough, but i'm really happy to be signed to an independent label who makes sure i'm happy with what we're putting and actually worries about me being flat broke right now... but that's an entirely different subject...

2. visits! i've received a lot of visits from home (ottawa! canada!) and austria (!!) in the past few months... from blues musician and law student extraordinaire queen gloria, to alt-folk musician stef and taina to viennese songstress mika vember and visartist kati and their friend (big alanis morrissette fan) ute. then there was one of my closest friends in the world, tony gaitatzis - who managed to make me crazy and miss him all at once... next week marie-josee houle. i'm sure we'll be up to no good...

gloria, incidentally, took this video at 2am at the butte de montmartre after a show by igit's band (la communauté du petit monde). that's me improvising on "i wanna be evil" in a different key... we had to split, the neighbors thought we were cute but really wanted to sleep...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzoAsVoQ5JE

3. podcast!
a few weeks ago, i went home because i missed my friends and family, my mom missed me and i had to pick up my uni degree (i wore the robe and everything!), i stopped by the CBC ottawa studios and recorded a little podcast. it features two 'new' songs *not* featured the original version of "camphor & copper".. . i bring to you:
- little hellraiser
- akeelah's heel (will be on new album released in france in october 2008)
http://podcasts.culture.ca/explore/show/745470

more to come on album tracks, how is paris,and still only being able to afford the sun very very soon. i need to blog. i forgot how much i did. there's so much music i've had the pleasure to listen to and crazy characters i should introduce you to (like my new bandmates! seb and oli..)

bisoux, mel.

PS. KUDOS to the haitians in Châlons-sur-Champagne for waving the haitian flag during my entire set (1h45) and of course the organizers that were really friendly, helpful and organized. thanks to them, i played a great set AND i got to meet the CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS! thank you...

(.. and it's better than the love i thought i had before...)

right now, i'll say that i'm really proud of the show i played for international women's week when i opened for the one and only susheela raman. the booking agency's been really great about getting me shows opening for strong women musicians i've been a fan for ages.  i've noticed that i'm getting more and more comfortable speaking french on stage (despite the french being really critical of my accent, of any accent for that matter) and that i crack way more jokes than i used to.

my stutter is not a cripple, it's part of the way i talk sometimes but it never gets in the way of what i have to say. and people get it. most of the time. the best compliment given to me was "don't change anything". which is kinda bad because you always need to evolve. and the worst comment was "why do you wear your glasses? it's esthetically unpleasing for photographers and you don't read anything". at least he liked the show... upcoming dates keep me in paris and send me to zurich and a few dates in poland.

but life isn't all glamorous. i'm not exactly starving... but i'm not rich either. and i don't want to be... however, i do need to pay the rent. which is worrying my mom. who doesn't know any other way how to express her distress than to calls me every other day to tell me to come home because i'm not pulling a céline dion success overnight. which i don't want now or ever anyway. being able to live off of music is good enough for me. and i understand that she's worried - i'm making peanuts and i can't seem to find a part time job to hold me afloat that fits my schedule. if anyone needs english lessons please get in touch!!

also... am looking for a date to the patrick watson (march 10th) and phoebe killdeer (march 26th) concerts. anyone wanna come with??