Pages - Menu

Monday, June 15, 2009

Candye Kane Is Our Superhero!


photos: Alan Mercer Lighting & Styling: Eric Venturo

Candye Kane is a one of a kind performer, entertainer, singer, sage, and inspirational leader. You can say she is an exceptional human being. You can also call her a cancer survivor. Less than a year after a very complicated and risky surgery she has recorded her ninth full length CD entitled ‘SUPERHERO.’ The music shimmers with bluesy passion thanks to a pairing with Laura Chavez as a co-producer.
I had the pleasure to photograph Candye’s last CD cover ‘Guitar’d & Feather’d’ so I wanted to work with her again. Fortunately she felt the same way. We were lucky enough to get Eric Venturo, who’s also a big fan of Candye’s music, to help us style and light these shots. This interview is slightly different than most of the others because I don’t even ask Candye a question until the end. This was just our conversation being recorded.

AM: Tell me about your new CD!

CK: Well of course I’m really excited about it. A year ago I didn’t know if I was ever going to record again. This is the first album I am producing myself (with Laura). All the other albums had outside producers. This is my ninth recording. I just wanted to produce myself this time. This is a special album since I didn’t know if I would be here.

AM: You must believe in a higher power.

CK: I was talking to my good friend Penn Gillette the other day. He is an atheist. He always gets mad when I say my life is blessed. I was trying to explain to him that blessings don’t have to come from an external source. You can create your own blessings by your attitude.

AM: More people need to know this.

CK: I talk to people about these things all the time. We have a tendency to plant a seed and then when it doesn’t grow as fast as we want… we think it won’t ever work. But if you keep watering that seed and giving it what it needs to grow eventually something comes up, and that’s the thing. We give up too quickly because we are all so used to everything fast. We use the drive through Starbucks!

AM: You have a lot of wisdom.

CK: I believe everyone has this thing inside them that they can draw on and capitalize on it when they really need it. We’re just all too busy looking for a quick fix and that will not help us. So I really think it’s a combination of all these things, a positive attitude, being really determined enough to radically change my diet and lifestyle.

AM: You look simply amazing.

CK: Thanks I am wearing jeans. I haven’t worn them since junior high.

AM: You look like you are in high school now.

CK: Oh thanks. I feel really good. It’s a little odd because I loved my big body. It feels so stable. That’s the only real reason I liked it. Sometimes I don’t feel as strong as I was.
If I was somewhere walking down a dark street all 280 pounds, and there was a guy, I didn’t worry because I knew I could just sit on him. I never felt vulnerable, so that has changed. I am smaller so I feel vulnerable, but I don’t really live in fear.

AM: What do you enjoy the most about being smaller?

CK: It’s fun to be smaller and be able to sit in an airplane seat and not feel the person next to me freaking out.

AM: You are a phoenix rising from the ashes.

CK: Everyone tells me that because I am a Scorpio and we either rise to the challenge or get caught up in our own quagmire of shit. I’ve always been the kind of person who reinvented herself. That’s what I’m doing now.

photo: Alan Mercer Lighting & Styling: Eric Venturo


To learn more about Candye Kane and her music visit http://www.candyekane.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment