September 16 2007
September 16/2007 – Baltimore In a spare moment I have been able to sit down and reflect on the tour thus far. We have been out now for about 3 weeks and man, has it been eventful. We started the tour off strong with 2 folk festival performances at the Peterborough Folk Festival and the Shelter Valley Folk Festival. These two weekends were such a treat. We played with some killer musicians and were treated to grand hospitality. The highlight for me was a workshop called ‘Backroad Ballads’ with Gruf Morlix and Indio Sarvangio. We all sang songs of death and longing and there was plenty of twang and reverb to go around. We then played some shows around Southern Ontario. We were humbled by our London Music Club show as the room was packed, standing room only, and it was one of the most humid days of the whole summer. It felt like we were down south.
We then headed down across the boarder for a host of shows in the Mid-West and Northeast. We had the pleasure of opening up for the Louisiana band, The Subdudes for two nights at The Ark. The venue was packed for both nights with around 300 people each night. What a fantastic opportunity for us. The Subdudes put on a stellar show with 4 part harmonies reminiscent of The Band. They were all great guys and they were extremely generous. We are now at the end of a stretch of 13 shows in 12 days and I am tired, but wired. I will be honest, I have lines under my eyes that I didn’t have last year. Wait, isn’t that a Wailin’ Jennys lyric? I think it is. I often think about how crazy we are to be on this path but there really isn’t anything else we could do. I cracked open a fortune cookie last night and it said, “ Every truly great accomplishment is at first impossible.” How fitting. Those cookies always have some sort of wisdom to offer. But I do have a question. Will my great accomplishment come true if I didn’t eat the cookie?
I almost forgot to mention that we played Manhattan yesterday! We drove in for an afternoon concert in Madison Square Park which is kitty corner to the flat iron building. We played a concert for around a 100 people or so. It was quite a trip playing such a fantastic gig in NYC! Dave got the crowd to wave and he took a picture from on stage. We felt like we had to document our Manhattan audience. I can’t wait to go back there. There was even some folks that came out that had attended our previous gig in New York in March. I couldn’t believe it! That’ s how this shit is supposed to work. We took lots of photos. We will post them very soon.
Having put more than 100 000 km’s on our car in the last year, the only thing we have ever hit is a squirrel. I think that’s pretty good. Unfortunately, as we were stopped in a small town next to the highway, we saw a big dog get hit by a semi. I was sitting in the passenger seat with the door open and the dog came right next to the car and sat down. He was hurt pretty bad and we gave him some love and some water. His owner came by soon after and they put him in a truck to take him to the vet. It was quite emotional for the rest of the day. The road really is one big graveyard, but not for Sheba. We hope you are alright Sheba!
Till next time
Brandy
-- Brandy
September 16 2007
