Michelle Kaz: News

Well Hello There Everyone!

It has been quite a while since I have written any entries, as many of you know I was traveling across Canada from September to December. I started in Halifax, Nova Scotia and made my way through every province, making it all the way to Victoria, British Columbia! It was a great trip and amazing to see so many beautiful and neat places. As Canadians we are generally pretty proud of our country, but from my personal experience I can say that experiencing Canada from coast to coast brings that pride to a whole new level! You also realize how expansive it really is, as I traveled by train and bus mostly and it took almost TWO days just to get out of Ontario! I learned so much on my journey; about Canada, its history and parks; and about myself, as tends to be the case on travels such as these!

With all of that being said, why not kick off the New Year, and my debut performance back (!), with a kick-butt, fellow Canadian?

THIS Friday, Saturday and Sunday OLG Casino Thousand Islands presents A Musical Tribute to Kenny & Shania! The performance will take place at the Firehall Theatre in Gananoque, with Friday and Saturday shows at 8:00 PM and a 2:30 PM matinee on Sunday. Cliff Edwards, former member of the Canadian 70s group, the Bells ("Stay Awhile"), will be covering the classic country of Kenny Rogers, while I myself take on the new country hits of Shania Twain! Of course we'll have to throw a couple surprises in there too.

My apologies for the late notice, but I do hope that many of you can make it to a show this weekend; it is looking to be a great run of performances! I am definitely excited about this one; the theatre will be set up cabaret style for you (tables and chairs) - and I even get own dressing room! Exciting I tell you!

For tickets you can call the Thousand Islands Playhouse at 613-382-7020, or purchase online at www.1000islandplayhouse.com.

I hope you have all been doing well and have had a great start to your 2012 so far. I look forward to seeing lots of faces in the crowd this weekend!

Sincerely,

Michelle :)

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and soaking up the summer sun whenever you can!

I have a busy summer ahead of me with gigs and I would like to fill you in on some of the upcoming ones. Tonight, tomorrow (FRIDAY!!) and this Sunday I will be performing as the vocalist for the Sounds of Jazz Big Band. You can find more information about the group at www.sojkingston.org. They should be some fun shows as there is nothing quite like the music of a full instrumental jazz group!

Thursday, July 7th - 7:30 PM - Gananoque Town Hall
Friday, July 8th - 7 PM - Market Square, Kingston
Sunday, July 10th - 7 PM - Lions Civic Gardens, Kingston (behind the Cataraqui Town Centre, off of Gardiners Road)

Okay, so those are the dates for performances with Sounds of Jazz! Now for an exciting announcement about the Michelle Kaz Quartet...

The quartet has been booked to play jazz EVERY TUESDAY for the rest of the summer at the Kingston restaurant Olivea! Yeah! Now you won't have to try and figure out which date is the "every other week" date! And yes, the day has been changed from Wednesdays to Tuesdays for the rest of the summer - but be sure to check out our drummer Pat Denroche perform in Fort Henry's Sunset Ceremonies every Wednesday at the fort!

That was a lot of exclamation points, but this is exciting news for the group as we all thoroughly enjoy playing at Olivea. We look forward to having you come out this summer, it really is such a great night of delicious food and live music.

This is somewhat of an early notice, but the Michelle Kaz Quartet will also be playing at the DOX Restaurant and Lounge, located in the Holiday Inn Waterfront in Kingston, Saturday, July 30th from 6-9 PM. They have a beautiful patio right on the water, perfect for a summer evening out.

Okay, I think I have covered most of the important dates here, I will be sure to send an email out Tuesday as a last minute reminder of Olivea that night!

Thanks again to the Gananoque Ribfest for having the quartet play this past Sunday too; it was all of the guys' first time being to Ribfest and we had a great time!

Happy Thursday (almost Friday!)!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)

Hi Everyone!

First of all I would like to remind you that the Kingston Jazz Festival officially kicked off this evening - and what a great kick off it was! The Dave Holland Quartet opened the event performing at the Grand Theatre in downtown Kingston and I was lucky enough to catch some of the show. It was fabulous! I hope you can make it out to some of the events happening over the next couple of days! There will be shows at both the Grand Theatre and the Mansion, along with free music all day Saturday starting with Porch Jazz from 12-3 PM and jazz in Confederation Basin from 3-6 PM. I will helping out with some of Saturday's shows so if you are out and about drop by and say hi! You can find more detailed information about the festival by following this link: http://kingstonjazz.ca/kingston-jazz-festival/.

Also, my bassist Paul Clifford, who some of you may have caught at Olivea, will be playing Saturday afternoon with his own group at 48 Ordnance St. starting at 1:00 PM. Come and check him out!

I will also be playing this very crazy and jazzy weekend in Kingston - from 6-9 PM at the DOX Restaurant and Lounge downtown! The restaurant is located in the Holiday Inn Waterfront hotel, by the 1000 Island Cruises and just down from Confederation Basin. I will be playing jazz for a couple of hours, a similar show to Olivea, so if you haven't had the chance to make it down to one of those yet, or simply enjoyed what you did hear, it would be great to have you in the crowd THIS SATURDAY (June 25th)! The DOX has, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful patios in Kingston, as it is literally on the water and I am looking forward to some good weather, a nice sunset, and some great tunes!

I hope to see many of you out this weekend! Let's celebrate the first week of summer with some live jazz!

And don't forget about Olivea this Tuesday, June 28th from 6-10 PM!

Sincerely,


Michelle :)

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. I am just sending out this email as a reminder of my performance with the trio tonight at the RCHA Club on Ontario St. close to City Hall. We will be playing jazz and standards for about an hour, starting at 10 PM. Bracelets are $10 and allow you to go to the different event venues throughout the day. To get more information on the event, which is a fundraiser, you can check out www.homegrownlive.ca.

Homegrown Live is a music festival celebrating live music in Kingston, Ontario. Help raise money for the Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library and collect food donations for the Partners in Mission Foodbank.

I hope to see you there! And don't let this May rain get you down, summer has to come eventually! Whether or not you are loving the weather or strongly disliking it, I bet an evening of jazz would make you feel great no matter what!

Sincerely,

Michelle :)

Good Afternoon!

I hope everyone is doing well. On this rainy April day I have some exciting news keeping me bright and chipper...

Tomorrow night at my Olivea gig I will be doing a LIVE album recording! I am so excited! The evening will follow as usual, with the band playing jazz and standards from 6-9 PM BUT this time we will have Kingston recording engineer Duncan Holt there to help us out! Duncan has worked with me on my last two albums and I can't wait to work with him again for this project!

Queen's student Justin Chin will be photographing the evening, along with taking some video footage. I worked with Justin for a Queen's singing competition I was in at the beginning of the semester and he was great - I am really excited to be working with him again! You can check out Justin's work at www.justinchin.ca - there is some really cool stuff there. And if you want to see the video he shot and produced for me just follow the link below:

http://vimeo.com/19153197

I am so glad that this special evening is going to be captured for you all to see!

I always love getting dressed up for performances which is why I am so excited to announce that I will be working with Ezia Couture to design a unique headband for tomorrow's show! Ezia Couture is company founded by two sisters from Calgary - one of whom goes to Queen's! Ezia has been a part of numerous fashion shows around Queen's this year and even made an appearance on Calgary Breakfast Television last year! The team at Ezia are a really great group of young people and I thought it would be fun to do something together! You can learn more about Ezia Couture at www.eziacouture.com.

As you can tell I am quite excited for tomorrow's performance and have tried to get some of my peers involved - who says Jazz can't reach both the young and oldER? :)


I have lots of other performances coming up over the next couple of months and will be sure to keep you posted on all on them. Thanks again for another year of support. For more information about tomorrow's performance or any others, be sure to check the Calendar which is always being updated! And of course I will be sure to let you know all of the details about the brand new album I will be releasing... for those of you who keep asking when I will be recording those jazz tunes - this is it!!!

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible tomorrow night - make sure to call and reserve your table as the last couple of weeks have been a great success and we are hoping to have another amazing audience for the evening!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)


P.S. You may have noticed my newly updated website - I hope you like it! Happy Spring Cleaning!

Good Evening!

I hope everyone has been able to get off to a good start this year, January can seem to last forever but no fear - February is here in two days! And with the coming of February I have some performance announcements to make!

First things first, THIS WEDNESDAY, I will be singing with a jazz trio at the Kingston modern Italian restaurant, Olivea. For those of you who may not be as familiar with the restaurant, it is located right across from Market Square on the corner of Brock St. and King St. It is a very cozy restaurant with excellent food (myself and the piano player can attest to this!) and the perfect place for you to stop by on a cool February evening... why not February the 2nd from 6-9PM? The performance will be of both jazz classics and standards, some of my favourites, so I hope as many of you as possible can make it out.

My next area of discussion is that I am one of 10 finalists in this year's SingCon singing competition, run by the Queen's Chinese Student Association! The finals will be THIS Saturday, February 5th from approximately 6:45 to 10 PM, with doors opening at 6PM. The top 10 will be performing and then the top 5 will be chosen and will sing again in the same evening. Tickets are $12 and can be purchases in Macintosh-Correy Hall on Queen's University Campus for anyone interested in attending. There is a "Fan Favourite" vote, so it would be great to have lots of supporters out at the show! I shot the introduction video for my performance this past Sunday and it looks really neat, so I can't wait to see how the entire show comes together. We had a great group song rehearsal yesterday - but you'll have to come to SingCon to find out what we are singing - AND what I will be singing! Wish me luck!

So those are my two big announcements at the moment, but I would just like to remind everyone associated with Queen's that Monday Night Jazz at Alfie's is still happening, every Monday night from 10:30PM-12:30PM. This semester has started off really well with some great crowds - hopefully I will see some more faces as the term progresses!

Since many of you are so kind as to ask me how school and such is going when I run into you, I will tell you that it has not been any easy year, but I am learning a lot of great information and have met some absolutely wonderful people at the Queen's School of Music.

Summary? Jazz THIS Wednesday and every Monday, Pop THIS Saturday, and Classical Everyday!

I hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

Michelle :)

Good Afternoon Everyone!

My goodness it has been quite some time since my last entry, and it has been a very busy last couple of months. I have just finished my semester at school and am looking forward to celebrating this holiday season to the fullest! Hot chocolate, snow, Christmas movies and carols... what could be better?

Thank you to everyone who came out to the beautiful restaurant of Capers in October and November, I had a wonderful time performing there and am looking forward to more shows in the New Year. I will be performing at Capers, a fine dining restaurant in Belleville, Ontario, numerous times throughout the next year and there will be more information posted on the site as the dates are clarified. It is a wonderful evening of jazz and standards mixed with a warm atmosphere and amazing food, so hopefully you can make it out to one of the dates next year!

Both "For You At Christmas" and "Only One" are available through Contact, and at the local Kingston Chapters and Indigo stores, if you are looking for some holiday music or stocking stuffer ideas!

Thank you so much for your support this past year, I am so thankful and I wish you all the best in your own lives. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and for those of you celebrating, a very Merry Christmas. I look forward to seeing and performing for you in the coming year of 2011!

Sincerely,

Michelle :)

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and are ready to kick-start this 4 day week!

I have a busy weekend of performances and I wanted to make sure to fill you in before the dates arrive.

This Friday the Queen's University School of Music will be putting on their annual Showcase concert. The evening will feature performances from the Queen's Wind Ensemble, Choral Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Samba and Jazz Ensembles. I myself am a member of the Choral Ensemble and will be making an appearance with the Jazz Ensemble. Wow, that's a lot of ensembles!

If you are interested in coming out and supporting the Queen's Music program and community, you can find the details for the event listed below, on my website, or at http://www.queensmusic.ca/music/?q=events/calendar. Come out and see some of Kingston's rising talent!

And on to Saturday...

I will have two performances on Saturday; the first will be a public jazz concert at the Maple Leaf Restaurant in Gananoque and the second is a private function for the Rotary Club of Kingston. If you are attending the Rotary Club dinner, then I will see you Saturday night!

My afternoon performance at the Maple Leaf Restaurant will be with a jazz group, fellow students from Queen's University, and definitely some of the school's brightest and best. The cost is free - but you should try some of the great food! The show will be part of the 2nd Annual "Jammin' In the Islands" music festival, featuring local and non-local artists performing in venues throughout Gananoque this weekend ONLY. Details about the show will be attached below, and are also available on my website! I really hope you can make it out, as it will be a wonderful afternoon of great food and great jazz and standards. What else could be better on a Saturday in October?!

Once again, I hope all of you had lovely weekends and are enjoying this fall season. I look forward to seeing you at upcoming events, and sending you more updates as the month progresses (HINT: I will be performing as an opening act at Ale House on October 27th, details on my website!!).

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)



Friday, October 15th, 2010
Showcase Concert - 7:30 PM
Grant Hall
Queen's University
Kingston, ON

Price: $10 adults; $5 students & senior

Showcase Concert, featuring performances from the Queen's Symphony Orchestra, Wind, Jazz and Samba Ensembles, and the Queen's Choral Ensemble.


Michelle will be performing as a soloist in the Jazz Ensemble and is a member of the Queen's Choral Ensemble.

Please come and support some of Kingston and Queen's best and brightest young musicians!


Tickets are available for purchase at the door.

http://www.queensmusic.ca


Saturday, October 16th, 2010
Jammin' In The Islands - 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
The Maple Leaf
65 King Street East
Gananoque, ON
(613) 382-7666

Michelle will be performing with a jazz group during the festival's second run!


The 2010 Jammin' In The Islands will be jam-packed with music, fun and first-class entertainment. Anytime is a good time for a tasty mix of jazz, blues, big band, Dixieland and Swing, but a whole weekend is even better. Three days with more than 30 presentations from October 15 -17. already booked at the Firehall Theatre for this year's Jammin' In the Islands, Georgette Fry, Filet O' Soul and Liner Notes Live. Cabaret seating on Friday, Saturday nights and Sunday matinee at the Firehall Theatre is first-come first-served as capacity is limited. Restaurant and dining hosts may require reservations, please check locations on the website. For venues and schedule information visit www.jamminintheislands.com

Hello Everyone,

I hope you have been enjoying your September so far, it is always such a busy month!

I am writing to you on this lovely Thursday morning to remind you all that tonight is the night! "Remebering Hank and Patsy" has its Kingston premiere at the Confederation Hotel dowtown and it is a show you will not want to miss! If you have not purchased your tickets yet it's not too late. All of the information about the time and how to get tickets is at the end of this email, but make sure you contact the hotel as soon as you can - it is going to be a busy night!

The band, Cliff Edwards (Hank) and I have all been hard at work preparing for tonight - I can promise you that you will not be disappointed when you come. If you do not want to attend the dinner, tickets are available soley for the performance at 7:30PM.

I am so excited for the show - get ready for an evening of remembering two of country music's best!

Musically Yours,

Michelle


Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Remembering Hank & Patsy - Dinner - 6 PM, Show - 7:30 PM
Confederation Place Hotel
237 Ontario St.
Kingston, ON
Toll Free: 888-825-4656
Price: $50 Dinner & Show, $15 W/O

The evening's performance will be a tribute to Country superstars Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, featuring Cliff Edwards (The Bells) as Hank Williams and Michelle Kaz as Patsy Cline. Enjoy a night of wonderful food, dancing, music, and reminiscing! A show not to be missed!


Keyboards: Tim Hallman
Guitar: Dan Kasaboski
Drums: Doug Gravelle
Bass: Joe Brady


Call 613-549-6300 ext 118 to Reserve Your Seat

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have all been enjoying your nice warm summers and are soaking up every last minute of it! Here's a little update on my life in music:

1) I will be performing at a show TONIGHT at Sydenham United Church in Downtown Kingston. The show will feature Blue Canoe Production alumni, including myself, singing a large variety of the most famous musical numbers - all in one evening! The show starts at 8PM and tickets are $10. It is going to be a great show, and you really should not miss it, I mean, it's probably the most awesome thing to do on a Thursday night!

http://www.bluecanoeproductions.ca/ClassicsNight.html

2) For those of you 19 and up, I will be playing an acoustic set at the Myles Acres Wine and Food Fair this Saturday from 12:30-1:30PM. Songs for the event will be a variety of jazz tunes and standards. If you are very much intrigued by the idea of spending an afternoon with some wine and delicious food then follow this link: http://kingstonjazz.ca/ . Maybe I will see some of you there!

3) Sunday I am off to Ottawa for a competition at their annual Exhibition, so we'll see how that goes! No matter what it will be a wonderful opportunity to perform and should be lots of fun! Isn't that usually how a competition goes?

4) And finally I will be off to study the wonderful genre of jazz for a couple days up in Quebec before school starts in September. I better see all of you 19+ Queen's students and alumni at Alfie's on Monday nights in the fall!

For more upcoming show details (such as the Hank Williams and Patsy Cline one September 23rd), be sure to check out my website. And don't forget the SHOW TONIGHT at 8PM!

A huge, ginormously big thanks again for all of your support, it means a lot.

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)

Hey Everybody,

I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far. I did a performance at Ribfest in Gananoque on July 4th and some videos from the show are now up on Youtube. Here was our encore performance of "Before He Cheats":

http://www.youtube.com/user/michellekaztv#p/u/2/4-FCkxSk3WI
Special thanks to the band: Terry Vince, Jay Jantz, Nathan Rickey, Liam Cole and Ben du Toit for being an awesome band!

Musically yours,

Michelle :)

Hey Everyone,

I hope you have been enjoying your sort-of-long weekend so far! This is just a reminder of my performance tomorrow at the Gananoque Ribfest from 2-4 PM. I will be playing a large variety of music from many different genres including pop, jazz, country and originals as well. The show will be held in the beer/picnic tent behind City Hall (off of the main street) - right where all of the food is! I hope to see you there, it is going to be a great show featuring some young and extremely talented musicians!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)


Sunday, July 4th, 2010
Ribfest - 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Gananoque Ribfest

Gananoque, ON
Price: Free

Michelle will perform as a solo act featuring her CD Release/Haiti Relief Fundraiser band! The show will include original music along with a mixture of pop, jazz, and country favourites!

The event will be held in Town Hall Park.

Hello!

I hope you are enjoying the beginning of these summer months, even though I must say that today is not the best representation of our lucky weather recently! I have just a couple quick updates for you, so that you can get back to enjoying your weekend - and hopefully some World Cup action!

I am extremely excited to announce that I have recently been informed of my acceptance to the Queen's University Bachelor of Music Program as a transfer student! I auditioned at the beginning of May and actually found out the night I got back from rehearsing with my keyboard player in Toronto. I have a lot of work to do this summer to catch up to where I need to be in the fall, but I cannot even explain to you how much I am looking forward to studying music in September.

I have a couple of shows coming up at the end of June, and of course, Ribfest on both July 1st and 4th in Gananoque; all show information will be updated on my website by tomorrow evening, so be sure to check in then for all of the details!

And one more thing; I received this email from the producer of the "Tracks of Kingston" compilation CD that "Only One" made it onto:

"Hey Gang

Tune in this Saturday night to JAZZ.FM91 - Canada's Premier Jazz Station - Home from 8 to midnight Danny host's a show..Bluz with Danny Marks and The Tracks Of Kingston will be getting some airplay this Saturday!!!

Monika"


Be sure to tune into the station to hear some great local music, and hopefully "Only One"!

Have a great weekend, I hope to see you soon at some upcoming shows.

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)

Hello Everyone!

It is really great to be writing an entry again, though it is definitely overdue. I have just recently finished my first year of University and I am starting to get back into music mode, so hopefully I will be able to keep you better updated over the next couple of months on shows and events that I have going on.

Most recently I performed at a girls empowerment conference in Milton, Ontario, called SWIGG Talk and I had a really great time! I performed two shows, accompanied by keyboardist Terence Vince (he's in my YouTube videos from the CD Release concert), during the lunch time periods at the conference and it was nice to have a chance to sing for a younger crowd with some popular music. I also was able to attend some of the events throughout the day including a presentation by motivational speaker and singer/songwriter Sara Westbrook. Sara was a lovely person and so sincere about her concerns for young people and we had a chance to chat and exchange CDs after the show; you can check her out at http://www.sarawestbrook.com. All in all the day was a success and another experience to add and learn from!

I am very excited to say that I have lots of shows coming up that I already know of this summer, and you can find them all posted on the Calendar page. More details for most of the shows and any added performances will be added as the dates approach so be sure to check it out when you get the chance! I will just briefly mention the next couple of shows I have coming up right now.

The first is Lobsterfest at the Glenn House Resort in Gananoque. Tickets are $35 and that includes dinner and the show/post-dinner dance. It promises to be a night of great food and great music so make sure to check out the Calendar for more information if you are interested in attending. There will be two dinners/shows, one tomorrow night (the 14th) and one next Friday (the 21st). I hope some of you can make it out!

Finally, the last thing I would like to mention in this update is a jazz gig I am playing THIS Saturday, May 15th at Monte's in downtown Kingston. For those of you who don't know where Monte's is, it is attached to the old Prince George Hotel, across from Confederation Basin. The show is part of the Homegrown Live music festival that will be taking place in different popular music venues in Kingston throughout the entire day. Proceeds and donations will go towards the Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library (the "Tracks of Kingston" CD I am on also supports this foundation), and donations to the Partners in Mission foodbank will also be accepted at different locations. It is a really great cause, and also a fantastic opportunity for you to come and catch some of Kingston's brightest young musicians at work! I myself will be playing with two fellow Queen's students, Nick Papaxanthos on piano, and Sean Donaldson on drums, who also plays in the local ska* band "Tea For the Voyage" (http://www.teaforthevoyage.com). I am very lucky to be able to sing with some really talented young players, and I hope that as many of you as possible will be able to make it out to the show.

Thanks again to everyone for their continued support. I have posted lots of extra links for you to check out in this entry because I believe it is so important that we support our local Canadian musicians, definitely check them out if you get a chance! I hope to see you at a show sometime soon.

Musically yours,

Michelle :)


*Ska sounds intimidating but it's actually just a mix of reggae, jazz and rock, or as I like to think of it, jazz with a punch. I never used to know, so I thought maybe some of you might be curious as well!

Hey Everyone!

I hope you have been having a good year so far! To those of you who just finished your University, congrats, and for those of you who still have a couple of months left, you're so close!!

I will be performing two shows tonight, the first one is private though, but I will be rushing from there over to a public one! I will be playing an acoustic set to close the night, with the usual mix of covers and originals! The concert is called "All's Well That Rocks Well" and it will be held at the Wellington St. Theatre from 7-10 PM. Tickets are $8 at the door. The show will feature a variety of local bands and artists, with musical genres ranging from pop to rock to ska and so on!

I hope to see some of you there tonight, it should be fun. Don't spend your whole day on the computer though - have you looked outside?! Summer is coming!!!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)

Hi Everyone,

I am just letting you know that the City Hall performance with the Caledonia's choir was cancelled and moved to a different time. Have a good weekend!

Michelle :)

Good evening!

It has been almost a week since I have been back from Nashville now, and I am excited to tell you about my trip! So what did I do and why did I go down there in the first place? Well, the point of trip was actually quite simple - to go and check out the music scene! We stayed with some amazing family friends of ours who we actually met this past winter break, and they were absolutely fantastic to us. They helped take us around Nashville, found an open mic night for me to perform at, and even set up some meetings with friends of theirs in the music business.

We arrived on Tuesday night and spent most of our Wednesday driving around trying to figure out the city (failure) and doing a bit of shopping - ALL my sister's idea of course ;). The next day I met up with a friend who showed me around the University of Belmont, where he is actually in the music business program. The school was very nice and I can honestly say I am jealous of those who have the privilege of being in the music or music business program there, as it seems quite fantastic! That night I also made my debut performance in the Nashville area too: it was open mic night at a local little restaurant/grocery called Pucketts in a small outer town by the name of Leipers-Fork. My sister and I laughed a little when we first saw the store because it was just so stereotypical country, but we loved it! I performed "Only One" and a new song called "Beautiful."

Friday our gracious host family took us on a tour of Nashville, and I got to understand the layout of the city much better, since our first attempt was very much a failure! My mum, sister and I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was super exciting! The main featured artists were Brenda Lee, and the Williams (as in Hank) family. It was really interesting for me to learn that Brenda Lee was able to cover so many different genres and still be successful. Of course learning about Hank Williams was extremely convenient too, considering the Hank and Patsy show is just over a week away now! Finally, on Saturday I met with some people in the music business! The first was a songwriter, named Brian Hitt, and he told me all about his experience touring with a Christian artist (Krystal Meyers) and songwriting, which is what he does now professionally! It was great meeting him and hearing his story, and an added bonus was that he is actually friends with a great Canadian artist named Amanda Stott! Finally we all headed to a lunch meeting before we were to head back to Canada. We met with the parents of a great, young country duo called "The Carter Twins" and one of the brothers, Zach, actually made it out too. I had a really good time talking with Zach and hearing about his views on music and the business, it was really nice of him and his parents to meet with us. I would definitely recommend checking out the Carter Twins' music, they are super nice and extremely talented!

Well, that was as good of a summary as I could do for the trip; I'm really sorry if it was long, I promise that I tried to get to the point! Because this entry is already a bit of a read, I am going to be really quick about everything else!

I am in a singing competition tomorrow night (Friday) at Queen's called "Queen's Best Darn Singer On Campus" and I would love to get some supporters out for the show! Tickets are $5 at the door and the competition is being held in Wallace hall in the John Deutsch University Centre (Union St. & University Ave.). Doors open at 7 and the show starts at 7:30 PM!

I am also performing Saturday night at a benefit concert called StopPoverty, you can find more details on the Calendar page, I hope to see you there!

The Hank and Patsy show is SOLD OUT!!!! That is very exciting! I absolutely loved doing the show the first time back in November, and I have been anxiously awaiting the encore performance. I'm sure I will see some of you there too.

And FINALLY...

If you are a Queen's Alumni, a student, or can go with either of the two please come out to Monday Night Jazz at Alfie's nightclub on Queen's campus! The band is absolutely fantastic and I promise you will not regret coming. We are always looking for more people to come out for the evening, and luckily we have found that once people come out they almost always come back again the next week! The performance takes place every Monday night from 10:30 PM -12:00 AM and there is NO COVER CHARGE, only a student card needs to be shown (plus I.D.). Come and support the local talent, you don't want to miss Mondays, trust me :).

Okay, I'm done! There are some more performances coming up (such as the 20th) and details are on the website - I hope to see you there!

Sorry for the super long entry.

Musically yours,

Michelle :)

Howdy!

I am only hours away from making my first trip to the fantastic musical city of Nashville, and I just wanted to write a quick message before I head out. I am very excited for the trip, and as of right now plan to actually make a small performance while I'm in the city - can you say Nashville debut?! What I am most excited for though is to go down and learn more about music and the crazy business of it all; I can't wait to take it all in! I will hopefully be able to keep you updated about my trip and have some videos and photos of the experience when I get back.

Another note: thanks again to everyone who came out to the concert; we raised $481 and had a blast! You can check out some footage of performances from the evening on the web at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/michellekaztv

And now for my final note of this message, I have lots of performances coming up! The best way to keep track of upcoming shows is by checking out the Calendar on the website, but I will quickly mention a few now. Monday nights I perform with some members of the Queen's Jazz Band at the local pub Alfie's, and they are fantastic! If you are a student or alumni then I would definitely recommend coming to check it out some night before the end of April!

The big shows I want you to know about though are on March 5th, 6th, and 13th. Come out and show your support Friday, March 5th at the Queen's Best Darn Singer On Campus Singing Competition! It is basically the University's version of Canadian/American Idol, and I have made it to the finals! On the 6th I will be performing at a benefit concert for an organization called StopPoverty and it is another great way for you to enjoy some entertainment and give back to the world community at the same time! And finally, on March 13th, I have the ENCORE performance of "Remembering Hank & Patsy" - a night of music from two of country's favourite stars.

For specific information about each show follow this link: http://www.michellekaz.com/calendar.html
I hope to see as many of you as possible at these upcoming shows. I can't wait to tell you all about my trip to Nashville - only a couple more hours until departure!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)


P.S. GO CANADA in the Olympics - Gold tonight in Figure Skating! I love the red mittens, it is so great to see everyone wearing them!!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I just wanted to say a HUGE Thank You to everyone who made it out to the concert Friday night; it was a great time, and a huge success! We were able to raise $480 for the WUSC organization and their work in Haiti - that is fantastic! I hope all of you who made it out enjoyed the show, and for those of you who didn't, hopefully you can make it to the next one!

My other little tid bit of information is that I will on the radio tonight at 6 PM! I will be doing an interview on myFM's show called Sessions, and they will also be playing 5 tracks from the brand new CD "Only One" throughout the show! I am the second featured artist of the night so don't turn your dial or leave the website if you don't hear me for a while - I'm coming!

Thanks again to everyone who came to the concert on Friday night! I hope you have been enjoying the new album, will tune in tomorrow at 6 PM (www.myfmradio.ca) and can make it to some shows in the near future!

Musically yours,

Michelle :)

P.S. Did anyone see the CKWS interview & performance on Friday? I haven't had a chance to watch it yet!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I just wanted to say a HUGE Thank You to everyone who made it out to the concert Friday night; it was a great time, and a huge success! We were able to raise $480 for the WUSC organization and their work in Haiti - that is fantastic! I hope all of you who made it out enjoyed the show, and for those of you who didn't, hopefully you can make it to the next one!

My other little tid bit of information is that I will on the radio tonight at 6 PM! I will be doing an interview on myFM's show called Sessions, and they will also be playing 5 tracks from the brand new CD "Only One" throughout the show! I am the second featured artist of the night so don't turn your dial or leave the website if you don't hear me for a while - I'm coming!

Thanks again to everyone who came to the concert on Friday night! I hope you have been enjoying the new album, will tune in tomorrow at 6 PM (www.myfmradio.ca) and can make it to some shows in the near future!

Musically yours,

Michelle :)

P.S. Did anyone see the CKWS interview & performance on Friday? I haven't had a chance to watch it yet!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Thanks again for another great year of your support and interest in my music, it is one of the best gifts I could possibly ask for!

The performances at Starbucks all went really well; thanks to those of you who came out for a bit of the show. We were only booked to play Monday and Tuesday night, but they asked us back again for last night, so that was exciting! And CD sales have been going great, for both CDs! I am really looking forward to stepping up the promoting and pushing the new CD "Only One" in the new year; so far I have been getting some great feedback from listeners. Hopefully in the new year I will also be able to get the song "Weak In the Knees" out to the radio and get some airplay, that would be excellent!

Well, I know everyone is extremely busy right now, as it is not only Christmas time, but literally Christmas Eve, so I will end here. I just have one quick thing to add: I will be the featured artist on CFRC 101.9 radio this Friday morning from 11:30-12:00 for the women's show they have. It will be a very quick interview and then the rest of the show will be all music from my Christmas CD! You can listen to the station on the actual radio or you can go to their website http://cfrcradio.com/ and 'Listen Live!' through audio streaming, so make sure to tune in if you can!

Thanks again everyone, I am really excited to get into this new CD even more in the New Year! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)

My new EP "Only One" is officially available today! I am really excited about this CD, as it has 5 original songs and one cover song, originally done by Mr. Bob Dylan. I really hope you will all get a chance to listen to the CD, I am in the process of adding clips of each of the songs to the homepage so you can take a listen. It will be available through Chapters & Indigo in Kingston, my website, and SOON...iTunes!

Thanks so much to everyone who continues to support me, it means alot. Christmas is a busy time so I really appreciate everyone who makes the time to go buy the Christmas CD or the brand new one, as well as come to the shows. Christmas is an awesome time - don't forget to stop and enjoy all of the marvelous holiday spirt AND lights around you (because they are pretty fantastic)!

I hope to see you at some of my upcoming performances, but if not I will see you in the New Year! I'm sure I will continue to post some updates before then though so I will wish you happy holidays again soon!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)

Hi Everyone!

So the countdown is on until the day my new CD "Only One" is available! December 17th is the day but the official release will be celebrated next month as many are extremely busy at this time. The CD will be available through Contact as well as at the Chapters and Indigo stores in Kingston. It will be coming to iTunes within the next couple of weeks too - I will notify you when it is officially up!

I will be spending these next couple of weeks promoting the album, including trying to get airplay on some stations. Stay tuned for that - I will let you know when I get it out there so that you can help out by calling or emailing in to request the song. The first single from the album will be "Weak In the Knees" which I am extremely excited about!

I can't wait to start getting all of your feedback for "Only One" - hopefully everyone will buy a copy and help me to promote the album!

Thanks for your continued support, it means a lot. Happy Holidays!

Musically Yours,

Michelle :)

Hello again,

I might as well just get the news right out there in this entry:

"Michelle Kaz...Only One" EP is going to be available starting December 17th!

The CDs will be $10 and will be available through contact and at Chapters in Kingston AND... iTunes! There will be other various locations around Kingston were the CD can be purchased and I will confirm those for you over the next two weeks.

So start telling all of your friends and family - they would make Perfect Christmas gifts ;)...

Alright, so that is VERY exciting, I will be sure to keep you updated as the weeks go on... And now on to some performance news!

I have two upcoming performances at Starbucks in Kingston on both the 21st & 22nd of December, and I will be performing some classics, and of course, songs off of my new EP!

For more information about these gigs, please check out Calendar on the website.


Here's an update on my most recent show in Gananoque, the Hank & Patsy one:

It was awesome! I had an excellent time performing with the band and Cliff Edwards did a great job with the Hank Williams material. It was a night of stories, even some audience participation and a little bit of dancing going on by the end of the evening! Overall, a wonderful success for the restaurant and a marvelous time for me! I can't wait to do some more shows like it in the future...we should go on tour... :D.

Well, that's all I can say for now, but it has been lovely giving an update.

REMEMBER: December 17th - Spread the Word!

Sincerely,

Michelle :)

Guess what? I finally got a MySpace page!

Check it out here:

http://www.myspace.com/michellekazmusic
ALSO...

I have just added a brand new song to the site, and it is a preview of my new EP! The song is called "Rollercoaster Ride" and it is an original off of the new album, which will be coming out in early December! I am really excited, and I hope you all like it! Be sure to check out all of the different pages I have going on sites such as myspace and facebook and I will of course be keeping you updated here too!

Keep spreading the word!

Yours Truly,

Michelle :)