She’s Listening II success: funds raised for Ovarian Cancer Canada!
She’s Listening II was a great success last week; they listened and we raised applause and funds for Ovarian Cancer Canada.
Thank you to my wonderful co-horts and beautiful friends (from left to right) Angela Saini, Jessica Spezziale, Heather Hill, Melanie Peterson
Photography: Cate McKim
And thank you to Life With More Cowbell for this recap of the show!
What exactly does Ovarian Cancer Canada do?
Ovarian Cancer Canada is the only registered Canadian charity solely dedicated to overcoming ovarian cancer. They provide leadership by:
- Supporting women living with the disease and their families
- Raising awareness among the general public and health care professionals
- Funding research to develop early detection techniques, improved treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
Ovarian Cancer Canada is funded by donations of the generous public and they could use your support. If you’d like to help, there are many ways to get involved; check them out here. Among the ways: you can donate directly, volunteer, create an event such as She’s Listening, participate in a hike, dance or walk. The annual Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope happens this year Sunday September 7th in cities all across Canada. Find one near you and register on the website.
Keeping giving, everybuddy!
Let’s fill the world with kindness and hope.
love Kat xoxox
She’s Listening II!
She’s Listening, and so is The Harlton Empire! They mentioned us in their blog!
The Harlton Empire promotes creative works by independent artists in the arts/entertainment industry and you should definitely check them out; learn about what’s going on in the community and make contact if you’re a lover of the arts!
Also you should definitely come check out She’s Listening II this Wed June 4 at 8pm at The Cameron House Toronto!
Yippee!
xoxox
Come! She’s Listening II June 4, 2014
She’s Listening II happens Thursday June 4 at Cameron House in Toronto!
Experience Angela Saini, Jessica Speziale, Heather Hill, Melanie Peterson and moi!
Ovarian Cancer Canada and the lives it improves could use your help! Please spread the word! Read more about ovarian cancer and the risks due to do lack of symptoms here on Heather Hill’s post Knowledge Is Power. Please help RAISE AWARENESS and RAISE FUNDS! Hope to see you at the event but if you can’t make it please support from afar! Thank you!
The Four Winds at The Beautiful & The Damned tonight!
It’ll probably look a little something like this:
To hear us you’ll have to come out! Hope to see you tonight!
Come By Here on a new music compilation!
Come By Here, the song I wrote with Heather Hill with help from Orville Heyn, made it onto the Positive Music Imperative compilation for January 2014!
What is the Positive Music Imperative?
“The Positive Music Imperative is a collaborative collective, social enterprise, creating a legacy through the creation of positive music, and by educating people around the world about the role and importance of Positive Music in being an agent for personal, community and global change. Our mandate is to both create and positive music as well as to educate the importance of Positive Music and its ability to change people, communities and the world like no other force we know. That’s the Positive Music Imperative.”
Come By Here was inspired by three heroes in my life who battled cancer. Come By Here is a song pleading with the powers that be to come hither and comfort. To see and hear the January 2014 compilation, visit the Positive Music Imperative website. For more on the story of Come By Here, visit my previous blog introducing Come By Here.
Have yourself a positively inspired day and more!
🙂 love Kat xo
Four Winds at Lizzie Violet’s Cabaret Noir!
It’s happening! Finally the Four Winds Music Collective blow onto the LVCN’s stage like a hot winter breeze! Sunday December 8 at The Central Toronto 7pm. It promises to be a stellar night at the Cabaret– which is usually the case at LVCN– as we join Matt Gerber, TOPoet as well as a potpourri of open micers! Hope to see you there!
You remember who the Four Winds are, right? Meghan Morrison, Heather Hill, Arlene Paculan and moi! It’s true!
Four Winds: A songstorm of musical forces intertwined for the greater good!
www.ArlenePaculan.com
www.KatLeonard.com
www.MeghanMorrison.com
www.HeatherHill.ca
The Four Winds Collective share their gifts of music as they gather to play a concert fundraiser at the Church of The Good Shepherd Sunday September 29, 2013 2pm-4pm. Who are the Four Winds Collective? Kat Leonard (KatLeonard.com) has training in Science, music, theatre and The Second City. She performs feisty comedic pop. Arlene Paculan (ArlenePaculan.com) was trained at Randolph Academy and Royal Conservatory of Music, and performs soulful jazzy pop. Heather Hill (HeatherHill.ca) trained at Royal Conservatory of Music as well as New York City and plays piano pop rock. Meghan Morrison (MeghanMorrison.com) is a mover and a shaker. She started a successful music jam podcast and is an art rocker who plays Celtic groove music.
The Four Winds Collective is a songstorm of musical forces intertwined for the greater good. They travel together with their dynamic live shows in an aim to draw together a community to share joy and inspiration through music and storytelling.
Catch us Sunday September 29th 2pm in Wyebridge, Ontario!
www.KatLeonard.com
@Katbandoo
Come By Here!
Once upon a time I wrote lyrics which depicted experiences with Cancer of three people that affected me greatly. Of course there are more than three that have affected me, but writing about them all would create an epic song for which the music video would be a multi-ogy. So I highlighted these three. What to do about music? Enter the astounding Heather Hill who created the music and worked with me to finesse the lyrics and come up with a resounding chorus and title. Come By Here; it’s what the term “Kumbaya” translates to. You may remember the spiritual song Kumbaya from the 1930s about human bonding, empathy and compassion. During the songwriting process Heather had goosebumps, so we knew we were onto something special.
Foreground: Heather Hill’s goosebumps
Background: Heather Hill’s hitmaker piano
Then came along the brilliant Orville Heyn who helped to finalize the lyrics and music. It was with Orville that I went into the studio this past July to record the track.
1. My reflective self! 2. My mic and my notes!
3. My producer/vocal coach/director Orville Heyn!
The result? These are the final lyrics.
COME BY HERE
-Kat Leonard, Heather Hill, Orville Heyn
(c) 2013
I had an aunt with grace untold
A hefty laugh, warm hand to hold
You’d fall in love before you knew it
Her smile was bright, her humour sharp
Encouraging words dispelled the dark
She was gone before we knew it
Chorus:
Come by here
Come by here
Oh god
Come by here
Grampie fought the great evil abroad
He’s the old kind of brave we’ll forever applaud
He fought for light and liberty
Taught me I was never alone
Gave a young girl a place to belong
When all was done he fell to only one enemy
[repeat chorus]
I have a friend who’s fought before
The devil it seems came back for more
She struggles inside, you’d never know it
Like a buoyant wave on a frantic sea
She’s the kind of friend I strive to be
An army of hope she marches on
[repeat chorus]
In perpetual echo our lost live on!
Where can you hear the song?
For one, you can listen here on Soundcloud!
For two, it is part of an artist compilation CD called She’s Listening which is in support of Ovarian Cancer Canada! If you’d like, you can pre-order your copy for $12 here. If you’re in Ottawa on September 8th, you can join Heather Hill and I at the Walk Of Hope and hear us perform the song live then pick up your copy of She’s Listening! There will also be other artists from She’s Listening performing! Sounds like a hoot and holla to me! 🙂
For three, you can see the music video… once there is one! The aim is to produce the video this fall. Come By Here, all!
Love Kat
@Katbandoo
www.KatLeonard.com
ASCAP Expo: My Take
Report: ASCAP Expo! The lovely Heather Hill did a bang-up writeup on our adventures at ASCAP Expo and all I did was hit “Reblog”. Love, KAT! XO
WonderFest Report-Day 1!
WONDERFEST IS HERE!
What a wonderful kickoff!
WonderFest Day 1 was a huge ball of fun and success! It started out with Arlene and I interviewing and performing on Rogers Daytime Peel! Arlene and I both wore turquoise– and we didn’t even plan it! Sonia our host wore boots to match us– again not even planned! We were meant to be on Daytime on this day to spread empowerment through art as well as hues of blue! 🙂
Yukking it up with Sonia Sache on Daytime Peel!
Yes, that’s empowerment being spread by those gyrations!
Even my socks and the rim on Arlene’s boots matched the Daytime set! I mean, come on! What a wonder! 😀 You can watch our video segment here: Kat & Arlene on DayTime!
In the evening we headed to The Central for the first free workshop of the week: Business Planning for Artists with Heather Hill! We had an intimate group of lovely attendees! Heather Hill is an easygoing and compelling workshop leader with engaging personal anecdotes and effective tangible knowledge to share. The tools and advice shared by Heather is applicable to all business types, and the information was soaked up by the mix of musicians, filmmakers, massage therapists and producers alike!
With our fearless and funny leader Heather Hill!
Alissa Vox Raw (L), Ty Hyland, Lisa Sciannella, Christine Battiston, Angela Saini (centre)
I couldn’t be more proud to be part of such a great evening and start to a wonderful week of wonderment at WonderFest! We still have 3 more free workshops and 2 concerts to celebrate during WonderFest!
Tonight we meet at The Central again for a night of collaboration and open mic performances! Sign up is at 7pm. Hope to see you there!
Happy WonderFesting, everyone! May you always feel empowered to make all your dreams come true!
For full details on WonderFest’s events, visit: www.WonderWomenWorld.tumblr.com
love KAT
KAT LEONARD (Kat & The MP3) 