SF top picks and Cali dates!

SF picks this week!

I’ve hit California and I’ve already done a few shows around the northern part, but I have many left. I hope to see you in San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles and San Diego in the near future. Here’s some of my upcoming dates, to see all my upcoming gigs go to https://sofiatalvik.com/gigs. Note that the selection below is only a handfull of the upcoming gigs around CA.

The San Francisco Chronicle has also chosen my gig in Oakland tonight at Disco Volante and my gig at Amnesia Bar in SF on the 30th as their top picks for this week! The show at Amnesia will also be the 200th gig on the tour so please bring all your friends and come celebrate with me!

 

[quote] An understated, folky Swedish singer-songwriter who alternates between beatific odes and disturbingly dark musings, Sofia Talvik possesses a voice that’s translucent, soft and deceptively cool. [/quote]

SF Gate

Tips! If you get tickets early you can take part of some great discounts and special offers!

Oakland
Thursday, 10/25, Disco Volante, Time: 8:00 pm. $5

San Francisco

Tuesday, 10/30, Amnesia Bar, Time: 9:30 pm. GET TICKETS

San Luis Obispo

Saturday, 11/03, Kreuzberg Cafe, Time: 8:00 pm.

Los Angeles

Thursday, 11/08, The Coffee Gallery Backstage, Time: 8:00 pm. $15

Thursday, 11/15, Hotel Café, Time: 7:00 pm. GET TICKETS

San Diego

Wednesday, 11/21, Lestat’s Coffee House, Time: 9:30 pm. GET TICKETS

SF picks this week!
SF picks this week!

 

April artist of the month!

Artist of the month at Hotel Cafe Junkie
Artist of the month at Hotel Cafe Junkie
Artist of the month at Hotel Cafe Junkie

LA music blog Hotel Cafe Junkie (for you who don’t know this Hotel Cafe is a singer/songwriter concert series and one of the best music venues in LA) just listed me as their April artist of the month.

“She’s got a sweet sounding voice and seems to use a variety of instruments in her music. Sometimes there are some beautiful strings in the background that just fill out the sound with amazingness.”

Hotel Cafe Junkie likes good original music and, although not affiliated with the actual venue, I’m super excited to be appointed artist of the month! Thank you!

Sofia Talvik at SXSW

Sofia Talvik live at SXSW 2010 photo by Womens Radio
Sofia Talvik live at SXSW 2010 photo by Womens Radio
Sofia Talvik live at SXSW 2010 photo by Womens Radio

For the fourth year in a row I’m officially invited to play the SXSW festival in Austin, TX in March! I really look forward to coming back to Austin, as I couldn’t attend last year and SXSW is one of my favorite festivals. I have plenty of showcases so I look forward to seeing you all there. Here’s the current list of my gigs, stay tuned for updates:

Sofia Talvik @ Red Shed Tavern (part of Indie on air! Ascension Tour)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 4:30pm

Sofia Talvik @ Hyatt Regency Austin
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 6:00pm

Sofia Talvik @ Backroads Austin
Friday, March 16, 2012 at 2:00pm

Sofia Talvik @ Stephen F’s Bar
Friday, March 16, 2012 at 12:00am

Sofia Talvik @ Wyndham Garden Hotel
Friday, March 16, 2012 at 6:00pm

Sofia Talvik @ Wyndham Garden Hotel
Saturday, March 17, 2012 at 6:00pm

Folking in Memphis

The Cumberland Collective at FAI

Last week I attended the Folk Alliance International Conference in Memphis, TN.

I spent a few hectic days attending seminars, networking and playing showcases. It was a lot of fun and we met a bunch of great people there that I hope to reconnect with further down the road. It was interesting to be totally surrounded by folkies for a while. I’ve always counted myself into the genre but haven’t quite been part of the scene if you know what I mean. Folk – being such a small genre in Sweden, I’ve always been a part of the pop scene anyway and that’s what I know so it was cool to see how the folk sceene thrives in the US.

Jonas took a bunch of pictures from the conference and you can see a selection here!
Feel free to tag yourself if you find yourself in any of the pictures.

The Cumberland Collective at FAI
The Cumberland Collective at FAI

I’ve been down with the flu for a week now, there were a lot of bugs circulating in the AC system at the hotel those days and I’ve heard a lot of attendees got sick. I’m glad to be (almost) well again though as I have some great gigs in Texas ahead of me.

Here’s the ones ahead:

Wednesday, 03/07 Lindale, TX Art of Coffee

Thursday, 03/08 Texarkana, AR Hopkins Icehouse

Friday, 03/09 Dallas, TX Opening Bell Coffee

Saturday, 03/10 San Antonio, TX G.I.G On The Strip

Closing party at FAI
Closing party at FAI

What if we fall over?

Sofia Talvik on her bike

We’ve been touring for little over a month now and gone from sunny Florida to cold North Carolina. I’ve overcome my fear of driving the RV and since Jonas fixed the cruise control I don’t mind driving at all. But there’s still one thing that scares me. What if the RV falls over. Every time we’re on a sharp curve on a highway exit I dread this. Even though Jonas says there’s no chance of that happening I still feel like it could happen.

Sofia Talvik on tour
Me and Jonas in our hoodies in the RV

After spending a few days in Savannah, GA (what a wonderful city!) I decided we had to buy bikes so we could bike whenever we came to a city like that. So we got one off Craig’s list and one from Walmart. For a few days the bikes were parked inside the RV and were taking up all the space we had. Because even if a bike is only $50 at Walmart, a bike rack for the RV is way more expensive. It doesn’t make sense at all, but we had to get one so we did. Only if we were to mount the bike rack we had to dismount the spare tire. So now instead of bikes we’ve had a hundred year old spare tire in the RV. No it didn’t fit into any of the storage compartments. Someone said we should put it under the bed but it’s old and smelly and had dead frogs and moss on it. So I don’t really think it’s going to be useful if we ever come to need a spare tire in the future.

The day after we got the bike rack and put the bikes on it we stayed in the parking lot behind the bar where I played in Charleston, SC and in the middle of the night I woke up of sounds and the RV rocking (you’d think it’s steady but it’s like a boat really). I looked out through the bedroom window and there was a guy trying to do something to the bikes, probably steal them. That’s not really something you want to wake up to. As soon as he saw my face in the window though he took off, but I couldn’t go back to sleep for hours and then I had nightmares the rest of the night.

Sofia Talvik on her bike
Me on my bike in Winston-Salem

Everything got better once we came to Wilmington, NC and stayed a night with our friend Majsan. Wilmington is such a beautiful town. Actually all the towns we’ve been to since Savannah has been pretty great. We’re in in Winston-Salem, NC now and it’s beautiful. We’ve biked around the city which doesn’t have much of a city center but lots of beautiful houses. The gigs have all been great too. Sometimes one would wish for a larger audience, but at least the people who’ve shown up have been there to listen to me and that’s what’s important after all. I was pretty disappointed that SxSW didn’t come through with an official invite this year. I’ve been incited the last three years of which I’ve played two. And every time I’ve had to pay for expensive plane tickets and hotels for me and the band. So when I’m finally here, doing a great tour, having a new CD out January 31st, they don’t invite me. But I still have a few unofficial SxSW shows so if you’re going to be there you can still see me play.

Me, Majsan and Spades in Wilmington, NC

Ok that’s all for now folks!

See you on the road