hi from pontypridd! it's lovely here and we're really excited to be visiting wales for the first time. we're only sorry that we don't have more time to look around. the show tonight was a lot of fun and we were very impressed by everyone's willingness to sing with us. beautiful! we heard that the welsh invented harmony singing a few thousand years ago so i guess it's not that surprising that we had some excellent crooners in the audience. speaking of which, we promise to play some tom jones for ruth as soon as possible.last night grant and i went into london to catch lloyd cole at the arts theatre which was an absolute THRILL for me. the opening act was not able to make the show so we were treated to two sets chock full of old favourites from lloyd (i am on a first name basis in my imagination). i was in heaven!anyway, on to northwich tomorrow for our second show at the harlequin. looking forward to seeing all the people we met the first time around. thanks to everyone who has left kind messages in the guestbook. your support means very much to us.~ nicky.
Home for the Holidays
Happy Solstice everyone! It seems we are surfacing...After three months of touring we are home for the holidays. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the Canadian and U.S. dates - we feel so incredibly lucky to be able to do what we do and to have the support of fans like you.I have to admit it's been nice to sleep in my own bed again and rediscover some of the simple pleasures of life at home. Things you just can't find on the road. Spaghetti with butter, for example. My Mum's pavlova. OK, I guess I should try and think of something that is not food-related. Bonding with Lyle, my sister's cat - there is something I definitely have not been able to do in the last 3 months. He is sitting beside me now as I write this, and I am filled with joy.I've also been able to catch up on a few movies since I got home, and while I think of it, I highly recommend 'An Inconvenient Truth'. It's a very important documentary about global warming and the state of our planet. It is alarming, for sure, but it is also very insightful and provides suggestions for ways in which we can make a difference at home and in our daily lives. You can also check out www.climatecrisis.org.That's it for now. There will be new pictures up on the Jennys website very soon, so stay tuned!Happy Holidays,Ruth
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays everyone - we Jennys are in our respective homes getting ready for some R&R and serious food consumption (I know, hard to believe). It's been a very busy and fast-moving autumn but we enjoyed travelling through so much of the States. My knowledge of certain American geography was proven false when I surveyed the rugged terrain and stunning vistas of Idaho. Montana was gorgeous as well and our time on both the east and west coasts was wonderful as always. Thanks to everyone who attended the shows and talked with us after the performances. Thanks to all of our good friends and faithful fans who supported us all the way and here's to a brand new year full of music, good health and humour.~ Nicky
Hello from Whitefish, MT
Not much to report except that we are in Whitefish, Montana, and we have a day off! It's rare that we find ourselves with a day where we are not traveling or playing, and it's always a good opportunity to recharge our batteries. Things like exercise and laundry and phoning our parents all get put on the back burner when we are on the road, but we get a chance to do all these things on days like this.It is so beautiful here in the mountains. I just went for a blissful walk, and I'm trying to remember which trees are spruce and which are pines, wondering if it's too late to learn to ski, and thinking I should watch Brokeback Mountain again. There is a fireplace here at the lodge where we are staying. And movies. Free ones. Oh I'm in heaven.It's been a good tour so far. Bellingham was a treat, if a little frantic due to the traffic on the way from the airport and the delays that ensued. But it made for good energy, I think, because the show turned out really well. We finished the night by sampling (if having two full bowls and drinking from the carton can be called sampling) our friend Jamie Weber's homemade ice cream!! It was magical - he makes it with only four ingredients: milk, cream, eggs, and maple syrup. He is a genius. Thanks Jamie. (Jamie helped organize the Bellingham show.) Grant joined us the next day for the Renton, Forest Grove, and Spokane shows, and it's been great to have him back at the soundboard again. I got to see my old friends from Louisiana, Jane and Steve, in Forest Grove. I haven't seen them since the Scruj days. Unbeknownst to me they recently moved to Portland, and Steve happened to be playing in Forest Grove, four blocks away from where we were playing, on the very same night. What a tiny world this is. Good times. It was also nice to hook up with Jess Byers that night, and other sweet folks that we hung out with at the fabulous Pickathon festival last summer (thanks for the wine Zoe!). And last but not least, we've been very lucky to have our sweet friend Mike Morgan with us, all the way from Alaska. He met us at the Seattle airport on and accompanied us all the way to Whitefish. He left us early this morning while we were sleeping, and is now on his way back to Seattle to catch his flight home. He helped us tremendously and is always such a positive presence. Safe travels Mike. We're on our way to Salmon next...here on the fish tour. Only a few days left until we fly over to the East side of the country again.~ RuthThat's it for now,
CANADIAN TOUR, September 2006
CANADIAN TOUR, September 2006We started on the West Coast, in Victoria. The Alex Gooldin theatre was packed and we played a show with 'Outlaw Social, my sweet friend Oliver Swain's new Old-timey band. They were awesome. Ollie then played bass with us on our set. We were also joined by Jeremy Penner, another dear old friend and ex-Scrujer, and of course a wicked fiddler, who is now living in Vancouver and made the trek over to the Island to play with us. How trippy to be playing with the Jennys and my old comrades of Moody Penner and Swain at the same time. It was a special moment for me, and a really special show mostly due to an amazing audience. Thank you to all of you who came out. A big thanks also to Ian Maclean for the smoked salmon.Vancouver was an awesome night as well. Another incredible audience, and good vibes on stage with Jeremy joining us once again.Next came Alberta, where we played three shows: Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer. It rained then snowed in Calgary, a bit of a shock after the West Coast loveliness, but it was a nice moment of nostalgia, as it reminded me of a snowy night on our first fall tour, 4 years ago, loading into the Nickelodeon folk club. This time it was the Calgary Folk Club, but an equally fine experience and another great audience. We got to stay with our good friends Jon and Jodi in Calgary. As usual, we thank them for their support, generosity and washing machines, as well as the cheese sauce and strangely large shrimp. In Edmonton we met up with the wonderful Christine Richardson, ate at Cafe Mosaic twice in 24 hours, and we power-shopped at one of our favorite stores, Nokomis, that specializes in local and Canadian designers. It's a good thing we won't be returning to Edmonton in the near future. Thanks Christine for the pumpkin Chili (who would have thought?) the braids (can you teach Nicky?) and the good times. The show felt good - the Myer Horowitz is a beautiful theatre and the sound was amazing. The new material really felt like it was starting to gel. In Red Deer we played Starlight for the first time and it felt right. Once again we played for a lovely responsive audience and remembered why we like sharing our music with Prairie folk. It has been so long!We had 4 days in Winnipeg next, during which I packed up all my belongings to allow for major renovations in the place I call home. I felt, well, homeless, and look forward to returning and settling in when things are calmer. It was a pretty chaotic and exciting time all around, gearing up for the hometown show at the Playhouse, rehearsing the tunes with Gilles Fournier and Jeremy Penner, and performing at the press launch, held by MARIA (Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Association). Everything went according to plan; even my nerves kicked in, predictably, on the morning of the show, just to remind me we were playing in Winnipeg that night. The show ended up feeling great. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us - it meant so much.We flew to Ottawa bright and early the next morning. It was a big fat reunion, with Caro welcoming us at the airport, Grant doing sound and Chris White spreading good vibes and bringing yummy Italian food into our lives. We rehearsed for all of 10 minutes at sound-check with brand new bass-man on board, Rob Fahie. He wasn't kidding when he said he'd know the tunes. He was great.Next day was Montreal. We went straight to 'Au Vivre' for a dose of vegan food to fuel us for the day. Mmmm.... dragon bowls and Oasis smoothies. This time it was Annabelle's turn to feel the pressure, with only 24 hours in her hometown, a suitcase to overhaul, and her own set of bathroom renovations to check in on. Everything felt calm again by dinnertime though, when we found ourselves at Mike and Rick (of Au Vivre)'s warehouse space for mushroom risotto and brussel sprouts. Thanks guys! There was a lovely vibe in the room when we got back to Salla Rosa. Rose Cousins warmed up the room beautifully, Rob joined us once again on the bass and the crowd was crazy and enthusiastic and kind.Three more shows. David Travers-Smith drove out to Gananoque to record the show there (as well as the Toronto and Peterborough shows): we decided it was time to try and get some live tracks and hopefully a live version of Calling All Angels in the bag. He graciously accepted the challenge and we thank him and Grant for working so hard to make it happen. It poured that night, we didn't know that's what it was but there was pounding on the roof and unbeknownst to us a fierce lightening storm came very close to shutting the system down during the 2nd set. We just sang obliviously under the roof of the little white theatre-set house we happened to be sharing the stage with that night and luckily everything was fine.Toronto was crazy and wonderful. The Mod Club was a cool place to play even if the vibe did get a little wiggy after dark, when the dance party took over and the staff yelled at our friends. We were joined on stage by Brett Higgins on the upright bass and Mark Mariash on drums. It was such a treat to have the bottom end round things out again and to have our tunes graced with the elegant grooves of Mr Mariash - Mark has appeared on two of our records and we plan to steal him from Ron Sexmith's band as soon as possible :) Thanks, once again, to all our friends, the ones we almost never see but think about lots and lots, that came out to show.Next day we drove to Peterborough and played our final show of the tour. Kevin Fox opened up and it was beautiful. He makes that cello sing and it made me want to have cello on every single song on our next record. Our show was fueled by large amounts of Indian food, which was probably a good thing cause it was a long one - we played Calling All Angels a second time in the encore just so we had one more take to choose from. I hope the audience didn't mind - at least it's a good song, certainly one I wouldnt' mind playing twice in one night again.At 5 am the next morning, after 3 hours of sleep, we left Peterborough, drove to Toronto, said goodbye to Canada for a while, and flew down to Greensboro, North Carolina.~ Ruth.
New England and a New GPS
I'm a bad jenny. I sometimes write journal entries and forget to post them. I did that recently. It's out of date now but I will dig it up, and post it in the next couple of days.At the moment we are flying from Boston to Chicago after spending 10 days in New England, playing shows, eating seafood and soaking up the autumn colours. We have our friend Jen Metcalf (the only real Jenny) with us doing some road managing and being her delightful charming self. Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving which is always kind of a tough time to be away from home - a feeling we've been having to get used to of late. I spent it with the lovely parents of my good friend Aoife O'Donovan (from amazing chamber bluegrass - that just came to me - outfit 'Crooked Still'. Check them out they are HOT). Mashed squash, roast potatoes and pumpkin pie were consumed, guitars were passed around, and washers and dryers spun overtime. Thanks Brian and Lindsay, you are the sweetest people ever and I appreciate so much that you took me in this past weekend. I feel very much rejuvenated and ready for the next leg.Other highlights of the tour: Seeing Rose Polanzani perform at the Oktoberfest Passim outdoor stage right before we played, (with Jennifer Kimball no less! Nicky was beaming), playing at the Iron Horse in Northampton with the talented Ruth Unger and Michael Merenda, exploring the Whaling museum in New Bedford, the trees on the drive to Lebanon New Hampshire, the Lebanon Opera House, bonding with our new GPS system and discovering the miracle of driving around Boston without getting lost, receiving health food store treats from Michael Kanter at the Passim show (thanks Michael!), the Passim show audiences themselves, and being on the receiving end of violent outbursts from cops on a regular basis.More soon from the past and the future,Ruth
I Saw Star Strewn Space and Bruce Cockburn
"Stood before the Shaman, I saw star strewn space" ~ Bruce CockburnWe got on stage as night was falling, the hill in front of us emerged as a sky of candle constellations that swayed in the night. The music of Bruce Cockburn. Familiar. Gutsy. Beautifully crafted. True true true.This is a good time.Maestro Cockburn said he felt like a troll who had woken up amongst angels, but really, we are aspirants before a master, and the chance to layer our voices around his works of light, of awakeness, of musical strength, is such an honour, such a joy infuser. That moment on stage at the Edmonton Folk Festival, 2006, is a moment I will draw from for a long time.~ Ruth
If I Had A Rocking Lawnchair
Well, I've done it again and allowed too much time to elapse between my journal entries and now so much has happened that I am almost rendered mute with the wealth of it all. Where should I start? How about the fact that I got to tell Bruce Cockburn during a rehearsal in our hotel room for our appearance with him on the Edmonton Folk Festival main stage (that concept still reeking of the surreal) that back in 1984 when I was 12 years old, I thought he was singing about the possibility of owning a "rocking lawnchair" and that this wish seemed somewhat incongruent with the simultaneous desire to "make somebody pay". There are no words that will sufficiently express what it was like to sing and hang out with a Canadian legend who is still producing vital and glorious music some 40-odd years after the start of his musical career. In some ways I felt like we should have been dressed in beaver pelts, drinking maple syrup while we were on stage singing "If A Tree Falls." Ahhhh....Some more fabulous musical moments? Sharing the stage with K'Naan, Sarah Harmer, Lynn Miles. Watching truly momentous sets and songs courtesy of Steve Earle, Mr. Cockburn, Neko Case, James Keelaghan, Jay Farrar, Alejandro Escovedo, The Roches, Oh Susanna, Nickel Creek and Son Volt to name only a few.There were shows that made me acutely aware of the real reasons I make music and why we travel far and wide to sing songs (Bainbridge Island), festivals absolutely saturated in good vibes and peace (Kate Wolfe), and festivals so well-executed and welcoming that they made me think the organizers should be running the country (California World, Sandpoint and Edmonton).Things I've learned: your plane can get struck by lightning twice and still remain airborne although your level of continence might take a bit of a nose dive; no matter how much I tell myself I will not eat chips with every meal in England, it still happens; the first class lounge is like a wonderland and the memories of my one fluke afternoon in there will forever haunt me; there are very few things in life that rival both the enjoyment and extreme hazard of picking wild blackberries; if the world's police forces really want to crack down on crime they should start recruiting the people who govern traffic flow in front of airports; music is the best method of reminding you where and who you've been and spending time with songs from your youth is an unparalleled joy; I don't like HP sauce and I don't know why I keep trying it.All in all, the past few months have been quite intense in their pace but extremely rewarding at times. We've been working hard to get new songs up and running in a live format (from Firecracker) and as usual, trying to keep up with how quickly everything moves these days. The reaction to the album has been very positive and we've been interested to see how everyone has been responding to our growth and the new directions we have taken. I'm still kind of perplexed that people think "Some Good Thing" is a country song as I am the least likely to purposely write anything of that nature, but there ya go. Anyway, I'm happy to hear that many of you are still finding good things in the music. Must go start packing in another futile attempt to be ready more than 10 minutes in advance of leaving for the aiport. I will leave you with this one thought. It's important and I think you should know this about me. If I had a rocking lawnchair, I would retaliate.~ Nicky