Unmistakably Nordic in flavor, Sofia Talvik somehow still conforms to American interpretations of her own original music, a North Sea siren blending sparkle and melancholy, creating a special niche of folk music.
On my US tour I’ve had the privilige to play with some really talanted people. One of them is Michelle Lewis, a singer/songwriter based in Boston, MA and today’s window is a special greeting from Michelle to all of you. This is a video of Michelle singing “In The Bleak Midwinter”. Michelle’s albums, the perfect gift to anyone who already has everything, are available at http://michellelewismusic.com/wordpress/store/. If you want to enjoy Michelle’s beautiful music in your home, she’s also taking requests for house concerts for 2013. You can contact her through her website http://michellelewismusic.com/.
Special offer: dinner and concert! California November/December.
As you might know if you’ve followed me on Facebook or Instagram I love three things, my hubby, music and cooking! And may I say I’m quite a good cook too. So I figured, why not combine these great things and offer you “Dinner and Concert“. It’s kinda like a house concert but I will show up early and cook a delicious meal for you and your friends. Then I will play a concert and you have the perfect dinner party, are the talk of the town and didn’t even have to lift a finger! You can even choose from three different menues that I will present upon request or have me surprise you.
Details: The offer is only available in California in November and December and includes 3 course dinner and concert for a maximum of 10 ppl in your home (must have kitchen with basic supplies) drinks are not included in the price. Price: $500 only!
I’m really excited to announce that I will be doing a Daytrotter session in early August. Daytrotter is one of today’s most interesting music formats, inviting artists to play their songs acoustically in their studio in Rock Island, IL making them available to listen to for anyone in the world. Or as Daytrotter themselves describe it:
These fine people – as they’re traveling through America’s heartland – take two hours out of their travels between shows to stop in for a Daytrotter Session at The Horseshack in downtown Rock Island, Ill. The name of the city is not ironic. They use borrowed instruments, play with their touring mates, utilize an often unkempt toilet, eat some food and then cram back into their vans for the last half of the drive. What they leave behind is a pile of ashes, sometimes a forgotten stocking hat and four absolutely collectible songs that often impart on whomever listens to them the true intensity that these musicians put into their art, sometimes with more clarity than they do when they have months to tinker with overdubs and experiments. These songs are them as they are on that particular day, on that particular tour – dirty and alive. We want you to make this your new home as it is ours. We promise that you will love it here.
Stay tuned for updates on when YOU can listen to my Daytrotter session.
You know the rat in the pizza myth. So there’s a couple of misperceptions about our tour and the RV, and some of them are so reaccuring that I felt I had to write a little post about it. Everyone’s been really sweet and I know they all mean well and just don’t know better but here’s the most common things people think/ask/tell us about our tour and the RV. It always makes me smile 🙂
“You can stay in our guest room and have a good night’s sleep in a REAL bed” Well, we actually have a brand new IKEA Sultan Queen Size mattress with a real feather duvet in our bedroom in the RV, but thanks 😉
“You should come over for dinner, when was the last time you had a home cooked meal?” Probably for lunch, or dinner yesterday… Actually most of the food we eat is home cooked, in the RV. I actually wish we would have more money to spend on eating out. But we ALWAYS appreciate being invited for dinner, so please keep inviting us!
“It must be nice to have a two year vacation, just cruising around the US! Seriously, that would be a dream come true. But we have to work every day with booking shows, doing promotion, driving to the next gig, performing etc. We work more and harder than we ever had before. And it’s worth it for sure, but it’s NO vacation.
To check out the before and after pictures of our RV redesign go here!
I was planning on making a post sxsw post here on my blog but I’ve just been so busy I haven’t gotten around to it. We did eight shows at sxsw this year and getting to all the shows proved to be the hardest part. We hitch hiked, took the bus (if it came one) and managed to “catch a Chevy”. Forget about taxis..
Last day both me and Jonas bought some really cool boots. I got a pair that was exactly like my old pair but in a different color and had my old boots repaired for $135 ouch!!! Jonas found a vintage pair for $40. And then we headed to the rodeo. That was really cool as I’ve never been before. We really went there to see Glen Campbell who was performing but the rodeo itself turned out to be a big plus. Glen was wonderful and I was so happy to have caught him live at his goodbye tour.
So on that happy note we packed up and was going to leave for Houston when the RV decided to give up. So we got stuck in Austin with our home in the shop for two extra days. Fortunately Ranger Bob and his wife Elaine saved us from having to camp out on the street and took us in to stay with them. The repair of the RV totaled to $1000 which kinda set us aback a bit and we missed two gigs in Houston.
But when we finally got to Houston a lot of fun awaited us! We played at the Swedish Club of Houston’s crawfish party and I’ve never had such good crawfish in my life. Swedish style with dill of course. And hanging out with John and Edie who arranged it was great too. Edie gave me a filmjölk starter. Filmjölk is kind if a Swedish yogurt that has a living bacteria culture. You can get it in every grocery store in Sweden so I never even thought about making it myself but as you can’t get it in the US I was happy to learn all about it. Turns out it so simple you almost don’t have to do anything at all, you just mix it with milk and let it sit overnight and in the morning it’s filmjölk.
You can actually make soft cheese from it too and I just tried that. It’s actually getting ready in my kitchen right now. I flavored it with black pepper and garlic. I hope it’s going to turn out good. I can’t wait to try it!
So that’s about what I’ve been up to since we last spoke. I hope to see you on the road!!
