Red Necks, Too Many Veggie Burgers and Swingers

Well a lot to catch up on.

1)All of the Prince Albert gigs fell through, weird
2)Where is the decent food in SK and MB? aaarrggh

Wrap up since last entry;

Saturday 4th August, was meant to be Beach Bash but fell through so we played in front of a nice block of toilets next to the beach. Turned out ok considering we slept in a fleabag, smoke ridden hotel in Regina the night before and hadn't fully gained the use of our lungs until many hours after the show but hey what can you do?

Sunday 5th August Moose Mountain Park

This was pretty fun even though we played a game of right speaker on, right speaker off for most of the show. Audience fun, had a nice meal afterwards and met some lovely people.

Monday 6th August The Slice Lethbridge

This was a fun gig and I think the 6 people in attendance really enjoyed it too.
It was the first night I played glockenspiel and maybe the last? Nice people in Lethbridge and the Ramada was nice enough to let us stay in their suite as well.

Wednesday 8th August Qualico Patio Series Sherwood Park

This was a really fun gig apart from the dodgy sound problems. Met John Wort Hannam and his crew, silly fellows. Nice audience. We did karaoke afterwards at the Coliseum Inn, wow I didn't think we could sound that bad and apparently the hotel have video footage, look out!

Thursday 9th August House Concert Millet AB

What an experience, I don't know if I have words for this...

Friday 10th August Interplay Festival Fort McMurray

Never shall I let Kphanie do me up so pretty in such a dangerous place with rampant men.
I was worried about my safety walking back to the hotel after the show. People weren't joking when they said there are a lot of men with too much money and time on their hands wandering the streets of McMurray and hell where is the decent food? Gig was good though, audience nice and into it. Hung out with John Wort Hannams band into the wee hours of the morning arguing about making babies and music.

Monday 13th August the Club/Exchange Regina

Fun gig with small but appreciative crowd, made some new friends who came along.
Nice place, hope we can get some more people out in the future.

Tuesday 14th August House Concert Ste Anne MB

This audience was one of the best on the tour, so into it and receptive and loved the spank me man song. Yummy food, ooh those devilled eggs were num.

Wednesday 15th August Out to Lunch series & Tryst Eatery Winnipeg

Never thought the lunchtime gig would start, grumpy old bastard sound man with something up his anal passage preventing him from being civil and 18 people wandering around seemingly not getting things done, shitting around really. Finally got to play with a shorter set and it was fun, crowd into it as much as people in offices can be you know, with the spanking solo and all, probably a bit of a shock coming out of the call centre, and seeing that. Funny band on afterwards, you would never have known they had a new album coming out in a few days, only mentioned it like 6 times during the set.....lol

Nightime gig was good but weird, audience talked a lot through the set which I am no longer used to as Canadians are usually very polite and don't do that but they still seemed to like it with the positive comments after the show. Yummy food too and lovely venue. KPhanies family came along too which was nice.

Friday 17th August Field Festival Craik SK

Oh my god, I sang a whole set with tonsilitis, though I didn't know what was wrong with me at the time. Sang my little vocal chords out until they became inflamed apparently. Luckily for me, we didn't have a gig the next night but the show went very well, we had a lot of fun and the festival organisers also loved it. Unfortunately one of the bands had an accident on their way back to Calgary after the festival and several members are in hospital, Ibo and Kindred, so we send them all our love and best wishes.....

Highlights from last bunch of shows?

Shaq who we met at toilet block show for letting us stay at his lovely house twice in Regina, healthfood stores whenever we could find them, sleep whenever we could get it, chloe in saskatoon for letting us stay at her house twice, saskatoon: awesome city, all the differerent folks from different cultures coming to house concert in millet, the devilled eggs at the ste anne show, the lovely folks at almost home and simply on the seine b&b's in Winnipeg, having my own room in fort mcmurray, making it safely back to the room in fort mcmurray lol, the enthusiasm of the folks at the millet show, the threat of being arrested for hanging out with cute 17 year old fiddle players at the Field Fest, awesome bands at Field Fest, hanging with John Wort Hannams mad crew

Non highlights? being sick for 8 hours yesterday after having a reaction to my medication

Wanna see some photos from the tour? They are here! Make sure you copy the link and paste as I can't remember how to do the hmtl to get it to pop up correctly at the moment;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34150&l=7bec6&id=555910480

Saskatch and back again....

Big crazy wonderful week!

wrap up from previous week;

Friday 27th July House Concert @ Scarecrow B&B McBride

We played and awesome fun show on an old wagon stage from 80 years ago that bounced when we did. Lovely crowd, wonderful beds and dinner.

Saturday 28th July Sasquatch Festival Easyford AB

This has definitely been one of my favourite gigs so far. Gig was fun but my fave part was the sweat hut and jumping in the river afterwards and the new friends I made. I feel like this festival woke me up from the sleep I have been in for the past year, I can't even explain what I mean but it is definitely partly surroundings, partly the company. What a magical weekend!



Wednesday 1st August Blue Chair Cafe Edmonton AB



Loads of fun as per usual and some of the Sasquatch crowd were there to make it even more fu n! Love Edmonton, did a little interview with the Vue too, will post when I get home. Here is a photo from the gig taken by Tracey Kolenchuk. You can see many more http://www.pbase.com/tracyk/2007_08_01_emaline_delapaix

Thursday 2nd August Calories Saskatoon SK

Played a nice show at this lovely restaurant and bakery, yummy food and cool people, even some familiar faces. What a darn cool city SK is!

Highlights from the last week?

Sweat hut and late night river swimming by moonlight, banjo and homemade wine, cute danish boys, nakedness at sasquatch (though not me as I am too lame), seeing Di in Calgary, crazy tuesday night Calgary drinks, talking and laughter, weirdass Prairie town names, Regina welcomes you sign (photo coming soon!), Saskatoon!, meeting many wonderful people, Edmonton, Grays Haven B&B.....more coming soon

On the road again....

Wow getting back into the saddle this year seems hard.
We have been on the road for about 8 days and it already feels like weeks and I am exhausted, though some of that is my own fault: drinking too much in Prince Rupert, every year without fail this has happened.

A quick recap:

Wed 18th July Lorenzo's Cafe Enderby

Nice first show, with no KPhanie but still fun.
Smelly dog, playing whatever lola wants with DMWTP, chillin out on deck under stars afterwards with Lorne

Thur 19th July Flour Meadow Bakery Clearwater

First show with KPhanie! She flew in from Paris via Quebec.
She was picked up by a baker named Sharon in a pick up truck in Kamloops for us as we couldn't get there. Fun show, lovely people, saw a wonderful mullet, yuuummmy cake! Stayed at Sams beautiful beautiful house. So good to have Steph back.

Fri 20th July Cafe Voltaire Prince George

Crazy night, played just before new Harry Potter book came out, people dressed up like maniacs and two people dressed as some horse creature! Don't laugh, I don't know the name of it. Excellent show and went out for a few drinks afterwards. Used our sleeping mats for the first time, stayed with Eric and Neda who made us feel very welcome.

Sat 21st July Happy Jack's Pub Houston

One of my fave shows so far. Local Keith sure did like the Spank Me Man song, has a button to prove it. Lovely to see a few familiar faces. Meg from DMWTP got up and played some electric guitar on a few of my songs as Gracey the violinist couldn't make the show, loads of fun. I love Houston.

Sun 22nd July CafeNara Terrace

A delight as per usual. Several familiar faces, the Spank Me Man buttons were also popular here. Yummy meringue and lovely chilled audience.

Tue 24th July Cowpuccino's

I love Prince Rupert! Loads of fun, lots of ogling guys.
Met a photographer and biologist and had way too many drinks after the show. Argued with a drug salesman about drug companies while drinking a chocolate martini, hippocrate much? Oh and played a lunch time show at a Rotary meeting earlier in the day, that was strange but cool, they seemed to like it.

Highlights?

We have seen two bears so far!
Had a really cool night last monday with my girls on our day off. We made Cat into a gimp with electric tape and Kphanie invented crab rap!
our mascot is Toro Taurus, he hangs from the front mirror and has a cape.

More silliness very soon!

em

Piano Piano Banjo

Last night we had dinner at a local diner that's just opened; french fries, coke and a grilled cheese sandwich. We finished off our meal with a leisurely stroll on the pier and met a funny fellow who lives in a very very small shed which he has set up as his home including the tiniest kitchen you have ever seen but room enough for the delicious nut wine he shared with us and his various musical instruments including a banjo and bed. Turns out he just returned from Mexico, so jealous and is a musician so I am going to visit him again, maybe I will take CJ down to meet him next week. We finished our evening with cheesecake and bread and butter pudding at a lovely pub on the main street which was surprisingly stylish upstairs; who would have known.

Speaking of pudding, I am starting to turn into one spending so much time sitting on the piano bench. I am currently working on "The Power of Orange Knickers" by Tori Amos and "In Search of Peter Pan" by Kate Bush. This new found freedom of playing an instrument is really lovely, well sort of playing ;) ah but I will get there. You think I would have started with something a little easier like Sarah McLachlan or something. Not that I like her music much but her piano parts are pretty simple.I am also working on a couple of tunes that still won't let themselves be completed including " the romantic novel me" which I am pretty excited about. Definitely got some early Tori Amos influences and well as my own sound on piano which is starting to really come out with all of the playing.

Ok, back to work!

Recording Update

Sunday was spent recording the acoustic guitar, double bass and percussion/kit for Reins, Down This Road and Silently Sweet and it's coming along nicely.Playing with CJ is a delight, she's so easy to get along with and a wonderful guitarist, can't wait for you all to hear the tracks and her playing with me live in the next few months.

forgiveness by cable - unfinished spoken word piece

they show it on tv
family, once rotten now sweet
the young actor plays out forgiveness
like its so easy
like letting go or something like that
and the old man smiles, no he was never a bad man
he didn't mean to break skin or batter bones
just made some mistakes
how can you hate him for mistakes

when his hip doesn't work anymore
and he carries a cane to help him move about the apartment
on tired feet
legs that once ran faster than little feet
fingers that once teared at hair
fists that once demanded respect
lips that sprung forth words
piece of shit
worthless
you are NOTHING
dirty whore

so when it is my time
will I sit by his bed
or just walk away?
because forgiveness by cable makes it seem so easy

.......................................................All Writing Copyright © Emaline Delapaix 2007

Soon I Shall Write

We just moved and I have been getting to know the new house and electric piano but I promise to write a lot more soon. EU/UK tour postponed until Winter or Spring, not sure but still coming just a little later than originally expected. But a lovely Western Canada tour planned, dates starting to trickle in little by little. Lovely new musicians on this side of the country, much news. More soon :)

New CD Peculiar Places

From Jan onwards I will be recording and finishing my first full length album finally, after such a long time, but I think it will be worth the wait and I feel like I am finally ready to put such a big piece of me out into the universe.

The CD is called "Peculiar Places" and will feature some of the tracks you might have heard on myspace including Bug Song, Enough For Me and High but will also include some newer ones I wrote in the past few years including "Friday Morning Lullabies" which will feature the lovely Sahra Featherstone on harp.

This CD is the story of my music, the people I have met, experiences I have had, from when I started 5 years ago until now. It will feature many dear friends, fellow musicians and some wonderful surprises and will be something you have never heard before. It's a mix of folk, jazz, intelligent pop/rock with a little latin, flamenco, roots and cabaret thrown in, with loads of piano, acoustic guitar, strings and celtic harp.

Check out the beautiful back cover that a local artist called Ray Sun did for me.

More updates as they come :)

What I did on Christmas Day, The Homeless, Bowen Island

This year I decided I was going to be less wasteful and less selfish and spent all of christmas eve with my partner cooking food to hand out the following day to the homeless in Vancouver. We managed to find two other kind souls willing to help and the 4 of us chipped in and made christmas lunch bags with lovely warm potatoes in their jackets, mushroom nut loaf, fruit, juice, chocolate and homemade mince tarts.We handed most of the food out on West Hastings and man was it an eye opener. I had mixed feelings; both sadness and happiness, that I could make a few people smile and also, I am glad that I went out on that street and and faced my stupid fear, of it being dangerous and not a place I would want to be. All the people that we handed out food to were friendly, thankful and there were definitely a few characters, especially the dude smoking a a cigarette and reading maxim in his sleeping bag LOL!We promised we would do this more often, not just on christmas.
On Christmas Day we had the same food we gave out and it was delicious and the best christmas in a long time for me. We ate at the house I am house sitting on Bowen Island, looking out onto the harbour. It couldn't have been better.
I took some photos today, so hope to have some up soon.I hope you have had a good holiday and hey, if you have any left over food from the festivities, why not drop it at your local food bank? You can find a bunch of them on yahoo or google....
em

The World Through One Eye

We got to Vancouver just over a month ago and it's been pretty tough. No drinking water, power outages and storms and 3 eye operations later, the last to fix what the first Dr screwed up it's hard to be positive but one thing is I have an eye patch, how cool is that?
I am in bed, as per usual, seems to be a running theme with me lately, and no not for any funny business, just resting and sleeping a lot. I have managed to practise my guitar a lot and added some links to my myspace page that matter to me. Once I am better I may even go out into the city and be a bit of an activist helping out handing out flyers about KFC's cruelty, but first things first.
They say there might be another really bad storm tonight, puhlease not now, it's not fun sitting darkness with one eye and a bad back in bed with no net or lights to read. I guess the planet is finally telling us how it feels. Is anyone listening? I hope so, if you are check out the link on my profile for an incovenient truth and pledge to see it and make sure you do, "hint" you can watch it on youtube.com for free in a bunch of sections.I am have been listening to a lot of Sophie Zelmani lately, she is nice during surgery and the wonderfully talented and still very sexy Tim Finn's new CD "Imaginary Kingdom" which has some really wonderful ballads on it. You know he was most favourite singer musician when I was 3. I used to stand in front of the TV enthralled by Mr Finn in Split Enz and wanted so much to be like him one day, he is my longest crush ;PSo it's christmas time again eh?If I am well enough this year we are going to volunteer some of our time at a local homeless shelter or something similar and pledge not to buy a lot of crap as we don't need it.
Over the holidays I will be house/dog sitting on a local island which will be really lovely, inspiring and restful I am sure after all this eye and back crap. I will be looking after a lovely dog with a big personality. The island looks so beautiful, I wish I could live in a place like that. I will take some photos when I am there and put them up when I can.
Ok so I should be the good little patient and eat and take my medication.
I hope you and yours are all well and remember this christmas week will be hard for a lot of people out there with less than us. Perhaps you too could spare an hour to help with a local charity gathering money, or helping with christmas lunches? Imagine how much your time would mean to those in need....xemaline