now at http://natashaduchene.com

I’ve decided to move from wordpress.com to self-hosting, mostly so I can embed media more easily and customize my template. If you’re subscribed in a reader then you will have to re-subscribe, even though it looks kind of the same. that said, I added a bunch more content so please check it out!

hugs and kisses to you all!

We sat by the lake and sang songs, walked for hours and hours, met some wonderful and inspiring people, didn’t quite freeze our asses off and all in all had a grand ol’ time. Lucy is one strong amazing woman and it was such a delight to spend a couple of days with her in the woods.

We hitchhiked out of Toronto, and waited the longest for a ride getting out of the city. What a difference it is hiking with another girl though. I’ve hitched with guys and I’ve hitched alone, and the reactions are so different. When you’re a chick with a dude people generally don’t pay too much attention to you (I would imagine it is the same for dudes by themselves), and by myself the most prevalent look is somewhere between disbelief and parental disapproval. But Lucy and I, with our big backpacks, bigger smiles, and a cardboard sign were met with waves, thumbs up, honks and cheers. It was such a huge outpouring of positivity that it’s a little unreal to think it took us a little over an hour to get our first ride. But at least we brightened a few people’s day during that time.

Once out of the city we made pretty good time, with one person stopping to see if we wanted a lift before we even had a chance to put our thumbs out. A dude went 30km out of his way to take us to the entrance of the park, and then a very sweet couple took us to Mew Lake campground, where we got our permits and started our hike into the wilderness.

God, I love the woods. Seriously, I do not belong in the city. We had a beautiful spot on Provoking Lake, hiked the Track and Tower Trail on our second day, saw a black bear, and got mocked by squirrels that stole our peanuts on the first night. Without all the light pollution of the city, we could see stars beyond stars and a cresent moon lit up the sky. I came home refreshed and feeling more alive than I’ve felt since coming back to Toronto.

While we were traveling through the desert last fall, Lung and I did a shoot at Bombay Beach, which he submitted to PDN and Billboard Magazine’s Year In Music Photo Contest. And you know what? He totally won! You can see the image here by:

1) selecting “View The Winners” and 2) clicking “Next” two times

Lung is amazing and you should totally go check out the rest of his portfolio at lungliu.com/. You can also go to his blog and let him know there.

11pm, April 2009.

The wind is still blowing and the moon is full. I made my bed in my trailer while Charlie played three simple chords on the piano. Last night he was playing these same notes, and it sounded like such a lonely little song, singing self-awareness into the universe. I stood behind the screen door and this time felt compelled to sing. So I added my voice, slow gentle tones, ninths and thirds. Charlie turned away from me at the piano, me with my face pressed up against the screen, not wanting to open the door lest I break the spell.

But I did. Slowly, I grabbed a fleece blanket and wrapped it around me, still singing. I opened the door as gently as I could, so not to make a sound, and I as I opened it I thought of my throat and chest expanding like in a silent breath. I opened the door, and listened to a few notes, now peeking around the corner. But before I could sing, the song was over.

Life in Nova Scotia continues to be pleasant, quiet and beautiful. The weather is gorgeous, Dad and I swim in the ocean, theatre school is going well and I probably spend too much time drinking wine in the garden. No complaints here! I am probably procrastinating so I’ll keep this quick, but here are some upcoming dates if you’re in the neighborhood.

Mini Red Riding Skirt (Chester Theatre School production)
August 19 – 22 7pm, and August 22 at 2pm at the Chester Playhouse

It’s a jazzy telling of Little Red Riding Hood, with a twist. Join the animals of the forest and Mini Red as she deals with her identity crisis, Wilfred Wolf as he confronts his lack of self-esteem, and Wilomena’s unrequited love. The kids have been working really hard the last three weeks and the show is looking and sounding fabulous. This is my official reason for being here the past month (I’m musical director for the show) and I’m looking forward to seeing it hit the stage and blossom.

Fridays at F’Lunch Diner
Friday, August 28th and maybe another one or two after that

I’ve been playing here most Fridays, but I can’t on the 22nd because of the play. But then I’ll be back! It’s from 6pm – 8pm, and I play a mix of my own tunes and jazz standards. Not sure how long I’ll be in town after the 28th, but for sure the week after the production I will be there. Come say hi!

Hey dudes and dudettes,

I’m playing at a local restaurant this Friday evening. It’ll be a mix of original material, folks and jazz, and if you’re in the neighborhood you should totally come!

F’Lunch Diner
3758 Hwy #3 (where Stacy’s Place used to be)
Chester, NS
6pmish to 8pm or maybe a little later.

yeah!

My dad and I found this on our walk last night. I love that people took the time to create this. Delight!

In other news, I’ve been staying up late every night working on cleaning up the audio for one of Patrick’s projects in between rehearsing for the Theatre School and some other scoring work. I won’t say too much about it except that there’s a lot of… toast. stay tuned!

I’m going to Montreal tomorrow, but I’m fighting strep throat again. I should really be sleeping but truth be told I am sad to be leaving Toronto and I kind of want to stay up and sit with this feeling for awhile. I guess that makes it time to take the guitar to the garden.

The Cool Canaries is a little jazz ensemble that started as a couple of friends and I putting together two songs for Ofleb Production’s short film “Frank’s Letter”, which we also got to dress up in period clothing and perform in (yup, that’s me up there). Later we added Maëva Clermont-Giguère on keys and Sebastien Belleudy on drums and played a fundraiser for Alain Wong’s bike ride for microcredit, kept practicing until we all started traveling too much and then had to let it go.

Ladies and gentlemen, Felix Pare on bass, Colin Parent on sax, yours truly on vocals. Enjoy!

In A Sentimental Mood

All The Things You Are

download: In A Sentimental Mood
download: All The Things You Are

a bunch of us put this together for our awesome friend Mark on his birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK WE LOVE YOU!!!

also, Aubrey’s and my version of MJ’s “Beat It” is featured in a tiny section. one of these days I’ll post a full version for you all. enjoy!!