Singer gets personal on paper.Byline: LEWIS TAYLOR The Register-Guard Lately, Laura Love Laura Love is an American musician born in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. She describes herself as a "light skinned Black" woman. Laura Love had a difficult childhood, raised by a mother with schizophrenia and in foster homes. has been doing a lot of writing. Instead of just drafting songs, though, the "hip-Appalachian" singer- songwriter has been penning her memoir. Initially intended as a cathartic cathartic (kəthär`tĭk): see laxative. exercise, Love's written recollections grew into a book when she realized that other people actually were interested in her inspirational story. Tentatively titled "You Ain't Got No Easter Clothes," the book is scheduled for release next winter, and Love plans to have a new album to go along with it. "A lot of times, when I write songs, it's not only autobiographical, it's stories about other people's lives or stories that I come up with," Love said, speaking by telephone from her home in Seattle. "This was very personal, though. There were times where I would just stop writing and laugh for the whole day and then there were days when I would go into depression." Love's joyful joy·ful adj. Feeling, causing, or indicating joy. See Synonyms at glad1. joy  ful·ly adv. attitude and her empowered folk-funk songs belie be·lie tr.v. be·lied, be·ly·ing, be·lies 1. To picture falsely; misrepresent: "He spoke roughly in order to belie his air of gentility" James Joyce. her difficult upbringing, which was marked by her mother's frequent schizophrenic schiz·o·phren·ic adj. Of, relating to, or affected by schizophrenia. n. One who is affected with schizophrenia. episodes. Growing up black in a largely white Nebraska town also left its mark, and Love and her sister spent some time in an array of foster homes. At the age of 16, Love struck out on her own and eventually found her way to the Northwest. "I was living with this guitar player and he said he was tired of living in Nebraska and wanted to move to Portland," Love said. "I said, `That's great,' but it wasn't until I got there that I realized he wasn't really asking me to come with him." Whether talking or singing, Love's sense of humor Noun 1. sense of humor - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor" sense of humour, humor, humour about her past is hard to miss. She attributes her upbeat approach to life (and art) to a simple observation made years ago. "I decided early on that it felt better to be kind than to be cruel," Love said. "You have to decide who to emulate, and I decided I would be most like the people who were kind to me." Love's kindness comes through on her latest album, "Fourteen Days." Written in the shadow of the World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle, the record reflects her strong political beliefs, while also reminding her listeners that she still respects a good groove. "Sometimes Davey Wins" is Love's own David-and-Goliath saga, with the famous tree-sitter Julia Butterfly as the little guy; "Sativa" chronicles Love's arrest for marijuana possession. Both songs flow with Love's signature, clean-burning, Afro-Celtic energy. Drawing heavily from jazz and rhythm and blues rhythm and blues (R&B) Any of several closely related musical styles developed by African American artists. The various styles were based on a mingling of European influences with jazz rhythms and tonal inflections, particularly syncopation and the flatted blues chords. , the songs are more infectious than most folk music folk music: see folk song. folk music Music held to be typical of a nation or ethnic group, known to all segments of its society, and preserved usually by oral tradition. Knowledge of the history and development of folk music is largely conjectural. . Even if you don't Even If You Don't is a single released by the band Ween in 2000 on Mushroom Records. Formats Enhanced CD single Includes the quicktime video of "Even If You Don't" directed by Matt Stone & Trey Parker of "South Park". like the message, it's easy to get caught up in Love's magnetic field. Love's new album is her seventh solo release, her first on Rounder Records Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts but now based in Burlington, is an independent record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students. . Previously aligned with Mercury Records Mercury Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. In the US, its name and logo were now only used on back catalogue, country releases, and re-issues until recently. , she was happy to shift to a smaller label with less emphasis on sales. Love has no idea what her next batch of songs - the companion album to her autobiography - will sound like. In fact, that seems to be just the way she likes it. "I don't really worry about perfection," Love said. "I just put 'em out there. ... They're pretty much done when they're done." LAURA LOVE WITH: Laura Kemp WHEN: 8 p.m. Sunday WHERE: WOW Hall, 291 W. Eighth Ave. TICKETS: $18 door or $15.50 advance at all WOW Hall outlets or through Fastixx, (800) 992-8499 ALSO: To hear music from Laura Love's latest album, call GuardLine at 485-2000 and enter category 3475 CAPTION(S): Musician Laura Love is in the process of publishing a memoir. LAURA LOVE WITH: Laura Kemp WHEN: 8 p.m. Sunday WHERE: WOW Hall, 291 W. Eighth Ave. TICKETS: $18 door or $15.50 advance at all WOW Hall outlets or through Fastixx, (800) 992-8499 ALSO: To hear music from Laura Love's latest album, call GuardLine at 485-2000 and enter category 3475 |
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