Butterfly Boucher utterly inspires me. I stumbled on her from a mention on Adie's myspace, and fell in love instantly. Her music is so ALIVE, it dances and glows and pours out life. And she's a nuevogypsy, which is probably what I love most about her, she understands wanderlust, feels it, lives it. There is something exciting about leaving everything behind / there is something deep and pulling, leaving everything behind / something about having everything you think you'll ever need sitting in the seat next to you -- yes, yes, yes. She captured it, right there. And she creates ALL of her music -- lyrics, vocals, and ALL instruments, writing and playing -- and she taught herself everything. She includes (lifted from her site) "scores of instruments: guitars, drums, bass, piano, vibes, organ, mellotron, toy piano (on "Soul Back"), Field Organ, banjo, and various percussion (including planks of wood, a tympani, a steel wheel, and a hammer (on "Busy"). " Just -- DAMN. And there's this indefinable something, this... magic, that draws me intensely. One of her songs, "Gift Wrap" sounds like it could have come straight out of my heart, unfiltered. I can't stop listening to it when I'm online (it's playing on my myspace), and it plays through my head all day when I'm not listening to it.

I gave in this afternoon and bought (via itunes) her album, which tragically doesn't have Gift Wrap because that's only on the UK version *grrrr* but I am holding out hope that the CD Nisha promised to send me ('cause she's amazingly generous) will have it, otherwise I will have to hunt it down.

"I felt guilt the other day 'cause I had a flashback of mixing water and sugar together and attracting ants and then I would burn them with a magnifying glass, and you know, 10 years later, I've got guilt about it. So now I'm making bridges for 'em, but they don't want to use them; they're obviously still very bitter about about... about what I did. Oh well, you do what you can!" -- from her 'epk' video (what is an epk???), she was actually making bridges. ♥

"If you're able to play all the instruments, then why not, you know? Even if you're not as good as the next person, there's a flavour and there's a character about it."

"Why I make music is very simple, really. I want to inspire other people to do what they want to do."

What makes things important? "When loved ones, dreams or hearts are involved. Especially if all of the above!"

These photos do not do her justice. She is so incredibly captivating on video. She's so full of life! and she's utterly gorgeous.

Thank God for passionate people! With all of my being, thank you Butterfly for being, and thank you to every person who lives deeply, intensely, truly, passionately. You give me so much; I can't even express it. I feel more spiritually alive today than I have in a long time. ♥