Kristy Hanson

  • this last week in music…

     /  03 Aug 2007  /  Music, food, LA, and other things I love

    So, I’m still plugging away at the Austin City Limits contest. I was boosted up to about 31 out of all the bands and then, though I’ve been garnering more and more votes, I’m down to about 51 now. Hopefully we can get things movin’ again over the weekend. What can I say – I’m competitive. And I would LOVE to play Austin!

    For those of you who’ve told me I need to re-post the link, here you go:
    mp3.com

    I’m really blown away by how many people I don’t know (outside of MySpace) who’ve written to tell me that they’ve been voting everyday, re-posting the bulletin, having their friends vote…wow. I always feel like I’m imposing when I ask people to do something like this, but it seems that people like being a part of the mission! Certainly anything good that comes of this belongs to everyone who voted. My fingers remain crossed…

    On Tuesday night, Mike and I went to go see Michael Penn at Largo. It was an extra special treat because Patrick Warren, Mike Elizondo, Buddy Judge, and Aaron Sterling all played with him for a full-band extravaganza toward the end of the show. Patrick and Michael have played together for years, and I loved hearing them play as a duo, even if we did wonder when Aaron was going to come on and rock out! Listening to Patrick, I just kept thinking to myself, “I can’t believe he’s on my album.” There’s just no one like him, and he couldn’t be nicer on top of it. It was a treat to hear Aaron play, too – he’s just incredible, and again, we’re so lucky to have worked with him (he played on the CD release party). It would have been a great musical evening regardless, and Michael Penn was in great form, but the extra personal connections made it really special.

    Wednesday night I played a very last-minute show at The Derby. It was strange but also a lot of fun to play by myself. Nothing compares to playing with a full band. It makes me really let go, and I’d probably almost always prefer it, but I’ve gotten to a point where I feel much less inhibited playing on my own. And it’s liberating, if a little self-indulgent, to be able to just do a song however you feel it and not worry about what everyone else is doing! A few folks came out to the show, including engineer Bryan Cook, who knows our engineer Ryan Freeland. We connected through MySpace and he decided to just come on out to the show. He could not have been cooler. I’m glad that our musical and social circle just keeps expanding with such great people.

    Finally, we got together with some friends last night, and snacking and drinking wine turned into Mike and our friend kind of jamming on the piano and guitar. We’ve known our friend since college and re-connected out here. I re-visited his random, red guitar that I borrowed for a show once back in Ann Arbor and actually wrote “Take it Back” on. I sang a little Gershwin while our friend played all the crazy jazz chords on the piano. I used to be able to at least play changes – I miss playing piano and wish I had one – nothing like the feel of real piano keys. I should probably force myself to practice on a keyboard in the meantime, since I’m a long way from owning a house, a piano. Oh, and I want a dog, too. :)

    Ah, so much to accomplish. ;) Baby steps….

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  • CD RELEASE SHOW JUNE 6!

     /  03 Jun 2007  /  News

    It’s this Wednesday 6/6 at The Derby in Los Feliz, and you should come (if you live here). Added to Mike’s usual beautiful bass lines, we’ve got Aaron Sterling on drums – killer. Really amazing. Tim Young’s guitar stylings give my songs the coolest quality, I swear, almost psychedelic! My friend and breathtakingly aweseome cellist Alisa Horn should be joining us for some songs, too. They all rule and I feel very lucky. And that’s really like 4 reasons to come right there, actually. :)

    The other folks playing include Alexandra Georgiadis (great voice. We were in Evita together in college – funny eh? Oh the bonds of musical theater), Gaby Moreno, who’s a John Lennon songwriting contest winner, The Youngs, who to me are like the epitome of cool, and The Procession, who have a quirky power-pop sound and have just toured the UK. So there’s 4 more. We’re in the VIP Lounge of The Derby, which is quite cool; it’s very open a big room but still feels intimate, and there’s a bar back there and food served by Louise’s.

    In other words, it’s a party, and you should come with all your friends. Just write me to get a discounted cover. OOOh I can’t wait!

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  • New album! new look! woo hoo!

     /  26 Apr 2007  /  News

    Yay! I’ve got a whole new look for my MySpace page and for my website. Check it out. And while you’re at it, check out THE NEW ALBUM! I’m very excited to (partially) unveil Already Gone. You can hear the tracks “Comfort” and “Careful” on MySpace, and if you like what you hear, pre-order it and get free shipping from now ’til June 6.

    Speaking of June 6…we’ll be having our CD release party that night, at The Derby VIP Lounge. We’ll be playing with a full band, and hope to have some special guests (cello anyone? I hope I hope). It will be a rocking show featuring some of LA’s finest – Alexandra Georgiadis, Gaby Moreno, The Youngs, and The Procession. I’ve hand-picked the artists and will be hosting the evening, and it’s going to be such a blast. Save the date!

    There’s lots more going on – we have a show at Tangier on May 9, which is always fun, and as part of Acoustic Cordiale on May 23 – I checked out Cafe Cordiale last night and it is a DELIGHT (does anyone get that reference? Will Ferrell doing James Lipton? Anyway…). Should you happen to be up late now like me, now, oh, say, launching your new album or something, turn to Conan O’Brien and check out my drummer-friend Steven Nistor on Conan O’Brien tonight. Brandi Carlile may have a set of twins, but she’ll never have the half-Romanian band. Nonetheless, I’m pumped to see it…do we have good taste in drummers or what?

    I’m losing my MIND…can you tell Mike and I have been working on this for way too long? Him especially; all the web magic is his. We do hope you like it, and if you do, pass it on!

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  • a week in the life…

     /  24 Feb 2007  /  Music, food, LA, and other things I love

    I’ve been meaning to blog for a while, and since I haven’t I’ll have to do a bit of an overview. I realize now that it’s been a rather momentous week.

    Thursday, Feb. 15 – Worked on a new song…it’s a little depressing (I was in a funk) but it may have potential. I’ve been writing lots of little half-songs recently, which is odd for me, but this one I basically finished the form of.

    Friday, Feb 16 – We went to see Aimee Mann’s “Valentine’s Revenge” show at Largo. I really love the whole “variety show” format she’s into these days. Well, in my eyes she can do no wrong, but nonetheless, it was really a very well put-together, entertaining show. She had Paul F. Tompkins (funny-and who knew he could sing?) and Morgan Murphy there, and she had Grant-Lee Phillips do a couple songs (his voice is just perfect, always). Paul Bryan, Jebin Bruni and Jay Bellerose comprised her kick-ass backing band. I’d never heard Paul play before and I see now why Mike is so into his playing. It was so good to hear Jay play, and equally great to see him and catch up a bit. I’ll never get over how nice he was and is to us. He even asked Mike to come back on Saturday night to see the show again and, apparently, to throw back some scotch. I had to work…but I shouldn’t be greedy. I really can’t complain (though I did, let’s be honest).

    Saturday and Sunday, Feb 17-18 – Worked most of the weekend: more Mozart mania with LACO! What I caught of the concerts was lovely, and I had a good time post-concert on Saturday night at Charles’ Billiards in Glendale with Pulse, the ‘young professionals’ (for lack of a better term) group we young LACO staffers are building. Addie and I played a very hard-core game of table hockey.

    Monday, Feb 19 – A day off, and a full one…rehearsed and grabbed some food with Mike and my favorite half-Romanian Steven Nistor. Steven is hilarious and rehearsals are always really fun. For some reason having to leave home and have official ‘rehearsals’ has gotten me much more motivated and focused as far as my playing and singing go. I feel like I’m getting back into it, whatever ‘it’ is. Mike and I also hiked and went to see “Music and Lyrics,” which was kind of silly and cute. I thought the more satirical parts of it…like the little quasi-Britney character…were spot-on. We tried to catch Maria Bamford at Tiger Lily and she was nowhere to be found…

    Wednesday, Feb 21 – After work I drove to Hollywood for the end of our mastering session with Gavin Lurssen. He, like everyone else who’s worked on he album, is incredibly nice. He talked me through a lot of what he was doing, and it was like going to ‘mastering class’ with a very insightful teacher. And the album sounds GREAT! (If I do say so myself, har har). Then we scrambled back to play with Steven for the SoCal Music Live competition at The Derby. There was a decent crowd there overall and our set, while short, was really fun and seemed to sound pretty good. I love playing with a band! Love it. It was also really great to play for and to meet some new people who seemed to dig the music. That’s always good…apparently, score-wise, I’ve made it into the ‘top 5 females’ in the competition. Woo hoo! I do like to win. At table hockey or music competitions. Ha.

    Friday, Feb 23 – Heard a beautiful concert with Steven and Mike, given by the young and incredible Calder Quartet. I went to support the efforts of their PR people, who I know through work, but enjoyed the music so much and was really glad I went. They did some late Shostakovich and Thomas Ades, and I used not to like contemporary composers all the much, but I guess my ears have stretched – I loved it all.

    ok, enough for goodness sake…i need a nap, and this is becoming War and Peace.

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  • Rockin’ out at the Derby last night…

     /  02 Dec 2006  /  News

    Mike and I had much fun playing The Derby VIP Lounge last night. I had been panicking slightly all week because I seem to have brought home a nasty cold from Michigan–and come this morning, I was left with no voice at all–but I made it through last night just fine. I was pleased that I was able to push aside my anxiety about what my voice would do and just sing out. It was a good show. Of course, today I sound like Marge Simpson–or maybe worse, Marge Simpson’s sisters–no joke. No singing for me today…

    I really like The Derby, even aside from the fact that Mike’s favorite movie might be Swingers and it made us feel all cool to play there (yes, I’m a dork). In some ways I actually prefer the VIP Lounge to the mainstage, because you can really face the stage and focus on the music rather than hide away in those booths in the main room. Although I LOVE those booths…and I’d love to play the main stage… :) But we liked the other room, and the club has a great vibe in general.

    The evening started off with my fellow ‘female on fire’ Michael Ann, a fantastic singer who belts it out with a soulful bluegrass style. Such a sweetheart, too. It’s nice to have a little camaraderie at a show out here–acts are usually booked so separately, and there’s such little interaction with the other performers. The girl who played after me was very sweet, too, with a cool folk punk style–I think she was a last-minute replacement so I’m not sure I’ll get her name right (Alex something…).The only real challenge is that there are no monitors in the VIP Lounge, but it’s a big room, so the bass was SUPER loud (but apparently, just to us) and kept startling both Mike and I! But despite the fact that he probably could barely hear me, Mike did a stellar job and everyone commented as usual that they love the way the bass rounds out the sound.

    Thirty people showed up to see us, our best buddies but also some old friends, brand-new folks who saw me at Borders Glendale a couple weeks back and a lot of friends of friends of friends…nice to see some new faces in the crowd, and to feel like we’re getting ourselves out there a little bit more now. I’ve got some fans, people! Woo hoo! Who knew. ;) The best part was feeling like everyone had a great time–like I’m not twisting people’s arms to come see our shows, but that it’s actually a great night out for everyone and they’re having as much fun as I am!

    So, thanks to everyone who came out, and who played, and who put on the show (Can of Jam productions, if you’re curious). A great night. Following by a sniffly morning and a day of couch confinement. But life is full of trade-offs. Did I mention I’m still in my pajamas? Whew. Rockin’ out takes it out of you… ;)

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  • Don’t call it a comeback…

     /  29 Oct 2006  /  Music, food, LA, and other things I love

    Am I quoting L.L. Cool J? Oh yes.

    While recording, moving, and trying to balance a job and the rest of the fun stuff life throws at you, I’ve been a little quiet. I think I was in a bit of a post-recording funk just because I’d been looking forward to it for soooo long and then in a few lovely days it was done! Speaking of which, we’re still in a bit of a holding pattern since the keyboard stuff isn’t finished, but fear not–news soon, I promise! I’m getting more excited all the time as Mike and I plan for the release.

    I didn’t even realize how much I missed playing out, but I’ve been busy booking more shows and have one coming up at a new Songsalive! venue this weekend–attention Valley! Come see me!–as well as my Borders debut (sort of…played some in FL waaaaay back) in Glendale. I’m especially excited to be playing the VIP room at The Derby at the start of December! It makes me feel kind of cool to be playing at the club from Swingers. ;) I booked it through Can of Jam productions, and they’re fantastic. I love their philosophy about musicians supporting each other and the way they actually seem pro-active and supportive of their acts. Check them out at www.canofjam.com.

    Oh, and right, the coolness factor just continues with my show at The Viper Room in December. I mean, it’s not like Johnny Depp will walk through the door, but still…

    Otherwise, just trying to get a grip on life and it feels like I’m finally succeeding. :) Sometimes I go through these Little Susie Homemaker phases where I watch too much Learning Channel, then do a bunch of cooking and cleaning while I’m inspired. I watched this show and read this website “Home Made Simple,” which tells me that if I can just get organized, time will actually expand (their “guru” uses that phrase). It seems that I’ll never totally get on top of the clutter, the laundry, etc., but I’m forever optimistic. Maybe time will expand! I am determined to actually do all the 12,000 things I want to do every week….wish me luck.

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