Dearest friends, fans and family,



It has been a long time coming, but I have FINALLY begun to pull up my socks and grab my business by the horns! This has been a lifelong process for me. I've been in and out of labels and tried to do it on my own, but lately I've been developing a business model for my art that is connected with a community of other artists and visionaries, and my future is starting to take shape!!


First of all, on May 21, 2010, there was an incredible undertaking at the Dream Cafe, where 150 people participated in my first live recording project. The project was hosted by Penticton's eccentric top music organizer, Pierre Coutor. I was joined by my incredibly talented brother and vocalist, Chris Neufeld. During our performance, there was a live portrait of me painted by Penticton's most sought after visual artist, Jenny Long. The project was recorded and engineered by my favorite indie producer, Corwin Fox. The concert was all captured on film by a 3 man crew of super talented film-makers.

This evening was recorded in history and never brought to finish!! Many of you participated in the special night and many more of you have been hounding me regarding the details of this project and when things will be brought to fruition. The answer is: JULY!!!

When I originally planned the details of the Ari Neufeld: Live at the Dream Cafe project, I hadn't factored in many of the crucial follow-up costs of production, post production and press expenses. Due to this lack of foresight, the project has switched hands with several producers and executive producers and has been put to the back-burner too many times already in the last 12 months. I've finally found a solution to my set-backs and have put together a small team of producers to help me finish it.

Our finished product will not only be a CD of mostly previously unreleased (and awesome) material, but will also feature a full DVD with video content and a small hand-made book documenting with humor, photography and sketches (by Ari) the journey to its release.

I'm not only excited about this project finally getting the finishing touches it deserves, but giving my friends an opportunity to participate more in the process. This is a "pay it forward" concept that artists have been modeling, to foster deeper connectivity to the people that really care about the content, and I've thought of a host of creative opportunities you can pledge help to and greatly ease the strain of the project's expenses. Your opportunity can be as little or as much as you are interested in participating. And the personalized rewards are not only valuable, but super fun and unique.

Many of you may not be aware that I am a visual and conceptual artist as well as a musician, so many of these opportunities involve some of my other passions, including drawing, wood-burning, rusted cement wall hangings, and (!!!) cooking.


Click here to get involved.

 Well.... what a rainy disposition to have to move at the pace of the everything in the rhythm of life!!

Can you believe I literally thought my greatest accomplishment would have happened before the age of 20? Isn't that just ridiculous arrogance? Crazy! Here I am, as an artist, a musician, writer, worker, father and husband, every previous year is an embarrassment, because of where I am and where I've come through to get there. Winter and the imminent approach of settling into a state of social hibernation always daunts me with ghosts of my failures and this deeper sense of longing for what may never be. This year, I felt so close to finally realizing my career and destiny not only in the inception sort of way (no relation whatsoever to the Leo movie I still haven't seen), but in the real, grit and bone, greenback in the "flush and over" account. The notion of still struggling daily to figure out my character and what I represent as an artist is frustrating and yet, quietly, somehow a daily mantra that brings on a rush of peace and patience. Mostly just because I want to do it right..... and right always takes time. There's Alberta Premium, which is good for a night, and then there's the $280 bottle of 18 year that takes you far away to some distant Highland clime, swirling about the rocks with the mists of the ancients. I want to be the latter. But I don't, you know. This waiting is eating away at my innards.

I want to feel it right NOW!