Performing Live Again! - March Newsletter

Well hi there!

 

Welcome to the new folks on this list! Thank you for your interest in my music.

 

I am so happy to be able to start off this newsletter by letting you know I have live, in-person shows coming up! How I have missed them - and seeing all of you out and about in the world.  Early December was the last time I played in front of a live crowd, and it was glorious. I am sure these shows will be just as glorious as well! More details are below.

I am also very happy that the album is coming along, and we are on track to have the final mixes ready for the mastering process by the end of the month. My head has been filled with all the details: figuring out graphics, song sequence, what to title the album, and a million other decisions to make. In the meantime, I will share another almost completed track with you. Here is A Real Country Song.

I have a another new  (very short) poem up on Instagram (as well as a cute photo of my sleeping dog) and it feels really good to have creative energy and performance energy back back together in my life. Thank you, as usual, for all you support! 

:) Kirsten

Upcoming Shows

Sunday, March 27

Kirsten solo

Featured Performer 

Parish Center for the Arts Open Mike

8 p.m. (open mike starts at 7 p.m.)

10 Lincoln St, Westford, MA

westford.org/pca

I was scheduled to be the featured performer at this long-running open mike back in April of 2020. I am glad I will finally get to play this show! This is a beautiful old venue with great acoustics. The open mike starts at 7 p.m., I will play a half hour set starting at 8 p.m.

Sunday, April 10

Kirsten Manville and Tim Foley
Stage 33 Live

3:00 p.m.
33 Bridge St, Bellows Falls, VT
stage33live.com

This is another gig that was supposed to happen in the spring of 2020. Tim Foley and I will each play a separate set, while also helping each other out on a few of our songs. We are looking forward to heading out to one of our favorite states. 

There is a $10 suggested donation.

Friday, April 15 (rescheduled from Jan. 22)

The Sweet Janes
Walnut Street Cafe

8:30 - 11 p.m.

157 Walnut St, Lynn, MA

walnutstreetcoffeecafe.com

 

Lori Wadkins, MaryBeth Maes and I will be back for an evening of music, laughter, and most likely some sass. We'll play our usual mix - solo and together, originals and covers. Hope to see you there!

Creative Musings

Prior to the pandemic, I think it would be fair to describe me as someone to whom fitness was very important, and whose actions aligned with that description. I've played team sports, run road races, kick-boxed, practiced mixed martial arts, and right before the pandemic was a pretty dedicated attendee at a local gym's boot camp classes. (What does this have to do with creativity? I'll get there, I promise).

Currently, fitness is still very important to me, but you wouldn't know that by my actions. This is for a variety of reasons, including never quite finding a good pandemic fitness routine, as well as being somewhat sidelined by a diagnosis of bicep tendonitis. I never stopped doing things like walking or hiking, but I am definitely not in the same physical shape I was in 2019. 

I have now been given the all-clear to work out again, but it has been a little bit hard to find the motivation. This is partly because I know how far I have to go to get back to where I was. So I have been trying to remind myself of all the positive things regular exercise does for me. And then I thought, "Hey, I wonder if exercise helps creativity?" Well, it turns out that, although there's not quite enough data to say for sure, the answer is most likely yes, it does. According to this Business Insider article "exercise could help strengthen the same parts of the brain people use while being creative."

What does that mean for me at this moment? It's another good reason to make myself lace up my running shoes and dig out my weights. What does it mean in general? That I have discovered another helpful tool in my creative journey - being fit isn't just good for my health, it is good for my creative life.

Good Stuff

I haven't even finished watching the documentary The Summer of Soul yet, and I can't recommend it enough. During the summer of 1969 (the same summer as Woodstock) the Harlem Cultural Festival took place over six weekends. Name a legendary black artist and they were most likely there. So far I've seen Gladys Knight, BB King, Stevie Wonder, the Staple Singers, and more. The energy is palpable, even through a screen. Right now it is streaming on Disney+. If you don't have Disney+, you can always sign up for a free trial to watch. (And then while you are at it, you can watch the Beatles documentary Get Back as well). That's good stuff, too!