Brindl @ Wine, Women & Song Benefit

Alvar's Clouds....

My flight home, July 27th - my dad's birthday. He would have been 64 years old today. I felt his presence in the billowing, beautiful clouds as I fly up and above Seattle into the softness of the coming night. Soon to be home.

Last Night in Victoria

My last night in Victoria. Hit up the Victoria Folk Music Society, really nice scene...A super talented bass player joins in on a few tunes. Nice to have some musical conversation after playing solo for two weeks. It is a great way to end the tour. I go to sleep with a big smile and a big heart. Wishing I could stay longer in Victoria, but ready to sleep in my own bed and in my own room with out numerous Germans sharing bunk beds.

FInal Days: Victoria BC

smooth ferry ride from Vancouver to Victoria. Booked into the little hostel right downtown. I walk the streets for hours and immediately fall in love with this place. Victoria is right on the water and it reminds me of Cali and San Francisco. I feel at home here. Will's birthday is saturday so we go out to a breakfast of blueberry french toast and I happily explore cobbled side streets and little shops before our gig.

Our last official gig is at the Cornerstone cafe in Fernwood, right outside downtown Victoria. As we play the summer afternoon turns into hot rain, lighting - sky lit on fire with the most unusual and beautiful purple, red, orange sunset. The dramatic weather gets me back in touch with the sense connection and integration with all these forces around me; having a place in the natural pattern.

Later at the hostel I find on the bookshelf one of those "choose your own adventure" books...Feeling the adventure in my own life fully. Feeling the energy gathering around this direction I am moving in. And underneath the general physical exhaustion of the trip, there is an even stronger current of excitement, resolution, faith...love.Me and Will getting fish n' chips by the wharf before our last gig in Victoria BC.

Cornerstone Cafe in Victoria...(above)

sunset and rain, a colorful last night of the tour....

Day Twelve: Vancouver B.C.

Rain in July. Thrust into the dizzy electric downtown of Vancouver. Streets are torn up, construction everywhere in anticipation of the Olympics in 2010. Wandering through the outrageously dressed club hoppers and construction paraphernalia. Midnight...it feels like 2030...a set of a sci-fi movie. foreign. confusion. music is not happening tonight. Sleep only sporadically between the sirens and street sounds. Off to the ferry and Victoria.

















Little glimpse of sun through my window where I am staying...


















vancouver rain....

Day Eleven: Seattle WA

Seattle. Haze of tiredness. I play at this little cafe in Ballard, every song seems to have this extra emotional weight to it today...all usual defenses are worn down into the raw immediate experiences of each day. I sleep on my friend Emma's couch high up on Capital Hill, lulled to sleep by the cool air, the tallest trees and the faint sounds of the city. I don't play Seattle Song, but the lyrics are in my head:

Don't feel like myself today
Eyes open in another way
But I still see half my mother
half my father

Day Ten: Portland, OR

Motel 6 at Grant's Pass...homemade quiche in land of fast food....nowhere....We slip into the sweltering hellish heatwave that has overtaken Portland the one day we are here. Both Will and I sweat out our songs - it is like hot yoga with a guitar. Some folks I met in Mexico come out to watch and we survive until the sun goes down....

Day Nine: Arcata & more driving...

I am a road warrior....enveloped now by the thick, quiet mystery of the redwoods in Humboldt....Stopping in Arcata in search of an open mic. Only one is a women's night - "Menstrual Mondays," the other is canceled, so we press on into the night to get as much driving done before the drive to Portland tomorrow.
Bathroom break on the 101 North...

Day Eight: Day off...

home. sleep. laundry. pack again for Arcata and Portland tomorrow. Shell beach for a visit.

sigh.

Day Seven: San Francisco

OSG.
(Opportunity for Spiritual Growth.)

Day Six: Fairfax, CA

Home Sweet Home. We have the great pleasure of being guests on Rusty Gates' show Free Range Pickin on KWMR before our gig later. We get to play a few songs and talk about the tour. If you couldn't tune in, check the whole thing out here:

Brindl and Will Edwards on KWMR 7.18.09 by brindl

Sleeping Lady....Camera and video camera both run out of batteries, but luckily the "smart" phones come in handy. I am off kilter tonight for many reasons. But feel very loved by all our friends that come and stay until the late hours of the night. My favorite moments are after midnight when we get out the shakers and the tambourine...my friend Gustav gets up to play some songs and music gets back to feeling easy and fun.

Day Five: Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz...my old stomping grounds. I am full of nostalgia and contemplation here...reminded of a sweet time in my life when I lived here ten years ago...I visit the ocean and walk downtown for hours before the show...I don't know any one here anymore, but feel at home none the less. At Asana Tea House, I am made the tastiest hot chocolate I have ever had in my life, and we play our songs as the sun goes down.

Day Four: San Luis Obispo

On the road from LA to San Luis Obispo. Relief.

The day is punctuated by a mistake exit into downtown Santa Barbara and a foot and a half long strudel Will bought there.

Linnaea's is a cute cafe with a little stage in the back room. Lots of college folk here, and I am reminded of that feeling of having to "figure out" your life...glad it isn't so heavy with me any more.

Day Three: LA

Still in LA. I feel a bit like I am in a bad MTV reality show at times. The sound at the venue (Room 5) is sweet and clear and I feel like it gives me wings to do vocal acrobatics...Below the strange pressures of marketing this show, I feel a sense of calm. Being able to be on tour and take this musical energy and move with it, sprinkling seeds in every town. The thought of disappointment that the room wasn't full pops up, and leads to another that was distinct and resolute, a grounded voice speaking: It doesn't matter if people are in the room because I am playing for God. It kind of surprised me, really, the wording of it.... the meaning of it. But it stays with me and comforts me during the moments of sleep deprivation, questioning and exhaustion.

While I loved staying in Santa Monica, seeing the ocean, and getting a taste of SoCal, I have never been happier to hit the road...Playing at Room 5 in LA...


Sparkling Delight....my undying love for the pacific ocean...(in Santa Monica before the gig)

Day Two: LA ( West Coast Tour 2009)

LA Impressions: freeway, driving, lost with out iphone maps, hugeness of billboards, yellow tan, homeless man (yelling: "have fun in the eternal fire") 3 inch teal heels, swelter, sticky, sweat, restless sleep, restaurants, more restaurants, open mics are not free(!), songs about cougars and beavers, pineapple fried rice alone, love's great plan. love's great plan.

open mic in LA...

Day 1 - San Diego (West Coast Tour 2009)

Day 1 - San Diego: Too many details, work, logistics, flight changes, press, emails, follow ups, more details. and more work. My music self felt stifled and disjointed days before leaving...(forgeting why.) I fly above the fog and cloud cover over tha bay, popping up above it all into the clearest sky and softest cloud structures...(I remember...)

Any remaining tension our first show seems to clear...in the rounds at Lestats with Will and Nathan Welden, (a dead ringer for James Taylor....) I play a new song "Here," feeling the words especially: "We grow not older with the years, only newer every day." I am loving the newness and movement of travel....on to LA tomorrow...

Thriving Artist Tour Begins Sunday July 12th!

Thriving Artist Tour Map and Venue List!