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Ellis Paul

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Dec 22 2010 - Happy Holidays!  Ellis Paul December 2010 Newsletter

Happy Holidays to you all!

I spent the last couple of days with my two little girls enjoying The Wizard of Oz and little cups of eggnog. What an experience to watch it with fresh eyes. I had to narrate most of it explaining the characters and the scenes, but they loved it. And what an accomplishment, that film. Makes putting out an album look like kindergarten stuff.

It's been a great year with the new CD, and touring to full houses across the nation. Thank you for coming to the shows and saying hello.

This has been my work team's first experience without the backing of a label, and I think we've proven to ourselves over the year that we can continue without one, although it keeps everyone beyond busy trying to keep up. Thanks for spreading the music out to family and friends. You have been and will be the best distribution of the music that we have- and we'll be sending you more in the upcoming year!

I am working on both a kids/family CD and a holiday CD for the upcoming year. You can see a link to one of the holiday songs on YouTube here.  We will be continuing our marketing push on The Day After Everything Changed for the year, mainly because the Farrelly Brothers' new film Hall Pass is highlighting several tracks in the film! That should expose the music to all sorts of people around the world! It comes out Feb 25th...

I've been writing all the time, and working with younger artists at my home and the road and I'm really enjoying seeing people develop into the versions of themselves where their dreams are cast. I'm continually feeling blessed with my life, my work, my friendships and my kids. Thank you all!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Ellis


There’s Still Time!!

There’s still a handful of tickets left for Ellis’ 15th Annual New Year’s Eve shows at Club Passim for all shows on both the 30th & 31st… Ellis is bringing in the full crew of Radislov, Don Con & Mike Clem – don’t miss it!  

Also, if you’re looking for a fun-filled daytime family activity be sure to see Mr. Paul perform songs off of “The Dragonfly Races” at the all-day family festival at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston on December 31st as a part of the First Night Celebration.

Ellis Paul on Best Of 2010 List in… Australia!

Just announced! Ellis made the top 10 list for 2010 artists for Australian Inner FM presented by Colin Fielding (Hmm..Australian tour next year?). You can see the whole list as well as listen to a live stream of great music here.

You can never have too many friends…Or can you?

We are excited to say that Ellis has reached 5,000 FaceBook friends! The bad news, however, is that he can no longer add new friends on this (personal) account, so we’re packing up and moving to a musician page! This will be the new home for all EP news, and events. Please log into Facebook.com and “Like” the page to stay connected to Ellis… we’ll be closing the personal page in a month and don’t want to lose you!


Fan Story of the Month

“In July 1998 I realized my love for music.  I was about to leave for college and something exciting was happening in my hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma – which happens to be Woody Guthrie’s hometown.  Believe it or not, I don’t ever remember Woody being mentioned while growing up so I didn’t know much about him - other than his name was on the local water tower - or the great influence he had on so many.   Luckily, a wonderful woman very special to my family was involved in the Woody Guthrie Coalition – the organization that plans the annual festival - and persuaded my sister and I to volunteer at the first Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. She also told us there was one musician we HAD to hear a guy named Ellis Paul.

Well, she was right…. I went to hear Ellis, was immediately hooked, and have been in love with his music ever since!  As soon as Ellis finished his set, my sister and I hurried to purchase a CD and waited to have him sign it.  He wrote “Spread this music” on the front of that first CD – Stories – and, like many others, I took it to heart!  My mission became to introduce as many people as I could to his music!

Two years later a dream came true when I was successful in bringing Ellis to perform at my college.  I was so excited at the prospect of introducing many new people to his music.  Since that first show, I have tried to attend as many shows as I can when he’s in the area, and I always try to take a friend.  I met my future husband, Brent, in 2001 and one of our “date deals” was to take each other to hear one of our favorite musicians.  As luck would have it, Ellis had an upcoming show at The Blue Door in Oklahoma City so I took Brent. It was a memorable night not only because it was the first time Brent met my parents, but because Ellis introduced me to the music of another terrific singer-songwriter: Christopher Williams.  I feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful friends and to have had the opportunity to hear so many incredible musicians because of Ellis’ music.  His music has brought so much joy to my life and my mission to “spread this music” continues!

My mission continued in a special way when - in 2008 - I was able to share Ellis’ music with my daughter, Olivia, while she was still in the womb!   Olivia got her first Ellis Paul CD - Dragonfly Races - when she was just 3 weeks old.  My first outing alone after Olivia’s birth was an Ellis Paul show at The Depot in Norman, Oklahoma and Ellis generously gave me the CD that night as a gift.  I knew I wanted Olivia to grow up hearing and appreciating Ellis’ music but I had NO idea how early she would learn to love it.  I mean, REALLY love it!  Just like her mother, Olivia first fell in love with Ellis’ music this year at WoodyFest.  Olivia and her cousin could not stop singing and doing the motions to “Road Trip” and thus began her obsession with Ellis Paul.  Every night before dinner she has to listen and dance to Ellis.  We had to buy a CD for every family member Olivia might be riding with… otherwise she has a meltdown! She loves all-things-Ellis.  This Christmas I am particularly grateful to the two Christmas elves (thank you Karen and Mr. Paul!) who surprised me with a gift from Santa for Olivia!  On Christmas morning Olivia will find her very own PINK Dusty the Dragonfly t- shirt – autographed by Ellis Paul - under the Christmas tree!  (I had tried to find one small enough for Olivia a few months ago without success.) The only thing that might top that surprise is if Santa delivers Ellis himself for a private concert…Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t mind either! Thank you Ellis and Santa for helping to make this Christmas extra special for Olivia!

Emily Giles
Clerk, Oklahoma House of Representatives
Oklahoma City, OK.


From the Archives

Is that Santa? Ho ho nooo.. it’s a special holiday gift from the Archives from Fan Ambassador Karen Z!  Someone get that lady some eggnog.  Hope you enjoy!

[A Note from Karen Z]

In November 1999 I was lucky enough to be in the audience of the now-defunct Cleveland venue known as The Brick Alley.  That night, WKSU recorded Ellis as he told his Christmas Tree Story and performed “Holiday Song” – both of which were part of WKSU’s Ornaments and Icing broadcast which aired for the first time a few weeks later.  For your holiday enjoyment, you can listen to the story and song until the end of the year at this link on the Ellis Paul website: Christmas Tree Story and Holiday Song.

You can also listen to the entire 2-hour Ornaments and Icing broadcast – hosted by Jim Blum - on the WKSU website at this link. (Ellis’ story and song begins at approximately 16 minutes into the second hour.)


Karen Zundel
Fan Ambassador
kmzundel@comcast.net


See you in 2011!!