What a lovely surprise. Here I am on tour, often without internet or enough time to check my email that I am kind of out of touch with the world. But this evening, the fist evening in bed before 4 in weeks and I think hey, let’s see how this video is doing. Surprise surprise, it’s crept over 10,000 since I’ve been away! Pretty happy.
Thanks guys for watching
XO
Chloe
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Just leaving a wet and shiny Winterthur, Switzerland. After 3 days just outside of Freiburg, Germany staying with my family, pampered with fresh pressed orange juice, home made meals, a lot of love and a heavenly view sprinkled with the constant chatter of birds, we had to say goodbye.
But 2 hours south east and we were in another wonderland. On a pedestrian street we arrived at our venue to drinks in the sun and lovely company. A friend from high school surprised me there so we had a little reunion (Andrea, my tourmate, is also from my highschool).
This tour it was my goal to learn to drive stick. Its frustrating that all of Europe uses standard while us lazy North Americans use automatic. It’s a bit of a hinderance here. So today was my first lesson and although I was not terrible, I of course was not great and stalled a total of 15 times. It was fun! Thanks to Andrea’s patience we laughed our way through it.
Tonight was the second show outside of Italy. As much as I love Italian food, I can only live off of pasta and bread for so long so am happy to be back on a diet rich in vegetables and fruits! Yum. It’s amazing how countries can touch boarders yet be so different.
From an old house set inside a mote of condo’s to a mountain overlooking the alps and lake Iseo, to the beach in Cervia, to Rome, to a remote hotel atop a mountain in Cuneo to the black forest of Germany to Winterthur Switzerland and now en route to Bern…
What adventures await us!
By the way…if you didn’t hear the great news, I got my first feature story for the International Musicians Magazine, USA/CA.
Ciao!
Tchuss!
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Looking out the window at Lago Iseo.
On the ferry to the island.
Day 7. 6 shows down. Allergies killing me.
But I’d happily sneeze to wake up overlooking a lake set in front of the Italian Alps.
Milan is wonderful but HELLO, this is jaw droppingly gorgeous, unspeakably picturesque, priceless.
I am on tour with Davide Santi, a native Milan – ite. We met 2 years ago when I was on tour with Aly Tadros in Europe through a chain of friends from Germany. We totally clicked so last tour in Europe I ended my tour in Milan for one week to write and get new inspiration with Davide. For 6 solid days we played like children from dusk till dawn often forgetting to eat. We wrote 4 songs together, one of which is featured on my upcoming LP.
Davide is a violinist who happens to be adept on most other instruments as well. It seemed natural to have him accompany me this time around.
With me came my close friend Andrea, a silversmith who I’ve known for 10 years now. With her timeless jewelry and eye for design she was given the title of Merch Administrator of this tour! PS. You like jewelry? Go to her site. www.shopsilverstudio.com
As well I brought along with my my two new Guild guitars! I was keeping it a secret for a while but I am happy to now officially be part of the Guild family (This in itself deserves it’s own blog – coming soon)! These babies are beautiful and are getting a ton of use on this tour!
We arrived in Milan and hopped on a bus that was completely full, shared a seat to the city and were picked up by Davide.
Back to the house where I stayed last time. Prime real-estate with condos being put up everywhere, this is one of the only traditional residences left on the block. Open the doors to the courtyard and that feeling of peace returns.
Andrea and I spent 5 nights here sleeping in till 1:30, going to bed at 5. So hard to fight the jet lack when life is so peaceful.
(side note: I am in the car right now and as we pull up to a round about I see a truck selling lemons, lemon trees, oranges, orange trees, and Virgin Mary statues – only in Italy
Davide on the Island.
6 shows down and they couldn’t t be any different.
1st – in an old warehouse a female singers night.
2nd – A fashion show in the old Fiat showroom (Fiat – a french car). Was given an honourary Beatles Association of Italy membership.
3rd – Bloom – a concert venue outside of Milan where Nirvana, …had played.
4th – Ostello Bello – the coolest hostel I’ve ever been to. Also has a bar open to the public.
Visited my usual spot, Radio Popolare to do a little ditty and interview, this time with Paula instead of Sanja. Davide played the role of translator.
Milano Cathedral - somebody's tomb
We were then granted a day off and spent it by Lago Isolo where Davide’s grandmother has a holiday house. I can’t even begin to explain how incredible this was.
5th – Solo Sole, a restaurant right on the beach of Cervia Ravenna, the east coast of Italy.
6th – Hotel Bellavista – Hotel atop a mountain in Cuneo with a beautiful view. We gorged ourselves on incredible food , wine and Panne (better than creme brule).
Now we head south to Rome.
To end, here is some press from Italy if you happen to read Italian!
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Rising quickly…but more for ex-cons
If I ever decide to take a bus again in the USA slap me up against my head ok?
Nah, it’s not that bad. I’ve probably slept more on this ride than I have the past week.
I left Austin after 2 nights of SXSW. Night one spent with the D.O. Gibson of Art of Fresh. Boy does he take care of you!
Last night with my Sweeties, Doug, Sam and Aly. Taken to the bus by my new friend who feels more like an old friend, Mike, producer, tour manager, multifaceted music man.
At 2:30 am picked up my stuff from the hotel – like condo Aly and I were lucky enough to stay in with our favourite family, The Jones, owner of Just Strings (if you are a string player I suggest buying through their company).
Waiting for the bus had an inquisitive chat with Mike, trying to soak up lots of information before leaving and only being able to talk via phone/ skype. In person is just so much better.
Equipped with multiple kinds of sleeping pills, generously donated by friends I hopped on. People really feel for you when you tell them you’re about to endure a 38 hour bus ride. I suggest this if you ever are in dire need for some drugs (hahaha do I kid).
From this point on all went crazy. Head’s up for any Greyhound-taking-Canadian, Greyhound in the USA is nothing like it is in Canada. It’s more like a 3rd world bus line and the stations in the south are disgusting and pretty sketchy.
My first ride was from Austin to I don’t know where. I was lucky enough to have great intuition and sit right beside the only guy who snored on the bus. Thankfully I was wired and not about to sleep. However, the sound did wear on my brain and ability to think. Like a lawnmower he revved up with occasional breaks just to get my hopes up. I reverted to elbow nudging. He will likely have bruises. However, when he awoke he turned out to be a lovely man. Going through a divorce, with 3 children, struggling to pay child support. He helped me with my bags and bought me coffee, gave me candies and a Mexican beer. His face was leathery from years outside in the sun, hints of manual labour. Planned to be an engineer, went to college but ran out of money and indebted by student loans, he dropped out and opted for a career in car mechanics.
Waiting in Memphis or somewhere my bus was delayed. Of course they don’t tell you how long. The station filled with very aggressive people, women screaming at their children, men with gold teeth, I tried to keep to myself. Toilets overflowing and nothing to eat but grease filled junk. M&M’s seemed like the healthiest choice.
I struggled to drag my stuff. I ended up with a big box of promo material so getting from one place to the next entailed me hobbling around dropping things with my many layers of clothes dragging or tripping me.
Found a seat by an unassuming short round black man who happened to be a chess teacher with 3 national championships (for his students) under his belt. Time to line up for my bus and he helped me carry everything. Lovely of him to do so as he ended up having to wait, chose to wait, with me for an hour and a half. When my bus finally arrived he packed up my stuff and made sure everything was ok. So so sweet. I gave him a CD.
But now I was 2 hours late and my connection in Ohio was bound to be missed.
In front of me a very tough black girl with a loud mouth started telling stories to a Black older woman and a “slim shady” about beating up other girls, her brother who was in jail for killing someone, about how she can knock anyone out. She had an adorable 2-year-old with her who she called Nigga, and boasted of how she beat the living shit out of a girl when she was 3 months pregnant. Tiny and wiry, as the ride went on she calmed down.
“Slim Shady” and this girl had a lot in common. He called me Ma’am and made sure not to put his seat back as not to encroach on my space.
2 seats to myself, across the aisle was a 48-year-old man, tanned from probably sleeping outside. I kept seeing him stare at me.
After a certain stop there wasn’t enough room for me to have 2 seats to myself so he joined me. He was extremely friendly. Told me I was the most beautiful women he’s seen. That if he had any money he’d try to woo me. He had been a drug smuggler and gotten out of jail 1 year 3 months ago after being in for 5 years. It was his second time locked up for drugs. First time for Coke smuggling and this time for weed. He had lost everything and was now sleeping under a truck. We got off at gas station and I bought him cashews.
He thought it was destiny. Cashews were his favourite. He was from Maine, I from Canada. His mom told him he was going to marry a Gemini, I’m a Gemini. He loved music, I’m a musician.
Really sweet and obviously starved for love. His father was German and had been an officer here. I speak German. His father had nothing to do with him. His mother was an astrologer who everyone would die for after meeting her once.
He bought me half a sandwich in Memphis. Then he gave me half his cheeseburger. I didn’t want it but he insisted. I ate skittles. He thought I was a star.
I was sure I’d miss my bus from Nashville to Cincinnati but it was right there when we arrived. Bryan went to the washroom and my bus was called. I had to run without saying goodbye. I wanted to give him a CD. As we were about to pull away I saw him out the window looking at my bus, looking so sad. He saw my guitar case and knew I was in there. He asked where the bus was going but he thought I was going to Detroit.
He’ll find me on facebook.
Relieved that I didn’t miss my connection. After 20 min we quickly realized there was a problem. At only 20 Km/h we stopped on the highway, turned around, drove around Nashville. Obviously the bus driver didn’t know where he was going. He seemed new and totally freaked out. However, he didn’t explain to us what was going on. Too many clearly wrong turns into random alley’s, parking lots, one way’s dead ends. Passengers with attitude were pissed and swearing. The chubby little driver was obviously nervous. Stopped in an alley a bus drove up behind us. We thought to pick us up. But no, it stopped and went on. Finally our bus driver freaked out at us and said the bus wasn’t working. He was shaky. Poor guy.
It seemed like he was lost so and hour later after a tour of Nashville at night we arrived back at the station to change buses. At least the next had wireless, well wireless that didn’t work fast enough to be worth having.
Of course this detour meant I missed my next connection. We all did. I don’t quite understand people who gripe so much, yell and bitch. Are they just validating their experience? does it make it any better? I just find it annoying.
Waiting in line to get my ticket reissued, I made a friend, an artist from San Francisco living in Nashville. After waiting in line for 45 min – only one agent working with about 60 people in line – I got a voucher for 75 bucks for my trouble and a food voucher. Then filled the next hours chatting with Kuntar.
Now I’m almost on my last leg of the trip heading to Buffalo then Buffalo to Toronto with the much-anticipated stop at the border.
Who knows, I may get stuck here. The border is always a gamble.
You know, us musicians are dangerous.
By the time I boarded the bus to Buffalo my positive spirit had expired. Trying to be nice, I attempted to ward off anyone from sitting beside me. Sadly the bus was too packed, with people sitting 3 to a seat and in the aisles. I HAD to sit with someone – silent guy who just stared at me awkwardly. By now I didn’t care.
Arriving in Buffalo. Woo hoo, finally going to get home. Buffalo is practically Toronto.
The bus is right there. Fast connection!
Board the bus and it’s strangely hot inside, quite like a sauna. There is a high-school class occupying half the bus, flirting and yelling and being obnoxious. Usually I find teens entertaining but my nerves were shot.
An hour of sitting in the bus and the driver was still not there. Seems his bus was delayed. Everyone was sweating and complaining at the heat. Finally the driver arrived and we were off to the border but it got hotter and hotter and hotter. People were getting claustrophobic and panicking at the lack of air.
At the border you’re usually supposed to stay on the bus until the officers come and get you out, once the luggage has been removed. We were locked in and by this time it was so hot people freaked out started pounding on the windows. Finally one guy passed right out and smashed on the aisle floor.
The customs officers let us out and wrote up the bus driver. The ambulance came and whisked the unconscious man away. Madness.
So to remedy this heat issue, the customs officers opened up the emergency exits on the top. Solved the heat problem but for the next 2 hours to Toronto we froze with wind blowing and nobody wearing enough clothes to make it bearable.
Oh me oh my. What a trip. I made it home walked in the door, collapsed on the living room floor, broke down and cried like a 4 year old child for 20 solid min.
Again, I will say PLEASE smack me on the head if I EVER even CONSIDER travelling this way again.
But now I’m home and happy, exhausted and cozy.
See you at CMW?
Home sweet home…
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As we got to 4000 views in 9 days we figured we’d up the goal to at least 8000 by Canadian Music Week. By the way, if you are around, please come visit at one of my showcases! Details HERE!
The combination of high spirits, excitement and peer pressured shots last time ended in some shady business and this time in The Sweetness near streaking through a tornado in downtown Evansville with friends. I’m a little loopy today after minimal sleep and nyquil and dayquil to ease the recurring cold. After 3 days in Evansville with the dangerous but sweet Aaron Mauck and Katie Watts, IN, The Sweetness is beat as usual. This little anarchist town although unknown to most of the world this place brings out the best and worst in us. It is impossible to abstain from the infectious party vibe upon arrival. Perhaps because they don’t get that many bands coming though, perhaps because we latched on, by fate, to the in crowd we are welcomed by hoards of fans and friends ready to do anything to make us happy and occasionally too much bourbon.
Well, smart move Sweetness. We are now sickly and driving 12 hours to east TX to jump on stage. What a life.
So I’m going to recall the events of this tour backwards from today:
Evansville
Deerhead- Sam and Chloe destroyed, Douglas coughing, Aly flirting, lesbians loving with super crushes piling on the compliments (You never leave Evansville feeling bad about yourself). A little reike in between and massages from friends.
Mojo’s – The only venue in Evansville that doesn’t allow smoking inside. WOOO HOO!!! Ben Balmer and Kole Hansen, both killer musicians. DO CHECK THEM OUT!
Lamasco’s - Every person we know in Evansville coercing us to party. Well it worked and ended in…
Kentucky - Aly and I drove from Folk Alliance International, a conference in Memphis, TN to Evansville (6 hours) played a show and left at 2am to go to Lexington to work on mixes for our upcoming albums arriving at 6am. 12 hours likely driving our producer insane with our meticulous requests. Back to Evansville…
Folk Alliance International – The Sweetness celebrated our 1st birthday at our place of birth. We were expecting a cake but instead got some festivals, house concerts and amazing friends! Oh and, by chance a good friend and photographer, John Henry recommended us to Ebet Roberts, renowned photographer of everyone from Bob Marley to Madonna. She came to some of our showcases and offered us a photoshoot. Not only was it an awesome opportunity but we got to get out of the hotel for an hour or so, be outside by the Mississippi River. On top of that, she was so incredibly nice. Totally cool lady.
We had an official showcase this year, lucky us. Kinda incredible how things progress. 5 years ago in Nottingham I was told by a psychic lady that a little boy from the south told me I HAD to go to Tennessee (that happens to be what my song “Nottingham Premonitions” is about). February 2010 Richard Flohil told me to go to Folk Alliance 2 weeks before the conference. I’ve always been spontaneous so I went, met Aly Tadros and Douglas Jay Boyd, last year brought down Sam Mclellan made a collective and now here we are.
A few of my peeps. Listen to all of their music. Douglas and Sam as Stone by Stone, Buckman Coe in the crazy ass hatt, Kole Hansen and Ben Balmer! Although not in this pic, you should also check out Tequila Mockingbird from BC who will be doing a residency at Not my Dog, Toronto this month and next on Mondays. Also want to thank the generous Poppa Wells for taking care of his Sweeties at the conference.
Before that we were in Louisville, KY, played at a Yoga studio, saw Aly’ and my old publicist. We hadn’t thought ahead about where we were going stay but that has never been a problem. After serenading them we mention that we are homeless tonight. A beautiful girl, physically and energy wise, offered us her place to ourselves. It happened to be one of the most gorgeous places I’ve seen in a while, beautifully decorated, cozy, unique, full of character, brick walls and memories of her travels. We arrived and she did a little smudging ceremony to clear the energy, totally relaxing us. I slept so well.
Washington DC – in a lovely home we played the Stones Room series of house concerts. Pretty perfect evening. We arrived to a welcoming couple, were fed some home cooked incredibly heathy food and made very comfortable. The show was packed and even attended by some of our favourite people, the Sugalla’s, whose house concert we played last tour. Lovely people.
New Jersey – Auburn Rd’s Vineyards – Second time through, treated like family, Joe set up a room just for us, fed us and of course we got to taste some delicious wine. Aly and I did our very first wine tasting. Again, we didn’t plan our accommodation but were relying on the kindness of wine filled strangers. We ended up staying at a lovely older lady’s house. She told us her life story and gave us her bed.
NYC – 3 shows, one Chloe solo show, and 2 Sweetness at Rockwood and Petes Candy Store. Got to spend some time with my family friend, May Pang and catch up with fellow artist, Joe Marson.
So that’s that. We are running late, Aly is speeding, we took the wrong exit. our Tom Tom (GPS) is screwy and after guzzling coffee and energy drinks a potty break would be appreciated.
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It’s been 3 days without internet. You’d think that nowadays everyone has internet, but no. So many places, either it is not working or they have just opted out. Finally made it down to Memphis, Tennesee for Folk Alliance International, got to the hotel, or shall I say motel (we are cheap) where we are staying, supposidly equipt with internet. But Hells no, it’s down.
So it’s been nice to be out of touch with the world. My last connection with the interworld, I received the finished video of “Soon on a Snowlake” shot and edited by Natasha Kudashkina, who also was the incredbile body artist that painted me in dreamy snowflakes.
I posted it on my facebook and twitter and a couple days later I check the video stats and it seems over 700 people have watched it! I want to send out a great big THANK YOU! Thanks for supporting me. So appreciated. If you like it, please do share it on your facebook or twitter or show it to people on your iphone (thats what I’d do).
Loving Memphis where the wetaher is like 20 degrees and sunny. So gorgeous. See you for CMW if you are a Torontonian. If you are, I’m playing 3 times so please put it in your schedules:
March 21st @Czehosky – 10:00pm
March 22nd @ Royal York Hotel, AFM showcase – 3pm
March 25th @ @ Royal York Hotel, Library Bar – 10:30pm
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I was sitting on a balcony in the sun with only a sweater, some skin bear to the elements in FEBRUARY, in NYC, eating peanuts and drinking tea!
What is the world coming to? What is the winter coming to? I would be content for it to disappear.
Here in Brooklyn, The Sweetness played a show last night at Petes Candy Store, an atmospheric little venue in hipster central, WIlliamsburg.
Tonight 2 shows, one for Chloe’s solo stuff and one for The Sweetness at Rockwood Music Hall. Last time we were there our German film crew got shoved out by an angry owner. Hopefully this time nobody gets shoved anywhere.
Only a week in and I’m already tired. May have something to do with starting off the tour with a nasty case of the coughs. Passed on to Aly of course, I cross my fingers Doug and Sam are strong.
Toronto, Montreal, Burlington (Vermont), and Boston down; with Boston taking the cake. Although, Vermont had one of the most beautiful settings with Mountains, hills, water and evergreens – Burlington set inside with its vibrant hippy arts scene – Boston is home to our beloved friends, the Jones family. It’s more like a holiday being there than anything. Spoiled with Valentines presents, dinners out and perfect company.
Sam and I try to eat the renowned food’s of the cities we travel. This time we finally had Boston Cream Pie, not any pie though, we had Boston Cream Pie from the place that created the recipe in the first place, The Omni Parker House Hotel which claims to have been serving this desert since 1856.
Our first stop on the tour was in Montreal where we also got the chance to record a few tracks and video at Mcguil University with the fabulous Pouya Hamidi.
And as a last little desert for your musical/ visual palet, here is a video shot by Daniel Laufer from Germany. This song is our collaboration for his just released EP entitled, Sunday Mood Swings. Go to his site to download it for free!
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A little taste of what is to come tomorrow….The rehearsal before the show…
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So I’m here in Toronto and I’m finally settled. What the hell does settled mean? Well I always think of touring as if you are in a car driving say at 140km and the speed is thrilling, invigorating.
But coming home is like say, a car crash. But don’t worry, I am bouncier than most humans, made out of some sort of rubber (mom always said so). So when I come home, the car doesn’t come to a slow stop and let me step out. It slams into Toronto and I fly through the windshield. But as mentioned, I am bouncy and after a few weeks of bouncing around, I finally land for good.
But for those weeks before landing, it is as if my mind is still travelling elsewhere at super light speed. It crashed through the window and kept on going. I don’t feel connected. I don’t feel quite here.
But now, after 6 weeks home I am finally back and loving it. The people, the music, the family, my friends, the warmer than ever winter, the few unbearably cold days, the beaches, the parties and the overpriced drinks (kidding, not a fan).
When I come home, I plan for one special show before I head back out again. This is what tends to put my musical feet back on the ground, gives me some focus, some motivation, something to look forward to from the second I smash through the window, and a chance to see so many people I care about in this wonderful city.
And guess what? That show is this Thursday at The Rivoli. Doors are at 8pm and I’m on at 8:30 sharp followed by The Donefors and then Wax Mannequin. To RSVP via Facebook go HERE.
Don’t you miss it because I’ll miss you!
XOXO
Love Chloe
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