tell you stories

updates from singer-songwriter melanie doane

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

back to work

Things are starting to get busy. Planning ahead to rehearsals for the new show and gigs through the summer. Finalizing art work and photos etc.
I haven't had a new album out for a long time and getting it all set up is a part of what I really enjoy. I released my first major label recording Shakespearean Fish at this same time of year in. . . . . 1996 . I didn't know a lot about what was going on then. I knew music. That's what I thought was my job. Turns out, it was for the most part but having the confidence to take on everything else as well, is a pretty great feeling now. Also, the major label mentality has been broken down and creative thinking rules. Makes it pretty fun to be making good music these days.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Spring

April 9th/08

Wow. I didn't write for a long time.
Things have been busy and believe it or not, the new album is coming.

I've had a busy few months working on a show here in Toronto. My husband Ted is starring in a play called FIRE. The same show we did together when we first met . . . .many years ago. It's a pretty amazing show full of music , although it's a play not a musical, and telling the story loosly based on the lives of Jerry Lee Lewis ( Ted's part) and Jimmy Swaggart . My job this time was assistant musical director ( we couldn't both be IN the show or we'd never see our kids). Ted decided to be the musical director and also be in it so. . .it's been my job to do vocal arranging and just be ears out front cause he's in most of the numbers and that makes it hard to give effective notes so, I do all that.
I've had a great time hanging with the cast, working on arrangements and being at the theatre lots. It's been kind of a flashback to my early days doing theatre in Toronto and meeting Ted and the other people , like Denny Doherty ( Mamas and Papas), who were in that first production with us. It was a special time in my life and shaped all the work and all of the decisions that came after.

The show is running for a few more weeks here in T.O. and then goes on to Edmonton so. . .even though I'm not there everyday, our family is definitely revolving around the show schedule right now.