The rat in the RV

Our cosy bedroom
Our cosy bedroom
Our cosy bedroom

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!

Bama Theatre quote

[quote]The Norse goddess played here at the Bama theatre last week and totally wowed the crowd. Definately a do not miss. Some traditional folk, infused with her Swedish musical heritage. Haunting, great songwriting, and unique melodies!
About 100 people and Nobody got up for the bathroom, or a beer during her show. I heard people talking about how amazed they were again last night, a week later. Check her out if possible.”[/quote]

 

Steven McJagger – audience at Bama Theatre, Tuscaloosa, AL

Dreaming in Holly Springs

Sofia Talvik live in Holly Springs
Sofia Talvik live in Holly Springs
Sofia Talvik live in Holly Springs

Last night I had the great experience to play at the Holly Springs Cultural Center. I was invited by The Swedish Consulate of Raleigh, SACC and SWEA and the night was a total hit. Holly Springs Cultural Center is a beautiful building and it’s always a treat to get to play in a theatre environment, built for performances. (Check out all the pictures from the concert here)

After the gig the local restaurant My Way Tavern treated us to a great dinner so that was really awesome! If you ever go there I recommend you try the meatloaf! Yum!

I hope to be able to come back to Holly Springs in the future! Tonight (April 20th) another great venue is awaiting us in Black Mountain, NC. I really look forward to playing at White Horse, Black Mountain and hope to see you there!

The concert was sponsored by the Swedish Consulate, SACC and SWEA
The concert was sponsored by the Swedish Consulate, SACC and SWEA

Swedish filmjölk in Houston

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!!

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“A thing of spectral acoustic beauty”

Connect Savannah Noteworthy
Connect Savannah Noteworthy
Connect Savannah Noteworthy

I’m tracking my footprints, or rather tire tracks, back towards the east coast and will be re-visiting a few of my favorite concert venues and exploring a couple of new ones along the way. So it’s extra nice when Connect Savannah gives me this “welcome back” in their latest edition:

 

[quote]

Sofia Talvik’s newest collection of songs, The Owls Are Not What They Seem, sounds like it could have been recorded in the early 1970s, when singer/songwriters were prized for their eccentricity, and the striking colors they brought as individuals to commercially-viable acoustic balladry. (…)

On this album, she is clearly in her element. It is a thing of spectral acoustic beauty, and this Monday night performance is highly recommended by us jaded fools here at Connect.

[/quote]

 

Here’s some upcoming dates on my tour that you don’t want to miss, visit my gig page for all listings:

Alabama: The Gnu’s Room April 7th (Auburn)
Georgia: The Sentient Bean April 9th (Savannah)
North Carolina: Bottega Art Bar and Gallery April 12 (Wilmington)
Playhouse 211 April 13 (Southport, buy tickets here)