Friday, September 26, 2008

Review from The National Underground show

Hey! The evening (9/6) I played in New York (you all remember - there was a hurricane that night!) at The National Underground was reviewed by the host, Ekayani Chamberlin. She wrote a great article about all the music that night and the entire weekend - leaving a sentence for me! This wouldn't be exciting to everyone, but for me, being called "direct and affecting" was a great thing to read. Read below for the rest of the article.

HOWL FEST at NATIONAL UNDERGROUND

www.212city.net
Written by Ekayani Chamberlin

“I’ve heard of that. What is the Howl festival?"

I was sporting one of my Howl! tee shirts. I’ve been involved as a community coordinator since 2004. Before I give a clin d’oeil, it is probably wise to say what Howl! Festival is not. It is not particularly organized. Seen from the outside, it is hard to discern just what it is. If you happened to be walking past Tompkins Square park in the east village on September 5th you saw what appeared to be an endless canvas wrapped around the periphery put up by Art Around the Park. Is it a painting fest? Or maybe you strolled by the Bowery Poetry Club and thought it was a poetry fest. The Theatre at 45 Bleecker street screened films by The Cockettes, the gender bending performance hippies from San Francisco. Is it a film fest? There was dance at Saint Marks Church on the Bowery. Is it a music, performance art, community garden or burlesque fest? The answer is yes to all of those.

Eclectic, down home, underground and a bit grungy at times, the week long event, named after neighborhood poet Allen Ginsberg’s iconic work, was originally started as a preservation movement. Founded by Phil Hartman in 2003, the point was to make a turf claim in the loudest most expressive way possible: the East Village belonged to the artists and residents that lived there and they were not going to roll over and die to higher rents, the malling of New York, or bullying tactics of unscrupulous developers (sic CHARAS) in an area considered hallowed ground by many. At least not without a fight. This locale gave birth to punk, riot grrls, beat poetry. Charlie Parker and his wife Chan lived on east 9th street. The hood has seen more artists than you can shake a stick at many of them now household names. Let’s mention a few: Charles Mingus, Blondie, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, Television, Bad Brains, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, David Amram, Kerouac, John Cage, The LunaChicks, Phil Ochs, Karen Finley, Moby and the institutions of LaMama, and the Anthology Film archives. Until recently the fest had accounted for only 1500 artists living and working in the area!

This years fifth edition ran from September 5 – 11th. The National Underground, Joey and Gavin DeGraws place hosted “Survival in the 21st Century” created by one of the many presenters New Century booking. As CBGB’s and other venues have fallen under the axe of relentless development it was a fitting theme. Curated by Mike McHugh, longtime advocate of downtown talent, these artists howled hurricane Gustav be damned. Present were provocative rock poetess Lauren O'Brien, McHugh with Roger Blanc presented a jam style series of ecologically conscious songs, Kristen Graves direct and affecting accompanied herself on piano and guitar, rocker Lisa Bianco previewed songs from her upcoming release, Faux Star and the Japanese fronted electric gypsy band Kagero closed the night reading Allen’s poetry and inciting the crowd to dance and sing. There were so many events I could have attended and in the past have nearly dropped from exhaustion trying to do so but this small event exemplified the spirit of the fest: We shall not be moved. At least not without a fight.

http://www.myspace.com/laurenobrien123
http://www.myspace.com/mcqandthedude
http://www.myspace.com/kristengravesmusic
http://www.myspace.com/lisabianco
http://www.myspace.com/fauxstar11215
http://www.myspace.com/kagero

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

This weekend in NYC and Litchfield.

Besides the typhoon, things were great this weekend. Playing at The National Underground was exciting. Even though I'm not famous, there's something about being able to get a gig in New York City that makes you feel pretty good about yourself - you know? Anyway, thanks to those of you who braved the storm! And for those of you who stayed home - I hope you were cozy and enjoyed listening to the rain that night. Next time, I'll try and order better weather!

Playing at Bohemian Pizza in Litchfield was crazy. I have never been anywhere like this place before, and I've never played anywhere like this before - I really enjoyed myself. I was set up in the restaurant area, so people came out from the bar to listen and buy CD's. I sold a bunch of CD's - thanks to those of you who bought them that night! Much appreciated. Anyway, it's a crazy fun place to be, so the next time I play there, if you live in the area, you should definitely come check it out. You won't be sorry! I included a photo, so that you can have a small visual, it's a bit blurry, so let me explain to you what you're looking at.

1. Please note that Gaby is sitting in a booth covered in cow print.
2. I am playing in front of a huge fish tank, which had huge fish in it.
3. I am also playing in front of a large TV so that people could watch the game AND listen to me play. Genius.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Back into the swing of things!

Well, life has been back to normal (somewhat) this last week since I returned from my tour. Gaby and I drove straight through from Green Bay, WI to Westport, CT last Monday night, arriving at 3:30 a.m. - 18 hours door to door! Needless to say, we slept in the next morning. But other than that day off I've been putting in some hours getting ready for the new school year (lessons and my choirs start this week) and booking/promoting my upcoming shows.

Today I played at a farmers market here in Westport, and had such a great time. I sold some CD's met some nice people, and received many gifts from the farmers (lettuce, carrots, apples, peaches, peppers, the list goes on and on!). We enjoyed a fabulous salad tonight for dinner (thanks to chef, Bryan!) If you live around here - the market is held in the Westport Playhouse parking lot on Thursday's from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. You should come, they have great stuff, plus I'll hopefully be singing there in the weeks to come.

So...coming up this weekend!

Saturday night I'm playing in New York at The National Underground (9 p.m.!). This is my first BIG show in the city, so come if you can - I could use some friendly faces!

Then Sunday night I'm playing in Litchfield, CT at Bohemian Pizza and Dittos at 9 p.m - this is going to be a nice low-key night with delicious pizza and drinks. You won't want to miss it.

One last favor, I'm trying to get "Time" played on a local radio station here in Connecticut called WZBG. If you have a few spare moments, would you send an e-mail with this request to: requests@wzbg.com or call them directly at 1-800-374-5888? Thanks so much! I appreciate it. Even if you don't live in the area - they'll never know! I just need a little help getting myself some "air" time.

I'll keep you posted with my upcoming shows and crazy life changes as they come.

Enjoy the weekend!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

A cool place

Last night I got to play in one of the coolest spaces I've ever seen. It is an art supply store (I bought myself a book on how to draw dogs) in Eau Claire, WI that's set up almost as a warehouse with cement floors and has a cool storefront window. I played in the front, a bunch of the displays were pushed back, and that's how we set up the stage. It was very cool.

Unfortunately the crowd was a little low in numbers, but we had a good time anyway. I played a bunch of songs, and got to spend some time talking and sharing the stories behind the songs, so I really enjoyed myself and hopefully everyone else did too!

Today I get the day off. Yay! And tomorrow's the big day in Green Bay. I'm really looking forward to the grand finale of my tour being in my hometown. It's pretty great to be back.

For those of you waiting for CD's - I've been promised that they're coming. It turns out that the slowness I was bummed about has spread a bit, needless to say I won't work with this company again, but please don't worry, I will get your CD's to you as soon as possible, I promise! I'll enlist my entire family to help with addressing envelopes if I have to!

As this tour is drawing to a close, I need to thank so many people - I'll never be able to list all of the names, but man, oh man am I grateful to have had this opportunity. Thanks so much for making this possible by giving me places to stay, buying dinners, tanks of gas from time to time, and for coming to these shows and buying my new CD. I am so thankful, and I'll definitely be doing this again!! I've had way too much fun!

I've got some photos below. Enjoy!



Here I am playing at Dunn Brothers in St. Paul, MN. Look at all of my old friends! It was a lot of fun to see everyone again.



Here I am playing at Benny Ha Ha's Art Supply in Eau Claire, WI. Cool room. Next time I'll promote a little harder. :)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Last night in St. Paul

Well, again, I can't believe how much fun I'm having playing at different places and seeing so many different people. Last night in St. Paul I played at Dunn Brothers on Grand Avenue, and the turnout was great. (Thanks to all who came out!!)

I had a chance to catch up with friends from college and high school, and it was cool to hear all of the different things people are up to. This has been such a positive tour, not only because I've been selling so many CD's (which has been a pleasant number each night) but because I've gotten to meet so many people and to reconnect with so many old friends.

Today Gaby and I head to Eau Claire, WI for a special show at Benny Ha Ha's Art Supply, I think it's going to be pretty great, and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of a venue it's going to turn out to be.

Thanks again to all of you who are staying in touch, writing me such kind e-mails, and calling to see how the trip has been going! I'm so grateful to you for thinking of me.

Take care, and I'll update you on tonight's show later!
Kristen

Saturday, August 09, 2008

The Brink Lounge in Madison

Last night was a great turn out, yet again. My brother outdid himself with this show, and brought a bunch of people to see me at the Brink Lounge.

It was a pretty cool lounge area, with great drinks, and delicious pizza, so I was a happy girl. I got to reconnect and see people that I haven't seen in years. Everything went very well until our drive home...

My parents got a flat tire on the way from Madison to Green Bay at midnight! It was crazy, they ended up getting home at 2 a.m. those party animals, I think they just wanted to wait up and greet their anniversary like rock stars (happy 39th m & d!).

I'm tired tonight and have to get up to sing for 8:15 tomorrow morning, so I'll leave you with a few photos.

Here I am at The Brink Lounge - check out those fancy stage lights!



Here's Gaby with my friends Sarah, Jay and their kiddos Henry and Brin.



Thanks so much for following along. Tomorrow morning I'm singing as a musical guest at Calvary Lutheran Church, and the next show is in St. Paul, MN on Tuesday. We'll be at Dunn Brothers on Grand Ave - stop in if you're in the neighborhood!

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Open mic night in Chicago...

I have been having the best days!

This morning Luke and Julia took off for their jobs (Julia just graduated from medical school and is now a resident at the Children's Hospital - congrats, Julia!!) WAY early this morning, and Gaby and I took our sweet time getting up and at 'em.

Anyway, we spent the day walking around Chicago, we went to the beach, we had some lunch, we walked more, and we saw a cool nature preserve pond. It was a great day, very relaxing. Then we all went out to dinner together at a cool little place just down the road, and then Luke and I went to Murphy's Bleachers right across the street from the entrance to Wrigley Field where I played at open mic. (Julia had more work to do, and Gaby isn't 21 yet).

It was a great open mic, I got to meet a few people, I got to hear some great people (thank God, because some open mic nights can be brutal - we've all been there...) and I got to play some more of my songs in yet another city.

Anyway, thanks to those of you who have been following along this tour, and thanks for reading these blogs. I've included a few more photos!! Here's the photo of me in front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Seriously, how cool is that building?



And here's a picture of the Chicago skyline at the beach. What a great view. And we have been staying just a half mile from here - how lucky are we?! Honestly it could be a postcard.



Thanks so much for following along! Tomorrow, we head for Madison, WI at the Brink Lounge. It's going to be great!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Rock n' Roll, baby!

After a fun show last night, Gaby and I crashed pretty hard. We of course shut down the bar, because we ended up staying in the apartment right above it. The owner of the Town Fryer puts up her out of town musical acts (thanks Susie!) and lives in one of the coolest apartments ever. It's making me think about moving to Cleveland and opening a bar. Moving along...

We got up this morning by 9 because I wanted to finish a little work before we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was awesome! I saw so many things (actually at one point, we needed to sit down and take a lunch break, because I just couldn't focus on all of the things I was seeing anymore) lots of original lyrics, old guitars, the piano used to record at Sun Studios, crazy outfits people used to wear (there's a Madonna display - you can imagine the cones!) It was really great. And how cool is this, if you're a touring musician and bring in your CD, they'll let you in for free. Just more potential displays I guess - who knows, someday my bootleg copy of "Stay" could be in one of those glass cases. Ah, to have a dream.

Gaby and I walked around a little bit - saw Lake Erie and the Browns Stadium (I don't know why I reacted so strongly - must have something to do with the Green Bay still in my blood), and then we took off and had a nice easy drive to Chicago.

We're staying tonight and tomorrow with my friends Luke and Julia (thanks guys!) here in Chicago. It's very fun seeing them, because the last time we were together I was singing at their wedding - crazy, huh? Be careful if you ever ask me to sing at your wedding, I may just ask you to lend me your couch - something to think about. Anyway...they have a really cool place, in a great part of the city so I can't wait to walk around a little and explore before I play tomorrow night.

Check out the photos - I'm sure I'll have more to update you on tomorrow!


Here I am in front of a HUGE boat! I was talking to my brother while Gaby took the photo - hey, bro!


Here's Gaby in front of Lake Erie - we had the most gorgeous day for a little walk.


Seriously, what's my deal? I don't even know what happened, I just felt very green and yellow for a moment or something - must be because I've been hearing so much about Brett lately.


Gaby and I were trying to think of a way that we could keep track of all of the states she's been to. We decided that posing her with a map of Indiana in front of a busy highway would be the best way to prove she's been through the state.


Gaby took a great photo of the sunset that welcomed us to Chicago. Hey dad, I've been keeping my windshield pretty clean!

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

The Town Fryer

This morning, Gaby and I got up and took a scenic route out of Pittsburgh (we were mislead by a detour and the Garmin) and ended up at a beautiful overlook. We took a few pictures, take a look!





We took a nice and easy drive to Cleveland (I was super sleepy again today) with a few breaks. We stopped for lunch at the McDonald's in the visit center, which was absolutely disgusting and delicious at the same time! But it provided us with some nice information on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - we'll be visiting tomorrow before we leave for Chicago!

We arrived nice and early at the Town Fryer, met Susie, the owner, and got set up, ready and rested for tonight's show. I played with some fantastic musicians, and we did a cool thing. All five of us sat on stage at the same time, played one song after another, and told the stories behind our songs and why we were playing them. It was like VH1 behind the music - at least I'd like to think so - and it ended up being a really cool evening. I played with Ryann Anderson, Shawn Brewster, Randy Martin and Jim Snively, who are all local musicians. It was great to hear their songs and get to talk with them throughout the night. Plus we all swapped CD's so Gaby and I will have some nice tunes on the way to the central time zone tomorrow.

I'll be performing in Chicago on Thursday night at 9 p.m. at Murphy's Bleachers. If any of you live in the area, or have friends and family there - tell them to come out!

Lastly, I've included some photos, you can see Gaby and I in Boston with Sam Adams, Gaby and how the songwriter night looked tonight at the Town Fryer (left to right: Randy Martin, Jim Snively, Ryann Anderson, Shawn Brewster and me.) Enjoy!





Monday, August 04, 2008

Ladies night in Pittsburgh!

Another great day today.

Gaby and I left Harrisburg this afternoon and arrived in Pittsburgh in time to go out for Chinese food with my new friend Joy.

We played a "ladies night" at Connections Cafe in Oakland, and had a great time. The line up was Heather Kropf, me, and Joy Ike, it was a night of ladies and a night of piano!

Tomorrow we're off to Cleveland for another songwriter showcase, this one will be all men (and me!) and a lot of guitar! Stay tuned...

ps...I posted some of my photos from the Litchfield Concert on the Green - look at all those people!


Sunday, August 03, 2008

Sleepy Sunday!

Wow, am I tired today.

Friday night I played at a house concert with my friends Josh and Jake in Providence, RI. (Their band is called Gamblin Hands and you can listen to their music on myspace.) We had a lot of fun. We were outdoors performing on a deck with Christmas lights and candles - to keep away the bugs - and had a great turn out and a really fun evening.

The next day, we got up (Bryan, Gaby and I) and drove off leaving Bryan in Connecticut as Gaby and I continued on to Harrisburg. We battled thunderstorms and NYC traffic, but made it to Harrisburg, PA in one piece and with enough time to eat dinner before I had to play. Last night I played at a really cute place called the Crimson Frog - they have a cool piano there and the place has a really cozy vibe, so I enjoyed myself a lot. I was especially flattered when I received a request for a song (and it wasn't even from a friend or family member!). I had a great time meeting everyone, and seeing people that I hadn't been in touch with for a few years.

This morning I was up bright and early (my alarm was set for BEFORE 7 a.m.! For those of you who know me - really? How shocked are you? Anyway, I played at two church services this morning, at the church that my aunt, uncle, and cousins attend. It's a really cool congregation (they didn't even mind when I rocked out "Trouble" during the offering) they were so happy to have me there, and I even received an invitation to accompany them on a working trip down to Mexico in the fall. I think I might try going to Mexico sometime - I've been told that I would enjoy it. :)

And so now, I'm sitting on a very comfy couch writing this update, and frankly, I'm about ready to cuddle up next to my aunt and uncle's dog (her name is Charlie - and she is awesome!) and take a little nap.

Thanks so much again for all of your support, and stay posted as I head off for Pittsburgh tomorrow to play with my new friends Joy Ike and Heather Kropf!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Nights out in Litchfield and Boston!

Well, last night I got to play at a Concert on the Green in Litchfield, CT. It was a great night. I played for about 250 people and sold a bunch of new CD's. Best thing was - it didn't rain! We got to stay outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was a really fun evening. Thanks to those of you who came! I'll post some photos soon.

Tonight I played at a little coffee house in Norwood, MA called Perks. It was great. I started off the night for Matt Nozzolio (who's a talented guy, you should definitely check out his music when you have a chance) and got to hang out with a bunch of friends and family - yet another fantastic evening.

Tomorrow we head off to Providence, and then out to Pennsylvania - stay tuned!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

My first show in New York

Last night was very exciting! I played my first show at a coffee shop in New York City. I got to play a bunch of my new songs that are going to be on my new album, saw some friends who came out to support me, and met some new people as well. I had a really fun time, and am so excited for all of my other upcoming shows.

Recording is going really well - I'm four songs into my new album. Also, I have a bunch of dates planned for my CD release tour. I'll keep you posted as things progress, and I'll post some of the new songs as soon as they're mixed and ready!