The Baroness Redecorates, The Aftermath

A quick update on Sarah's new EP. The good news is that it's out, the bad news is that some people are having a hard time getting their hands on it.

The official site went 'out of stock' on the limited EP on the first day of it's release.
Copies will still be available at her concerts in Toronto to presumably supplies last and there is a chance any remainders will go back to the store.

Digital copies of the EP are only available to those in Canada for those using the official site or iTunes.

The official site did post the following message under their myspace news page:

"*The digital version of this EP is only available in Canada. Very sorry to all non-Canadians/Canadian residents! If we could sell to everyone, we would*

That being said, the 3rd official store to offer the digital version of the EP, Rhino records, can do international orders. Encoded at 256kbs, it should give everyone a chance to enjoy the EP the way it was intended to be heard.

For those who were lucky enough to get orders through on the physical version of the EP, reports are that some of them have already arrived. The EP has received very positive reviews from what I have seen.

Update 2008-12-18
The digital version is available to everyone now through SarahSlean.com according to the official mailing list posting earlier today. A confirmation that more CD's will be hitting the online store was also mentioned.

Another Holiday Guest Revealed

Posted below is a spoiler on another of this year's scheduled guests...

A few weeks ago we posted about a collaboration Sarah had done with The Roaring Girl Cabaret. Thanks to the comments of Emma Whitefield, who pointed out that Miranda Mulholland of the Roaring Girl Cabaret is joining Sarah for both nights of the holiday concert. This is confirmed on Miranda's myspace page.

We announced who another of the guests would be a few weeks ago in this thread.

On a side note, it appears that the CD copies of The Baroness Redecorates that went on sale exclusively through Sarah's online store sold out today. Copies should still be available at her concerts.

Sarah's part on World Aids Day

Sarah was one of the celebrities to get her hands dirty and sign for an auction to raise money and awareness this World Aids Day. On Monday Sarah among other celebrities from mostly CTV network shows dipped their hands in red paint and pressed them onto a piece of fabric that will be woven into a quilt and auctioned.

The event was held at Kiehl's Queen Street location in Toronto.

To find out more information about the event, names of the other celebrities, and view Sarah's signature (left corner), see imabeautygeek.com

Holiday Show Guest Revealed

For those that like receiving early gifts, one of this year's 'surprise' holiday guests have been revealed. I'm not going to give any hints, but if you would like to know who it is, follow this link.

Passioneer Holiday Project 2008

slean_harboufront_dec2006_2
Originally uploaded by YenC

The 4th Passioneer Holiday Project is now in full swing! It is a way for fans to give back to Sarah for all she has given us this past year. For more information and how to contribute, please see the thread on the official forum over here.

For those unfamiliar with this project, it has been a tradition since 2005. Fans do a good deed for an organization of their choice and then have their name and contribution included in a card. The card is then given to Sarah as a gift after her annual holiday shows in Toronto. This is a completely fan-run endeavor and has drawn participation of fans from around the globe.

Pictures from past years are archived in various places, but here are sources for a few of them.

• 2005
• 2006 Thread / Pictures
  
• 2007

Sarah and the Roaring Girl Cabaret

Sarah has collaborated with the Toronto indie act the Roaring Girl Cabaret. You can hear Sarah play on the song "Passion Play" on their debut album "In Last Night's Clothes" that was released in September.

You can listen to the song here on CBC Radio 3.
You can purchase the track for a dollar on Amazon over here.
More information on the band including upcoming concerts and where you can purchase their CD is contained on their myspace.

It may be more then coincident that Joni Mitchell has a song that bears the same title.

Sarah Slean Bside EP, Track list and Info.

Sarah has presented an early holiday surprise with announcing the release of her Bside EP "The Baroness Redecorates" on December 9th. The announcement was first made via her official site's mailing list on November 13th and facebook group account.

Since January of 2008 we have had a short list of the songs that did not make onto The Baroness and Sarah's wishes to put them out on a Bside. It appears she has managed to get them all onto the Bside with the exception of the yet to be heard song, "The Right Words".

The track list for the EP is as follows.

1. Parasol
2. Lonely Side of the Moon
3. Modern Man I & II
4. Compatriots
5. The Rose
6. Hear Me Out
7. The “Disarm” Suite

The EP title "The Baroness Redcorates" is also the title of one of Sarah poems contatined in her book for poetry, The Baroness.

Parasol was released as a bonus track online while Lonely Side of the Moon and The Rose were released in an offer through iTunes. This is the first time those who live outside of Canada or missed Parasol bonus offer have the chance to purchase these songs.

Sarah has played Modern Man and Compatriots live before. I suspect the first section of Modern Man is instrumental with Sarah conducting before the second movement where she takes the piano. Hear Me Out appears to be a brand new song, although she has an unrelased bside with a similar title of Count Me Out.

The "Disarm" Suite appears to be a new song and a title I have never seen published before. In Sarah's recent's Q&A session, she did have the following to say about disarming:

"When you disarm, everything changes.

Permit me this little instructive exercise for disarmament. Go to a nearby park. Sit down in a spot free from noise or distraction and have a good look at a tree. A good long look. Imagine it smiling at you. Seriously!... You'll know what I mean. Try it.

Disarming means knowing love and trusting it as truth. Love then gets behind every one of your senses. You see food as the sun and the rain's conspiracy to strengthen and sustain you. You see difficult people and situations as opportunities to deepen your compassion. You hear the plea for love that is hiding behind all complaints, attacks and criticisms. You feel the life in your body, in another's body, and you're amazed."

- Sarah Slean, Q&A Part 2, Answer 20

The EP will be available through iTunes, SarahSlean.com, and rhinorecords.ca. The mail list posting did not indicate if there is a physical release of this EP that coincides with the digital release.

Sarah's Poem 'Buddha Crowns' is Online

Sarah's poem 'Buddha Crowns' has been published for the first time online on HealthyGirl.net.
The poem is included in Sarah's latest book of poetry, The Baroness that is on sale at Sarah's site and a handful of stores.

Earlier this year Sarah played a concert of HealthyGirl's event for women, WellSpot. Recently they posted pictures from that event to Flickr.

Upcomming air dates of Creative Block Interview

CBC's Creative Block aired an interview with Sarah in August.
Repeats of Sarah's on CBC Bold's Creative Block in November. Air dates include:

Sunday November 9th, 18:00
Thursday November 13th, 13:00
Thursday November 13th, 16:00

CBC bold scheduale

If you do not receive this specialty channel, I believe by calling Rogers you can get a free preview of it for 3 months.

Drink Poetry - Slean poems on wine bottles (Update)

Sarah's poetry will be landing on Southbrook's new bottles of wine, Poetica

Information regarding the launch of the wine, availability, other poets involved, and more can be found in the following Quill & Quire report of October 31st.

Bottling poetry

October 31, 2008 10:42 AM By Danielle Ng-See-Quan

Just when you thought the combination of poetry and public transit couldn’t be topped, along comes a new pairing to shake things up all over again: poetry and wine.

Poetica, a new wine label that will feature Canadian poems on each bottle, is the brainchild of Ontario vintner Southbrook Vineyards. The limited edition label series – which will be available only to regular Southbrook customers – will reportedly consist of the vineyard’s best annual output of chardonnay and cabernet merlot. The labels will feature excerpts – or, in some cases, full-length works – by poets such as bpNichol and P.K. Page.

According to Southbrook director of customer experience Elena Galey-Pride, the new label was devised in order to celebrate the company’s relocation to Niagara-on-the-Lake, after more than 17 years in Richmond Hill. Graphic designer Laura Wills, who was hired by Southbrook to create the labels, says she read “hundreds and hundreds” of poems for the project, and contacted the poets (or their estates) directly for permission to use their work. According to Galey-Pride, all but two of them immediately agreed to the project (she wouldn’t say who the two holdouts were). In return for their involvement in the project, poets will receive a case of wine.

The full poet line-up for the label’s launch, besides Nichol and Page, includes Christopher Dewdney, Wendy Morton, Lesley Choyce, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Stephen Elliott-Buckley, Charles G.D. Roberts, Steve Venright, Martin Tielli, and Sarah Slean. Going forward, each new year will bring two more vintages and two more poets.

Poetica launches in Toronto on Nov. 19 at an invitation-only event for the wine biz and the arts and literature communities.

Update, 2008-11-19 - Launch
The launch party took place as schedualed today at The Richmond. The event featured two poetry readings but Sarah was not scheduled. Posters of some of the wine bottles were also displayed that may contain an enlargement of Sarah's poem.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Southbrook-Vineyards-921327.html

Update, 2008-11-21 - Sarah's poem
The poem of Sarah's included, is actually an excerpt her song Your Wish is My Wish from her 2004 album Day One. To see the bottle, learn more about wine, and cost information see the following page:
http://www.southbrook.com/Poetica_2005chardonnay.html

Sarah Slean is acting in the film, Last Flowers

between takes
Originally uploaded by zablotny

Sarah is making a return to film in a CJ Wallis short film titled, Last Flowers. Sarah's acting debut to film came in 2005's Black Widow.

Currently, not much has been published on the film as it just stated filming on October 30th (and wraps this Wednesday). In Sarah's recent Question and Answer session she didn't mention the film in her list of projects but did bring up working on a Modern Man movie.

Many thanks to a Flickr user who has provided me some greater information and has uploaded an excellent set of photos to flickr in his set for Last Flowers. You can view the images here.

From the film's faecbook page, the following information is revealed:

Last Flowers is an uplifting dramatic short film about an author named Harvey Harris.

With Harvey’s latest novel being universally rejected, he is feeling more distanced than ever from the world and everyone that surrounds him - a desperate move leads him to sneaking into the very funerals he writes about as a bizarre form of self-help therapy, gaining temporary love and acceptance from those people who are at their most vulnerable and self-less state of mind.

The death of Harvey’s mother, coupled with a chance meeting of a strong-willed woman named Mona, will force Harvey to confront his greatest fears about loss and rejection and how to find a way to connect through the most severe forms of disconnection.


Written & Directed by: CJ Wallis
Produced by: Elli Weisbaum
DP: Robert Walsh
Original Score: Kevin James Maher


Cast: Joseph May, Sarah Slean, Troy De Lottinville & Rikki Gagne

I encourage you all to join the facebook group as they will be posting news, pictures, and video from the production. Currently, they have one video of Sarah walking herself to the piano with a wine glass in hand.

I was also able to receive the following information.

Last Flowers is being screened at 2009's sundance film festival, and is directed by CJ Wallis. It's been an absolute blast to work with Sarah, and everyone is having a fantastic time. There will eventually be a DVD release of some form with lots of extra fancy things.

The 2009 Sundance Film Festival is only 74 days away.

The film director CJ Wallis has put Sarah Slean in his 'Top 4' on his myspace page for the film Heat Sink. The site's picture page and the film's poster shows a strong resemblance to Sarah's keyboard following her 2005 concert at the Phoenix.

Update: 2008-11-13
Exclaim magazine has a few updates on Last Flowers. The film is to be 20 minutes long and hopes are for public viewing to start in early 2009. The film's music is being scored by Fake Shark of Real Zombie,

Sarah to Play Art of Time Benefit Concert - Nov 5th

Sarah who has played 2 concerts with the Art of Time Ensemble in 2007 and recorded with in 2008 is set to play their first ever benefit concert on November 5, 2008. Tickets are priced at $250 for this unique event held at the Integral House.

A press release posted at ArtworldList provides the following details:

Top talents Sarah Slean, Ted Dykstra, Shauna Rolston, Artistic Director Andrew Burashko and others perform at Art of Time Ensemble 10th Anniversary Gala Benefit

On the occasion of Art of Time Ensemble’s 10th Anniversary Season, Artistic Director Andrew Burashko is pleased to announce the company’s first annual Art of Time Ensemble Gala Benefit. This one-of-a kind fundraising event will be held on Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at Integral House, one of the most talked about homes in the city that Lisa Rochon of the Globe and Mail has described as “a sumptuous house designed to liberate music and man.”

This gala evening features an elegant cocktail and dinner reception with unsurpassed performances by top-tier artists in a private home built with a love of great architecture and music: the breathtaking surroundings of Integral House, the home of mathematician, musician and author Dr. James D. Stewart.

Performers include highly acclaimed singer-songwriter Sarah Slean, award-winning actor Ted Dykstra, lauded cellist Shauna Rolston and consummate pianist and artistic director Andrew Burashko.

The Art of Time Ensemble is one of Toronto’s most innovative and artistically resonant music ensembles. It has attracted the interest and participation of some of Canada’s best performers in creating new and exciting opportunities for collaborations between the performing arts; provoking, entertaining and breaking down barriers, revealing the vibrancy of classical music as a contemporary artistic expression and appealing to a range of audiences.

“The Art of Time seems like a game of artistic hopscotch, in which everyone is invited to jump over the notional barriers between music, dance and visual art, and between high art and low. It’s a game worth playing.” - Robert Everett-Green, The Globe and Mail

The Art of Time Ensemble’s 10th anniversary season is sponsored by BMO Financial.

The Art of Time Ensemble Gala Benefit
Featuring performances by Sarah Slean, Ted Dykstra, Shauna Rolston
and Artistic Director Andrew Burashko
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 from 6:30 to 9:30pm
at Integral House, 194 Roxborough Drive
Tickets - $250 each (partial tax receipts issued)
Information & Tickets: 416.880.7693 or email anna(NOSPAM)@artoftimeensemble.com
Visit artoftimeensemble.com

The poster image used and further information can be found on the Art of Time website.

Sarah to Tour Germany & Switzerland in 2009

Perhaps as a follow up to her album The Baroness being released in Denmark, it was announced at the Wine and Grape Festival concert that Sarah will touring in Germany. The St. Catherine Standard confirmed that this will take place in January and will be followed by visiting Switzerland.

With the Baroness's recent release in Denmark, this could be a sign that the album might be released across Europe in a fashion similar to Day One.

For those who have not kept a close eye on SarahSlean.com, this December Sarah will be playing her annual Christmas show at Harboufront/Enwave Theatre on December 19th. Harbourfront's website indicated a date of December 20th leading to some speculation that a second concert may be confirmed at a later date.

The Baroness released in Denmark

According to the Denmark website of Warner Music, The Baroness was released this week in Denmark.

We will post back if any other countries pick up the album or at the first sight of any new tour news.

TV Reminder: Beautiful Noise / Berkley Session is Tonight

Just a short reminder to set your VCR/PVRs as Sarah Slean's concert special, The Berkley Sessions is on Bravo! TV tonight at 8:00PM EST.

Upcoming Concerts

Just a reminder that SarahSlean.com has announced new concerts for Sarah in Toronto in addition to her concerts this weekend in Newfoundland posted under the tour page.

After the War (More info)

Thanks to Jan and the good people at PaulGross.org for a few more details are available on the song titled After the War. It was written and released on the album "Two Houses' by Paul Gross 10 years ago and inspired by the events of Passchendaele.

In interview from 2005 Paul was asked about using the song in the film.

Not sure that we'll use any contemporary music in the movie at the moment. I've been leaning toward using compositions from the period. I think I'm going to use Alina, Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Part for the last 5-10 minutes of the movie. I'm pretty sure that will guarantee there won't be a dry eye in the house.
- Pual Gross, 2005, paulgross.org

In 200y he was asked about the use of After the War in Passchendaele again. He responded;

I don't think I'll be putting any contemporary music into Passchendaele - in fact, we're planning to do a big orchestral score which doesn't sit so well with strumming guitars. On the song-writing front, David Keeley and I are discussing doing another recording session when we both have the time clear on our schedules.
- Paul Gross, 2007, paulgross.org

You can sample the original song on youtube.

Sarah Sings for the Movie Theme of Passchendaele

Sarah Slean sings a new song titled, After The War, for the Canadian made film Passchendaele. The film premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival and may be released across Canada later this Fall. Thanks to Yen on SarahSlean.com for pointing out that the song is played over the final credits. It has been mentioned that film director Paul Gross co-wrote the song but I have yet to find a solid confirmation that.

MSN/Sympatico caught up with Sarah during the film festival to gather her thoughts on the after parties and who she might be voting for in the next federal election. You can read that article and funny headline here. Toronto Life also indicates that Sarah attended the Hello Couples party.

The new pictures of Sarah shown in recent editorials were taken at this year's Film Fest and can be found on GettyImages.

Update 2008/10/14 - An image of Sarah at the Hello party on the red carpet can be found here.
http://www.wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx?igi=332723&nbc1=1&NavTyp=CAL

Sarah Lands on a Book Sound Track

Sarah has been on movie sound tracks but now she's made a soundtrack for the novel, The Prairie Bridesmaid by Daria Salamon.

Daria is a huge Sarah Slean fan and she got chills when she heard the song "No Place At All" as it captures the heart of the book and the struggles of the main character.

- http://www.theprairiebridesmaid.com/soundtrack.htm

Chart Magazine writes more about the artcile including a new picture of Sarah and a poll against Feist to who would be more attractive to elves.

If you missed the announcement on Sarah's official site, her second poetry book the Baroness is now available at selected book stores.

Sarah recordes with the Art of Time Ensemble

Sarah Slean played 2 concerts with Sarah Slean in 2007. The first show was the Schubert Source and Inspiration concert and the second show was Sarah covering her favourite Toronto song writers with the backing of the classical musicians.

When this year's similar concert was being done with Steven Page, Andrew Burashko,
the director of Art of Time was quoted in the June 20th Globe and Mail saying:

"We did it last year with Sarah Slean, which worked like a dream, and we just recorded that." - Globe and Mail

A follow up on that quote revealed that Sarah recorded the "Toronto Song Book" songs with the Art of Time Ensemble in February with the album release date for 2009.

I'm sure more information will be available closer to the release. We have seen release dates of projects come and past without releases for The Tales of The Baroness DVD, Black Widow DVD, and Sarah's score book. Keep an eye on littleslean news for more information.

Both Concerts Sarah did with the Art of Time Ensemble were commissioned by the CBC and were played on CBC Radio 2 and hosted online. The links to those concerts have been removed but here is the text for the Toronto Song Book.

1 Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye - Leonard Cohen (songwriter), Gavin Bryars (arranger) 4:21
2 Lodestar - Sarah Harmer (songwriter), Roberto Occhipinti (arranger) 5:56
3 Dandelion Wine - Ron Sexsmith (songwriter), Aaron Davis (arranger) 6:26
4 To Cry About - Mary-Margaret O'Hara (songwriter), Bruce Cassidy (arranger) 6:13
5 Stride - Hayden (songwriter), Finn Manniche (arranger) 4:23
6 Monarch - - Leslie Feist (songwriter), Cameron Wilson (arranger) 6:07
7 Old Photographs - Christos Hatzis (composer) 10:58
8 Tango a la Burashko - Phil Dwyer (composer) 10:36
9 I Don't Need More - Kathryn Rose (songwriter), Phil Dwyer (arranger) 5:59
10 Black Flowers - Lynn Miles (songwriter), Kevin Fox (arranger) 5:16
11 Eyes Are the Flowers - John Southworth (songwriter), Michael Occhinpinti (arranger) 7:21
12 No More Named Johnny - Hawksley Workman (songwriter), Shelly Berger (arranger) 6:22
13 I'll Never Tear You Apart - Martin Tielli (songwriter), Johnathan Goldsmith (arranger) 6:22
14 Dress Rehearsal Rag - Leonard Cohen (songwriter), Jim McGrath (arranger) 9:01
15 Lonely Side of the Moon - Sarah Slean (songwriter) 5:05

Montreal Interview with Sarah Slean (Video)

A video of Sarah playing and being interviewed at Club Soda during the Montreal Jazz Festival has been put online.

You can view the video here in English or the version en Francais.

A show a charitable show she did later that day was played live on Q92 FM in Montreal.

Secondly, it does not appear that Sarah Slean's sets at Hillside are part of CBC Radio 2's presentation from Hillside being played this Friday.

Beautiful Noise / The Berkley Sessions Air Date

Sarah's TV recorded performance from The Berkley Church in Toronto will be played on Bravo! TV on September 24th. We first reported this show in March as part of the Beautiful Noise taping taking place April 1st. The news alert seems to support that Sarah's performance will not be part of the Beautiful Noise series but under the new program "The Berkley Sessions". The show was filmed in high definition and Sarah played almost a complete set with her band.

THE BEREKLEY SESSIONS
(World Television Premiere) – Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, beginning September 10
Taped at Toronto’s intimate Berkeley church, this series showcases musical performances from an eclectic group of singers and musicians. The six-part series features performances by indie-rock father-son duo Bill and Joel Plaskett (Sept. 10); alt-country artist Jon Langford (Sept. 17); pop singer Sarah Slean (Sept. 24); neo-southern country-gothic artist Jim White (Oct. 1); and acoustic guitar virtuoso Kaki King (Oct. 8).

- CTV / Bravo media Alert for September 2008

Sarah Slean covered on Canadian Idol (again)

Last year Sarah Slean's Sweet Ones was covered on Canadian Idol. Sarah looked up the video on YouTube to see Carly Ray Jespen's version. The song was also covered during the Toronto Week editions.

This week Theo Tams covered the track.




Idol was not the only place to spot Sarah's been promoted lately.

Today posters of her promoting the Baroness were up in Toronto. Lady Dedlock on Sarah's forum also noted that a clip of Sarah from the Get Home video was projected over the Parliament Buildings. Lastly, Alanis Morissette appears to be continuing to praise Sarah and the album The Baroness.

Update 2008-09-15
Theo did win Canadian Idol and has gone back to playing Sweet Ones on a few occassions to which some have been posted on YouTube. Here is a link to him playing it live on Canada AM.

Sarah added to the BC Roots and Blues Festival

Following performances at the Montreal Jazz Festival and Guelph's Hillside Music Festival, Sarah has been added to the Roots and Blues Festival according to the festival site.

The Festival takes place August 15-17th.

At the time of publishing, this date has not been confirmed on SarahSlean.com. This show has been confirmed on SarahSlean.com as of August 1st.

SarahSlean.com has confirmed that Sarah will be playing at the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival in St. Catharines, ON on September 21, 2008.

Sarah Slean - Hillside 2008 Set Lists

hillside 200
Originally uploaded by Flare

As promised, here is a review for both of Sarah's Hillside sets this year.

Saturday 2008-07-26, 5:45 Main Stage Show

1. California
2. Euphoria
3. Get Home
4. Hopeful Hearts
5. Lucky Me (Jazz ver.)
6. When Another Midnight (Jazz ver.)
7. No Place at All
8. Notes From the Underground
9. Sound of Water

Sunday 2008-07-27 - 4:00 The Sun Stage

1. All My Trials (Bahmian lullaby, v. Joan Beaz)
2. Looking for Someone
3. Untitled (A minor, G, F, A minor) - Sheila Grunner with Sarah on Piano
4. Abide With Me (Henry Francis Lyte, 1847)

Both sets seemed to end very shortly and Sarah appeared to be ready to play another song during her Sunday set but was out of time. For Saturday's set Sarah sat at mini grand piano and was joined by the same band that joined her on the Books and Ballgowns tour. For the Sunday workshop she played an electric piano and was sometimes joined by Sheila Grunner (Black Cabbage) playing violin.

Saturday's main set was filmed in entirety by a professional camera. I was not able to confirm with the camera man how the recording will be used as he was always busy recording other sets when I saw him. There was no mention of CBC presenting either of Sarah's sets but all stages are recorded and CBC Radio 2 will be doing a highlights special on I believe August 22.

More photos of Sarah at Hillside can be found on Flickr. The photo featured, hillside 200 was Originally uploaded by Flare

Sarah @ The Hillside Music Festival

Sarah's back at the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph Ontario this weekend. In addition to her Saturday night main stage show, she will be playing hosting lullaby workshop on Sunday.

Sunny Stage Lullabies Sarah Slean (host) with Nabi Loney, Hayley Sales, Sheila Gruner & friends. - Hillside 2008 Program (PDF)

Tickets for the festival have now been sold out.

CBC Radio 2 in the past has played back some of the sets from Hillside in the weeks after the festival and have hosted some of the concerts online.

I will update following the festival.

Sarah's iTunes Playlist

Sarah is one of the many celebrities to have added their playlist to iTunes. Sarah goes through each track and being on iTunes you can sample and purchase them too. View Sarah's July 7th playlist by launching the celebrity playlist in iTunes.

1. Dress Rehearsal Rag - Leonard Cohen
2. Lover, You Should've Come Over - Jeff Buckley
3. God's Song - Randy Newman
4. Backdrifts - Radiohead
5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
6. A case of You - Jone Mitchell
7. God Knows - El Perro del Mar
8. Man-Sized Sexet - PJ Harvey
9. Mr Brightside - The Killers
10. Glory Box - Portishead
11. Desire - Talk Talk
12. The Tourist - Radiohead
13. Leather - Tori Amos
14. Strange Fruit - Billi Joliday
15. Joga - Bjork
    
16. Shine - David Gray
17. Powder Blue - Elbow

Thanks to Kyall for the heads up on this and the image is from the current iTunes Canada homepage.

Update 2008-07-22:
As people outside of the Canadian iTunes store can not view the playlist, by request I have included a screen print of Sarah's comments.

Sarah's Tour Journal

As Sarah did for her touring of Day One, she has shared her tour journal as she plays across the country.

Read it over here: http://www.sarahslean.com/about/SS_journal.aspx

The journal indicates that she played a private show in Banff on May 2, 2008. A few years ago Sarah stayed in Banff and had completed some new paintings. Not sure if that's related. The official page indicated that "Sarah Slean had the day off".

Want to read more from Sarah? The following two featured interviews published this week both captured great quotes of Sarah.

Mike's 23 Questions With Sarah Slean
(From reality TV to to her fans)

It Goes Beyond Speaking - The Scope, publish 2008-05-08
(Answers why she went to Paris)

Get Home Video - Available on iTunes

You can now purchase the video for Get Home on iTunes. The video size is 46.7mb which is over 3 times larger then the video that was previously made available to stream. The video retails at $2.29 in the Canadian iTunes store.

Sarah's New Book of Poetry - New Tour Merch

New to Sarah's merchandise table for the Book and Ballgowns Tour is her new book, The Baroness. This is her follow up to her 2005 book of poetry and original paintings titled Ravens.

Thanks to Kyall for proving images of his copy. The table of contents is as follows:

1. The Glacier (Posted to Sarah's Journal, 2004-11-04)
2. Vs.
3. Driving in Saskatchewan (Read at Wanderlust, 2006-02-13)
4. Emergency in Night Fog
5. Buddha Crowns
6. Sun I Send Down
7. The Child’s Room
8. Modern Man (Played live at Harbourfront, 2007-12-20. Song did not make the album)
9. If I Did Not Eat
10. Randall’s 50th
11. The Art Professor (About Peter? Sarah's forum post 2004-10-01)
    
12. Orphan Music (Title of her 2006 live and b-side album release)
13. Lonely Side of the Moon (Inspired by Schubert for the 2007-03-15 Art of Time Schubert show, song available via iTunes)
14. Abecedarian (Projected during Lucy Ruperts dance inspired by the poem 2007-11-08. Poem published to her blog on 2008-03-20)
15. The Grandmaster (Posted to Sarah's Journal, 2005-02-06)
16. Molly (Not to be mistaken for Pepper McGowan's song of the same name)
17. A Hundred Years
18. Equator
19. You Are The Holy Tower
20. Good Sweet Lily (Posted to Sarah's journal - 2004-12-11)
21. There I Travel
22. Widow
23. Jack-in-the-Box
24. Rays
25. Crescendo (Posted to Sarah's journal - 2006-02-11)
26. Positive Nihilist
27. One Day (Anagram of Day One, Sarah's 2004 album and song title)
28. I Dream of You
29. The Rose (Inspired by Schubert for the 2007-03-15 Art of Time show, song available via iTunes)
30. The Baroness Redecorates
31. Soliloquy (Published in The Baroness album notes, heard in Shadowland)

Sarah does YouTube

Over the last year Sarah's official presence on YouTube has started to grow.

1. Nelson Chan the video director of Day One, Mary, and Tales of the Baroness has added content from all 3 projects to the video sharing site.

2. The official SarahSlean.com has linked to YouTube videos of Sarah under its Media Section.

3. SarahSleanMusic is what appears to be an official account created on YouTube at the end of February. Last week it added the official Get Home video and today it added the contest winning version.

Sarah on CBC Bandwidth this Friday

A prerecorded interview Sarah did with CBC Bandwidth will be aired this Friday at 5:05. The show is played all through Ontario except Toronto. You can listen live online at the CBC Bandwidth
but it does not appear that they keep archives/podcast of the show.

The theme of the show is Lessons Learned.

The Books and Ballgowns tour kicks off today in Vancouver.

Sarah Played on CBC Go (MP3)

On Saturday April 12th, Sarah was the musical guest on CBC Go. Thankfully CBC has podcasted the 4/12/08 show and you can catch it now. Sarah played Get Home (26 min mark) and Looking for Someone (58 min). Sarah also got in on the shows theme of jingles chiming out a couple after playing Get Home. Sarah also had the opportunity to meet Margaret Atwood once again.

Sarah has included Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood under her Vitamins page.

Sarah's Tour Opener is Royal Wood

Photo credit: IMG_1137.JPG by p x

Royal Wood will be opening for Sarah for the entire Book and Ballgowns national tour. Royal does background vocals on The Baroness in Looking for Someone. He opened for Sarah a few months ago at Sarah's concert at the Mod Club and again for one of Sarah's Harbourfront shows.

Small Note on Sarah's Second Book of Poetry

Recently the Current Magazine published a cover article and interview with Sarah. Some good questions were posed, including with regards to her second book of poetry. Unlike Raven's, Sarah has decided to "focus this time on keeping this book very much about the text and I'm not going to put any paintings in it, I'm going to try to separate those two worlds."

There is no mention of the release date of this book or any other side projects. A side comment is made about completing her musical someday or a symphony.

You can read the full article here in PDF Format on page 13 or as unformatted HTML.

Additional Canadian Dates added to The Tour

If your on the SarahSlean.com mailing list, check your inbox, additional concert dates have been added and a change to one of the dates in Victoria. The following is an excerpt from the mailing list.

Show Date	Venue	Location	Tickets
May 6, 2008	Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre	Medicine Hat, AB	Tickets
May 17, 2008	Holy Heart of Mary Auditorium	St. John's, NF	On sale April 15, Noon
May 27, 2008	The Capitol Theatre	Moncton, NB	On sale April 15, 10am

Date Change

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Sarah's May 2 show at Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria, BC, has been moved to May 1. Venue and ticket information wil be exactly the same as previously announced. An email about this change has been sent to all those who purchased tickets to this show through the SarahSlean.com presale. All other Victoria ticket purchasers will be contacted by the venue directly. If you have any questions, please email us at tickets@sarahslean.com.

Favourite Baroness Songs - Poll Results

The littleslean news page has been collecting votes on visitors favourite songs for the Baroness since its release. Each song was picked as a favourite to someone of the 50 participants. Although not scientific, I think it's a small snapshot of early impression of some Sarah's followers.

Euphoria took most the votes being trailed by Sound of Water and Looking for Someone.

The lead single, Get Home, ranked mid pack.

In the basement was Goodnight Trouble and Please Be Good to Me.

The full results are posted below:

Hopeful Hearts	10 (20%)
Get Home	12 (24%)
Euphoria	16 (32%)
Goodnight Trouble	6 (12%)
Notes from the Underground	13 (26%)
Sound of Water	15 (30%)
No Place at All	9 (18%)
Please be Good to Me	4 (8%)
Willow	9 (18%)
So Many Miles	8 (16%)
Shadowland	13 (26%)
Looking for Someone	14 (28%)

Thank you for all those that participated. On something unrelated, a guitar cover of Vertigo by Derekmok has been put up on YouTube.

Canadian Tour - Presale Tomorrow

The Canadian Tour dates have been announced. The presale is tomorrow. Visit SarahSlean.com for all the tour info.

April 1 - Live Slean Taping for Beautiful Noise (Update)

Chromwaves.net just published a list today of Season 3 performers for Rave HD / Sun TV's television series Beautiful Noise. Sarah appears on the show April 1st, 2008 with Jim White.

Performances are filmed at the Berkeley Church in Toronto. It does not appear that invitations are open to the public but Chromewaves is having a contest.

UPDATE 2008-03-25 - SarahSlean.com has a link to RSVP a request into the show. View the news article here.

Read a New Poem by Sarah Slean

Previously we posted about Lucy Rupert's dance titled the Abcedarian inspired by Sarah's poem of the same name.

The video of the dance has been available on YouTube but now for the first time the poem has been published in its entirety.

You can read it here on Lucy's Blog.

CD Release Concert Review - Joe's Pub, NYC

Asking around for reviews of the CD release party, I received the following detailed review, set list, and picture courtesy of Chris. He flew into the show, this is his review.

"Sarah and her band took the stage at about 7:30. I can't be sure of the names of the band members, but there was a drummer, guitarist, and an upright bass player. The guitarist snag backups on most songs and the rest of the band joined in on a song or two. The show was rather short, maybe just over an hour. She performed Lucky Me standing in front of the piano, sort of moving to the music similar to how she did in the video for that song. I was afraid it would be awkward for her to stand and sing a song without something to do with her hands, butshe pulled it off beautifully. Afterward, Sarah came out and talked with about 20 fans who had waited around for her, signed autographs,and was her charming self."

Set List:
1. California
2. Duncan
3. Notes From The Underground (correction)
4. No Place At All
5. Please Be Good To Me
6. Lucky Me (standing, no piano)
-- band leaves --
7. Pilgrim (solo)
8. Blue Parade (solo)
-- band returns --
9. Goodnight Trouble
10. Get Home
11. Looking For Someone
-- encore --
12. Universe (solo)
13. Parasol (with band)

Thanks again to Chris for providing that review. Other reports stated that it was a great show but they felt it just felt too short. A Canadian tour is set for May.

Listen to Sarah Play on CBC Q (MP3)

To hear today's broadcast of Sarah on CBC's Q you can pick up their podcast (mono mp3).

Sarah opened the show playing Get Home followed by a short interview regards to the song and the album title. They came back to Sarah later in the show where she played No Place at All. To close the show they returned to Sarah and she played Looking for Someone. All songs were played on an in studio grand piano.

In the closing statement they mentioned the Canadian tour will start in May.

Sarah's Notes on Each Album Track

What was Sarah thinking? Who was doing background vocals on Looking for Someone?
Well you can gather answers from Sarah herself on the official page.

Click on the song titles and more information will be displayed for each track.

The Baroness - The Physical Copy

Today early copies of the Baroness started to arrive in the hands of some fans. Like Orphan Music, The Baroness is packaged as a Digipak. You can have a look at the album and hear some song samples and fan interviews on the video posted from the Ottawa Citizen listening party.



To note, this album does not contain any bonus tracks like her previous album have. For more notes on songs that did not make, see this post.

For those that are looking to still buy the album, I have posted links and prices in this thread.

Sarah Slean - Get Home (Official Video)

The official video of Get Home has been added to SarahSlean.com site. You can view a YouTube copy of it here:

The video concept as her being a powerful Baroness in this 1940's theme and then being striped bare to her true self. Sarah spoke with E-Talk, MTV's E2, and Entertainment Tonight Canada on the set of the video.

On SarahSleanContest.com the create your own Get Home video contest continues. At the time of publishing, 70 videos have been submitted so far. The next 30 videos to be submitted are still eligible to receive a signed a poster.

Please feel free to give a vote for myself or any other of your favourites.

Hear the New Album now - Flare.com

As posted on Sarah's homepage, Flare.com has the new Sarah Slean up in it's entirety in streaming format.

Give your first listen to The Baroness here:
http://www.flare.com/celebrity/article.jsp?content=20080226_155305_7096

MTV.ca might be 'dropping' the album tomorrow afternoon according to their schedule.

In anticipation of the album release Sarah was on both MTV's E2 this week and E -Talk daily doing interviews on the set of the video for Get Home. A clip of the video was shown over the end credits of E-Talk.

www.sarahslean.com BIG updates!

Take a visit to the official home page and you can explore all the many new updates.

Artwork, contest, tour archive, new live and promo photos, restoring of vitamins and journal entries.

The page just went live so some pages might be unavailable such as the store.

Watch the dance inspired by Sarah's Poem, The Abcedarian

In November we wrote to inform you of a poem Sarah had written for the inspiration of a dance routine. The poem titled, The Abecedarian, was danced by Lucy Rupert.

You can now see her performance here:



The words of the poem are not spoken and I can not tell with certainty that the music is by Sarah. The voice in the last few seconds of the clip does appear to be her's.
Publish Post

At the time of posting, the words to this poem have not been published.

Update: 2008-03-04
Lucy kindly advised that the music is Arvo Part, a section of a piece called Lamentate and the words spoken are not by Sarah, but by Lucy herself. Sarah's poem was projected overhead but not visible in this video. The poem may still be published at a later date.

Album Cover Art - View it Now

Looks like the final art work Sarah's fourth coming album has now been uploaded to the sarahslean.com. It looks like the image is from a different shoot from the images we had previously shown and that are used throughout the rest of the official site. The disclaimer regards to not being the final artwork has also been removed alongside the previous image.

The stunning image on the left is from sarahslean.com



Update 2008/15/08: - More new images....
Sarah Slean facebook profile has a new image and it's another stunning shot. Her myspace page has also received a makeover with new banner images, the new cover art and a theme similar to sarahslean.com.

March 11, 2008 Concert in NYC

The official site has confirmed a tour date of March 11, 2008 at Joe's Pub in NYC. This date also marks the album release date of the Baroness.

Tickets are on sale now. link.

Slean to Play for WellSpot , March 29 - Toronto

Sarah Slean is one of the headlining performers for the Women and Wellness event, WellSpot 08, according to their website. The event takes place on March 29, 2008 at the Diesel Theatre in Toronto.

Tickets are currently on sale at a starting price of $129. If you purchase 5 seats, you can get a 6th one free.

Please note that the website states this event is for women only. Please take further note that that the time of posting, this show has not been confirmed on any of Sarah's official pages.

HealthyGirl^TM is proud to present the most anticipated wellness event for women this year. WellSpot 2008 is the ultimate gathering for women, featuring today’s most influential wellness experts. The event will be an interactive and experiential workshop-style one day wellness celebration. On Saturday March 29th, 2008, Wellspot 2008 will be the destination event for women this year. The core focus for the event will be to educate, empower and facilitate incredible workshops on preventive health, work-life balance, leadership, nutrition, fitness and stress management. The event will also incorporate the arts with special performances in both dance and music by two of Canada’s leading entertainment artists. Wellspot 2008 will be the most talked about event for women this year. In support of Rethink Breast Cancer, WellSpot 2008 will bring like-minded women together for one day of education, inspiration and networking. - WellSpot.ca

Tales of the Baroness - DVD Release

The film Tales of The Baroness by Sarah Slean and Nelson Chan is slated for DVD release this month. Last year part 1 of the three part trilogy was shown on television.

Details such as the DVD's costs and features has not yet been made available. At this time your prompted to reserve a copy on the website www.talesofthebaroness.com .



In addition to the film's trailer, animation tests have been added by Nelson Chan to his YouTube account. Nelson Chan is also the video director of Sarah's videos Day One and Mary.

Update, 2008-02-12: The DVD is indefinitely delayed accorded to a recent post on the Sarah Slean forum.

The Baroness - Those That Made the Cut

The official track listing was announced today with the presale for The Baroness. The tracklisiting is as follows:

1. Hopeful Hearts
2. Get Home
3. Euphoria
4. Goodnight Trouble
5. Notes from the Underground
6. Sound of Water
7. No Place at All
8. Please be Good to Me
9. Willow
10. So Many Miles
11. Shadowland
12. Looking for Someone

The 12 track album less any bonus songs is a fair amount shorter then the 16 or more songs first speculated. Some of the songs that didn't make cut or were retitled are:

• Parasol / Sweet Virgina - Availble as digital download with album preorder
  
• The Rose - "This string arrangement will break your poor heart into tiny bite-sized pieces." An earlier version of this song was recorded with Sarah's show with the Art of Time Ensemble as part of the Schubert 'Source and Inspiration Show" - Audio. Available with Lonely Side of the Moon in a special edition release of the Baroness on iTunes.
  
• Compatriots - is a manic parade through circus-ville... - Played in 2007
• My Song - Played in the Spring of 2005, recorded as part of CBC's FUSE tapping alongside Buck 65.
• Remember (Rescue?) Me - Played in 2007 No Place At All made the album.
  
• Modern Man
• The Right Words
• Please b g time Please Be Good To Me, made the album.
  

The fate for these songs and others that didn't make the cut might not be so grim.
"The singer, 30, had 23 songs to choose from which was later pared down to 18. Now the biggest challenge is paring those 18 down to 12, but Slean says she’ll find a home for all of the tracks.

“There was a lot happening in my life and I was writing a lot when I got back here,” she says. “I think I plan on making a DVD of these songs because there’s so many and having favourites is like having children. So I would like to release that a year down the line.”- Toronto Sun, December 21, 2007

*Updates made 2008-03-07 denoted by Red font.

iTunes Essentials & Get Home (Album version)

On the heals of the new album preorder, the iTune's Canadian store has made a compilation of songs from Sarah's albums, singles and other works to a single album.

All songs are prior to the release of The Baroness.

As stated in the official release from ss.com, Get Home is become the track of the week this week on iTunes. The track is free for those who have an iTunes store account. The song is the album version unlike the free demo version that was previously available through her mailing list.

Album Presale Tomorrow

Sarah Slean's new album entitled, The Baroness, will go on presale tomorrow through the store on SarahSlean.com. The official site syndicated this announcement through the official Sarah Slean mailing list, myspace, and facebook account.

The announcment also revealed further details such as Parasol (Sweet Virginia) being a free digital give away with the preorder and that Get Home will be the single of the week on iTunes starting January 29, 2008. Additional information in regards to Sarah's concert on February 2, 2008 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra was also included in the release.

Slean, Royal, and Sadies play show @ the Mod

Raymi reports on her blog today regards to working a RSVP industry show with musical guests Royal Wood, The Sadies, and Sarah Slean this evening at the Mod Club. All three artists are with Maplemusic but I can only speculate at this point to who the show was put on for and by whom.

I will keep a eye out for published articles and photos from this event.

Sarah recently met up with Royal and fellow musician Emm Gryner.
Matthew posted on the official forum regards to Emm Gryner's blog on the meeting to where Gryner states "Her (Slean's) new album is going to kill you".

Red Carpet Interview Video and Pictures

Sarah was interviewed by andPOP.com at the December 13, 2007 L'Oreal and Fords Model sponsored holiday party Sexy in the City. The short red carpet interview touches upon the new album and some of Sarah's recommendation on piano playing artists.

Sarah's attendance at this party was picked up by numerous fashion magazines and sites.

Watch the segment here (01.51 mark) -andPOP
See a red carpet photo here, care of Flare magazine.
Excellent red carpet photo here, care of Fashion Magazine with the photo by Amy Burstyn. (Added 2008/2/2)


She's Someone You Know Campaign
Sarahslean.com in this fall reported on Sarah's participation in 'She's someone you know' for the Jocelyn Foundation. Images of Sarah with the shirt and further information on the 't-shirt' can be found here.