Havilah's Blog

Fueling Creative Fire with Yoga Workshop at 3OMs in Bellingham

Racing around getting ready for my trip to Hawaii where I'll be performing at Kalani Oceanside Resort and joinging Melina Meza and friends for their Winter Rhythems: Yoga Dance Intensive retreat. When I return in February I'll be presenting a short version of my "Feeding Creative Fire with Yogic Principles" workshop at 3 OMs yoga studio in Bellingham. Its free and amazing and fun...hope you can make it! In other breaking news, I'm planning a west coast tour in April, YAMCAMP is happening again May 4-6 in Wimberley, TX and the summer..well its a surprise! I'm getting kicked out of the cafe so more soon!  xxxooo

Holiday Gift for You...

Happy Holidays fans and friends!! As a gift to you in appreciation for your love and support I've made ALL FIVE of my albums pay what you can at havilah.bandcamp.com. That means you can have all of the music I've ever recorded for FREE....or you could help support my next creative projects with whatever you are able. In addition, I am also offering all five albums on a 4G Flashdrive along with a video for only $35. Click the paypal button to purchase..

 

 

Enough with the sales pitch...Writing to you from Austin, TX where I've been busy formulating my plans for 2012 (provided the universe doesn't implode and turn into a Hallmark version of the Mayan Calendar). Brother Peter and I depart for the great Pacific Northwest in a week or so where I play at The Blue Horse Gallery on December 30 8pm. This performance will be way stripped down which means solo and acoustic not naked. Then I fly back to Austin to work with Darden Smith learning how to facilitate his very unique and compelling Be An Artist Program. Going to schools and talking to kids about the importance of doing what they love all the time. Then writing and recording a song on the spot...can't imagine a more perfect job for me!! THEN I fly to Hawaii to accompany Melina Meza and other amazing yoga teachers on their retreat entitled "Winter Rhythms: Embodied Yoga and Dance Retreat" at the Kalani Oceanside Resort. Here I'll get a chance to present another performance/workshop on fueling creative fire with yogic principles and songwriting! If you get a wild hair and need a break from winter - JOIN US!!

Finally, on February 7th I journey to the south of Thailand to complete my Yoga Teacher Training. Excited beyond words for this section of my self-directed education on how to help people re-discover their powers of creation, innovation, self-awareness and alchemy. As always, I am grateful for your support and encouragement. Below is a clip of my summer performance at Breitenbush Hot Springs. Enjoy! Have an amazing holiday..be grateful for what you have and for all the love you have in your life cuz that's how it grows. See you soon!

Back from Nashville..

Hey folks. So Nashville was a hoot! Me and the rest of the Bluebird Cafe Contest winners (Mark Ambrose, Greg Whitfield, Chris Pfeiffer, Wake Eastman and Jim Heckroth) got in the car at 6am on November 21st and drove from Austin to Nashville stopping only at a Cracker Barrel for dinner in Memphis. Armed with several audiobooks and three Advil PMs, I barely noticed the time and when we got there, I was ready to party!! We stopped off at an Irish pub near music row for a beer and ended up writing a hilarious song about the cranky bartendress with fake flashing boobs and sparkly nylons. The chorus went something like T-T-T-T-T Tera...give me the green light the green light.... The next day we met a bunch of hit country songwriters at the Nashville Songwriters Association and learned a little about the business of cranking out commercial ready songs for publishers and had our songs critiqued. Not really my world but interesting to peek into for a day... Then to the Bluebird Cafe which was standing room only!! We played in two rounds of four each and I believe we represented Austin quite well. The next day I stayed behind and wandered around the city. There was a bunch of free music on Broadway in celebration of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge 51st birthday. Apparently the bar was a hang out for many a legendary songwriter back in its day, including Willie Nelson, and Tootsie was a huge supporter of musicians. It was Kidd Rock's bday too and he made a few cameos here and there, surrounded by mean looking bodyguards of course, though I was too tired to stay up and watch him play. I returned to Austin i time to attend Professor Feathers (aka Mark Addison) famed orphan Thanksgiving where we ate, drank and jammed till the wee hours. What a great homecoming!!

Resting for a week or so before Brother Peter and I head up to Washington State for the holidays. Here are a few things that I'll be doing before the end of the year and then feel free to check out the video I posted of my Bluebird Cafe Performance. 

December 14th  Havilah with Mark Williams at Romeo's Italian Grill  8pm

December 30th The Blue Horse Gallery in Bellingham, WA 8pm

 

End of the Road...On to the Next One

Hello friends, family, fans..First of all I just found out I am a finalist in another contest. The prize is 75 hours of recording time at The Recording Conservatory of Austin so please click HERE and vote for me. On to the blog...Eating breakfast on the front porch of India's Coffee Shop in Terlingua, TX. Heading back to Austin today after an amazing two week tour that spanned Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and West Texas. Some noteable moments include recording a video with Casey Friedmann in his amazing studio space in Oklahoma City as part of his Acoustic Oklahoma project. He has over 400 videos posted already of singer songwriters from all overthe world. Check it out HERE.

In Denver I was able to connect with my friends and of "Leading Ladies" film makers Erika Randall and Daniel Beahm who just welcomed baby Ezra Randall Beahm into their lives. He is a beautiful and sweet bundle of love and enormous amounts of talent no doubt. I literally hovered over the audience at The Walnut Room Pizzeria, the stage was actually a platform built over the bar about 50 feet in the air. SCARY but I managed to make a few new fans while simultaneously overcoming my new found fear of heights.

A two day personal writing retreat in Taos, NM was next. In between hours of stoking a roaring fire andwriting as the snow fell I perused the over 80 art galleries and museums that make Taos one of the most inspiring places I've ever been too and Iook forward to returning in the spring. The adventures continued in Pinos Altos where I played The Buckhorn Saloon and Opera House. The owner Thomas gave me the grand tour of 

this incredible artifact of American history, ghost stories included! I even got to stay in a beautiful cabin he had just remodeled. I spent the morning watching the sunrise and trying to get the Keurig coffeemaker to work! When it finally did I had about five then hopped in the car and sped to Las Cruces.

After New Mexico I made my way to Marfa where I stayed in one of the oh so cool custom designed airstreams at El Cosmico owned by the restaurant/hotel superstar Liz Lambert. I opened for country band Horse Opera at Padre's and ate some delicious gumbo. Then I drank the beer the owner of the High Desert Brewery in Las Cruces had given me and tried to learn some Townes Van Zandt songs. I failed miserably and laid in bed reading Keith Richard's biography till dawn.

My tour ended in Terlinga, TX. I played the beautiful Starlight Theater and was once again treated like the princess I was born to be. I drank many delicious magaritas and slept in the El Patron suite. I guess it was my lucky weekend because I also managed to get in to Jimmy Lafave's Songwriter Roundup at the Lajitas Resort just in time to see Malcolm Holcombe smoke everyone in the room with his provacative stage presence and incredibly raw, cut to the marrow of the bone style of songwriting. Aterwards, one of the locals tried to kiss me in the cave at La Kiva..and I let him. I was in a cave for Gods Sake! On the last night of my tour..in Terlingua!

Now I'm safely back in Austin and writing even more new songs. On Monday I take off for Nashville to play at the famous Bluebird Cafe as part of my prize for winning the Austin Songwriter Group Bluebird Cafe contest. In December I play at Romeo's in Austin a few times (the 10th and 14th) before heading up to Bellingham for the holidays and a show at the Bluehorse Gallery on the 23rd. As for 2012.. more yoga and creativity retreats with Melina Meza, the Be An Artist Program with Darden Smith, touring, recording..sky's the limit! Actually I haven't a clue. Stay tuned though:)

Acoustic Oklahoma...and then on to Colorado..

Look what I did yesterday with Casey Friedmann of Acoustic Oklahoma..Today I leave for Colorado, then to New Mexico, the West Texas and then....NASHVILLE! ( I won the Austin Songwriters Group Bluebird Cafe Contest. I never win anything so I'm super excited and have to keep mentioning it. Thanks for your patience:)

 

Southwest Tour, Bluebird Songwriting Contest, 3 Song EP.. BUSY!!

Hey everyone! Writing to you from my desk at Once Over Coffee on South 1st St in sunny Austin, TX. Life is SO good. Writing new songs, preparing for my Fall Southwest Tour and getting psyched for the final round of Austin Songwriters Group Bluebird Cafe Contest at Threadgills North this Sunday 3-6pm! In other news, Billy Masters and I spend last Sunday morning recording a few of my new songs. It came out so good that I am offering it as a pay-what-you-can digital download. All proceeds go towards financing my upcoming tour. Tours are fun, but they are EXPENSIVE. Especially when you are an independent artist like me who pays for her own gas, her own hotels, her own CD duplication, her own americanos.....etc. So in the spirit of supporting one another during some extremely complicated economic conditions, if you enjoy my music I want you to have it. For whatever you can afford. If you can afford to pay for my americano..CHEERS. If you can afford to pay for a few gallons of gas...awesome! If you can afford to pay for my next order of 1000 CD's (about $1800)  then THANK YOU!! So check out "Red Boot Sessions" on the right hand side bar and help out a gal and her guitar and some red boots. Be well..

 

 

Back in Austin for a spell...

Howdy! So Y.A.M. Camp was a huge success, SWRFA was a blast. Tonight Billy Masters and I tore it up at Romeo's in Austin where I'll be spending the next month writing and preparing for a trip to Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and West Texas in November. I've posted a video of a brand new song that Billy and I tried out tonight. It was inspired by and is dedicated to four close friends of mine who have all lost a brother to suicide at some point during these past two years. It's strange times folks, time to be open minded, compassionate, forgiving and grateful. In this moment, we can embrace peace while still expressing our convictions. The protests on Wall Street are inspiring, finally we are participating, standing up for what we want and what we believe in. I feel myself doing the same thing in my own life. Refusing to spend time doing anything except what I know wholeheartedly serves my true self and the world around me...the loss of so many brothers hurts my heart. I am reminded to offer a kind word or smile more often. You never know when someone has reached their threshold for confusion and pain. Anyways, enough late night rambling. Thanks for your support. I'm living in paradise these days, spending every minute of every day on the things that mean most to me. I wish the same for you. 

 

Y.A.M. Camp, SWRFA and Austin shows

Hello from Wimberley, Texas where I am in the juicy thick of Yoga Art Music Camp with Melina Meza. We have lovely guests, delicious food and today even Susan Gibson was here to check out all the fun healthy, creative activities we got going on. On Thursday I head back to Austin for Southwest Regional Folk Alliance, my schedule of showcases is below. Also got a few Austin shows coming up in October that I hope all you Austinites will make it out to. I can hear thunder, it could be the bellies of our guests so I'm gonna run..hope to see you soon!!

SWRFA Schedule

Friday Sept 30  Midnight  North Texas Venues  Room 915

Friday Sept 30 1:10am Puffbunny House Concerts  Room 804

Saturday Oct 1 10:30pm Jubilant Bridge Get Over It  Room 721

Saturday Oct 1 12:30pm  Lost Pines Good Bookin Room  Room 816

October Shows

Wednesday October 5th  Romeo's  with Billy Masters 8:30pm - 10pm

Monday October 17th Whip In with Billy Masters  8-10pm

 

Halfway back to Texas!

Here I am in Los Angeles after a week or so of ambling down the coast, a rest stop at Sivananda Yoga Farm in Grass Valley, visits with tons of amazing friends and some great shows. Below is a clip from my performance at Sculpterra Winery as part of Steve Key's Songwriters At Play in Paso Robles. Tonight I'm super excited to celebrate the DVD release of Leading Ladies at Room 5 in Hollywood where cast members and fans will be present to toast the next phase of this beautiful film I am so honored to be a part of. Then on to West Texas to play Marfa and Terlingua before I make the final trek back to Austin. I've been having tons of fun with the flip camera so stay tuned for more clips. Love you all!! 

Super Fun Show at Breitenbush!!