Beauty

A friend from Indianapolis sent me this today and I wanted to share.

Despite everything that may be happening around us, I think its good to remember that the sun will rise again and yes, indeed, it will be a new day.

Xxm

The important things...

I think, sometimes its easy to lose sight of the important things. So many unimportant things yell at us, when all the while, the really important things whisper in our ears. So much so, that we find it hard to remember that they are important.....because they do choose a more quiet subtle tactic.

I almost walked past this on the street. Until I remembered the important things and my entire body felt alive.

Xxm

Looking into the face of Peace

If you ever come to San Francisco, come to the farmers market on a Saturday morning at the ferry building. Right in the center of the market, surrounded by beautiful vegetables and fruit, take a moment to look into the face of peace.

Good old Gandhi

Xxm

The moon...the moon

It's a full moon tonight...the city is bright and awake, my beautiful Australian flag is flying in the light breeze and songs continue to pour out...

Thought I would share this one with you...it's from the fire escape, overlooking the left side of the city (towards Berkeley) and that dot in the background is aforementioned beautius moon.

I wonder if I will hear anyone howl tonight?

xxM

Perhaps?

This is a good name for a cd? Or just 'grace'.......

Its a magical day here in San Francisco and this is the view from the top of my apartment. Over towards the right is the golden gate bridge. The wild parrots of telegraph hill (do a google on them, they are famous) are going crazy over the top of my apartment.....I can tell that they are trying to work out where to hang out for the day as they keep flying from one side to the other.

Other than that, the Chinese Christian opera singing lady who lives below is in fine form (how do I know its Christian opera? I remember some of the tunes from the old days and sometimes walk around my house singing along with her in English). And I am sitting here drinking my favourite caffe trieste coffee getting ready to write. I have almost finished two new tunes for the cd THIS week and am strangely inspired by my own scarey creative flow.

See......just got to get out of our own way sometimes and let everything come unstuck. Maybe that's what I should call my new cd....the year of unstuck.? Oh...if you have any cd name suggestions.....let me know!!!!

Xxm

How can this be right?

I ask you......

Hallo there chappies

Its official, I got my piece of paper to go and get my British Citizenship. My mum will be so proud. Its bizarre to think that this one little piece of paper opens up another entire part of the world in a whole new way. It kinda brings tears to my eyes. Who knows what the universe has up its sleeve next.....

Xxm

Twilight....

Is actually one of my favourite times of the day. I get melancholy and thought-filled and want to just sit with a glass of wine and think on these....and other.....things. I sat here on this ledge (sans glass of wine....doah) and looked out at the bay and the golden gate bridge while the waves crashed around me (and a wedding party happened behind me). It was mostly perfect and soothed my heart and mind.

Xxm

My mate.....

He had a ball, I knew how to throw it......what more is there?

The view from here....

Its a crisp clear day here in san Francisco. This view took my breath away, I had to take a photo of it. I wished for a moment that I could feel the same, crisp and clear.

M

Recording.....

I am starting to work on finalizing tunes for my upcoming recording. Being scared and nervous about it and yet excited to move into this next phase of my musical life. I am still writing songs for it with only 2 1/2 weeks left till I begin....that's been pretty cool. To know that there are tunes inside me still waiting to be written and to be taking the time to write them. I think sometimes my biggest job is to just get out of the way of myself and let the tunes fall. If I don't hold back...if I don't get worried about other peoples ideas of what you can and can't write about, if I just let my soul open up onto the page without fear of exposing too much or being judged or ridiculed for it.

It will be an interesting ride......

Writing....

Trying to let it flow, to stand out of my own way and just let it be....

With a new hair cut....

Just for Wendy!

Made me think of you mate!

The view from here.....

I am into 'views' at the moment.....can you tell?

Its a grey day here in san francisco and this is the view from the room I write in. Trying to get songs finalized for the cd and am finding myself just staring at the view instead. I usually work pretty good under pressure (that's why sometimes songs you've never heard live end up on the cd, because I have written them in the lead up!).

Anyway, back to it! A shout out to all my Midwest friends! What a hoot the tour was and I can't wait to see you all again next year.....

Xxm

SF in the morning....

This isn't a great shot. But its the view of my street at 3am. I am having trouble sleeping since I have been home from tour and so I am doing random things like take dark photos. This time of the day is actually one of my favs. The city is quiet and my inspiration flows. Apartment living prohibits me from breaking out my guitar, plugging it in and throwing my head back. 3 weeks till I start recording and I can tell I am nervous and excited about it.

Xxm

And....

This is Suzanne....who said after I sent the photo of Mayra 'what am I, chopped liver?'.

So....here she is.....not feeling left out.
Xxm

First night home

I have been home 5 hours and my mates Suzanne and Mayra came over for dinner. I don't get to see Suzanne often as she lives in Hood River these days running the Solstice Wood Fire Cafe. I always laugh my ass off when I am with her....its always good (I have a great strip club story thanks to Suzanne). Anyway, we went and got Indian food and have sat here laughing hard at the strangest things.

We just decided to braid Mayra's hair.....isn't it cute!!! She needs a date, anyone help her out? (sorry ladies!!!)

Laughing very hard at the moment.....

Xxm

So this is where you will find me on a travel day. Usually sitting on the floor in the southwest terminal, in the A or B line (if I am lucky), with a piece of trash to read.....usually looking somewhat exhausted.....but in a happy kind of way. Getting to the airport and getting checked in still stresses me out more than anything about my job. Will they let me take my guitar on board, will they see that I have 3 pieces of carry on, will there be enough room in the over heads for my guitar, will I get a flight attendant who is just way too crabby......all these questions and more.

But in other news, I am extremely happy to report that J Lo is pregnant......and all is right in the world.

Xxm
Ps - so if you ever see me sitting on the floor at the airport and I have a stressed look on my face, just tell me to breathe........

Chicago at 5am

This is actually downtown Chicago....its darker than usual but still a beautiful city, with beautiful noises at 5am.....

I think I am just a little delirious right now too....too much going on in my brain to sleep.
Xxm

On the road to.....

This is a shot of the sunset as I was driving on the I-90. I finished my last show in evansville, IN last night to a room full of great fun people! I had a great show and was so happy to see the crew down there. Big loves to Tammy and Karen who hosted the show and me. Can't wait to see the baby next time around!!

Anyway, I was thrilled by the beauty I experienced on my drive up. It was 6 hours of flatness that bored the shit out of me but I had amazing moments of beauty, some that were very unexpected.

The day was capped off with this sunset as I drove into Chicago. It seemed to be the perfect happy ending.....

Indy!

Just finished my show in Indianapolis at Talbot St, a hot little night club in indy. I am told they have the best drag queens in indy here so we are waiting for the show to start!

A shout out to the folks who came tonight (and to those that didn't...you know who you are!!!), my goal is to fill this space!! The legends lounge is a nice room to play in and I often closed my eyes and imagined it at capacity.

Anyway, this is me, Cathy & Joyce - the wonders of indy indie and trendous supporters of womens music down this way. Love them...

Now.....back to dropping back a blue moon and waiting for the show to start.

Xxm

Skips place

This is what greets you as you turn into Skips farm in Wisconsin. It took me a minute to notice the foot sticking out of it.....but I knew right at that moment that I was in for a treat meeting Skip.

And I was.....

xxm
(who is fighting off a cold)

From 9 months to 89

This is the beautiful thing about house concerts. You never fully know who is going to be in your audience until your standing in front of them.

This is Kaia, her sweet mum Bea and their dog The Bitty (aka Zoe). We just finished the concert at their house in Madison and we are just sitting around talking about the cross section of ages here tonight. Literally from 9 months (Zoe the dog) to 80.....or thereabouts. Its a good thing to see that cross section of people enjoying the show and to know that somewhere, we connected.

Love this job

Xxm

Lake monoma and Kaia!

I am in Madison, WI visiting with my friend Kaia who has been living in Mexico for the last few years. She is giving me a tour of Madison right now and this was Lake Monoma.....its cold here right now, well......cold for a little aussie, not so much for the locals. They keep looking at me with knowing smirks when I exclaim how cold it is.

Yet another reason why I don't live in the Midwest.
Xxm

Do what you love

I think this is a great reminder don't you?

This was sprayed all over the sidewalk on the way over to the field museum. I felt happy to read this and be reminded and to know that I am doing what I love.

Its a hot windy day here in Chicago. I just went to see the Darwin exhibition at the museum. It was really informative, I feel like I understand evolution and how and why he came up with it all a lot more. They also have a Darfur photographic exhibition that they are projecting onto the side of the Field museum tonight that we are going to watch. Should be quite sobering I think and I will be interested to see if any of it brings a song. I love love love the effort Chicago puts into art, its always a great city to have a day off in.

Now, its back to the house for lunch, airconditioning and theories.

Xxm

Dominic

This is dominic, my cat boyfriend....

He's had a hard night drinking mojitos......or maybe that's me projecting!

Night off in chico land.....good mates, good laughs! What more is there?

Xxm

Ashbary Cafe

This is me, Sharon (sneaking in, with her tooth in this time!!) (hi Julia!) and Kim Char Meredith at the Ashbary cafe in willow springs, IL. We just did our show, which was a fantastic moment of fun!! Love the people that turned up, I want them to come with me to every show I do!!!

Xxm

Random truck stop lovin

No....don't be dirty minded now, not THAT kinda truck stop loving!!

I mean the kind of late night, after a fun show, hanging with mates, eating icecream in a truck stop because culvers is closed and this wasn't kinda truck stop loving.

This is me and my Chicago 2nd home mates, Sharon & Patty. We found kitchy hats and took photos of ourselves while we ate icecream.

Now we have momentary sugar highs that will soon cause is to lapse into comas.

Great fun show in Milwaukee tonight....big shout out to the crew that were there complete with their souls open and ready to ROCK. Love that kinda stuff....love that I get to do this job!

Xxm
(who now has indeed collapsed into a hot fudge Sunday sugar coma)

Milwaukee

So, this is a blurry shot of Milwaukee from the back seat of the car. It took us 3 1/2 hrs to drive 2 hrs thanks to the Chicago traffic....but we are almost here! Yay!

Had a fun show in Chicago last night that was a little quiet due to the cubs playing in a penant game (whatever that means). Its a pretty big deal around here. Anyway, a few folks turned up and we sat around and read my interview in Time Out Chicago(thanks Jason!), drank martinis and heard about all the great restaurants in Chicago from Jason!

Good food, good drinks, good company and hopefully some good music!

Xxm

Does this seem right?

I am not sure if its the amount of coffee I have consummed this morning.....but does this seem wrong to anyone else but me?

Bum sport? Who is this brand directed towards, I ask you?

The life of a touring musician....

Yes, its true.....we spend a lot of time in laundromats! (sp?) mind you, this is my local, its run by Dan and Mary who I think have been here a billion years!

Its a beautiful sunny day here in sf and tomorrow I get on a plane to Chicago to begin touring and you all can be rest assured that I will be doing it with clean clothes!

Xxm

Hallelujah......

I love love this version of this song....thanks to wendy for passing it along. It was shot last sunday at Meredith & Woj's house concert in CT. Love it..

East Coast Tour bits......

I just returned from an East Coast tour with Trina Hamlin and the tour ho that shall be called Wendy. If you are at all interested in reading about our adventures, Wendy has a blog set up at
www.youtourlikeagirl.blogspot.com with lots of stories and photos.

Anyway, the tour was wayyy too much bloody fun and I had to come home for a little while between tours just to sleep and eat a salad before heading out to the Midwest for my final 2007 tour. Oh, that makes me feel sad for some reason. I wanted to share with you a couple of favorite photos from the trip though..

So...this is how the tour started, with us buying 50 cent fake teeth from the truck stop in New Jersey. That's me with crack whore teeth...just incase you were wondering what I would look like with them (sorry, no offense to any crack whores reading this).



I happened to be walking past Tiffany's on 5th Avenue in NYC (as a touring Indie musician must) and had a STAR sighting! Ms Sarah Jessica Parker was filming for the new Sex & The City movie and this is how close I got to her....ohhhh, she was so pretty.


This is me, in picturesque Maine, I made the mistake of looking down before....NEVER look down. Needless to say, I had to practice holding for the rest of the trip...


This is a better picture of me and Trina in Maine....again, living the poor musicians lifestyle.


Okay, so we took this photo at the Unitarian Church in Belfast Maine where we had a show on the 15th September with Lynn Deeves. Wendy and I stood for ages looking at this note which says 'For Giant Glowing Cross Activation - Do NOT Touch! -'....which, you know, made us WANT to touch it so badly. Of course after about 75 seconds of self restraint, I turned it on and Wendy proceeded to run around the outside of the church looking for the giant glowing cross. Turns out the joke was on us because Unitarian Churches don't have crosses someone told us...still, we laughed hard at it and I still secretly wonder what this switch turned on.

It was all just way too much fun and I had to come home and sleep......getting ready now to head to the midwest on Wednesday for my last big US tour for 2007. Craziness will abound.

xx