Life is good...

wow. lots to say. thank you so much to everyone who came out to the "Morning You Wake" release saturday night at the company house. was a truly great (and rowdy) night. huge shout out to my wunderband (phil sedore, adam fine, brian murray, ronok sarkar ruth minnikin and rebecca zolkower) for all the work they've put in over the past few weeks. yer awesome...

the "official" album release is tomorrow (june 7); it will be available for purchase or download from cdbaby and bandcamp and will be up on iTunes in a few days (fingers crossed). it will also be available in halifax at hmv (spring garden) and TAZ. feel free to have a listen on my facebook page. got the first review from herohill (love those guys) last week. have a look here...

AND, as you may have noticed, i have a new website up and running! enormous thanks to jud haynes for working overtime to get it all together before the release :)

hope to see some of you in the coming weeks as i head out across canada to promote my humble little record

much love,

norma xo

May 4, 2011

Waiting....and, more waiting.....

yes. i am waiting for copies of Morning You Wake to be shipped. very excited to have the finished product on my hands. the artwork and graphic design by daniel ledwell (who also did the artwork for forest for the trees) is gorgeous. massive, insane thanks again to everyone who donated so generously to my kickstarter campaign. i have honestly never so felt so supported in my music. really felt the love, y'all. the release party will be held on june 4 at the company house with friends ruth minnnikin and ronok sarkar. after that, i'm heading out on tour across the country (after a few shows back home in cape breton!). you can check out the "shows" page for details. it's gonna be a great summer. once it starts. it's going to, right?

see you soon,
norma xo

March 15, 2011

Morning You Wake

the new album Morning You Wake is mastered and ready to go! very excited with how everything has turned out. producer phil sedore did a gorgeous job. planning to release in june, but pre-sales are now available through kickstarter.com. it's a fantastic website, so please check it out. will be heading across the country in june as well, so look for some dates in your area. will be updating soon.

yay!

-norma

Feb. 21, 2011

Tweet!

so i've come to terms with the fact that it is no longer 1995 and have jumped onboard twitter. feel free to follow me if you like. you'll get the latest news on shows, the new record and get amazing insights about things like toothbrushing and soup making. how can you pass that up?

more info on the new record soon. exciting!

-n.

Oct.25, 2010

CBC School of Rock and new video a-comin'.....

 hey all y'all...if you live in the halifax area and are a compulsive cbc listener like myself, tune into mainstreet between 4:30 and 6pm for their "school of rock" contest. i will be one of three judges, along with charles austin (superfriendz, echo chamber audio) and mike campbell (mucheast, the carleton) choosing the top high school rock band in nova scotia. we will be weighing in on our top picks all this week, before the listening audience takes over and votes for their favourites online. pretty impressive array of music going on 'round these parts. tune in for the fun....

hope to see you 'round soon!
-norma xo

June 28, 2010

Summer!

hope you are all enjoying your summer thus far. granted, it's raining in halifax today, but that just gives me a reason to drink tea and watch 'true blood' all day. we just started recording last night for my new album. adam, rj, phil, and charles are incredible folks to work with--looking forward to getting back in there tonight! i probably won't be releasing anything until next spring, but it feels great to get the ball rolling...

i'm playing plenty of shows around nova scotia in the coming months. it's a perfect way to visit some of my favourite places in the province; petite riviere, the ENTIRE south shore, and of course, cape breton. please see the "shows" link on the page for more details. you should also check out the harmony bazaar festival page. the festival is in it's 5th year and has a great line-up, not to mention some fantastic organizers :)

despite the rain today, i have a feeling it's going to be a mighty fine summer. hope to see some of you around!

-n. xo

April 19, 2010
L'il Tour...

hi again. my neglect of my website is shameful. really. anyway, just wanted to let you know about a little tour i'm heading out on this week. i'm playing 4 (or 5...) dates in ontario and quebec between april 23-29. you can find details/venues listed under "shows". i have the pleasure of being accompanied by my friend cress, who was looking for an excuse to break in her new car with a good road trip. we hit the road on wednesday, loaded with snacks and playlists. hope you can make it out to a show :)

especially looking forward to playing with my old friend amy campbell again on april 28 at the cameron house. amy and i took several hilarious road trips a few years back when i was living in toronto. she is a brilliant songwriter. it's always great to see her...

alright. hope you are well and maybe see you soon!
-norma xoxo

Jan. 2, 2010
A New Year...

why, hello there. hope you had a wonderful holiday. mine was suprisingly quiet , thank you ( a very welcome suprise). a few days on the cape, played a show in new waterford for some family and friends (thanks guys) and ate so much i literally split my pants. young mc foreshadowed this....

when asked about new year's resolutions, my stock line is that i'm going to start smoking and gain weight. yeah, it's getting old. anyway, i've decided to actually set a goal for myself this year--- to successfully remove my head from my own ass. i can only speak for myself  (but you can probably relate) when i say that i get so caught up in what i want to accomplish that i sometimes completely miss the big picture stuff. i guess i just want to stop fretting about where i'm going and enjoy where i am for a while.

i'm currently putting together material for a new record that i will hopefuly start recording in a few months. i want to thank all y'all for the support you've shown me over the last year (and beyond). it has not gone unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. you have no idea. a special thanks to cbc radio 2 for playing the hell out of "the forest for the trees"...we'd be lost without you kind folks at the cbc.

hope you all have an amazing 2010.

all the best,
norma xo

Oct. 15, 2009
Hello friends...

hope you are having a lovely fall. it's generally my favourite time of year around these parts, but i actually had to pull out my winter duds this morning. pre-halloween. yikes...

it's been a while, so bear with me as i backtrack. summer was eventful. highlights include playing my first show at the legendary club passim in boston, sharing a stage with stephen fearing (holy crap), and a late night banjo lesson from j.p. cormier at the kempt shore festival (followed by later-night songwriting tips from ron hynes :).  as for upcoming shows, i'm slotted to play this year's halifax pop explosion on oct. 23 at the company house. the headliner for the evening is dan mangan, who just won the xm verge award for 2009 artist of the year. i've been hearing him almost daily on cbc radio 2 and am pretty stoked. come and check him out before he heads out his european tour.

other excitement: my latest album 'the forest for the trees' has been nominated for female recording of the year by music nova scotia. i'll be showcasing during nova scotia music week (nov. 6-9) in yarmouth (see "shows" for more details). it'll be my first time in yarmouth---well,  that's not entirely true; i took an absolutely hateful ferry ride from there once. but that wasn't yarmouth's fault. it was the monsoon's. regardless, i'm sure it will be a great weekend...

that's all for now. hope to see you soon, jellybeans.

cheers,
-norma

June 25, 2009
Finally, a swim day...

we have being slogging through fog and cold for what seems like forever here in halifax, but today, at long last the sun appeared (for at least a few hours). had my first swim of the year in william’s lake (thanks ashlea), later in the season than I would like, but great none the less. ah, nova scotia…  

kev and I had a great time at nxne in toronto this past weekend. thanks to johnny mac, jason plumb, et al.

hoping to make it home to the cape next week. here’s hopin’…

cheers,
-n. xo

May 19, 2009
Tour thank yous and Americana UK

so i haven't been as diligent as i had hoped at keeping my "news" up to date, but i just wanted to say a quick thank you to all the folks who made it out to my eastern canadian tour shows in april. i had a fantastic time. big, big thanks, especially to judith and kyle in ottawa and nikki and michael in toronto. i'm hoping to head out west in august. i'll keep you posted...

i also wanted to post a review of 'the forest of the trees' i literally stumbled upon on the american-uk website. possibly the scariest intro to a review of my music i have read, but it turns out well. check it out here.

thanks again for the support and hopefully see you soon,
norma xoxoxoxo  

March 15,2009
The Whiskey Hymnal Tour

hey there. just wanted to post a little note about a great little tour I'm playing with some friends in venues around nova scotia this month. it's called the whiskey hymnal tour, and ,giving credit where it is greatly due, it is the brainchild of songwriter par excellence Steven Bowers. In addition to Steve and myself, we will be joined by the lovely Christina Martin and my bandmate and pal Kev Corbett. Please check the "shows" page on the site to see if we'll be making to a town near you...

February 15, 2009
Let's give this a whirl, shall we?

alright folks, this is my test run of trying to update this page. enormous thanks to amy campbell for walking me through this via telephone from toronto. i realize this isn't news, per se, but i'll give it a try. if this works i'll be back with a real update soon...