And just in case you are all wistful because you didn’t come to Stories on Wednesday to hear music, and you are wondering how cool it was, you could get a chance rectify that situation and hear Cabinet of Natural Curiosities and Fort King aka Ryan Fuller play (and they are amazing) again tomorrow while making yourself sick on fried food.  As for the talented songstress Emily Lacy, you missed out my friend.  Don’t apologize, it’s too late now!

I have shows coming up in LA starting tomorrow:

Sunday July 3 – 7:00pm Molly Malone’s, Los Angeles – with A Mountain Cat

Wednesday July 13 – 7:00pm? Stories – Books & Coffee, Los Angeles – with Cabinet of Natural Curiosities

Saturday July 16 – 4:00pm Echo Country Outpost – all-day BBQ with Cabinet of Natural Curiosities and Whitman, Fort King, Ruthann Friedman, Moomaw Jackson, Miwa Gemini

…and a Southwestern mini-tour with LETTERS of Olympia, WA.  More details will follow, and maybe a few different shows, so check the events tab for updates.  You know… specific time and location, just those really minor details…

Saturday August 13 – Santa Fe, NM

Sunday August 14 – Albuquerque, NM

Monday August 15 – Flagstaff, AZ

Tuesday August 16 – Tucson, AZ

Wednesday August 17 – Phoenix, AZ

Thursday August 18 – Claremont radio @ 10:00 am, Tribal Cafe @ 5:00pm, Los Angeles

Also, Happy Fourth of July!

This is the first fourth of July I have felt like …wow… you know, I actually do love my country.

Ironically, instead of feeling like celebrating with fireworks, it just makes me feel depressed that we aren’t doing better, and haven’t been for a while… or… ever??  So here’s to hoping we improve and reach our potential.  There are so many ways we can change and become way less screwed up.  We just need to stop being lazy and get motivated about making important changes.  Like leading more sustainable lives, supporting our own economy, and not existing in a state of perpetual, ongoing war, just for example.

Hopefully the crumminess we are all experiencing will force us all to stop feeling so complacent and consider how we can improve our lives at basic levels, instead of instilling us with feelings of fear and helplessness that make us point fingers and distract us from the bigger picture and the root of problems in this country.  We can do better!

Latest tracks by Christina Antipa

Yes, I am biased.  But I am also very particular about music, and this is my favorite album of the year that was composed by an artist who is still alive.  These days I am finding harder and harder to find good, original-sounding music by musicians who are living.  Sorry that sounds so morbid.

Her new project is called “Shana Cleveland and the Sandcastles,” since  she is accompanied by a posse of instrumentalists.  Together they all sound like they are lying on the beach and drinking absinthe out of coconuts with straws stuck in them. And it is the 70s so you can still find a good chair to recline in, like those long rectangular ones with the little colored plastic strips… you know what I’m talking about…

The album is available at her bandcamp page.  It includes a homemade cd sleeve with original art by Shana.  You can also buy the songs on tape or as a digital download.

Happy listening.

I’m really pleased with how things have gone with this disc so far… there’s still time to buy a limited edition (of 50) disc, but enough have sold that they won’t be gathering dust when I’m 100 years old.  It’s a comfort that there’s a limit to the quantity of people who will get to hear these rough old tracks, because they are very much like the sonic equivalent of walking around in underwear.

For everyone who likes to hear clothes on top of the underwear, there is always the digital download EP on cdbaby and iTunes, and since those are not physically existent, they will not be going out of stock.

Tiger Friends Collective is based out of a small gold-mining town in California called Placerville, or “Hangtown” (the name is self-explanatory), right near the even tinier town I grew up in—Georgetown.  Congratulations to Google Maps for locating my town, because it basically has like one street.  The nearest “big city” is Sacramento, CA, and next is SF and the bay area.  A nearby spot of trendiness right now is Nevada City.  A lot of artists who are part of Tiger Friends Collective are working out of these areas.

Tiger Friends is a collaborative project, but is mostly the love child of talented songstress Brianna Lea Pruett.  She is an inspiring person.

Tiger Friends is a boutique record label offering selections from unique and inspiring artists. Known for their versatility, these artists are chosen for their dedication to their craft, strong community involvement, music knowledge, and personal commitment to bringing their best to their fans. Artists, musicians, and farmers participate with Tiger Friends Collective.

As hoped, Dirty and Wrong: Songs Left Behind has been finished in time for Spring.  There are two formats for this album.

1. Physical full-length, limited edition version (50 total), with hand-numbered discs, hand-sewn vellum booklets, and cover art designed in collage/watercolor/tape.  This album includes a rough instrumental song from all the way back in 2000, songs just recorded last year, miscellaneous sound footage, and a cover.  It’s a special collection.  You can purchase one at Ms. Valerie Park Distro.  Later they may also be available through Tiger Friends Collective.

2. Digital 4-song EP, featuring 4 of the most recent, higher quality recordings, available here.

Songs for this compilation were recorded in different mediums—mainly tape and different types of computer recording equipment and software.

All songs were mastered by Jalal Haddad, in Sacramento, California.

http://ballofwax.org/2011/01/check-out-this-song-christina-antipa-lithium/

This compilation of orphaned tracks spans a decade, and will be out this year, in 2011.  It is being put out as a “limited edition” cd, so there will be 50 cds total.  There will also be digital downloads, but the entire album will not be available digitally, just selected tracks.  Get ready for emotions.

<3,

Christina

Here is the video I made from landscape footage from the tour.  It was very, very windy outside.  I recommend viewing it full-screen, because it makes it feel like you are walking around outside.

The trip was amazing.

Tomorrow I leave for Europe.  I will no longer be able to blog regularly, but I may try to put up a picture or two, once or twice while I am overseas.

Christina

Sometimes it is also important to throw that notion to the wind and end weakly.

I have a love of completion, so I am doing a blog entry for my last show, which was in NY… and I have been keeping a very positive theme for this blog, so I am only going to talk about things that were positive.  For anyone who knows me, you will probably be acknowledging how weird that is.

Positive Point A: I got to see a few of my wonderful friends.

Positive Point B: I got to hear Dave Heumann, songwriter for the Baltimore band Arbouretum play.  If you’ve never listened to them/him, I highly recommend it.  Dave is the reason I trained all the way up from CT to do that last show.  He is primarily a guitarist, but had somehow bruised a bone in his hand while playing, and so he randomly reworked his songs on keyboard for the show, and it was still completely hypnotic.

Positive Point C: I got to use the drink ticket I had hoarded from the week before, despite the venues assertion that I would not normally be allowed to do so.  If you are wondering why that is such a positive point, let me tell you how expensive food and drink is in NY: very.

Positive Point D: I was introduced to Arbourea, a husband and wife folk duo with an unexpectedly ethereal and ambient, semi-distorted electric sound.  They were lovely.

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I am working on putting some footage from the trip to music, and it’s looking pretty interesting.  It’s usually very windy footage.  I will post that tonight or tomorrow, along with a conclusion/summary of the trip.

At the moment I am tying up loose ends and getting ready for the many many hours of travel on the bus and the train and the airplane, before I arrive in France.