The Voice Project

The Voice Project

I came across this amazing website and organization that took hold of me, and I've been visiting daily to watch a new video since. The Voice Project is a peace movement that aims to raise awareness and funds for Northern Uganda, a country that has been torn by war for over two decades. Men forced to commit unthinkable murders, children forced to kill, and women raped and beaten... all part of the daily destruction that plagues their country. I have never come close to experiencing travesty to this degree, but I do know that whenever I've been faced with times I thought I would never get passed, music and singing has been what I've turned to, and this is what many women in Uganda have used as well.

The Voice Project began with women in Uganda singing and creating songs that were heard across their country to bring soldiers back home, and has developed to now incorporate some amazing North American artists. These artists choose to cover a song that has touched them in some way, and The Voice Project films the cover in a very intimate setting, such as the artist's back yard, or living room, and posts it on their site. Through donations and sponsorships from the site, this movement helps raise awareness and funds for this war torn country that deserves a chance to be re-empowered toward positive change.

The artists on this website have created some seriously moving videos. I first fell in love with Deer Tick's rendition of L.I.E. by the Shivers. Please take a look.

Deer Tick » The Shivers from The Voice Project on Vimeo.

Dream boat on East Hastings Street

So,on Saturday afternoon I moseyed on over to the Waldorf Hotel for The Chosen One's vintage sale, put together by the likes of my favorite second hand stores in Van, including F as in Frank. Found several treasures including a brown crop leather jacket and beige blazer. But this post isn't about clothes... it's about a true treasure that I discovered on East Hastings Street...the Waldorf Hotel was like a fantasy dream that I've been having for months now. Since my first visit to California in April, I've had this dream of Palm Spring hotels in the 50s, pool side parties, sipping on tom collins. This hotel has it all, well minus the pool. The polynesian theme is straight out of the 50s, with a Tiki Bar, bamboo shoots up the walls, and furniture to match. UGH. It's retro design is perfection.

The Waldorf Hotel was recently renovated, but apparently the Tiki Room has remained intact to maintain its historic significance as one of the oldest Tiki Bars of its kind in the world, beat out only by one joint in San Francisco. Now its the hub of many dance parties, and also, boasts a diner that apparently has the most stellar breakfast. I have a feeling I will be spending some more time in East Van this winter :)

True Romance

"I had to come all the way from the highway and byways of Tallahassee, Florida to MotorCity, Detroit to find my true love." Alabama Whitman

Virgin Ideas

Red Cortez, formally known as The Weather Underground, is hot as hell. Four skinny jean wearing poets from East LA, these guys are the real deal. Harley Prechtel-Cortez, the bands lead singer pours his soul onto the crowd with lyrics ranging anywhere from politics, culture, to lost love and the road. I stumbled across this band at Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2008 in the Trew Music Lounge, a tent boasting up and coming artists, and was absolutely blown away. I left that festival with the band as my top performance of the weekend, which says a lot. Prechtel-Cortez delivers a performance that will honestly knock you off your chair.

Gripping piano riffs, and the raw echoing guitar from Red Cortez's newest Canadian member, Calvin J.Love all come together to make this band a stellar one. Check 'em out.

www.redcortez.com

Lissie in Vancouver

Cigarettes, frazzled locks, and freckles: Lissie's raw twanged voice is real real real and we just caught wind that she will be making her way down to Vancouver on December 29th. A rich blend of folk, saucy blues, and southern rock, Lissie's voice has soul from the mid-west, and it gives me a major shimmy fit.

Her songs remind me of the prairies of Pilot Mound, MB., where my mum is from, and her sound is so timeless the songs could have been sung at a time when my late Grandma McKay was just a young girl.

She reminds me of everything I dream of: driving down the highway in the southern sun, music pounding in my ears, hair tossed from the warm wind...this will be a gooder :) She graces the stage at the Biltmore Cabaret (one of my absolute favorite venues in Vancouver) on December 29th, 2010. Get your tickets at ticketweb.ca.

Here's what others are saying:

"Guitar-toting LA freeway rock" - The Guardian

Home

The girl wearing the ruby slippers said it best, "There is no place Like Home", whether it's in my cozy apartment en-raveled in a down comforter, staring up at the incandescent mountain sky, or lying in the warm prairie fields of Manitoba, Its the moments I breathe in the warmth of my familiar surroundings that I am in my happiest state. So this first post is dedicated to HOME.

Find more artists like Andrew Neville and the Poor Choices at Myspace Music