Lisa Gatewood: Home

“Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh

My dearest folks and folkettes,

I’ve been putting off writing my newsletter because… I don’t know… It’s too cold?  The Days are still too short?  All I want to do is sleep and watch episodes of The West Wing?  Who knows, but I’m writing now because I have to tell you about a show tomorrow night. That’s right, tomorrow. As in 1 day from now. Friday, January 8^th. I’ll be playing Circle A’s Alive @ 8 Series (which, appropriately, starts at 8pm and goes until 10). I’m looking forward to sharing the bill with my good friend and fellow songwriter Ben Cervenka.

Here are the reasons you should come to the show tomorrow:

1)       Relatively speaking, it’s an early show. Come to Circle A from 8-10pm to see me and Ben (we’ll each play an hour, show starts PROMPTLY at 8pm) and you’ll still have time to do whatever you want afterwards.

2)       Ben is one of my favorite songwriters.  If you didn’t see him open for me a couple years ago at the Bremen (and even if you did), you should come out to this show.

3)       There are duets. Ben and I each wrote brand new pieces to be performed as duets at this show. These are two never-before-heard songs.

4)       Circle A is a very intimate venue. It’ll be a relaxed show with good friends, stiff drinks and snow flying around outside. Isn’t that the way you always imagined your grown-up life to be?

Hope to see you at the Circle A tomorrow. Details are below.  And happy New Year.  I, for one, am hoping 2010 and I can reach some sort of agreement.  We seem to want different things.

Love,

Lisa

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SHOWS!

Friday, January 8^th, 2010
CIRCLE A
w/ Ben Cervenka
932 E. Chambers St.
(1 block west of the Alterra on Humboldt & Chambers)
Milwaukee, WI
Cover  $3
(The show will begin PROMPTLY at 8pm. We’ll each play for an hour. Don’t be late!)
Check out Ben: www.myspace.com/marryup

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From WMSE: Attention World Music Experts!
 
WMSE is currently searching for a volunteer world music lover to host a daytime program on 91.7 FM. Our planet has many great cultural and indigenous types of music that our listeners are used to hearing and experiencing. If you think you are a qualified candidate to continue this tradition AND HAVE a genuine passion for and knowledge of the world music genre, consider applying for a volunteer program host position.
 
All interested candidates please contact WMSE Program Director at:
414-277-7247
wmse@msoe.edu

Before you throw your name in the hat, make sure to ask yourself if you can fully commit to programming a weekly 3-hour program. That's a lot of music, a lot of time. Thanks!

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My favorite:

… Song: “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” (Joanna Newsom)
… Album: Life of the World to Come (The Mountain Goats)
… TV Show: The West Wing (I know, I’m a little late)
… Month: Not January

Have you checked out the 12 Song Holiday Project from ThirdCoast Digest & WMSE 91.7 FM? Four songs have already debuted, including my brand new tune, "This Christmas Eve".

Watch the videos (filmed live in the WMSE studios!), download the songs, print out Dwellephant's original CD artwork and, voila, you've got yourself a pretty cool gift to give your friends, family and strangers!

Check out all the music and goodies here: http://thirdcoastdigest.com/2009/12/12-songs-holiday-project/

Watch my video directly on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfTouAGHks

And don't forget to thank ThirdCoast Digest and WMSE for putting together such a fun project!

"When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow, we hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago, and etched on vacant places are half-forgotten faces of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know."– Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Monday morning I was driving to work, there was a dusting of snow on the ground and for the first time this year I wore the coat I didn’t love because it was cold enough to justify it. I was listening to WMSE and Grant was on the air playing his regular mix of Monday morning alternative songs that propel you from your bed, to your shower, to your car, to your desk, to the rest of your week, whatever that may hold.

There are unexpected moments when everything in your life lines up for a brief moment. This was one of them. I had been out too late the night before sitting at the Tonic Tavern listening to Conrad Plymouth, one of my absolute favorite songwriters, play to a quiet room and then sit next to me at the bar to talk about the paths our lives may someday take. This Monday morning was hazy, sleepy and slow. Then Grant played a song I’d never heard before, "Genesis 30:3" by The Mountain Goats. Go to your iTunes, buy this song and you’ll know what I mean. It’s a hazy, sleepy, slow, gray slush, contemplative, beginning of winter, end of the decade, soft inside song. And for a brief moment I felt like this year was complete. That despite failed attempts at love and happiness and security, I had somehow wound up exactly where I was supposed to be. I had never felt so calm and so safe as I did at that stoplight on the corner where 1^st Street splits off and KK begins to head over the river.

It lasted only those three minutes and twenty-six seconds, but it was good. I hope as this decade comes to a close you all find moments like that, whether they come from a song or somewhere within. When this decade began, I was 17. I had no idea what I had yet to accomplish or what I had yet to lose. In the scheme of things, 10 years is nothing, but these have been quite something.

I can’t wait to say goodbye to them with you as we kick off the holiday festivities this weekend at the Cactus Club. See you there. Also stay tuned for an announcement about a special holiday project I’m a part of. More details coming soon.  

Happy holidays and happy new year. 
Love
Lisa 
 

Shows....  

Saturday, December 12^th @ 9:30 PM
The Cactus Club
2496 S. Wentworth Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53207
(Opening for Union Pulse & Fire On Your Sleeve along with Tolay)
Cover $5  

http://www.cactusclubmilwaukee.com/

My Favorite....

Album: The Life of the World to Come (The Mountain Goats)
Runner up for favorite album: Strict Joy (Swell Season)
Song: Genesis 30:3 (The Mountain Goats)
Runner up for favorite song: I Have Loved You Wrong (Swell Season)
Christmas Tradition: Mistletoe
Christmas movie: "Elf"
Person: My brother, Tom, who will be home next week!
New Year’s Resolution: To accept the things I cannot change. And to stop drinking milk out of the carton. I’m a grown woman, for crying out loud.