Just a little update...

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for stopping by...how are you?

It's been a busy month of August for me...and really I guess since the big Bon Jovi Concert. That was such an amazing concert, if you were there you know...amazing and huge crowd, rain that more or less held off until the concert was done, and JBJ was incredible as always. Thanks again for sitting in front of your computer screens for hours voting for me to be the opening act! And thank you to Jon, and ourstage.com too of course :)

At the end of July, Ariel and I played a great little festival near Dawson City, Yukon in the beautiful community of Moosehide. The Moosehide Gathering is a bi-annual festival put on by the people of the community to share open up their land and their hearts to people everywhere. There were people from Dawson to all the way from California...it was totally amazing. Traditional fiddle music and g'witchen singing, drumming, and dancing along with art and music workshops all throughout the day letting visitors get a real first hand sense of the culture of the area.
The yukon has this perfect way of making me feel completely at ease and at peace...as soon as I step off the the Air North plane and take a deep breath of the fresh northern mountain air...everything that's wrong just seems to melt away. It's one of me and my moms favourite places in the world. Moosehide is all of the best things about the yukon...peace, quiet, hills, open field, the strong cleansing river, and the presence of generations of culture retained. My mom said "when you're rich one day...don't worry about getting me a mansion...just get me a nice little cabin on the river in Moosehide."
And I pretty much feel the same way....I'll just have my sweet loft in Manhattan, and a little cabin in Moosehide :)


The day after we got back from the Yukon, I had soundcheck and rehearsal for the Celtic Ireland Pavilion of Folklorama in Winnipeg. I had Scotty Senior of course on percussion, and called on Lindsey Bart for guitar again this year...turns out it couldn't have been more perfect! When we got there we were talking to the pavilion director, Phil Brady, about what he wanted musically and he mentioned for the first piece maybe a slow tune into a couple of energetic rhythmic up-tempos. So we decided the up-tempos would be two of me and Lindsey's favourite tunes by a Scottish band called Lau..."Frank & Flo's" but we didn't have a slow air....so we kind of just started playing something...more or less started writing a tune on the fly in the dress rehearsal...and we realized that we were really onto something. Short story shorter...we're working on a side project...so keep your eye out!
The whole week of shows was amazing, and it really flew by more than any year before just because we were having so much fun. The crowds were amazing despite the heat wave in Winnipeg that week...the wonderful people of Winnipeg stuck it out sitting in a curling club (aka: giant aluminum oven) for an hour because Mr. Brady always promises a good show and a good time, and he certainly didn't disappoint. The Brady Academy of Irish dance was fantastic as always.
Thanks for coming out everyone!


August 17th was a very sad day for many musicians. We lost a dear friend, and arguably one of the most talented and respected musicians Canada has ever produced. My dear friend, Mike Norman, 39 years old, died at 3:00AM at his home in Port Moody, BC after a long, courageous, and incredibly optimistic fight with lymphatic cancer.
He was a person who you only needed to spend 5 minutes with to know in your heart that he was simply put, an all around good guy. He was an amazing friend, one of the best I ever had (not to mention one of the funniest human beings I've ever met in my entire life), and he will be missed so greatly by so many. I love you Mikey, and I'll miss you everyday until I see you again...and don't forget to send a song down my way every once in a while :)


On August 21st the whole band headed out to Clear Lake, Manitoba for one of the biggest and best concerts the town has ever seen (they're words not mine...but I would LOVE to agree!)
We were opening for fellow Manitobans and Canadian country music stars, Doc Walker on a gorgeous day on the beachfront to an amazing crowd of 8000 people. We had a blast playing a 1 hour set, and then Doc totally rocked as always. I was under the bandstand for 2 and a half hours meeting a good lot of the wonderful folks who came out to the show...I had a great time. Thank you so much to the Riding Mountain National Park staff for taking such great care of us and just being really awesome to hang out with. We'll come back anytime!


August 22nd was another great show in Lockport, Manitoba opening up for George Canyon.

August 27th was a really special one! As a part of the new River Barge Festival in Winnipeg, I was included in their gala night along with Papa Mambo and Chic Gamine. My band and I had the repeat honour of playing with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra again. We played a full 1 hour set on the coolest summer stage Winnipeg now has to offer, all backed by the very talented WSO. There was an incredible crowd estimated at about 6000...the most people I've seen at The Forks since the War Child concert in year 2000. Congrats to Winnipeg for putting on such an amazing show. I REALLY hope that you continue this amazing and unique festival every year...it really brought The Forks alive!


Now my mom and I are now getting geared up for a trip to New York City, leaving Monday to spend some time there with friends before my show at The Bitter End on September 13th...which I absolutely can't wait for!


I'll be back on here after the New York trip and fill you in on all the fun!


Love always,

Sierra xo