Please be my Hero…..

Hi Folks!

I have been a part of the Citizen Heroes project now for over two years. At the beginning I just thought it was a cool concept: people pretending to be super heroes and dressing up in cool costumes – what could be better, right?

But then I got to know some of the heroes we cover in the documentary.

There is Knight Owl in Portland, OR, who watches over the street kids and homeless people. He hands out water and hand warmers and checks in on the regulars.

Then there is Skyman. He has one of the biggest hearts I have ever encountered. Watch the Citizen Heroes excerpt about him here.

Phoenix Jones is a controversial Real Life Super Hero (RLSH) but also plays a valuable part in this scene. In the last few days he prevented a sexual assault in Seattle. He is also trying to coordinate an effort to provide sleeping bags and other warm items to prevent the current situation where one homeless person a week dies from the cold on Seattle streets.

All this to say: I love these individuals. I care for them. I appreciate that they care enough about their community to go out there night after night and look out for the citizens in their neighborhood. The ones with homes and the ones without.

I believe their stories are worth telling. More than that, they are important to tell! We are trying to raise money to meet our goal of $3000. We have just $775 to go. The money goes to post-production: editing, music, distribution and festival submission. Please support us! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/citizen-heroes

Thank you!

More soon,
Catherine Grealish, Film Composer

Eden: Go See It

Hi All,

Another great week in LA and the film world in general!

I want to talk with you about the film Eden. I finally got to see it tonight at it’s LA premiere. The film premiered at SXSW 2012 winning the award for best Narrative feature and was also at SIFF 2012, winning the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actress. The reason for all the recognition is how Megan Griffiths handles such a difficult subject matter with grace and thoughtful story telling.

“EDEN is a new film inspired by the true story of human trafficking survivor Chong Kim. Eden, a young Korean-American girl, is abducted near her home in New Mexico and forced into prostitution by a domestic human and drug trafficking ring located outside the bright lights of Las Vegas, Nevada. Throughout the two years she is held, Eden reluctantly ensures her own survival by carving out power and influence within the very organization that has imprisoned her. Inspired by a harrowing true story, EDEN peers into the darkest corners of America and attempts to discover the humanity within.” (From the FB Page)

I understand that this isn’t an easy film to watch. It tells a heartbreaking story. Tonight I met Chong Kim in person. She has so much strength to speak up and tell her devastating story, a story we all need to hear, putting a horrific but very real issue in the spotlight. We need to honour what she has done by buying a ticket and showing up to the screening.

Also, a note on the score by Jeramy Koepping and Joshua Morrison: it was really well done. It was very intimate and atmospheric. Truly served the picture.

Friend Eden on fb and find a screening near you!

Compose All The Things!

Hi Friends,

LIfe in LA is pretty busy, I have to say! We are loving it here in the sun. No complaints.

We will be heading back up to chilly Seattle this weekend for the premiere of my concert work “For Those Who Have Walked Ahead” as part of the Celebrate World Music concert. It is composed in memory of my Aunt Wendy Delaney who did so much for the Aboriginal community in Tasmania while she was with us. The work is for Didgeridoo and chamber orchestra. There are still a few tickets available and you can buy them here! The concert is at Benaroya Recital Hall on Sunday March 24, 2 p.m.

As you may remember from previous posts I am composing the score to the fantastic documentary Citizen Heroes. We are trying to raise $3000 to help us through post-production – editing, scoring, festivals and distribution. We could really use your help! If you could be our hero and help us out there are some Fantastic perks that come your way in return. Please check out our crowdfunding campaign on Indigiegogo. Thanks!

What else am I working on? Heaps of stuff. So excited! Please check out these projects……

All Things Hidden: Provocative, poignant & cause driven. All Things Hidden is a short film exploring the difficult journey that a young woman, Dannie, must make to confront her tragic past and free herself from its emotional vice.

The Last Buck Hunt: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the woods…
Filmed in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, The Last Buck Hunt is an independent feature film starring Zack Gold (Stockholm, Fear Lives Here), Cathan Bordyn (In the First Few Days), Scott C. Brown (The Gamers, JourneyQuest), and introducing Briana Chicha. When the cast becomes an endangered species in this horror-comedy, you’ll have to decide whether to laugh or scream.

The Art of Walking Barefoot: An inspiring documentary about the work of the 3L Foundation and the orphaned children of Pattaya, Thailand.

I am also assisting two great women composers: Miriam Cutler and Penka Kouneva. Miriam Cutler is a documentary composer. One of her films, Kings Point was nominated for an Oscar this year! I was honored to do music prep on her film American Promise which premiered at Sundance! Penka Kouneva is a composer and lead orchestrator. She co-composed the score for very popular video game Prince of Persia and was lead orchestra on Hansel and Gretal and Elysium.   It is awesome to work with two such amazing women who are leaders in the film/game score world.

That is my news for now! Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. Please don’t forget to check out Citizen Heroes!

More soon…….
Catherine Grealish

Great things are happening!

Hi Friends,

Things have been going great! Let me tell you about a few highlights:

This last weekend I attended and assisted with a Masterclass on Midi Orchestration by the great Penka Kouneva. It was such a fantastic time. Penka is an exceptional composer and orchestrator, as well as being an exemplary communicator and teacher. Like other wonderful composers in my life, such as Ron Jones, she is really interested in giving back to the music community; paying it forward. I think I can very safely say everyone in that room left feeling inspired and had a lot to think about for the rest of the weekend and the following weeks. I am so thankful to be in a city with so many generous composers. I am learning bucket-loads! Penka has two more masterclasses coming up which I believe are sold out, but check her website to make sure. I am hoping we can convince her to do more……

In my last blog I told you about the feature-length documentary project Citizen Heroes. We are doing a crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for post-production. We had a bare-minimum goal of $750 which we exceeded in just 5 days. Now we are going for a stretch goal of $3000. We have less than $2000 to go! Please help us meet it. I think this is a fantastic project and I am so thankful to be composing and co-producing. We could really use your support. Clicks help almost as much as donations! You can click and donate here.

We are just a month and a few days away from Celebrate World Music – both the concert and the CD release. I am so excited for this event. If you are in Seattle please buy tickets and come support your local musicians and composers. If you aren’t, stay tuned for CD purchasing details. It will be available on iTunes and other places as well, I am sure.

In the meantime I will be continuing to work on Citizen Heroes, All Things Hidden, The Last Buck Hunt and other exciting projects! Stay tuned for more news from me soon.  Check out my updated website created by my talented husband. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

Cheers,
Catherine Grealish

February Already!

Hi Friends,

I cannot believe how quickly time is marching along. We are already in the second month of the new year and March is right around the corner – three weeks away!

Now that I have finished stating the obvious, I do have some exciting projects to share with you.

Celebrate World Music is happening on Sunday, March 24, 2 p.m. at Benaroya Hall, Seattle. This marks the world premiere of my work for chamber orchestra and didgeridoo: For Those Who Have Walked Ahead. This piece is in memory of my Aunty Wendy Delaney, who did so much for the Aboriginal community in Tasmania while she was with us. I am so thankful for this opportunity to honour her.

If you are in Seattle on March 24th, I hope I will see you there. It is going to be a fantastic event: eight composers premiering new works featuring instruments from around the world. We had our recording session a few weeks ago, as we are releasing the CD on the same day as the performance, and everything is sounding Amazing! Not to be missed, friends, I assure you. But if you do miss it, then you can buy a CD on iTunes – more information on that when it is released.

One more thing I would like to share with you today is a project that I have been involved with for a number of years now: Citizen Heroes. Citizen Heroes tells the stories of individuals in the NorthWest who are willing to put on a costume and not only fight crime, but support the homeless, combat poverty and build a sense of community in their neighborhood.

We have been slowly working away on this feature-length documentary and have decided that it is time to speed things up and release it this very year! In order to do that we just need a few key things like some more hard drives and funds for Festival applications.

We are doing a very small crowd-funding campaign for just $750. Everything else required we will cover personally. This is definitely a passion project. Please will you throw a few bucks our way to help us buy our hard drives and get this baby out on the festival circuit? Believe me, this is going to be a great. I can’t wait for you to see it.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/citizen-heroes

If you haven’t liked it already, please like my facebook page!

Thank you so much for your continued support.

Cheers,
Catherine Grealish

Whirlwind Trip to Seattle…..

Hi All,

I am now back in sunny LA recovering from a very speedy trip to Seattle. The purpose was to record my work For Those Who Have Walked Ahead in preparation for the Celebrate World Music concert. While the concert is not for another two months – Sunday, March 24 – we recorded in January in order to sell CDs at the concert. 

This was the first time that one of my concert works was recorded at Studio X. I love Studio X. It has been the studio for many great albums and film scores. Artists that recorded there include Nirvana, Pearl Jam and SoundGarden and film scores include Into the Wild, Office Space and Big Fish. And I just love being there! I don’t know what it is but it feels like a space in which dreams come true and amazing musicians congregate to make your music magically come to life.

Hearing these incredible musicians play my composition was an amazing experience. I had worked so hard on this piece. It wasn’t just me trying to make the most of a great opportunity, it was also a piece that was written in remembrance of an amazing woman, my Aunty Wendy Delaney. No pressure!

When I heard them play it from start to finish it all came together. I was not disappointed. Greg Powers played the didgeridoo like he had been blowing on that thing since he had come out of the womb. I was blown away – pun intended! (Couldn’t resist!) My favorite violinist, Stephen Bryant is concert master on this gig and it always makes me happy to hear him playing my music.

As usual, nothing beats having great musicians play your compositions. It is better high than any drugs could offer. Days after the session, I am still flying.

Hope to see you at the concert!

Cheers,
Catherine Grealish

Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year!

I am so excited for 2013. In some ways, it is a relief to welcome this new year into my life. For me, 2012 was the year of limbo. The year was one very long preparation for the move to LA, with a whole lot of “are we there yet?!?!” feelings. And now, look at us: we are here! I am glad we have been here for a month because we start 2013 feeling settled, comfortable in our new surroundings, and already in our new life rhythm.

My limbo year had some great moments for which I am hugely thankful. I know I grew a lot as a composer. I scored seven films and three live works!

One of my highlight moments was my orchestral debut at Benaroya Hall: Artist and The Muse. It was wonderful to prove to myself that I could actually compose for a real live kick-arse orchestra and I could do it well! At the end of the year it was shortlisted for Grammy Nomination which was a wonderful compliment. You can purchase the full work on iTunes.

I am really thankful for all the films I scored – SLicE, Senior Showcase (which premiered at SIFF), Dressing Up, Citizen Heroes, the Burning Skies trailer, and Scapegoat – but one really took the cake for me this year, which was Revelation.

Revelation was an epic experience. 14 minutes of wall-to-wall music. The score was almost all live instruments including a six piece string chamber group, flute, oboe, english horn, french horn, bassoon and two singers! Three recording sessions, some sound design and a lot of sound engineering love from Jon Goff, we had our score. The premiere was a packed event at Teatro Zinzanni in downtown Seattle.  It was just so cool, I don’t know how else to describe it. The CD will be out soon so stay tuned and please check out Revelation if you have not done so already.

This last month has been amazing. The highlight for me has been assisting composer Miriam Cutler on some of her projects. There really is nothing better than learning the ropes from someone who has been on the scene for a while.

Now we are in 2013 and there is a lot on my plate!

Firstly, I am finishing my composition For Those Who Have Walked Ahead in preparation for the concert Celebrate World Music on March 24, 2013 at Benaroya Recital Hall. We record on January 15th so it is most definitely Go Time!

After that is out the door, I am continuing work on Scapegoat, and also scoring the fantastic short films All Things Hidden and Stop Requested. Hopefully by April the edit will be locked on The Art of Walking Barefoot and I can get to work on that fantastic feature-length documentary as well!

I am thankful and excited. Here’s to a productive 2013! Thank you for your support. Please, like my facebook page if you haven’t already, follow me on twitter and stay in touch!

Cheers,
Film Composer Catherine