Magic and Friendship

Today a dear friend will arrive from a tiny island in Canada to visit me. She is a singer/musician with a beautiful soul and will join me to sing back up vocals for a couple of shows this week in Berlin and Hamburg, so I hope some of you get to meet her. She was there for me through one of the hardest winters of my life. We often spend so much time searching for magic but fail to see it when it is right there in front of us in the form of loyalty and friendship. If we could just open our eyes.

May in the Springtime

3rd May - Tonfink Kulturcafe & Bar Luebeck

Ooh what a lovely find this place is and people actually listen to the music. Tonfink is relatively new and the organizers were so hospitable, preparing me a vegan dinner, organizing an amazing e piano and     generally just being very positive and welcoming. I think Luebeck really needs a place like this that is a bit more sophisticated, offering a space for singer songwriters and more acoustic bands to play. I wish them all the best and I hope I can bring my band with me next time I go there.

5th May - Cakes n Treats Dortmund (lunchtime show)

Always a treat to visit and play for these folks. This time no PA so it was pretty acoustic and intimate but the audience were lovely and I left stuffed full of goodies. Till the next time.

5th May - Kulturcafe Litchung Koeln

I have to be honest and say that I expected something completely different from this venue as for me it was more of a bar and less of a Kulturcafe. I felt a lot of the audience that night were quite conservative and perhaps my music was too intense and challenging in a way. I think they probably would have been happier with upbeat easy going music, not songs dealing with depression, sexuality, animal rights and honesty. The owners were very nice though and took care of me.

17th May - Kino Atelier / Cafe Haag Tuebingen

Hurrah, what a joy it was to play for you Tuebingen!
This cinema/cafe bar looks like you have stepped back in time to the 50's and audience ranges from young students to men in their 50's and middle aged couples and they all come to listen to the music, respectfully and with an open heart. A very welcoming place and a beautiful town. I spent the evening strolling through the old streets in the warm summer air with friends and got to try more than one or two of the local drinks. Can't wait to return.

19th May - Vegan Street Day Stuttgart

I really love this festival. The people who organize it are dedicated to animal rights and a little bit mad. Unfortunately it pissed down with rain so this year I didn't get to see much but I am always glad to be part of it and look forward to the Dortmund Vegan Street Day in August.

Eastern Germany Tour Part 1

Thursday 25th April - Marshalls Mum, Leipzig

A very intimate show with a very nice listening audience with the tables decorated with painted teacups full of tea and plates of apple pie, cheese cake and cupcakes, all vegan! If you're in Leipzig check out this lovely little place. It's worth a visit!

Friday 26th April - Secret show, Leipzig

Biggest living room show ever in a fantastic old house in a cool area of Leipzig.
I started off the show by kicking over a glass in the crowd. After that no one tried anything silly with me ;P
Great audience, nice feeling and fun to share the show with Berlin band Susie Asado who did great stuff with an acoustic drum kit and a ukulele.

Sat 27th April - Wohnzimmer Klub, Dresden

Living room esque show in this very friendly club in Dresden. We battled a bit with the sound but the folks who came up afterwards were nice and we danced the hours away with the DJ later on including meeting the German Louis Theroux on the dance floor. I hope you're not offended Dave.

Sun 28th April - House Concert, Magdeburg

A very nice living room show in Magdeburg with participation by the house cats.
It was nice to come back to Magdeburg and play a positive show after the last one which was a bit weird.
See you again in June Magdeburg at the Vegan Festival!

Buy a CD and help a Horse Raise Money for the RR Animal Refuge!

Hey friends! There is an animal shelter with over 400 animals run by one selfless woman by the name of Rose in Ontario Canada. Rose's water well has run dry so she has to truck in water for the animals and is in desperate need of funds to continue doing this. Until the 13th July I will be offering 10% off everything in my store if you put in the discount code: waterforanimals and I will donate 10% of the sales to Rose. If you were thinking of buying a CD for a friend or downloading my new EP, here is your chance to get a discount and help a worthy cause at the same time. You can also find out more and donate directly to the RR Refuge at http://www.refugerr.org/

Thank you so much!

14 Shows in 18 Days Tour RECAP

14 shows in 18 days. All solo with my UK singer songwriter friend Karl Scott except for the last one where I met up with my guitarist Karsten Lipp. Yep, I am insane.

Tue 5th June - Electric House Concert Bad Segeberg

Ah it's funny when things don't turn out at all how you envisioned them. This was completely different in my head. Not bad, just different. Not sure they appreciated me singing about masturbation, self harm or my ex girlfriend though I think the lovey dovey adele like one was ok ;) They loved Karl. We love you Karl!

Wed 6th June - Pilgerhalle Luebeck

Lovely space, lovely acoustics and lovely folk but Luebeck, what's up with the weather eh?

Thu 7th/Fri 8th June - Cafe Frieda Insel Poel

When we first drove up the drive way Karl and I were like WTF? is this a private house? But it turned out to be a really great gig. For 2 days we set up camp outside and played for all the tourists. I sold out of my CD's each day, and had to make more. Yummy food and pretty town :)

Sat 9th June - Kulturbar Greifswald

It's always nice to see Tiger and play in his nice bar. He also made us a lovely dinner with his family. His daughter is super cute. The bar was a little quiet that night but a friendly audience none the less and we stayed with super cool couch surfers including having a beach picnic the next day.

Wed 13th June - Kaffee Schwarz Leipzig

Fussball :(
Bit of a weird gig...weird atmosphere and a few weird people, not bad just weird. How many times can I say weird? 5 I guess. Let's try again next time without the fussball shall we?

Thu 14th June - Tiki Taky Prague

Prague you're completely mad but I like you. Super fun gig. Super mental audience. Thanks for forcing me to play 'down this road' after so long. Nice to see my long lost old flatmate from London Vendula. See you next time!

Sat 16th June - Veganmania Vienna

Nice generous festival people as per usual. Nice audience, excellent food and thanks for all the free veggie things I took away. Oh and Vienna, it sucked that you wouldn't let us leave the city for 90 min the following morning to get to Linz because of a motor cycle parade. WTF?

Sun 17th June - Bagua Linz

Funny how people are usually wrong when they tell you certain places will suck. WRONG! This gig turned out to be one of the nicest surprises on the tour. We played a show for clients who suffer from mental illness. Thank you for listening so intently, I was proud to play 'Turmoil of Winter' for you. Keep kicking on, I know you can be strong! x

Mon 18th June - Electric House Concert Tuebingen

One of the highlights. Fantastic house, audience and food. What a wonderful evening. Karl and I stayed up late talking with the folk who live in the house and I played a left handed guitar at 3 in the morning. Very cool. 

Tue 19th June - Electric House Concert Heidelberg

Second time back. Lovely folk as per usual and Julia is an amazing host and person. Thanks for taking such good care of us.

Wed 20th June - Caricatura Bar Kassel

Last minute surprise gig organized by couch surfer Larissa. Was really fun. Thanks for coming back and see you in July again Kassel!

Thu 21st June - Electric House Concert Halle

Haha this was a bit of a mess with people arriving so late and us having to leave early. Sorry about that but it was still fun. See you too in July Halle with Karsten!

Sat 23rd June - Wohnzimmer Liebe Hamburg

Reunited with Karsten after many weeks and for a really nice electric house concert in Hamburg. A real highlight and a nice way to end the crazy tour.

Regensburg/Nurnburg/Gorlitz & Thomann!

Part two of our March and 1 day of April duo tour was a lot of fun.

Thursday 29th March: Regensburg

We started our long weekend with a lovely show at Dombrowsky Buchhandlung in Regensburg. Ulrich and his wife are fantastic people and own a lovely bookstore in the historical centre of Regensburg where they have built a small stage for concerts and performances. Although the audience was small, we really enjoyed the gig and found the people to be super friendly and hope to come back soon. After the show we enjoyed Indian in the old town and then breakfast again in the old town in the morning. Would really like to see more next time.

Friday 30th March: Nurnburg

Ah this is where it all started for me 10 years ago when I played the Bardentreffen Festival in Nurnburg with my then guitarist/musical partner Amira. It was quite humbling to come back here and play to a much smaller audience but although small they were just as enthusiastic and warm as 10 years ago. The folks at Artefakt couldn't be nicer. A funky little bar not far from the centre of town they made us feel at home with pizza from the local Italian restaurant (vegan for me!) and lot's of smiles. Thanks to Markus for organizing this for us last minute. So far I really like the little I have seen of Nurnburg but hope next time we can get to see more of the city.



Saturday 31st March: Day off in Thomann!

Karsten and I had been dreaming of this for ages, a day spent inside the main Thomann store in Burgebrach.
It was nice to try all the guitars and keyboards, my oh my they had so many keyboards. Karsten tried some recording software and then eventually, many hours later we had to leave because we were starving and needed to make our way to Gorlitz. Yes I think we will be back in July on our next trip down that way ;)

Sunday 1st April: Gorlitz

Holy crap what a beautiful city! I am constantly surprised by these beautiful eastern German cities that no one talks about. We arrived late the night before but managed to find a very cheap and sweet pension with a small apartment in the roof (we couldn't stand up near the window) and proceeded to cross the bridge to Poland (Kartens first time!) and had a lovely meal for a ridiculas price. The food was pretty damn good and they couldn't speak so much German or English so I ended up with a weirdo sweet red wine. They were pretty stuck up actually and looked down at us...Ok we did look like we just came off the farm but so what?!?.... As an Australian who lived in Canada, I still can't get over how cheap Germany is and Poland even more so, it seems insane to me.

We spent the day exploring Gorlitz and the neighbouring town Zgorzelec in Poland. Unfortunately a lot of the shop people we met in Poland (mostly young women) were very stuck up and rude...very different than my experiences in Sczecin where people are super friendly. Maybe it's just too close to the border and they are tired of tourists...None the less we had a lovely day and enjoyed another very nice lunch by the river where the waitress was actually super sweet. We finished the evening with a lovely show at the Student club in Gorlitz organized by Jan who is a great dude. I felt the gig lacked a little energy, at first I thought it was the audience but it turns out they were in the middle of exams so can't blame them really. In the end it was really nice and another promoter asked us to come back later in the year to play his concert series which is nice. We finished the evening sitting around Jans kitchen having a late night snack and then fell asleep after a lovely, busy weekend...

What Never Happened in Osnabruck, Stays in Osnabruck

House Concert Osnabruck

Before picking Daisy up from the station, Karsten and I spent most of the day wandering the streets of Osnabruck, checking out music stores and having lunch in the beautiful old part of town. What a city! It's definitely a place I would like to get to know more in the future.

We had to cancel our Osnabruck house concert the week before because I got the flu and we rescheduled it, by the looks of it at a bad time during school exams so there was only a small audience but they were nice and all women! to Karstens delight :) What followed the concert after some people had to leave to get up early and milk cows ?!? were many hours of deterioration through alcohol playing 'I have never' in Sanja's kitchen. Didn't someone cook refried beans too? We purged all our naughty secrets and Karsten became the guardian of our toothbrushes only to leave them behind the next day when we departed. Sanja was so patient and good to us. I hope she lets us come again :)

Highlight: All the hat wearing and band bonding. I said bonding, not bondage!
Lowlight: The scattered mess next morning and ugh my head.

Nine Hours to Unna

Spatz und Wal Unna

After 9 hours of train travel, terrible small town train station pastries, Karsten nearly leaving his bag on the platform (with his laptop and EVERYTHING in it) and numerous stops in shitty grey towns we made it to Unna and discovered to our surprise that it was actually quite pretty. We dragged all our shit through the cobble stone streets (the only thing that pissed me off about the place) and made it to the Spatz und Wal, a dark ye olde British type pub with a charming waitress and a relaxed feel.  We discovered to our relief that we actually did have some accommodation arranged across the road. There had been some confusion with the booking agent who we met later in the night...seemed he had already thrown a few back before he got to the pub. Ah that's why ;P

The gig was actually really fun and it was a nice break from all the house concerts we had been playing which had started to go down hill a bit lately. I didn't mind all the talking in the audience, in fact it was refreshing and I felt free to try out some new stuff with my crappy Schlecker keyboard. Karsten also really let loose :) All in all a nice gig.

Highlight:  We especially liked it when the waitress insisted we could drink all we wanted from the bar.
Lowlight: The breakfast the pub paid €11 for in the private house of the woman we stayed at...

The road to Penkun

Homemade video up on youtube of 'The Miles' with more songs being recorded around Penkun in the coming weeks :) You can now also purchase  a digital download and physical copy of the Everyday Ordinary EP at BANDCAMP.

The Grey Seal Hunt Opens This Week in Cape Breton

The Grey Seal Hunt just opened this week in Cape Breton Canada. For those who don't know, the Canadian Seal Hunt is an inhumane and cruel practice that is subsidized by the Canadian government: your tax dollars! Quite often babies are only 12-14 days old and are killed right there in front of their mother and their fur sold to make coats and pelts. The meat and oil of the animal is barely used, in fact most of the time the carcass is left on the ice to rot!  Imagine as a mother how you would feel. I find this disgusting, and although I love Canada, am a permanent resident and feel it to be part of who I am now, I don't understand how so many Canadians can just sit by and not give a shit. I beg my Canadian friends and other folk to educate themselves about this issue and take a stand. Read the link below for more info:

http://www.harpseals.org/about_the_hunt/index.php

Greetings from the Snow Desert

What a busy month. I have played a few house concerts and a couple of clubs and it's been really great. I'm also getting to know certain cities quite well as passing through them a lot including the lovely Lubeck, Berlin and Hamburg where I even have a favourite coffee shop. Next month I do my first tour of the Netherlands and Belgium but this time I will have a violist accompanying me which is really exciting as I was getting quite bored with myself! My new friend Amon also made some nice videos from my Oldenburg show in December and you can watch 'Home' here. He will also be making the music video for 'Exorcism' in the next few months. 2011 has begun well!

room for the new

When the clock ticks over into 2011, be brave and bold, throw fear over your shoulder and do not look back. Open your mind to the possibilities of love, growth, travel and challenges for the new year. This is YOUR time. Harness it and create something beautiful...

Christmas from the Caravan

December has been a fun but tiring month. I visited Bowen Island BC and Portland with several weeks of shows in Northern Germany until a few days ago.
This was my first proper solo tour and I played some wonderful shows all over the place including house concerts, an alternative Christmas market, a TV show , music clubs and bars. During this period I also found time to move to my new home about 90 min North of Berlin, at least for the next few months. I am living in a rural village and living in a caravan I have called 'Magdalena' with my cat Reece. Over January I will play some more concerts in Northern Germany as well as work on some new songs and begin planning for the 'Exorcism' single which will be part one of a 4 CD single set for the new album. This song will also be accompanied by my first music video and will feature two non album b-sides with some very special cover art, more on that soon. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! x

notes from the road: yank cannuck: nelson bc

I am an explorer. I am brave and a little foolhardy but I live.Yesterday I left Portland where a transformation took place. Today I walked over the US/Canadian border through the snow in orthopedic shoes on my way to Nelson BC. I managed to hitchhike from Colville to the border to the surprise of the Canadian border patrol. After a few questions, they photocopied my passport and Canadian permanent resident card (as valuable as the psychic paper in Doctor Who in these parts!), wished me luck and I stood on the other side with my cardboard to hitch another ride. One car came through and they took me to Rossland. What a pretty little town! I got me some pink snow boots and an ugly hat and by the time I had walked from one end of town to the other, people were stopping me in the street asking if I was the girl who needed a ride to Nelson :) I made it to Nelson with two rides and the last guy gave me a giant box of chocolates and wished me well. He lives with his gay partner and they have a pest control business in the area. 15 years later they are still very happy. That is rare to hear these days and gives me hope.

The streets of Nelson are covered with glistening snow. Couples hold hands with puffy gloves, slipping on the sidewalk but smiling. I really like it here. Why did I move to Toronto last year instead? Was it really for the promise of love with a self centred broke comedian or was it that I felt that I had run out of options and needed to find a good job and create some stability? Ha! I didn't know what love was. I didn't know what living was back then. Nelson, what is it that makes me feel so at ease in your streets? But after more than 8 weeks in the US I balked at your prices. $6.99 for Tofurky Italian Style Sausages? WTF? But you are beautiful. This weekend I will play 3 shows in the area. 2 shows in Nelson including a health food store that runs a music series on Saturdays and a house concert in Salmo at a music studio, fun!

This Halloween hasn't been all that's been cracked up to be

I had to go and get sick on Halloween weekend so sat around watching Arrested Development with my friend in Cleveland for 12 days until my throat got a little better and I pushed onto the west. Unfortunately I had to cancel and postpone my shows as my voice has been taking it's time to come back but will be playing a handful of solo BC Canada shows from late November before heading back to Germany in early December. Thanks to all the folks who have been so supportive, letting me stay at their houses, sleep in their beds and put up with me :)

notes from the road: love, dreams & potatoes: buffalo ny

Last night after a lovely gig, the power went off in Buffalo. Tim and I sat surrounded by candles and watched 'the station agent' on my wee laptop until the early hours of the morning. How I love that movie, the simplicity, the beauty of friendship between such unlikely folk. Such a lovely, quiet movie but with such power.

Before retiring, I read by candlelight a graphic novel on the peoples history of america until I drifted into sleep. There were dreams of love, desire, pain and loss. I awoke, sliding between the two couch chairs and tried to make myself comfortable by placing the cushions on the wooden floor but they kept sliding apart. I didn't sleep too well. I have been thinking too much and my body is too long for two cushions.There have been many questions lately about feelings, intentions, expectations, reactions. In a way, I feel I need to throw these all away and start fresh, but is that possible? Even if I were able to magically transform into a person that was able to be this free there is always the other person and their reactions to deal with.

People keep saying I am brave. Is it bravery or a tireless need to discover something, feel something, figure something out? I just don't know what....What is it? If I start at the beginning, if I strip everything away...to the core, to the essence. Who am I and what do I want from people?When I love, it is not fickle, it does not pass by in a month, a season or a year. It is not something you need to be afraid of, you do not need to feel that I expect anything in particular in return, just treat me with kindness. My love for you means I am here for you and I see your beauty. I don't want it to be complicated or scary, just to let it be.

Right now, I need to travel, I need to experience, I need to taste everything, I need to understand the world, to understand myself but most of all I need to grow. I love the idea of roots, but I am not ready to grow a huge tree just yet but eventually that would be so lovely and I look forward to the time I am ready for it and all that it will bring. BUT right now I  want to get to know you, I want to share with you, I want to sleep with you, have you fall asleep in my arms and lay quietly, listening to you breathe and dream.  I won't ever forget you. I will always come back and spend time with you, just let me have the space I need right now and we will continue to share beautiful moments together.One day there will be a house, I hope to build it with my own hands: dirt, mud, straw...earth. Real, in my hands, dirty hands at the end of a day, satisfied, tired and hungry. The walls won't be smooth. There will be hand prints, fingers smoothing, shells, coloured glass, pretty stones. Inside the bowls and cups will also be made by hand, painted with colours that don't go together, made with love and joy sharing the space with a piano and harp, books and spices. Surrounded by trees, a beautiful garden will grow around the house with carrots, blue potatoes, red potatoes, cabbage for okonomi yaki, spinach, beets, lavender, basil and mint and rows and rows of endless colours, tastes and combinations. There will be fruit trees, maybe oranges or apples, or peaches for peach pie just like Anna makes, raspberries, blueberries, berries I haven't discovered yet. There will be a river or lake for swimming, dreaming, washing, watching underwater creatures living. Many animals will live in this paradise. They won't be pets but friends: hens rescued from battery farms that I will protect from the wolves, maybe some funny sheep or goats, a grumpy horse that will be won over with carrots and bruised apples, cats with dappled coats, dogs with overbites who love life and need a wash but really they don't mind. Will there be children? I just don't know? I need some time to decide but this would definitely be a special place for children, for fairies and eating google buns and pop biscuits under that huge tree while reading the magic faraway tree and the magic pudding. Little hands could stay dirty, knees grazing and tree climbing, constant threats of falling but no fear. Remember when we had no fear?Yes this one thing I know for sure. This place, will be so wonderful...and you, my friend, my lover, my companion will be very welcome because I love you.

notes from the road: thoughts right now: harrisburg pa to nyc

i have on been on the road for 54 days and have 40 days to go. i am feeling indulgent and brave in equal amounts and look for answers in the miles and sleepy wooden houses peeling paint which were once yellow, powder blue and flaming red through the bus window. my staples have become chocolate soy milk and bagels in numerous flavours: stay away from blueberry! and those juices emil points out don't really have a lot of good stuff in them...but still i like the taste and i like to believe they are doing me good. lately i have loved and hated in equal amounts and i have fought the teenager in me to keep the peace in favour of finer weather and the avoidance of the loss of a peculiar friendship that i have grown quite used to and value. i have whined until i was sick of the sound of my own voice. i have surprised myself with maturity i didn't know i had. i have laughed and cried in the desert but didn't get sunburnt. i saw wild horses in nevada and ate deep fried oreos at the NC state fair. i fell apart in san francisco and got stoned to avoid it all. i grew balls in phoenix and i was strong and beautiful in cowboy boots that would later cripple me in new orleans. i have doubted myself into a nervous wreck and flirted confidently with a boy i somehow missed out on when i was his age. i have been a mother and a teenager and recalled my age too many times to remember, sometimes proud, sometimes sad, sometimes with regret, hoping eventually it will fit with my mindset, my clothes, my face and frame and my dreams.  at this point i am sure of one thing. i am growing and i am not running away...i am running towards something...

notes from the road: time and friendship: north carolina to pennsylvania

time changes when you are on the road. it slows down and living just feels different.joy is concentrated, and pain and confusion become almost unbareable, suffocating almost as there is nowhere to run.friendships are tested and change. sometimes they are lost forever but if you can get through it, then it's kind of like forging steel...reforming a special bond together and these kind of friendships can last a lifetime.

From George to Rupert

We spent a lovely few days in northern BC and here is a little recap:

Thursday 16th September - Cowpuccinos Prince Rupert

Played our first show at lovely cowpuccinos in Rupert and sang backing vocals on Mudcat Joes 'Whoa that Chilli'. Emil and I hung out with Hailey and her friends after the show. Wish we could have stayed longer.

Friday 17th September - CafeNara Terrace

More people came than we thought. Lovely audience and good to see some familiar faces again. Sonny made me something yummy and Korean for dinner. Spent the night at Jims, what an amazing view in the morning!

Saturday 18th September - Hazelton House Concert

Played an intimate show in Charlotte's lovely house and she showed us around too. Bought some delicious raisin cakes in the organic bakery. This was one of the most beautiful places we went to and it was a shame to have to leave so early.

Sunday 19th September - Books & Co Prince George

Haha this was a fun show, our new friend Ray or Roy came down. What a character. A very intimate show even though space was bigger than previous concerts. Also stayed with lovely couchsurfers who fed us so much yummy food. We were like their children, it was sort of nice though

Em and Em riding the famous Cowpuccino's cow in Prince Rupert

Emil, Em and Mudcat Joe after Rupert show

The fun never ends, cross dressing cows

Em and an audience member in Terrace who took 'Spank me Man' a little too far ;P

Emil arrives

Yesterday Emil arrived in Vancouver and I was relieved. I kept creating these scenarios that something would happen and then the bus was late but I am just paranoid. The day cleared up into a fine weather and we spent a few hours wandering around Bowen Island where I used to live including meeting some of the colourful locals. We also danced in the forest to traditional Swedish folk music, well Emil danced and I felt awkward. I really need to get over silly stuff like that. In the evening I had a small birthday gathering with friends ni Mik-sa...a day early as we have to leave tonight for Vancouver to get our early bus the next day. Didn't sleep so well because the cats kept wanting to go in and out all night. There are 7.

Oh we met a lovely guy called Jordan on the bus to Horseshoe Bay yesterday too. It was like Emil met his long lost brother or something ;P....K I am sure will have some more exciting and woeful tales soon including the awful 20ish hour bus ride to Prince Rupert tomorrow. Bye for now em.....emaline that is