LA LA LA, a snow storm and a bit of wander lust

Some of you know that I live in a very small town. In the middle of the prairies. It is where my family lives and I chose to be here once I started touring, in order to be with the people I love when at home. I'm sure some wonder why I haven't moved to a bigger city permanently, but if you could see the sun set, or hear my nephew laugh or swing on my tree swing, you might stop wondering. Or you might continue, depending on what suits your fancy. I don't really care.

I live 2 hours away from a small international airport. And by international, I mean that sometimes you have connecting flights in Minneapolis, Toronto, Denver, Chicago, Calgary etc.

Last Friday some friends of mine were moving furniture out to their new cottage in my town. So instead of driving into Winnipeg to get to the airport, I opted for catching a ride back in their moving van. All the way to Winnipeg I sat or laid on the flat empty floor of this big moving van.

The next morning I flew to Minneapolis where I waited and tweeted and got excited about my conference in LA. (I'm not cool enough to not get excited.)

When I arrived in LA, my cab driver kept telling me that he didn't like marriage and that even though he was old he had young eyes. "I may be old, but when a beautiful young woman such as yourself gets in my cab, I know beauty when I see it. Any man who is a man, knows beauty and enjoys it. But my wife? She keep sayingk to me... 'ah you are so old! stop beingk a creep! lookingk at those young girls!"

He showed me signed pictures of all the famous actors that had been in his cab and got me to sign his fame book because he found out I was playing the Viper Room.

I stayed at a cute bohemian hotel in West Hollywood that had a rooftop garden and saltwater pool. There I treated myself to dinner, enjoying the view of the hills, sipping wine - and was approached by a group of business men. They started making conversation and made the old 'Alanis' comparison to 'Alana'. I must note here that they were young business men and didn't know who Roy Orbison was. How incredibly unfortunate. Our future is in trouble!

I walked up the street to see the Viper Room and there were ridiculously hot people trying desperately to get in. I quietly observed all this with a slight hidden smirk, because I didn't even want to get in but would be playing there in two nights! Seriously, this town is funny. There was a guy that wasn't driving a cool enough car and wasn't allowed in the parking lot behind the club! Hilarious! He looked so dejected.

When I arrived back at my hotel, a bottle of wine had been sent to my room from one of the young business men with a card that read "Alana- call or text- Dan." So I read The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald and enjoyed the wine without calling or texting.

The next day I rehearsed with some killer players. Ian Walker, Josh Grange, Sasha Smith and Mitch Marine. They are seriously great players and we had lots of fun telling dirty jokes and getting to know each other. These guys play with KD Lang, Dwight Yoakum, Everclear etc... really great blokes!

Monday, I picked up my J-165 Gibson from the Gibson Showroom and got familiar with it. (Ahem.. and the couple in the room next to me were keeping time to my tunes... for reals.)

Sound check went well once we were able to sound check, but because we were first on, we had barely any time to eat... so we went across the street and wolfed down some italian food. I was probably the only woman in that whole crazy town eating carbs, especially right before a show! Yikes. Cardinal rules being broken, baby:)

I'm happy I ate those carbs because it gave me the energy to ROCK!!! We had loads of fun up there and got the crowd going. Here is the REVIEW!

I'll keep you posted as to what will come of playing that show, but good things seem to be in the works!

I flew home with a connecting flight to Calgary where I was caught in a snow storm. Luckily, it wasn't snowing in Manitoba. Just a nice spring rain. So transitioning wasn't terribly hard.

Though I have a little fever to do some traveling just for the sake of traveling. So you may get a journal from somewhere else soon!

Much love- alana


PS- A few things I learned from the Musexpo conference-

1. you have to be willing to take your clothes off and do anything to be a tried and true pop star... anything to be different... which has been the case for awhile... but I think now with someone like Lady Gaga taking over the world, at least you have to have TALENT and be willing to take your clothes off. Of all the acts to come along in the last 10 years, I would say that if anyone is going to trump Madonna, its her. The trouble is that with such high demand for content, she will have to work even harder to remain in the limelight. No stopping. No breaks. But, my hunch is she is genuinely that insatiable.

2. I don't want to be a pop star:) Oh wait, look at the provocative photo below!

3. I love music and want to make money at creating it and I love rocking out, performing and giving a memorable experience to a crowd.



how shocking

Carlene Carter, Avatar and a new Download Deal!

Hello Friends!

I am in York tonight en route to Edinburgh tomorrow.

Last night I performed in Nottingham to support Carlene Carter. She is such a lovely character. It was wonderful to experience the whole evening, meet some new folks who liked my tunes, hear Carlene and play Nottingham for the very first time. The crowd was fantastic.

I was in London on the 3rd of March spending time with very good friends. We went to see Avatar as two of us hadn't seen it yet. I have to say, I have never cried at a science fiction film before. Not that this is just any sci fi film, but it could be likened to the hype that Star Wars received.

I found myself getting angry and then I found myself in a state of mourning. We know that we turn blind eye to the same types of actions toward indigenous folks here on earth. I loved the film. Loved it. But I suppose the idealist in me wonders if at some point there will be the kind of peace that turns even the heart of the general toward God. That despite himself, he will experience conversion... and that he has the same essence as the other people.

I recently attended an Evening of Stories in Nashville and one of the entertainers was writer Donald Miller, doing readings from blogs and books. I received his new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and its gotten me thinking even more about story. If that is possible. And of course it is.

I think to myself... why do we humans seem to almost celebrate suffering? What I mean by this is without the adversity, the conflict, without even the villainous behaviour of the general what would Avatar have looked like as a film? If we had seen a bunch of beautiful carnal blue people blissfully living out their lives in harmony with the forest, would we have sat there for 3 hours? Would it have felt long to sit there?

I'm not suggesting its okay to exploit native land because it makes the human story more interesting, but it seems humans sure want something to fight for. We need someone to play the villain in our own lives so that things can be black and white.

Seriously, I was gutted when that tree came down. Gutted. It made me frustrated and it broke my heart that this movie is inspired by the corporate monarchy and by the moderate's inertia.

And yet, it felt good to cheer for the exploited, to know deep down what I would choose. To feel that I have an understanding of what it means to be a part of a brother and sisterhood.

When I was a young girl, I used to run through my own woods barefoot, and pretend to be a little spear warrior. I would practice at not being a blundering human as Tolkien described humans compared to hobbits. I could feel my fellow theatre goers wanting to "go back to the land" right after the film was over. And when we set out to get to the double decker bus stop in time, we ran as though we were remembering how to be carnal creatures and I even cleared a stack of garbage like a wild cat.

I don't really have a point to my thoughts on villains and conflict and adversity except that I wish for the villain's sake they didn't have to be one. I also know that I have a little villain in me lurking about in dark places and shouldn't judge other folks too much, but still push for what I know is right.

So- here I am in York. I am so spoiled. I walked around York Minster Abbey today, then had tea with scones and clotted cream at Betty's and then attended Evensong at York Minster. The Evensong was very beautiful as well as interesting because they are very traditional. They do the service very much the way it was done in the Sixteenth Century. There is so much history here. Constantine stands outside the Abbey and I try to go back in time and feel what it might have felt like then. I am never dissatisfied when I visit this walking city. When I'm within the walls, I picture myself attending music school here skipping along the cobblestone in some unique, comfy little boots.

But back to the task at hand! And that is to get my listeners and friends out there to help me let other people know about my album Lions and Werewolves! Go to www.alanalevandoski.com to tell your friends about me and get a free mp3!

Also- if you sleuth around online there is a password being passed around like a bad rumour! If you find the password, you can download both my records Unsettled Down and Lions and Werewolves for 5 bucks a piece! Here's a hint: its called the "Be Brave" campaign. (wink)

I hope you are well wherever you are and that you are choosing to be the hero in your own story and not the villainous, treacherous, exploitive meanie!

much love,

Alana

Joy and Jack: a love story, and the Olympics

A friend of mine texted me last night saying "I'm watching the opening ceremonies, are you proud of Canada right now? There are tap dancers wearing flannel!" I actually wasn't watching the Olympics, I was watching the film Shadowlands with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. Not out of some real conscious choice to avoid the festivities taking place in Vancouver, but because I was in a contemplative mood and wanted to eat dark chocolate and watch an unorthodox love story.

I know there are many opinions about the Olympics and how much they cost and what we could be doing with the money instead. Particularly in Canada right now there are mixed feelings. Many working class folks, who lean toward a more western-styled working class socialism, don't appreciate the Canadian government subsidizing such a commercial endeavor.

Since the Olympics in Beijing there has been a more obvious political overtone to the Olympics. Many folks thought, if other countries have to be held to account to play around in the global market why wasn't this one?

I can see the point to this. And I do wonder what a grassroots formula would look like within the sports world. But I also have to say this: as a child, I remember particularly anticipating the Winter Olympics almost as though Christmas was coming. I remember weeping as I saw the flags of so many countries coming together under one roof. Or the times when very poor athletes from oppressed countries became champions and contradicted the odds that money always wins gold. I remember how human the faces of these young competitors looked as they expressed how they knew they could have done better, or knew without a doubt that they had done their best. Two stories that particularly stand out are the stories of Elizabeth Manley and Oksana Baiul.

I think the Olympics could be likened very much to Christmas in the sense that: there is a whole lot of hullabaloo, maximizing of credit cards, and vast commercialism that does not feed the hungry by any stretch, in ratio to it's gain. But I also wonder, if what we can take from this tradition is remembering that its okay to celebrate and be together. I guess what I mean is, I certainly wish that most of the folks (I say most, because there are some charities in place) benefiting from the enterprising agendas of the Olympics could be aware that hungry bellies don't disappear just because the world is watching television for two weeks. But I can also think of other things with less texture and meaning that big money gets spent on.

Perhaps the Olympics and Christmas should not only be considering their carbon footprint but also their human footprint.

How do we go about doing this?

So as I said, I didn't boycott the Opening Ceremonies last night. But I didn't watch them either. I instead watched a movie about a British man who was a great thinker and maker of fantasy who fell in love late in life to the most unlikely person. A divorced woman from America who had a young son. He married her before God at her sick bed as she struggled in her fight against cancer. And as the illness went into remission they had a few years of what he would have called 'eros' before... or 'romantic love'. But he soon learned that love isn't so easily put into categories and that it is a great mystery. It is something that reflects the great beyond.

His wife Joy said "The pain then is a part of the happiness now. And that's the deal."

So I think, perhaps our choices here matter. That there should be a collective consciousness surrounding the Olympics that holds the world and it's choices to account. I also know that we have to change what we demand in order for the supply to change. Maybe we have to have a change of heart, like Joy's lover Jack, and embrace the mystery of love, to get there.

And maybe, rather than being cynical and angry (or oblivious), we might be able to watch the stories of these athletes (how does one decide "I'm going into competitive skiing?"), and learn something about ourselves. The flushed, young faces of determination. The flags coming together under one roof. Yes, each flag represents something imperfect, corrupt and not what it could be... but they also represent unique customs, flavours and wonder.

Maybe these flags represent us?

As we have our own little gatherings, at a community hall, church, temple, mosque, solstice party, family gathering and so many other ways we spend time around others, perhaps we should prepare to bring humility with us and not a self-righteous "I am so much more aware of injustice than that person" attitude... to acknowledge our own imperfections and corruption, but also what wonderful colour we each bring to the table.

much love,

alana

Does Creativity belong in the Music Industry?

I have been wondering lately.

What does it mean to wonder? Astonishment or interest in something mysterious, perhaps.

Why do you suppose we are discouraged to wonder as we get older? Why are our imaginations not cultivated within the academy or within our jobs?

When I think about what I alone am capable of and do not accomplish because I'm probably using only .5% of my creative capacity, I wonder about folks who were made to feel small or unimportant in school because they didn't fit into the round hole. I was not made to feel like I didn't fit. I was made to feel like I am who I am.

I wonder about all the creative ideas ever thought up by people who are too embarrassed to be creative.

Even our system of productivity within the music industry or film industry is constructed around particular unimaginative formulas. And the folks who were around for the other reforms in the industry seem not as open these days to new reform. And of course, why would they be? Tenure exists in all forms of businesses and institutions. A person who has devoted 30 years of their life to climbing the corporate ladder within a particular mechanical format and gets to the top, does not want to move from there until he is good and ready.

I'm not trying to be political here. Though maybe I ought to be.

I feel sometimes that the template in which I have to squeeze into as an artist is so narrow I can't breathe... like the way one must conform in school, to look good on paper. I have to watch what I eat because I haven't been branded as someone who "wears her weight proudly". I'm luckier than others in this area because I'm naturally little. But do you have any idea how hard some women work to keep up their image in this business? Young women are so overworked that they are collapsing on stage, and we look at this as a sign of their tenacity? Its almost as though the declaration of human rights wasn't written for touring musicians (or anyone who tours/works with them). There's either no minimum wage or no time to recreate.

Perhaps I'm naive but in our insatiable need to make everything okay and not bad within broader culture, it seems we are given no room in music to say anything against the fact that a) workaholism is the highest virtue b) endorsing new artists as sex objects (many times to the point of degradation) is one of the last ways to sell new music in the old way of selling it c) trying to be creative about new ways of selling music is generally seen as terrorism because it threatens the equilibrium of those in power (who live a contradictory existence: because they're nostalgic about political music/music to promote change, but also don't attempt to sell it, if it comes along, because it might actually produce change.)

Neil Young is allowed to make and sell good, insightful and sometimes highly political music because Neil Young comes with a financial guarantee. I'd love to see him develop in today's climate.

Don't get me wrong... I LOVE Neil Young.

But... I wonder. Perhaps if Wonder were introduced into our industries and schools, and the windows were opened, so some fresh air was allowed to blow through the old institutional rooms of dog eat dog, kill or be killed, there may be a chance for us little people to lead productive, balanced lives and to do what we do best, which is to creatively serve each other in the way that makes us... us.

Is there hope for the little artist? Indie is, I suppose, a dull/old/prosaic word these days. What about the word "little"? The little creeks that work so hard at flowing to feed the lake, to serve how they were born to be... and have to survive somehow within an industry of bottom lines and financial inconsistencies.

I almost wonder if we ought to start considering where our music comes from these days... the way we consider where our food comes from. Chastise me if you want to... and I could be contradicting myself... but what if the music industry was held to account the way the food industry is? We ask questions like: Where does our food come from? How did it get here? Who profits from this food? What is the nutritional value of this food? I'm not being anti-capitalist here... on the contrary... I think a good capitalism ought to ask these questions.

This is an idealism of course. But it is something to wonder about, isn't it?

I am going to be presenting my little circle of influence with a very grassroots campaign to promote my music very soon and I hope to have some helpers along the way. Because as the old adage in the" award acceptance speech" goes... I can't do it without you. And I think we're getting to the point where that is actually true. I believe you will see that the more we embrace wonder and allow for new life, the more you, the listener, will have the MOST important role to play in how music is heard.

Let me know what you think! I welcome the thunder and the sunshine!

Much love,

Alana Levandoski, lover of story and song