Fiona Brice

One of the most unforgettable things about her is how she concentrates on playing violin on stage and promoting a wonderful sound. What is more, her charming look definitely captivates.

Being an extremely talented musician, Fiona Brice is a busy person, but, as she said, not too busy to answer some questions. So it is such a pleasure that this super talented lady shares her thoughts with us.

Fiona Brice, photo by Gabrielle Motola

Fiona, I‘m curious to know what musicians you have worked with earlier and are working now?

As a freelance writer and performer I have worked with a huge number of different artists. I have written string arrangements on over thirty albums to date and I have toured and recorded with many other bands. I have known Brian and Stefan for many years and they have seen me play with several different artists during my career, so I was flattered when they invited me to tour and be a little more involved with Placebo. Recently I’ve also loved working with John Grant. He has the most amazing voice. I wrote and recorded the strings for his debut solo album “Queen of Denmark” (Album of the Year 2010 - Mojo magazine). I also enjoy working with Patrick Wolf. His talent is under-rated. His new album “Lupercalia” comes out this month and I can’t wait to hear the finished tracks. It’s the second album we’ve worked on together. I’ve also recently completed string arrangements and recordings for Ed Laurie, Sandy Dillon and Thai songwriter and filmstar Krissada Terrence (from the band “Pru”). I work a lot!
 

Could you tell something about your new album ‘‘The Separate‘‘ which will be released this year? Will we hear only you playing solo or also collaborating with other artists?
“The Separate” is essentially a covers album: twelve well-known songs arranged for string quartet and featuring guest vocalists. Actually I don’t play violin on it at all! I conducted the quartet in the studio. But what is interesting about this album is that it showcases the rhythmic and emotional power of a string quartet, and also demonstrates that a song can be totally transformed when you change the instrumentation. The quartet IS the band. It is dark and filmic in places. I’m particularly pleased with “West End Girls” (Pet Shop Boys) sung by Brian Molko, and “Close to Me” (The Cure) sung by Mark Lanegan. Other guests include Martha Wainwright, Joan as Policewoman, Stephanie Dosen, Patrick Wolf, Ed Harcourt. This album should be available on iTunes this May. 

Photo by Gabrielle Motola

Some words about your involvement in Placebo. I think you were like a fresh gust of wind for the band! How did you start working together?
As I said, I have known Brian and Stefan and also Steve (Hewitt) from the early days, we used to meet at gigs and parties in London. We have a lot of friends in common. Brian and I performed together very briefly on tour with “Trash Palace”, then Placebo approached me to write strings on the “Meds” album. After that I worked on Stefan’s “Hotel Persona” album and then they called me again for “Battle for the Sun”. It has been a gradual coming-together and it is great to write and tour with friends.

What are your feelings concerning the performance at Angkor Wat in Cambodia? If I understand well, it was your first live act with Placebo.
Yes this was my first live gig with Placebo. I was nervous but excited. We had rehearsed in London so I felt confident that I knew what I was doing, but it was a unique occasion and we all wanted to make it special. The gig was totally magical and unforgettable. It felt like every gig I had ever done, every TV show, every shitty club and big stadium, had somehow prepared me for that evening. Actually I think the Angkor Wat versions of the songs are really great and I’m happy it was filmed! Like with “The Separate”, this performance proves that if you have good enough songs you can change the arrangements and the line-up and they sound amazing all over again.

Live at Reading Festival 2009, photo by Justin Brice

How do you feel after touring about 1,5 year? Are you missing anything from this Battle For The Sun tour?
I loved the tour and I miss my tour family! I miss Nick, I have no one to insult at breakfast now.

And the last question, can we expect you playing on the next Placebo’s album?
I hope to be involved! But let’s wait and see...

In conclusion to this cordial interview, I‘d like to say a huge THANK YOU to Fiona and also send her best regards to sunny Texas where she is staying now. 

Alphabet Interupt for a Press Release

For Immediate Release
NEWS RELEASE
Multiple Sclerosis Patients Denied Treatment in Canada
(Fredericton, New Brunswick, March 13, 2011) – The “Beyond MS Association of Canada” is planning an education, advocacy and fundraising tour to begin on Canadian CCSVI (chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency) Awareness Day, May 5, 2011. The “New Hope for Multiple Sclerosis 2011 Canada Tour” will share personal accounts of how a treatment (venous angioplasty) for CCSVI has given multiple sclerosis (MS) patients a new lease on life.
CCSVI is a condition marked by limited blood flow from the major veins that drain the central nervous system. The reduced blood flow from the brain and spinal cord is caused by collapsed or blocked veins and is treated by venous angioplasty. Although the connection between CCSVI and MS is not yet fully understood, the results experienced by MS sufferers who have received this treatment are remarkable.
Venous angioplasty is still experimental in Canada. The federal government has taken the position that evidence is lacking to support it as a viable treatment for MS. In spite of the controversy surrounding this treatment, more than 10,000 people worldwide have received venous angioplasty including Tim Donovan, the Tour’s spokesperson. Donovan left Canada for venous angioplasty in 2010. The improvements to his health were almost immediate and life changing. In addition to improved mobility Tim experienced enhanced balance and cognitive functioning.
Donovan has been successfully sharing his story in New Brunswick and plans to continue across Canada with a team of volunteers who are helping to organize the Tour; “seeing is believing”, he says. Informative rallies are being planned in major cities and towns, from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia.
400 Canadians die each year due to MS complications. This number does not include those who have given up on their fight as the suicide rate for MS patients is seven times the national average. There is an urgent need to voice the MS community’s concerns and raise the Canadian publics’ awareness of venous angioplasty which presently represents the most effective means of treating CCSVI and consequently MS.
The “Beyond MS Association of Canada” is a national charity that has advocated for MS sufferers since 1997. The “New Hope for Multiple Sclerosis 2011 Canada Tour” is its latest venture in the hopes of making testing, treatment and follow-up care widely available in Canada. This Tour is being sponsored by Canadian businesses and individuals who have joined their voices and resources to make a difference and give “New Hope” to the MS community in Canada.

-End-

For more information or to get involved please contact:
Tim Donovan
President, "New Hope for Multiple Sclerosis 2011 Canada Tour"
Director, “Beyond MS Association of Canada”
E-mail: timmary1@nb.sympatico.ca
Website: www.newhopeforMS.ca

K:Karma

K: Karma: One's action determine destiny

This karma thing is really hitting home. I think about all the dumb things I do and the end result. Nobody to blame but myself. Yet at the same time I see the  stupid actions of others having an impact on me. Does it mean that I in turn am stupid because I allow it to happen?  It's confusing. For example I'm having problems at work again ( and I really hate that my blog posts are so often about work). An individual who works on the same team as me  is seeking a work accommodation  That's fine, but they have dragged me into their mess. What a mess too!!  I tried to explain to this person that just because they can't get the same accomodation as me (working at home ) doesn't mean that they should try to wreck what I have. But that seems to be the way people operate at my office.

How dumb of me to think that being open and honest about my MS was right.  It's being used against me and I'm really am getting fed up. I can't even think about the future  because it just looks so bleak. All I can do is live day to day and hope for the best. Not something I'm very good at;  but I'm learning.

My plan to design and sell an MS bracelet is out. There are so many people out there who are already doing this and there are so many different fundraisers . One person selling Avon to raise money for a friend's MS surgery. Another selling bracelets and having an MS fund raising dinner for the same reason. I didn't want to raise money for myself. I wanted to give the money to keep going  the legal action for CCSVI surgery. Now I guess I will just give my own money and try and come up with another way to rise some cash for this cause.

OK now I have to review my entire blog for any work references. Have to prepare myself for a new battle; which is really the same old battle. It sucks!! 

J: Japan

 J:Japan

What can I say about the crisis in Japan?.  I have a deep fondness for all things Japanese. I correspond with  a few people there through my post card club and some of them have been able to post messages about what is happening to them. What would I do if I suddenly found myself homeless and out of work? That's the situation for many there, as well as coping with the worry of missing family and friends and facing the devastation of their world.  Then there is also the deepening  crisis over nukes. The latest report is that the radiation is spreading and people in the area have been told to stay indoors to avoid radiation sickeness .

I don't know what to do except say a prayer.

Jake Giles Netter

I have a surprise for you. And even not a musical one. It's time for photography! I'd like to present you an amazing photographer Jake Giles Netter from California. He is smart, creative and inspiring. Jake's shots are charming. The world must know about him!
Enjoy this meaningful interview.

Jake, introduce yourself!

Hello world. My name is Jake Giles Netter. I’m 24 years of age and I am a photographic gun for hire. I am currently residing in Taichung, Taiwan for the time being, but am a California boy through and through.

Jake Giles Netter

When did you become interested in photography?

I became interested in photography at a very early age. Some of my earliest memories of my mother were of her with a camera in hand. The same with my grandmother as a matter of fact. Both were extremely passionate about photography, but neither ended up pursuing it, my mother becoming a model, and my grandmother starting a school of all things. Photography has always been in my bloodlines, but I am the first to really tackle it as a profession.

I became passionate about photography however in high school when I was 16. I up to that point had only really taken photography classes as throw-away electives, and wasn’t really one to take school seriously in general, let alone any classes where I was being told how to be creative. I was pretty much a normal uninspired semi-apathetic teen in high school in that respect. When I was 16 however, after recently transfering schools, I walked into a new photography class and noticed a poster on the teacher’s wall of Man Ray’s famous shot of “Larmes Tears”, and my entire view of photography and art was changed forever.

"Larmes Tears" by Man Ray

The subtle beauty of that shot, and just the emotion that it made me feel was unlike anything I had ever gotten from art in general before. I stared at that poster every single day that year, starting out each and every class,

and the fire was lit. I became an obsessive scholar of photography, devouring every photographic book I could get my hands on. Trying to figure out each photographer’s eye. Trying to psychologically evaluate (for lack of a better phrase) each photographer. Trying to figure out why each photographer shot in the style that they did, why they chose certain perspectives over others. I began studying the lives of the classic photographers, Helmut Newton, Mary Ellen Mark, Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, etc. and tried to relate what they experienced in their lives to their views of the world, and the ways that they shot and the ways that they chose to express themselves in their photography. I learned far more about my craft and how to take pictures by my own obsessive photographic consumption than I ever did in school (unfortunately).

Third question, very short one, why photography?

Quite simply it’s the only thing that I am really passionate that I am good at! Haha. Unfortunately. I am obsessed with music, but I can’t play anything. I used to write a lot, and wanted to be a screenwriter, but I never found the pen (at least in my own hands) to be as effective of a weapon than the single image. There’s something about the act of telling a story with a single image that intrigues me  (and drives me a little fucking mad at the same time.)

If I‘m right, photography is not only your passion, but also a job, too?

Photography at the moment does pay my bills. I am currently dabbling a bit in the field of videography though, testing it out with the current project I am working on, but photography is truelly my passion.

Even before I was able to do it as my profession though I was always shooting (which is the best advice I can give to anyone wanting to go into this business. I happened to hit a period where I became somewhat disenfranchised with the photography business, and just got caught up in the frustrations of being an “up-and-coming” freelance photographer, and became inspired to just go out and keep shooting (while holding odd jobs in the interim) instead of directly pursuing it as a profession. This period of disenfranchisement however inspired my “Children of the Golden State” project (www.childrenofthegoldenstate.com), and if anything gave me an outlet to further push my photography into various realms of experimentation that the business doesn’t naturally allow you to explore. The worst thing in my opinion that anyone could do pursuing photography, or pursuing anything for that matter, is to really attack the dream before you have really figured out who you yourself are, or what makes your photography your own. I have seen way too many truelly talented photographers chase it too early and get caught up in the fold, or get chewed up and spit out before their chance is really afforded them for that specific reason.

What are you doing when you‘re not taking photos?

I am either surfing, travelling, listening to music, seeing live shows, or managing bands. I am an obsessive vinyl collector (or have been addicted for the last 2 years at least). I have a serious problem in that sense. The fact that there aren’t any respectable record shops in Taichung however is really helping me work on my addiction. I also have a serious problem with collecting cameras. They don’t even always have to be functional. There’s something I find very interesting about owning a camera that used to belong to some other unknown faceless party. I love the fact that you have no way of knowing the brilliance that may have come out of that camera before you laid your hands on it. There’s a subtle beauty to that that inspires me.

Which forms of photography do you like the most? Why?

That’s a hard question to answer. I have been afforded the luxury of having been able to work in many different factions of photography so that’s a difficult one to nail on the head. I love people however. People in general inspire me more than anything. I am a true believer in the notion of photography being able to steal one’s souls (if you approach it correctly). For that reason I would say impromptu portraiture based photography/street photography would be my favorite. Shot on film of course.

Where and what was the most exciting shoot for you?

By far the most exciting shoot I have ever done was last year’s Matador at 21 festival. I was lucky enough to have been chosen to be their head photographer at that event and was given an all access pass and it just happened to be a whirlwind weekend. 25+ bands in 3 days/nights in Las Vegas at the fucking Palms, with various open bars, and most of the nights of shows not ending until 4 or 5 in the morning at a once in a lifetime event. If I could pinpoint any weekend that could have shaved a few years off of my life expectancy it was probably that weekend. There was something unreal about being onstage with Sonic Youth and Pavement taking their pictures. I can also thank that festival for getting me my first piece in the LA Times which was a childhood dream of mine. That whole experience was very special to me. You can check out my full coverage from that event at http://www.flickr.com/photos/matadorat21/.

A good photographer is.. ?

Versatile, and able to approach each shoot, project, show, what have you with the humility to know that they know absolutely nothing. Each experience you have and are afforded to be able to shoot is and will always be different. It’s the photographers that never get too comfortable that always seem to be the greatest. That’s why I have soo much respect for war photographers. They are the most literal examples of this. If they get too comfortable during any shoot, they die. I feel that to be the case in any gig however (but obviously not in as literal a sense).

Do you collaborate with other photographers?

I am a huge proponent of constantly collaborating with other photographers. I love nothing more than working with other people on projects. Every photographer has their own eye, and sees situations, people, objects, places, etc. differently. I love that. Nearly every assistant I use on my personal shoots as well are up-and-coming photographers who I have mutual respect for and collaborate with. I’d say everything I shoot (minus live shows) are a collaboration of some sort though. With the models I shoot with. With the artist’s I profile. With the stylists I work with. Everything is steeped in an air of collaboration.

So now you are tripping through Asia. Could you tell more about this journey? For what occasion you went there? What countries you‘ve already visited? Where  are you staying now? Finally, what are you doing there?

All I can say is that this is a hell of a journey. I am currently living and working throughout Asia, shooting behind-the-scenes stills on Ang Lee’s new movie, “Life of Pi” as well as filming the making-of documentary of said film on my 7d. I have so far worked in India and Taiwan (which I am currently residing/stuck in) on this film, but having been taking every chance that I can get to explore while I am “Lost in Asia”. I have only really been able to stray away to Singapore for a brief period outside of the countries I have been working, which was in itself a trip and a half, but am looking forward to travelling to Tokyo and Hong Kong in the near future whenever I can spare a weekend.

Are you missing California? What are your plans when you‘re back?

I am thoroughly missing California, but I am beyond thankful that I have been given this oppurtunity, and am making the most of it. I have experienced so much in such a short amount of time while out here that I don’t really know what it will be like, or what I will be like for that matter when I return. My eyes have been soo opened by everything that I have seen that it’s all pretty hard to fathom. I do miss my family a lot though. And my dog. I really miss my dog! (Thanks Ma for taking care of him, if you ever read this).

My plans are all pretty much up in the air when I make it back. I had the luxury of throwing all of my belongings in storage before I left so I am no longer constrained to a specific locale when I return. I may move up to San Francisco for some time. I may move out to New York for a period. I may just move to Venice Beach. I may keep travelling. I may even go on tour. Who knows?

I do plan however on attempting to finish my Children of the Golden State project in the near future, and continuing to expand my artist collective I am working on, We Are the Wolves at Your Door (www.wolvesatyourdoor.com) and to further explore videography. Whatever the case may be, I am excited for the future.

In conclusion, this is the first interview I have ever been asked to do. I hope it didn’t suck, and I didn’t ramble too much! I am truelly honoured to have been asked to be interviewed and to be a part of the content on this awesome blog. Thank you again, Miss Julie!

Keep Shooting.

-Jake Giles Netter

Jake's shots:

Thank you so much, Jake! I'm glad to know you and hope that in the nearest future we can organise some really great shoots together! 

I: International Women's Day

I: International Women's Day

Happy 100th birthday!! Check out events happening all over the world 

I use to belong to the Women's Commitee at work I enjoyed it ; loved organizing seminars. The three best ones I'm proud of:  A female police officer who gave a talk about her experiences when she was sexually assaulted. She did everything wrong and wanted to share that, along with information about the right things to do. Can you beleive she didn't report the assault because at the time she wasn't wearing a bra, and thought she would be blamed!!

Then there was the seminar with "Men Against Violence Against Women" I was sick when it happened but Oh Wow! I was told that there was a huge turn out.  So many men coming to me afterwards and thanking me for making them more aware.

Finally, the speaker from Willow, a group for breast cancer survivors. The director of our office breaking down crying when she admitted to her breast cancer ordeal!! She gave an excellent impromptu talk  about how to get through it The applause afterwards was deafning

So what happened? The chair of the committee took credit for all the  hard work by me and the other members.  Not even a crumb of recognition! She did it to further her career and it worked!!   I was so disillusioned that I quit.

Is this the price we pay for joining the cut throat world of business?

Happy Day to all you women out there who work hard. You make a difference.  

H: Happy Rambles

H: Happy Rambles

Already March!! Where did February go?

I came across this website Happy Rambles It's a journal where, everyday you list five things you are thankful for. The idea is this will help improve your mood and lead to positive thinking. I'm giving it a try. Right now, I have so many things to worry about, I could use a bit of a boost.

Tomorrow I have a meeting at work to "review" my situation. Rumour is that they are going to take away my tele-work and that there are lots of people who want me to lose it. Not because they want it . They always claim that they could never stand working at home; as they  would miss the social atmosphere of the office. That makes me laugh, a bitter laugh, because it is such a poisoned atmosphere. I think they just can't stand that somebody else has something they don't have . Don't you just hate rumours ? So right now everything sucks!!  
My MRI has been rescheduled to April 1st. Happy April Fool's to me