Sheet Music and Paris string orchestra

As this year comes to a close, Sarah already has her hands tied into projects that will take her into the new year. This summer, Skipster aka Scott did a great interview with Sarah that touched on some projects new and old.

There are a few points that I have been following and wish to highlight.

We might be seeing the long awaited sheet music of Sarah's made available at this week's holiday shows. Fans had submitted requests for what sheet music they would like to see in 2007. The entries touched on all of Sarah's work prior to The Baroness. Since it has not been confirmed outside this interview, this item may not yet be available. Other merchandise to look out for are upcycled items from the Resession-ista tour of this year and limited copies of The Baroness Redecorates.

Another large announcement that has only been mentioned so far in this interview is Sarah receiving a Canadian Council 2010 grant to score strings for Paris orchestra. Not much else is known about this project at this time. Sarah has not played any concerts in Paris since the recording of The Baroness.

Updates on these projects and others will be fourth coming. If you still plan on participating in this year's Passioneer Holiday Project, please do so ASAP. The full interview with Sarah can be read here:

http://www.skipster.us/2009/07/interview-sarah-slean/

2009 Holiday Project

slean_harboufront_dec2006_2
Originally uploaded by YenC

The 5th 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 and pictures, please see the facebook group page.

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.

A big thank you to all of those have participated in the project in the past. Please RSVP on Facebook and feel free to contact myself with regards to any questions or your contribution.

New Interview - Riveting Riffs Magazine

A new interview with Sarah has been published online by Riveting Riffs. The piece touches on many of Sarah's different artistic projects over the years. It is also one of the rare interviews where she has spoken about the Baroness Redecorates and Warner.

The 2 Page interview can be found here: http://www.rivetingriffs.com/sarah_slean_%2709.htm

London England concert in 2010

Last week tweets and WearsTheTrousers both pointed out that Sarah Slean and Royal Wood both have concert tickets for sale in Europe. The concert has not been officially announced or posted on Sarah's (or Roayl's) site at the time of publishing.

2010-02-02 - The Borderline, London. Tickets

At this time I have been unable to locate any other pending concert dates. The annual holiday show may still be in the works. Stay tuned.

US Tour Dates Postponed

I recently updated the post regarding Sarah's Joe's Pub concert in New York. Although I'm not certain regards to tonight's concert, an annoucement was made on Sarah's page today stated the following.

We’re excited to announce that Sarah has been invited to participate in a documentary for Song For Africa, a non-profit organization that aims to inspire change and raise awareness about humanitarian issues in Africa. This project will take Sarah to Africa from mid-November to early December.

Unfortunately, this means that the small US tour that was being planned for November has been pushed to next year. Check back for tour updates or sign up for our mailing list to have this information sent to you directly.

We will continue to look up more information on Songs for Africa and any further news on upcomming concert dates. The official site also posted a new joural entry of Sarah's as well.

Radio Interview - Star93.3 (mp3)

Sarah did a 10 minute interview with radio station Star 93.3 in promotion of her upcoming Art of Time concert in Peterborough.

The interview is available for download on the Star 93.3 site.

Topics covered included the songwriting process, The Art of Time Ensemble and what Sarah appreciates about her achievements over the last 10 years.

Update 2009-10-23:

Lucid Forge did a print interview that covers many of the same topics. You can read it here.

Additional US Concert - Philadelphia

Another US concert date has been found. A few days after Sarah hits Joe's Pub in NY, she will be heading to Philadelphia.

Friday November 6th, World Cafe, Philadelphia.

Patrick Park will also be playing that night. This concert has not been officially announced on Sarah's website at the time of publishing.

Sarah Slean's Abbey Road Beatles Tribute

The radio broadcast of CBC Radio 2's recording of Sarah Slean and the Art of Time Ensemble Abbey Road show will take place on Thursday, November 12th at 10pm. It will play on the show the Signal and is also streamed live online and in various time zones. The concert will likely be be made available at a later date in their online concert archive and as a podcast.

Sarah sang on the following three Beatles songs:

• Something
• Because
• Sun King
• Carry the Weight

The radio date was mentioned in recent Art of Time email news letters. The photo is credited to myself.

New Concert - Joe's Pub (NY)

Sarah is heading south of the boarder and returning once again to Joe's Pub in NY. The date is listed on their website but has not been confirmed on Sarah's official site at the time of publishing.

The concert is November 3, 2009. Tickets and information can be found here.

I noticed this show via a tweet from Sarah Slean fan, Woj. I have not been able to find any additional dates.

Update 2009-11-1 ~ Private?

Thanks to woj again who pointed out that the concert details have now been removed from the Joe's pub site and replaced with information that a private event is occuring that night. I would suggest contacting the venue if you have plans attending that night. I will also attempt to update this thread again if more details surface.

Dancing to The Disarm Suite - Jan 29/30

Lucy Rupert will be choreographing to Sarah Slean's music again. We have previously mentioned Lucy as she had danced to Sarah's poem, the Abecedarian and as the choreographer for the music video of The Rose.

At the end of January a new choreographed piece will be shown.

I have been able to confirm that the composed song for this performance will be a recording of The Disarm Suite from The Baroness Redecorates. A new compostion by Sarah is in the works for a dance at a later date.

Jan. 29 – Jan 30, 2010
Blue Ceiling Dance - The Sneak
in association
with Rebecca Carney
& Caroline Niklas-Gordon

Choreographers:
Lucy Rupert, Rebecca Carney, Caroline Niklas-Gordon
Performers: Rebecca
Carney, Caroline Niklas-Gordon, Lucy Rupert
Composer: Sarah Slean

A sleek, minimalist production of new dance-theatre works by three of Toronto’s
most accomplished indie artists. Rebecca Carney offers two short works drawing
on her vast experience with the extraordinarily inventive Circus Orange;
Caroline Niklas-Gordon delves into the abyss of human emotion with A-VOID: a
solo; and Lucy Rupert collaborates with lauded Juno-nominated singer-songwriter
Sarah Slean on square inch, a solo that draws on Rupert’s passionate
expressivity and Slean’s lush orchestration for string quartet and piano.

- Dance Works

New ways to follow littleslean

A few updates have been made to make following littleslean even easier.

1. An email subscription form has been added on the site for another way you can subscribe to littleslean news and get the more traditional email notifications. Subscribe to littleslean.com News by Email.


2. The second change is that I have created a twitter account to mirror new posts made to littleslean. A widget is doing the work so you may not see any different content from what you already see on here. https://twitter.com/littleslean

There continues to be a host of other syndication options that remain available taking use of the sites RSS feed.

Lastly, reminder that there is just 1 more day left for the online screening of Last Flowers through littleslean.

Thank you to the over 50,000 people that have visited the site, continue to read and contribute. Improvements will continue to be fourth coming.

Last Flowers - littleslean Online Screening (links)

We have been following up on CJ Wallis' film Last Flowers since last year with the news of Sarah Slean's acting roll in it. Sometime ago I had the opportunity to screen an early version of the short film and was very impressed.

This is Sarah's biggest role on the silver screen since her role in the 2005 film de noir, Black Widow. Sarah and her counterpart, Joseph May, both shine in their roles as two very likeable and believable characters. At times in the film it is easy to forget that Sarah is playing the character of Mona Miller with the sincerity she takes to the role and the many similar traits they seem to share. The story surrounds the death of Mona's mother and her relationship to the obituary writer played by Joseph. Dealing with death, rejection, sickness and lies the characters wind themselves into some uncomfortable places but there is a positive feeling to the film with hope and inspiration.

Today I'm excited to announce CJ Wallis has teamed up with littleslean to allow you to have one of the first opportunities to view the entire film in HD.

To view the film, follow the links below with the password 'littleslean'

part one: http://www.vimeo.com/5441167
part two: http://www.vimeo.com/5581655

Make sure to note the film is split into two parts. Please share your thoughts of the film here in the comments or post a link to where we can view them. The video will be coming down at the end of this weekend so do pass on the information to others you feel might be interested. You can also join their Facebook group and let them know what you think.

Enjoy!

Update 2010-01-20

The film is now available via the above links to the public with no password required.

Additional Art of Time Concert - Kitchener

Although we have announced the concert dates of Art of Time Ensemble tour with Sarah Slean in support of Black Flowers back in June one date appears to be added.

The Art of Time's website indicates a show on October 21st at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener. This additional date has not been confirmed on Sarah Slean's official site at the time of publishing.

Ahead of this tour is the Art of Time's show dedicated to the Beatles Abbey Road album. Tickets for that concerts are nearly sold out but they according to their twitter page they are looking for a merchandise volunteer who can view the show for free.

Update: 2009-09-25

A few minutes ago the Kitchener show was confirmed on Sarah's offical twitter account. The Beatles Abbey Road concert with the Art of Time has now sold out.

Sarah at the Rivoli - Review and Film News

Today marked the premiere of CitySonic's film of 'Sarah Slean at the Rivoli.' The free screening at a busy Dundas Square was mostly focused on Sarah and ironically didn't spend a great time on the Rivoli. She is interviewed around the Royal Conservatory and spoke about her time in school playing classical music. It spoke about her ambitions to play at the Rivoli as so many artists she admired played there and it was a place to learn how to play to a live crowd. There wasn't any mention to any of her past concerts dates there or bands she took in seeing there.

It was a well done interview and did come out quite beautifully. The music of California was played near the start and one of the most impressive visual scenes were animations of some of Sarah's paintings done to the music of Get Home. The art work came to life in a way that far different from the flash animation style used by Nelson Chan in the Tales of The Baroness, Day One and Mary.

If you missed it at TIFF, the film will likely see its way online by CitySonic in the near future. They have frequently been puting up episodes in this series to YouTube.

Earlier during the festival, The Translator was shown during the festival that features a cameo appearance by Sarah. The brief scene at the start of the film credits her as 'The French Speaking Girl". This film is currently available free to view at the Fim Festival site here.

Lastly, more exciting news is to follow regarding C. J. Wallis's film, Last Flowers. Stay tuned as a review and for a special announcement to littleslean readers.

Free Concert, Tomorrow! Don Mills

Sarah plays a free concert at the Festival in the Square in Don Mills.

Her 45 minute set starts at 2:00 and is followed by Ron Sexsmith, Jill Barber and Matt Dusk.

More information can be found here:
http://www.shopsatdonmills.ca/en/custom/Pages/FestivalintheSquare.aspx

This show has not been posted on Sarah's official site at the time of publishing. I was made aware of the concert via a Tweet.

New Music Video - I'll Never Tear You Apart

It wasn't long ago when we posted news about Sarah having a new music video and here is yet another one. On Wednesday Sarah debuted a new music video for her cover with the Art of Time Ensemble of Martin Tielli's, I'll Never Tear You Apart.

The video was shown on Bravo but is available on YouTube. View it here.

The original version can be found here.

New Music Video - The Rose

Back in March we announced that a new music video for Sarah directed by CJ Wallis (Lastflowers) was in the works. Today, with an aproval of a BravoFact grant, the video title has been announced.

From The Baroness Redecorates, The Rose.

Fortyfps Film

The Rose was first written for a series of Art of Time shows. Sarah is set out to tour with the Art of Time Ensemble this fall. Tickets for many of the dates are currently on sale.

Free Sarah Slean Documentary @ TIFF (Update)

For months I have been following City Sonic as they put together an episode where artists discuss an venue they have been intimately tied too.

The filmed piece directed by Rob Pilichowski that focuses on Sarah Slean and the Queen Street concert venue the Rivoli will be premiering as part of The Toronto International Film Festival. The Rivoli was one of the venues Sarah started her career at continued to play many memorable sold out shows there including her annual holiday shows. Her signed portrait photograph was the only one to hang above the stage bar for a number of years.

The film will be shown as one of the free showings at Dundas Square which this year at the festival will also include free musical concerts be Neil Young and Joan Baez.

The date and time of the showing have yet to be announced.

September 15th, 12pm Followed by Sweet Toronto - Update 2009-08-19

For those that can not make it to the free showing, City Sonic has been putting up the videos in high quality to YouTube and to one of my favourite music sites, Aux TV.

New Concert, Sault Ste. Marie

Fresh off the Rescessionista tour, new concert dates are to be found.

Sarah Slean is scheduled to play at the Algoma Fall Festival on October 9th. The venue in Sault Ste. Marie, ON has yet to be announced but tickets are $30 while festival passes are priced at $49.00.

At the time of publishing this show has yet to be published or confirmed on sarahslean.com.

Get The Dress - Auction for Sarah's Tour Dresses

The Recessionista Tour dress are all on sale on ebay now. The interactive widget below will allow you to follow 10/11 Sarah Slean tour dresses from each of the designers. Please note that bid prices are shown in US dollars. Clicking through to the ebay site will show you the converted Canadian amounts and allow you to place a bid.



Please feel free to copy this widget to your site and help encourage bidders to those who would love to own one of these dresses and support the David Suzuki Foundation.

More information on the designers and larger images of the stunning photos of Sarah in the dresses can be found on the official site. We also highlighted the tour designers in this post.

Best of luck to all the bidders. Feel free to comment on the dresses you like the most and thoughts about the tour.

Sarah Slean and the Art of Time Song Book Tour

Dates for Sarah Slean and the Art of Time tour together is support of Black Flowers has been posted on the website for the Collection Agency. The dates are as follows:

Oct. 22 / 09 Koerner Hall / Telus Centre Toronto, ON
Oct. 23 / 09 Empire Theatre Belleville, ON
Oct. 24 / 09 Shenkman Centre for the Performing Arts Ottawa, ON
Oct. 25 / 09 Showplace Performance Centre Peterborough, ON
Oct. 27 / 09 E.A. Rawlinson Centre Prince Albert, SK
Oct. 29 / 09 Festival Place Sherwood Park, AB

The dates for this show have not been posted on the Art of Time website or sarahslean.com at the time of publishing. Some tickets are currently on sale. Ticket on sale date has not been announced for the Toronto Koerner Hall show at this time. Thanks to Andrea for the tip and I will continue to follow up for information on this tour.

Sarah Slean - I Am A Child (audio)

The Neil Young Tribute Show that took place last week at Massey Hall has already been put online on CBC. Sarah played Neil's song, I am a Child. You can listen to the track over here:

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/media/20090610young/19.asx

The show will also air on CBC radio on the following dates according to their twitter page:

"Neil Young Massey Hall tribute concert will air on Canada Live in 2 parts on Mondays: June 26 + July 6"

Please note, I haven't been able to find a site page yet on the CBC that offers that link. I just located it running a search on the CBC site. Changing the 19 to a different number changes the track and the word 'all' plays the entire concert.

New Merch

Although Sarah's tour is wrapping up, the creative side of it continue with new merchandise.

With another Fresh Colleive artist, Odd Bird, Sarah has drawn the lady for the pendent domino earring on the right. The image on the left is the same as image shown on the CD for The Baroness. This merchandise will be made availble on the tour and should be appearing in the SarahSlean.com store at some point.

Sarah's official site continues to profile the designers for this Recesion-ista Tour.

This information and image comes the way of the Fresh Collective blog.

CBC to Recorde Sarah covering Neil Young

Tomorrow as part of the Toronto Luminato Festival, Sarah will be one of the artists paying tribute to Neil Young at a concert in Massey Hall.

CBC Radio 2 has confirmed they will be recording the concert for Canada Live which streams concerts on their website and releases podcasts.

Tickets for this event are still on sale for those interested in attending.

Sarah with the Art of Time Ensemble (again!)

Just as Sarah Slean and the Art of Time Ensemble released Black Flowers together, the 2009/2010 Season includes two events that feature Sarah.

The first is the weekend of September 28th with 2 nights in tribute to the Beatles Abbey Road album. Sarah did a cover of the Accross the Universe at this year's Holiday Show.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the release of The Beatles’
Abbey Road, we present the entire album—re-imagined,
re-invented, and performed by top Canadian artists from the classical, pop and jazz worlds.


Featured Singers
Kevin Hearn
Raine Maida
Andy Maize
Steven Page
Sarah Slean
John Southworth
Martin Tielli

The Arrangers
Shelly Berger
Gavin Bryars
Robert Carli
Kevin Fox
Jonathan Goldsmith
Jim McGrath
Cameron Wilson
The Musicians
Andrew Burashko Piano
Benjamin Bowman Violin
Steven Dann Viola
John Johnson Sax
Rachel Mercer Cello
Joe Phillips Bass
Rob Piltch Guitar
Rick Sacks Percussion
Stephen Sitarski Violin
Michael White Trumpet
& Others

Link to info, profiles, and tickets can be found here. Please note that tickets appear to be selling fast. I have been advised that the first 3 rows may be an extention of the stage and the row following that is reserved. Deals are still to be had on side seating and for those who have seen Sarah or the Art of Time at Enwave before should note that there are really no bad seats



The second event is that Sarah and the Art of Time Ensemble will be doing shows in support of Black Flowers again. The dates have yet to be determined, but I would pencil in October and check back here to see if your city gets a show.

Sarah's Recession-ista Tour designers and dresses

Sarah currently is currently touring the country on the Recession-ista Tour and is making national news for upcycled fashion. I have put together a list of some of the currently known designers mentioned in various souces and added other antidotes in italics.

The official website has created profiles and examples on the following 3 designers:

• Meet Meet Kat O’Shaughnessy of Magdelina Designs

Kat shared her excitement of working on Sarah's dress on twitter. She also interned for Annie Thompson who has designed her own dress for the tour.

• Meet Charmain Bertram of Integrity Designs

Fellow designer at the Fresh Collective, Kate Jackson, designed Sarah's skirt in her video for Lucky Me.

• Meet Alyssa Rushton of Norma W

Alyssa made two dresses for the tour, the first being worn in Pentanguishine.

May 27th e-talk ran a television segment where Sarah met and tried on the dresses from the following 2 designers:

• Sonny Fong, winner Project Runway Canada, designed a dress out judges robes.

• Annie Thompson created a dress out of bed sheets and a sweater.

Who is also an "amazing painter and sculptor" according to Sarah in this great article on the fashion of this tour by FFWD .


May 29th Entertertainment Tonight Canada ran a segment where Sarah tried on dresses and jewelry from the following designers:

• Joyce and Judy at Comrags made a dress out of used hockey jerseys. See it here.

• Ashley Winnginton-Ball has donated sustainable accessories for the Tour.

In an article from June 2nd's National Post they mentioned the following:

• Rose-Marie Umetsu

Sarah was photographed in an Umetsu designed dress for a recent project by Catlin Cronenberg.

• Janine Cockburn of label Momiji and another member of Fresh Connect used a sari and a "towelling jumper from the '70s"

• Susan Harris, white and cream dress, antique table linens and other soft, timeworn fabric

Sarah and Susan Harris came together at the 2007 Green Carpet Series.

It's expected that more information on these designers will be posted on Sarah's official site and all the dresses will be showcased before the auction. Please share your comments on your favourite dresses and the ones you saw if you were lucky enough to see her on tour.

Sarah has made available upcycled clothes at her merchandise table of silk screened scarves. Here is a peek of the selection available at the first stop of the tour:

Sarah invited to Hindu

Sarah's views on religion have been expressed in her art and shared words. Although we don't dive too much into such topics here, multiple articles were recently published on an invitation to Sarah to visit a Hindu Temple. The invitation and scripture was delivered by Rajan Zen, a Hindu Statesmen.

Due to Canadian singer-songwriter-actress Sarah Slean’s reported interest in Hinduism, Hindus have wished her best with her “The Recession-ista Tour”.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, urged 31-year old Gemini nominated Slean (Black Widow) to visit a nearby Hindu temple to have first hand experience of Hinduism and seek blessings. In a recent interview, quoting from Hindu sutras, Slean said, “That is amazing.”

Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, has also offered to supply a set of Hindu scriptures to Slean to help her in comprehensive understanding of Hinduism.

Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and rich philosophical thought, Zed said and added that if Slean needed any assistance in her study of Hinduism or Sanskrit, he or other Hindu leaders would be glad to share their knowledge or arrange the appropriate expertise.

Rajan Zed stressed that since entertainment industry had worldwide reach, entertainment celebrities should become familiar with at least basics of world religions to understand the feelings of their audiences better.

Reacting to the recent adventures of celebrities flirting with Hinduism, Hindu concepts and terminology; Zed said that Hindus welcomed celebrities to immerse in Hinduism but taking it seriously and with respect and not just using it as a fashion statement.

http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/view/104309

Sarah with Theo Tams (audio)

Canadian Idol Winner's Theo Tams album was released this week and includes the track Let Go co-written by Sarah Slean. You can now preview the song on Theo's site, track 11.

'Sue' who was kind enough to post a response to our first posting regards to the details on the track back in April pointed out the following article:

Theo also collaborated with Canadian artists like Dahmnait Doyle and Andy Stochansky and had one of his musical idols, Sarah Slean, co-write a song for him with Greg Johnston.

Slean had never co-written a song for anyone before but was inspired to do so after seeing Theo perform a cover of her tune "Sweet Ones" on Canadian Idol last summer.

"Apparently she said that it was the first time that someone kind of did it right, the way the song was meant to be, and it was just so cool that she offered really to co-write a song," says Theo.

The result is "Let Go," which has become one of Theo's favourite songs on the album.

"It's the closest to my heart. That song is just kind of my anthem now. I like how she talks about how she has freedom and to me that's what Idol was. It was this chance for me to really just present myself, and my weaknesses, sweaty guy and all," he laughs, in reference to his very first Idol audition that had him meeting the judges with giant pit stains. "And really, for one of the first times in my life just step out (and) be myself."

Source, CTV 2005-05-21

Sarah's first co-written song for another artist that I know off is Heather Nights by Buck 65 done in 2005. Sarah has also enjoyed some of the other covers of Sweet Ones. In her journal pointed out some "You Tube" stars and gave a "wow" to this video. Personally I love this cover by Daniel and think it's well worth linking too again.

Photos by Sarah for Auction

As part of this years Vancouver DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Sarah will be having undeveloped photos she has taken put up for auction.

Running throughout the festival, there'll also be a celebrity camera auction. Up for bid will be undeveloped snapshots from the likes of CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos, director Denys Arcand, actors Kristin Kreuk and Jennifer Beals, music stars k-os, Sarah Slean, Jann Arden, Issa, Randy Bachman, Matthew Good, and Veda Hille, and more. Straight.com April 24 2009

Sarah's Guest Blogging Opera Review

Sarah was the guest blogger today for Marshall Musings, writing a favorable review on the opera The Coronation of Poppea.

The opera runs from today to May 2nd.

New Canadian Tour

Check out Sarah's official site for a list of new tour dates announced earlier today. Some dates may still be in the works as hinted by the Agency Group's Colin Lewis on Facebook.

Sarah's email news letter has more details towards the concerts such as them being solo and a way to support the environment.

Sarah works with Idol, Theo Tams

It appears that Sarah may have written on the Canadian Idol's new album. An article for the Sunny South News states both Sarah and Hawksley Workman worked with him. The news seems to be accurate as the first single released from the album was co-written by Hawksley. One of Theo's biggest covers on Canadian Idol was covering Sarah Slean's Sweet Ones and he has continued to play it since winning the title. According to his Facebook, the new album Give it All Away is done recording, currently being mixed, and due for release May 19th. It may be worth checking the credits on the album for Sarah's name. I would love any additional sources on this one, please comment if you have anything to add. Update: 2009-04-16 The Canadian Press confirmed in an article today that Sarah did write for this album. Update: 2009-04-17 The song Sarah co-wrote with Greg Johnston is titled 'Let Go'. - Popularity

Sarah in School (National Video) & Tour

CBC's The National has conducted an excellent interview with Sarah that they aired yesterday. Sandra Abma at CBC attended a class with her at the University of Toronto, talked to her about here influences and even approached Sarah on some of her personal struggles.

A rehearsal with Andrew Burashko shows Sarah singing Lenard Cohen's That's No Was To Say Goodbye with him. They point out that both Sarah and the Art of Time Ensemble will be doing a tour together in the fall to support the album.

Through the interview live footage from many past events are shown. Most of them I recognized with the exception of the one shown at 2.37. Please leave me a comment if you know anything about that performance of Get Home.

See the video here:
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/arts/sarah_slean_at_school.html

The video can also be found around 33 minutes into the Friday episode of The National.

Release Date Change, Sarah with the Art of Time

The album recorded with Sarah Slean and the Art of Time Ensemble set to release next week has now been pushed to June 2nd.

Later that eve, I had a drink with the Pheromone Recordings exec Kim Cooke, who I've known for over a decade. He'll be putting out the Art of Time record I worked on this June, which I will be telling you all about in a week's time. I'm so proud of it, it's a truly unique piece of art, which is a feat in and of itself these days.

The above was an excerpt from Sarah's Juno blog of March 27th.

In late February news letter and official myspace posting the release date of April 14th was announced and echoed over here. Songs from this album previously were available to stream from the CBC radio 2 web site.

Last Flowers - Full Trailer

A full trailer for Last Flowers that features Sarah Slean has now been uploaded. View it in HD on YouTube or over here.

The trailer does give you an idea of what the film is about without unveiling any big spoilers.

Listen to Sarah at the Juno Songwriters Circle

Sarah's performance at the Juno's Songwriter circle from last weekend is available to be streamed on the CBC, link. The show originally aired live last Saturday and played again the following days after.

If you would like to save the entire show or take it on a personal media player, CBC radio 2 has now put it up as a podcast, here.

Video clips from the audience can now also be found on YouTube. Sarah also played the Juno Songwriters circle in 2008 but that show was not hosted online by CBC following the event.

Sarah plays Kitchener April 17th

Sarah is returning to the Gig Theatre in Kitchener on Friday April 17th headlining as part of the Go Festival. Tickets are on sale and this show has been confirmed on Sarah's official site.

Mike Evan and Meredith Grant open the show.

Sarah played the Gig Theatre as part of the 2008 Baroness Tour, Books and Ballgowns.

Sarah on Bravo, Arts & Minds

An interview with Sarah will be on Bravo's, Arts & Minds tonight.

March 25 at 8 p.m. ET – ARTS & MINDS – Hosted by Seamus O’Regan, the special half-hour will feature Interviews and performances from Canada’s top talent: Molly Johnson, James Ehnes, Elizabeth Sheppard, Divine Brown, Don Thompson, Serena Ryder, Daniel Lanois, Ron Sexsmith, Sarah Slean, Elysabeth Sheppard and kd lang.

Source

Sarah photographed by Caitlin Cronenberg

Caitlin Cronenberg has shot Sarah Slean as part of her upcoming project with designer Rosemarie Umetsu. The 30x40 black and white photograph is under the project Iconic Beauty II.

This information comes care of She Does the City that had a sneak peek. For the full article, visit here.

As we near the Juno's this weekend, it would be a surprise if Sarah was asked about her fashion.

Update 2009-05-05
According to this Globe and Mail article, The Iconic Beauty 2009 show runs until May 31 at Atelier Rosemarie Umetsu, 96 Avenue Rd., Toronto, 416-924-7575, info@rustudio.ca.

New Music Video in the Works + More

CJ Wallis who directed the film Last Flowers with Sarah Slean is slated to direct her next music. No word yet about what song will be getting the music video treatment. I will let you know if I find the track or any news of a follow up single to Get Home.

Earlier this month additional photographs from Last Flowers filming were uploaded to flickr. As the film is a short, some of them are slight spoilers. Some exclusive news on the film will be appearing here shortly.

Link to both the announcement of the video and the flickr photos can be found here.

A real nice treat is an almost 20 minute long behind the scenes video of Last Flowers. The behind the scenes is smartly edited and runs almost the same time as the film. Some light spoilers.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1015553122624

The Details of Sarah Going Indie

On February 17th issue of Sarah official mailing list, she announced that she was going independent again and be "the master of my(her) own destiny."

Dose magazine had the chance to speak with Sarah about her being an independent artist during the tail end of Canadian Music Week before Sarah presented at the March 13th Canadian Radio Music Awards.

The full article, Sarah Slean Goes Indie, written by Leah Collins and published today is a great. There are a few points of it I would like to highlight.

"The Baroness Redecorates, was released last December, marking the end of her stint as a major-label artist."

I presume any re-releases or other distribution options of the EP may still be done by Warner. The Baroness (album) is currently still being promoted in Germany.

"I couldn't just record this song with so and so. It would be this big nightmare because they own your recorded output. I couldn't just make a short film with my animator friend because the music and the name and everything was partially owned," she explains.

The film referred to here is Tales of the Baroness done with Nelson Chan. The first part of the film was shown on TV and an advertised sale of DVD was offered but never delivered on. On the October 20, 2008 Q and A session when Sarah was asked about it's release on DVD she responded, "That I don't know. Maybe when we have more visual material we'll put together a proper DVD and that can be a bonus track...".
Other projects Sarah has mentioned that she is working on are, a film for Modern Man, Boy Wonder the play and the release of her sheet music.

New(er) Portrait Pictures

Earlier this month a portrait of Sarah was taken by Tanja-Tiziana Burdi for Canada Reads. The stunning portrait can be viewed here.

Other photos taken by Tanja during Canada reads were uploaded to flickr by CBC.

This photograph was recently put online. The photograph was used for the Eye Weekly cover in 2006 when Sarah was voted Toronto's best.

In February of this year Sarah's profile was added to the Yamaha Canada Music page. The photo used was a gif converted image of the promo photos used for The Baroness. At Sarah's 2007 Christmas show Yamaha Canada had a profile photo of Sarah staged in the Harbourfront lobby.

Sarah to Tribute Neil Young @ Massey Hall

On June 10th Sarah joins a strong line up of artists set to tribute Neil Young at the historic Massey Hall concert venue in Toronto.

Ticket's go on sale to 'friends' on March 13th here:
http://www.roythomson.com/eventInfo.cfm?E=287&YearMonth=2009,6

Tickets go on sale to the public in April.

Sarah's name has yet to be confirmed on her site or the event page at the time of publishing but her name has been shown in other press releases.

The article below is from yesterday's Toronto Star:

The event, which will recreate Young's legendary 1971 Toronto concert, will feature 18 songs and up to 18 bands, with a star-studded lineup including Holly Cole, Steven Page, the Cowboy Junkies, Jason Collett from Broken Social Scene and Sarah Slean. The list of performers also includes the Bill Frisell Trio, Issa (formerly Jane Siberry), Stevie Jackson, Colin Linden, Harry Manx, Danny Michel, Carole Pope and Roxanne Potvin.

Organizers say that Neil Young has been invited to the concert, and are hopeful he'll come.

Playing Massey Hall is somethhing Sarah admited to looking forward to in her Q&A session last fall. (pt.2 q.2)

Sarah an 'Immovable Force', Canada Reads (Audio and Video)

It's the week of Canada Reads and if you missed day one on the radio, it's really easy to follow on CBC Canada Reads site. They are doing a daily podcast of the debates that you can stream from their site plus more. Aside from all the text on the CBC page, Sarah has some interesting words in her journal under "Shut up about the Book Already".

CBC has put these 2 videos on YouTube today, the Pre-Debate and the Post-Debate (embedded below)



If your interested in buying the book Sarah is supporting, Mercy Among the Children, a few links can be found here.

2005 Portrait Photos

These three portrait photos of Sarah were taken in 2005 by Jean Cluad Fourez. Links to concert, promotional, and other portrait shots of Sarah during her time in Paris have been linked on here but these photos seemed to have never surrfaced before.

These photos were found through MySpace's photo search that contain some interesting images. A backstage shot of Sarah doing promo photos for the Baroness was also posted.

Passchendaele is on Sale (DVD and Blueray)

The film Passchendaele to to which Sarah sings After The War in the closing credits went on Sale on February 3rd. It is available on DVD and Blu-ray. The film in Blu-ray is currently 35th in sales for all DVD's on Amazon.ca .

The best price might be ordering it through Columbia House but I don't exactly know if a membership is required how it all works. DVD, Blu-Ray.

Sarah nominated for Juno Award

Congratulation to Sarah for being nominated for the 2009 Juno award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year.

Other nominee's include:

• Between The Beautifuls - Hawksley Workman
• Asking For Flowers - Kathleen Edwards
• Exit Strategy Of The Soul - Ron Sexsmith
• is it o.k - Serena Ryder

As mentioned on Sarah's official page, Sarah was present for the nomination announcements this morning at the Royal York. Links to video are available on the CTV page and further media info is likely to be available on shows such as Etalk. Update, Access Magazine has put this video on to YouTube where she comments about her nomination. Sarah was also quoted in the Globe regards to the diversity of Canadian talent.

A full list of nominated artists can be found here.

Update 2009-2-4:

You can see Sarah's clip of announcing nomination's here on the CTV website.

Chart magazine has put up a short interview with Sarah on YouTube.

Canada AM in the West Coast did a short interview with Sarah. She spoke about it being her third nomination, that she looks forward to attending, and if she has ever prepared an acceptance speech.

The Baroness - Released in Germany Today

The Baroness has been released in Germany today. Last week they released the single for Get Home. More information is available on the Warner Germany page.

http://www.warnermusic.de/sarahslean/news/

Thanks to Thomas P. who mentioned advised me that the album was advertised in German magazine Piranha.

A promotion video has also been put together with clips from various TV appearances. You can view it here: http://www.amazon.de/Baroness-Sarah-Slean/dp/B0013XZ3YG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1230412713&sr=8-1

I have not received any further updates regards to a tour in Germany.

Sarah's album with the Art of Time (Track list)

In August I revealed some details about Sarah recording songs from the 'Great Toronto Songbook' with the Art of Time Ensemble. At the time of that posting, I was able to speculate to what songs might make the album based on the song set list from the concerts.

The official track listing for the album has now been posted on Phermone Recordings who have signed the 'Art of Time Ensemble with Sarah Slean'. The on sale date of the album is still listed as 'Coming Soon'. Four songs are available to preview but did not play smoothly on my attempts to play them. They are hosting a stunning 45MB high resolution photo of both Sarah and Andrew Burashko of the Art of Time.

01 Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
02 Monarch
03 Black Flowers
04 I’ll Never Tear You Apart
05 Lodestar
06 You Give Me Something To Cry About
07 Dandelion Wine
08 Eyes Are The Flowers
09 Dress Rehearsal Rag
10 No More Named Johnny

The album contains each song that Sarah performed at the concert with the exception To Cry About (Mary-Margaret O'Hara), Stride (Hayden) I Don't Need More (Katheryn Rose) and The Lonely Side of The Moon.

Update 2009-01-30:
I have been advised the samples do play fine in Internet Explorer. An unconfirmed release date is for April. I will create a new post when that can be confirmed.

Update 2009-04-07:
I have been updated that the release date has been changed to June 2, 2009.

Canada Reads, it's on.

News of Sarah on Canada Reads has spread far and wide. She is defending Mercy Among the Children.

Sarah posted on the topic on a CBC forum under the username Sleanstress. Included in her post were quotes from Martin Luther King Jr..
Read it here.

Today, CBC also made available a reading Sarah did from the book. You can download it from their podcast or stream it here.

Keep your ears on CBC radio this week for more of Sarah from Canada reads.

Official Site Mailing List

Just a reminder to check your inboxs if you are on the SarahSlean.com official mailing list. A time sensitive announcement was made earlier today.

Secondly, I have a 2008 wrap up post in the works and some news to share regards to 2009. Stay tuned...