Haroula Rose

Recording....& Tomorrow Night

2012-01-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

Haven't really had a minute to give a proper update except on twitter and instagram really. And somewhat on facebook.... Because I have been in the studio! Recording with Jim White and Andy Lemaster and a whole team of other musicians all across the globe really. It's been fun and I am really excited about the new songs.

In the immediate future I am most excited to be playing this show tomorrow night in Atlanta, at the Variety Playhouse, opening for Mason Jennings. He has been a favorite of mine for a while and I cover one of his songs!

Vinyl District

2012-01-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

Vinyl District

man i love this

2012-01-10T10:44:00.001-08:00

Time's Fool - new demo from forthcoming EP

2012-01-10T09:15:00.003-08:00

Time's Fool (Acoustic Version) by haroularose

New Year, New Songs

2012-01-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

Well I am pretty excited about 2012. I have an EP almost finished - it includes some really fun collaborations with friends in writing and in playing and I just can't wait to share it. It was produced by Sheldon Gomberg at his studio in Silverlake over the summer and we are just finishing the last of it soon.

This week I leave for Georgia. I'll be recording my second full LP with Jim White producing and a whole team of players. I really can't wait. I will get to spend some time in Athens and Atlanta, and even open for one of my favorite artists, Mason Jennings, at the Variety Playhouse on January 27th. I really can't wait.

I am writing away...

Hope you are having a nice Sunday night.

Haroula

Heartland Festival in Vevey Switzerland

2012-01-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

One of the cooler things I got to in the latter part of 2011 was go to Heartland Festival in the little lakeside town of Vevey. It is beautiful and has quite an interesting history. It is where Chaplin lived at the end of his life and many other artists have sought refuge here for its peace and beauty including Duncan Jones (whose film "Moon" I loved) Rousseau,Victor Hugo, Kokoshka, Dostoevsky, and on and on.

Jim and I really liked this tree:

We asked a stranger to take our picture by this random rose painted wall.

I like noticing people on benches, I wonder what they are talking about. Parks are such a luxury, I don't get to go very often in Los Angeles. Although we do have some gorgeous beaches. But there are many many parks in Illinois where I grew up. And the best park in the world is in Madrid -- Parque del Buen Retiro. I spent many hours of my life there so far and hope to get back there soon.

Performing....

So beautiful. The real Lake Geneva.

I took some videos of these swans which were so funny, parading their butts in the air like this. The most graceful animal doing this just seemed very ironic:

Hope the new year is off to a great start!

Haroula Rose

Sounds & Images

2011-12-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember I have always loved music and theater and film. I remember the movies I saw as a child so vividly, and the times when my family would go to the theater. I was magnetized and didn't ever want to blink for fear of missin anything. I think I wore out the videotape of "Annie" the musical because I watched it so much.

In my life I have worked onstage as a performer and backstage as well; in front of the camera and behind it; writing and recording songs, and singing them live. I feel very lucky to be able to do the work I do and even more amazed when there is convergence between these loves of my life. Collaboration is just the best feeling there is, because it feels like communion in an intangible and ideally loving way. I am always thrilled when I get to work on music for a particular film or when a song gets used and it is married to an image. This last year was particularly cool in that regard and I hope the new year is too. I really want to do more composing and writing for specific projects. And this is my way of telling that to the universe... through this lil' blog here.

While I was at film school at USC for a couple semesters (before indefinite hiatus) I got to make some short films. This one is a documentary short called "A Portrait of the Artist" and it's about some women that are my friends and whose creative processes I really admire. It was in some festivals and it was a fun exercise, so I hope you enjoy it!

This holiday season, maybe if you have not done so in a while, pick up a craft or do something creative! For me it is always about cooking, especially when I am with friends and family. I have some pretty great recipes and secrets.... I've been told I should share those. Maybe in 2012 I will :)

Stay healthy and smiling,
Haroula

A Portrait of the Artist

Top 20 of 2011

2011-12-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

So I've been reading a bunch of top new album lists and thought it would be fun to make my own! Here she goes, hope you enjoy them :) And hope you have all been having beautiful holidays.

Haroula Rose

TOP 20 of 2011

Kurt Vile “Smoke Ring for my Halo”
Fool's Gold "Leave No Trace"
Ethan Gold "Songs from a Toxic Apartment"

Bon Iver “Bon Iver”

Feist “Metals”

Gillian Welch “The Harrow and the Harvest”

Caitlin Rose “Own Side Now”

Ana Egge “Bad Blood”

Jonathan Wilson “Gentle Spirit”

Diego Garcia “Laura”

Joe Henry “Reverie”

Lisa Hannigan “Passenger”

Marissa Nadler “Marissa Nadler”

Alessi’s Ark “Time Travel”

Cass McCombs “Wit’s End”

Steve Earle “Townes”

Justin Townes Earle “Harlem River Blues”

Vetiver “The Errant Charm”

Kate Bush “50 Words for Snow”

Nick Lowe “The Old Magic”

Music Video Debut: "Duluth"

2011-12-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

BLURT MAGAZINE
http://blurt-online.com/news/view/5761/

"The Descendants" Premiere

2011-11-23T08:09:00.001-08:00

This is the best film of the year without a doubt. And knowing how great and talented the people involved in this project are -- only more reason to support it. This Thanksgiving weekend go check it out!! I predict awards in several categories. It was super fun to be at the premiere last week, here are a couple photos of red carpet. I got to wear an amazing dress by Isabel Marant.

American Songwriter Writer of the Week

2011-11-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

Honored to have been included in one of my favorite magazines in the world

American Songwriter

Jim White, Ben Sollee, and band with yours truly singing backups. Atlanta

2011-11-12T09:25:00.001-08:00

"Bluets" by Maggie Nelson

2011-11-07T09:30:00.001-08:00

My favorite color is blue. I wish I could immerse myself in it and see it all the time, all shades. Some time ago I wrote a story about Yves Klein blue. Joni Mitchell's "Blue" is my favorite album, or top 5 for sure....

Yesterday in McNally Jackson (I love this bookstore) I was steered towards this book, Bluets. I am now obsessed with it because I can empathize and now I need to read everything by this poet.

71. "I have tried for some time now, to find dignity in my loneliness. I have been finding this hard to do."

Who in the world can't relate to that? This book is good.

American Horror Story & Geneva Arrival

2011-10-25T12:37:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday night you can hear "Lavender Moon" featured on American Horror Story! I am in Switzerland and I hope to see it on someone's TiVo when I get back.

I also watched "Glee" for the first time on the airplane today and it was so so so good. It was the Gwyneth "singing in the rain"/"umbrella" one and I feel like I'm way behind and have been living under a rock or something. I also watched this amazing doc about Formula One driver "Senna" which made me cry; I think everyone should see this film. It's beautiful and sad and meaningful and about all that is in life. What a larger than life character - must see. I also read some more of Henry Miller's "The Colossus of Marousi" and it's making me happy in all this dreadful energy surrounding Greece and the debt crisis. "Bad Teacher" also better than I thought and I laughed a lot.

Now watching CNN do an in-depth interview with Harry Connick Jr and he seems really cool and talented and I'm going to go buy that Christmas album everyone loves. I think that would make me the 20 millionth person to do so. The guy on CNN just asked how many people he thinks have made love to his music. Weird, lol.

I took a walk here in Geneva and it was drizzling. A beautiful, wealthy city with loads of art in the old city. I liked this modern take on a rolltop desk.

Ok hope you're having a great day and more soon from Vevey and the festival.

What are you goin to be for Halloween?

Haroula

The Heavens

2011-10-25T12:26:00.001-07:00

I was flying between Heathrow and Geneva this afternoon and it felt like I wasn't that far from what we think of as an image of Heaven

These Boots

2011-10-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

I have all these pairs of boots whose soles have been disappearing. This is just one example. And then I found this great cobbler in LA and they are like new again. But here is what they looked like - yikes

R E M I X

2011-09-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

This is a track off my record that was remixed by Luke Top. I love his album "Friends" and he is also in this band Fool's Gold that is awesome. If you know what is good for your soul, you will be at their show on Thursday night at the Troubadour!! Yes.

Close My Eyes To See (Luke Top Remix) - Haroula Rose by IndieRockReviews

2011-09-22T11:15:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't know this already, I have a songwriting blog and here is the latest posting:

Sing On, Sing On

Yours truly,

Haroula

SF & DC

2011-09-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

Performing in front of like 1400 people

at the Castro Theater in San Francisco!!

So last week I had the incredible opportunity to play in two awesome cities, and the most beautiful theaters -- the Castro in San Francisco and the Avalon in Washington, DC -- at these film premieres for "The Power of Two," a documentary directed by Marc Smolowitz. Two of my songs are on the soundtrack which is so beautiful, I like all of the artists and songs on this album. It is a really beautiful and inspiring story based on the lives of Ana and Isa, half-Japanese twins who have battled their whole lives with cystic fibrosis. I didn't know too much about the disease before this film, so I learned a lot. I also feel way more informed about organ donation and how many lives one can save.

I have seen this film three times, and each time I have cried and found it even more engaging, since it tells stories within stories and it's emotional as well as educational. Recently it made it into DocuWeeks and so was screened on both coasts, and this makes it eligible for Oscar nominations! Very exciting indeed.

This is 40 foot tall ME on the movie screen. It was a little scary.

You can find out more about the film here:

http://www.thepoweroftwomovie.com/

And more info on the soundtrack artists, etc here:

http://www.thepoweroftwomovie.com/2011/01/31/music-highlight-haroula-rose-juliette-commagere-mindy-gledhill/

At one point in the film, a transplant recipient talks about how breathing with his new lungs, on 'borrowed lungs' so to speak, feels like the most inner peace and sanctuary he has ever felt, with every breath he takes. Because without transplants, there is no hope for survival once the disease has taken over. It is a really intense disease and this film has affected me deeply; I feel so grateful to have been in service of this story, in the small way that I could be. I hope this is the beginning of a very long and successful journey for this film, to touch a lot more people and educate them the way it has done for me and the people who have seen it so far.

As always, thanks for your time and I hope you are having a blessed day in continued life and good health.

Haroula

Sight Sound Story

2011-09-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

Live Session for Rabid In The Kennel/Breakthru Radio

2011-06-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

This is a radio session that I had fun doing, playing songs live in the studio and being interviewed by Jack Rabid (Big Takeover). Hope you enjoy it, and thank you!

Haroula

"all i know" performed at THIS los angeles

2011-05-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

Haroula Rose at THIS Los Angeles from THIS on Vimeo.

2011-05-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

PopCulture Classics says:

The marvelous Ms. Rose offers incredibly appealing Americana tunes. Her gently compelling vocals weave a magical spell. Wistful, whispery and wonderful. She’s also an exceptional songwriter, rich in subtlety. In addition to such wondrous originals as “Brand New Start,” “Lavender Moon,” “Free To Be Me” and “Another Breakup Ballad,” Rose gives an unforgettable rendition of Mason Jennings’ “Duluth.”

Yay!

Haroula

East Coast Tour & UK Writing Retreat

2011-05-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK

I started this little adventure with a concert in New York at Union Hall on 4/22, with Atlantic/Pacific and the Dardys which was SUPER fun, and thank you to everyone who made it such a special night! Great band, great audience, all good vibes, it was such a memorable night for me, truly was. The next morning me and my killer New York band (which includes Melissa Tong, Bob Parins, Mike Tucillo, Seth Faulk) woke up to get to a live in-studio session for Rabid in the Kennel/Breakthru Radio which was also good times. Thank you to Jack Rabid and his cohorts - that session can be found here

(These lovely photos of the Union Hall show were taken by Matt Amonson.)

That very evening I boarded a redeye flight to London. Made friends with a beautiful Norwegian girl who already felt like an old friend after just a few moments of dialogue at the airport and then we looked and saw we were seated

next to one another for the whole flight! She was goin back to school in Brighton from some time abroad in the US and at Coachella. We traded vinyl - I gave her one of my LPs and she gave me one of her friends' and I liked it a lot. This exchange reminded of one of the many reasons why I love to travel. You enter this other stratosphere of openness or relating to people, and there is a sense of immediate intimacy in how you communicate, that I think is totally unique. An open state of mind/heart. I could elaborate on this, especially after all the travelling I got to do when I lived abroad for a coupla years but it would take way longer than a paragraph....

SONGWRITING RETREAT - DEVON COUNTRYSIDE

So the reason I went to England was for a songwriting retreat hosted by Chris Difford (this is his site but also the link to his blog about our writer's week). I thought it would be a treat to myself to get away from LA and the music scene that involves promoting a record and get back to doing something totally creative, as a birthday treat to me-self. So I arrived in a tired, jetlagged daze, for what would become one of the most inspiring weeks I've experienced in a while.

This is what the main house looks like at twilight.

The next day was Easter Sunday. It was kind of surreal, sitting around a long table filled with strangers that would soon become friends. We were in the middle of this purely pastoral setting, our adorable cottages and the main cabin of The Arvon Foundation have history pouring out of their walls and the ivy covering them. Lots of great energy surrounding us and coming from these collaborations.

Each morning we would gather for breakfast (Chris the chef was incredible too, wow) then find out who our partner or team was for the day and go off and find a nook or place outside to write. The whole house and the outside were filled with music and writing, guitars and keyboards, and usually laughter or singing. My birthday, April 25th, I spent with Geoff Martyn, one of the finer songwriters I've had the luck to meet in my life. He is from Glasgow and we wrote a song that ended up being titled "Time's Fool," all you literature fans will know that that refers to Sonnet 116, such a great one.

The inspiration for this song was from a friend who had emailed me from the States telling me to write a song that would express how he felt; he has been in a bit of a stressful love story for a while. And it was nice to have an "assignment" of sorts to start with. Geoff and I worked really well together, and it was a treat writing a new song on my birthday that I will record for my next album, whenever that should happen :) Hopefully soon. So every day a new song or two, and every night, a performance in the barn in front of everyone.

This is what one of the "writer's sheds" looked like. I spent one morning reading "Selected Letters of Dylan Thomas" here. When he was starting out no one wanted to publish his work so he was going to start his own journal. Turns out my favorite DT poem was the very first one he got published -- "And Death Shall Have No Dominion."

I could write endlessly about this week, but it still wouldn't necessarily do it justice. It is inspiring to feel like you can build a sense of family in such a short time, and I will not forget that. It definitely re-fueled my desire for music-making and why I love it so.

LONDON

Got to see Jim White and Ron Sexsmith at the Barbican in London the night before I left. This was a real treat too, wow. I got to meet them both afterward backstage. I have been a Jim White fan for so long and have more recently been turned onto Ron Sexmsith who I am also currently obssessed with. These are two songwriters that blow my mind. I am listening to Sexsmith's "Retriever" nonstop and White's "Sounds of the Americans" right now in fact, which is an interesting collaboration in which he wrote songs as a soundtrack for a play at Juilliard.

THE EAST COAST

I hadn't been to Boston, DC or Philadelphia in a decade or more! It was really nice. It has a very different energy than California, and I loved walking around, taking trains and subways, and enjoying the bookstores and old friends. Some people I hadn't seen in months or years, and it was great to re-connect. It's part of why I think I am going to love touring more and more. I am so grateful to all my friends for coming out, and the new fans I got to know. You have all made this last birthday month very memorable for me, and I thank you for that.

I flew into Boston from London and played that very night at TT the Bears which was a really cool venue. Then I had the next day free to enjoy and hang and walk through sunny Boston and Brookline and check out bookstores, meet up with friends.... had a delicious meal that included many fresh oysters yum.

After that I flew to DC where Benji (my guitarist on these shows) flew in and met up with me. We had dinner on the rooftop of a place called Tabaq Bistro that had a beautiful view of the city. It is an interesting cross-section of friends from college, from my Fulbright days in Spain, and new friends from California/NYC that all met up that night, it was nice. We played at the Black Cat the following night, which is now probably my favorite venue outside of the familiar places in LA and New York.

We headed out for the drive to Philly the next morning. We had the best luck in terms of great weather this week. It was a pretty drive once we got closer to Philadelphia around sunset and the show was at around 8. It was Cinco de Mayo and a decent crowd, I was happy to see some familiar faces. Mannyunk is a cute part of town, wish we had more time to go to some museums!

We hit the road after the show and made it to New York by about 1 am, exhausted but that city doesn't allow for much sleeping so I went to get a late night pizza slice with my friend whom we stayed with in Nolita. Ran into an old friend in the middle of the street! I love New York. Made me want to move there, like it always does. The show at the Bitter End closed out this tour of mine, and it was super fun, full band, full house on a Saturday night. We headed back to the apartment where we were throwing a party. That was pretty fun, there was a light show going on and though it was a chilly night, it was still nice to be on a rooftop in NYC with a lot of dear, old friends and some new ones.

Back to LA last Sunday morning. Had to run straight to a rehearsal and then came back home to take a "nap" that lasted from 7 pm til 1 am, totally passed out and skipped a dinner I was excited about. Oh and by the way, I love Virgin Airlines. They have the best snacks and service, big seats, and just generally are cool. I watched "No Strings Attached" and read Sarah Silverman's book and was laughing a lot. She is hilarious and I was maybe delirious from exhaustion so that combo turned out to be a good one! Home sweet home. All of a sudden it was time to get ready for some shows here in LA including my first TV appearance, a gallery performance and two concerts -- at the Bootleg Theater with an awesome lineup of people, and the Hotel Cafe opening for Yael Naim tonight!

Thank you for reading this, it's the longest blog I will probably ever post.

Yours truly,

Haroula

Fearless Radio

2011-04-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Last week was so great - I got to travel back to where I grew up in Chicago, hang out with family and friends, and do two radio shows as well as a sold out gig at Schuba's opening for Andrew Belle. Hayes Carll also played and the band that opened for them was so cool too, Shovels and Rope. Anyway, just wanted to post this link to the podcast of the Fearless Radio set in case you were interested. And the WDCB Folk Festival appearance with Lilli Kuzma will (hopefully) be here soon as well. Thanks so much.

http://www.podcastfearless.com/nmb/index.php?id=1797

www.podcastfearless.com

No Depression

2011-04-10T10:12:00.001-07:00

Read the whole article here

New Video Stills (for "Free To Be Me")

2011-03-29T10:21:00.001-07:00

SxSW and more dates

2011-02-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

Official SXSW Showcase Selection! Woohoo!

Excited to get to play in some cities on the east coast soon too. New York and Boston look out!! DC yet to be confirmed....Can't wait to see everyone and play some tunes.