Deck The Halls - Official Video

Happy Holidays everyone!  A little treat for you before the big day tomorrow.... the OFFICIAL video for my cover of "Deck The Halls" directed by my dear friend James Roday, and with the help of our friends  from his upcoming film "Gravy".  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/_BjSOj19HC8

Have a wonderful holidays friends....

love,

p. a. 

MixTape Monday #4: Deck!

Hello all!

It's just about that time to finish up the Holiday shopping madness (or just begin -- which gives me anxiety just thinking about!), so this week's mix is one you can wrap gifts to, or deck your halls with a glass of eggnog in hand.  I went 'cozy' with the song choices most of the way.  I'm wishing you happy happy holidays, whatever you're celebrating or not celebrating this season.  Much love and coziness to you all!

Deck!

love,
p. a.

New Tracks Revealed!

I'm so excited to reveal my favorite track from my forthcoming album This Is Where We Are, entitled "Diana"!

You can purchase it from iTunes HERE

And since it's the season of giving, I'm sharing a new holiday cover I did of "Deck The Halls" with you for free!

Download it HERE

Fun fact:  I was asked by my dear friend James Roday to write and record a creepy version of this song for his new horror/comedy that he wrote and directed, Gravy, starring Michael Weston and Jimmi Simpson and an awesome cameo by Sarah Silverman.  I don't like scary movies at all.  I won't even watch them if my song is in them.  But I've been to the screening for this movie 3 times!  It's way more Shaun Of The Dead than.... well, I can't even name a really scary movie to give you a non-scary movie comparison to, that's how much I've avoided them!  Anyway, it's great, and I'll let you know when it's out in theaters!

Enjoy the treats!

love,

p. a.

MixTape Monday #3: DailyCandy Travel Playlist

I literally just stepped off of a plane from China, where I had no access to Facebook, blogs, let alone Spotify!  So I missed one MixTape Monday.  But to try and make up for it, here is a recently featured playlist I curated for DailyCandy!  It's a playlist to help keep your sanity in check whilst traveling to and fro during the holidays.  I wrote a little blurb to go along with why I personally chose these specific songs.  Get the skinny here.  Or listen to the playlist on Spotify.

HOLIDAY TRAVELS!

De La Soul – eye know
Vince Guaraldi Trio – Heartburn Waltz
Bob Dylan – Corrina, Corrina
Vampire Weekend – Horchata
Labi Siffre – Bless The Telephone - 2006 Digital Remaster
Twin Sister – I Want a House
Lykke Li – Little Bit
Santigold – I'm A Lady
Neil Young – Sugar Mountain - Live - Canterbury House 1968
Squarepusher – Tommib

It's good to be back home.  Safe and happy travels wherever you're going! 

Love,

p.a.

MixTape Monday #2: Thanks!

Here is my 2nd installment of MixTape Monday!  A new idea that I came up with that we can have fun seeing how long it lasts, where each week (with the help of all your recommendations) I put together a different music playlist (a la mix tapes from the '80's and '90's) for yours and my listening pleasure.

This week's theme is songs for Thanksgiving.  These could be songs that you listen to while preparing a Thanksgiving feast, or hanging out with loved ones, or thinking of loved ones, or just a list of songs that invoke the spirit of giving thanks for the things you love and appreciate in your life.

A lot of the songs that were so generously and thoughtfully recommended were very mellow and warm sounding, so I decided to go with that feeling for this Thanksgiving playlist.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  I'll actually be in China this Thanksgiving, so I'll be sending you all lots of love and thanks, while listening to this playlist throughout my day!  :)

For those of you who do the Spotify thing, here is a link!

THANKS!

Vince Guaraldi Trio – Thanksgiving Theme

Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again

Adam Sandler – The Thanksgiving Song

Mark Mothersbaugh – Let Me Tell You About My Boat - Score

Ray LaMontagne – You Are The Best Thing

Elizabeth & the Catapult – Thank You For Nothing

Bob Hope & Shirley Ross – Thanks For The Memories

Father John Misty – Funtimes in Babylon

King Coleman – (Do The) Mashed Potatoes

The Shins – New Slang

Zee Avi – Monte

Bobby Caldwell – What You Won't Do For Love

Cat Stevens – If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out

Fionn Regan – Be Good Or Be Gone

Toro Y Moi – New Loved Ones

Billie Holiday – Any Old Time

M. Ward – Pure Joy

AA Bondy – There's A Reason

Van Morrison – Astral Weeks

Labi Siffre – Bless The Telephone - 2006 Digital Remaster

Loudon III Wainwright – Thanksgiving - Live

Xavier Rudd – Food in the Belly

William DeVaughn – Be Thankful for What You Got

Yan-Pascal Tortelier – Chants d'Auvergne: Baïlèro (Series 1, No.2)

The Head And The Heart – Winter Song

I hope you all have a wonderful week filled with love and people/things/memories/dreams/moments you can be thankful for.  Thank you for all of your love and support.  I appreciate the people in my life, including all of you, so much.  

Much love,

p. a.

MixTape Monday #1

Hi there!

I was tired of letting another week go by when I would have that moment of, "Oh man... I haven't posted anything interesting to my blog in forever!"  It's so hard for me to come up with something interesting to say or share with you all the time, like other, more professional, bloggers I love.  But then I realized today how much I love making playlists.  Especially after reading this list of 55 Things Only '90's Teenage Girls Can Understand, I remembered the mix tapes that I (and so many of us born before 1992) used to make!

So every Monday I'm going to try to post a fun new mix for you to listen to.  Most of them will be themed, and every Sunday I'll ask for some suggestions via Facebook and Twitter, so please hit me with yo' best stuff!  I actually will listen to every song you suggest.  :)  And because putting this list together tonight kept me up til 3:30am, I'll ask for song suggestions the Sunday a week in advance!  Sort of like The New Yorker does their comic contest.  Sort of.

SO HERE IS MY 1ST ONE!  I needed to clean the house today, but couldn't find the energy to do it, and needed some pick-me-up tunes to get me going.  With a few of my faves, and A LOT of your amazing and thoughtful suggestions, I feel like I came up with a really fun "cleaning" mix that'll keep me company-- and hopefully you too-- until 2014!

{Thank you for all your suggestions!  fyi:  The songs I chose are solely based one whatever mood I'm in, what would get me going when I clean the house, I chose some "hit" songs because they are "hits", and some "non-hit" songs because they are "non-hits", etc...so don't feel sad if I didn't pick yours this time!}

I loved that Fleetwood Mac was a common, nostalgic cleaning theme!  Some favorite new discoveries for me were Cathedrals, Sylvan Esso, The Drums, Mapei, Soko... 

Take a gander at the list below.... or have a listen Here.  I present to you 2 full hours of...

CLEAN!

1.  Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem
2.  Gypsy - Gardens & Villa
3.  Bag Of Hammers - Thao
4.  Soy Loco Por Ti America - Caetano Veloso
5.  Sweet Thing - Van Morrison
6.  Buzzcut Season - Lorde
7.  Wild Thing - The Troggs
8.  Fidelity - Regina Spektor
9.  Shock To Your System - Tegan And Sara
10.  Unbound - Cathedrals
11.  Hey Mami - Sylvan Esso
12.  See-Line Woman - Nina Simone
13.  Beautiful Woman - Shin Joong Hyun
14.  Sunny Road - Emiliana Torrini
15.  Accused Of Stealing - The Delgados
16.  MoneyGrabber - Fitz And The Tantrums
17.  Negra Leono - Miguelito Valdés
18.  Little Bird - Jay Woodward
19.  Down By The Water - The Drums
20.  Basic Space - The xx
21.  If You Think You Need Some Lovin - Pomplamoose
22.  Pumpin Blood - NONONO
23.  Caravan - Bunny Berigan And His Orchestra
24.  I Follow Rivers - Lykke Li
25.  Warm Heart Of Africa - The Very Best
26.  Three Little Birds - Bob Marley And The Wailers
27.  Vase - Miike Snow
28.  Everyday People - Sly & The Family Stone
29.  Don't Wait - Mapei
30.  First Love Never Die - Soko
31.  I Wonder If I Take You Home - Full Force, Lisa Lisa, Cult Jam
32.  Something - The Beatles

Here's an incredible video someone shared with me on Facebook.  A Japanese song about a Mother's chores::



To give me a head start on next week's playlist, please send me your recommendations for "Thanksgiving" songs -- songs that make you feel "thankful" or songs you like to listen to while getting ready for or enjoying Thanksgiving Day.

love,
p. a.

Theatricum Botanicum

Come join me in supporting the beautiful outdoor theater, Theatricum Botanicum, located in the heart of Topanga Canyon, this Saturday 10/5 at 6pm.  All the proceeds are going towards keeping this gem of a theater alive.  The night is being hosted by the one and only Inara George (The Bird and The Bee), with special performances by Jackson Browne, Van Dyke Parks, and The Living Sisters, just to name a few, as well as yours truly.  :)  We're all going to sing 1 - 3 songs each, covering many of the gorgeous and inspiring songs written by L.A.'s own, Eleni Mandell.  I'll be singing a song we co-wrote together, "Oo La La", as well as 2 of her originals.  It's sure to be a beautiful and memorable night of performances, so please come check it out if you can!  Here is where you can buy tickets.  

Have a fantastic week! 

love,

p. a.

You Are More

I recently finished a book by Rohinton Mistry entitled, "A Fine Balance".  The book blew me away.  The writing was beautiful, compassionate.  I couldn't put it down.  Taking place in India, the stories of the different characters' lives are interweaved together.  They all come from different castes, different religions.  A world that I have no idea about, but still exists today.  Even after reading a novel about it, I can not even begin to fathom how different life is there, compared to where I live.

Anyway, after reading this book, I was hit with an overwhelming feeling of lost hope.  The feeling that sometimes life gets worse, not better.  The oppressive reminder of how hard life can be to certain individuals, to good people, and how sometimes life just does not seem fair.

I don't know if this has ever happened to you.  This has happened to me a few times before.  I'd be depressed and unmotivated for a few weeks at a time.  I knew this wasn't healthy, but I wasn't sure how to get out of it.  To live my normal life, knowing how much unimaginable hardship was going on in other parts of the world.  And then my head starts spiraling about the decline of our planet earth, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we waste.  Ah!!!!

The other night, I listened to Thich Nhat Hanh's "Classic Dharma Talks - Part 1", as I folded laundry.  He was reminding his listeners to smile.  To smile is one of the most important and loving things we can do for ourselves, for our family, for strangers.  Just the simple of act of smiling is known to release endorphins and calm our bodies.  Even if it's fake smiling by putting a pencil in between our teeth!

In his talk, he mentioned how someone approached him and said, "But I am so full of sorrow.  How can I smile when I have so much sorrow?"  I sat up straight, and stopped folding socks to listen carefully.  Thich Nhat Hanh replied, "You can smile to your sorrow....because you are more than your sorrow,".

This was an immediate game changer for me.  I felt released from my depression, and released from my quicksand of worry.  This doesn't mean I'll ignore what's happening in the world to be stress free.  I can acknowledge the pain and suffering I hear about and see, and try to help as much as I can everyday.  I can only do my best on this earth, for the time that I have.  I can give love.  I can smile.

love,
p. a.

FOOD!

I thought I'd post a blog on all the fun food I had the pleasure of eating this past July on my mini-Asia tour.  It starts out pretty safe, but then swiftly catapults into unknown territory.  Flavors and smells I'd never experienced before.  As a person who is definitely in the "live to eat" category, I am game to try almost anything non-meat related (the only animal products I eat are fish, eggs, and dairy.  yes, (sigh), I am a pescetarian.  I'm embarrassed of that word for some reason.).

On another note -- I would love to know what the craziest thing you've ever eaten was (that you actually liked).  Leave me a comment here or on Facebook, and I'll enter your name in a drawing to win a free Priscilla Ahn t-shirt and poster zine!  I've never done this before, and I don't know why I'm doing it now.  It just sounds fun.

Ok... here we go!

JAPAN

Like I said, this starts off tame.

Egg omelet and fresh OJ in my hotel room in Tokyo.  Looks pretty lonely, huh? 

Ochazuke - basically a rice bowl with toppings (fried egg, tuna sashimi, shiso, green onions and pickles).  After eating a bit of your rice bowl, you can add either hot green tea or dashi stock (in my case, dashi), to the rice, making it into a sort of rice soup.  So delicious and very comforting!

This was a grilled Stingray Fin, with a side of mayo.

Reminded me of Korean Jippo, slightly chewy, salty and sweet.

Vegetarian Ramen

At an Okinawan restaurant, Adan, we chomped on some of these refreshing Water Eggplant.  They were served nice and cold, on this hot and humid night.

Red Snapper Sashimi

Octopus!

Goya!

I wish I could find these in L.A.  Native to Okinawa, this hard vegetable has a slightly bitter taste.  But mixed with a little ume (plum) dressing, it is very oishii as well as nutritious!

Soba with Summer vegetables.

Sometimes I eat soba for lunch and dinner in the same day.  It is so refreshing and light on a hot Summer day.

KOREA

Ddukbokki

Rice cakes in a red spicy sauce, served with fish cakes and green onions.  

We ate these in Hongdae, in Seoul.  The Ddukbokki in L.A. doesn't even compare.

Seafood and pork stew.

I didn't have any of this because of the pork, but I did try a tiny sampling of the crazy rice cake in the lower right corner of the bowl.  It was amazing!

Gaerun Jim - Korean Egg Souffle

One of my childhood faves.  This pot was humongous!

Hot and spicy seafood soup.

Not exactly Jjamppong, which is my all-time fave, but still good. 

TAIWAN

Lo mein noodle with a spicy sesame sauce.

So tasty!

Fried taro cakes.

Tofu and blood sausage in a spicy sesame sauce!

I didn't have this, but it smelled amazing!

Beautiful, warm, gooey mochi with sweet cream and crushed peanuts on top.

The largest mango ice slushee in my life!

Soup dumplings!!!

From the restaurant Din Tai Fung.  They have them in the U.S.!

I highly recommend this place for dumpling lovers, or even dumpling beginners.  

Soup Dumplings.

These little guys actually have a little bit of broth in them, hence the name, soup dumplings.

The broth can be scalding hot if you're not careful!

Red Bean Rice Cake.

I grew up on red bean and rice cakes, so I really loved this dessert.  Not too sweet.  Almost healthy tasting!

On our last night, stuff got nuts!

Since my friends in Taiwan know that I love soups, and hot and spicy ones at that, they took us to a Hot Pot restaurant.

Pictured here is a hot pot, divided in two, for the meat eaters at the table.

The lighter colored side is made from a bone broth (I think), with jujubes and other crazy roots and herbs.  The darker side is dark from the red spices, and from the chunks of duck blood.  You heard me right.  Duck blood.

Obviously, I didn't have any of these.  

I had my very own vegetarian pot, filled with medicinal herbs and roots.  I felt like I was getting healthier by the spoonful.  Truly!  I've never had anything like it.  Such a special treat!

Once my pot started to bubble, I filled it with seafood and fish dumplings.

Spicy peanuts with green onion and clear brown jelly noodles.

I loved this side dish!

The table was steaming with hot pots, as we sipped plum tea to whet our whistles. 

My raw seafood plate I added to my hot pot.

For dessert, plum shave ice.

The chaotic aftermath.

This restaurant was gorgeous inside.

I wish I'd grabbed a card so I could tell you the name!

Anyway, those were my food adventures this time around.  Don't forget to tell me one of yours!  :)

love,

p. a.

Summer in SE Asia

I am back from touring for 2 weeks, vacationing for 1... and I'm finally starting to feel back to my normal self.  I had such a BLAST in Japan, S. Korea, and Taiwan.... I wanted to share a few photos with you:

JAPAN

My first week in Japan was filled with promo.  Here I am in Tower Records Shibuya, standing next to an old friend.  I try to come here every time I'm in Tokyo.

Thank you always for the support!!!

The other place I always try to stop if I have time:  

Uguisu: The Little Shoppe

I come here for all my stationary, washi tape, and special handcrafted zakka needs!

This is me with Hiki, the owner.  She is one of my favorite blogger/photographer/graphic designers!

(She also has an online shop that ships internationally)

On to Fuji Rock...

My stage plot

The stage

Me on stage.

This show was so much fun, thanks to the awesome crowd who came out at 11:30am!  It truly was unforgettable.

Me with my Acoustic Guitar Magazine interviewer/writer.  I think I'm talking about how much I love Fuji Rock here.  ^^

Afterwards there was a signing session.  Thanks to everyone who bought CD's and came out to support!!!

Hall of Dressing Rooms

On to Ansan Valley Rock Festival...

안녕하세요!

This is right before set up time...

No photos of me on stage :( ... but here is the line for the Autograph Session.  

Thanks to everyone who stopped by!  It was so great to meet you all!!  I'm sorry our time was so short!

Also, I saw so many big mosquito bites!!!  I hope you're all recovering.  ;)

The Band:  (from left to right)

Keefus Ciancia [keys], Aaron Redfield [drums, percussion], Rob Markus [my amazing Agent!!], moi, Gabe Noel [bass, keyboards], Nathan Hazard [Tour Manager Extraordinaire!]

I love these guys...

After the festival, we partied hard in Hongdae.

And by "party hard", I mean we ATE A LOT!!!  3 restaurants in one night!

Woo hoo!!!

On to Taipei...

I landed, did 1 interview, and immediately ran across the street for some delicious mochi!!!

After a day of shopping and practicing for my acoustic show at Neo Studio, it was time to set up!

The beautiful Olivia Ong sent this stunning bouquet to me for my show!  She is even sweeter than these delicious cherries!

Thank you to everyone who came to the show and stayed for the signing after!  It was such a treat to meet you all!  You're all so sweet -- I can't wait to come back!!

After the show... this happened. 

Stay tuned for my post ALL about the food.  It deserves its own post for sure!

And then there was.... Kaua'i.

I hope you're all having a lovely August so far!  Thank you again to everyone who came out to the shows.  I'll never forget this adventure!  xo

love,

p.a.