Well, as you may know, our van got broken into and Zoe's laptop got stolen (also my old old laptop and our GPS unit.) Replacing the driver's side window cost $156.
We posted a donation button on our myspace page and are very close to being able to replace all of it! Amazing!
I've also received a lot of support for my Thirty-One song project for which I am very grateful. Our friends and fans are wonderful!
31 lucky people will soon be receiving the limited edition 31 songs on CD. Thank you all for donating!
In the past week I have had two eminent music types tell me they like my project! Fred Frith congratulated me, and producer Sean Slade (Dresden Dolls, Radiohead)put in his vote for top ten. I feel all happy to have so many folks cheering me along.
And thank you for voting. Here are the winning songs, in order of popularity:
Sugar House Lullaby
Bicycle
Not in Love
Pictures of You
Like Strangers Do
Mockingbird
All That I Have
Hell's Diner
Mannequin
End of the Line
Bonus Track: Put on the Suit and Dance
And in other news - our spring tour just got extended - thank you Amanda Palmer! - so I won't have as much home time to record these 10 songs, but I will start work on one of them to be done by the time we leave on tour - March 10th. Keep checking in as I'll be asking you to help me decide what to add to the track. Sugar House Lullaby gets it first!
Love. Love
-K
p.s.
This is one of the reasons I love the Bay Area: http://flickr.com/photos/prodesma/2266113561/
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Kim Vermillion's Thirty-One Project Lives On!
Hey Howdy Little Vermillionaires,
We made it! 31 songs! Wow. Now what?
Now a contest!
I'm going to make 31 CDs of the songs as they are now - with signed cover art and something extra for fun - and I'm going to give them away at random to people who have donated to my project.
I will actually write down all the names and then pick 31 out of a hat. (Actually I'll pick 30 because Sean Francis got me into this mess so he gets a damn CD whether he wants it or not. And I know he wants it.)
It's not too late! I'm going to keep the contest open until Feb 11th so you can donate ANY amount to put your name in for the drawing. Each name will only go in once, though you can donate as many times as you like. Many people have donated $31 which I think is pretty great (somebody is even going to give me stock in a Canadian company - more at the end of this giant update.) You can donate through Bandcamp or right here:
The artists who donated art will also be included in this contest: Trixie, Brent, Syvlia, Edgar, Hayley, and Jordan. (While art will always be accepted and appreciated it will no longer qualify you to enter the contest.)
AND!!!!
I'm pleased to announce that following the successful completion of my 31 songs in 31 days project I am launching the sequel, no not 28 days in February, but rather the refinement and continuation of January's 31 songs.
I'm going to make an album. No, actually WE are going to make an album!
I need your help, you've been with me all along (or you just showed up - welcome!) and now you know the songs, the styles, the strengths. I want your help choosing the ten strongest songs of the thirty one to make an album out of. So here is a list and if you need a refresher, go to: http://www.vermillionlies.bandcamp.mu where you can listen to them all.
(There are 32 tracks because of the bonus track of my boyfriend giving me a hard time about one of my songs not being finished. I went back and finished the song - 29 Harriet)
1. 01/31/09 - End of the Line
2. 01/30/09 - One More Request (by request)
3. 01/30/09 - NOT A SONG YET - Bonus track
4. 01/29/09 - Harriet (written with Twitter)
5. 01/28/09 - Absinthe (with Helen Keller's Ukulele)
6. 01/27/09 - Not My Sister's Keeper (written by request)
7. 01/26/09 - Three in a row
8. 01/25/09 - Hallway
9. 01/24/09 - Chocolate (written by request)
10. 01/23/09 - Riding in the Rain (written by request - with Handsome Chuck)
11. 01/22/09 - Not Really Fish, Not Really Jelly (written by request)
12. 01/21/09 - Others
13. 01/20/09 - Pictures of You
14. 01/19/09 - Three Years
15. 01/18/09 - I hate my birthday
16. 01/17/09 - Put on the Suit and Dance (with Myles Boisen)!
17. 01/16/09 - Boom Boom Hot Teeth
18. 01/15/09 - Like Strangers Do
19. 01/14/09 - Elizabeth
20. 01/13/09 - I don't want to share
21. 01/12/09 - Cookies and Absinthe
22. 01/11/09 - Escape the Moon (written with my sister!)
23. 01/10/09 - Sugar House Lullaby (written by request)
24. 01/09/09 - Legion of the Hungry Ghosts (written by request)
25. 01/08/09 - Let's sing!
26. 01/07/09 - All That I Have
27. 01/06/09 - Hell's Diner (written by request)
28. 01/05/09 - Not in Love
29. 01/04/09 - Mockingbird
30. 01/03/09 - Mannequin
31. 01/02/09 - Bicycle
32. 01/01/09 - Underwater (written by request)
After we choose the songs we'll start production and you get to help. Maybe I played it on piano but you hear it on guitar - tell me! You think a song needs violin, cello, glockenspiel, harp, theremin - tell me! You want to send in a sample of your voice/guitar playing/mom's dog barking for me to incorporate into a song - do it!
I'm not putting a time limit on this but let's say that we'll try to do one track a week. Ok? Great. I'll upload songs as they're being worked on so you can hear the new instruments and help decide what happens next. It's an album by committee, sounds like a nightmare, but let's go into it with a positive attitude. Ok?
Ok!
Now tell me which songs you want to see finished on an album so we can get started.
*********************
And here's an email that made me laugh out loud - someone wanting to give me stock in a Canadian company. I love it!
"Subject: I want to make a donation to 31
Hi, Kim. You don't know me, though I've seen you play several times.
I recently found out that you and your sister are Canadian. My grandfather was Canadian; I never knew him. My wife says that I cannot tell people my ethnicity is 1/4 Canadian, it "doesn't count" or something. I only mention it because it adds an interesting twist to a quandary that I have, and I don't know how or if it will work out, but maybe...
A few years ago, I inherited one share of stock in the Toronto Star corporation. (Other grandmother.) It's worth about $20. Sounds nice, right? Except that every two months I get a divident check for around 16c; it's paid in Canadian funds. When I convert it to US funds, it becomes about 12c.
Here's the bad part: my bank charges $1.50 to convert my 12c. I lose money depositing my dividend. Oh, I can ask the bank to waive the fee, and they usually do, but the computer adds it back in, and I have to spend an hour on the phone with customer service asking them to waive it again. It's not worth it any more.
So why don't you sell the one share of stock, you ask. I talked to a stock broker about that, and there is a service fee of $25 for a stock sale. I would lose money selling it.
Because this is Class B stock, I cannot have my dividend reinvested in new shares. (I also can't vote for the board of directors.)
Because I am not a Canadian citizen, I cannot open a Canadian bank account over the phone to have it direct deposited, and I don't have the time to drive to BC to open one in person.
Sure, I could just ignore the whole thing, but that's kind of wasteful, don't you think?
Anyway, do you want a share of stock? I don't know how often you might get back to the homeland, I don't know if you already have a bank account that you can DD to, but this could do more for you than it will for me. If you want to throw me a CD, or put me on a guest list some night, cool, but don't feel obligated.
If you're interested, we'll make it happen. Ifit sounds like too much work, I understand, don't feel bad. I'll figure something out.
Thank you. Next show I can attend, I'll introduce myself.
"Anonymous"
PS Of the "31" songs so far, I like "Like Strangers Do" the most. Terrific lyrics. I'd like to hear you reinterpret that with a more mellow guitar sound and more lush orchestration someday."
*******
We made it! 31 songs! Wow. Now what?
Now a contest!
I'm going to make 31 CDs of the songs as they are now - with signed cover art and something extra for fun - and I'm going to give them away at random to people who have donated to my project.
I will actually write down all the names and then pick 31 out of a hat. (Actually I'll pick 30 because Sean Francis got me into this mess so he gets a damn CD whether he wants it or not. And I know he wants it.)
It's not too late! I'm going to keep the contest open until Feb 11th so you can donate ANY amount to put your name in for the drawing. Each name will only go in once, though you can donate as many times as you like. Many people have donated $31 which I think is pretty great (somebody is even going to give me stock in a Canadian company - more at the end of this giant update.) You can donate through Bandcamp or right here:
The artists who donated art will also be included in this contest: Trixie, Brent, Syvlia, Edgar, Hayley, and Jordan. (While art will always be accepted and appreciated it will no longer qualify you to enter the contest.)
AND!!!!
I'm pleased to announce that following the successful completion of my 31 songs in 31 days project I am launching the sequel, no not 28 days in February, but rather the refinement and continuation of January's 31 songs.
I'm going to make an album. No, actually WE are going to make an album!
I need your help, you've been with me all along (or you just showed up - welcome!) and now you know the songs, the styles, the strengths. I want your help choosing the ten strongest songs of the thirty one to make an album out of. So here is a list and if you need a refresher, go to: http://www.vermillionlies.bandcamp.mu where you can listen to them all.
(There are 32 tracks because of the bonus track of my boyfriend giving me a hard time about one of my songs not being finished. I went back and finished the song - 29 Harriet)
1. 01/31/09 - End of the Line
2. 01/30/09 - One More Request (by request)
3. 01/30/09 - NOT A SONG YET - Bonus track
4. 01/29/09 - Harriet (written with Twitter)
5. 01/28/09 - Absinthe (with Helen Keller's Ukulele)
6. 01/27/09 - Not My Sister's Keeper (written by request)
7. 01/26/09 - Three in a row
8. 01/25/09 - Hallway
9. 01/24/09 - Chocolate (written by request)
10. 01/23/09 - Riding in the Rain (written by request - with Handsome Chuck)
11. 01/22/09 - Not Really Fish, Not Really Jelly (written by request)
12. 01/21/09 - Others
13. 01/20/09 - Pictures of You
14. 01/19/09 - Three Years
15. 01/18/09 - I hate my birthday
16. 01/17/09 - Put on the Suit and Dance (with Myles Boisen)!
17. 01/16/09 - Boom Boom Hot Teeth
18. 01/15/09 - Like Strangers Do
19. 01/14/09 - Elizabeth
20. 01/13/09 - I don't want to share
21. 01/12/09 - Cookies and Absinthe
22. 01/11/09 - Escape the Moon (written with my sister!)
23. 01/10/09 - Sugar House Lullaby (written by request)
24. 01/09/09 - Legion of the Hungry Ghosts (written by request)
25. 01/08/09 - Let's sing!
26. 01/07/09 - All That I Have
27. 01/06/09 - Hell's Diner (written by request)
28. 01/05/09 - Not in Love
29. 01/04/09 - Mockingbird
30. 01/03/09 - Mannequin
31. 01/02/09 - Bicycle
32. 01/01/09 - Underwater (written by request)
After we choose the songs we'll start production and you get to help. Maybe I played it on piano but you hear it on guitar - tell me! You think a song needs violin, cello, glockenspiel, harp, theremin - tell me! You want to send in a sample of your voice/guitar playing/mom's dog barking for me to incorporate into a song - do it!
I'm not putting a time limit on this but let's say that we'll try to do one track a week. Ok? Great. I'll upload songs as they're being worked on so you can hear the new instruments and help decide what happens next. It's an album by committee, sounds like a nightmare, but let's go into it with a positive attitude. Ok?
Ok!
Now tell me which songs you want to see finished on an album so we can get started.
*********************
And here's an email that made me laugh out loud - someone wanting to give me stock in a Canadian company. I love it!
"Subject: I want to make a donation to 31
Hi, Kim. You don't know me, though I've seen you play several times.
I recently found out that you and your sister are Canadian. My grandfather was Canadian; I never knew him. My wife says that I cannot tell people my ethnicity is 1/4 Canadian, it "doesn't count" or something. I only mention it because it adds an interesting twist to a quandary that I have, and I don't know how or if it will work out, but maybe...
A few years ago, I inherited one share of stock in the Toronto Star corporation. (Other grandmother.) It's worth about $20. Sounds nice, right? Except that every two months I get a divident check for around 16c; it's paid in Canadian funds. When I convert it to US funds, it becomes about 12c.
Here's the bad part: my bank charges $1.50 to convert my 12c. I lose money depositing my dividend. Oh, I can ask the bank to waive the fee, and they usually do, but the computer adds it back in, and I have to spend an hour on the phone with customer service asking them to waive it again. It's not worth it any more.
So why don't you sell the one share of stock, you ask. I talked to a stock broker about that, and there is a service fee of $25 for a stock sale. I would lose money selling it.
Because this is Class B stock, I cannot have my dividend reinvested in new shares. (I also can't vote for the board of directors.)
Because I am not a Canadian citizen, I cannot open a Canadian bank account over the phone to have it direct deposited, and I don't have the time to drive to BC to open one in person.
Sure, I could just ignore the whole thing, but that's kind of wasteful, don't you think?
Anyway, do you want a share of stock? I don't know how often you might get back to the homeland, I don't know if you already have a bank account that you can DD to, but this could do more for you than it will for me. If you want to throw me a CD, or put me on a guest list some night, cool, but don't feel obligated.
If you're interested, we'll make it happen. Ifit sounds like too much work, I understand, don't feel bad. I'll figure something out.
Thank you. Next show I can attend, I'll introduce myself.
"Anonymous"
PS Of the "31" songs so far, I like "Like Strangers Do" the most. Terrific lyrics. I'd like to hear you reinterpret that with a more mellow guitar sound and more lush orchestration someday."
*******
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Song 31!!!!! Oh my star spangled kittens!
Oh the end is near, nay, not near, but nigh!
Last song. Wow. Earlier in the month someone said "At the end you'll have 31 songs" and that statement hurt my head. But I have 31 songs!
This is song 31! The End of the Line.
lyrics:
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
i've worked hard and i've worked late
i let everything else fall off my plate
i tried so long to make things right
it's the end of the line tonight
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
sorry for the promises i couldn't keep
sorry but i got in too deep
you know i love you, you know i'm true
but it's the end of the line for you too
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
it brought me joy and it brought me pain
and i may never do it again
it brought me happiness, it brought me sorrow
i'll wake up a free woman tomorrow
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
********
I've got a surprise tomorrow! Come back!
Last song. Wow. Earlier in the month someone said "At the end you'll have 31 songs" and that statement hurt my head. But I have 31 songs!
This is song 31! The End of the Line.
lyrics:
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
i've worked hard and i've worked late
i let everything else fall off my plate
i tried so long to make things right
it's the end of the line tonight
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
sorry for the promises i couldn't keep
sorry but i got in too deep
you know i love you, you know i'm true
but it's the end of the line for you too
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
it brought me joy and it brought me pain
and i may never do it again
it brought me happiness, it brought me sorrow
i'll wake up a free woman tomorrow
it's the end, it's the end of the line
it's the end, oh i've done my time
it's the end, it's the end of the line
for me
********
I've got a surprise tomorrow! Come back!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Song 30 - One More Request (by request!)
Still sick and my lungs are affected so I don't have much air for my voice. It isn't sexy raspy, it's more like a 13 year old boy in a room full of supermodels.
Lyrics:
one more glass of wine before i sleep
one more song for you before i slip into the deep
even though i'm tired
and even though i'm weak
i will do what i said
you can count on me
one more request before i go
there's someone out there who really wants to know
what does it mean
to say a song isn't finished?
where does it go
when you reject it?
maybe there's a heaven for songs
maybe that's where missing socks go too
maybe we'll find them all someday
mismatched socks and songs out of tune
one more glass of wine before i sleep
one more song for you before i slip into the deep
even though i'm tired
and even though i'm weak
i will do what i said
you can count on me
Bonus Track - my boyfriend gives me a hard time over yesterday's "song"
Bonus track - not a song!
This is a recording of my boyfriend, Myles Boisen, giving me a hard time at breakfast.
So...I've been pretty private about my romantic life so far, except when I posted a blog about possibly breaking up with my boyfriend. We didn't break up. I love him to pieces, and he loves me into smaller pieces, then I love him back into a sand like consistency, then he loves me to a fine powder....it goes on forever like this.
I think that perhaps my reticence is due to my perception that being a single "rockstar" is more appealing to the masses than being an unavailable one.
What? No that is definitely not the reason, the real reason is that this summer we decided that one of us Vermillion Sisters needs to date Justin Timberlake. For the sake of the band. Since sister Zoe is mostly gay-ish it falls to me, sister Kim, to "take one for the team," as it were (or if you will...)
So even though I am telling you about my boyfriend, I need you to work with me on this and if you see Justin Timberlake do NOT - under any circumstances - tell him that I already have a boyfriend. It would RUIN my career.
umm....yeah....
This is a recording of my boyfriend, Myles Boisen, giving me a hard time at breakfast.
So...I've been pretty private about my romantic life so far, except when I posted a blog about possibly breaking up with my boyfriend. We didn't break up. I love him to pieces, and he loves me into smaller pieces, then I love him back into a sand like consistency, then he loves me to a fine powder....it goes on forever like this.
I think that perhaps my reticence is due to my perception that being a single "rockstar" is more appealing to the masses than being an unavailable one.
What? No that is definitely not the reason, the real reason is that this summer we decided that one of us Vermillion Sisters needs to date Justin Timberlake. For the sake of the band. Since sister Zoe is mostly gay-ish it falls to me, sister Kim, to "take one for the team," as it were (or if you will...)
So even though I am telling you about my boyfriend, I need you to work with me on this and if you see Justin Timberlake do NOT - under any circumstances - tell him that I already have a boyfriend. It would RUIN my career.
umm....yeah....
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Song 29 - I lost my voice!
Today I asked followers on Twitter to each write a line to a song. I got about 30 replies that didn't go together at all. I took a few words from each twitter response.
Unfortunately my voice is almost gone because I am sick. I need to save my voice for my show in two days so here is the music with no words....yet!
Or maybe it's just a sing-a-long!
Lyrics:
fairly certain joy was
sitting on water
more my friend
my brain over your house
luring wolves behind the strings
if i'm covered in this snow
that was awake
from flickering light
tell me you feel
the unluckiest
sweeping
committing
axe is falling
together
when will you drive
until my love may fade
all i really wouldn't wear
pile round me
envy, as long
like angles
Harriet
Harriet
her name rang in my head
Song 28 - Absinthe
I'm playing an absinthe party on Saturday in San Francisco. I wanted to write a song about absinthe for the occasion. My friend Rita (Helen Keller's Ukulele) wrote a song about Absinthe that I really like. I decided to add my own verses to her choruses to see what happened. In the tradition of old jazz and blues I recycled one song into another.
Check out Helen Keller's Ukulele here: www.myspace.com/majestika
Lyrics:
absinthe makes my heart grow greener
absinthe makes my heart grow mean
and when you're gone I drink as much as I want
until the fairy puts the squeeze on me
you can buy yourself a bottle
you can pour yourself a shot
you can set your life on fire
and lose everything you got
down a darkened alley
on that lonely street
you can find that wicked fairy
where there's no one else to meet
absinthe makes my heart grow greener
absinthe makes my heart grow mean
and when you're gone I drink as much as I want
until the fairy puts the squeeze on me
she'll tell you the sweetest stories
she'll take you by the hand
and when she's through, doin what she wants to you
it'll be a miracle if you can stand
you left me for a chorus girl
then you left me for a choir boy
I left you for a dark green bottle
and its brought me so much joy
absinthe makes my heart grow greener
absinthe makes my heart grow mean
and when you're gone I drink as much as I want
until the fairy puts the squeeze on me
*******
Last night I fell under a deep pile sleep which just ambushed me after a glass of wine. I woke covered in sweat in the middle of the night - that moment when the fever breaks. My throat is raw and achy, but I think I have the demons beat. I dreamed of being swept to sea...
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