Leannan Sidhe at Geekfest!

FB Event invite page (See link above for main website)
Shoreline Center Conference Center
18560 1st Ave NE Ste 1,
Seattle, Washington 98155

December 15 & 16, 2012
Hours: Saturday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m
Sunday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m

I don’t know which days I will be performing yet, but I will be joined by Bards of a Feather, there might be viola, and there will be cello! Music from my old album and the new, light and dark, warm and spooky, and some of it down right creepy in honor of the season.

Bring a friend, bring ALL your friends! Not only will the concert be fun, but this is in a 600 seat theater so there’s LOTS of room! Also, lots of other fantastic performers and makers, so there will be plenty to listen to and buy. Tickets are cheap, and its a great way to do some local Christmas shopping for stuff you won’t just find in the store.

Or something like that!

The newest song for my Roses and Ruin (live in studio) album is up, courtesy of Criminal Studios and Jeri Lynn Cornish who added both a lovely cello part and some lovely vocals (listen all the way to the end, it’s worth it!). Why Cruel Sister for my November song? It seemed to fit… both are cold and wet! More seriously, there’s just something about the song that feels like November to me. I’ll have something silly for you for December though, I promise!

So what are you waiting for? Go listen!

I got an email today from Misanthrope Press saying that they are going under. This is sad for two reasons to me, one being that I really like them and what they publish, and two… they’re the publisher of my short story “Your Inspiration” in the anthology Fragile Dreams. They are closing their doors very soon, but wanted to give us a chance to order more copies before its too late.

And so I ask those of you who are reading this… Do you want a copy? This may be your best or even only chance to get one. If you like stories that will make you laugh and think about the wisdom of accidentally casting “bannana”, or of hope, or dealing with loss, and so many more, give it a chance.

It is a Pagan anthology, so I understand that it may not be for everyone and that’s okay. For those of you who are interested, click on the picture to go to the order page and Bright Blessings on all who welcome them.

Etched Offerings - $12.95

Stories are acts of magick. It is through myths, both their creation and their retelling, that the gods are brought into our world. The myths of the past shaped the ancient world, and continue to influence and inform our lives today. However, new myths come into being all the time. Some are entirely unique, relevant to the modern world, while others pull at primordial threads, exploring timeless themes that still resonate.

Dip your ladle into this cauldron of new fiction of, and for, the Old Ones, offered both to the gods and to you by nineteen authors, some well-known and some brand new, each with a distinct voice and style, and each with a very different story to tell. Read of ancient offerings, modern magickal crime fighters, and ordinary people finding a bit of unexpected magick in their everyday lives. The stories in this volume are as colorful and varied as the gods themselves, ranging from fantasy and horror to literary and even alternate history.

There’s an offering for every god–and every reader as well!

Includes stories by: Inanna Gabriel, H.D. Grogan, Ryan James Loyd, P. Sufenas Virius Lupus, Charles Delaney, Kenny Klein, Samantha Herne, Erin Searles, Juleigh Howard-Hobson, Jason White, JJ Beazley, Cory Thomas Hutcheson, Amanda Klink, Kim Bowie, Trevor Curtis, Anne E. Johnson, Elizabeth L. Clark, R.S. Bohn, and Shanti Black (Leannan Sidhe). Including an introduction by S.J. Tucker.

Hobbies are what make life interesting. I collect them like some people collect stamps. Or Pokemon. Music is a way of life for me, but if all I ever did was music I’d have very little to sing about before I started singing about singing and became all self-referential and silly. My favorite super villain Solarbird the Lightbringer of Crime and the Forces of Evil is a huge DIY (Do it Yourself) geek and has been posting awesome posts about building home studios and modding or building equipment. You should go check her blog out over at http://crimeandtheforcesofevil.com/. This has inspired me to post about some of the things I care about!

This time of year one of my favorite hobbies is cooking. It’s fun, especially when I get to share with someone else, usually tasty, and (all important in this economy) usually cheaper than buying premade meals. Having been a broke college student who lived off of nearly nothing but ramen noodles for a year when I was young and foolish (something I do not recommend) I have come to appreciate some foods I used to turn my nose up as a child.

Take stew for example. Hated it as a kid, one of my favorite (and cheapest dishes now). There is no one true way to make a stew, and its rarely the same twice. At base, a good stew consists of a broth of some kind (water will do if nothing else is on hand) and vegetables. A really good stew usually has some sort of spice, and meat and grains (rice or barley are my favorites) are optional.

Stews by nature are thick. This is something you can achieve by adding flour, chopping potatoes fine and cooking them until they fall apart, adding grains, or a trick I was recently introduced to: taking dried mushrooms and crushing them into a powder to use as thickener. Filling AND tasty.

Garlic and onions are usually cheap and add a lot of your basic flavor. Mushrooms are a flavor enhancer, so the powdered mushroom trick is great for a flavor boost. Carrots though can be overpowering in flavor, so I like to half cook or steam them separately and add them in near the end if I’m using them.

Some of my favorite stew spices are salt, pepper, cayenne, Italian seasoning, and (this may surprise some of you) a little cinnamon. I also like to add a little sesame oil at the end, after its done cooking.

Fun tricks if you’re up to a bit more work: brown the grains in a pan before adding them with a mixture of butter or oil and some of the spices you want. Do the same with the meat. I find that more flavor absorbs into them that way.

Got several friends and all of you are broke? Hold a stone soup party. Invite everyone to come over and bring one ingredient, a single stalk of celery is plenty if that’s all they have. Get a nice smooth stone and boil it clean then drop it in the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients as your friends show up and when its done… you’ll have had a lovely time with your friends and family and there will be enough to feed all of you. It’s a special kind of magic and the kind of magic that inspires music as one of my favorite Heather Dale songs shows.

What kind of stone soup would we make together? I’ll bring the powdered mushrooms and a bit of barley!

Oh, and that stone? Whoever gets it in their bowl gets to play host next time. ^_^

Heyla!

I’m still alive I promise! In apology for falling off the face of the planet for the last couple of months I offer a recap and a new song!

As you may remember I ran a kickstarter project for my new album. The first attempt failed, but the second attempt (with a lowered goal) suceeded. Thank you, everyone who helped with that! If you didn’t get a chance and would still like to help, I may be running another project to cover the rest of the expenses once I have a better idea of how much I’m short. I’m paying a higher rate on a few things than I was expecting, so expect more details in the September newsletter.

I came home from MN and performed at Ye Merrie Greenwood renaissance Faire with Bards of a Feather and Jeri Lynn Cornish. It was my first paid renfaire gig, and it went fantastically well, even the bit where it rained!

I followed that up with a concert at Westercon with Alexander James Adams, Betsy Tinney, Rob Lindfors and Mickey Phoenix. I got to play with a wireless mic and have fallen in love. I MUST own one of my own someday!!! The show was great, except for the part where the livestream of the concert failed to work (sorry for that, insurmountable technical difficulties got in the way).

From there I dove into working on the new album (which is going well). So far I have 7 guitar tracks recorded featuring Rob Lindfors, and a little clean electric guitar on two songs. Next week adds S.J. Tucker on guitar for 3 more songs! AJA and I have both laid down some of the scratch vocals, and we’ve done much plotting of how things should sound when all is said and done.

Also, in the past week I have managed to go from 1 to 14 performances scheduled for August! See the schedule page for more details, but the quick version is this:

Faerieworlds (Eugene, OR), Friday July 27th 7:15pm
Midsummer Renaissance Faire (Buckley, WA), Sat. & Sun. First three weekends of August, 2 shows a day
Rendezvous Complex (Seattle, WA), Sun. Aug. 5th, doors at 6pm
With Heather Dale in Port Townsend, WA, Sun. Aug. 12th, doors at 7pm

I’m looking for potential house concert hosts for August 13th in the Port Angeles area (also featuring Heather Dale); late September in Utah; and in Arizona and California in early October. If you have interest or contacts, or questions about any of my existing concerts, please contact me! I’m always happy to hear from you!

And now, the song! I have finally added a new song to my Roses and Ruin live in studio album, called Rosebud in June. Those of you familiar with the song may notice some lyric changes, I rewrote most of the verses to reflect things I love about the area I work at when I’m in MN. I hope you enjoy it!

http://leannansidhe.bandcamp.com/album/roses-and-ruin

As usual for this album, my partner in crime was Solarbird of Crime and the Forces of Evil! Whose music is nothing like mine, a fact that we find vastly entertaining considering how often we seem to perform and make music together. Go check out her Trad album Cracksman Betty if you want something more, well, traditional. Check out the rest of her music if you want to hear serious Rage-driven acoustic Elf-metal!

And now I’m off to tell everyone else about it before I head to bed. I hope you are all having a delightful summer, and that I get to see some of you in the coming months!

Yours in Song,

~Leannan Sidhe

I have a concert! TODAY!

If you are coming to Westercon, it is at Noon in the ballroom (which is the Norwescon Dealer’s room, if you’re familiar with the hotel).

Betsy Tinney on cello, Alexander James Adams, myself and Mickey Phoenix on vocals, and Rob Lindfors on guitar, and it is going to be EPIC!

Of course some of you can’t make it for various reason, which is sad. BUT!!! I have a solution! Thanks to the very clever Kevin Wiley, the show will be live-streamed!

Friday, July 6th at Noon (pacific time), tune into sjnk.tv and watch the awesome commence.

My kickstarter project was fully funded, so Recording will happen on schedule! *happy dance*
Also, I have several concerts that have been added to my schedule (some of them are waiting to be updated with more information), so go check those out if you’re anywhere near Minneapolis, Spokane, Seattle, Phoenix, or San Diego! More coming soon I hope!

This is a short post because I’m taking a small holiday from posting things on the internet. (mostly)

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HELPED! You are made of win!

I have the best fans and friends ever! I only have $325 left to reach my goal, and 5 days in which to do it. I’ve announced the first of my stretch goals and rewards, and I have more in mind! I would LOVE to make at least as much over goal as can pay for my album mastering. That allows the digital release of the album to go out on time even if the physical release gets delayed. Either way, at this point the project is guaranteed to succeed so you are backing a sure thing! Its only $15 to pre-order the physical CD, and you don’t pay shipping on that, so its the best deal you’re going to get online (with the exception of any combo deals)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leannansidhe/mine-to-love-songs-of-dark-fairytales-love-and-enc

Sad to say, my first project on Kickstarter has failed. I’m too stubborn to give up easily though, so I made the reward tiers tastier, and lowered my goal. I am sitting at about 38 hours in, and at 56%. If we can keep this up, I should have no trouble making goal, and hopefully beating it!

At least go watch the video and let me know if you think I should turn the song portion into a stand along youtube video when this is over!