vanCity got artists

i'm talking about them real artists.  met some really inspiring folks totally doing they're own thing at a place called raw canvas in yaletown, vancouver.  this little venue is completely focused on creativity.  you can walk in and pay a few bucks for a nice canvas of any size, they'll provide you with brushes, paint, etc and you go to town right there in their lounge area.  and when you're done, you can snack on the wide and eccentric variety of international meats and cheeses served with equally unique condiments and bread.  and oh ya, they've also got live music there all the time!  it's a cool little underground culture of musicians who i got to know while playing at an open mic there the other night.  i definitely vibed with these people, who, like myself, incorporate a lot of unconventional influences into their music.  its like this whole underground hip hop/soul culture up there...  i dig it.

i thoroughly enjoyed vancouver while i was there.  i ate some great international food (plus an amazing burger for vera's burger shack :p), went for an 8 mile barefoot run around stanley park (gorgeous...), checked out a couple of open mics in vancity's thriving local scene, brushed up on my french (there are a surprisingly large number of francophones, even in western canada), and finally, i had the honor of playing a show at the yale, one of vancouver's most legendary concert venues!  (video will be up soon)

the show at the yale was great, and the audience was really cool!  signed some cd's and got to hang out with a bunch of them afterwards, many of whom were there to see a blues band who played after me, called Joe Cool.  Joe Cool was dope, and i'm definitely going to check them out again next time i'm in vancouver!

so that's it!  i'm back in NJ now and i've got a little hiatus from all this touring business until september 17, 18 and 19, when i'll be in Boston recording a christmas album with birch beer records, and playing boston area shows all three days, culminating with a show on sunday, sept 19 at the burren (doors open 8pm), in davis square!  if you're in boston, come check it out!

much love, and thanks for reading this blog :)  this will be the last post, but for more info, keep up to date at www.levischmidtmusic.com

levi

josephine!

i'm in vancouver.  its awesome.  but before i get to that, i have a story to tell you...

i played an afternoon set today at C&P Coffee Co. in west seattle.  it was a great, intimate little acoustic room with a nice stage at one end.  my friend nelson opened the show with a great set of folk standards as well as his own originals, (which i like even more every time i hear them!)  then i played for about an hour and a half.  as usual, near the beginning of my set, i had mentioned that i had cds for sale.  well there was this young family in the audience, (a couple in their twenties and their two small children) who dug my music!  so midway through my set, the cutest little two year old girl that i've ever seen walks up to the stage with ten bucks in her tiny hand.  her name was josephine and she totally made my day!  i knelt down and shook her hand and introduced myself right there on stage, and she told me all about what kind of music she likes (her favorite song is 76 trombones :p)  i gave her a cd and she dutifully brought it back over to her parents.  her folks were really nice, and i got to talk to a few of the audience members afterwards.  it was a show that i'm sure i'll never forget!

afterwards i drove up to vancouver and played an open mic at cafe montmartre (a surprising number of people in speak french in vancouver, which is cool 'cause i do too :)  it was a cool-tight-knit-community of an open mic, with great music, spoken word and even comedy! definitely got a feel for vancouver and the music scene here!  looking forward to checking out the city tomorrow and definitely looking forward to playing at the yale here in vancouver on tuesday night!  if you know anyone in the area, feel free to let them know!  details are here:  www.levischmidtmusic.com/shows

peace!

L

seattle has beautiful trees

got lost in the trails at pioneer park :)

i flew in to seattle yesterday.  all that i packed were like 3 t shirts, as many 'like water' CDs as i could fit into my backpack, my computer, and my guitar.  i had to pay extra to check my guitar at the airport, but my friend nelson (who not only offered to host me here in seattle, but also hooked me up with a sweet gig!) told me the baller way to avoid paying extra for a guitar:  just carry it on.  it's that easy, apparently (and ask one of the flight staff to find a place for it!)  apparently it works everytime... i'll update y'all on this after the return flight!  :p

at nelson's place, gettin' my sleep on

anyway, i played a show here last night at a place called taco guaymas in lynnwood, wa.  it was a great room with a super attentive crowd that was definitely into the live local music scene.  the tremendous rick ruskin opened the show with an absolutely virtuosic showing of solo guitar instrumentals mixed in with the occasional folk/blues song.  the guy can play some guitar...  really incredible.  my friend, nelson wright, played the middle set, mixing his own awesome original tunes with some well chosen classics by the likes of players such as mississippi john hurt.  great set.  i had the pleasure of closing the show, and the audience was amazing!  not only did they stick around for my hour long set, they were super open to my style of music (a little different than rick and nelson's respective styles!) and really friendly after the show! definitely made some new friends in seattle!

p.s. the burritos at taco guaymas are out of this world...

today i've got another show in seattle, at a place called C&P coffee co.  its a fairly small room, so i've decided to play the show without any amplification (plus i didn't feel like finding a way to bring an amp, micstand, etc on the plane... :p).  but it'll be a good exercise in projecting my sound, and can definitely be a cool experience for the audience as well :)  after the show this afternoon, i'm heading up to vancouver to hang out for a couple of days before my show at the yale tuesday night!  wish me luck!

peace, y'all

levi

and that's word to toronto...

toronto is an amazing city.  i've only gotten to spend one night here, but i've seen so much culture, diversity and positivity in this city! 

i drove to toronto today from nj.  it was a really mellow drive up through the hills of upstate new york.  at the border, i convinced a decidedly dope border patrol officer with a well kept beard, not to charge me $150 for a work permit, since i was just coming to TO for one show.  i didn't try very hard to convince him, but i'm definitely glad he decided to let me in to canada! :p  there was a couple in front of me in the immigration line who got a long lecture from a less dope border patrol officer about not abusing the border rules to visit each other across national boundaries unless they were going to get married...  awkward silence...  haha!

i played at a great venue right in downtown toronto called C'est What.  alysha brillinger, who was supposed to be the headliner for the night, had to cancel last minute because she got the flu :(  (get well soon, alysha!)  so i ended up splitting the night and trading songs with a local singer/songwriter named luke jackson.  we had a great time, and had an excellent audience of old friends and new ones :)  one of the many cool parts about playing at c'est what is that all shows at c'est what are webcast at http://www.whatsnext.ca/ and recorded as well!  very cool.

after the show, a bunch of us just hung out and talked about life, cultures, accents and lots of other important stuff over a few beers.  very good times, indeed.  crashing at my friend grace's here in toronto for a few hours before hitting the road!  it's crazy that boston is farther from toronto than nj.  such is life!  leaving early tomorrow for a show tomorrow night in good old boston.  can't wait...

much love,

levi

skyfest

whatup everybody,

so on saturday, i had the pleasure of opening day 2 of live music at the skylands music and arts festival in blairstown, NJ.  it was awesome.  great day of music, culture, community and fun.  i played a little over a half hour set with my good friend blase ur on bass.  this was blase and my second time ever playing together, and we were totally vibing out there; really feeling the music and getting into it!  blase adds sooooo much to the set with his mad bass skillz...

we played to an intimate, but lively crowd of early bird types, since 11:30 am is a bit early to go see live music on a saturday.  it was an awesome crowd though, all about the music and listening and connecting.  very cool. 

after our set, blase and i hung out and watched caravan of thieves, who were great musically, and lots of fun.  then i hung out with the extremely talented vance gilbert backstage before his set.  he basically made fun of me for a half hour, then for another hour during his set..  but all in good fun!  he had an amazing set, truly inspirational.  the guy is a performer, an amazing guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and comedian.  it was cool to hang out with him, swap CDs and learn a bit from a guy who's been around. 

now i'm getting ready to head to toronto for the next leg of the tour!  playing at C'est What and opening Alysha Brillinger!  awesome. 

check out tickets for the TO show here, and for more info, as always, visit www.levischmidtmusic.com!

peace.

L

charlotte show and radio

Maddie, Joyce (owner of Div Den), myself and Stephen after the show

on august 18th, i had the pleasure of playing a show at the Diversity Den Cafe along with the fantastically talented Maddie Shuler and Stephen Sylvester.  it was an incredibly fun show, and we were all definitely feeding off of all of the creative, musical energy in the place that night.  Maddie is an incredible guitarist and vocalist, and an even better writer, and at the age of 15, she's definitely going places!  Stephen is pretty new to songwriting, and he's got an amazing, soulful voice and plays his fender strat wiht a stylish flair, all his own.  splitting the night with these guys was a huge treat!  i met both of them last week at the evening muse open mic, where i was promoting the Diversity Den show.  after hearing them play (and realizing that i had to fill a 3 hour set at the Diversity Den :P) i asked them to join me and the rest is history :)  we all decided that we'd have to do it again someday!

after the show was over wednesday night around 10, i headed off back to new jersey.  earlier wednesday, i had scheduled a radio interview/live performance at 8am thursday morning, back home at WNTI in hackettstown, nj.  it's literally a 10 hour drive from charlotte...  so i had little time to spare!  thankfully i didn't hit any traffic (perks of driving through the night) and arrived at the WNTI studio right around 8 am!  it was a fun little interview and performance, promoting the Skylands Music and Arts Festival at which i'll be performing this weekend (cafe stage, saturday august 21, 11:30 am). 

after the radio show, i wrote three songs.  then i went to sleep.  for hours.  it was awesome.  :)

hope all is well with all of you, and that you are enjoying the end of august!

levi

austin

austin is an amazing city with even more amazing people.  i must say, it has lived up to the hype that all of my texan friends have attached to it.  my friend An and her friend Tanya found it in the goodness of their hearts to hook me up with a room at the lovely Radisson hotel right in downtown austin!  needless to say, we slept extremely well (my guit and i... thats not weird.  ...    right?)

i ate a lot of mexican food while i was here, and it was all delicious.  they say you're an expert at something if you've practiced it for 10,000 hours.  well i've eaten the equivalent in mexican food, and in my expert opinion, mexican food here in austin is top notch.  :)

momo's is an awesome club, half indoor bar, half outdoor patio, but all gnarly.  they had a nice big stage and a great space because both the indoor and outdoor sections were in view and earshot of the stage.  i played to an amazing crowd of like 15 people, but its all about quality, and this crowd was good peoples.  :)  this was really a fun show and we all stuck around for a beer afterwards, then went out to dinner!  met a bunch of friends of friends who are all  awesome and had a great night!  thank you friends in austin, old and new!

now i'm off to charlotte, NC for a show at a cool little venue called the Diversity Den.  i've got about 30 hours before the show (its a 20 hour drive :P)    sounds like my kind of thing :) after the NC show, i'll drive through the night back to NJ for an interview/performance on WNTI radio station in NJ thursday morning.  should be a good time :P

hope you're all enjoying the last couple weeks of the great month of august!

much love,

levi