Well, well, well....
a late post, or is it right on time?
I need to say it: I have been neglecting my Substack. I promise you it was for good reasons- I just returned home after a 6 week long run in Europe, and I had a beautiful time. Now I’m home, jet-lagged, and getting back to business.
Recent highlights include:
Floating down an incredibly clear and refreshing river in both Geneva and Zurich
Going to a bath house
Playing an incredibly sweaty sold out show in Berlin
Improvising and playing for hours in a reverberant stairwell
Hanging with an incredible crew on the road
Dressing up in a shrimp costume and performing the hits off of the one of a kind record by Eric Slick “Dayroom TOO” (which may one day be found again online if you’re lucky) with my buds.
Breaking my bow, having a guitar strap failure, and have my violin pickup break, all in the same 30 minute set and still having a great show with a wonderful audience
Receiving a DCASE grant for an orchestration/performance project I will be announcing soon!
I am feeling good. Feeling fulfilled at the moment, unbelievably busy, but determined and excited for the projects that are to come. Julia Jacklin tour starts this week! Opening for 5 shows in the midwest as a duo with Vivian McConnell AKA V.V. Lightbody. Really excited for these- Julia’s music has been a big inspiration to me.
7.21 - Indianapolis, IN - Hi-Fi Annex
7.23 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Ballroom
7.25 - Omaha, NE - The Slowdown
7.26 - Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar
7.27 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
There’s also a bonus Finom show in there as well on July 24th at Millennium Park opening for Kurt Vile! Its a free show- bring some snacks, sit in the grass, all that good stuff.
I’m returning to UK/EU in August and September doing my very first headline run over there. Really excited to be back so soon :) Putting the dates here in proper UK/EU order:
31.8 - Brighton, UK - Folklore Rooms
1.9 - Dorset, UK - End of the Road Festival
2.9 - Exeter, UK - Cavern Club
3.9 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana
4.9 - London, UK - The Lexington
6.9 - Utrecht, NL - De Kromme Haring
7.9 - Hamburg, DE - Nachtasyl
9.9 - Stockholm, SE - Scalateatern
10.9 - Copenhagen, DK - Ideal Bar
11.9 - Lund, SE - Meijeret
14.9 - Jena, DE - Trafo
16.9 - Leffinge, BE - Leffingeleuren Festival
(poster image by Izzi Vasquez)
Been writing and reading a lot of poetry lately so I’ll share with you with some words in progress that I’ve been working on (scary!!!):
Good Morning
I pretend to see
Small palms outside my bedroom window-
They usher in a quiet sunrise
Like the ones out west.
They look so quaint,
waving in the wind
While the birds puff their chest-
Welcoming summer with each singing breath.
Concentration
Is my silence boring?
Or does it mean I am thinking?
I am always ruminating
Too hard
About nothing at all.
I would love to live in the crease of your furrowed brow
And build a home out of your thoughts.
Tour
Last show to last stand and landing smoothly.
Swiftly switching laundry, leaving longing, mocking the meaning of every day routine.
I regret nothing and I give it all as a gift.
To be is the most we can master,
And,
It makes me miss this.
It will always be days before I am home again.
Hoping to post again sooner rather than later
-MS