Here's something you might be interested in.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/28/30447/
Just before 8:00am Tuesday morning, August 28, local harpist Kelsea Rae Little (the Wrong Trousers) was struck by a car while in a crosswalk, walking to work. "I went up onto the car and my head smacked the glass and completely cracked the woman's windshield, and I flew to the ground where I landed on my legs," she reports.
"I was taken to the ER in an ambulance on a stretcher and the whole shebang. For a brief moment when they sat me up to do a chest scan, my vision rapidly began to blur and my hearing started to fade. I honestly thought my brain was bleeding and that I was about to die. It was only the blood rushing back into my head but I was so frightened."
She reports that she's well on the way to recovery. "My scans have been coming back fine and my family is here. Lots and lots of bruising but I think I'll be okay. It was just one of those things that make you realize how precious life is and how happy you are to be alive. I try to remember this daily, but today I am fully feeling what I can only characterize as gratitude."
Little started her San Diego music career in 2006, with local teen folk-rock trio the Wrong Trousers, who I maintain were the most charismatic musical trio ever to emerge from America's Finest City. Their jaw-dropping acoustic performance of the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” at Balboa Park went viral, gathering over 678,000 YouTube views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSUX9byu6NY
“When the Wrong Trousers played at the FM 94/9 Independence Jam, it was so thrilling to be a part of a festival. I pretended it was Coachella, which it is my ultimate goal to play, and the crowd was extremely supportive. They even had us sign things and take pictures after, and our stuff was at the merch booth. A real live merch booth!”
After that band’s indefinite hiatus, she decided to venture out on her own. “My music sounds like Joanna Newsom meets Wilco meets Gershwin meets Rilo Kiley,” she says. Among the instruments she plays is a large concert harp, which she first picked up -- or rather sat down next to -- when she was eight years old.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/30/30571/
Asked what cover song is hardest to play on the harp, she says “Anything with a lot of key changes. With the pedal harp, you make your sharps and flats by moving one through seven of the foot pedals up or down. So, say I was covering ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which I’ve been working on, my feet are working more than my hands.”
In early 2011, Little announced “I got signed by a label...Look for my first professionally recorded solo album in summer of 2011.” The label, Aural Gravy Records, released her debut album Personal Myth on CD and via digital download in December 2011.
“The album title [Personal Myth] is basically a term I’ve coined for the way I experience the world, a projection of a persona, befitting for different times and places. But, after awhile, I lose sight of where my real self begins and the fabricated one ends, so in a sense I become mythic to myself. Personal myth.”
Recorded at local Cabana Recording Studio with Anthony “Twon” Ridenhour and David Miano, two singles were released with non-album B-sides “Us Stew” and “Debacle.” Wrong Trousers bassist Mack Leighton plays on four of the tracks.
“On the album,” says Little, “I play concert harp, piano, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, ukulele, main vocals, backup vocals, various kitchen tools, and maybe a few other things. On electric bass we had James Albers and on string bass Mack Leighton. Wyatt Stone played electric and acoustic guitar, pedal steel, mandolin, and backup vocals. José Guerrero played kick-ass drums, Sean Burdeaux [Paper Forest] played electric guitar and backup vocals, and Tasha Locke played four different-sized saxophones.”
Little's backup band The 78s includes drummer Jose Guerrero and bassist Michael Reed.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/28/30448/
RELATED STORIES ON THE READER SITE:
Blurt: "Pleasant Odd Fashion" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/jul/12/pleasant-odd-fashion/
Jam Session: "Kelsea is a Little Occupied at Downtown Rallies" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jam-session/2011/oct/20/kelsea-is-a-little-occupied-at-downtown-rallies/
Blurt: "She's a Little Bit Downtown" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/oct/26/blurt-little-occupied/
"The Kelsea Little Story, Starring Zooey Deschanel" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/nov/22/musician-interviews-kelsea-little/
"Kelsea Rae Little: Rocking the Harp" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jam-session/2012/apr/20/kelsea-rae-little-rocking-the-harp/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/28/30447/
Just before 8:00am Tuesday morning, August 28, local harpist Kelsea Rae Little (the Wrong Trousers) was struck by a car while in a crosswalk, walking to work. "I went up onto the car and my head smacked the glass and completely cracked the woman's windshield, and I flew to the ground where I landed on my legs," she reports.
"I was taken to the ER in an ambulance on a stretcher and the whole shebang. For a brief moment when they sat me up to do a chest scan, my vision rapidly began to blur and my hearing started to fade. I honestly thought my brain was bleeding and that I was about to die. It was only the blood rushing back into my head but I was so frightened."
She reports that she's well on the way to recovery. "My scans have been coming back fine and my family is here. Lots and lots of bruising but I think I'll be okay. It was just one of those things that make you realize how precious life is and how happy you are to be alive. I try to remember this daily, but today I am fully feeling what I can only characterize as gratitude."
Little started her San Diego music career in 2006, with local teen folk-rock trio the Wrong Trousers, who I maintain were the most charismatic musical trio ever to emerge from America's Finest City. Their jaw-dropping acoustic performance of the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” at Balboa Park went viral, gathering over 678,000 YouTube views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSUX9byu6NY
“When the Wrong Trousers played at the FM 94/9 Independence Jam, it was so thrilling to be a part of a festival. I pretended it was Coachella, which it is my ultimate goal to play, and the crowd was extremely supportive. They even had us sign things and take pictures after, and our stuff was at the merch booth. A real live merch booth!”
After that band’s indefinite hiatus, she decided to venture out on her own. “My music sounds like Joanna Newsom meets Wilco meets Gershwin meets Rilo Kiley,” she says. Among the instruments she plays is a large concert harp, which she first picked up -- or rather sat down next to -- when she was eight years old.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/30/30571/
Asked what cover song is hardest to play on the harp, she says “Anything with a lot of key changes. With the pedal harp, you make your sharps and flats by moving one through seven of the foot pedals up or down. So, say I was covering ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which I’ve been working on, my feet are working more than my hands.”
In early 2011, Little announced “I got signed by a label...Look for my first professionally recorded solo album in summer of 2011.” The label, Aural Gravy Records, released her debut album Personal Myth on CD and via digital download in December 2011.
“The album title [Personal Myth] is basically a term I’ve coined for the way I experience the world, a projection of a persona, befitting for different times and places. But, after awhile, I lose sight of where my real self begins and the fabricated one ends, so in a sense I become mythic to myself. Personal myth.”
Recorded at local Cabana Recording Studio with Anthony “Twon” Ridenhour and David Miano, two singles were released with non-album B-sides “Us Stew” and “Debacle.” Wrong Trousers bassist Mack Leighton plays on four of the tracks.
“On the album,” says Little, “I play concert harp, piano, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, ukulele, main vocals, backup vocals, various kitchen tools, and maybe a few other things. On electric bass we had James Albers and on string bass Mack Leighton. Wyatt Stone played electric and acoustic guitar, pedal steel, mandolin, and backup vocals. José Guerrero played kick-ass drums, Sean Burdeaux [Paper Forest] played electric guitar and backup vocals, and Tasha Locke played four different-sized saxophones.”
Little's backup band The 78s includes drummer Jose Guerrero and bassist Michael Reed.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/28/30448/
RELATED STORIES ON THE READER SITE:
Blurt: "Pleasant Odd Fashion" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/jul/12/pleasant-odd-fashion/
Jam Session: "Kelsea is a Little Occupied at Downtown Rallies" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jam-session/2011/oct/20/kelsea-is-a-little-occupied-at-downtown-rallies/
Blurt: "She's a Little Bit Downtown" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/oct/26/blurt-little-occupied/
"The Kelsea Little Story, Starring Zooey Deschanel" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/nov/22/musician-interviews-kelsea-little/
"Kelsea Rae Little: Rocking the Harp" http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jam-session/2012/apr/20/kelsea-rae-little-rocking-the-harp/