Vienna Teng

Hello from my kitchen.

Summer farmer's markets are in full swing, and after a few late nights in the studio there's nothing more restorative than cooking, slow-food style: hauling leafy things home from the plaza, stirring multiple pots on the stove, fussing over pie dough. If anybody wants to know how to make fried chicken and collard greens VT style, just holler. (A woman once told me I was a southern belle in a past life. I am dubious, but the food part makes sense.)

Any...

Hello from my kitchen.

Summer farmer's markets are in full swing, and after a few late nights in the studio there's nothing more restorative than cooking, slow-food style: hauling leafy things home from the plaza, stirring multiple pots on the stove, fussing over pie dough. If anybody wants to know how to make fried chicken and collard greens VT style, just holler. (A woman once told me I was a southern belle in a past life. I am dubious, but the food part makes sense.)

Anyway, this update is being brought to you by a well-fed but rather sleep-deprived musician. Some disclaimers should probably apply.

In this bulletin:

+ Tour Dates in August
+ Tour Dates Further Out
+ New Album!

 TOUR DATES IN AUGUST

Midwest! I have missed you so. (Okay, it's not all Midwest per se. It's the Midwest-Appalachia tour. The Midwappala tour.) We'll be playing the Riverfolk Festival, opening for Arlo Guthrie (!) and visiting the always-fabulous Mountain Stage. We will keep our fingers crossed for dry weather, for everyone's sake.

8/2 Manchester MI - Riverfolk Festival
8/5 Milwaukee WI - Miramar Theatre
8/6 Chicago IL - Schubas Tavern
8/8 Pittsburgh PA - Club Cafe
8/9 Akron OH - Lock 3 Live ** opening for Arlo Guthrie! **
8/10 Charleston WV - Mountain Stage ** w/Mike Gordon, Crooked Still, Carrie Rodriguez & The Rescues **

Then, a few weeks later...drum roll please...

8/24 San Francisco CA - OUTSIDE LANDS FESTIVAL

I have no words. Actually I have one word, and a link:

radiohead.

The full festival lineup:
http://sfoutsidelands.com/artists/

TOUR DATES FURTHER OUT

Just beyond Labor Day Weekend:
9/4 Seattle WA - Triple Door ** with Haale - part of Western Arts Alliance series **

I will be home in Northern CA for the holidays:
12/13 San Francisco CA - Palace of Fine Arts

2/28-3/7/2009 - Caribbean Ocean - CAYAMO: A Journey Through Song
I'm going to be on a boat with Patty Griffin, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin and Glen Phillips, among others. There will be multiple shows by each artist, and we'll be sharing berth space with (by all accounts) some of the world's sweetest music fans. Seriously. I could not have dreamed this up if I tried.

Details, as always, at
http://viennateng.com/tour

NEW ALBUM!

Number four is on the way, ladies and gentlemen!

So far we have:

• driven all night through Indiana to track down some rare orchestral instruments (Sawed-off artillery shells? Ten-foot chimes?)


• spent a week recording in Sharon Hawley & Dan Matarozzi's amazing house in San Francisco, a restored Victorian built in 1896 (there's a trampoline in the attic too!)


• and convinced some of our favorite artists and musicians to join us: guitar virtuoso Kaki King, clarinetists Beth Custer and Ben Goldberg, and singer-songwriters Ari Hest, Noe Venable and Odessa Chen, to mention a few.

This time I'm co-producing with my good friend and bandmate Alex Wong. If you've come to a show lately, you already know about Alex's musical talents (and mad multi-tasking skills)...well, turns out the recording studio is where he's really in his element: tons of ideas, a keen ear for detail, and a fine sense of adventure. Most importantly though, he knows me well.  He knows what I'm striving for in my music—an invaluable trait in a producer.

It's great (and exhausting) fun working on this project...this epic/intimate, sometimes-it's-snarling-guitars-sometimes-it's-choirs-in-a-cathedral, hopefully-uplifting-but-also-disturbing sprawlingly ambitious project. We hope you'll love it too.

Release is tentatively set for February 2009.

Follow progress in real time on Twitter, or check the scrapbook for more detailed updates:

http://twitter.com/viennateng
http://viennateng.com/scrapbook

Much love to you all,
Vienna

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