A big huge heartfelt thank you

….is in order!

THANK YOU KICKSTARTER BACKERS!!!!!!!

 

You have helped us to record and produce a really great album.  We can’t wait to share it with you.

Love,

Blvd Park

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1322835220/blvd-park-is-recording-their-second-album

Successful Spaghetti & other endeavors…

Lost my id -

(Tuesday, Sept. 13th)

The Shook Twins

…..have filled out the appropriate forms but am now at the mercy of California’s infamously slow moving process turnover time.  Unfortunately I opened my mouth about my loss to the manager at the White Eagle Saloon and therefore spent the portion of the night when I was not on stage performing or loading our equipment in, slouching and pouting in the van.  (I’m almost 30 dammit!)  Luckily I had a bottle of Jameson to keep me company.

The Shook Twins have hosted a monthly Tuesday night gig at the Portland based McMenamin joint for over a year and have gathered quite a following.  Sept. 13th was a Tuesday but you wouldn’t have known: the place was packed!  If you haven’t seen this fun, harmonic, dynamic up and coming act you can, and soon.  They’re at the Gypsy Cafe in Fremont this Friday night.

The Old Edison Inn-

(Saturday, Sept. 10th)

…rocked!  Teeny tiny Bow, WA sure does appreciate live music!  Nearly everyone in attendance, young and old, got up and danced at least a little, even simultaneously geeking out and freestyle dancing on the breakdown in “That FN Thing”.  Oh they vibed off of us.  And we sure vibed the hell off a them.  Plus with Timmy still in CA, our classically trained violinist friend Descie Svennungsen stepped in on “Delta Blues” and “Rattlesnake” for a little solo action.  Lovely!

We’ll be back Bow!

Open mic at the Skylark Cafe-

(Ongoing!  Tuesdays 7-11pm)

…..hosted by Brian Ballentine and myself, takes place weekly on Tuesdays except for the 3rd Tuesday of the month.  7-9pm all ages are welcome.  9-11pm we kick the youngsters out.  Bring your art, craft, poetry, monoglogue, comedy routine etc etc.  Every artform is welcome!  Come!  The Skylark Cafe:

3803 Delridge Way Southwest
Seattle, WA 98106
(206) 935-2111

www.skylarkcafe.com/

Spaghetti Feed at Conor Byrne-

(Friday, Sept. 16th)

Jeff & Sasha @ the Byrne

What fun!  Fed at least 70 people; one platter of vegetarian spaghetti, one with meat; plus salad, garlic bread and brownies.  I think they liked it.  :)

The Dodgy Mountain Men

The music wasn’t bad either: The Dodgy Mountain Men from Missoula, MT

started the night off with a mostly bluegrass, but some jammy Americana flavored, (and tasty!), rock.

The Defibulators

Visually striking and ear-pleasing Brooklyn based The Defibulators brought the honk and the tonk.  Good times were had by all.

Personal evening highlight: tequila in the girls room. Jackie, Stephanie and Helen, you know what I’m talking about!

The 10th annual Pike Place Busker’s Festival-

(Sunday, Sept. 18th)

…..sleepy and exhausted from back to back late night gigs at Conor Byrne

Artis the Spoonman

followed by Doyle’s Public House in Tacoma, we arrived about halfway into the day-long festival, just in time to catch Baby Gramp’s set followed by the OMG’s (Oh My Goddess’), Pickled Okra and Artes the Spoonman.  The Pike Place Busker’s Festival is all about showcasing buskers, aka, folks who perform their craft live on the streets allowing for unfiltered interaction with the audience.  Pretty neat little festival particularly considering it is organized and produced by a bunch of musicians and volunteers with little to no outside help.  http://pikemarketbuskers.org/

KBCS-

(Monday, Sept. 19th)

Live set on 91.3 KBCS

….so close!  But no, we weren’t on time.  We were extremely late in fact.  After fighting for an appearance on Scott Farley’s Monday afternoon program, The Outskirts, in which we promised not to mention our Kickstarter fundraiser, we almost didn’t make it in.  Just a few blocks away from Dune’s house in the University District, an unhappily hot and smoky van had us stuck on the side of the road.  A little coolant later, we managed to get back on the road, swoop back to our house in Columbia City to acquire a forgotten banjo, and make it to Bellevue for a quick live on-air performance.  Flustered and rushed, we made it, but I’d have to say wasn’t our best performance ever.  Ah well… some you win, some you lose.

Kickstarter-

(Ends October 1st)

….nine days left and we’re just over the halfway point.  I’ve already sent out multiple emails pleading and cajoling friends and family members to consider making a small contribution toward the creation of our next album.  I won’t bore you with more of that.  If you want to donate, please do.  And know that we are extremely grateful.  If not, don’t.  We understand how lame being broke is.  Here is the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1322835220/blvd-park-is-recording-their-second-album?ref=users

Timmy’s sweat is green-

(Ongoing)

…have you noticed Tim has been losing weight?  It’s part of his detox diet consisting mainly of chicken salads, multi-vitamins and an uber green breakfast drink concoction consisting of Spirulina a “human and animal food or nutritional supplement made primarily from two species of cyanobacteria: Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima”.  I took a photo of a shirt Tim wore during one of our gigs and subsequently sweated profusely in.  It is literally green sweat.  Ew.

Busking-

(Ongoing)

Busking outside the EMP

….um fun?  Yes definitely.  Meeting new people, getting out and about, running into friends and other busking musicians.

We are particular fans of the Ballard Farmer’s Market and the friendly and welcoming folks we’ve encountered there.

Busking at the Ballard Farmer's Market

Think that about covers it!

Musically yours,

Tekla J. Waterfield

& the Blvd Park crew

Great weekend in Sacramento, raisin’ funds

Biiiig stretch.  Arms overhead.  Neck twisting side to side.  Big breath in and out.

Sigghhhhh.

All is quiet and calm.  Computer rests gently on my lap.  Legs are wrapped up in one of those oh so comforting fuzzy blankets.  Knuckles is passed out at the foot of the bed doing a good job of keeping my toes warm.  I can hear Brian’s breath softly rising and falling.  Moments ago I heard the sweet sound of the banjo wafting through Banton’s closed door.

Silence.  All is still all around.  I feel an overwhelming sense of this is all right.  This is all meant to be happening.

My senses are deliciously heightened so much so that on the ride home just now the music coming from my car radio seemed more beautiful and expressive than ever.  I just knew that the traffic sign indicating a narrow part in the road was actually a simple line drawing of a woman’s waist; graceful and elegant.

All is beautiful all around.  Oh yes.  I am feeling extremely sappy right now.

What is it about spending time in the company of genuine people that makes one see the world as a much more beautiful place?

Tonight I had the pleasure of spending the evening with a new group of intelligent, motivated, positive, active Seattle lady friends.  It was amazing.

And so was last weekend’s trip to Portland, Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.

Ahhh…. the sweet sensation of coming home!  And to such amazing, creative, talented, supportive, friendly people who welcome us with arms open wide!  Oh Sacramentoans.  We love you so!

Our Harlow’s show went off without a hitch.  We performed there once before, two years ago opening for Split Lip Rayfield, an alt-country, high energy bluegrass band from Wichita, Kansas.  You should have seen us then!  Stiff!  And oh so young!  What a different story this past weekend was.

The night before was a show at the Ash Street Saloon in Portland.  With a four band (too many!) lineup on a Wednesday night, at a not so happening venue; we weren’t expecting a whole lot by way of attendance or pay.  So when, lo and behold, over 70 people made their way through the door throughout the night, we were quite pleasantly surprised.  That and we were offered a possible gig at Camp Cascadia’s Rain Dance Festival near Portland this October.  Nice.

To top off a beautiful weekend, our dear friends Alexa Chizek and Patrick Parnell were married in Lake Tahoe, Saturday, August 27th.  You can bet your butt we were there to help them celebrate the occasion!  Us plus two bottles of Jameson.  After the ceremony of course.

Oh lord.  I love my life!

And I wouldn’t want to live it any other way!

Travel.  Celebrations.  Performing.  Creating.  Inspiring.  Doing something that affects others in a positive way.  It’s all so good!

Today we launched our 30 day “raise money to record our second album” kickstarter campaign.  To enhance the site, Brian and I spent an entire day shooting various clips; mostly of us goofing off and being silly; combined that with some photos, music and clips of the rest of the band and made a little 4.40 minute video.  I think it turned out pretty darn great.  Let me know what you think won’t you?

Things are happening.  I am grateful.  All is well.  Until next time my friends….

Love,

Tekla & the Blvd Park family

Our Fundraiser site:  

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1322835220/blvd-park-is-recording-their-second-album

The video we made:

http://youtu.be/9Ec4ooYYXPA

Footage our friend Lance Lucore took this weekend at Harlow’s:

(photos) http://sunmoonimages.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/1727/

(video) http://youtu.be/U9WYQeOARck

(video) http://youtu.be/HduLx0ldKeE

Great article titled “Don’t just buy the record — help make it”:

 http://www.salon.com/news/music/index.html?story=%2Fent%2Fmusic%2F2011%2F09%2F01%2Ffan_funded_albums

I AM SO OVERDUE!!!

Hey all,

I am waay overdue for some blog writing.  Sadly, now is not really the opportune time.  I have spent the last two days staring at my computer both as I hash out the details for our Kickstarter fundraiser and working on putting together a video for said fundraiser.

My eyes hurt!

I don’t know how you office folks do this kind of thing day in and day out!

So…. I came here to tell you that I plan on getting all the juicy details of last weekend’s trip up here ASAP.  Like, tomorrow.

Until then my friends,

Tekla

New open mic night, Leah’s fundraiser, eerie music at the CCT

I just spent the better part of an afternoon chatting with a lovely new female acquaintance.  Ahh…. estrogen… something that has been SORELY lacking in my life as of late.

AND!  Tonight we welcome a new fiddle playing friend to our rehearsal!  Who is ALSO A GIRL!

YAH HOO!  Ms. Descie will be filling in for a particular gig this coming September 10th in Bow, WA.  Tim’s accordian and trumpet playing self will be in Sacramento for a wedding so we figured we’d get our new friend Descie to fill in with some fiddling action!

(Could things progress further with Descie’s fiddle playing and Blvd Park??  I don’t know.  Time will only tell.)

BUT!  That is not what I came to this here bloggy blog to write about.  So…. why don’t I quit blabbering and get to the point?

What I came here to tell you is…….

Brian and I are starting a new open mic night!!

That’s right!  Beginning September 7th, our open mic night will run Tuesdays at the very awesome Skylark Cafe in West Seattle.

I’m so excited!  I enjoyed our open mic night at A Terrible Beauty in Renton a lot a lot.  I’m extremely excited about getting another one rolling.

With that said, I’d like to take this opportunity to expound upon our goals for said epic new open mic night:

1.  Keep it acousic/mellow.  (That’s right all you ragers: no Stairway to Heaven!  Acoustic only!)

2.  Broaden the definition of “open mic”.  By that I mean we wish to welcome singer/song-writers, instrumentalists, local and touring bands (that fit in with our acoustic vibe), comedians, poets, spoen word-ers, aspiring actor/actresses, dancers, choreographers, playwrites etc, who are welcome to sing, dance, read poetry, shout spoken word, try out new jokes, give weird art performances, practise a monologue, present a short skit and so on!

3.  Create an environment that is fun, supportive and welcoming to ALL!  And by all I mean the youthful and starry-eyed to the old, bitter and crusty.  That’s right you old fogies: come on down!  :)  It’ll be all ages 7-9pm and 21+ 9-11pm.

Super stokked!

As for other events on the Blvd Park horizon, we’re looking forward to our gig this Friday at the Columbia City Theater with….

Americana/Goth eight piece ensemble: Bat Country (http://youtu.be/ORz8pNJbryQ),

Portland based haunting singing of Eliza Rickman (http://youtu.be/4Ri7CCPJSEo),

And operatic cello vaudevillian Ashia Grzesik (http://youtu.be/w7JAZm7EZzQ)…..

……..Ahhhh.  To borrow an expression from my musical counterpart, Mr. Brian Ballentino: Let the weirdness (and awesomeness!) roll!

Tah tah for now,

Tekla

P.S.  If you haven’t already (and heck, even if you have!)  Please consider donating to this very worthy Lungevity fundraiser event by awesome amazing singer/coffee maker/barist/social sciences/chef/friend/wine enthusiast/music maker & appreciator/Seattlelite going back to Chicago who will be sorely missed; Ms. Leah Bresenski.

Celebrating six tobacco free months, honoring her grandfather whom she lost to lung cancer, and the coming of her 30th year on this earth, Leah has chosen to raise $1000 via Lungevity as a way to mark these momentous occasions.

With only three days left, she’s reached 77% of her goal.  Let’s help her hit 100% folks!

Please visit: http://events.lungevity.org/site/TR?px=1656499&fr_id=2942&pg=personal

Strange and lovely weekend in Idaho

Oh thank the heavens we made it back to Seattle!

Browsing through various music blogs just now, I saw that while on the way to a gig in Savannah, GA, local Portland grindcore band, Transient, was hit full-on by a wayward SUV, sending one member via air-lift to the emergency room.

Our van has had its problems in the past.  We’ve been stranded in various “middle-of-nowhere” situations (alternator – May 2011 – HWY 80 south of Quincy, CA; fuel pump – June 2010 – just short of Elko, NV), but somehow we’ve managed to make it to wherever it was we were headed – in one piece.

This past weekend’s Sawtooth Music Festival destination had our crew piling once more into our trusty band van and making the 12 hour trek southeast, arriving in the teeny tiny town of Stanley, Idaho.

We hit the road Thursday night at about midnight.  I promptly fell and stayed asleep for the duration of the trip.  Luckily our resident night owl, Mr. Timmy Conroy, was up for driving and indeed, when I awoke some nine hours later, I found him still going strong.

I took over the last leg, navigating through desert-ish landscape, through tiny pit-stop towns like Bellevue (NOTHING like the one near Seattle!), and arriving finally in the slightly larger town of Hailey, Idaho.

We decided to load-in our gear at the night’s gig spot: the Sun Valley Brewery; drive some 60 miles north to Stanley, set up our camp gear, drive back to Hailey for our Friday night performance, and then finally back to Stanley where we’d camp Friday and the rest of the weekend at the site of the SMF.

Whew!

A lot of driving, I know.  But believe you me, none of us wanted to be setting up our campsite at 1am in total and complete darkness.  Plus it was free.  It was either that or dough out cash for a hotel room in Hailey, something at this point we can’t afford.

At the brewery we were greeted by friendly owner/booker Sean Flynn, (who later on paid us out a lot more than we were guaranteed, took photos with us, and welcomed us back anytime), and lovely daytime bartender; name I can’t recall, who made an appearance on the dance floor later on that night.  They were both very welcoming and friendly.

If you’re like me, you probably don’t know a lot about cars, engines and the like, so when the van started shaking violently just outside of the SMF campgrounds, you probably would have been just a wee bit freaked out too.

I pulled over to the side of the road and luckily the shaking stopped.  The consensus was that old tires and an allignment issue were the culprit.  Unfortunately we were in the middle of nowhere and on a tight time schedule, so we had to push our worries aside and pray that the van would see us through.  We took the rest of the trip suuuper easy.

The Sawtooth Music Festival is a young pup; only six years in the making.  Set atop one of the town’s highest plateaus, nestled in among gorgeous mountains and put on by two rad Idahoan river guides turned Seattle residents, Nicole and Leslie, we thought the SMF vibe was just about perfect!  Some larger, longer running festivals can feel overwhelmingly big and obnoxious.  SMF had the just right camping-with-family-and-friends-while-getting-to-sample-some-pretty-darn-alright-music-in-an-amazingly-beautiful-setting-kind-of-vibe.  One stage.  13 Idaho, Oregan, Washington based bands.  Coolness.

Plus each year all festival proceeds go to Stanley based organizations such as the Stanley Community Library, The Salmon River School, the Stanley School and so on, and the event is almost entirely staffed by volunteers.  How cool is that?

Both gigs went off without a hitch.  Our group spent the weekend in high spirits, enjoying the pop/folk music of Portland based cuties, the Shook Twins, Jonathan Warren and the Billy Goats (who sound quite a bit like a cross between Blvd Park and Brian’s old band, Nevada Backwards), the lovely Sera Cahoone band (so awesome!), and family-bluegrass-band the Panhandle Polecats.  Unfortunately, just as I was preparing myself for a night of good-ol bare-foot boogying, a sudden and ferocious rain/hail storm sent us all running for cover.

Less than an hour later, folks stuck their heads out of their tents, beginning to mill about while festival organizers decided what to do.  Finding our way back to the stage, we were warned to keep at least 50 feet back when (and if) lightening struck.  Rumors of approaching 60mph winds and lightening storms circulated wildly.  But then the sun came back out.  We thought, eh, it’s all good.  Let the show go on!  Free People began to set up, while we rubbed our hands in anticipation.

And then….. God said, “Sike!”.

As the sun fell behind the mountains, one of the most epic lightening/thunder storms I have ever seen chased us all into into our cars and tents.

As for the festival?  The end.

Of course, you gather a bunch of musicians and music lovers together and try to tell them they can’t play; what do you think is gonna happen?

Come nightfall the clouds have cleared, making way for millions of tiny stars, the like one can only truly witness when modern civilization has been abandoned in favor of extreme wilderness, and the bands are back at it, starting up jam sessions left and right.

I spent most of the day with my oldest, dearest friend, Leah Mowlds (Seasoiiide!  Class of 99 baby!) and her brother, Chris and so unfortunately missed out on the Blvd Park jam, but did get to catch some of the psychadelic, folk, funk fusion Free People’s set (fueled by a generator) before finally crashing out for the night.

Lots of fun.  We’d definitely do it again.

And in summation I’d like to offer some of my personal weekend highlights:

1.  Having breakfast with my pal Leah at a rustic lodge-style restaurant Sunday morning.

2.  Watching Sera Cahoone and the rest of her band.

3.  The Shook Twins.  And Jonathan Warren’s guitar player’s pelvic thrusts.  Seriously.  Boy’s pelvis moved.

4.  Awesome drunk guy at the Sun Valley Brewery getting escorted off the stage for trying to “mosh” with us while in the middle of playing.

5.  Awesome drunk (on drugs?) guy at the SMF falling down just as we’d given him shout outs for being the first one up dancing.

6.  Getting asked to sign autographs and take pictures after our set at SMF (yeah yeah, it’s all ego but still, it feels kinda good).

7.  Hanging out with the SMF staff & volunteers both at the merch table and at the front gate while waiting to greet Leah and Chris.  (I love people who love music and who are nice enough to volunteer their time in support of music.)

8.  Having people all day and the next morning come up and say, “Great set!” and “Thank you for your music!”

9.  Being with my band.  I’m proud of us, what can I say?

And that folks – is all for now.  Hopefully by next year we’ll be hitting up a LOT more festivals.  It’s what we want to do!  Maybe a professional booker will be on the scene by then?  And a new album to promote?  Me thinks so.

Coming up we’ll be at the Columbia City Theater August 12th with Bat Country, Ashia Grzeik, and Eliza Rickman.

See ya around!

Tekla & crew

p.s. Brian and I just picked up the van from the shop today.  Four new tires and alignment realigned; we’re ready to go!  Yee haw!

p.p.s.  If you’d like to help out the folks of Transient who suffered a totaled van and serious bodily injuries, get in touch with them via their site at: http://www.transientbrutality.com/

www.blvdpark.info

Quickie trek to Portland and Hood River, OR

 

What a great weekend we had!

Overdue band member heart-to-hearts, shitty sound conditions but fun and rowdy Hood River brewery crowd, wandering the streets of Portland on a cheerful 80 degree day, visiting with Brian’s family in their new and highly modern downtown Portland skyscraper apartment, a gig and lots of good visiting with folks back at our old stompin’ grounds: the TB!

(The TB: A Terrible Beauty Irish Pub & Restaurant in Renton, WA just south of Seattle.  Made me miss the shiet out of our old open mic night there.  I hope we can get something going again here soon baby, real soon.)

Mr. Dune Butler accompanied us in Portland and Hood River on the upright bass and back in town for the Seattle area gig at the TB in which Jarrett played upright and Dune threw down on the mandolin!  Whew boy!

Killer sound, that mandolin.  Didn’t realize how rhythmic it is, particularly for a rootsy, all acoustic, folk band that can get pretty darn uptempo and rowdy despite not having much of a drum section to keep us going.

Which brings me to something we Blvd Parkers have been deliberating about:

Should we add a snare-drum player to our current line-up?

Those of you who knew us circa 2009-2010 in Sacramento may remember and in fact primarily identify with the above mentioned sound as we did previously have a snare-drum player; two in fact.  (Not to mention a fiddle, mando/banjo/slide guitar combo, and another female singer.)

Should we get all big bandy like that again?

Thing is – it complicates things.  More band members means more mouths to feeds, people to corrale before each gig, more conflicting schedules to work around and so on.  Having less is just – less complicated.

But having more can be so much fun, too!

Hmm…. decisions decisions decisions.

Tell you what: if any of you folks out there have thoughts on these matters, please give us a hollar and let us know what you think, alright?

Our return from Oregon brought us back home to a cone-wearing, but nonetheless happy, min-surgery healing Oliver Blue, our newest Blvd Park family member addition and cool-ass cat-a-dorable extraordinairre, as well as the opening of another bedroom in our pad.  Our landlord, Ms. Jan was finally able to get around to clearing out the storage she’d been keeping in one of the two bedrooms in the house we’re renting.  Yahoo!

This week I go back out on the job hunt again.  Funny, as more time goes by, I find myself letting go bit by bit of all the awesome qualities I was hoping to find in a new job and settling for “Alright!! I’ll take any-frickin-thing!”  Sigh.  I’m hoping I’ll find work at an after-school center or something along those lines; helping kids with homework and reading and all that good stuff.  Kids make me feel inspired and – just – good.  :)

The rest of the crew is making due.  We’re all looking forward to getting the recording ball rolling…. and a special trip back to our hometown next month!  :)  Harlow’s in Sacramento!  Alexa and Patrick’s wedding in Lake Tahoe!  Yee haw!

This coming weekend we head out to Idaho for the Sawtooth Festival.  We’ll be stopping off first in Hailey, Idaho at the Sun Valley Brewery, where I sincerely hope they will provide a sound person.  Ssheeesh.  It doesn’t matter how good the sound is translating out to the audience; if our monitors are unbalanced it can throw the whole darn thing outta whack!  Professional sound technicians we are not!

Excited to say that we’ll be bringing our new pal Dune along with us to Idaho for some more mandolin pickin’!  That boy is good!  And how lucky are we to have stumbled upon someone who can readily perform as both back-up bassist and mandolin player??  And he can sing/harmonize too!?  Sweet!  We love ya Dune!

Have a lovely week folks,

Tekla J. Waterfield