Posted September 21, 2011 at 8:20 am

Austin redux

It was a whirlwind of a trip. We were only there for less than 48 hours. Missy, my art director, designer and 'everything' girl is starting to see how life of an artist on the road is pretty much defined by waking up at ungodly hours – such as, say, 430 AM to catch a flight at 630.

I am a morning person, so although I do sigh, I weather it a lot better than most would:) but Missy is not a morning person at all. Saturday morning had me filming her on my iPad, as she was struggling against the God of Slumber in her attempts to actually rise from the bed and become awake. It's a really cute video, but she is adamant no one will ever see it. I suggested it would make for great footage, especially with some suspenseful music thrown in for soundtrack. She was not too enthusiastic…

Anyway, I really liked what I saw of Austin. We did not get to see the bats, unfortunately, who apparently sleep under the bridge and swarm the skies around dusk. The closest to a bat we got was this plastic bat in our van:

As usual, Missy took a lot of great photos, and the issue of Chronicles will go up soon, although at this point we will probably combine it with my NYC trip/performances, which are next weekend.

I have to apologize for the delay in the publishing of Lollapalooza issue of Chronicles – but it has been such a hectic month and a half for all of us, with the shooting of the video, the upcoming release, performances and such, that we ended up running a bit behind on things.

It rained when we were there. Just a day before our arrival, my tour manager Abby warned us about the sweltering heat we were heading into… she even sent me a snapshot of weather on her iPhone, and it was all 96-98 degrees throughout the weekend.

Except when I arrived, an hour later it was sprinkling. After a refreshing rain, Austin was actually breezy and cool. Next day, I performed, and an hour later there was a thunderstorm. Bands were performing with umbrellas. But I don't think people minded so much, because this was the first rain after a months' long drought.

I singlehandedly took all the credit for the rain, of course. After all, it makes the flowers grow, does it not?:)

After running around in requisite golf carts, we were back at the airport, eating BBQ.

Another highlight of the festival: hearing Stevie Wonder's soundcheck. Alas, I did not get to see him do it, but hearing was amazing enough.

Did I ever tell you, by the way, that when I was 11, all I listened to, for weeks, was his 'Secret Life of Plants' record?

Here is the Team Flower Alchemist before I took the stage (Missy Washington, my art director, and moi):

Lindsey Green, who was the bass player, wore a perfect pair of Elton John sunglasses, and as you can see, we actually matched on-stage. I think I should take him on tour with me. But only if he wears those shades!

As I performed Saturday, people walking across the big, grassy field, kept trickling in, and when I lifted my head after a song, to look out, there were all these people gathered in front of the stage. It was a really special moment, because, really, it was the magic of music that brought them in. I felt like a real Siren, for a moment: making all those random sailors turn their ships (well, bring their folding chairs) towards my stage with the power of my song.

more pictures coming soon! In the E-Chronicles II.

Posted September 15, 2011 at 1:43 am

Austin II

btw, if you are in Austin – I will be performing at 11.15, Saturday morning. Just before the heat rolls in! I am in good company – now if only I could get Daniel Lanois to have a coffee with me…!!

See schedule here.

Posted September 13, 2011 at 9:25 am

getting ready to take off

Friday I will be in Austin, Texas, performing at Austin City Limits Saturday morning.

I have never been to Texas.

And two weeks from now – NYC! And my EP + official video for Dreamer will be released.

Times goes by fast, does it not?

Today I had a very long photo shoot. At the end Sarah, the photographer, had me standing on a rock, with waves breaking inches from me. In a very distinctive-looking dress. And somehow I was wearing old cowboy boots.

I am so exhausted right now I can't think straight. But the moon is shining through the glass doors. Everything is okay with the world. I should be playing guitar, instead of writing this blog.

Perhaps I will.

Posted September 4, 2011 at 3:18 am

glorious weekend

I am being a complete vegetable this weekend. Friday we had a 17-hour video shoot, which started with me awake at 4 am, stumbling into the kitchen and turning on the Magic Machine – er, that is the espresso machine.

At 5 am on the dot, the make-up artist arrived.

At 8 am we were on the set on the Malibu beach. Circa 11 am had me running in a very big and heavy (wet) dress down the beach, occasionally getting side-swept by a wave or stumbling over a dune.

Followed by me hanging on to the cliffs for dear life, also in huge dress and an 18-th century up-do.

In an Alexander McQueen jacket, no less.

Come 1 pm, we were in the canyons, at a ranch.

At around 4 PM, I was taking a break, catching little frogs in the grass (and I have a photograph to prove it).

While at 6 pm I was bouncing up and down on a trampoline on top of a hill.

The day before I found out my mom in Moscow was in the hospital again. So, really, Friday started with me on the phone with her – then the stumbling over to the espresso machine – then the rest of it.

She is ok now, undergoing some tests, but it was a bad day when I found out. She didn't want to tell me, so I could focus on what I had to do.

And so when I woke up yesterday – Saturday morning – I felt like someone had beaten me up with a rather sizable baseball bat. I have been eating tomatoes off the bush in the garden and consuming large amounts of Thai food and chocolate, which, by all accounts, is probably better for my soul, than my body.

I have another two weeks of madness and major prepping before I go to Austin, Texas to perform at the Austin City Limits. Then, to return and a week later we go to NYC. And then the EP comes out. And the video goes live. And the history gets re-written. Ok, never mind that last one.

But today… today I am still on vacation. I have watched copious amounts of True Blood episodes from Season 3 and got my fill of Alexander Skaarsgard. I rode my bike and got a massage. I am going to take a nap. And then maybe another one. Perhaps I will even venture out tonight to hear a friend DJ. He is an editor, who is doing the editing of my video, and he is amazing – Joel Marcus – a lovely, funny and authentic Brit, who happens to live a bike ride away from me.

Tomorrow we start up again, and it doesn't stop until the morning of October 4th – the day after my EP release party at Bardot in Hollywood…

Posted August 26, 2011 at 11:57 am

madness and miniature robots

We are running around, quite frantically, and getting ready to shoot a music video for Dreamer next week. Oh la la! Later this afternoon, we are headed to the Universal Costume department at the Universal Studios. I am excited like a little kid. Will be taking lots of guerilla photos. We are also done with our Lollapalooza E-Chronicles, to be posted shortly – very analog-meets-digital! I love the final result.

A very talented woman is directing and shooting the video for Dreamer and her name is Sarah Renard. Her website http://www.sarahrenard.com/

She is a very tall, striking and skinny Swedish girl. My designer/friend Missy is also on the thin side, and I am the Russian version of skinny. So now there are three skinny, stressed out and determined artistic women running around Los Angeles, getting ready to pull a rabbit out of a very small hat (read: perform a magic trick).

By the way – what is going on? Earthquakes, hurricanes… my car overheated yesterday on the way back from the Blue Microphones headquarters, where I did a podcast+ live performance + some random chatting on various topics. Tyler Barth, who is Da Man there is the quintessential California Dreamy ideal male. He also has this perfect speaking voice – he must have had some acting training. He must have also surfed, gone out with models and tried yoga at some point. Or maybe I am completely off course here. Either way, I had a lovely time, and hopefully my acoustic performances – of Odi et Amo and Snow in Venice were up to par. And now, courtesy Blue Mics, I am starting my first ever official microphone collection: