Goodbyes....

So, we are saying goodbye to Deb today and its a sad goodbye. Deb heads back to Australia at the end of this month for good and visiting phoenix just won't be the same.

She has deeksha'd (sp?) us all week, been in a car accident, hit the weirdest Chicago pride ever, gone on my bike ride with me most days, shared her story and listened to mine (mostly listened, occasionally just nodded like she was listening as I rehashed the same shit!!), drunk beer, seen fireflies for the first time, told some of the funniest stories ever, eaten pizza till she popped, gotten brain freeze, had sunburn and been drenched by the rain...all on the same day, traipsed around Chicago with me all day being a good tourist and just been a fucking good soul to spend a week with.

Gotta love people like that and you know I am grateful, yet again, to call her friend.

Xxm

Ps.....hello out to Kate!!

My fav float

So, this is the bizarrest pride festival ever. Just when we thought it was finished, it started again, and again, and again. We went and had lunch because we thought it was done and about 20 minutes later, it started again!

But....this is my fav thing in the parade so far. If I had a poodle, I'd probably do this to it too, or maybe not. Or maybe.

Anyway, back to the stopping...oh no, starting again parade.

This is really the parade that just keeps on giving.

Xxm

The Aussies

This is the Aussie contingent here at pride today....me, Deb and Jo (whose from Albany!!). We are wet and a little prided out right now.

Xxm

Ahh

This is the welcoming committee as you walk into Chicago pride.
I was happy to see that the noise they were making was well and truely drowned by the cheers of happy gay people.

Xxm

Brain freeze

Eating aforementioned ice, holding our heads....

If you are ever over in Chicago, you should try Mario's Ice...get the real fruit ones, they are extremely yummy.

xxm

Marios Italian lemonade

The party continues outside the famous marios Italian ice in little Italy. Its a tiny hole in the wall with lines out to the street. We looked for parking for 20 minutes to come sample it...will tell you in a minute how it is.

Oh for a scratch and sniff blog.....

Xxm

Gino's

Sitting here at gino's pizza in downtown Chicago with my mate Deb and the sweet Kathleen...who is the director of tonights festivities.

Gino's is a famous pizza place down here and the walls are lined with graffiti...the only restaurant I have ever been to where they encourage you to draw on the walls.

Its a fun night of cheeky laughs, intimate stories of broken hearts, deep dish pizza, and of course, its pride here in Chicago this weekend. We are all hitting the parade tomorrow and are planning our outfits now....pasties/tassels and chaps is where we are leaning towards right now.

Xxm

Thought for the moment....

'How do you redefine something that never really had a name?'

Savage Garden

Da hockey chicks

So, what a fun night da hockey girls turned into. Of course, that might have just been me...I think my mates were a little bored and were waiting for me to want to leave. I thought there was going to be a brawl at one stage but I wasn't lucky enough to start that. Damn. And I tried....

Kudos out to Kim, Becky, Mary T and the other members of the teams.

Xxm

The kidney bean....

Me taking a photo of Deb, taking a photo of me.....in the famous kidney bean.

Xxm

The thousand faces

This is an art installation in downtown Chicago called the 'thousand faces of chicago'. Its literally 1000 faces of Chicago people that come up on these huge tv screens. At various intervals the faces purse their lips and a huge water spray comes out the lips.

Its an awesome installation to watch, but more so, the kids in front of them make me laugh my ass off. Most definately I fight with ripping my clothes off and jumping in with them. Although, I did just see a dad in his three piece suit out there with his kid, which was beautiful to watch.

I am happy to report that we are all mostly fine this morning. We all actually had heat stroke last night too (because we stood out on the road with the car in the sun for too long). That resulted in us chucking up through the night (I know, pretty image). But....aside from a little stiffness, we are happy campers.

Yes, miraculously, my guitar survived with just a little crack. Here's an amazing thing, I actually had a pa system on the back seat with me, at the last minute I decided to put it there instead of in the trunk, and put my guitar in the trunk (in a soft pack)....which I would NEVER do normally. If that pa system had have gone in the trunk, the depth of impact would have pushed the system into my back and wedged me between the seats. See....there's always a silver lining, no?

Back to laughing at the chidlins. More Chicago experiences to come....including a party tonight with two womens ice hockey teams....hmm.

Xxm

Fav Deb moment #352

'when I got held up at gun point in rwanda'.........

The Aussie answer....

Lol.....so the first thing we said after being rear ended, was 'let's get a beer'. So all plans are cancelled and we are sitting in the beer garden of the local, drinking a shandy and talking up a storm. Enjoying the sun and each other.

Deb, my beautiful Buddhist friend, performed the oneness blessing on all of us on the side of the road straight away and we have all been calmly moving through the events of the morning. Feeling a little stiff and having a few moments of 'WTF!'.

I had a moment of wondering what else I was being asked to learn after the accident. As in, a 'not again' moment. But we have been talking a lot about what are our lessons to learn and what are others lessons to learn.....like, was the accident the other drivers lesson and we just happened to be there (which is the consencus). As Deb said, he couldn't have hit three nicer people (and then said that given that was her first ever car accident, that she couldn't think of three better people to be in it with..lol). We were as concerned about him, as we were ourselves.

So....here we sit. Talking about what's important in life and what is ours and not ours and what just happens along the way.

Interesting times my friends.....

Xxm

So....

How many car accidents can one little musician be involved in? Rear ended in stopped traffic on the 290, can barely believe it. Was on the way to a show, chatting away when he came up behind us (we were told he was drunk, but it seems that maybe he was just impatient...).

I was sitting in the back seat, my guitar in the trunk. And you know, even though cute fire fighters tried to get me into the ambulance, I couldn't do it and I am a little sore and grateful to be alive. Again.

Xxm

Cat nip loving kitties...

So, dinner plans got cancelled last minute and after a trip to the local organic farmers market, we have been enjoying a meal of goats cheese, fresh organic bread and tomatoes and yummy red wine.

But really, the reason for this post are the kitties. They were just given an organic cat nip plant and I swear to god, they are stoned right now. Kwan here could barely lift his head off the ground. I have never seen stoned kitties....

Must be the virgin Guadalupe helping out.

Xxm

Coconut cream

And then the Virgin de Guadalupe right next door.

You know, my phone wouldn't spell the word virgin.....what's that about do you think?

Xxm

I think...

Do you think these people forget what country they live in? This is the question we pose as we walk.....

Xxm

When I use to....

So, I think I have good stories and experiences in this world but this morning, over Vegemite and toast, when my mate Deb started a story with: 'when I use to fly a plane'....I knew that I wanted to find more.

She performed the 'oneness blessing' on me this morning (google it if you are interested) and we talked on intention and becoming friends with the brain (hello brain, I am not going to ignore you, or leave you behind, so would you just let me have a little break for now and we can pick this up again later).

All bloody good stuff....

Xxm

Me and my mate Deb

This is my pommie bastard/ Australian mate Deb from Arizona. She flew in today to spend a week hanging out with me, teaching me about meditation (I call her the meditation guru), checking out Chicago and shooting the shit with me. She has been living here in the US since 2000, when I first met her doing Velvet Janes shows around the area, and she is done. She misses Australia too much and is heading back there at the end of July.

But not before she spends a week with me....

She just said 'we'll have to get up at the sparrows fart` (ie we will have to get up early).....it made me laugh hard!

Xxm

Festy thoughts

I am having a 'nothing' day today, deciding to let my body get over the weekend and doing things I love and that feel good for said body. I am in the middle of a bike ride right now and have been thinking about the weekend highlights for me. In no particular order I wanted to share...

• Jamming till 4am with Nancy Scott. Laughing our asses off as we played tunes and talked about life. Excited I get to play with her again in Sept and Oct. (Indy and Texas)
• Performing in front of a full house of people ready for the ride.
• Two words.....Dueling interpreters.
• Working with the stage crew at the festival, such good souls who work their asses off.
• Standing behind Andrea Gibson at the Sunday jam and watching her entire body shake as she performed one of the most powerful spoken word pieces I have ever heard (still gives me chills thinking about it).
• Hearing Chris Williamson play for the first time. Beautiful.
• The auction....was the best workout I had all weekend.
• Rocking the stage at the Sunday jam with JJ Johnson....trying to work out now how to play with her more!
• Hanging out with musical mates Lyndell Montgomery, Jamie Andersen, Tret, Julie Loyd, Melindeh (whose bday is the same as mine), Ellis & Terri, Mel Watson, Jenn Todd and all the new musical and non musical mates I made.
• The blue moon in the artists care room....and the sanctuary that Cathy, Joyce and Marsha provided for us there.
• Hanging out with the indy crew Thursday night....grateful for the laughs and talks....and beers!!!
• Being a part of a festival that started with a vision and has grown and developed into an amazing 4 day extravaganza. Hoping I always get to be involved one way or the other and feel like I am part of this amazing family.

Sure there's more...but those things come out now.

Next year, you really should come too.

Xxm

What makes....

You happy?

I wondered, as I looked on with amazement, at the outstanding growth in the garden....

Xxm

Winding down...

This is Ellis, Edie Carey and the wonderful chicks from Girl Parts. We are finishing up at the festival and what a blast it was. Now its home to sleep for a week.

I feel so blessed to not only be surrounded and welcomed by an amazing community of musicians, but also wrapped up in the beautiful arms of a listening, attentive crowd. Music festivals are really the greatest part of my job.

Xxm

Dueling Interpreters...

Sunny and Diana - the amazing interpreters from the festival. I asked them to come on stage and duel this song....it's the song Take You...and wow, they are so fucking hot doing it that I could barely sing....

So....

I am sitting backstage, waiting to go onstage. My faithful blunnies on my feet. I am itching to play and we are running an hour late.

I am going to have 'dueling' sign language interpreters during my song 'take you' tonight. They have a whole thing planned out and I swear, if I look at them, I am going to laugh....it won't help me sing sexy, but it will sure help me reclaim some of this song.

Many wonderful peeps back here with me....the sweet Nancy Scott, the wonderful Sunny & Diane (the interpreters) and the techies. All good for the spirit and I am breathing in and out, getting my heart and person ready to play.

Tret Fure is playing on stage right now with a kick ass band consisting of Lyndell Montgomery and Pamela Means andJJ Johnson.

The community of women here is great, I never want to leave them, want to be enveloped by them and throw my arms around each one of them and love on them.

Xxm

Virtual Aussie

Melindeh, the virtual Aussie, the American with the best Aussie accent EVER!!

Xxm

Before show....

Some of da crew here at the national, pre show.....

Good folks, good laughs, good times

Xxm

The whispering demon..

No, this isn't something from a Steven King movie....its the name of the funky new pedal I bought yesterday and launch tonight at my show. I am standing on stage waiting for my soundcheck to happen. The festival is gaining momentum around me and although I have a few moments of 'damn, and you were going to be here with me', I am pumped and ready for a good set.

Now if the piano tuner would just get his ass off stage so I can start checking....

Xxm

Umm

Fucking solid humans

Da l and da m

Some of the indy crew...

Good folks, good beer. Good laughs....

Xxm

The stage crew

These are the people that make us at the festival sound and look pretty. We worship the ground they walk on.....

Xxm

Meet the newest member

Of the touring crew....

This is Tom Tom-Tom (think Beethoven's 5th).

He is going to be extremely handy on the road, he is taking us to Madison right now.

Thought for the morning....

"Growth doesn't depend on the will of the intellect but on the intensity of the inner urge."

Thanks Michelle for passing that one along......I thought it said 'inner rage' to begin with...but damn, if that inner urge isn't kicked into overdrive.

Getting ready for the festival....photos coming up soon!!

xxM

Millenium park...

[addendum to post....so, I mentioned that I wasn't sure if this post would see 24 hours due to the possible TMI factor...but your comments were so good, and I appreciate the time they took to write, so I wanted to keep something up here to honor them....umm, so here goes]

I am sitting in millenium park in downtown Chicago listening to classical music. It's a nice night....a little sunny and nice wine.

So.....I have this 'friend'....she recently fell in love with someone who told her it was safe one second and then recanted the next, and then said something different the next..and, well, you get it. It didn't work out so well at all, lots of back and forth, lots of words, not sure which bits are true anymore, seems a big ole huge lot of it wasn't.

My 'friend' is moving along and away from it pretty good, although there are definately some moments.

Seems my 'friend' keeps getting given new bits of information about the situation from people...me personally, I am not sure if it's a good or a bad thing getting 'said' bits of information...makes the situation much uglier and nastier and liar-ier than my 'friend' even thought it was. But, I digress.

My 'friend' kicks herself often....feels icky, a little dumb and confused. 'Friend' is realizing more and more that she is a little naive, and that this half or no truth stuff isn't actually an isolated incident in the world of the person my 'friend' fell in love with. And whilst trying to own her part in the experience, grow and learn and all that self improvement kind of stuff, my 'friend' is having a bit of trouble working out what to do with all 'said' new pieces of information.

Latest revelation passed onto said 'friend' is that 'said' person that said 'friend' fell for, 'said' they broke up with ex (twice) but turns out that perhaps 'said' person hadn't really done so all along....that both my 'friend' and said 'ex' were kept in the dark..or in the pocket, or just fucked around with all the way along. Even though 'said' person 'said' all the right things about not wanting 'said' ex and her 'said' energy, in her life ever again and falling in love with said 'friend' and blah..blah..blah. (sorry to said 'friend'...no disrespect intended by the blah blah bit). Oh, and 'said' ex and and 'said' person, are now living together... just two months after final impact.

Sooo....if you were me, what would you tell said 'friend' in an effort to help her move through this as gracefully and with as few hangovers as possible (umm....not the drunk kind, but the 'after effects of finding out new yucky pieces of information' kind)? Coz, this is a totally fucked up situation and possibly some of us have been there before and how does one remain sweet and not just FUCKING ANGRY in a 'I HATE YOU, WISH YOU'D NEVER HAPPENED' kind of way?

Xxm
Who knows nothing it seems....

(and who just realized that this post is actually longer than the last....damn!!)

Sunny days

I am in the middle of my bike ride, sitting here looking at this pretty tree and the sky, waiting for a friend to come meet me for coffee, pondering on the national womens music festival, which starts tomorrow. Thinking about my set list and my performance. Memorizing poems, just incase the mood strikes me. I am excited about this festival....not only because I had bloody blast last year, no voice and all, but because it is a chance to play....to plug into a big sound system and put my head down and rock. That's really cathartic for me. And, its four days of hanging out with old mates and making new ones and being reminded of the things I love in this life of mine.

Xxm

The Little Prince

Have you ever read the book 'The Little Prince'? It's probably my most favorite book in the world (and where the tattoo on my left forearm comes from 'on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur' - one sees well only with the heart - the rest of the phrase, the bit I couldn't fit on my arm says - 'what is essential is invisible to the eye'.) Reading that book has actually taught me a lot over the years about love and friendship and respecting people's hearts.

I tell you all this because I had this dream this morning that was 'one of those' dreams....you know, telling me something really powerful for myself.

In my dream I had just had an exhaustive, horrible battle with someone who had ambushed me and I was laying on the ground trying to recover. Infact, I was knocked out cold by it. In my dream I saw this exact image:


Which of course is the image of the boa constrictor swallowing the elephant from The Little Prince.

The boa constrictor, who I think was who I had the battle with initially, moved towards me to try to start to swallow me as well and suddenly I was surrounded by friends who put their hands under my arms and started to pull me out of the way of the snake.

I woke up at one point and looked down at the snake and tapped it's nose (do they have nose's?) with my foot and simply told it to leave me alone, that it couldn't have me, that me and my friends wouldn't let it....and besides, it was too full with all the other stuff it had eaten to fit me in, or to even catch me. And the boa constrictor looked at me really sadly, and for a minute, I felt really sorry for it and wanted to invite it to come with me so we could be friends....but I knew it's nature was to consume and that it would never be safe, and that I needed to go.

So I did.

And then I woke up and knew that it was an important lesson for me to learn right now.

And that I needed to read The Little Prince again......

xxm
who probably needs a nap now.....

So, the power returned this morning to applause all around the neighborhood, well at least in my room. The new generator kept the frozen things....well.....frozen and I nursed a nice glass of brandy by candlelight and pondered on life without generators.

My bike path has been turned into an obstacle course though, this was the smallest of four trees across the path. The largest of which required me to climb up the tree and pull my bike over the top of it. The nannies with their charges on the other side had quite a nice laugh as I clambered over it, but you know, I am a girl on a mission.

Just in case you didn't notice

Xxm

Still no power

Out here, that storm took a lot of power lines down it seems. So, dinner is consisting of all the things in the fridge that need eating before they melt....or get warm at all....or might never recover....or that I just feel like eating.

Xxm

Sharon...

Being a tree......

'We' are planting a Fat Albert blue spruce tree. The royal 'we' I mean. I am sitting here directing, the tree is little right now but oneday it will be as wide as sharon's arms....my friend Julie says planting a tree can be symbolic in the way of keeping life going, encouraging growth, reminding us about moving forward.....and anything to keep me out of my brain and reminding me of those things.

Oh, and we have no power here in Brookfield. A massive storm hit early this morning and knocked everything out. I am happy to say that Trina made it outta here in time.

Back to trees and life moving forward....

An evening thought...in the morning

--- a re-write -- (all names have been removed...haha)

love and hate - two different extremes? Or kinda similar?

I am finding myself feeling one, where the other once stood. It's a strange feeling, haven't had it in a long time...many, many, many years infact. But wow, it's alive..and here. I want to move it to indifference but right now it's just hate. Mixed with a few moments of disbelief. And a dash of what the fuck. And I am letting it be for the moment. But I wondered about it....

I fight with myself over it, telling myself I want to be a more evolved person, more gracious towards the world, not give the fucked up person anymore of my energy (oh, a little bit of anger there too)...but then I just realized that I can let myself move through it...knowing that it stems from a really fucked up situation that was severely painful and life changing for me. Where trust was abused and heart lies were told. That what we resist, persists.

I hear people who know better and more than me, telling me to be glad that I 'dodged a bullet', that I 'escaped' when and how I did, to be grateful, that I got 'out of the train wreck alive'...that doesn't quite quell the pain in my gut, but I get the concept.

If I could scratch it and the experience it followed, off my skin, I would...with sand paper, barbed wire even. But then that would just hurt me more...so back to working on indifference, and being grateful I suppose and pondering on this new found feeling, at least for this moment, as I watch it slip away from me, off my skin...and writing it all out.

"Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don't stand a chance against it." The Snow Queen

xxm

Broadie....

The youngest opening act EVER!! Me and trina are going on the road with him, we gonna be his ho's

The hands of love

Averting my gaze, from things that harm, to only love.....and Mickey mouse hands.

Ahh, my friends help me get perspective....and help me get in touch with my Mickey loving.

Xxm

Wendy

And her hands of love...

Strawberry picking

From annemaries garden....

New editions

To the tour van....at night, when the van is all lit up, its a site to see.

We are driving up to crystal lake for annemarie's 40th bday celebrations tonight. Kinda quiet here in the van. I think the tequila shots from last night has kinda hit us hard today. Mind you, I did my first ever body shot off the Shoshanna's extremely nice torso, with an open ended invitation to go back for more anytime. Gotta love that, no? That would have been worth a hang over.

We walked around the indy fair today and tried to find the pride celebrations with no luck. It was a sunny day and was nice to take some time.

Thanks to the crew out there for coming out to the show and for the kudos for the new poems and songs......seems anger from feeling totally used and fucked over by someone is a universal feeling, sometimes a little too universal in a 6 degrees of separation kinda way. Like I always say, falling in love with a songwriter can be fun in a writing love songs kinda way.....but fuck a songwriter over, and we is hoping for a top 10 hit.

Onward and forward mates,

Xxm

My mate

Trina doing her thing onstage. A room full of nice people, warm, happy to hear good music. Listening to my mate play her tunes. Glad to be here, surrounded by friends.

Dinner....

This is the crew of people who are running the show here in indy tonight. Bloody good people who love music and indie artists and we feel loved and supported by them.

Good mates, good food, good wine....getting ready for a good show.

Xxm

In the kitchen

Me and Cathy, cooking up a storm, pre show, great party......seems that we are going to play 'tuck a buck' at the gig tonight!! (more on that later!)

Ummm

From the camera of trina.....its going to be a bawdy night. Look out Cathy & Joyce.....here we come.

Just what every lesbian needs....their own truck of bulk lubricants.

The weather report...

This is trina and her handy little thing that shows us that we are driving between two storms right now. And that perhaps indy is getting hit by rain right now....we have texts out to find out....because you know, we have eaten sugar in the van and need to expend energy. We put up new lights in the back of the van and now we are twiddling.....our thumbs and each others thumbs.

Its going to be a very naughty show tonight, we can already tell.

The world according to trina....

'Its all corn......everything you see is fucking corn'......looking for fucking corn now.

What really happens...

In the back of the tour van (usually stays here) but here is a little peek...its where we change guitar strings!! I know, SO rock and roll.....as we hide the drugs and naked bodies.

And so....

It begins...the great packing of the tour van.

After dinner

Napping. We are going to walk the hood to hold off the after amazing meal sleep time. Talking about our shows this weekend, about life and love and looking out for one another. Love these girls, know that they have my heart and my back...I feel safe in their beautiful presence and honored by their beauty and existance in my world.

Wendy

The Thai chi master of bbq-ing. She makes any Australian proud....