December 14th 2008
we'll here we are in canada. we've been here a week and we've come more than half way across the country. we have the night off and are in kapuskasing ontario. for those who don't know what and where that is let me just tell you it's extra special. but i'll get back to that, first allow me to recap the week. brad and i arrived in vancouver on the 25th of november and rested up for a few days. we stayed at a nice enough hotel and had some great japanese and korean food. very rejuvenating.
matt and oren joined us a couple days later and we played the commodore on the 28th. it was a really fun show for us. i forgot that we had left my little amp in england and brad found a great little red fender blues junior for sale across the street which we purchased within hours of the show. that night we traveled to kamloops british columbia were we had another day off! joy. oren and i found an asian goods shop and we bought a butane gas range to cook on the bus. gas poisoning on the bus! yeah.oren made a great japanese stew and we bought vegetables for soup.
our domestic bliss was not to last though.
we departed for calgary around 5 in the morning and we were all comfy and cosy in our bunks when we left. one is usually awoken when a bus starts up and begins it's journey in the middle of the night and this night was no exemption. it was very clear very soon that something was wrong with the bus. needless to say we ended up making the decision to charter a passenger bus, load all the gear into it and drive the 8 hours to calgary. getting us in just in time to do a quick soundcheck. i didn't enjoy the calgary show that much. nor the next night in edmonton. i think this band works best in a big club and the theaters can be a bit stiff feeling. or maybe it was us but the energy felt a little low. next we played saskatoon which was really fun again. that's a nice town and the audience were very groovy.
december 14th, montreal
it's been a crazy week and i cant get onto it right now. let me just say that i've never been so stressed and tired in my life! it was worth it though. the family had there biennial christmas show at carnegie hall on the 10th and it went really well. the band and i arrived from toronto on the 7th to start rehearsals. it was complete insanity but we learnt and performed 34 songs with guests such as emmylou harris, lou reed, laurie anderson, jimmy fallon and justin bond. now that that is over with the band are back out on the road to finish this tour. we have 5 more dates and then it's over. what a whirlwind. we played montreal a couple of days ago and it was really fun. we were so exhausted but it worked because i just didn't care. off to joliette now and the i have to prepare the cassoulet. i'll tell you all about it later.
November 22, 2008
Day-51, Perth Australia
Venue: Perth Airport
brad and i are in the qantas lounge having some toast and vegemite and a flat white (that's what they call a latte in australia).australians have little cute expressions for everything and they abbreviate words and put an o on the end of them, like freo for freemantel or brissie for brisbane. it's kinda endearing but i don't know if i really get it. a good friend of brad and i has been tour managing us here and he has done a great job, his name is tim peterson and i would highly recommend him as a tour manager and sound guy. we also had a really great guitar tech called alex grand from glasgow, and all in all the shows went smoothly and were good, thanks for the hardwork guys!!! god, i've become incredibly boring..... this touring has become hard work-a-day and your reality becomes quite narrow in scope and size. in any case the canadian dates start up in a few days. brad and i will go to melbourne for the next two nights where upon i shall present someone with an air award and sing a beegees song. oren and matt are off to new zealand where they will be having there long awaited honeymoon....... then we are off to vancouver on tuesday and we start up again. we'll have a new crew but both guys i know and are great. the greenlandic clothes have been shipped to canada so hopefully they are there, i hear it's cold in canada.
tired but content enough. i think my favorite show in australia was in adelaide and one of the highlights of the trip was having a dip yesterday in the indian ocean. over and out
November 17, 2008
well i'm alive. only just though. i'm sorry i've been a bad blogger. it's been over a week and it feels like a month. today brad and i are in paradise, although anywhere would seem like paradise because it is a day off. a real day off with no show last night or tonight and we are in a beach front hotel in byron bay on the gold coast of australia. we arrived in australia six days ago and we've done four shows so far. we start up again tomorrow in brisbane. the shows so far have been good although i think sydney and melbourne, the two biggest towns, were negatively affected by jet-lag and delirium. the sydney show in particular i felt like i was on acid in the second half. it was kinda fun for that reason although i'm sure the performance was lessened by airheadedness and general sillyness.the last show we did on saturday was really special. it was in a tiny town called meeniyan about 2 and a half hours from melbourne. ian and suzanne run the concert series held in the town hall and they are the best hosts you can imagine. we arrived to a roaring fire and fresh cut flowers from the towns people's gardens. then there was the food that was made for us by a lovely group of people. then there was the windy ridge wine made 2 miles up the road. and i think we finished it off by a good performance, it was one of those intimate small shows that are generally better then the larger venues, at least for the audience.
We're off for a walk now on the rainy beach, ahhhhhhhhh
(I'm filling in for Martha today because she's busy doing press)
As i write this I'm doing our wash, a man's work is never done!!
We arrived in Sydney yesterday morning after the grueling 20 hour flight. We we're greeted by the lovely spring weather, ahhhhh so nice after the rough autumn UK weather...... but then it all went a bit wrong when our luggage + guitars didn't arrive with us. Lucky our man Tim Peterson was on the case and retrieved them this morning from the airport, Thanks Tim.
We're looking forward to seeing our old friends from Chuggs and Shock , they have been very good to us over the years and we consider them good friends........
But most of all we're looking forward to playing the shows, Australia has GREAT music fans!
Tonight is our 1st show so jet lag and all here we come!!!!!
Brad
go to http://marthawainwrightjournal.blogspot.com/ to view new photos from the road
November 7, 2008
SPANISH NIGHTS:
well we finally got out of uk. not that i don't love the uk but...
we arrived in bilbao, basque country, 2 days ago and it's been a breath of fresh air. the tasty "pinchos", lunch time snacks much like tapas but more open sandwich like, and the Guggenheim museum to shelter us from the mountain rain, were much needed and appreciated. the show last night was really good. the audience definitely though. these people like to talk!! we had to shush people quite a bit but eventually they shut up which was good because otherwise you can get depressed on stage which is not good.
we are only four now on stage after my mom's departure from dublin 4 days ago. time is moving very fast. since then we have played nottingham, where i was a little under whelming because of exhaustion and the rest of it, oxford, which was a really good gig i think, and we've dropped some of the crew and flown to spain, done press, had a great meal with promoter, and done bilbao. angus and julia are still with us which is nice. they provide a lovely feeling and are a joy to work with. it is too bad we never worked anything up together but it has just been too hectic. this has been an unnatural amount of shows but i guess i knew it would be. i can see how you age quite fast on the road. i'm looking a bit rough and as a woman that's a bit depressing. thank god i have brad to be nice to me and tell me i'm pretty when i feel down.
we had a great dinner with unai and uri the promoters in bilbao. they take a honking piece of cow from the rib and bring it out on a ceramic hot plate sizzling. the meat is still cooking while on the table and you can pull it off when it is cooked to your liking. i've never eaten so much meat and felt a bit rough afterward but my god was it good. my apologies to vegetarians reading this. this was definitely a free range animal. and the rioja harvested from the hills an hour away was a perfect complement. oh what gluttony! to the vomitorium! no, just kidding. the meal was super fun. we also had a beautiful hotel which was was a god send after the stinky tour bus with the broken toilet. now we are racing through the mountains of alava coming into rioja land on our way to madrid. brad's a bit sick and my back aches but other than that we do have a great life!
Tonight we're in Dublin.
I have many old friends in this fair city and wanted to catch up with them...so with a free ride across the Irish sea on the rock & roll bus I decided to make this my point of exit and...
Tonight is my last night.
So I will catch all the kisses that were warmly thrown, and toss them back with equal love - i'm glad I came...
And now it's time to "Throw mama from the bus".
it's been soooo long since my last blog entry. isn't that just the way. time is flying and it's been quite a hectic whirlwind journey. of course kate has been here since edinburgh and she has added a lot as a piano player and general incredible spirit. it's nice o have someone on stage that i can lean on to entertain the audience and take up some of the slack. she has 30 or more years of experience with that. hopefully she is happy on the bus with us. there hasn't been any days off and everyone is getting tired. we just need to get through tonight which should be fun. it's halloween in belfast and from what i hear ireland does a good all hallows eve. must think of something of wear for tonight but first let me recap the last few days.let's see. i guess the big show was london and it was great to see friends. middlesbrough was a hoot and warwick quite staid. unfortunately we lost lily and sylvan 2 days ago which was planned but they are truly missed. just when we are getting into a real rhythm, but i guess that is the way i always do things. i love to keep moving and changing things up. not always for the best i fear.oh well, it's hard to not follow your instinct! i've never not followed it, or when i haven't it's been a disaster. it's a beautiful day here. I'm trying to organize a trip carlingsford for oysters and guinness but i think the driver needs to go straight to dublin for his hours off. bummer. i need to wash my hair in any case and go out and find something for brad before he gets up. yesterday was his birthday and i really dropped the ball.
i haven't gotten him anything and birthdays are tough. too much to do and so little time. i need some real time off.
October 30, 2008
Year of the Dragon from Martha Wainwright on Vimeo.
October 28, 2008
October 25, 2008
October 23, 2008
October 22, 2008
October 20, 2008
October 17, 2008
October 16, 2008
October 14, 2008
October 13, 2008
October 12, 2008
October 11, 2008
October 10, 2008
Day 3 - Malmö, Sverige
Venue: Babel
October 9, 2008
Day 2 - Berlin, Deutschland
Venue: Volksbühne
October 8, 2008
Day 1 - Hamburg, Deutschland
Venue: Kampnagel
