Tag Archives: folk music

Boats, Planes and Trains

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Jack’s Wednesday guest blog – –

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a flight to Italy where my old band ‘Heritage’ were booked for a festival.

We played concerts, tours, and festivals almost every summer in Scotland and all round Europe for fourteen years, and often times other aspiring singers and bands would ask me how we got the bookings.

Here is an example of how we “booked our gigs,” so that you can see how I couldn’t really help them much:

I was at a party in a friend’s house in Edinburgh, where I was introduced to a French artist who illustrated the cover of a magazine called ‘Escargot Folk.’ He suggested I send information about our band to them, which I did. About a year later I received a copy, and there we were – but – my address was completely garbled and miss-spelled!

Another two years passed, and I got a postcard.

It was from a guy in the northeast of Italy who organized a regional festival there. He had received a bundle of the French magazines and wanted to know if we would be touring in Europe the next year. Well – of course! I blessed the postman who deciphered the address and delivered it.

That first visit to FolkEst in Friuli was by train, which was a great adventure involving us, our luggage, and our instruments…and changing trains in Edinburgh, London, Paris, and Milan before arriving in San Daniele. The next time was the flight over the Eiger!

All our other travels started with similar ‘happenstances’ – we didn’t have an agent, so things just came out of the blue. But it all took me to places I would never have seen and introduced me to people with whom I still keep in touch.

About that Hardanger Fiddle Thing….

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joe coolA friend recently said to me, “Wendy, how can you be so cool and not cool at the same time?” Being of an analytical persuasion of mind, I had to figure it out. Here are my best guesses as to why it’s true: I’m not really cool.

1) Cotton trousers with elasticized waistbands and big floppy sweaters – I like and wear them. Especially when I’m writing, because they are so comfortable to sit in. And let’s face it, writing is a whooooooole lotta sitting. But then I get up to say hi to customers, or do housekeeping stuff, or make a quick run to the grocery, and people look at me like “Oh honey, where’s your carer?”

2) All you need to take me down is a Hardanger fiddle. Back in my youth,  friends who knew me well were astonished to discover I was dating the guitar player instead of the guy doing Hardanger. (But then they met Jack, and understood.) Still, to this day when I hear a good prairie fiddle going, forget the wine and flowers; you won’t need jewelry. Play Hardanger and you will have to beat me off with a bodhran stick. Which you will want to do, given that I’m in a baggy sweater and elastic waistband trousers.

3) I rescue cats. Yeah, say crazy cat lady. Say it again, a little closer…

4) Four days in seven, my hair winds up in a bun. (Go ahead: laugh. I’ll wait.) I like having long hair, but it’s not practical in a bookstore. If you’ve ever caught your long, swinging loose hair between two books just as you’re stacking them in a large group on a shelf – well, you know what a life-changing experience that can be. Not to mention neck-snapping. So, I wear my hair in a bun. Although I have learned never, ever to wear a blue jeans skirt and trainers. It doesn’t matter how swoopy your earrings are, how big and bold your watch; people will glance over, assume “Church of God,” and you will never get out of that labeled bottle again.

5) My favorite number to hear men sing along to is The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles. Lightly inebriated guys trying to bellow “DA-DA-DAT-DAHHHHH” in sync and with some resemblance to an established key–ah me, is there anything cuter? Especially if they’re singing to some girl sitting with them. Ah, sweetness. (BTW I have never been to a karaoke bar. These displays were at festivals.)

6) And the kiss of death: I use the word “cool” in casual conversation. :]

Not cool, but still havin’ fun –  I think I’ll get that put on a t-shirt.