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The Unbearable Lightness of Paris
Tuesday, Aug 30, 2011 10:57PM / Members only
I've always had a love affair with Paris. Despite her wear & tear in places and the complete exploitation of her wares in the red light district, she never loses her shiny varnish for me. Unfortunately my years completely immersed in French at school until the age of 7 fail me completely. I can't seem to recall my past fluency. Not that it matters. The waiters always ask if I'm a Latina anyway. I'm just trying to work out if they mean 'a Latina' like J. Lo. Or the district in Madrid...
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WELCOME TO CHINA
Friday, Jun 24, 2011 12:30PM / Members only
The new face of Beijing. Corporate America sneeks past the gates. My mom asked me the other day, "are you finding it hard to even get a cup of coffee?" Uh, no, mom. Check it out - a Starbucks on every corner.
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WHILE MY SITAR GENTLY WEEPS...
Friday, Jun 24, 2011 12:25PM / Members only
My first sitar lesson ever. My friend Simon Griffin (from Sushi Robot) & I got a free sitar lesson from a 92-year old grandma. She wasn't too impressed with my sitar interpretation of 'Sweet Child O' Mine'.
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The Odometer Destroyer Tour (USA) - April 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 12:38PM / Members only
OK, so it's taken me a little while to get my thoughts down on paper. Tour blogs always seem like a good idea at the time. But trying to keep up with it when you're on the road is 'for the birds', to quote a Juliana Hatfield song... Anyways, here's some initial notes about most of the shows. I do have other thoughts about the other shows lying around here somewhere, but will have to gather them when I've finished wrestling with the evil beast of jetlag. Hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it!
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April 12, 2011
Venue: Blue Café, Long Beach, CA
After surviving our night camping in the Grand Canyon, we made it to Long Beach intact, although a bit weary from sleeping on the cold, wet ground. The Blue Café was set up with 2 floors and a big stage. On the way in for soundcheck, a woman on the street asked me if I was Reign Lee. Shocked and surprised, I said yes. It turns out she had read about the show in the paper and came to see what all the hoopla was about. Nice! Apparently, Fox News had called ahead to request press passes although we’re not sure if they ever showed. Regardless, the stage was great and the show was fun. Apart from Melissa’s computer breaking down, her tuner not working and everything electric of hers completely falling apart, I think we had a good time:) The (very cool) guys from Swoopsworld, Peter and Keith turned up and some old friends of mine that I hadn’t seen in about 8 years showed too. All in all, another nice start to the beginning of the tour.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Venue: Crepe Place, Santa Cruz, CA
Driving up through Northern California was glorious. I love the vibe and the energy running through this part of the state. The rolling hills were sometimes reminiscent of the scenery in the English countryside. We were psyched for the gig since it gave us a chance to be a part of a cause dear to both of our hearts. The SPCA was holding a fundraiser to raise much-needed funds for abandoned and neglected animals. To top it off, they were holding the fundraiser at a very cool venue – The Crepe Place. Of course, they are best known for… you guessed it, crepes. I had the mouthwatering Turkey and Cranberry crepe. It was like Thanksgiving all over again. The music was inspiring as top-notch musicians graced the stage and churned out originals and some beautiful renditions of old classics. It was an honour to play in such good company and the night was a success all-around.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Venue: Unity Event, Merced, CA
This was my first time playing in a church. This was a little community church venue in Merced and I had no idea what to expect. People that were a part of the community were invited to come and join us for a night of music. For some reason, it reminded me of John Lithgow preaching from his pulpit in Footloose – I have no idea why but that was my frame of reference. As we tried desperately to figure out how to hook everything up to run the sound, slowly people started to file in. There were people of all ages and whole families that came out after dinner to see what the cat dragged in. Once again, I felt privileged to be playing to a captive audience. People had come out of their way on a Sunday night to simply hear music. The energy in the room felt strong and genuine as people cheered throughout the night. Afterwards, we made our way back to the Osborne’s – our host family. They treated us with warmth and we sat down that night to some good vino, good food and even better conversation. We put the world to rights then retired to bed. Hoping to get some much needed rest before heading back to LA.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Venue: Redwood Bar, Los Angeles, CA
This was an interesting show. For some reason, the place reminded me of something straight out of a David Lynch movie. And I loooooove David Lynch movies. We walked in to see Phil Alvin on stage, sitting on a chair, holding his guitar almost like an upright bass and singing with a fiery intensity reserved for only the most hard-nosed bluesman. I was confused though because I thought we were supposed to be opening for him. I soon found out that he just gets bored sitting around, so he tends to jump on stage whenever he can to do a few songs. I’m glad he did! I felt like I was getting an education simply by being in the line of fire. The place was packed with what I’m assuming were LA Times writers. Apparently, they had won a bunch of awards or something earlier that night, so they came to Redwood to partake in Hollywood delights and debauchery. The Lynchian similarities didn’t end there. Pretty soon Exene from X showed up. Along with some other notable people of rock n roll history. I ended up talking to Mercy (that’s Miss Mercy, for most of you) from the legendary GTO’s. Let’s just say that my conversation with her became a rock education that we are continuing through email and facebook. Redwood – thanks for the memories!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Venue: The Compound Grill, Phoenix AZ
Although this wasn’t a huge gig, it was one of my favourites on the tour. The Compound Grill is an amazing venue with a fantastic stage that was built for rock stars. The walls are lined with pictures of famous musicians that have graced the stage and it always feels good to walk within hallowed walls. The evening got off to a hilarious start. I was kicking off the night but didn’t want to start until my grandparents got there (they live in Phoenix). They were very concerned about not missing any part of the show. But of course, start time came & went and there was still no sign of them. I don’t know why I was surprised. These are the people that somehow missed their first ever flight to Hong Kong and ended up in Japan instead. And then, from Japan, somehow ended up in Thailand where my mom finally had to go to retrieve them since they weren’t getting any closer to Hong Kong. I imagined that they had somehow taken a wrong turn and ended up in Canada looking for the venue. But lo and behold, they turned up about 15 mins late and we were able to start the show. The space was great and the sets felt good. Unfortunately, in my glib way – I started talking about how the night before the audience members at Shakespeare’s had been buying us Car Bombs. So of course, I started commenting that I was expecting nothing short from Phoenix. I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut. Because the Car Bombs came…and kept coming. There were more on offer, but we finally had to turn them away since there is only so much Guinness, whisky and bailey’s that one person can consume in one fell swoop. Next time, I should probably comment on something sensible, like Chardonnay or a nice Pinot Grigio.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Venue: Hacienda del Sol, Tuscon, AZ
This was a show that was very important to me for a number of reasons. The night was dubbed ‘Music for the Soul’ and benefited Integrative Touch for Kids. The purpose of the organization is to maximize wellness for children with special medical needs and their families. (www.integrativetouch.org) What an inspiring event to be a part of. It was a double-blessing for me since one of my dearest and oldest friends was one of the organizers for this event and is heavily involved in ITK. Although life set us on divergent paths for a while, fate (aka facebook) saw it fit to finally bring us together again and it was amazing to pick up where we’d left off as friends 10 years ago. I hope to be involved with more ITK events in the future. Once again we shared the stage with some amazing players – Bandjax, Amy Rude and the Heartbeast and Silver Thread Trio. But it was the reaction of the many children who came up to me after the show to ask for CDs that absolutely made my night. On an interesting note…the venue came to talk to us because they were a bit concerned about how loud the music was going to be. Apparently there were expecting quite a few senior citizens in the crowd, so we were asked to keep levels down. My question was this: if there’s a bunch of seniors in the audience, shouldn’t we be turning UP rather than down? Just something for you all to ponder…
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Venue: The Laughing Goat, Boulder, CO
So this was our last show. What were we thinking? Saturday night in Tuscon, Arizona and Sunday night in Boulder, Colorado? Who the hell booked this thing?! Oh yeah, we did. Perhaps we should’ve teamed up with people who were more map-literate than us. So immediately after the Tuscon show at Hacienda del Sol, we packed our gear and hauled it out of there. We had a 15-hour drive to get us back to Colorado and we were hoping it would give us a chance to grab some kip (sleep) before the final show at the Laughing Goat. What is it they say about best laid plans? Anyways, there was one noteworthy thing that happened on the drive. I was driving through New Mexico at about 2am. (Apparently we were near Area 51.) I was driving along and I noticed a light in the sky. It wasn’t moving so I assumed it was a tower of some kind. But it seemed to be in an odd position, since it would put the tower right in the median area of the highway. Then, another light goes on of a different colour. Then 2 more blink on. At this point, I’m wondering what it is. I put on the high beams, but it doesn’t illuminate enough of the sky. Then Melissa wakes up and says, ‘what the hell is that?!’ It was too low to be a plane and it didn’t have the shape of a plane. It wasn’t making any noise and it was stationary in the air, yet it wasn’t tied to anything. Hmmmm…. I’m choosing to believe it was a close encounter of the third kind. Moving on to the last show…. We got into Denver before 1pm and were completely exhausted. We tried to crash out but probably only got about an hour or 2 of sleep before the show. Then we headed down to Boulder. This was my first time there and I have to say, I loved it! The Laughing Goat had a gorgeous smell of roasted coffee running through it and a chill atmosphere. I liked it immediately although I was completely delirious with lack of sleep. But it wasn’t long before I was able to get into the swing of things. Melissa brought her drummer, John and her bassist/husband, Matt and they backed me up for a rocked out version of ‘Built to Last’. They did a stellar job of backing up Melissa through her sets and it was very cool to see the Mythica band dynamic in action. The audience was fantastic. They were attentive and into the music and we were able to carry on conversations with people from the stage. My favourite comment came from a very attentive audience member sitting front row and center. I said something along the lines of ‘Thanks for being such a great audience.’ And he responded by saying, ‘You’re not bad looking yourself.’ It was completely not related to anything I’d just said, but it’s a compliment and I’ll take it where I can get it! To be honest, I wasn’t sure how many people were going to be out on Easter Sunday, especially considering how empty the streets were. But the place was full and it was an outstanding way to end the tour. I love you, Laughing Goat! We then headed to Mountain Sun Brewery for a much-needed celebratory drink to commemorate the end of an era. Ok, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But it was definitely the end of the Odometer Destroyer tour. A massive thank you is due to everyone who supported us, who put us up, who made us dinner, who bought CDs and who cheered us on. Thank you all! It was swell.
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REIGN LEE - ANGELS IN THE DIRT RELEASE PARTY
Thursday, Nov 4, 2010 9:42AM / Members only
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010 – Doors open at 8pm
WHERE: Grappa’s Cellar – Jardine House, 1 Connaught Place, Central, H.K.
You’re Invited – to the party of the night!
Yes, the rumours are true, I’ve been busy in the woodshed working on a new record. It will be ready to drop on Sat, Nov. 27th. We’ll be bringing down the house at Grappa’s Cellar from 8pm to 2am and we want you to join us! Some of HK’s most eclectic and talented acts will be joining me and there may even be a few surprise guests who drop by throughout the night, but that’s top secret.
The featured guests are…
9 Maps
Ryan Hui
Adrian Da Silva (Audiotraffic)
Noughts & Exes
Our charity sponsor is the Asian University for Women (http://www.asian-university.org/ ). 10% of proceeds from ticket sales will go towards scholarships for underprivileged women from around Asia. So feed your karma and buy a ticket- you get to have fun and do a really, really good deed for the world:)
We’ve had loads of sponsors come on board and will have some cool giveaways on the night as well.
Advance tix are $180 – that includes 1 drink, 1 copy of the CD and some other goodies…
Tickets are available at Tom Lee stores – (Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and Sha Tin.) and Grappa’s Cellar. You can also grab them from me. I’ll keep you updated with more places you can grab them in the coming weeks. We’re not sure how many will be left at the door, so get yours now! You can buy them online here:
www.playit-forward.com/page3.htm
This is one show you will not want to miss.
Thanks to our awesome sponsors for supporting independent music in HK and the education of underprivileged women in Asia: Tom Lee, Alive Not Dead, Red Room Media, My Writing Coach, Rosarini, Ken Qi Private i, Karma Sound Studios, Play It Forward – Bands booking Bands, Bunny Warren and Radiodada.
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