MUSIC NEWS

We know we haven't been saying much about the recording we did this summer, and the project we have been working on, but we wanted it to be a little more complete and settled before we filled you all in on the details. Well, it seems that now might be as good a time as any, the tracks are nearly complete, and all moves ahead nicely.



Last summer when we asked Chris Ewen ( Future Bible Heroes ) to help us with the music for out next CD, he readily agreed and we were readily excited. A few days later though, he called and asked us if we would be interested in helping him finish his solo project he had been working on first. All he needed, he said, was violins and vocals. We said, "Violins and Vocals? Honey we've got you covered like a cashmere blanket baby!" Then ,he said, we could begin the next Lorraine a' Malena project. Our answer was a resounding YES.

Ohhhhh. Time for ghostly notes floating on a cloud of sensuous bliss...


The project is called Hidden Variable. Chris has been putting music to some of the most beautiful lyrics ever written, by some of the world's finest writers...Writers like Neil Gaiman, Poppy Z. Brite, Emma Bull, Charles de Lint, Shelley Jackson, Harvey Jacobs, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Gregory Maguire, China MiEville, Lemony Snicket, Martha Soukup, and Peter Straub. The beat in some of the songs remind us of Depeche Mode. (Malena loves them)

We went to Boston this summer and Malena put down the vocals and Lorraine started the violins, soon Chris will come out for some serious violin recording (and dead of Winter experience) and we will be done. Chris is hoping to have Hidden Variable out before Spring, on a proper label of course, and for ourselves, we are in love with him and his genius. The three of us are musically besotted in fact.

So Hidden Variable is Chris Ewen, with Lorraine a' Malena, and the next Lorraine a' Malena, is now Lorraine a' Malena, with Chris Ewen.

This music, my dears, is sweet. Very, very sweet. The lyrics are..well, scary and soothing, beautiful and viscious. Sounds like someone we know! We listen to the rough mixes every day and we're not sick of them yet! Ahhhhh! We can't wait to share them with you. It will be a nice Valentines Present for all our LaMies.

Love and Hidden Variables,
Lorraine and Malena

Godsmack and Sundays

I was going to post this as a comment , but then it got so long and I thought I would just go ahead and blog the thing, and you can all read TWO posts on Monday. Where do you all GO on the weekends, anyway???? Just curious...AH well, here is your Bonus Post.....



Had a great time last night with Miss kitty at the GODSMACK concert. This is us on her Tour Bus ( my favorite part of the show that, I have bus envy bad! ) I got to see some of the show and they put on a great show actually, rather impressed, for all it is not the sort of thing I generally go to. I loved the way they filmed them coming out of the dressing room back stage , and showed it on the big screen out front and the two drummer jam mid show. They just seemed to be having so much darn fun out there, the four of them. I liked that. The audience liked that. They seemed like they really cared about their audience , loved being there, and wanted everyone to come along with them on the adventure. Not your run of the mill hard rock head banging stuff. A good lesson that music is music and it can be magic, doesn't matter what kind, it matters who is playing it.

The crew too was one of the nicest I have ever run into on a big tour, everyone was really fun and made me feel SO welcome! A lot of the time they are either " We are WAY to important for you " or " Hey come here BABY!" but there was none of either of those on this tour. I'd hang out again! ( well, yeah, if KITTY was there, sure do miss you already! Come home soon! )

This morning is another kind of magic and I am having a fine Sunday morning pondering such questions like " Do I own a broom and where is it" and " Who is going to do all this laundry, and how do I work this machine " and " WHAT have these cats been EATING " and having truly great ideas like " hey, if I throw all the laundry down the stairs to the basement I don't have to carry it or think about it for a while" I am learning great things too, like my vacuum apparently has 36 different functions, including massage, I see, but HOW do you make it, uh, vacuum , the carpet?????? I can tell you, my dears, if you set up your own households ever, and you think you know what is involved, I must say to you that what you know ought to be an essay titled " A Short Introduction to What is Really in Store for You! " I am going to sit in my hot tub, where my biggest decision will be: Jets. On or Off. ( of course, it' not completely worry free, it seems the darn fake light up palm tree I bought will not stay upright and keeps falling over onto the power box and turning the darn tub OFF, but we will deal with that later )

Many Get Well's to our Malena, who was last heard from last night, sniffling and sneezing still. Perhaps she will wake soon and add to this post and let us know how she is doing with the Evil Virus of Doom......

Magic, Music and Houses,
Lorraine

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I'm awake! Finally! I'm kicked this flu's butt with some colloidal Silver.
(That's microscopic bits of sterling silver floating in distilled water.) It's the best anti-biotic ever. And it only tastes metallic if you're sick. The rest of the time, it tastes fine. (Trying to convince Fablo here people)
I always make her eat and drink strange things when she comes over. They might taste weird but they work. I've been working on a "Love, be still" potion for about a month now. It's for people who need clarity in their relationship. This is for people whose lover isn't sure what s/he wants. I never say WHAT the potions will do, because that is up to heaven. But they always work in just the right way.

I am sooo so so missing our tour manager Kitty! How can you not love a band named GODSMACK? We should have named our band Celtic Goth drag queen fans. Glad we didn't though. Miles and Lorraine bought me the same card, without knowing it. It's a chicken in a red patent leather corset. Everyone who was at our Minneapolis show knows how I LOVE chicken noises. Especially "bedroom" chicken noises. Nothing like the sound of two chickens doing the nasty to make the mood right, ah? (I'm Canadian now, btw, ah! BIG Strange Brew fan)

Miles says Tinka is now about 10 in human years. BOY can you tell! She's a ferocious Leo.

Hey, she's got an M on her head, what do you expect? Boston's are fearless. That's why I like them.

I just LOVE her. And, yes, she will be wearing a tinkerbell costume very soon.

With Dog Breath and Squeeker Toys,
Malena