Winter Songs!

Diiiiiing Donnnng Dinnnng! It's here! Winter Songs, our new album has landed - brand new sparkly wintery artwork and full of the sound of cinnamon and cloves. You can download it from itunes or get your own beautiful copy right here from me and I will wrap it up and send it straight to your door with a Christmas wish. The album is filled with Winter Songs and Christmas songs - both original and some of my favourites. Amazingly played by the Troubadours and some special guests I really think it will make you feel real nice and Christmassy. Artwork by Sandra Whetham who's made it really really special - get your hands on a copy here and I will post it to you anywhere in the world x Happy Winter!

If you are in the UK and would like to come to our Christmas Winter Songs special gig in Manchester then please get your ticket here

Winter Songs Performance Tickets

1 ticket £15.00 GBP 2 tickets £30.00 GBP 3 tickets £45.00 GBP 4 tickets £60.00 GBP

New readers

Hello Israel x

Wintersongs

                                 

Wintersongs is available as a pre-order as it will be landing in our sparkly studio in 2 weeks. You can order yours here and you'll receive a special wee gift from Kirsty too.

                                  

                                                                   £10 (+£1.50 postage)
                                                           

                                                                 
                                                  

Paper Autumn

Exciting times! Lots of them. I am learning, changing, growing, glowing and collaborating.

On Thursday, I will be at the Manchester Art Gallery sharing my new collaboration with amazing science artist and musician, Ed Briggs, the wonderful mad music professor. We begin our full rehearsals today, which is very exciting and the music will be music made from paper to open the Manchester Exhibition, 'The First Cut'. On Thursday I will be opening for the Manchester Weekender which will also open that evening. So... come - it's free and I will perform two shows - one at 7.30 and one at 8.30pm - the exhibition will open from 6pm.


Click here for details on the First Cut exhibition and here for details of the Manchester Weekender which really is worth coming to Manchester for - lots of wonderment this weekend!

I have been commissioned again for the Bury Light Night with Alice Morter to make a special new sparkly piece of art and we are creating the Laughing Garden which is a recycled garden filled with beautiful and positively glowing art in the centre of Bury. It really will be filled with laughter as we have four laughing yoga classes.

Next up - Winter Songs the album is on it's way to wonderful designer and artist Sandra Whetham who will be designing it into a beautiful Wintery package and it will be for sale soon as a printed piece of art.  Sandra and I will be sharing a beautiful stage with the Troubadours too on the 22nd of December in Manchester for a one off huge collaboration of Sandra's art and our music. The tickets really are limited and it will be held at St Clement's church in Chorlton - details and tickets here

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Finally, a new website is on it's way and shall be revealed with a new version of my last album which we ran out of and are getting lots more printed - it's now called DejaVoodu and Sandra is putting final touches to that too for me. This will all be released with a brand spanking amazing new video for 'If You Can't Make Me Happy' shot in a female wrestling ring with amazing wrestlers, Pippa L'Vinn and Shelby Beech. It's fun.

If you haven't already please support my new project and mission here  - I'm halfway there!

I will write a nice blog soon that's not just press and dates but it's wonderfully hectic at the moment so I am creating a lot and not thinking very much. Good times. I wish you well.

Please join my Facebook here so we can stay in touch

Plans

This blog is a short one to share my next plans. There a few.

I shall begin the Paper Music Project next week with Edward Briggs in Brighton. Ed and I shall make music out of Paper and share it with you at the Manchester Art Gallery on the 11th of October at 7pm (2 shows that evening) to mark the opening of the 'First Cut' Paper exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery and to launch the Manchester Weekender - featuring Rob Ryan and lots of incredible artists from around the globe. Its free.

Also, Alice and I embark on the Laughing Garden at Bury Light Night (20th of October from 7pm) - also free. More about that soon.

I shall be recording an acoustic album next month and am putting a few new tunes together for it - this is a wee collaboration with Katie Tavini and will feature a few lovely guests.

Lastly, I have set up a pledge music project where you can pledge a bit of money towards us making a video for the Plastic Bag Song (part of '30', the album) in return for some exclusives from me. The way it works is that you pledge some money toward the project in return for either a T-shirt handprinted by me or a handmade copy of my acoustic album or a copy of '30' - there are all sorts of new goodies to pick from and I will put your money towards making a video that will hopefully raise awareness for the damage plastic bags are doing to our planet and get non-biodegradeable plastic bags banned in the UK. You don't actually give me any money till the project is completed - you just pledge to support should I get it done. 20% of any profits will go to Greenpeace and if there are any other profits I shall give it to all the artists and engineers involved. Please support this - it means a lot to me. Thank you.

You can pledge here

Thank you for reading.

Have a LOVELY day!!! x

30 songs

(My art room)

Scientists have suggested that it takes 30 days to form a new habit and that with a bit of willpower you can make this happen. I now believe this to be true. Since the beginning of this project I haven't stopped writing and I am way beyond the 30 days now but I am still writing every day. A great teacher of mine once said to me that creativity is like a tap that drips to begin with and then more you stick with it the more is gushes. I truly believe this and I know now that blockages are manmade and therefor can be cleared.

So, I began, in my art room on a nice warm afternoon. I wrote my first song which gave me the idea. I doodled a picture and didn't know what it meant so I posted it on Facebook and asked and whilst I was waiting to hear the answers I wrote a song about the cross and what I thought it meant. I finished the song in half an hour crazily, it just flowed right out. I realised then, that it would be good to try and do this everyday for a month or so just to see what might come out - both creatively and also to see what blockages might be lurking inside.

 I wrote it up on Facebook to commit that I was going to write 30 songs in 30 days and if I am truly honest I didn't really think I was going to get past 5 days. I thought I would struggle and then fizzle out. I asked Facebook for suggestions for what I might write about other than love and 150 suggestions came back! So, I began.

I set a few ground rules for myself. I decided I would need to finish the chords, melody and sections in a day but that I could add a few extra lyrics later if they all needed and actually, they all seemed to get finished on the day bar 2 which were collaborations.

I wrote for six days and each day I looked down the list on Facebook and picked whichever title took my fancy for that day. At no point did I ever focus on writing 30 songs. I only ever approached it as writing one song in a day and I did that for 30 days. I have problems with authority including my own but thankfully reverse psychology works. If you want to do anything for 30 days the momentum will begin with committing to it and you won't really have a problem as you only have to do one thing 30 times not 30 things.

I set up a collaboration with Matt Owens on the 7th day as I thought I might buckle and hoped writing with someone might help. This was a beautiful day. It was sunny outside and we both wrote on guitars.  I have mostly always written on my own and couldn't really imagine writing with someone other than drinking and having a jam with someone.  For the first 10 days of this project I was on antibiotics and not drinking made the project even better!

I set a rule with the collaborations that whomever I was working with could pick the title - still from the Facebook list. The most exciting and scary moment of every collaboration is the moment after a title has been picked and the song is about to be written because insecurity and ego set in. It's a strange thing because even though you know you are going to create something it isn't already formed so you worry that it may not happen or worse, that you will come out with nothing but dross. If, however, you learn to channel your creativity and be patient with yourself and your instrument, it is never very long before something worthwhile starts to flow and that really happens every time! I was amazed at this. This really blew my head to smitherenes. You really can make it happen every day. You might not get a killer song every day but you can write a song and that song will lead you somewhere and that's a beautiful gift.

(Ian Reynolds)

Song 'The Goose is Cookin'

I had many many many special moments in this project and I unblocked a lot within and I watched many blockages melt. I shared lovely days and food with everyone in this project and I was blessed to be able to  have the time to enjoy it. 

                     

(Ben Williams)

Song ' We Salute The Breakfast Beast'

Matt chose to write about doors. Then, I had another week writing on my own each day. The insecurity still set in each day that I may not write another song EVER again but somehow something worthwhile came out each day and I got the chance to write about things that as a singer/songwriter I may never have got the chance to write about had it not been for Facebook's suggestions. Thank you everyone.
                         

                           

(George Borowski)

Song 'Chest of Memories'

I set up 14 collaborations for the last 2 weeks and I think this was a great move as I think I may have given up at this point had I not as I was beginning to flag. I felt compelled to finish as the collaborations that were set up were all with great writers and artists and I was both looking forward to working with them and learning and I was equally scared. This fear is a red flag to a bull in me, so it made it easy for me to stick with the project.

     

I was very lucky to work with everyone that I did and some of those sharings would never have happened if it weren't for this project. I collaborated with poets in the USA, artists in Japan, Liverpool, London, Gibraltar, Manchester, Scotland all sorts.

So now what? Well, 30 images in 30 days and hopefully 15 of those will also be collaborations and then I will put it all together and share with you. Thanks to everyone who sent this project a positive thought and to all who got involved and to all those who wanted to. Love. x

  

(John Ellis)

Song 'The Dark Alley Fairy'

(George Borowski)

Song 'The Plastic Bag Song' Tom Davies

(Tom Davies AKA DaviesQuiet)

Song 'The Plastic Bag Song'

Jock

Song 'Lucy'

Alabaster DePlume

Song 'Glove'

Louis Barabbas

Song 'Glove'

'Glove' Alasbaster & Louis

Becca Horne

Song 'October Blue'

'October Blue' Becca Horne

Kuki's Uke

Kuki, 'Im Tired of Getting Older'

Kuki, Song 'Im Tired of Getting Older'

Fionnuala Dorrity - Song 'Tom Cunningham'

30 songs in 30 days

I have never been someone to do things the easy way round even when I've thought I was taking the easy route I usually carved it with an imaginary creative line that somehow turned into the most picturesque route I could design out of something that could've been so very simple. I've always tried to make, what I thought was the best out of situations. Now, I realise, that it was usually what I thought was best not necessarily what was required.

I have been promoted in nearly every job I have ever had. Then sacked. I get bored quite quickly. As I've grown up though, I've definitely mellowed. I think I've always had a taste for education. I don't mean organised education. That's never really been a close friend of mine. I have a degree and quite a few grades under my belt but equally, I have quite a few unfinished courses and have been expelled a few times. Ive always had a little bit of a problem finishing things. I'm not a finisher. Some people are incredible finishers, a lot of my friends are finishers. I have total respect for finishers cause I don't really understand it. I, am a definite beginner and ideas person.

I realised a few years ago that that is all that success is really - finishing things. I realised that the formula for success is having an idea, making it happen, finishing it and then sharing it. In the arts if you can do that, you can have a career.

I have finished quite a few projects in my time as a creative and each time it's thrown me in a different direction. That's the real beauty of being a self employed artist in my opinion.

A few years ago a great friend of mine gave me a creative hub to stay in, in Sheffield. I went because I had never finished a song by myself and felt like I wanted to learn and see if I could write an album all by myself. I went for 6 months.

At the time, I decided to write an album that was not for sale. I decided to write songs that I wanted to write, not what I thought people wanted to hear, which seemed to be the way a lot of people around me were writing. I wrote songs to learn channeling, really. If I believe creation is all around me then, maybe creativity comes from creation and creation uses us as channels to channel what is already there. This happens with visual artists and sonic artists alike and musical technicians often talk of opening up and having something flow right through them when they solo. This is what happens when I write a song. Not always but mostly.

So, at the beginning of this summer I realised that it was time to record a new album and inject some newness into my work to see where I could spin myself next. I didnt have many gigs booked into the diary and thought I should do something with the two months of freedom. As I was thinking about what to do I painted a picture . I then wrote a song about the picture without really thinking about it. I enjoyed myself immensely! It had been quite a while since I'd done any writing for fun. I decided then that I should do this everyday for a few weeks to see what would come out of it and come out of me. I thought this would be a lovely way to spend some time. Again, pressure off, it would be just for the halibut.

I put the idea onto Facebook to commit myself and asked the ether what I could write about so as not to directly just write about love. 150 ideas came back!!! Wow. Many many wonderful ideas too.

I've learnt to trust those signs in my life. When a project has immediate momentum I have learnt to follow and support it and when there is resistance I'm learning to find a different way. When things are right in my life the doors fly open.

I will write tomorrow to share what I learnt in the 30 songs in 30 days x

(Kuki's Uke)

Beautiful Frome

For those of you who didn't read my blog about the touring in Europe you can read it here if you'd like. For those of you who did - you will, I'm certain, appreciate what one lovely set of people did for the Troubadours and myself out of their own excitement for life and art... Bare with me - the point to this is amazing!

Here's how an incredible gig magicked its way into my life...

Last year I got a wonderful chance to do a Vital Detox with Anna for a week which was absolutely life changing and I really do mean that. Lovely Anna said she fell in love with my music and began to spread the word, to which one of the sets of ears that she whispered sweet Almeida noises into was a wonderful man and excitable musical being, Dave.

Dave is a drummer and a plumber. Plummer drummer Dave also promotes lovely musical events with his beautiful and creative partner, Bee.

My point? Well, Dave and Bee made a HUGE and special effort to make a wonderful evening happen in their town, Frome (which if you haven't been to I would highly recommend...except I'm scared that if you go you'll never come back. I'm afraid so many of you will go and never come back.) It's beautiful!

Anyhoo... Dave and Bee made the most incredible effort to create a magical and wondrous event and it really was. They cut out tiny Kirsty Almeida logos and displayed them in window dressed displays and on poster boards and printed out some of my artwork and made little murals and adding their own amazing touches. They ran competitions and placed radio ads, interview, press and local shout outs and really pushed to make the event successful.

They stayed in touch with us from the moment we were booked and kept coming up with great ways to get bums on seats. Now, like all towns and cities, it doesn't matter who's coming to play - its tough to get folk to leave their houses but when it's an unknown act, its even harder so what Dave and Bee are doing is not easy and they did it immensely well. They are trying to set up events for their community that have a musical quality about them that folk can trust, bringing in names that may not be well known but that deliver an unforgettable experience. I know some of the acts they are hoping to share in the future and they are all fantastic billings!

When we arrived after our 7 hour journey - we were blown away! Not only had Dave and Bee read my blog about how venues in the UK can make it more comfortable for artists but they had gone through and ticked each example off- one by one!! They had even decorated the room that they had chosen as a dressing room with vintage furniture and fairy lights!!! We had a beautiful bottle of red from a local wine merchant, tea, fresh fair-trade coffee, snacks, water, beers, fresh flowers and to top it all off - a postcard each from Frome STAMPED AND READY FOR US TO SEND TO A LOVED ONE!

Now, that ready takes the biscuit - although they had me at the shop display! We sound checked and then got taken to what I think might be my favourite eatery in the UK, the Garden Cafe, who fed us organic, creative, healthy beautiful food and made sure we were happily full by the time we left for free! (We loved it so much we went again for breakfast the next day.)

The venue was the Westway Cinema in Frome, a quirky, Kooki, characterful independent run by Martina who is brilliant and laid back and very open and caring. We were treated so nicely and even the Mayor of Frome came out to hear the Troubadours (who may I add has the Funkiest hair - check it out).
The audience were encouraged to dress up for a Kirsty Almeida gig and I'm not exaggerating when I say they really took it to town. I would have saved up for some of the beautiful outfits and costumes that came out to play.

All of the above made our job so very easy and the only thing we had to worry about was not letting Frome, Dave and Bee, down. This was a perfect, perfect, perfect evening where the audience, the promoters, the venue and the band worked and played together to make a magical evening. A standing ovation sent us off into the night which ended with us staying with wonderful friends and singing round the fire till the early hours (howling at the moon in my case).

The Kirsty Almeida & The Troubadours award for best touring venue in the country goes to Dave, Bee, Martina & Frome.

My recycled garden

So please take the time to sign the petition here at the end of reading this. Please. It will only take you two seconds and when I get 100,000 signatures I can get plastic bags banned! Why? Cause I can only do a little bit to help save the planet and our own extinction and that will be worth it! Plastic bags, as you might know,  don't break down for over 1000 years, we are dumping them in the ocean to try and bin 'em and hurting our ocean friends as well as dumping them as land fill and releasing all sorts of poisonous gases into our air whilst our business' just keep producing LOADS more.

And now on with the blog! So, some of you know I am moving house and I'm moving into a house where I will have my own art and music studio - MY OWN ART AND MUSIC STUDIO! I have been working in shared houses since I was 17 and many many patient people out there and ex housemates (still covered in the glitter) were more than patient with me and my messy work especially when making 1000 handmade cds in batches every few months. Now, I can move my 5 sewing machines, 3 easels, canvasses, ball gowns, printing screens, guitars, screens, shoes, paints, glitter, amps and Wurlitzer into my own space - affecting noone but me and the birds at my window! Woop.

I have my own yard.

I move in 1st of June.

So, my brother who is really creative and a quick artistic thinker came round the other evening and we got into talking about my worries about the plastic that we as humans, are producing and how to tackle the waste that comes in through our homes... We travelled the internet on a recycled art journey and found some beautiful ideas for gardens. As I move in the 1st of June, I won't have long to get my yard feeling good and we tried to work out how to use all the stuff that we usually throw away. Tetra Paks, tin cans, drawers, wardrobes, shelves, bottles, jars, stuff.

Exciting.

Funnily enough, at points we had to stop ourselves from buying the 'stuff' that you need to make the recycled creations we were finding! Ironic!

Well, once we both got our heads around it - we were off. My brother, he's a teacher and is going to make a big recycled garden with the students, growing all their veg for the canteen! Brilliant.


If you haven't already PPPPPLLLLLEEEEAASSSSEEEE sign the petition HERE AND get Tom Davies' amazing Cool Down Remix of my single Cool Down Rewind here - I really think its beautiful as is Sandra Whetham's artwork! Click the links x

Anyway here are a few things you can do... I will blog my recycled garden in a few months - a few things we made below too. I wish you well xxxx

Get a pallet - any pallet, lie it on the floor upside down - staple some waterproof plastic to the back or use some hessian and cover the whole of the bag and sides - leave the top open. Fill the whole thing with eartha and then add all the plants you want and stand it up on its front and attach to a wall. I'm going to make one for the end of my kitchen cupboards and fill it with herbs.

If you have some wholes in your fence...instead of getting a new fence - fill em with marbles. Nice.

A old rake head. Says it all.

Use old furniture that's broken and gonna be burnt or thrown to the skip and turn it into giant plant pots. Check the one we made with an old drawer and some Broccoli seedlings

In my back yard

Leaky teapot? 

Broken plant pots - stead of throwing them awe, write on them and use. You can also add them to your compost to aerate

Sooooooo simple - mini greenhouses! Cut a plastic bottle in half and plant the feelings into the bottom half and then cover with the top. Maybe don't use edible plants cause the plastics can give off toxins when left in the sun a long time.

This is one of my favourites - soooooooo simple. You could paint the bottles too as you see in the one below which I love. Just save all your bottles and cut out a rectangle with a sharp sharp knife. The bottle top works as a draining system, I guess. Again, I'm guessing maybe don't put edibles in these due to toxin release from the bottles when left in the sun. I think all different shapes and sizes would look great too! I'm definitely going to make an indoor window garden like his one below in my art studio.

We discovered that you can buy glass bottle cutting kits for about £30 online which easily cut glass bottles and come with a polishing cloth so you can stop them from being sharp and then you can make these.... herbs in bottle necks in a glass of water will then self water - especially if you add a string into the bottom of the soil so it dangles in the water - the roots will suck what they need up the neck. Window herb garden for me and lovely gifts for my friends as and when a bottle gets finished in my house.

yup. We thought maybe go see the restaurants in town and ask them to save us their industrial tins stead of throwing them although I think they actually get recycled unlike plastics

Soooooo simple. Cut a bottle in half fill the top with soil and house it in the bottom of the bottle!

Any old hessian bags fill em with soil and plant some edibles

old pots and pans

Here are two hanging baskets we made with tomato seedlings in... Made from a curtain tie hassle, tinfoil packaging and the net from a bag of oranges and a bag of lemons. How bout that!!!

Go tomatoes!

 Now, this is one of my favourites! Picture frame with a chicken wire top filled with succulents which are kinda like cactus' - then hung on the wall. Definite one for my wall.

Use egg boxes to sprout your seeds into seedlings instead of those plastic propagators - you can use egg shells too - the beauty of all these is that you can plant them straight into the ground as they will biodegrade

Genius - guttering filled ih salad leaves! We made one too - Paul's work! (Line with a bit off tin foil incase of any plastic toxins

cress

Just cause I want it

Inside out painted old tyres! Use them as plant pots (not for edibles)