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1414 Douglas St. Victoria
Connie Kaldor
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora St., Victoria
Doors 6:30pm - Showtime 7:30pm - EARLY SHOW
Tickets: $25.00 Advance / $28.00 Door - GENERAL ADMISSION - TICKETS NOW ON SALE ONLINE!
Available at: Lyle's place 770 Yates St., online at www.hightideconcerts.net or McPherson Box Office 250-386-6121
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora St., Victoria
Doors 6:30pm - Showtime 7:30pm - EARLY SHOW
Tickets: $25.00 Advance / $28.00 Door - GENERAL ADMISSION - TICKETS NOW ON SALE ONLINE!
Available at: Lyle's place 770 Yates St., online at www.hightideconcerts.net or McPherson Box Office 250-386-6121
Connie Kaldor's website: www.arrogant-worms.com
Boasting a wide range of musical styles, Connie Kaldor posesses a wry humour and entertaining presence that is not
far removed from Cheryl Wheeler or Christine Lavin. A factor that separates Kaldor from her ilk is variety. In a live
setting, her repertoire may include a gospel-tinged tune, a child’s lullaby, a song about being run over by the big truck
of love or a piece which she wrote at the funeral of a friend who died of cancer. She just hates the fact that people say
that your music has to sound all the same.
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Kaldor was introduced to music at an early age. Her father was a choir-director at a
local Lutheran church. “He was quite musical. Lutherans can’t dance but at least they can sing. The radio was always
on around the house. I grew up listening to Patsy Cline and the Beatles. In grade two I joined the Fab Four’s fan club;
but they were all guys. What really gave me a kick was when I first heard Laura Nyro and Carol King. And then there
was Joni Mitchell, who was from Saskatchewan. It had less to do with their writing styles or music but more with the
fact that they made it in a field dominated by males.”
Picking up a guitar in high school and already capable on the piano, Kaldor began performing around Regina.
Eventually she moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where she studied theater at a local university. Graduating in 1975,
Kaldor moved to Toronto where she joined Theatre Passe Maraille, an avant-garde drama company. After a few years
she gravitated back to music.
With a famine of female singers in Canada at the time, Kaldor developed her songwriting acumen and comfortable
stage presence by traveling the Canadian folk circuit. Within two years Kaldor was part of the “Canadian Wave;”
which featured artists as diverse as Ferron, Stan Rogers, and Spirit of the West. Suddenly Kaldor was an established
festival headliner and ready to record. Unfortunately, the record industry found her a difficult commodity to market.”
Forming her own label, Coyote Records, in 1981, Kaldor recorded her debut, One of these Days, to critical acclaim. Her
sophomore LP, 1984’s Moonlight Grocery, garnered a Juno nomination for Most Promising Female Vocalist in Canada.
“At the time, when I started Coyote, nobody wanted to touch me. The record companies were more concerned with
pop music and they didn’t know what to do with me. If they can’t pigeonhole you, they just scratch their heads. I’ve
done so many different things that it’s difficult to find a phrase that sticks.” She laughingly remembers when
somebody once described her as a cross between Woody Allen and Woody Guthrie. “I know that folk is on the fringe
of music when it comes to sales, but what they forget is that once you get your audience, the people will still be with
you for years. There is security in that. A pop audience is more fickle. They prefer the flavor of the day.”
Through the Canadian government, Kaldor toured China, India and Europe as a musical goodwill ambassador for
Canada in 1992. Joining her was one of her children: one-and-a-half year old Aleksi. “He was a little ambassador all on
his own. Everybody would swarm around him in amazement.”
Kaldor remembers her show in Beijing. “I got on stage and sang my western music and the crowd went mental. I
thought I was at a Van Halen concert. Back then, they didn’t get to hear that type of stuff. I went out there and played
the most rip-snorting material in my repertoire and it was like I was some guitar god.” Asked if she played any heavy
guitar solos she says, “I spared them that misery.”
India provided its own special appeal for Kaldor. “When we were up in Northern India, in Simla, we stayed at the hotel
where ‘Kim’ (Rudyard Kipling) was written. It was beautiful. Right out of the Raj. It was perched on a mountain and had
all these monkeys on the roof. You had to climb up these valleys on winding roads for hours to get there. The bus that
took us up there had all these soldiers with Uzis guarding us. It was just around the time Rajiv Gandhi was
assassinated.”
Kaldor’s fascination with coyotes not only surfaces as her label’s name and logo but finds its way into her songs such
as “Coyote’s Call,” on Small Café. “I’m from the prairies and I grew up with them in the back of my mythology. I always
thought that one would eat me on the way to the outdoor toilet,” she laughs. “They survive against all odds, whether it’
s in the city or in the country. They travel a lot. And I guess they are a voice calling in the wilderness. Being in this
business, sometimes I feel like a coyote; a voice howling at the moon.”
Having to juggle motherhood and being on the road surprisingly poses few problems. “I’ve had my two children
traveling with me for the most part. This is the first year that they’ve actually stayed at home. They hate it when they
can’t come along. They love touring. For me, it’s actually more enjoyable. When I’m at home I have to wash and cook
and those other things. When we travel together, I don’t have to do those chores. I can actually see my children. It
gives me time to be with them.”
Now residing in Montreal, Kaldor sees the change in location as a mixed blessing. “I’m behind the Franco-curtain here,
but I think I’m far enough up the foodchain as to not disappear totally from the English music scene. It would probably
be better if I were located in Toronto or Vancouver, surrounded by my peers. But there are advantages. I play hit and
run across the border. I can go down to Boston and play a show and be home that night and tuck the kids in bed.
Boston is closer for me than Toronto. The East Coast of the States has such a rich folk tradition and supportive
network that it makes it worthwhile living here.
Considering Canada’s population base, the magnet that pulls any artist south of the border must be appealing.”
Connie Kaldor has always survived. If you push the boundaries of what is folk, if you consider the folk scene as a
springboard and don’t put yourself in some convenient box, it gives you some latitude to play with all the curves and
angles of the music industry. You just have to keep plugging away.”
Boasting a wide range of musical styles, Connie Kaldor posesses a wry humour and entertaining presence that is not
far removed from Cheryl Wheeler or Christine Lavin. A factor that separates Kaldor from her ilk is variety. In a live
setting, her repertoire may include a gospel-tinged tune, a child’s lullaby, a song about being run over by the big truck
of love or a piece which she wrote at the funeral of a friend who died of cancer. She just hates the fact that people say
that your music has to sound all the same.
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Kaldor was introduced to music at an early age. Her father was a choir-director at a
local Lutheran church. “He was quite musical. Lutherans can’t dance but at least they can sing. The radio was always
on around the house. I grew up listening to Patsy Cline and the Beatles. In grade two I joined the Fab Four’s fan club;
but they were all guys. What really gave me a kick was when I first heard Laura Nyro and Carol King. And then there
was Joni Mitchell, who was from Saskatchewan. It had less to do with their writing styles or music but more with the
fact that they made it in a field dominated by males.”
Picking up a guitar in high school and already capable on the piano, Kaldor began performing around Regina.
Eventually she moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where she studied theater at a local university. Graduating in 1975,
Kaldor moved to Toronto where she joined Theatre Passe Maraille, an avant-garde drama company. After a few years
she gravitated back to music.
With a famine of female singers in Canada at the time, Kaldor developed her songwriting acumen and comfortable
stage presence by traveling the Canadian folk circuit. Within two years Kaldor was part of the “Canadian Wave;”
which featured artists as diverse as Ferron, Stan Rogers, and Spirit of the West. Suddenly Kaldor was an established
festival headliner and ready to record. Unfortunately, the record industry found her a difficult commodity to market.”
Forming her own label, Coyote Records, in 1981, Kaldor recorded her debut, One of these Days, to critical acclaim. Her
sophomore LP, 1984’s Moonlight Grocery, garnered a Juno nomination for Most Promising Female Vocalist in Canada.
“At the time, when I started Coyote, nobody wanted to touch me. The record companies were more concerned with
pop music and they didn’t know what to do with me. If they can’t pigeonhole you, they just scratch their heads. I’ve
done so many different things that it’s difficult to find a phrase that sticks.” She laughingly remembers when
somebody once described her as a cross between Woody Allen and Woody Guthrie. “I know that folk is on the fringe
of music when it comes to sales, but what they forget is that once you get your audience, the people will still be with
you for years. There is security in that. A pop audience is more fickle. They prefer the flavor of the day.”
Through the Canadian government, Kaldor toured China, India and Europe as a musical goodwill ambassador for
Canada in 1992. Joining her was one of her children: one-and-a-half year old Aleksi. “He was a little ambassador all on
his own. Everybody would swarm around him in amazement.”
Kaldor remembers her show in Beijing. “I got on stage and sang my western music and the crowd went mental. I
thought I was at a Van Halen concert. Back then, they didn’t get to hear that type of stuff. I went out there and played
the most rip-snorting material in my repertoire and it was like I was some guitar god.” Asked if she played any heavy
guitar solos she says, “I spared them that misery.”
India provided its own special appeal for Kaldor. “When we were up in Northern India, in Simla, we stayed at the hotel
where ‘Kim’ (Rudyard Kipling) was written. It was beautiful. Right out of the Raj. It was perched on a mountain and had
all these monkeys on the roof. You had to climb up these valleys on winding roads for hours to get there. The bus that
took us up there had all these soldiers with Uzis guarding us. It was just around the time Rajiv Gandhi was
assassinated.”
Kaldor’s fascination with coyotes not only surfaces as her label’s name and logo but finds its way into her songs such
as “Coyote’s Call,” on Small Café. “I’m from the prairies and I grew up with them in the back of my mythology. I always
thought that one would eat me on the way to the outdoor toilet,” she laughs. “They survive against all odds, whether it’
s in the city or in the country. They travel a lot. And I guess they are a voice calling in the wilderness. Being in this
business, sometimes I feel like a coyote; a voice howling at the moon.”
Having to juggle motherhood and being on the road surprisingly poses few problems. “I’ve had my two children
traveling with me for the most part. This is the first year that they’ve actually stayed at home. They hate it when they
can’t come along. They love touring. For me, it’s actually more enjoyable. When I’m at home I have to wash and cook
and those other things. When we travel together, I don’t have to do those chores. I can actually see my children. It
gives me time to be with them.”
Now residing in Montreal, Kaldor sees the change in location as a mixed blessing. “I’m behind the Franco-curtain here,
but I think I’m far enough up the foodchain as to not disappear totally from the English music scene. It would probably
be better if I were located in Toronto or Vancouver, surrounded by my peers. But there are advantages. I play hit and
run across the border. I can go down to Boston and play a show and be home that night and tuck the kids in bed.
Boston is closer for me than Toronto. The East Coast of the States has such a rich folk tradition and supportive
network that it makes it worthwhile living here.
Considering Canada’s population base, the magnet that pulls any artist south of the border must be appealing.”
Connie Kaldor has always survived. If you push the boundaries of what is folk, if you consider the folk scene as a
springboard and don’t put yourself in some convenient box, it gives you some latitude to play with all the curves and
angles of the music industry. You just have to keep plugging away.”
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora St., Victoria
Doors 6:30pm - Showtime 7:30pm - EARLY SHOW
Tickets: $25.50 Advance / $30.00 Door - GENERAL ADMISSION - TICKETS NOW ON SALE ONLINE!
Available at: Lyle's Place 770 Yates St. and online at www.hightideconcerts.net
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora St., Victoria
Doors 6:30pm - Showtime 7:30pm - EARLY SHOW
Tickets: $25.50 Advance / $30.00 Door - GENERAL ADMISSION - TICKETS NOW ON SALE ONLINE!
Available at: Lyle's Place 770 Yates St. and online at www.hightideconcerts.net