fall stamps

I am staring at a yellow tree that looks like a million and one fall stamps that mirror those I have been licking to put on letters lately. I must say this fall has been one of the best i have had in a long time.... acuratly I'd say since I was 12. Its a brilliant feeling to be moving forward healthier and happier than ever. I have been like a hermit in my studios ( art & music) tediously preparing for the spring of my releases. Things are moving slowly and exactly the way I want them to. I'm blessed that I am at a stage in my life that I can have the benefit of time to guide the quality of work I am producing.

Every new step I take with this album has been fufilling, full of learning, and so much creative flow. I feel as if I am crafting the perfect poem...short and sweet in it's lines except every word was as if it were a dollar and I had a limited amount to spend to buy the perfect birthday gift for my newborn child.

Today I am getting a new tattoo...more on that later.

Also, I am back in the studio for some grunt work sorting out drum tracks that we laid down last week. Later in the week I will be tracking the final song for this EP/DEMO. I don't think I mentioned this but I have decided to track 3 songs get them mixed and mastered and pitch them to favourable labels. Whilst doing so getting my official touring band together and start rehursals and arrangements. I am so excited for this winter. Trips showcasing to toronto , new york, L.A. Everything is right on time.

I miss your faces as I preform..soon enough I will be on stage, time and patience :) it will be worth it.

xoxo
amanda

Riegn Over Me

mother nature seemed to of gave the trees a big lecture in the mail letting them know she was bustling into town because it seemed as if overnight all of the leaves simultaneously screamed " SHIT WE'RE LATE!! WE'RE LATE!!!!" and got the (excuse my language) fuck off the branches.

Ah the beauty of the fall...

So I didn't really touch base about my birthday this past week. I thought I would share some shots taken by a lovely guest. Janna and I share the same birthdate and so decided to have a little get together with a tarot card reader ( my friend George from when I worked at the Orange Record Label in Toronto) to ive all the guests a reading. They forced me to play a song, and we drank sangria...smoked cigars...well I did that part...and laughed .... ALOT...thanks to janna's friend Jesi who is the most hilarious person ever... she is an amazing artist.... as is Janna:
Jessi's website
Janna's website
p.s. thanks to Jaymie for her help on making links in this blog !!

I am having a photoshoot with Vanessa again this week!!! so excited. I will post back soon...

p.p.s an amazing movie: Riegn Over Me

xoxoxox

attack in black /22 years

22 years, 22 years,
I've walked this earth, this time , for 22 years.
Doesn't seem like a lot when you look at the digits but man sometimes I feel 122...in all ways good and bad.
I love growing older, you get wiser, you get a new start it seems....its like that whole birthday day is like the page in the back of the book right close to the weaved binding and back carboard spine...it closes shut and somehow your get your hands on a new one and that one pryes open always with intruege, mystery, and excitment for what this new book has to teach you, to unfold, to paint beautiful picutres of. sigh.

I will be back into the recording studio on tuesday night for a long mixing session for both
*Matthew
and
* Don't want to keep you from heaven too long.
The drums are now all layed down and there is a bunch of work ahead now to get it sounding proper.
ALSO!!!! Exciting news, One of my favourite bands ATTACK IN BLACK will be putting thier mark on my record very very soon. Spencer who is increadibly talented ( he is more humble about it) has agreed to place some mandolin on those two tracks. I am so stoked. I really want people who I admire to contribute thier energy and emotions into my music. I love music for that very reason,,, it brings people together.

SO I will have updates on that and pictures soon.

Everyone have a great weekend!!!
xo
amanda

the boss

last night I saw Bruce Springsteen live. You know someone is the coolest man on earth when he has no opening band, starts right on time, plays a ONE HOUR encore after a 3 HOUR SHOW. Seriously.

orbs and laughter

ok so here is the florida blog...kind of rediculous. And yes the end credits run twice...I am lisping...There was no orb...

xo
amanda

the invitation

this poem was just given to me and I had to share it I feel it speaks a lot of truth...I will be posting a new blog later tonight. I just got back from 4 days in Florida...this week has a lot of excitment so check back for updates:)


The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.



© Mountaindreaming, from the book The Invitation published by HarperSanFrancisco, 1999 All rights reserved

cigar smoke

my cigar smoke,
matches the fog as it wanes on by.
deep circles in the pond of my heart,
ripple like rain comming on down.
Bessie Smith plays on the dail,
reckless voice, angel child.
coffe stained leaves fall wild.
winds picking up, dampened floors,
chilled like my spine.
tortured souls hum through the chimes,
discontent rattles my blind truths awry.
I never knew love till I heard it cry,
emancipated feverish wine.
heaving my hapiness up the way side,
I never knew surrender till I built a damn for the tears I've cried.

swamp dreams come true

Deep Breathe Exhale.
Today was my wildest dream comming true. About 3 months ago when Vanessa and I shot first I had a dream the night after about me in a swamp playing piano... I woke up and immediatly called her to than explain that we HAD to recreate this image I had stuck in my head. I promised her I would find a vintage organ or piano that we could sink in a swamp and have me there with it sitting peacefully in this muck. She laughed and said I was crazy and than was like " HELL YEA" ...long story short EVERYONE I mentioned this too thought I was absolutly crazy and could not EVER do it. WELLLLLLL....today we proved them wrong. WE got up suuuper early to shoot in my overgrown tenis court and up by my tree house...change of clothes later we hoped in the car with the organ and drove to a lilly pond swamp by my house. The next hour was pure magic. My cousin Nicole was the BIGGEST help as she trucked along with our ideas and helped us lug the damn thing in and out of the water.

Vanessa and I were waist deep in the blackest, murkiest water with kreepy things brushing up against our legs the entire time. I just have to say how much I admire and LOVE this woman for bieng fearless with me and trusting my insaine ideas. It is the best promotional shot I could ever ask for. Unfortunately I have to hold back the final photo due to release purposes but I promise once the music is ready I will show you the masterpiece we shot.

Tonight at 7pm I will be in the studio mixing the horns and violin we layed down to "Matthew" and "I don't want to keep you from heaven too long"... Also I will start tracking the other instruments to the next two songs: "Pawn Shop Love" & "Little Drummer boy". Tony my producer is bieng so supportive and spending so much of his spare time on my record. I couldn't ask for a more supportive team of people around me. I have such a great feeling about this record...It is remenicent of watching the making of dvd's ...for instance Bruce Springsteen born to run or Bjork in studio ....bob dylan...etc.etc...the excitement in the air and this very clear emotion of "we are creating something special here" is just so evident. It's a very surreal and magical experience and I can not wait to share it with you...

xoxoxo
Amanda

country bumpkin girl time...

Today was soooo much fun. I met Lindsay Dumas today for the first time... she was so amazing and I was able to book her last moment and she trucked all the way from east toronto 2 hours to put make up on my virgin face haha I'm so not use to make up so today was ...interesting? Vanessa as par her usual increadible self made the shots look out of this world. We had to pack things up early because we had a bit of a late start...wine , cigars, girl talk....etc. haha So Vanessa is sleeping over and in the morning we are going to shoot some more stuff :) Keep your eyes open and I'll have more soon

xoxo
Amanda

photos!

"The reason I do photographs is to help people understand my music, so it's very important that I am the same, emotionally, in the photographs as in the music. Most people's eyes are much better developed than their ears. If they see a certain emotion in the photograph, then they'll understand the music."-Bjork


Today is the day!!!horray!!! photoshoot time! my fingers are weak from sewing and my spirits are high. I've got dream team Vanessa Heins and Lindsay Dumas alongside my cousin Nicole to shoot footage of todays adventures!!! I will post stuff from the day a.s.a.p. :)

xoxoxo
Amanda