A tour, a gallery show, and the best borscht

Lia Kohl's March Newsletter

Hi Buddies,

Hope you’re staying well and enjoying the slow brightening of Spring.

I got a little accelerated Spring experience this February, with a week in New Orleans and then a beautiful week in California, playing four shows and doing an artist talk at UC Berkeley. My Mama was my driver for the California tour, so we had plenty of time to talk and sing and listen to Mozart while driving to and from Los Angeles. I got to see some old friends, and meet some new (including the person who made the credit card machine sound in this track!).

This month I turn 36, which feels like a nice round age. I love my birthday and the time surrounding - it makes me feel especially sparkly with gratefulness. More time! it’s a miracle.

Next week I’m putting up a gallery show at Roman Susan, a beloved gallery space in Rogers Park. The show is called The Sound is in the Telling, and it’s a series of embroidered text pieces about sound, a sound and video installation, and a few other pieces. It will be up all month, but we’re celebrating the opening on March 8th from 4-7pm, including a small performance featuring five singers: Maria Jacobson, Margaret McCarthy, Veronica Anne Salinas, Paige Naylor, and myself. I’m excited to make something for voices! Come listen and look if you have the time.

Then I’m off to Europe, and playing at Big Ears Festival (a dream of mine!).

A few shows and a European tour:

3.4 Duo with Zander Raymond: Two Flat Chapel, Chicago (limited seating, RSVP to ted@thetwoflatchapel.com)

3.8 Opening - The Sound is in the Telling: Roman Susan Gallery, Chicago

EU Solo Tour!

3.12 Km28, Berlin, Germany

3.13 MS Stubnitz, Hamburg, Germany

3.14 Kuckuck (Meakusma), Eupen, Belgium

3.15 Grrrnd Zero, Lyon, France

3.17 Banlieues Bleues, Paris, France

3.18 Radioclube Agramonte, Porto, Portugal

3.20 Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden

3.22 Rörane Studio, Hamburgsund, Sweden

3.23 Goldie, Oslo, Norway

3.24 Trio with Macie Stewart and Whitney Johnson (opening for Yasuaki Shimizu): Thalia Hall, Chicago

3.28 Trio with Macie Stewart and Whitney Johnson: International Anthem popup @ Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN

3.29 Solo: Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN

3.30 with Macie Stewart band: Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN

Tiny Recommendations:

1. This lovely album by Jeff Kimmel and Jack Langdon.

2. We recently started getting this wonderful CSA, which offers produce, eggs, bread, and more from local farms. I’ve always loved the idea of a CSA but this one actually works, because there’s so much variety.

3. Relatedly, our first box came with beets, carrots, and little potatoes, and I made the best borscht:

   2 beets, 4 small potatoes, 2 carrots, 1 onion, some garlic: cut into pleasant mouthful size. Sauté in oil until it smells good. Add a nice pinch of caraway seeds, paprika, a few thyme sprigs, a spoonful of honey, and a bay leaf. Cover generously with stock* (chicken or veggie, maybe 4-5 cups) and 2-3 tomatoes from a can, crushed or chopped, with their juices. Cook until the veggies are tender but not falling apart, and serve with fresh dill, scallions, and a dollop of yogurt. It might need acid at the end: add a squeeze of lemon.

4. I finally found a perfume that I love (my friend Kim told me I smell like a basil cake, I think I smell like the green bits of a flower shop). This is not, obviously, a recommendation to buy this perfume, but a reminder that it’s such a pleasure to smell both nice and specific.

5. I enjoyed sharing a bill in San Francisco with Cheryl E. Leonard, who’s field recording practice is fascinating.

6. Resisting the urge to optimize everything - I often feel (maybe you feel?) the pressure to do everything efficiently. That’s bizarre! And boring! For example, stop using GPS so much.

7. A beautiful recording of one of my favorite pieces of music (here’s the first movement, listen to the whole symphony!).

That’s all, for now.

Lia

*the ladies from my church say that if it’s a good borscht, a wooden spoon will stand straight up in the middle - I like it a little less dense, but I feel obligated to pass on the advice nonetheless.