Reviews
Big Hongry w/ Baghead
Daisychain – a string of daisies threaded together by their stems. Daisychain is Kootenay born and bred, Anna Katarina’s debut solo album, containing seven original songs. Katarina performs songs from a lifetime of loving and studying music. She plays guitar, and keys and sings with the confidence of a woman who truly loves what she does. Daisychain will be unveiled to the world on October 14, 2022.
Daisychain is captivating, elegant, genuine, nostalgic, seductive, sensual, and golden. Katarina’s dynamic presence on stage reflects in her music, carefully created, rehearsed, and recorded. Daisychain is music for dancing. The kind of music that makes you want to relax on the porch amidst nature, fold laundry, go on a walk, drive, make art, or pack for an upcoming adventure. Katarina is no stranger to adventure as her music suggests.
Anna Katarina’s lyrics have depth, “you’re not broken you’re just taking it hard,” from song # 4 Gracie comforts. Katarina understands what a struggle life can be, and she continues to pursue her art, inspiring up-and-coming artists to do the same. “Summertime’s come and gone, heartache round the bend. You don’t know me at all,” from her 6th song off Daisychain, Summertime Gone. Play the album as you sip coffee and look out towards the mountains and a clear blue sky. Play the album as a backdrop to your event. Or better yet go see Katarina live. Sunshine reverberates through her music. Katarina’s tour dates are available on her website.
Katarina’s diversity of sound resonates deeply in her live performances and recorded music as well as her videos, press, and merch. available to view on www.annakatarinamusic.com. Katarina’s music is passionate, delicate, and eclectic with pinches of pop, country soul, folk, and rock n’ roll. I’m so excited for her to unveil it to the world!
Katarina’s voice in Daisychain possesses wise innocence and raw talent, like a young Stevie Nicks, with an angelic and clear sound, entirely her own. Katarina’s lyrics inspire a sense of comfort like that of a long winding road through the countryside of British Columbia. It’s music to dance to, fall in love with, and enjoy simply as it is.
Album Review for Daisychain by Anna Katarina
Album out on October 14, 2022
Small Courage: A Queer Memoir Of Finding Love And Conceiving Family By Jane Byers – Reviewed By Stephanie Henriksen
Published by Caitlin Press, 2020
Small Courage: A Queer Memoir of Finding Love and Conceiving Family is a story that explores the author’s multi-faceted identity: a writer, poet, athlete, mother and lesbian, partner to a loving wife, and a member of an unconditionally loving non – traditional family. Her memoir challenges the popular notion that an ideal family consists of a mom and a dad, inspiring readers to live a life that is honest about who they are and not what society expects them to be. Organized as a series of personal essays with a sprinkle of poetry, the memoir reveals her journey toward finding her true identity, including finding the woman of her dreams and adopting magnetic twins, a boy, and a girl, children of color.
Small Courage offers a refreshingly feminist perspective by sharing intimate details of Byers’ experience as a young woman growing up in Ontario in the ’60s and ’70s, discovering she was queer, and keeping aspects about herself hidden because society had yet to catch up. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada on July 20, 2005, and the author and her wife, filmmaker Amy Bohigian, celebrated by getting married.
Although this story is not told chronologically, Byers is able to weave together chapters of her life in a way that makes sense, asking for empathy from her readers. The adoption process in Canada has systemic biases: Byers and her wife were at one point told they were not the ideal family. The twins, Franny and Theo, were previously fostered by Evangelical Christians who were skeptical of Byers and Bohigian early in the adoption process, but upon observing them as people with real feelings and honest intentions, they changed their opinion. The memoir offers a story of love and resilience; a coming-out story that also explores the author’s tumultuous relationship with a member of her very own family.
Byers has spent most of her career helping people with disabilities and injuries to overcome barriers to employment, so while she knows love isn’t always enough, it is certainly a great place to start. For any parent or anyone considering adoption, or anyone who is a minority or just curious about the topics presented in the memoir, Small Courage will make you feel comforted. It will also make you believe in the power of love and adoption; how it is possible to change a child’s life by offering them a home. Overall, this memoir offers proof that diversity in love is a pleasant reality and that usually our greatest lessons come from our family members.
Available online via Caitlin Press and via your local independent bookstores.
About The Author
Stephanie lives in Ymir, British Columbia with her dog Hugo.