Waterloo, St. Catharine’s, Hamilton
taped an interview with CTV’s The Beat which will be aired on January
29th (southwestern ontario) and also available online. I have another
interview on Saturday (January 15th) on CFMU (93.3 or worldwide at
cfmu.mcmaster.ca) on the Freewheeling Folk Show which airs from 10 am
’till Noon. I’m playing tonight in Waterloo, tomorrow in St. Catherine’s, and
Saturday night in Hamilton! I have copies of Sticker Collection with
me, tea blends, chapbooks, buttons and a fabulous drummer/guitarist
(Will Bustin. He’s not for sale, but everything else is)! WATERLOO
Thursday January 13th, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Maxwell’s Music House (220 King St. North)
$7 cover, $5 students part Songwriter’s Circle
with The Mountain’s & The Trees, Zachary Lucky, and Richard Garvey ST. CATHARINE’S
Friday January 14th at 8 pm
The Pan Cafe (120 St. Paul St.)
PWYC ($7 suggested) with Bryson Waind HAMILTON
Saturday January 15th at 8 pm
The Pearl Company (16 Steven St.)
$8 advance, $5 students
with Shelley Adams and Melissa Bel
Posted in Events, Media, News | 3 Comments
Webcast tonight!
Tune into the webcast at 8 pm tonight at www.laurenbest.com/webcast!
Advance tickets are still available at the Downtown Bookstore ($20
with CD, $10 without), or at the door ($25 with CD, $20 without).
Doors are at 7:30 pm.
It is going to be a great show. I’ll have Tyler Wagler (bass) and Will
Bustin (drums and guitar) on stage with me- they are fantastic and I’m
very excited to be playing with them.
Brian Tannahill, who I wrote “Tangled Up With You” with, will be
making a special guest appearance!
I’ll be wearing an Anne Hopkins original tonight (www.annehopkins.ca)-
her fabulous designs will be seen throughout my tour!
Live radio performance on CHML
I have a live performance and interview on The Scott Thompson Show on AM 900 CHML tomorrow (Friday January 7th)! The show airs from 12 pm to 3 pm with the music segment from 2:30 pm – 3 pm. If you're in Hamilton, you can also catch it in person at 33 Bowen Street!
Anne Hopkins creations, Tillsonburg tonight
A busy and exciting day! On my way to meet with Anne Hopkins (http://www.annehopkins.ca), whose designs I’ll be wearing for my album release tour dates. I’m very excited to have her fabulous creations to wear!
Then, after finishing packing/preparing, finally picking up my manufactured record today (!!!) and driving to Tillsonburg to play at Norma Jeans tonight!
Sticker Collection ON SALE and streaming FREE!
Presales are now live for Sticker Collection, my debut LP which I’ve been working on for the past three years. Yeah, baby, that’s right.
You can stream the WHOLE record for free- and if you buy the physical package, which includes a beautiful full-colour poster, you get an immediate digital download with the physical package shipping on the official release date, January 11th.
I’ve chosen to offer the physical package via bandcamp as “name your price” with a minimum of $10, digital downloads in just about any format you could desire with a minimum of $5, as well as streaming for free. I believe music should be affordable, but as an artist, I also know first hand the hard work, time, and money that goes into making a record. I’m a big fan of the “name your price/pwyc” model, so that’s why I have it streaming for free with that pricing model- I want to make it as available as possible and also encourage supporting artists directly!
I can’t really describe how it feels to finally be in the midst of releasing this record three years after beginning the recording process. It’s a good feeling, and it’s a powerful feeling, and I’m really excited to be sharing this record with y’all.
Posted in News | 4 Comments
Solstice show with Jeff Jones
Ahh, the holiday season. Hustle and bustle, sparkle and shine, stress and desserts. It’s getting colder and retail is getting flashier, and holiday caroling and cajoling is all around!
I’m very much looking forward to the “Almost-Solstice” show I am doing with Jeff Jones to celebrate the season. I’m looking forward to doing an acoustic show in Toronto again after a long period away from the city (during which time I played at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, traveled in British Columbia, worked on an organic lavender/herb farm, and somehow wound up back in Ontario via Victoria, Seattle, and Calgary-but that’s another blog post!). I’m looking forward to being back at the Free Times Cafe, it’s a classic intimate Toronto venue that’s great for listening. And I’m looking forward to collaborating with Jeff Jones (and Danielle Desjardins will also be appearing as a special guest!).
TORONTO
Sunday December 19th, 2010
Jeff and Lauren’s Almost-Solstice Show (an evening of wishin’ and
hopin’ for the days to start getting longer!)
at the Free Times Cafe (320 College Street)
8:30 pm
$6 at the door
I’m especially excited to be collaborating with Jeff as he’s been an inspiration to me since childhood. I remember watching him on TV when I was 13, playing on the Juno’s with Red Rider in support of Shania Twain! I’ve been very lucky to have grown up surrounded by a circle of talented and caring individuals that stoked the fires of my own creativity. I feel truly blessed and humbled to have not only had family friends such as Jeff to look up to since childhood, but to also have had so many opportunities during my own maturation as a performing artist and songwriter to work with powerhouses of creativity and talent both during the production of my record and through other mentorship. Here’s a little bit about Jeff as it relates to the almost-solstice show:
Jeff Jones has been playing bass on gold records in Canadian Bands for four decades. His career started while still in high school with Ocean and continued on with the likes of Ronnie Hawkins, Red Rider, Larry Gowan and Molly Johnston’s The Infidels. Today while continuing to play bass with Tom Cochrane, Burton Cummings and playing an integral role in the Carpet Frogs, Jeff has started to play “unplugged” with a variety of people around Toronto including Danielle and Lauren. To this acoustic forum he brings his stellar “chops”, his wealth of experience and his versatile sweet vocals.
I’ve collaborated with Jeff in the past during his residency at Cantina, but this is our first full concert together and our first holiday show together! I look forward to sharing this intimate concert with family and friends- and that means you, I look forward to seeing you there!
Posted in Events, News | Comment
Winnipeg Folk Festival, and then westward!
I fly to Winnipeg early tomorrow morning, and set up camp at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. I’m showcasing and being mentored (by John K. Samson, no less!) as part of their Young Performer’s Program. I’m there for five days (camping!).
Originally, after this, I was going to fly back to Toronto, but I made a last-minute decision to change my flight to go to Vancouver instead. I’m planning on taking the long way home, backpacking and eventually ending up back in Ontario via who-knows-where. I have some friends and family in western canada, I have little money, and I have an open mind. I’m going to try to make some money while I’m out there (I play music! I brought chapbooks and buttons to sell! I can do lots of other things too!), to aid in my journey and my trip home. I’m betting on serendipity.
If you are reading this and know someone who might like to host me in my journey (anywhere between Vancouver and Toronto, I may go further north to Dawson City or further south to California), someone who might like to host a house concert or organize a concert elsewhere, good places to play, good places to make some money, or just neat places I should really check out… please send along a note, if anything comes to mind!
Summary: if you know someone I should be in touch with or a piano I should play, now is the time to tell me.
I greatly appreciate the assistance!
In addition, send your address if you would like to perhaps receive postcards/letters.
Posterchild’s Maple Faerie
When I first started investigating options for album art, I contacted one of my favourite Toronto “street artists” (I put this in quotations because the term “street artist” is ambiguous, sometimes pretentious, and oft misused), Posterchild. We exchanged emails back and forth for a while; the many delays the album process underwent and the business of both our lives made communication a bit slow. Much has changed since then: at the time, I was playing with the idea of calling the album In Flight, but it is now entitled Sticker Collection and the album art has gone in a very different direction.
However, Posterchild did a piece/installation inspired by what I sent him anyhow. I was, and continue to be, thrilled and also quite moved that my music was the inspiration for such beauty. I ended up incorporating what he did into the album art (which is a digital collage and is also very exciting!).
Collaboration between artists of different inclinations and disciplines is important, I believe, not just for the creations that result but also for dialogue, experimentation, and furthering our own artistic pursuits. It touches me deeply when I am able to be a part of this sort of collaboration.
Plus it’s pretty freaking cool.
Posted in News, Personal Blog, Site News | 1 Comment
Tracks from the Cameron House
There are a few new tracks from The Cameron House, where I had a great time opening for Backwoods Justice. On these tracks you hear myself on piano and vocals, backed by the talents of Tyler Wagler (bass), Graham Campbell (guitar/organ) and Eric Woolston (drums).
Posted in Audio, News | Comment
Owen Sound shows: tracks+photos!
I’m back in the big city from Owen Sound (a transition which included doing a “Farmer Fred” character at a movement/character/improv workshop… which I realized partway through was mostly foreign to everyone in the room and was therefore confusing rather than humorous).
Dylan Chauvin-Smith traveled up to the Sound with us and kept his camera busy. He was kind enough to post online some highlights from the weekend.
We also had Adam Hall from vWave Productions along for the ride recording all this troublemaking. There are three tracks from the show up on myspace, including the sweet sounds of Tyler Wagler (bass), Graham Campbell (guitar and organ) and Eric Woolston (percussion).
p.s.(ssst) The Cameron House is a good place to be this Saturday night. I’ll be joined by the Renegade Company to open for Backwoods Justice, back from hiatus and ready to shake y’all. 10ish, $5 at the door.
