Beauty Lives is in iTunes

Sarah's official site announced today that Beauty Lives is now in iTunes among other digital stores.  Here is a link to it in the Canadian iTunes store but it looks like it should be available internationally.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/beauty-lives-b-sides/id412635675

iTunes stores internationally this year added Sarah back catalog to their stores as well.

Beauty Lives has not been spotted in alternative online music stores as yet.  In the past, hmv.ca, puretracks.com, amazon.com and rhino.com have sold her digital releases.

Update 2011-01-02
Amazon.com has it available for download. Amazon.ca does not.

Beauty Lives - Cover Art, Instrumentation and more.

Physical copies of Beauty Lives went on sale at the holiday show and mail orders have started to arrive as early as this Tuesday.  Here are some of the details on this album that was put together on fan input.

The standard edition that comes in digipak featuring artwork of Sarah's on it. The photo from the cover comes from Day One and like that cover, has been a scene painted over it.  The inside of the case also features 2 additional paintings of Sarah, one is simplified onto the CD itself.

The B-side album was recorded over 3 days and 8 of the songs were mixed in 10 hours.  Sarah described the result as being like a live album with a few overdubs.

Some of the songs kept similar arrangements to the live versions that had been previewed on littleslean. Others were given new instrumentation and arrangements.  Everything by the Gallon captures the intimate creeks of wood in the studio and has the addition of Royal Wood accompanied on a mandolin.  Sadie features Sarah on a toy piano, one that Sarah posted this picture of on Twitter.  In "My Song" Sarah added a piece in where she hums and drum is played.  The liner note printed inside the CD case credits Sarah instrumentation on vocals, timpani, strings, toy piano and mission organ.

The album was produced with Royal Wood and the case says lyrics will be available on SarahSlean.com.

"All in all, Bsides CD is a bit sad and a bit show-tune, scary-intimate and *very* dark."

Sarah Slean (Tweet)

This album was put together at the request of fans and I would love to hear your reviews.  Beauty Lives follows The Baroness Redecorates and Black Flowers being Sarah's 3rd album release in 2 years.

The comments on littleslean have been overhauled and there are fan communities on Facebook like The Passioneers.

Did your song request make it?  Are you waiting for digital release?  Were you lucky enough to get a limited edition copy? Was this your first time hearing one of the songs or did it bring back any memories?

Have a happy and safe holidays.

Passioneer Holiday Project 2010 - Thank You!

As this year on littleslean draws to a close, here is a final word from the Passioneer Holiday Project. Images again come care of Yen C.

Hello to all who participated in this year's Passioneer Holiday Project. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, this project would not have been a success without each and every one of you!

Thank you for taking the time to find a way to show Sarah Slean that she has inspired you. We're sure that all of the people who benefited from your acts of kindness are finding their lives to be just a little brighter this year.

This year after the show Sarah let us know that this yearly project inspired her to donated some of the profits from this year's Harbourfornt show to a local organization which she supports year round! How awesome is that? She inspired us, we all did something good, and now she's inspired by us. You're all part of full circle of inspiration that is making the world a better place a bit at a time.

To those who signed up but who weren't able to participate this year we still appreciate your support. It's a busy time of year and sometimes it's tough to get everything done. Never fear, we're hoping to go for a seventh year so there will be lots of opportunity to take part again.

Thank you all, have a great holiday season.

From Andrea, Cameron and Elizabeth

Holiday Concert Wrap Up

For this year's 6th annual holiday concert, Sarah was accompanied by The Baroness band featuring Chris Banks (bass), Royal Wood (organ/guitar), Mark Mariash (drums) and Dean Drouillard. (guitar).

Some of the song selection came from the requests of those who purchased VIP ticket packages.  Duncan for example was played for a request sent in from a couple from Edmonton celebrating a 10 year wedding anniversary.

The special guest opener was Jesse Labelle who played a short set followed by an intermission.

Sarah went back to the past playing songs she hadn't played since 2000 with Before Your Time and her cover of Over The Rainbow.  Me & Jerome took on a new jazz sound as it was taken on with this band.

For new songs, Sarah played The Day We Saved the World from her upcoming album and The Right Words from her newly released album Beauty Lives.  More details on Beauty Lives will posted very shortly and another post thanking those for participating in a successful Passioneer Holiday Project.

The full set list is posted below:


Hopeful Hearts
Duncan
Me & Jerome
Before Your Time
The Day We Saved the World
Blue Parade
John 23rd
So Many Miles
Parasol
Notes From the Underground
Euphoria
Sound of Water
Lucky Me
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas >> Over the Rainbow  >> Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Edelweiss
-Encore 1-
The Right Words
Day One
-Encore 2-
Little Drummer Boy

Final Reminder: Passioneer Holiday Project

There is still time to participate in this year's Passioneer Holiday Project and become a card carrying member of the Passioneers.  The dead line is this Saturday, December 11th.

Image from Limited Edition Beauty Lives cover, Batch 5. SarahSlean.com

Thanks to those who have supported the project on Facebook and already emailed in their contribution.  To participate please email slean_holiday@yahoo.ca.  you name, screen name, city and contribution.

The Right Words - Lyrics

There has been some curiousity surrounding the song The Right Words since it was considered and made it onto Sarah's bside album, Beauty Lives.

Last Friday was the first known time where Sarah has played the song publically.  For those who where fortunate enough to hear it on CBC Drive or be there, the lyrics might look  familiar.

The words are from The Prologue shown in the booklet accompanying The Baroness.

You will find the right words just you wait and see

they'll be falling from the rooftops on a blossom covered breeze

and the song you need to hear will be singing through the trees

are you listening? don't you see?

you are on the right path you will realize

that the tears will always leave you with a brighter pair of eyes

and the pain that you've been fighting

is an angel in disguise

it is love and love, love is wise

there's still time to notice

still time to believe that a door at last will open

where the darkness used to be

and the paradise you long for is underneath your feet

what are you running for? where you've been?

throw your heart into the ocean, throw your heart into the sea

you will find that all the right words

will come out naturally

Sarah and Royal playing CBC's Sounds of the Season (radio)

Sarah Slean and Royal Wood are both part of this year's CBC's Sounds of the Season this Friday December 3rd.  The tapping takes place at 12:30 - 1:00 PM  for the CBC radio show titled Drive hosted by Buck 65.

A full list of performers, schedule and donor information can be found here.  CBC does stream their content international online and may have the program available via a podcast (mp3) at a later date.


Update: 2010-12-03
In a few minutes, 3:30 CBC Radio Drive will start to air on the CBC and end at 7:00.  I was able to attend the half hour taping today and it's worth staying in for.  By the way the piece went, it seems that they will keep this part as one segment.  If you catch this post a bit later, you can try time shifting online or record it on a PVR.

Sound's of the Season is CBC fund raiser for the Daily Bread Food Bank.  Your contribution to it could be included in this year's Passioneer Holiday Project.

Spoiler Alert....






Sarah played the following songs.
The debut of her Beauty Live's b-side, The Right Words.  The song is beautiful and it reminded me on that first listen to Looking for Someone.
Sarah and Royal Wood then joined each other for a rendition of Baby, It's Cold Outside.  They have done this song together at the annual holiday concert and this time the lyrics stayed in hand for a great performance.
Sarah closed off the show with a tradional cover on the piano of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Sarah plays @ Cavalcade of Lights 2010

Sarah is playing the 2010 Cavalcade of Lights opening celebration at Natahan Phillips Square on Saturday November 27th. The free concert starts at 8:00pm and also features performances by Shawn Desman and Divine Brown.

In 2007 Sarah played this event playing What Child Is This? (Available on Women and Songs Christmas album) and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. She also took part in a group number for Walking in a Winter Wonderland.  Other songs that Sarah has played in recent years at her holiday concerts include Silent Night and Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Holiday Shows and Beauty Lives album on Sale Now!

Within this hour Sarah tweeted with regards to announcing this year's Holiday Shows and the B-Side albums on sale in various packages.

Before reading on, it might be best to order your ticket package as seats are on a first come first serve basis and limited edition  B-side albums only have a quantity of 50 available online.  Click here to order.

The B-Side album titled, Beauty Lives, track listing are:

• I Do
• Sadie
• Count Me Out
• Everything By the Gallon
• Closer
• Glenn Gould Song
• Hooligans
• Ogoni Star
• The Right Words
• My Song

The biggest surprise is seeing The Right Words make the list.  This song title has only been known through littleslean from this set list I collected.  Rockstar and Oh Man! are two songs that might have been close to making it but don't really seem to fit into this album that Sarah has described on twitter as sounding "a bit sad and a bit show-tune, scary-intimate and *very* dark."

I have not been able to see these concerts listed on Harbourfront or any other ticketing sites as yet but they may wait for the ticketed packages to sell out first.

JUNO Sole: Sarah's shoes at the Beta Shoe Musuem (Update)

As part of an event celebrating 40 years of the Juno's, Sarah Slean's shoes have been included at the Juno Sole exhibit  The one of kind shoes are on display for until the end of the month and is free with admission to the Beta Shoe Museum. Sarah attended the opening event in a stunning black dress designed by Lauren Bagliore (pictures) . Other guests in attendance were Fred Penner, July Black, and Hawksley Workman. Penner had attended one of Sarah's concerts in 2005, Black was special guest performer at last year's holiday show and Workman ties to Sarah include producing her album Night Bugs.

BlogTO mentions that the exhibit also includes videos and sounds from past Juno's.  Over the years Sarah has been nominated 3 times for Juno awards and has taken part in many events surrounding the show.

Another Juno event to keep an eye out are the Juno Decade shows scheduled at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. No indications that Sarah is playing them but on March 5th there is MapleMusic and Pheremone Records (Black Flowers) show.  As those concert dates come closer many of the participating artists names are mentioned and we will let you know if Sarah's name ever comes up.

Update 2010-12-24:
Fashion Television interviewed Sarah and showed a picture of the shoes she wore at the 2009 Junos.

Video: http://watch.fashiontelevision.com/#clip380891

The 2010 Passioneer Holiday Project

The 2010 Passioneer Holiday Project has now started.

The dates for this year's holiday concerts have not been officially announced as yet, but it was pointed out in the last official mailing list post that they will be taking place. Sarah is treating her fans this year with a B-side album and the Passioneer Holdiay Card is one way for fans to return a thank you back to her and do something good for others.

All the information on how to participate is posted on Facebook here. You can 'Like' the page below to help spread the word and RSVP on the event page for reminders. This fan-run project is now in its sixth year. Many thanks to those who have contributed over those years and to Yen for taking the photos used in the above collage.

A brief version of the details are:

You can be a part of the Passioneer Holiday Project by donating time, goods or money to a local or international charity, or by helping out a friend, neighbour or stranger.
Once you've participated, please send your information to slean_holiday@yahoo.ca by December 11th.

What we need to see is:

- your name
- your screen name
- your city
- how you participated

All of this information will be compiled in a card which will then be given to Sarah after her annual holiday concerts in Toronto.

- The Passioneer Holiday Project, Facebook

B-Side Project - Vote Reminder

The time to vote on 3 songs you would like to hear on Sarah's upcoming B-side album draws to a close tomorrow.

According to Sarah's Tweets, early results placed Count Me Out in the lead and I Do in the top 10. Songs in the 5th and 6th position are really close to each other in votes.

If the B-Side playlist of videos posted by littleslean is any indication on popularity, here are songs listed with the highest amount of views. The Alphabetical order the playlist was in seems to have had some influence on the view counts.

1. Count Me Out -192
2. Everything By The Gallon - 100
3. I Do - 90
4. Hooligans -87
5. Glenn Gould Song -83
6. My Song - 73
7. Sadie - 69
8. Oh Man! - 58
9. Rock Star - 52

After the 30th these videos will be heading back to the vault.  Remember to make your vote count so you can have a recording your favorite b-side.  Top 3 votes should be submitted to thebaronessinc(AT)gmail.com.

A list of other known b-side titles can be found in our earlier post.

Sarah playing the black tie Dream Gala

Sarah Slean will be playing a special gala event for the the Abilities Centre on October 28th. The event is being held at Deer Creek Golf & Banquet Facility and also features Rick Hansen as a special guest.

Entry single level tickets are $250.  More information on the black tie event can be found here.

Currently there are no tour dates scheduled for Sarah on her site but as indicated with the b-side project, the tradition of the holiday concerts in Toronto will continue.  Sarah also recently tweeted about plans to return to Europe in a year.

The Sarah Slean B-Side Project! (audio / videos)

If you have been over to SarahSlean.com lately you might have noticed Sarah has announced a b-side project  on recording some of her unrecorded songs.  She has asked for help from her fans to send her three unrecorded songs of hers that you would like to see recorded and made into limited edition 10 track album for this year's Holiday concert.  Lyrics or any live recordings would also be helpful so please submit those to myself or her.  
To help jog your memory and introduce you to some Sarah's unrecorded songs, here is an updated list from Nicole's littleslean.com archives.  With Sarah's permission I have uploaded live audio and video from a few of these songs and linked them below for the duration of this project.

Written pre-2000	2000 - 2003	after 2003
All I Want	Count Me Out	Baroness
Closer	Hooligans	My Song
Close Your Eyes	Everything by the Gallon	The Right Words
Dana's Song	Oh Man!
Elaine
Empty the Cup
Glenn Gould Song
Hey Little Girl
Hunter
I Do
I Fell
I Love his Lower Lip
Memory Don't Fade
Ogoni Star
Rock Star
Sadie
Seven Tornadoes
Soldiers
Song for Jeff

Submission of requests must be sent to thebaronessinc(AT)gmail.com before October 30th.  If you want to know when this page has been update, please be sure to follow littleslean news via e-mail subscription, twitter and other syndication options shown in the right side panel.  Thank you!

Sarah's New Arrangement for Dance (Video)

Earlier today Sarah tweeted about arranging a string quartet for The Blue Ceiling Dance Co.  The dance event that will host this new arrangement of Sarah's is to take place April 7-9th 2011 at Harbourfront.

Tickets and information for this event can be found here.

Last year we told you about an early look at this project where Lucy Rupert danced to The Disarm Suite found on The Baroness Redecorates.  A video of that dance has been uploaded in promotion of the new season.

Sarah Slean playing Angel with Moxy Früvous (Audio)

A decade old recording of Sarah Slean playing her song Angel with Moxy Früvous providing the groove has been posted on the Internet Music Live Archive.  The song is from her album Universe and is rarely played live especially with a band.

The recording is from February 21st 1999 at Lee's Palace. The second track on the embedded player contains Sarah's comical introduction to the stage by Moxy Früvous around the 3 minute mark. A reference is made to Kevin who might be referring to Kevin Fox. The full Moxy Früvous concert and all the details can be found here.

Sarah Slean Rootstock concert Online (audio)

CBC has now put up their recording of Sarah Slean, Joel Plaskett, Steven Page and Hawksley Workmen from their Rootstock concert. The show was recorded one month ago. According to post on Twitter, Sarah and Joel are currently in the studio this week following Sarah's marathon this weekend. Sarah is very familiar with the other artists sharing the stage with her. Hawksley Workman produced her album Night Bugs. Sarah and Steven Page will be doing an encore of their Art of Time Ensemble tribute to the Beatles Abbey Road album on October 21st.

You can play the entire show or pick individual songs here:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20100827roots

A mp3 of the show will likely also be made available from CBC Radio 2 podcast.

The Baroness Redecorates - CD on Sale Again

It appears that the previously sold out EP for The Baroness Redecorates is currently for sale online at sarahslean.com.

The limited edition EP sold out in less then a day and extended sale on a restock also sold out just as rapidly back in December of 2008.  Since then, the only way to get a physical copy of the EP was at one of Sarah's concerts.

You can find a link to purchase it through their store that is connected with Maple Music.  There is no "Buy Now" link on her site when viewing the album details unlike all her other albums.  If you want to add this album to your collection, it is best to act quickly as the quantity is likely limited.

Hopefully with this EP available the music video for the song The Rose that is featured on this album will be soon to follow.

The only album they appear not to be selling is Sarah's self titled EP which can be found on other sites.

2 New Concerts - Global Cabaret Festival in Toronto

Sarah is returning back to the Global Cabaret festival this year after playing the festival in 2008.

Tickets for the Friday October 1st and Saturday October 2nd concerts are currently availble here:

http://www.globalcabaret.ca/information.aspx?concert=sarah_slean

It does not appear that Sarah is currently schedualed to play any of the festival workshops at this year's festival. The Saturday's concert falls on the same day as the dusk to dawn city wide arts festival Nuit Blanche.

New Concert @ Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery

On August 27, 2010 Sarah Slean will be playing a Songwriters Circle at Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery.  An official statement should be fourthcoming about this year's festival according to a post on their Facebook a few hours ago but these details have been posted by a user to their page.

For ONE NIGHT ONLY, the Jackson Triggs Niagara Estate open-air amphitheatre will play host to the second wine country Canadian Songwriters’ Circle, ROOTSTOCK! The evening will be an intimate and interactive experience with four of Canada’s top musical artists: Steven Page, Joel Plaskett, Sarah Slean, and Hawksley Workman. Call the Jackson Triggs Box Office at 1-866-589-4637 x 2 for tickets and more information.

August 27, 2010 5:30pm

Steven Page also posted that Sarah would be playing this festival with this event page on Facebook.

Details such as prices have not been posted online yet, but the event info from last year is available here.  I will update this post when more details on this year's festival.  This concert has not been confirmed on Sarah's official site at the time of publishing.

Update: 2010-08-04
Wines in Niagara have posted the details for this year's event here.

Sarah Slean & Damhnait Doyle's - Not for Sale (HD Video)

On June 14th, Sarah Slean returned to Canada AM in promotion of Rwanda Rises Up! Sarah and Damhnait Doyle performed the song written by Sarah, Not for Sale. The album is currently availble on iTunes. 

To view video in full HD, visit YouTube. There is a sync issue with the first half of the video.



This is the first video uploaded by littleslean.  The video is not searchable on YouTube but can be found through here and as posted to social media networks by Song for Africa.

New Sarah Slean official site launched with BIG News

Sarah's new official site that we spotted being tested a few weeks ago has now welcomed visitors and offered some huge news in one short sentence:

Coming soon – digital scores for download, the digital release of indies and back catalogue world-wide, and more!

-gtavegan.com 

Sheet music has been desired by fans for many years.  A few years ago sheet music fans submitted their favourite songs to see included in a sheet music book to Sarah's site.  The book was never released but the demand shown and input of fans may be included in this release.  Most of Sarah's catalog is still available for sale through MapleMusic and online through the Canadian iTunes store.  It will be interesting to see what other releases they plan to put forward and exciting to see her digital catalog go on sale globally.

In another entry of news Sarah has an update on her new album and officially hints at the working album title, Land and Sea.  Land portion of the double album with Joel has been recorded.

Other news entries posted on the site confirm previous posts to littleslean like tonight's Song For Africa release party tonight and the Free Canada Day concert.

A widget has been added to littlelsean news side bar to show new posts to Sarah's new site.

Update 2010-06-18 :
 http://www.sarahslean.com/ has now been updated to with the format and content that was available on gtavegan.com

Song for Africa - Premiere - Concert featuring Sarah Slean

Some of the details for the Song for Africa premiere event have now been announced. According to the concert listing on Now Magazine, the following is stated.

STEVE BAYS, SARAH SLEAN, TIM EDWARDS, JOHN-ANGUS MACDONALD, DAMHNAIT DOYLE
ADMISSION: $20 suggested donation
WHERE: Tattoo Rock Parlour, 567 Queen W, Toronto, M5V 2B6, 416-703-5488, tattoorockparlour.com
WHEN: Jun 17
TICKET INFO: 416-703-5488

Details for the premiere event in Calgary have still not been announced. I have not found any secondary confirmations of this line outside of the Song For Africa facebook page confirming the date.

Reminder that the film will be shown on City TV June 19th.

Beautiful Noise (TV - Brazil)

In 2008 Sarah Slean performed a filmed concert in Toronto's Berkley's Church. Bravo aired a 30 minute of the program under the title, The Berkley Sessions that featured a handful of the live songs.

This past Saturday Sun TV aired a 1 hour program of this concert under the title Beautiful Noise. The broadcast on SunTV was in high definition and featured all songs of the concert with the exception of No Place at All. Fortunately 'No Place at All' was one of the songs that had been shown in The Berkley Sessions broadcast on Bravo.

It appears that the full hour program may be airing in Brazil on June 8th. The guide information can be found here. Multishow also has it listed here.

For those in Canada who missed it. The one hour concert for the Berkley Session may be picked up on repeat again on Sun TV or CBC Bold.

Song for Africa - Album Track Listing

The track listing for Rwanda: Rises Up album is now out which features Sarah on a number of songs.
The full details can be found here.


Here’s the track list for the Rwanda: Rises Up! album:

“100 Bananas” — Steve Bays featuring Holy Jah Doves (co-wrote by Sarah Slean)
“Beautiful” — Tim Edwards featuring Holy Jah Doves (feat Sarah according to the single release)
“Komera” — Damhnait Doyle
“Not For Sale” — Sarah Slean
“Canada To Kigali” — Damhnait Doyle, Tim Edwards, Sarah Slean, Steve Bays and Grand Analog, featuring Rafiki, K8 and Miss Jojo
“Trying To Make It Work” — Classified with Mike Boyd and White Mic, featuring Itorero
“Land Of A Thousand Hills” — Ian D’Sa with Noble Blood
“Carry You” — Luke McMaster featuring Itorero
“We Stand” — Operation MD featuring Itorero
“Yearning (Instrumental)” — John-Angus MacDonald featuring Itorero
“Amazing Grace” — Damhnait Doyle, Tim Edwards, Sarah Slean and Steve Bays, featuring Queen Gaga And The Heaveners

Sarah Slean's on Canada AM, June 14th

Sarah Slean and Damhnait Doyle will be on Canada AM Monday June 14th according to a Tweet from Song for Africa. They are there in promotion for the film Rwanda: Rises Up. There is no indication if they will also be the musical guests.

The Song For Africa also drops some hints that musicians are lining up for the release events for Rwanda Rises Up in both Toronto and Calgary. Toronto's is on June 17th. I post if I find more details and any confirmation of Sarah playing.

Update 2010-06-11

Sarah Slean will be playing "Not for Sale" on Canada AM according to Esther Garnick PR

Sarah's New Concerts with The Art of Time Ensemble

Sarah is set to cover the songs of Björk PJ Harvey, Kurt Weill, Jacques Brel, Cole Porter, Leonard Cohen and more in this year's Art of Time concert series, The Songbook 5. The songs will be arranged by Canadian musicians and Sarah will be joined by The Art of Time Ensemble.

This concert is May 24th and 25th 2011 and tickets are likely to sell out fast.

In 2007 Sarah played the second Songbook concert in the Art of Time's history. The group of Canadian covers was later played by the CBC, recorded as the album Black Flowers and would spur a tour.

Last fall Sarah was one of the artists to tribute The Beatles Abbey Road with the Art of Time Ensemble. That concert was also made available on demand by CBC and will have an encore performance. Sarah and the Art of Time Ensemble return to KoernerHall October 21, 2011.

Ticket and details for the concerts can be found on web site for The Art of Time Ensemble. These concerts have not been confirmed on Sarah's official site at the time of publishing.

Sarah to play Hugh's Room for Greenpeace

A few days prior to playing her Canada Day concert at Harboufront, Sarah will be one of the performers at a special concert at Hugh's Room on June 28th.  The concert starts at 8:30 with tickets being $22 advanced and $25 at door.

"Greenpeace Canada is proud to announce that Hugh's Room is the preferred venue for the Toronto release of Amchitka, the 1970 concert that launched Greenpeace, Margo and Michael Timmins, Sarah Slean, Barbara Lynch, Jory Nash and others, including special guests, will join host Mia Sheard, Monday, June 28, to celebrate this seminal concert by Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Phil Ochs that raised funds to float the first Greenpeace mission to Amchitka. This beautifully remastered two-disc live CD recording with a 48-page booklet is available exclusively through Greenpeace at www.amchitka-concert.com and will be tabled at the show. 

All funds from the CD sales will go to Greenpeace.
http://www.amchitka-concert.com/blog/"

Information taken from the Facebook event page and Hugh's Room official calender.  This appearance has not been confirmed on Sarah's official site at the time of publishing.

This event takes place on the Monday following the G-20 summit.

Rwanda Rises Up (Video, 8:42)

An 8 minute segment from Rwanda Rises Up was posted online today. The video depicts many of the scenes Sarah expressed in her journal.

Sarah hums a mournful tune with Damhnait Doyle to many of tragic and sad scenes. Short interview pieces with all the artists are stitched in through the documentary.

The televised airing of the full film has been changed to 8:00, June 19th on CityTV with the album following on the 22nd. A premiere event in Toronto is on the 17th to which I do not currently have further information on.

New Website - Updated again

As previously posted, Sarah's new website is currently being tested out.  Since last night a it has gone through another overhaul.  The split screen style has been removed among many other layout changes.  The site is more easy to navigate and the changes do leave more space for the content.  I do miss some those great new graphics being hidden but it is nice having the 'news page' as the home page and their is the the nice 'most recent' widget.

The names of Sarah's artwork is contained in the file name for anyone curious to know the title of any of the pieces.

Take a look @ www.gtavegan.com

Free Concert - Canada Day @ Harbourfront, Toronto

Sarah Slean will be playing this year's free Canada Day concert at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto on July 1st.  Sarah's last public concert was this holiday at Harbourfront.  In recent years, Harboufront has had acts like Owen Pallet and Feist play their Canada Day concerts.

The Sadies will follow Sarah's set this year.  A full list of the day's activities and details can be found on the Harbourfront site.  This free event at the time of publishing has not been confirmed on Sarah's official site.  A last.fm event page has also been dedicated to this concert.

Thanks to Neal for tweeting about this one.

New: Official Site, Art Work and Album from Sarah Slean!

A beta version of Sarah Slean's new official website has gone online. Still in its testing mode, it is a great glimpse into what we can expect from Sarah in the very near future.

The Web Site; www.gtavegan.com

Most notable difference in the update is the simplified menu and the creative reworking of some Sarah's promotional photos taken for the Baroness. A new stylized font for Sarah's name sits top centre of the site and appears that might be a new logo/branding. Hard to say if domain name gtavegan.com will continue to host the site or if it will be ported over to sarahslean.com. As the site is in test stage all data on that site should be considered temporary.

What might be most exciting is the new content...

New Artwork

This year's holiday shows in Toronto featured new sets of art prints for sale. These images have not been seen since that show but have been added to the new site's art gallery. Information like the art work title and other details have not been included but it one of the biggest updates to her art work collection since Ravens (2005). The new online store is being run through Maple Music does not have these items for sale at this time but this year's holiday shows sold these lithographs in various sizes.

New Album

The final paragraph of Sarah's new biography is a wealth of information.

Slean envisions a double-album - two different producers, two different approaches. Also twice the work, the budget, and the songs, but Slean isn't skittish. Not even after parting ways with Warner Canada in February. Rumour has it that her co-conspirators may be beloved Canadian songwriter Joel Plaskett, film composer Jonathan Goldmsith, a symphony orchestra and a drummer classified as "clunky funky", among others. Slean expects to commence recording in May.

It was previously confirmed that Joel Plaskett would be working on Sarah's new album. This is the first public confirmation stating that she would like double album and Jonathan Goldsmith's commitment to it. Jonathan arranged Martin Tiellie's I'll Never Tear You Apart that Sarah recorded on for Black Flowers with the Art of Time Ensemble.

There are many other observations that can be made about the new site design and you're welcome to share your thoughts in the comments. Sarah's official site was asking for suggestions on the overhaul to be emailed to help@sarahslean.com. For those that have not been by littleslean, it has also gone through an recent update and is continuing to grow.

Song For Africa: Video Intro

A first look at the intro for Song For Africa, Rwanda Rises Up that features Sarah Slean.

Beautiful featuring Sarah on iTunes

The Song for Africa track that Sarah recorded on in Africa is available currently on iTunes.

The song information is:
Beautiful (feat. Holy Jadoves) - Single by Timothy Edwards

iTunes link to the song can be found here:
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/id368242397

Sarah on Murder in Small Town X (Video)

Footage from Sarah's guest appearance on the 2001 Fox TV show Murder in Small Town X has surfaced.

Acting as a performer at the "Sunset Club", Sarah  is seen playing Sweet Ones at 4:30 mark and Everything by the Gallon at 6:38 .

YouTube - Video of Sarah Slean on Murder in Small Town X

Sarah was quoted as not being a fan of the show but this is the only official recording of Everything By The Gallon.

Sarah and Joel Plaskett on the New Album

If you missed the headline posted not so long on Sarah's site, Joel Plaskett is working on Sarah's new independent album.  He currently has a few couple of tours coming up so it might take a little time before they get together.

Hallifax's The Coast had the following quotes from Joel about about working with Sarah saying "it's cool that she thought of me" and "Stylistically we're different, but it will be fun."

Canoe's article states "he is writing new songs for Sarah Slean."  Sarah's official site says they are "melding creative worlds."  These quotes tend to point out that Joel may have more active role then just a producer of the album and may take an unusual path for Sarah collaborating on the lyrics.
YourMediaPass asked about his future "I am going to see if I can produce some records for Sarah Slean" indicating that more then one album might be in the works.

Sarah's article on Arranging Strings

Sarah wrote an article for Canadian Musicians on arranging strings. The full page goes into great detail relating what she hears in the scores of others and in her own work. I am uncertain of the date of this article but recently Sarah was in Paris scoring strings for a Paris Orchestra.

Strings, glorious, strings. Who can

resist them? In my view, their

power to manipulate emotion is

unsurpassed. The timbre of the

violin is closest to that of the human

voice – and perhaps this is why we find

it so irresistibly, painfully beautiful...

- Sarah Slean, Canadian Musician

An image of this article is posted on Sarah's official site here, but you can view the entire PDF on Canadian Musician. The file also contains articles from fellow artists Sarah has shared the stage with like Ron Sexsmith and Emm Gryner.

Sarah covers The Right Thing (audio preview)

At 2008's Canwest Cabaret Festival Sarah was involved in multiple work shops including Toronto Sings Breithaupt Brother Songbook. In the fall of 2009 that concert was put out as a live album with Sarah singing the lead track, The Right Thing.

You can find the song on Amazon.com and iTune's Canadian store.

Thanks to reader Sean for giving me this tip sometime ago.

If you're able to visit the Canadian iTunes Store, they do have an 8 minute long video interview with Sarah likely recorded on 2006-12-11 where Sarah played live on MTV Overdrive. The interview discuses why she did Orphan Music as a live album/bside album, how she ended up cover Pink Floyd and what she thinks of blogging. You can download it free from iTunes here.

PS- Sarah's official site has been lively with news the last few days.

Rwanda Rises Up - June 12th (TV)

Song for Africa, Rwanda Rises Up documentary featuring Sarah Slean will air June 12th on City TV. Pushed back slightly from date in May, the exact dates and times for the release were published in today's Song For Africa newsletter.

SFA Documentary #2 Filming in Rwanda
Production on the second SFA Documentary entitled Rwanda: Rises Up
successfully wrapped shooting in Rwanda last November. Director Derek
Horn once again took the helm and music producer David Bottrill (Tool,
Muse, Silverchair…) handled the recording aspect for the accompanying
album, with artists Damhnait Doyle, Steve Bay from Hot Hot Heat, Sarah
Slean and Tim Edwards from Crash Parallel along for the journey. Watch
for the documentary to be aired on City TV on Saturday, June 12th at
8pm. The accompanying album will be released on Sony Music on June
15th!

Source, Song for Africa Newsletter

The Rose - Music Video details

Tomorrow the music video for The Rose will be shot in Toronto. CJ Wallis who is directing the video has published some of the details to the shoot on his site.

Some details include:

• Index cards
• Set design
• Bravofact's grant and cast/credit.
  

Sarah on E.T. Canada Tomorrow

Sarah will be on Entertainment Tonight Canada tomorrow in promotion of CARE Canada. Sarah's visit to Rwanda for the Song for Africa project was put on by CARE. The news of this comes from Darcy Ataman's from SFA's Tweet.

CARE is currently promoting the film adaptation Half the Sky which has one night showing in Toronto tomorrow. Sarah will be attending and she has details of that event on her site.

Update 2010-3-04:

It was not on today's episode. Perhaps it will air on Friday's or on a later date.

New Concert for Stream (audio)

Sarah Slean played a private gala concert for the volunteers of the Regina Folk Festival on December 5th. Sarah had played the festival back in 2007 and 2005. The show was under pretty tight wraps but you can hear every track and see pictures on CBC's recent Concert on Demand! Alternative links to the files can be found here.

The recording is very unique as it's a rare solo show that features new covers and new arrangements including songs like So Many Miles and Leonard Cohen's Suzzane.

Also on CBC Concert's on Demand is the recording of Sarah and the Art of Time Ensemble playing the Abbey Road concert.

Update: 2010-2-20

This concert will be played live on CBC 2 This Monday.

"Monday, February 22, 2010

concert 1: Sarah Slean
recorded at the CBC Regina Galleria
Sarah Slean is one of Canada's great creative visionaries. She's been nominated for two Juno awards and two Gemini awards and is a true Renaissance woman in her artistic expression. Trained as a classical pianist, Sarah's performances continue to be informed by that musical sensibility, especially in her collaborations with many of Canada's finest classical orchestras and ensembles. A gifted songwriter, Sarah is also a poet, and books of her poetry have even accompanied album releases. She's also a visual artist. Given her diverse forms of creative expression, it's not surprising her list of influences is equally eclectic including Glenn Gould, Tom Waits, PJ Harvey and even Irving Berlin. This private concert was put together by the Regina Folk Festival as a special thank you to their volunteers in celebration of the organization's 40th anniversary."

Song for Africa - Album and Doc in May

The Song for Africa documentary that Sarah's journal entries from Rwanda have been referring to will be shown on City TV followed by the album release in May.

"Production on the second SFA Documentary entitled, Rwanda: Rising Up
successful wrapped shooting in Rwanda last month. Director Derek Horn once again
took the helm and producer David Bottrill handled the recording aspect for the
accompanying album with artists Damhnait Doyle, Steve Bay from Hot Hot Heat, Sarah Slean and Tim Edwards from Crash Parallel along for the
journey. Watch for the documentary to be aired on City TV and the
accompanying album on Sony Music in May!" - Song For Africa

The documentary will likely be made available for sale at a later date.

London Concert Cancelled

Sarah is no longer listed on the ticket page as playing at the February 2nd concert with the Bittersweets at the Boarderline. Royal Wood is currently listed as one of the guests. This show was never announced on Sarah's official sites but some third party sites still have her on the line up.

A cached result of February 7th concert promoted by WagonWheelMedia have removed Sarah's name from a concert featuring Royal Wood and Joe Armitage.