When The Night Hits Top 10 on Much Music

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Musicophiles,

No, this isn't a selfish plug for some new project of mine, it's all about my friend and record label protégé Aaron Nazrul, who is making serious waves with his music lately. Back in September Aaron made an amazing music video for When the Night one of the songs from his album Butterfly Man (produced by my uncle Simon Kendall, executive produced by myself). It's a classic East Vancouver block party video featuring all of our friends from the neighbourhood, filmed in the back alley behind his house. If you want to see how we party in Vancouver, you can watch the video on YouTube:

But the real news is that Much Music is now playing the video on rotation, and it has hit the Top 10! For those of you outside Canada, Much Music is our version of MTV, and is a very big platform for Aaron to get his music out. He is currently in the number six position, ahead of: Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, and New Kids on the Block! How did he get there? People can vote for their favourite artists on the web, and I'm hoping all of you will take a moment to vote as well. You can vote as many times as you want and you can vote from anywhere in the world, so let's get him to Number One! Visit the Much Music website to vote.

Aaron and his band are currently on tour in Central America, playing gigs as they cruise from country to country in their tour bus Winnebago. If you want to check out his album or (heavens!) buy it, you can get it from iTunes or order by mail from my website (click "Butterfly Man" under Discography, left side of page):Order Butterfly Man

As for me, I'm writing from NYC, on a short sojourn between gigs on my US tour. I had the singular honour of spending election day here in the States with a great group of very talented people at the Hip Hop Boot Camp in Ashland, Oregon, part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I was pretty proud of my American kin for the history they made that day, plus the entire boot camp experience was amazing.

The festival brought together seven hip-hop theatre professionals and seven professional Shakespearean actors for a series of skills-trading workshops and performances. Apparently some people high up now believe hip-hop is the future of Shakespearean theatre. You don't have to convince me...

In the past three weeks I've performed in New Orleans, Boulder, Worcester, Mass., and at Penn State University. But colleges are off over US Thanksgiving, which means so am I. So I'm just visiting friends here in New York for a few days and relaxing (I know, sounds unlikely) before heading onward to gigs in Portland, Oregon and Birmingham, Alabama (which they pronounce with extra "Ha-yam", not "Birming'm" like in England). Then I go home to Vancouver for the holidays, and spend a few months regrouping before the next round of touring.

I have some exciting projects coming up in 2009, but until I see the ink dry on the paper I'm hesitant to announce anything, so for now stay tuned, and don't forget to lend Aaron your vote.

Can we get him to Number One?

Yes we can.

Baba

Read Shane's bang-on review of Butterfly Man Here

Aaron Nazrul – Butterfly Man CD Release (and CD Party at The Media Club Dec 9th)

Attend Aaron’s CD Release Party on December 9th at 10:00 p.m. at the Media Club in Vancouver, B.C.

Lit Fuse Records presents Butterfly Man , the debut folk album from Vancouver singer/songwriter Aaron Nazrul , produced by former “Doug and the Slugs” keyboardist and Genie Award-Winner Simon Kendall , with additional tracks produced by Lin Gardiner of Super G Music and Vancouver’s DJ Darren Woodhead .

Aaron Nazrul (real name Aaron Ross) was a hit at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, winning popular and critical acclaim: “The Golden Voice of the Festival…definitely a talent to watch for in the future.” Festival FM Radio

Aaron’s music combines the raw emotional intensity of Ben Harper and the cultural diversity of Manu Chao, an emerging talent with the voice of a future classic.  Tracks of note are As the Sun Goes Down, Take These Chains, Butterfly Man, and Delivered featuring guest vocals from Frazey Ford of The Be Good Tanyas.
 
The album was inspired by Aaron’s recent travels in South East Asia, and includes songs written during a motorcycle trip through Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China.  Butterfly Man is a slang term in Asia for a restless traveler who never settles in one place, or with one person.
 
The album was Executive Produced by Lit Fuse Records founder Baba Brinkman, who has gained international recognition for his Rap Canterbury Tales performances. Butterfly Man is now available from the iTunes Music Store, with general release in retail stores December 4th.

Web: http://www.myspace.com/aaronnazrul

Back in the Saddle by Baba Brinkman

image from baba’s myspace.com site

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Creative Capacities,

The prodigal son of the Fringe has returned home, to Edinburgh that is. I'm writing from a packed café on the rainy official first day of the largest and greatest arts festival in the world. I turned my back on the Fringe last year, opting instead to record my "Lit-Hop" album and stay in B.C. for the summer. But the Fringe is a forgiving family, and it looks like they're taking me back, and it's a great place to be.

I had my first preview show on Friday, and it was pretty nearly a disaster, with the redeeming factor that no one in the audience seemed to be aware of everything that was going precipitously wrong, or if they were aware they laughed it off due to my ad-libbing through it. The reason for the cock-up was the recent addition of animated visuals to my performance. We are now projecting Erik's illustrations from the book onto a screen on stage while I perform the show, and the technical logistics of mixing the lighting with the visuals and sound has been challenging, but yesterday's show was much improved for fluidity (and I had about fifty people in), and tonight the show ran like a well oiled Olympian.

If you want to see an example of the new animated tales, you can watch one of them on YouTube here.

The other action at the Fringe this year is the rise of Aaron Ross, Vancouver's next folk music hero (mark my words). Today he performed his world debut show to a healthy crowd of forty-five or so, and one hour later he had forty-five appreciative fans. We sold a pile of Aaron's CDs afterwards, and he had a reviewer in as well, so we'll see what the critics think of him next. But really it hardly matters, because the crowds are loving him, and he will be performing nearly every day for the rest of the month, seven days in a massive cathedral on George IV Bridge, four days in my venue next to Edinburgh Castle, and multiple performances at live music venues around town. On Friday Aaron opened for a rock band at The Ark (a popular bar in the centre of town), and he was so well received that they invited him back to play every week for the rest of the month. He also has spots coming up on Festival FM radio and is getting a great response from everyone who has heard his album tracks online.

Click here to see why. I have also posted additional tracks on my Lit Fuse Records site, and advance copies of Butterfly Man are now available for mail order through PayPal. Soon he will be availably digitally as well as globally, but first we have this ancient city to infiltrate.

Here's the Lit Fuse link: As for me, I'm just getting ramped up, as I perform at the Fringe every night at 8:45 pm from now until August 26th, and then fly to Australia shortly after. It's surreal to be back here exactly three years after my first foray into the Fringe, but that first time I was wide-eyed and untutored in the guerilla arts. This time I have an arsenal of reviews, albums, books, and a team of new talent to showcase (four of us from Vancouver are sharing a flat here, including my brother and Geordie, who plays bass with Aaron). Many charges have been set to blow, but a lit fuse does not make an explosion on its own, so there are no guarantees. I'll keep you updated as events unfold here at the festival, and try to stay abreast of correspondence.

All the best from the powder keg,

Baba

PS - Here's a link to Aaron's press release if you want to see how we're pitching him. And a link to my press release if you want to know how we're pitching me. And here's a link to a recent story about my flat-mate Ryan, who is the Neo-Shakespeare to my Neo-Chaucer.