Bye Bye Blighty!

So, I’m all at sea, literally, as, thanks to the wonders of wifi, I’m writing this from the Stena ferry to Hoek Van Holland.

 I’m sitting pondering what my travels will be like, as I wave goodbye to England. The picture I have in my head is this: Imagine the scene from ‘Almost Famous’ where they’re on the tour bus for the first time, it’s loud and crazy and full of cool people getting high. Now juxtapose this alongside the image of me, alone, mapless (I forgot my map), navigating the roads of Europe (probably on the wrong side), too scared to have a drink EVER because of the severe drink-driving laws and the fact that the German police can take your licence off you on the spot. With a jeep full of everything a girl could ever need, including a full PA, stage piano and my new ukulele (which I intend to master by the end of the journey). My co-star in this adventure, the lovely SST, will possibly be a tad squished in the passenger seat when she joins me...

I arrive in Rotterdam this afternoon and by this evening I shall be rollerskating through the town. It's a skating tour and the idea is that I will join, and sing a few songs perhaps, along the way. I have donned a pair of roller skates but once in my life, and I stayed upright for all of five seconds - with no word of exaggeration. This could be interesting. Assuming I am still alive by this evening, I will then have a day in Rotterdam tomorrow, before heading to Hamburg on Friday, then onto Berlin on Saturday and Poland on Monday - Hurrah!

Only non-private gig of this week is Intersoup so if you happen to be in Berlin, come along to Prenzlauerberg. In Warsaw, I'll be playing for Kathi and friends at konsofa, there will be video of this on their site and I'll put a note up when it is uploaded. For now though, back to the Stena lounge and maybe some more free coffee. I'll leave with a couple of lovely pictures of London in the sun....

Beestings & Sings

Performance on Saturday was great fun, despite a double incidence of stinging to me and to my roadie. Does

it really need to hurt that much (or am I just a wee bit nesh)? Played outside until sunset, despite the scary insects, to a lovely crowd of people.

Am now excited to the point of bursting about going away - two weeks! I have a new passport with an obligatorily awful photo, my ferry place is booked and the small red jeep (I will put a picture of it up soon) is booked into some hideously expensive garage for a service. Men in overalls are probably staring at it right and now and shaking their heads in a knowing fashion.... Hurrah!

Arnold Circus Sharing Picnic

This is Arnold Circus, a bandstand and public space where I live. Sunday 18th was the celebration of it's centenary, with a day of music, stories, food and sharing (sharing of cake especially, brilliant). This amazing place is going to be one of the locations for my stories of Europe and travel to be told and sung on my return to the UK. This is a little snapshot of why I wanted to bring stories here...

Storytelling is at the heart of this area and on www.spitalfieldslife.com you can read

new stories every day about the life of Arnold Circus and it's inhabitants. This very nice man (whose name I'm very sorry but can't remember) was giving out some of the stories at the picnic. War stories, immigration, changing and growing communities and even visits from a certain Mr W. Shakespeare are documented on the site.

Graphic designer Alexandre Bettler (www.aalex.info) lives locally and the poems of Arnold Circus from his stand will be up on his site soon.

Being a bandstand, there was music all day at the circus, including by Eastend locals Brassroots. They were all amazing but their Tuba player was practically inhuman, lips of steel, I think. If my computer starts behaving again, I'll upload a video soon...

Finally, this is a message from an Arnold Circus resident about the future of life here and elsewhere, which I loved. I can't wait to add my stories and songs to this place.

Berio Folksongs

Not strictly singing for my supper, but feel I need to mention the concert of the Berio Folksongs that I performed on Sunday, as the piece has been a big inspiration for my journey. Performed with West Forest Sinfonia at Southill Park and, despite it being the world cup final, we had standing room only - a completely full house!

Just a wonderful experience all round, performing these songs with a great group of musicians, thinking about the different places the songs were collected and how they affect the audience and performers in different ways. To Jude (cellist) especially, thank you for this comment; "I found myself dancing the final movement, as much as one can with a cello!!"

First show for my tour: Pallette Bistro

Did my first performance singing for my supper at the Lightbox in Surrey.

Fabulously fun evening, with guest star SST. Many thanks to all at the Pallette Bistro, mainly for their brilliant dancing! Food eaten was butter fish and amazing mushroom stroganoff, with a very lovely panna cotta to finish. Go there! I'll be back at the Lightbox, telling people about my journey plans, on 17th July. Pics courtesy of the multi-talented SST.

An East End song for supper

So, here's a little sing for your supper story...This is michael -

I bumped into him at Broadway Market in London Fields. He has lived in the area for 73 years and we met over the Samosa Chaat. In his own words, 'I was about to have a bit of this chaat but now we're having a good old chat'.

we got into a very jolly conversation....

He then agreed to a bit of jazz hands action for sing for your supper, in return for a song from me...

Here's hoping all the days of my journey are this much fun.

Sing for Your Supper, The Photoshoot

I thought the idea of my travels needed some kind of illustration, so I drafted in the talents of the wonderful Michele Rossi and he took these amazing photos. Many thanks to Leila of Leila's shop in Arnold Circus, for letting us invade and play with the food.

We also had some fun in the butcher's shop on Broadway Market...

I'm going to take photos of all the suppers that I sing for, as well as lots of footage of my travels, so these photos will be the first of many.

Hello!

Welcome to Sing for your Supper. For thousands of years, travelling musicians sang for their supper; gathering stories of the places they went to and the people they met. This summer, I'm going to be travelling across Europe in my tiny red jeep with piano in tow; travelling as a modern troubadour, singing for my supper, exchanging my songs for the hospitality and tales of strangers. This is the route I'm going to take (so far!)

I'm going to be staying with all sorts of wonderful people, talking to them and writing songs about them. In France I'm even going to perform for the mayor of Palluau (very excited). I'm going to be playing in weird and wonderful places, including a Polish artist's sofa (www.konsofa.com), a German castle and an Umbrian Bee farm. I'll update this regularly with plans for my travels, and feel free to make comments or suggestions of places I should visit or stories I should hear and tell!