Bahiyyih

I have been listening to Raphael Saadiq lately. I am really digging his album The Way I See It. His song Love That Girl is so catchy and wonderful:

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YouTube Direktclassid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> Love That Girl

He is playing a concert in March with India.Arie. I am already a huge India fan. I just love discovering new stuff. When I find an artist (and especially an album) that I like, I listen to it over and over again. I’m sort of like that with clothes too. When I find a pair of jeans or a t-shirt I like, I will wear it a lot for a while. It is the excitement of something new, and also the knowledge of knowing I will like what I am wearing (or in this case what I am listening to). I know what mood Raphael’s music will put me in, and I know what to expect. Still the more I listen, the more I like it. I rarely find this with an album. I often find a song I like or a singer I like, but to really enjoy an entire album (or most of one) does not happen too often for me.

Some other albums I truly love and have listened to a lot:

Sarah McLaughlin’s Fumbling Towards Ecstacy

Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Tracy Chapman’s self titled first album

Regina Spektor’s Begin To Hope

There are lots more but that’s my list for now. Now to decide whether or not to go and see the Raphael/India concert in March.

I had the pleasure of performing last Friday at the Vancouver Rowing Club as part of the Vancouver City Limits series. I played with my friend Jason Cohen. We had a great set of original songs. My parents and sister came, along with some friends from the area. There were other talented artists who played before and after us. The Club even threw in a free roast beef dinner for performers, which is more than I usually get for performing.

The one hiccup of the night for me will be no surprise to fellow musicians (and many audience members). That hiccup would be the excessively loud group of people who yelled through the entire night of music. I understand that this is part of performing, especially in a pub or bar setting. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother me. I understand that this group of friends came to the pub to let loose on a Friday night with their friends, not to listen to live music. Still, it seems that the volume with which they chose to let loose with was violently high. It was almost comical how loud they were.

So for all you musicians and audience members who have been annoyed by loud “audience” members, just know that you are not alone. As a professional I just played through their racket and had a grand old time. The show must go on.

I often get ideas for things to blog about when I am out for a walk, watching a movie, about to fall asleep, etc. In other words, when I cannot actually post my ideas to share with you. I’m sure many of you have experienced similar situations where inspirational, creative and brilliant ideas come to you when you least expect them and when they are most difficult to capture. There is definitely a reason for this. I think it’s because  our minds at these times are free of the pressure to do or think. They are not in task mode, and so little gems just land in our line of sight. We reach out for them but whoosh! we’ve already passed them and we can hardly remember what they looked like.

Please share your thoughts on inspiration and timing as comments to this post. Here are a few inspiring pictures of nature that my friend took in Whitehorse, Yukon.

I am currently in a funk. I feel annoyed, irritated and disappointed. It’s raining buckets, windy as hell, and I want to sleep 12+ hours a night and eat donuts and chips and watch movies. Yeah. In a funk.

There are things that could help me feel better, but I don’t want to do those things. Did I mention my motivation is low?

One thing that has helped me during past funks is to eat a good home cooked meal. I would start by going to the store to buy the good groceries.  You know the ones that you don’t buy because they’re too expensive? Yeah, those ones. I could come home and turn on some music and make myself a healthy, tasty, satisfying meal. But that would require some effort and some energy, whereas the chips on top of the fridge go nicely with the chocolate bar in the cupboard. Here’s some food I’ve made in the past when I was more motivated:

Something else that helps me when I’m feeling blue is to focus more energy on my spiritual life. Taking more time for prayer and meditation helps to ground me and to clear my mind of scattered and negative thoughts. But the lure of a good movie and the addiction of facebook are strong.

If I was so inclined to feel better (which I’m not) I might surf the net for inspiring and beautiful pictures like these ones of Bahia, Brazil I found on Flickr:

And if there was a cute animal nearby I would play with it and cuddle it. The cuteoverload website would have to suffice as I don’t have a pet:

And of course, if I did want to feel better (which I don’t), then I might do some dancing in the living room. This song and clip from the movie 500 Days of Summer is so upbeat and catchy:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2seAJsrtIbQ]

I guess I could go try any one of these things. I mean, eventually the novelty of being in a funk and feeling sorry for myself will wear off, and I will eventually want to feel better. For now, I’m going to take a big bite out of my apple fritter, surf facebook, and then go to sleep.

I’d love to hear your comments on how you get over a bad mood.

Yours truly,

Bahiyyih

Once I had decided to do the album, I needed to choose the songs. Since I had been wanting to do this project for a long time, I had a lot of songs to choose from. I needed to select 9 or 10 that would go well together. Some songs were clearly going to be on the album, no questions asked. Others I could not decide on, and still others I added in at the last minute. I went more on intuition than anything else.

The name for the album came when I returned from my pilgrimage. I was thinking about how being in Israel and visiting the holy places felt like my spiritual home. I wanted this album to be a coming home in a spiritual sense, a reminder for me of where my soul resides and a desire to be brought back there regularly. Thus the title “Take Me Home” came about.

I proceeded to think about what musicians and instruments I would need to record the songs I had chosen. I also consulted with my producer about studio timelines and when we could start the preliminary recording.

The next post will be about getting into the studio. Here is a picture of me in the studio.

Recording the musical fireside album in 2008.

So the finishing touches have been made to my upcoming album. It is now ready to be sent off to the printers. This process started almost a year ago, and you may wonder how it can take almost 12 months to record some songs. Well, I’d like to share some of that process with you in a series of blog posts. To start, here is the fantastic picture for my album cover:

Designed by Amer Al Khatib: www.ameralkhatib.com

The first, and in my opinion most important step in making an album is having the intention to do it. Although I’ve been wanting to do a solo album for over 5 years, the real committed intention came when I was on my Baha’i pilgrimage last October 2008. It was there that the answer to my prayers and those of my husband told us that making this album was very important. It is during this spiritual journey that it became clear to me that I did not have a choice. In a way I finally surrendered to the idea that it needed to happen, and from there the faith that it would happen followed.

My next post will be about choosing a concept and songs for the album. I leave you with a few photos of me performing.

Chris and I performing at his sister's wedding.

Monti and I performing in West Vancouver.

Me in West Van.

I just got back from my Live To Sing, Sing To Live tour in the Okanagan with Beth Southwell. It went really well. I had actually decided before I went that it was a success for the simple reason that I was doing it. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I decided instead of creating roadblocks as to why I could not do it, I would decide that I would go on tour without any expectations of what that would be. I would not need to go across Canada or book 50 shows or even travel very far. I would keep it simple and be open to whatever came.

I was lucky enough to have Beth join me for this venture. It’s always great to work with someone else in the creative process. It helps with motivation and it also splits the amount of work between two people. Together we booked our shows, put together a cd, buttons and tour poster, and took care of all the big and small details that came up. We learned a lot and could not have done it without the help of our poster designer, my parents free accommodations, or Beth’s great car. Here are a few pictures from our fabulous week.

Outside Voodoos in Penticton pre-show.

Our tour cds and buttons. Hurrah!

Our wonderful outdoor stage in Kerry Park in Kelowna.

Playing music in the sun overlooking the lake. Life is good!

I enjoyed playing each show and thank all those who came out to listen. The big lesson for me was that when you want something, just go for it. You will learn a lot and know so much more the next time. Start small and enjoy the ride.

So Beth and I have booked our shows and are ready to embark on our ‘Live To Sing, Sing To Live’ Tour in the Okanagan, August 16-21!! So excited. Here is our beautiful tour poster:

Designed by Amer Al Khatib: www.ameralkhatib.com

All the show dates can be found in the Shows section of my site. Now I just have to work my butt off in the next 3 weeks to prepare. I’m going to be buying a beautiful new Martin guitar very soon. Will post a picture when it is ready.

If you live in the Okanagan or have family and friends there and can help promote the show just drop me a message and I will email you a poster for a specific show.

For those in BC, have a great long weekend, and to everyone, thanks for checking out the site.

I just saw a great talk on Ted TV about creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love”. It speaks to the mental health of artists, and how not trying to own what we create can be a good thing, whether or not we believe it.

Check out this 20 minute talk on You Tube by clicking on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA

Here are some photos of sand taken at Goose Spit in Comox, Vancouver Island. I love how the sand has waves.

My friend Monti and I played a show at Whole Foods in the West Vancouver village last Friday. My husband took some pictures.

And here is a video of me singing my song “Promised Me”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNg0zFbf97A