WonderFest-West Call For Artists!
Guess what! We are partnering up again with Mississauga Arts Council for another showcase at Celebration Square Amphitheatre! Happening Wednesday August 14, 2013, Wonder Fest-West will showcase original work of Wonder Women AND Super Men artists of all media and genres from visual arts, music, comedy and spoken word! Submissions being accepted until June 30, 2013!
Rogers Access Peel coverage on last summer’s Amphitheatre event can be seen by clicking here! Yes here! Click here!
WonderFest Report Day 5: Wonder Women magic!
From moment 1 to moment infinity, carried in a sweet memory, the final hurrah of WonderFest (Wonder Women in Concert) was pure magic! There was raucous laughter, sweet sobbing, and moments of crowd connection not experienced every day. It will live in my heart forever.
We heard accounts of how the week of WonderFest had changed peoples lives for the better: people writing music again, people leasing a bar to start their own business, people quitting jobs they didn’t belong in. There was generosity in spirit and applause both onstage and off.
Magic hovers over the crowd! (Photo by Arlene Paculan!)
For fuller details and photos, please see the post at Wonder Women World. More photos can be seen here courtesy of Raymond Photography.
If you are interested in becoming involved in next year’s WonderFest, please contact us through WonderWomenWorld.tumblr.com or @LMGProductions or email us at ImWorthItInfo@yahoo.ca.
Spreading empowerment through art never felt so good!
WonderFest Report Day 4: Wowza!
Oh, man!!! There is so much of the spreading of empowerment through art happening during WonderFest that I feel I can’t do it justice in prose!
For fuller details on our experience, see our WonderWomenWorld blog!
In a nutshell, Day 4 brought us:
Workshop: Turning Wounds Into Wisdom lead by Nova Browning Rutherford.
The group learned to accept the discomfort of change, to focus on actions that lead toward our goals and values, and that life is in fact long and not short therefore we have plenty of time to figure things out and follow our path!
The Workshop group!
Super Men Concert! Wowza Wowza what a lineup of talent to digest! The evening was jampacked with music and words to move the soul, friendship to fill the heart, and laughter to jiggle the belly!
Arlene and I with the wonderful Super Men!
Which brings us to tonight! Tonight is the WonderFest finale: Wonder Women in Concert! Gladstone Hotel 7pm (doors) 8pm (show) with art displays, videos, vendors, a special comic book photo booth for all, and of course the lineup of Wonder Women! I’ll be performing my new song Love Mania! Wakawakawakawaka! We hope to see you there spreading empowerment through art!
The foundation of friendships is a force for mountain moving! (Arlene Paculan and I, WonderFest co-conspirators!)
WonderFest is a week away!!! We kick off Monday March 4th 7pm at The Central in Toronto with Heather Hill‘s free workshop Business Planning For Artists.
Tuesday March 5th 7pm at The Central join us for an open mic/collaboration night of music adventure!
Lisa Anita Wegner’s free session “How Art Saved My Life” happens March 6th 7pm at Fringe Creation Lab (720 Bathurst Street). It promises to be astounding and inspiring. This is Lisa’s recent blog, where she addresses technology, exhaustion and her brain injury, telling them what she really feels about them!
Thursday March 7th 7pm at Fringe Creation Lab (720 Bathurst Street) Nova Browning Rutherford leads a free workshop on Turning Wounds Into Wisdom, nurturing positive self-esteem.
Full workshop information and WonderFest schedule including Super Men Concert March 7th at The Central and Wonder Women VI concert March 8th at The Gladstone here:
http://www.WonderWomenWorld.tumblr.com
dear exhaustion: you can be a bit overbearing, like a parent grounding me when i have to rehearse and perform the lead in the school play. i appreciate the message but sometimes i have deadlines. but you know what exhaustion? i appreciate you telling me to ease off. even though it took about ten people’s help and you didn’t go easy on me, i managed to get everything done, with one day to spare. by next week the reno on my space should be finished and that will be like heaven on wheels. greased lighting wheels. right now i am living in a cloud of construction dust, workman, cables, floor glue, and fumes. unable to locate anything and dogs barking at every workman move. that’s exhausting on it’s own.
dear ice: please cut me some slack especially when there is water on top. you’re slippery and i’m tired. i can’t…
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WonderFest – Help Spread Empowerment!
WonderFest – Help Spread Empowerment!.
YOU can help us spread empowerment through art!
How? Like this:
1) Choose ONE WORD of EMPOWERMENT
2) Take a PHOTO with your word
3) Tweet @LMGProductions “I’m spreading empowerment through art! #WonderFest”
or email ImWorthItInfo@yahoo.ca
If you wish, there is also opportunity for you to make it into our next video as well as onto our Wall Of Empowerment at http://www.WonderWomenWorld.tumblr.com!
Life With More Cowbell interviews Lisa Anita Wegner, an amazingly stunning woman who credits art for saving her life after a brain injury! She shares her story during Wonder Fest Wednesday March 6th 7pm-8:30pm at The Fringe Creation Lab. Details here: http://wonderwomenworld.tumblr.com/WorkshopDetails
“Figure out what it is you love doing and never stop… Everyone can do this, and I encourage everyone to find what it is for them and go after it with gusto. Pierce the mundane to find the marvelous inside you. You are worth it!” Lisa Anita Wegner.
Do yourself a favour and check Lisa out! For serious, yo! love KAT xoxox
When Kat Leonard introduced me to multi-talented, muti-faceted, multi-media working artist Lisa Anita Wegner, what struck me the most was that Lisa credits art with saving her life. You can read her story here. And when I visited her blog site, I was blown away by the imagery in her pixel paintings.
I had a chance to interview Lisa over email – here’s what she had to say:
LWMC: Hi, Lisa. I was looking at your WordPress blog site and the Mighty Brave Productions site to get a sense of the work you do – and was amazed at the multi-faceted aspect of your work overall, and how it all boils down to authentic storytelling, and using story to make interior and exterior connections. You’ve worked as an actor, producer, writer, filmmaker and visual artist. What else? What came first for you and how did the media you work…
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WONDERFEST IS COMING!!!
MARCH 4-8, 2013 is International Women’s Week, and LMG Productions celebrates by presenting Wonder Women VI: WonderFest, a weeklong series of workshops and concerts to spread empowerment through art. This International Women’s Week edition of Wonder Women will be the largest Wonder Women event yet. With four free workshops and two concerts involving approximately 50 wonder women and super men of varied media, WonderFest is certain to make a positive artistic impact on the community.
At LMG Productions we truly believe that we are in this together, and we would be honoured if you would join us in our passion towards encouraging and empowering individuals through art.
Introducing our new blogsite:
www.WonderWomenWorld.tumblr.com/
WONDERFEST SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Monday March 4, 2013
Workshop: Business Planning for Artists; Heather Hill
7:00pm at The Central, 603 Markham Street
FREE
Tuesday March 5, 2013
Workshop: Playing With Music; Collaboration/Jam/Open Mic
7:00pm at The Central, 603 Markham Street
FREE
Wednesday March 6, 2013
Workshop: Healing Through Art; Lisa Anita Wegner
7:00-8:30pm at Fringe Creation Lab, 720 Bathurst Street
FREE
Thursday March 7, 2013
Workshop: Turning Wounds Into Wisdom; Nova Browning Rutherford
7:00-8:30pm at Fringe Creation Lab, 720 Bathurst Street
FREE
Thursday March 7,2013
Show: Super Men in Concert
Doors 9:30pm Show 10:00
The Central, 603 Markham Street
$10 at the door- receive $5 off Wonder Women VI in Concert
Friday March 8, 2013-International Women’s Day
Show: Wonder Women VI in Concert
Doors 7:00pm Show 8:00pm
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West
$10 at the door
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE! XOX WW XOX
WONDER FEST!
As Artistic Director of LMG Productions and the Wonder Women series, I am pleased as sangria punch with big chunks of saturated fruit in it to announce the first-ever week-long Wonder Women Festival happening during International Women’s Week March 4-8, 2013!
As always, the aim of Wonder Women is to help spread empowerment through workshops and performance in order to share talent, ideas and encouragement through art– music, dance, comedy, spoken word, visual art, etc, etc, and art as yet to be invented.
For Wonder Women blurb and photos from the most recent event, Wonder Women V, visit my page dedicated to it: katleonard.com/wonderwomen
If you know of any wonder women, or are one yourself, interested in being involved with the Wonder Women series, please contact us at ImWorthItInfo@yahoo.ca. We ask that submissions to be considered for the March 2013 Wonder Women VI event be received no later than September 30,2012.
I’m really, really, really looking forward to WWVI so much that I may get a tattoo to commemorate it! Or finish another bag of Doritos.
And just because this post is so woman-centric, I leave you with a nice chunk of man to muse over.
Enjoy!
Leuty Station Earworms!
Heather Hill is touring her new album, Leuty Station, this summer– with the happy-vibe spreading Lily C!
Heather Hill launched Leuty Station May 2012. Warning: it causes ear worms, that entertaining condition whereby a catchy tune boogies in your head throughout the day even when no tangible music is playing.
Heather Hill’s voice is like liquid love, with robust rumbling lows, ethereal highs and a plethora of delicious tones in between. She’s one of those singers who can convey a story and/or emotion with the sound of her vocalizations without lyrics– and then she’s got good lyrics too! The amazing thing about Heather’s lyrical stories is that they are very specific and often very literal with a truth that can give you shivers.
The vocal and instrumental play weaving together throughout this album is inspired and fun. I’ll leave the instrumental critique to someone more instrumentally adept, but to this laylady—(Hmm, this literary play on layman doesn’t have the eloquent sound I thought it might)—I hear topnotch beats and grooves that generate many a Leuty Station earworm. Prior to the Leuty Station CD launch, Heather did a marvelous series devoting a blog to each individual song on the CD. You can hear the song, read the lyrics and learn a little something about the origin and process of the song. It really is worth the read and listen. It starts here: Leuty Station pre-release song 1
Never Grow Old has an infectious beat with thunderous affecting crashes. I love the story behind this song and often smile with the thought of it. “To age and never grow old”
Wading Through Normal is extra-special to me because it’s a co-write with another gal I admire, Meghan Morrison. I interviewed the two lovelies on their collaboration, and you can explore that here. Wading Through Normal sings for the unsung hero in Moms everywhere. “She’s remarkable in the every day, notable in the always there.”
Last Train is one of those true stories that gives me goose bumps when I consider it. It’s a true story and the resultant song is haunting and encouraging in equal measure. It reminds me how important it is to keep your mind and body as fit as possible. “If ever there’s a time to win a race it’s now.”
The refrain of Leuty Station really speaks to me lyrically and sonically. It takes me beyond myself, the way the refrain in Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey does. It feels like the melody of my life, an anthem of hope weighted in possibility that makes me feel equally light and powerful. It makes me feel truthful about myself. “I like it that way, I like it that way. Alone in the rain and the waves with my thoughts and hopes on this stormy day.” If ever I could do a Heather Hill cover song, Leuty Station is it.
For a truly transcending musical experience, you must hear Heather Hill live. Generous, witty and wise in music and deed, she is an all-around luminous musician, woman and friend.
For information on Heather’s upcoming tour and how you can lure her to your very own city, visit www.HeatherHill.ca if you haven’t been there by now.
I look forward to sharing the lineup with Heather, Meghan Morrison, Lily C, and many other wonderful artists at the upcoming Wonder Women V event August 8, 2012 at 7:30 at the Celebration Square Amphitheatre in Mississauga. Hope to see you there!
Sing a blissful tune, everybuddy!
Love
www.KatLeonard.com
Captivated And Reaching For Sunlight
Music normally captivates me in three ways:
1) The sound: the melody and ambience of simple tones or intricate chords dancing together in a magical arrangement
2) The lyrics: the words, specific or all-encompassing, that articulate, commiserate and motivate
3) The voice: The unquantifiable features of a singer’s tone and expression that speak to me irrationally and profoundly
Lily C captivates me in all three categories on Reaching For Sunlight. This is Lily C’s debut English album and it is described as, “a collection of songs that reflect her journey to stay hopeful despite challenging circumstances.”
Reaching For Sunlight is joyful and beguiling pop music woven from sonic layers that lull and enliven. It has rousing pep, addictive rhythms and penetrating depth.
The lyrics are enlightening, empowering and everlasting. It may not be fair to extract lyrics from their song bed, but many of these are so powerful on their own that I had to list some of my favourites.
“…in my hurricane of grief can you show me how to breathe…”
“…just when you think that you’re gonna die, that’s when you realize you’re made to fly…”
“…I’m reaching for sunlight like city flowers do…”
Lily’s voice is like hard candy: sweet and solid. It’s like whiskey licorice.
While listening to I Am A Bee, I swore I was soaring on the breeze with butterflies until someone walked in the room and I realized it was just me bouncing in my office chair.
Come Back To My Love affects me most intensely. My heart is struck in all three categories– sound, lyric and voice. The lilting piano notes lure me in off the top, and Lily’s supple and raw vocalizing clinches the enchantment. Every time. I could listen to her vocalization after the bridge on repeat forever. It’s like she’s singing in my ear, whispering, speaking directly to me while I lay on a couch crumpled in defeat. She’s the wee Fairy of Trust lulling me to the belief that everything will be ok; her metaphoric arms first cradling and comforting me before picking me up, dusting me off, and guiding me to stand again on my own with more strength than I had before. If I were to do a cover of a Lily C song, it would be this one!
Listening to Lily C’s music is like starting your day off with a good breakfast: being nourished with your favourite cereal fortified with familiarity and optimism and sweet wee Lily bits that beam up at you through the milk, coaxing you to have a glorious day no matter what comes your way. I think Reaching For Sunlight is a masterwork and I recommend you check it out! www.lilyc.com. Lily also has a pretty inspiring blog: Take A Deep Breath.
I look up to Lily and look forward to more music from her.
I also look forward to sharing the lineup with her at the upcoming Wonder Women V event August 8, 2012 at 7:30 at Celebration Square in Mississauga. But more about that later…
…until then, may the music always play!
Love Kat
www.KatLeonard.com
KAT LEONARD 