Journal


Saturday, May 03, 2008

Hello!

Well, it's May and we're finally getting some nice weather here in Winnipeg. Unfortunately I'm spending it indoors getting ready for the next tour, but my windows are wide open and it feels like Spring is really here this time.

We've had about 10 days at home and we're starting to feel like semi- normal human beings again. Last tour was quite the whirlwind: 7 shows in 6 days on the East Coast and then California, Oregon and Washington in a week and a half. Some highlights: convoying with our pal Heather Stewart for the three California shows, tanning our white legs by the hotel pool in Lancaster, working up 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' in the van and sending it out to our friend Jamie Weber in Mount Vernon, shopping/returning at Anthropologie (yes, I have a problem), the audience in Portland, having Laura Cortese and Aoife O'Donovan open for us at the Birchmere, playing (and eating!) at the Tripple Door in Seattle, hangin' with Heather's awesome peeps in New York city and Portland, the Rhododendron Cafe for breakfast in Bow, Washington, and the organic cheese farm up the road (samish bay cheese, yum!), and seeing Tony Scherr play on our night off in Seattle. Nicky got to hang out with her friend Kyra and Grant got to drool over vintage guitars and basses in LA. Heather and I made spirulina-super-salads and agave-almond-treats in the van, and the rest of the gang indulged us by sampling our concoctions and forgave us when the van started to smell like compost. Jeremy continued to enlighten us on the subject of mando strings, airline policies, and the ways of the world, providing non-stop entertainment as usual. Oh, and he played some mean fiddle.

We're off to Europe in a couple of days and this tour sees us playing in Ireland and Holland for the first time. Can't wait! I've dreamed of going to Ireland since I was a kid and I can't believe it's finally happening.

Thanks again for all your support, it has been an amazing year of touring so far. Plans for the next album are starting to come together and we'll keep you posted as they solidify!

See you soon,

~Ruth


Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Once again, the time is nigh for our return to the road. Taxes are done, to-do lists are dotted mercifully with check marks, and the relentless pursuit of packing perfection is in high gear. I am quite satisfied with our current attempt to pack my kick drum suitcase in a larger hard shell case that will be checked instead of lugged around airports. No more pleading with flight attendants to put it under my seat. No more admonishments from airlines about the ten pieces of carry-on luggage I am single-handedly trying to bring on the plane. Fascinating information, all this, but such is our traveling life.

We've had a great time at home despite the fact that Winnipeg's love affair with winter is still as passionate and unyielding as ever. We've got the two U.S. coasts to look forward to but our poor families and friends at home have the weary, glazed look of the living dead. Canada's win this afternoon at the Women's World Curling Championship has made some people feel better about that phenomenon called "ice" but not by much. I feel almost guilty packing open-toed shoes for California. Almost.

We are looking very forward to the set of upcoming shows. As this newsletter mentions, I finally got around to posting about three years worth of restaurants on the food page, and I was reminded of some of the fantastic places we've visited on the coasts - ahhhhhh. But as always, if anyone has any new recommendations, we are all ears. Actually, we are all mouths, really. Big mouths and perpetually growling stomachs.

Well, it's time to go and finish packing. As Ruth said in her last journal, we appreciate your guestbook comments very much - your stories continue to surprise, delight, and humble us. Thanks for writing in and we'll see you soon.

~Nicky


Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Hi all,

We just spent four days in Tallahassee, Florida. Thanks to everyone who came out to the show last night - our first ever in Florida. 'All y'all' were fantastic and we can't wait to come down south again - particularly if it's winter, which it most definitely is here in Minneapolis, where we just landed. We are all getting ready for two shows with A Prairie Home Companion, which promises to be an exciting and unpredictable affair as usual, I am sure. It's been nine months since we were last on the show and we're so looking forward to being reunited with some of our favourite people and musicians. Tune in on Saturday for the broadcast!

It's been an interesting tour so far. Despite balmy weather in Alaska, British Columbia, and Florida, we haven't managed to avoid getting sick with whatever monster flu has been making it's way around the world. It has certainly made its rounds in this band - twice. Only Grant and Jeremy have remained untouched. Does this mean that cheeseburgers really are good for the immune system? Luckily there was an amazing natural food store just minutes away from our hotel in Tallahassee, and Nicky, Heather and I single-handedly supported them for four days, stocking up on enough vitamins, herbs, and natural remedies to last a lifetime. I think we are coming to the end of it now. And I'm sure we are past the contagious stage, for any of you that just thought twice about coming to see us next week in Illinois or Kansas.

It's an early night tonight. Here's hoping that with some good rest and some healing energy from the universe our voices will mend themselves and be ready for tomorrows and Saturday's shows.
Thanks so much for all your beautiful guestbook comments. We feel so lucky to have such amazing fans. Lots of love right back to you all from the Jennys and 'Wailin' Jeremy'.

~Ruth


Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Hi everyone,

Nicky here. We are in the middle of the usual scramble of the last pre-tour week, running myriad errands, making millions of phone calls, discovering that faulty instrument cases can not, in fact, be fixed before the tour, wondering why we took so long to deal with said cases when we had over two months to do so. I am preparing my cats psychologically for my departure by bringing the suitcases out a week in advance and picking them up against their will for hugs (the cats, I mean). I am wondering how to pack for the many different climates we are about to experience over the next month - where will I store my Sorrels when we go to Florida? How is it that once again, Winnipeg is (much) colder than Alaska and touring there is becoming akin to going on a semi-tropical vacation without the sand and unlimited mojitos?

Anyway, we are looking forward to crossing these vast distances and singing for all of you. It seems like it's been a long time since we've been on stage! We are very excited to be returning to our spiritual home of BC though we hear Vancouver just received four inches of snow so we are hoping it will straighten itself out and produce some greenery before we get there. Regardless of what the weather does, we're thrilled to be playing the Chan Centre for the first time and sharing the evening with the fabulous Kelly Joe Phelps. After that, we're back in the gorgeous north, home of ice cold oysters, delicious seafood chowder and some of the nicest people you'll ever meet (not that food is more important than people, but you know what gluttons we Jennys are). People wonder why we go to Alaska in the winter and beyond the aforementioned fact that it is often warmer than Winnipeg this time of year, it's truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. And the halibut is also unparalleled.

After that, we satisfy our great love of cheese in Wisconsin, return to beautiful O'Shaughnessy in St. Paul, once again tackle the maze known as O'Hare where we gates F1 and F4 should practically have our names engraved on the seats for the amount of time we spend there. And then Florida! Warm, sunny, I really hope you don't have any cold fronts moving in, half of Winnipeg now lives in Florida, Florida. Then, we head back up north to Minnesota for some time with our Prairie Home Companion family (yay!) before moving on to Illinois, Kansas and Oklahoma. It's going to be quite the jaunt.

See you all soon and thanks so much for your support!

~Nicky


Saturday, November 03, 2007

Hey all,

Wow, it's been a loooong time since I checked in. What a crazy few months this has been, but a great time nonetheless. We've covered some serious ground with much time spent in the U.S., another trip to the mother country and her neighbour Scotland, and a whirlwind cross-Canada tour. Once again, we weren't able to make it to the Maritimes, much to our disappointment, so we tried to make up for it by having the lovely Rose Cousins from PEI open for us at a couple of Ontario shows. Those of you who were there were, I'm sure, blown away by her beautiful voice, heartbreaking songs and hilarious stage presence. We love her. In any case, my childhood infatuation with Anne of Green Gables remains hungry by our lack of presence in the eastern provinces and I know someday we'll make it out there and I'll run along the red roads and treacherous beaches of Cavendish and refuse to get back in the "caaahr".

Heather, our lovely Mainiac sometimes sounds like a Maritimer which makes sense, and we had the chance to finally hear the Maine accent for ourselves when we played very close to her hometown of Lovell. That girl is adored by her community, let me tell you. It was a beautiful thing to witness and I believe that I met almost every elementary school teacher she ever had there. I got a strong sense of what a small community is all about and everyone couldn't have been more welcoming and wonderful. Heather's parents were sweet enough to make us an amazing Thanksgiving dinner as we weren't able to make it home for the holidays - delicious!!!

I have been taking in some incredible music in our rare down time - I finally fulfilled a lifelong dream to see Lloyd Cole live in concert on my birthday! in London, England! courtesy of Grant! at a venue we were supposed to play that very night but which we lost because Lloyd Cole is a bigger draw! I didn't hold it against him. I did however find myself in a typically British audience (extremely respectful, quiet until the end) who were probably growing irate with the Canadian chick screaming at the start of every song and singing along too loudly all the way through. But I couldn't help myself. My eyes were practically rolling into the back of my head throughout his show. Wow, what a sight. And if that weren't enough, I was home in Winnipeg when Crowded House decided to touch down during their world tour. What a SHOW!!!! There are no words. I could start to get all slobbery about Neil Finn but then I would inevitably be reminded of Jane Siberry's final words to me after I blathered on to her about how much I love her: "that's fine".

Finally, (and I have seen more than these three acts but need to get packing for the next tour) I was given primo tickets to see Heart in Winnipeg. Now, I don't need to tell anyone that "These Dreams" was like, the deepest song EVER and that Nancy and Ann Wilson rocked the world in a way that two sisters with 35 inch bangs had never before done. But I will tell you that Ann Wilson STILL has the best pipes in rock/pop/smoke-machine laced music and Nancy, who must be close to 50 can still do scissor kicks like she's a teenaged cheerleader. Didn't she just give birth to twins???? Anyway, though they sang one too many Zeppelin covers and yes, Ann, I know no other woman can sing a Who song like you can, but can't you please play "Never" for me or at least "Nothin At All", I still enjoyed myself. Our friend Rachel and I spent a good two weeks watching Heart videos on Youtube and we laughed about the hairstyles while I secretly winced inside at the fact that there exist photos of me from high school that make me look like I had an exclusive endorsement deal with Final Net and a strong desire to provide birthing grounds for finches.

Okay, must run and start getting ready for the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. We are very excited to be visiting many of these spots for the first time and we can't wait to see you all!

~Nicky


Monday, August 13, 2007

We're off to the UK again soon. It's starting to feel pretty comfortable, touring in the UK, although this will be Heather's first time overseas so I'm sure in some ways it will be like experiencing it for the first time. Nicky and I are very excited to introduce Heather to all of you over there, and of course we're very happy to be bringing Jeremy over with us again as well. Grant will be also be accompanying us as our road-manager and sound-man (it makes all the difference!) and I have a feeling that good times will be had.

Last tour was mostly spent in British Columbia and it was nice to be playing in Canada again after so many months. We had a true 'Northern' experience at Crab Fest up in Kincolith/Gingolx, a Nisaga'a community nestled in the Nass River valley, surrounded by mountains. It was incredible. We each saw at least a dozen bald eagles, ate fresh crab straight out of the ocean, and met some truly beautiful people. Oh and we rocked out to Nazareth - how could I forget. We also met Jethro Tayler who, back in 2006, created a video of the Hobiyee celebration of the Nisaga'a nation, using 'One Voice' as the background music. When I found out we were going to Crab Fest I had no idea that we would be so close to where the video was filmed, or, as Jethro informed me afterwards, that some of the children in the video would be in the audience for our set! It's a very moving video, you can check it out here Youtube. Thanks Jethro, it was great to meet you in person.

Next came Vancouver where we did a photoshoot for the Georgia Straight (with crustaceans crawling between our toes) and then rehearsed for two days before the festival in the crazy heat (very unusual for Vancouver). It was intense, especially for Jeremy, who is pretty sweaty at the best of times. But we made it through and came up with a pretty cool arrangement for a new song that Heather brought to the band. Hopefully we'll incorporate it into the show in time for the fall tour. The Vancouver Folk Festival was great. I believe it's the only large Canadian festival that doesn't have any corporate sponsorship, and I think that is part of what is so special about it. There is such a feeling of love, support and enthusiasm from the audiences and the volunteers. They are serious about their music and serious about their festival. We got to reconnect with old friends and jam with lots of musicians - one of the great things about playing festivals. We shared workshop stages with The Fugitives, Oh Susannah, Rae Spoon and Dougie McLean, to name a few. We'll be posting some photos and videos from the workshop stages soon.

Finally we flew to Idaho for two shows, one in Driggs and one in McCall for the Roseberry festival. Idaho is still such a mystery to us (are we in the desert? what century are we in? where are the potatoes?) but we love it there and always meet the kindest people. And we got to spend some time and share the stage with Karen Savoca and Pete Heitzman at the Roseberry festival - what more could you ask for? Check them out at www.karensavoca.com, they are awesome.

Stay tuned for the new pics, videos, and hellos from Nicky and Heather soon....

~Ruth


Tuesday, May 29, 2007

We're home for ten days...after almost seven weeks! Still coming down from the exhilaration and exhaustion of the last stretch, which ended with two shows on 'A Prairie Home Companion'.

It was an eventful tour. We played 23 shows in 32 days and stepped foot in 17 states. We recorded two lullabies in Montreal and then flew to California for less than 24 hours. We ate BBQ in Memphis, added our names to the Graceland wall, partied something serious in Northampton, recovered something more serious in Barrie, took some bad pictures, jammed it up in Park City, drove a lot in the Midwest, ate Jamie's home-made ice cream in Hamilton AND Boston (we love you Jamie) hung out with our dear friend Mike Morgan (we love you Mike - see you in AK in February) and his lovely friend Mary in Utah, almost missed our show in Park City due to cancelled flights, had a blast on 'A Prairie Home Companion' in Wolf Trap, Virginia, discovered 'Legacy chocolates' in Menomonie, Wi, rocked out to Neil Young's 'Live at Massey Hall 1971' in the van, and played to the most supportive of audiences, in Hamilton, St Cloud, St Louis, Barrie, and Boston, just to name a few.

Grant, our faithful road manager and sound-man, mistook raw kashi for breakfast cereal on our first morning in Montana and then proceeded to giv'er like never before for the rest of the tour. Does eating uncooked grain really sustain you for longer? Jeremy (aka J-Diz) found many experiences, food items, and luggage products to be of exceptional quality and gave them the highest honour of 'Penner certification'. Nicky tried to convince us all that her suitcase (kick-drum) is red, not pink, and discovered the beautiful art of violent meditation that is playing the drums. Heather brought Aaron Neville back into our lives with her uncanny impersonation and immediately lived to regret it. I conjured up a male German blow-up doll during one legendary 'stupid photo' session and will never live it down (stay tuned for pictures). My banjo suffered a broken neck from a fall in transit and Jim at Mouradian guitars (Cambridge, Ma) fixed it overnight. Nicky, in search of a ukulele that would play in tune (huh?) bought a new guitar instead. Heather introduced us to her lovely parents, as well as her Grandma, who came all the way from Florida to see our show in Manchester. Jeremy and I experienced the unrivaled hospitality of the O'Donovans in Boston (we love you guys). Nicky, Grant, Heather, Jeremy, and I each went to the gym at least once on the tour.

The shows are feeling so great...working with Heather and Jeremy is an absolute pleasure. Heather's groovin' on the bass, Nicky's rockin' on the drums, and Jer's wailin' on the mando. Me? I work on my clogging routing every night after the show, in the private safety of my hotel room. Someday I will get up the nerve to unveil it to the world.

~Ruth


Monday, April 09, 2007

Ahhhhhh! We're gearing up to hit the road and are quickly running out of time as we frantically dash around doing laundry, packing, practicing... So much has happened in the last while and this will be a wee update but I will say that we had an absolute blast working up the new show and are really excited to hit the stage on Thursday night, with some new tunes and a few surprises, too. It's been quite a month: lots of playing, lots of future planning (we'll be letting you know about some exciting developments very soon), a photo shoot with the fabulous Art Turner, and a trip to Saskatoon for the Junos, which, despite the prominent corporate overtones, were fun and provided a nice opportunity to catch up with old friends and hang with some of the Manitoba folks we rarely have a chance to see. I also had a trip down memory-lane last month in the form of a Scruj MacDuhk reunion (which, believe me, doesn't happen everyday): we all got together for four days and drove out to a Casino near Carlisle, Saskatchewan, on St Patrick's day, and performed one show as 'The Red River All Stars'. The night was filled with lots of laughs and a few nostalgic tears, and we played the old tunes (and some new ones) as if our lives depended on it. In some ways it seems like a dream now, but I've got the pictures to prove it, and the sound of 300 slot machines all going at once forever burned in my memory. (The casino is in the key of C, in case anyone is wondering). Anyway, it was great fun and there's talk of doing it again next year -- you never know!

OK, that's it for now, just wanted to say a quick hello before we hit the road.

Montana, here we come!

~Ruth


Friday, February 23, 2007

I'm back in the Peg and it's cold but sunny and all is well. Still sleeping off some of the travel and jet lag but feeling more alive every day.

We've recently had some amazing experiences. Spain and the Basque Country were incredible. We had great weather, we saw the Gugenheim in Bilbao, we ate Pinchos. A lot of Pinchos. I'm not sure I ate a vegetable while I was there but then why bother with vegetables when you can have a combination of eggs, bacon, bread and potatoes with every bite? Gorka, our trusty tour-God, also introduced us to croquettes (deep fried potato balls), the truck stop 'cafe con leche' (road coffee in Spain is as good as any espresso anywhere) and Crawfish - Basque style. We walked around the Old town of Bilbao and saw some beautiful architecture. I bought an 'almohadilla' after I left mine in a cab (you'd think I would have learned that lesson by now...) and now I own a pillow that fits none of my pillow cases. But it's a nice memory. The shows went well - the audiences were warm, and forgiving of our very limited Spanish. Bilboa was Annabelle's last night with us and it was very special show and audience. It felt like a lovely way to end not only this amazing tour but also this chapter of the Jennys. Gracias!

Our time in the UK was also lovely, as usual. Lots of great shows, beautiful drives and familiar faces. Thanks to those of you who came out to several of our UK shows (you know who you are!). It was great to have Jeremy with us on this tour (he'll be joining us on our next few as well!) to add another dimension to the sound and keep us generally entertained. Our first experience in Scotland at Celtic Connections was one I'm sure none of us will ever forget. We got to share a bill with Bruce Molsky for our concert, which was a treat for me as I've been a fan of his for many years. The following night we got to be part of the Transatlantic Sessions, with Bruce again, as well as Jerry Douglas, John Doyle, Phil Cunningham, Roseanne Cash, Russ Barenburg, Mike McGoldrick, Ally Bain, James MacKintosh, Donald Shaw, Karen Matheson (whose singing I've been listening to forever) and Daryl Scott. It was a truly inspirational, and surreal, experience for us. At the end of the night everyone joined Roseanne Cash for 'Forty Shades of Green'. Jeremy and l continued the celebration later on that night with our old friend and band-mate, Leonard Podolak, who happened to be flying through Glasgow that night on his way home to Winnipeg. We celebrated till the wee hours and took some great pics...

Thanks again to everyone for making this tour such a success and for all your support during this transitional time. Now we have a bit of time off to recover from the road, during which I will surely attempt to eat large doses of kale and spinach and do some form of exercise at least somewhat regularly and play lots of banjo. In 3 weeks time Heather and Jeremy will be in Winnipeg and we'll begin working up the new show! So much is about to unfold...!

We'll keep you posted.

~Ruth


Thursday, January 25, 2007

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


Thursday, December 21, 2006

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