October/November

October has been a busy month- Really enjoyed the trip to Belgium with Martyn Joseph. Met lots of lovely folk, ate and drank very well, (the first night I was there a lady named Rosemarie gave me a bottle of champagne- and that was before I’d even sung anything!- I could definitely get used to that!!) We were looked after by some fantastic hosts and the gigs were in such great little clubs- oozing with character… but I left the tour early to be at my other brothers wedding (as a bridesmaid) this time in Liverpool. A really beautiful day and good also to hang out with my Aussie brother Kim and his new wife Kate- (they did the same as me in August and just came over for a week- and spent most of the time empathizing with the jet lag situation- oz is just so damn far away!) After that was a brief excursion to Loughborough and Barton on Humber for some gigs, unfortunately by that time I’d managed to come down with a flu type virus and had to croak my way through the sets sipping hot honey and lemon on stage just to cap my already un-rock'n' roll persona off!

So now heading into November and the main project is getting demos and recording underway for a new album- at last!! I’ve spent a lot of time doing first sketches on our home studio the last few days- and hope to put some demos on line in the next weeks and months. We have also finished recording Bill’s album and are now into mixing it- I think it’s great and am very excited about its release next year.
Listening to the new Ani Difranco CD Reprive, and The Be Good Tanyas, Hello Love and Lou Rhodes Beloved One. Finished Haruki Murikami’s Wind up Bird Chronicle and Paulo Coelho’s The Zahir –And looking forward to seeing my friend Mr Duke Special on Jools Holland on the 3rd of Nov! (now a few days post that event and he was great!)- Oh yeah and any time this week the new puppy that we are about to own is being born! A chocolate Labrador- how fun!