Live Performance Sabbatical
First of all, thanks for visiting my website and for supporting live music!
I'm currently on sabbatical from performing live for the rest of 2012 to work on some recording projects and the Portland State University Vocal Jazz Program. Please sign up for my newsletter if you'd like periodic updates, and so I can let you know where I'll be when I get back to gigging. Looking forward to connecting soon!
Best,
Valerie
From Oregon w/Love 2012
Recovery and Renewal
It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan. A lot of rebuilding and recovery has taken place, but much more remains to be done.
Last year a group of Portlanders came together and created "From Oregon w/Love" - a concert that ended up raising $250,000 for the Japanese relief effort. Next Sunday, March 11th, another concert is planned. Presented by the Oregon Tomadachi Recovery Fund, "From Oregon w/Love 2012" includes performances by Thomas Lauderdale, Portland Taiko, Michael Harrison, The Devin Phillips Band, and our friends Marv and Rindy Ross (from Quarterflash and The Trail Band) - with whom John and I will be performing John Lennon's "Imagine". Please join us!
On a more personal note...
My Rather Quiet Calendar
Dear Friends ~
A quick note to let you know that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth! I’ve been meaning to write since last summer. In fact, I was sitting at my desk putting the finishing touches on a newsletter when I got a call that changed everything – all my plans for gigs, teaching, recording, record releases – the wonderful, crazy, overwhelming, doing-ness of this life that I love.
As John Lennon so wisely wrote, "Life is what happens when we're busy making other plans."
Turns out that my plans for the next several months evaporated in that moment. The call was from my doctor to tell me that the lump they’d found during a mammogram a month earlier was positive for breast cancer. The good news is that they caught it early and my prognosis is excellent. In fact my very optimistic surgeon said I would "just have to find another way to die". She has a great sense of humor - which I appreciate even more at a time like this!
So for the next few months I will be focusing on my health. One of my friends said, “Wow. It’s like you’re going on a silent retreat but the thing that’s silent is your calendar.” It’s true – and it’s not easy for me. It’s like a spiritual practice keeping those little squares blank. But I’m also enjoying the space it creates. A cancer diagnosis sucks – but it is giving me time to slow down, reevaluate, and savor every moment. And that feels very good.
Coming Soon...NU SHOOZ Kung Pao Kitchen CD!
I want to take a moment to apprise you of my most recent project: Kung Pao Kitchen! The upcoming full-length record, set to be released in early 2012, features a compilation of 9 un-vaulted, re-mastered NU SHOOZ tracks written between 1988 and 1992. For those who want to know what happened to The Shooz after “Should I Say Yes,” John and I are proud to present this collection of songs that have never seen the light of day.
Check out the NU SHOOZ website over the next few months for updates, which we will keep fully stocked with news, video snippets, musical appetizers and tidbits on the making of KPK.
We hope you enjoy the ear candy…welcome to the Kung Pao Kitchen!
Headed to Japan w/ Flight of Friendship
Big news to share with you! John and I have been invited to go to Japan as “musical ambassadors” with Flight of Friendship – a diverse group of people from Oregon and the U.S. who want to let the Japanese people know they are not alone. With the help of Mercy Corp and their Japanese partner organization Peace Winds we will be visiting displacement Centers outside of Sendai and helping in whatever we can.