Mama Music. Review & Giveaway: 'The Full Catastrophe'
We have a WINNER!
Zita on May 9, 2012 at 4:43 PMThere is nothing in the world that moves me quite so powerfully as music. I have genres to fit all my moods and get very antsy in ‘silence’. Lately, I’ve been very into lyrics as well- I appreciate a lot of the poetry that’s emerging in new indie music.
Great review, N!
Congratulations Zita! An email will be sent to you shortly.
Thank you to everyone for entering!
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I have a 3.5-year-old and a 5 year old. I know all the words to the Hello song, the Goodbye song, the Clean-up song, the Ridin' in the Car song, the Playin' in the Kitchen song, the Sleepyhead song and countless more.
The 6 CD-changer in my car has been overtaken by all of the kid's music class CDs, not to mention what is on my iPod, and I am told within 30 seconds of getting into the vehicle which selection they want that day.
This is really not a bad thing. My kids have an appreciation for music and we try to expose them to lots of different genres. They love to sing and make up songs of their own, although I am pretty sure that my poor girl has inherited my lack of anything remotely resembling singing on key and Little C is really so much more of a dancer than a singer. They love 'their' music and I like to keep car rides stress-free and happy!
The one downside to all of this is that I rarely get to listen to music that I want to in the car and often after I drop them off at playschool, there I am a half an hour later humming along to Trot Ol' Joe once again.
Oh how far I have strayed...
I used to be a music junkie! Live bands, concerts, the beer soaked dance floor at the Sidetrack Cafe (man, I miss that place!), Lilith Fair, Edge Fest (is that still around?) and of course the creme de la creme in my town, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
You see, I LOVE music. All kinds of music. Some people love to dance, some love to sing, and then there is MOI. I can do neither of these things very well (I used to be able to dance, but then along came my friend JRA), and so I listen. I listen with all of my heart and soul and body. I feel music, I appreciate the artistry that exists in it and in true musicians and music moves me to my core.
So when someone (and by someone, I mean someone really, really cool) emails me one day and asks me if I want to review an advance copy of a CD for a great band they are working with, I immediately say YES!
Because this Mama needs some grown-up music in her life!
And then I listen to said CD and am kind of blown away. Because it is like this amazing band has reached inside this Natural Urban Mama's head and they are SINGING my thoughts!
So without further ado...
I give you.
Nerissa and Katryna Nields.
Photo Credit: Kristin McCue
This sister indie-folk rock duo have been at this music gig for the past 20 years. They have recorded 15 albums, written three books, have a thriving children's music education empire and their own DVD. And they balance all of this precariously while being wives and mothers themselves.
Their sixteenth album is called 'The Full Catastrophe' and it is a testament to every mother's daily joys and struggles. It is funny, poignant, catchy, ethereal and I am thoroughly enjoying it (In fact, I am listening to it right now!). In addition to the melody of a song, what I truly appreciate is the song-writing and lyrics. And the Nields sisters nail it on every song on the CD.
I have listened to the full CD over and over and every time I hear these lyrics from Track 11: 'More than Enough', I tear up. It is THAT good!
"Happily ever after, two kids crawling on the floor
All of our cups are overflowing
Somebody still wants to pour
I get that it’s not about comfort and ease
But uniting when the going gets rough
And to spread it around, to our world, to our town
That's how you get more than enough
I’ll always have more than enough
We’ll always have more than enough."
Like I said, these ladies have literally taken words and feelings about all kinds of aspects of my life as a wife and mother (and likely yours too) and put them brilliantly into song. You will get hooked and want to hear more, I guarantee it!
Here is what the sisters have to say about their newest work;
This CD is an offering to everyone who struggles to balance a home life—with or without kids or partner—with an artistic life, which is to say a work life, for all who labor honorably may choose to do so artistically. The older we get, the more precious both seem to us. Nerissa says, “I could certainly live without friends or family, but I am not sure I would want to. I could let my work go, say goodbye to the muse and my Les Paul, but that would be saying goodbye to joy. We might be happier simplifying our lives, but as Katryna said when we first began this project with the title track, happiness might be overrated. Our cups overfloweth. We choose those cups, and we surrender to the reality that this means many many spills need to be cleaned up.”
And so, in honour of Mother's day coming up and well, because it's nice to pass on great music and give another Mama some grown-up music of her own, I have ONE full copy of the Nields sisters new CD The Full Catastrophe available for a lucky Natural Urban Mamas reader!
All you have to do is comment on this post and tell me what kind of music moves you and why.
And because it's the right thing to do...
Head on over and follow Nerissa and Katryna Nields on Twitter and Facebook too.
I leave you with this wonderful tribute to mothers that the sisters collaborated on for MotherWoman.org! Go get some tissues.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd0LsguSlyE[/youtube]
The Full Catastrophe is available now on iTunes and in stores near you!
The Fine Print:
- Giveaway starts today, May 7th and ends on May 13th.
- Winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be contacted by email.
- I was given a free download of the Nields new CD, The Full Catastophe for review.
- All opinions are my own and I don't lie.
- I also sneak into my kid's snack cupboard and eat Goldfish crackers by the handful!
Good luck Everyone!
Natasha~
Winners of My Favourite Things Day 4 - Modern Mama
Hello everyone and I am so sorry for the delay. Yeesh!! Christmas is in three days! How did that sneak up on me so fast? I still have so much wrapping to do! And now, in the spirit of giving and thank you so much to Connie Peters from Modern Mama the lucky winners of the three Modern Mama Membership Perks Cards are:
Check your emails ladies,
Connie will be contacting you shortly to send you your cards and we will see you at the next fabulous Modern Mama event!
Blog Contest and Giveaway Winners!!
And the winners for our first ever Blog contest and giveaway are as follows:
1. Victoria S. is the winner of the photo shoot package with Timeless Edge Photography
2. Paula B. is the winner of the gurumama ring sling from Natural Urban Mamas
3. Stacey is the winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate from Natural Urban Mamas
All winners were chosen with Random.org. Please contact me at natasha@naturalurbanmamas.com to claim your prize!!
Thank you to everyone who participated! This was fun and I can't wait to do it again!!
Cheers, Natasha~
Yoo Hoo! Here I am and I come bearing prizes!
I really must apologize to you all. I have not been blogging lately and I must admit that I miss it! So here I am back with a renewed commitment to my blog, to you, my readers and well, to myself too. And what better time than now. Did you know that November is NaBloPoMo? Say What?? National Blog Posting Month, a crazy phenomenon where you blog once a day for a whole month! I've done 2 weeks before with the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival posts in July this year and it was a challenge. This will be, well, another (bigger) challenge, but one that I think I am up for and that I hope you will enjoy. To start things off on a good foot, I thought we could have some fun and give away some stuff (locally and for all our fans across Canada and the US). So here is our kick-off to a month long blogging marathon!! And it is a Giveaway Contest of course!!
Our first prize up for grabs is a fabulous photography package from our friend Linda Patterson at Timeless Edge Photography in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This one would be for our local friends, fans and followers and the package includes:
Prize #2 is a fabulous Gurumama Ring Sling. You all know that I am a big believer in having at least three different carriers and a ring sling is one of these. The Gurumama slings are beautiful, functional, are great for newborns up to 35 lb toddlers and are made right here in Canada. (Retail value of $109.00, color not as shown).
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Subsequent Entries:
- Giveaway #1: Tell me why you need this makeover and photo shoot from Timeless Edge Photography (and really Mamas, this should not be that hard, always behind the camera yourself, never doing anything for just you... sound familiar?)
- Giveaway #2 and #3: Check out Natural Urban Mamas and tell me what your favourite product is and why.
- Like Timeless Edge Photography on Facebook
- Like Natural Urban Mamas on Facebook
- Follow @TimelessEdge on Twitter
- Follow @naturalurbanmom on Twitter and ReTweet this contest (leave me the links) Win a #YEG photo shoot with @timelessedge, a Gurumama Ring Sling or a $25 GC from @naturalurbanmom
Contest is open until Friday, November 19th at 9 PM MST. All winners will be randomly drawn using Random.org. *For Facebook entries, please leave your first name and last initial with your comment so that I can verify you are a fan on Facebook.* Now stay tuned People!! Because starting Monday, November 8th you are going to get the Natural Urban Mama version of 30 Days of Truth!! I promise to be as open and truthful as I can without hurting any one's feelings and without getting in trouble with my husband (oy!).
Thank you and Good luck! Natasha~
P.S. This is my first giveaway/contest on the blog, so be kind and patient with me!!