Happy December Everyone

This is just a quick reminder of a few Ontario dates we have coming up, starting TONIGHT in London, Ontario! If you can’t make it out, please help spread the word!

DECEMBER ONTARIO DATES

London, ON
Dec 7
The Aeolian

Collingwood, ON
Dec 10
Bay School of Art

JANUARY ONTARIO DATES

Ottawa, ON
Jan 14
National Arts Centre

Stratford, ON
Jan 19
Foster’s Inn

Grimsby, ON
Jan 20
Victoria Terrace Concerts

Port Hope, ON
Jan 21
Capitol Theatre

UK TOUR

We will be heading back to the land of a good cuppa in January, for a 2 week tour. Fish and chips, here we come!

Milton Keynes, UK
Jan 24
The Stables

London, UK
Jan 25
The Borderline

Sevenoaks, UK
Jan 26
Sevenoaks Community Arts Centre

Norwich, UK
Jan 27
Olive’s

Newcastle, UK
Jan 28
The Cluny2

Ripon, UK
Jan 29
Great Northern Wine @ The Warehouse

Glasgow, UK
Jan 31
O2 ABC 2 – Celtic Connections

Biddulph, UK
Feb 1
Biddulph Arms

Whimple, UK
Feb 3
The Victory Hall

Ross-on-Wye, UK
Feb 4
St. Mary’s Church

Sheffield, UK
Feb 5
The Greystones

Brighton, UK
Feb 6
The Grey’s

Bristol, UK
Feb 7
St. Bonaventure’s Club

AUSTRALIA

The big red month of February will see Madison Violet play a couple of shows in Ontario (Kingston and Chatham) and then we head to the land down under! Yes Aussies, we are coming back. Bigger. Better. Badder! Wait, hopefully not bigger or badder. Unless you mean it in a cool way?! Tour dates and info will be updated on our website shortly.

Once again, please forward this email to anyone you know who would be interested in all things Madison Violet.
Happy Holidays to you all! Whatever you may celebrate, we hope it’s shared with family, friends and good music.

Lisa and Brenley

xo

We’ve just returned from our 35 date European tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It was a tour of madly packed houses. Great audiences. New fans and old. What a way to release ‘The Good in Goodbye’!

LIVE IN COLOGNE CD AND DVD

After many years of touring together, and many requests for a live cd, we decided to record a ‘Live in Cologne’ CD and DVD at our show in October at the beautiful Kulturkirche. It will be released in 2012 and we are absolutely STOKED about it! Who knew
we had to hire a fireman to stand next to the stage? Guess they were expecting a red hot show! There will be a calendar released as well, with very sexy backstage photos.

GALAXIE RISING STAR AWARD

Madison Violet won the Galaxie Rising Star Award at this year’s Ontario Council of Folk Festivals conference. This is second time this year we won the award. Yay!!

THANK-YOU

We want to thank all the fans, the agents, the promoters and the record labels who made the past European tour such a success. We were treated like Queens. Ate like royalty. Housed under crisp white sheets. We are sorry we sold out of all our t-shirts, belt buckles and hats before we even made it to Austria, but we promise to bring more next time. We look forward to coming back in the spring time.

We recently came off a fun filled short tour of the U.S. We did loads of filming, and we’d like to share some of our adventures with you all. Here is the first installment of our Video Tour diary.

I had no idea that The Scorpians were from Hannover! I didn’t even know they were German. I’ve had more bruises on my knees from dropping down to the floor doing the splits in the middle of dancing up a storm to this band than I care to remember. Well, I guess you’d have to include Black Sabbath and Twisted Sister in the bands that inspired my John Travolta Saturday NIght Fever moves. Yes, I’m from Kincardine folks and that’s what we do as teenagers in Kincardine. Go to Stag and Does, drink too much and get down to 80′s metal bands on the dance floor. There was a girl that used to like dropping her pants when The Scorpians came on for some reason as well. Right there on the dance floor in front of everyone – shaking her arse in her underwear. I never understood why, but you could count on her performance at every event.

We spent the last two nights at the Hotel California after playing the Blues Garage on Sunday night. It’s our third time at this awesome venue and the audience keeps growing and growing. Henry, the owner of the club and his family are wonderful people and treat us like gold. Last night he took us in a long stretch white limo to an amazing Italian restaurant, where I ate far too much spaghetti to soothe my very nasty Monday hangover. Spaghetti is my comfort food and I be needing comfort food. The culprit: Tullamore Dew. I should just blame it on Adrian. He ordered the first scotch and I thought it was a grand idea. Hey my Grandma is 99 years old and loves her scotch. And her whisky. And her rum. And of course moonshine. ) Don’t get me wrong, she’s not a big drinker, but she likes to have a dram here and there. I remember arriving fairly late in the evening after a gig, to my grandma’s 90th birthday party, to find her and her 85 year old sister drinking my Revs they’d found hidden in the back of the fridge. Remember those blue vodka based energy drinks infused with caffeine and guarana?Not sure they’re safe for anyone to drink let alone those over the age of 80. I guess there are some big strong hearts on my Dad’s side and they can handle anything. Anyway, I figured maybe I should have more of the hard stuff – might keep me living longer. Well the scotch turned out to Irish whisky and eventually the whole bottle came to the table and I decided most of it should go in my glass and then down the hatch. When the booze dried up, back to the infamous Hotel California (5 rooms filled with guitars, organs, drums, old radios, speakers, lights – loads of music memorabilia and signed posters and pictures from a zillion bands ) where we went and repeated last years performance in Rebecca’s party room. Lisa, Adrian and I on the wurlitzer beatbox organ: the immediate party starter. Singing Slip Siding Away until 3 in the morning. Half a glass of white wine in one gulp mistaken for water at the end of the night : the immediate party ender.

Shopping in Hannover with the back of my head throbbing is not the best feeling I ever had, but we did find new sexy white luggage at Karstadt to match our guitar cases!

It’s Tuesday morning now and I’ve just learned that Rob Ford is our new mayor in Toronto. That makes me more nauseous than I was yesterday. This might be the worst thing since Sarah Palin.

Brenley

I’m sitting in my room at the Mercure Hotel in Duisburg, Germany. I just came back from the restaurant, where it took nearly 20 minutes for the young man to figure out that alas, I would not be partaking in their breakfast special (which didn’t look that special), but only coffee was on the menu for me this morn. As he came out with 2 incorrect drinks, I watched those with tired eyes and sometimes giddy looks on their faces walk into the restaurant. What’s their story I wonder? The man in the suit with briefcase in tow, on a business trip. Does it all the time. Sick of hotels and paid lovin’. Just wants to get back home to his own pillow. The young couple, definitely their first trip together. A bit disheveled but blissfully happy. Or is it that they are blissfully happy because they are disheveled? Had an early morning of eye gazing and all that goes with young love. The 4 English speaking woman sitting in the corner, getting a much needed rest away from their husbands, on their annual vacation. They laugh as though no one else is in the restaurant. Elated to be away from it all, but missing their families just the same. Me, a musician. On another tour. A toque that Brenley’s mother knitted covering my bed head. My jammie shirt still on under my very Canadian looking knitted sweater. Last night’s makeup still splattered across my face. Just needing a caffeine fix.

We are on day 4 of this tour. Day 1 was Hamburg. Day 2 was Berlin. Day 3 was (last night) was a more than sold out show in Duisburg. So far there have been many familiar faces in the audience. Loads of repeat listeners. And more excitingly, more people singing the words. Love that.

Today we will head to Stemewede. We’ve never been to this town before. I think it’s a little village, but won’t know ’til we get there. There’s been no time for shopping yet. Sort of sad that we didn’t get to go to funky area in Hamburg (great shopping!). And I need to find a bumper for my new iPhone 4 (though I’m hearing conflicting info on them).

Ok, time to get ready for the day. My coffee is now cold. Darn it.

Lisa

And so I sit with my coffee at my side, a bruised foot and sleep tousled hair. I’ve spent nearly 3 days in my jammies. Not venturing out to soak up the sun or be soaked by the rain. This is what I call the ‘end of tour’ days.

After every tour I squeeze myself tightly into a little cocoon, with only the bare necessities at hand. My jammies. My laptop. My iPhone. Scattered piles of take out menus. And many television series’ on DVD. (I’m midway though watching Pushing Daisies and Torchwood, and I’m about to start Season 2 of Veronica Mars).

4 days later…

Now, after being home just over a week, I find myself restless, but also surprisingly calm… needing to know what’s next, but not wanting to venture outside in the cool fresh air. This is my typical day 7. I’ve vegetated, planted roots and started to bloom. I’ve contemplated, watched, listened and told. I’ve regained my place in society, where ever that may be. I’m skeptical as to whether or not I actually fit into the so-called ‘normal’ world, but I welcome the possibility with arms wide open. Let’s see if a drifter can belong, I say…

But my ‘end of tour’ days (this time) are a little bit different.
There’ve been changes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think change is good, but if you don’t embrace the possibility of change, then hearts can been torn. However, they sometimes, sometimes can be mended. Hemmed with time. Trimmed with patience. But a heart, like that old pair of your favorite jeans, can only be patched and repatched so many times. Eventually it wears thin in places. You can see right through it. And there’s no recovering what was once something that fit like a glove. Something that you never thought would go out of style. Something that you knew would go with everything.

Well… I guess the only option is looking for a suitable taylor who can work wonders with a needle and thread. Or a hot therapist.

I’m partial to knitting, myself.
Lisa

Lack of sleep can play tricks on the mind.

I ordered a breakfast sandwich at Horties in Quebec a couple days ago and did 2 peculiar things:

- I asked for a receipt

- I apologized as I accidently plowed over a woman on route to the washroom

What made these 2 routine remarks stand out, was that I uttered them both in German when I was supposed to be attempting a high school learned, rarely used, French accent. (Thanks Mrs. Beaton. I loved your class.) But I don’t speak German, other than a few random phrases which obviously don’t come in handy in the land of poutine and sexy road bars. I didn’t realize my error until a strange look was given to me with my change from behind the counter and I corrected myself with a reddened face.

I wonder how that happens. Is it glitch inside my fatigued head or am I just crazed?

I have a habit of wondering about pointless things, probably as an unintentional distraction from the tasks at hand, and life in general when times are taxing. Oh how life has it’s little quirks and quarks (CBC plug). Why is it that:

- People don’t flush public toilets (C’mon folks, grow the hell up)

- Hotels with no real amenities can charge you a limb for a spring riddled bed. (I guess I’m paying to NOT leave the room itching and rashy, so the charge is somewhat valid)

- Cats are considered cute and cuddly (Wheeze, sniff, ugh… I like my pets to a) come when called, b) not swat at my legs and c) be domesticated… in the kitchen, baking pies, maybe dusting)

- We torture ourselves by wearing thongs (or rather, clotheslines) that create the great divide. (It’s like bottom segregation. Shouldn’t both halves be equal? They are not funderwear)

It was a slew of mindless questions like these that kept me awake last night. I didn’t sleep. Again. I haven’t slept a proper nights sleep in quite a while. Weeks. I’m carrying more luggage below my eyes than I typically take with me on a month long tour (and I’m a girl with gear). I do have the ability to fall asleep lying on a tarmac with a 747 screeching by, however my nights have been ending at first light and my mornings have crept in before the drool has had a chance to absorb into the pillow case. I’ve now ruined the mystery… yes, girls drool. But we drool rose petals, thankfully. And some of us snore. (not me of course)

So, for all you out there listening, without the sleep I need to function, I may speak in foreign tongues. I may randomly shed a tear for no reason. I may also be a bit snippy (I’m forewarning you all) without a proper explanation.

Tonight I plan on laying my head on the pillow before dawn… but only if dawn is consenting. No means no, but lately the stars have been quite vocal about their wanting control of my nights and they’ve been keeping me up all night.

Lisa

401 east to New Brunswick. We just left the city. I’ve not had enough caffeine yet. I sipped mine slowly in rush which meant that I didn’t knock back nearly as much as my body would have appreciated this morning. Time just did not allow me the luxury of lollygagging.

Adrian is driving. Robin is passenging. (is that a word). I’m blogging.

Brenley is back at the loft, nursing her neck back to health. She will be meeting us in NB. She reinjured herself jumping on a bed at IKEA, of all things. There should be warning label at IKEA about things like that. Diving (of any kind!) may cause injury. Cheese graters are not for your head when you are in the middle of a public squabble. Eating $1 pasta may cause indigestion and embarrassment if one was to see you doing so. Thankfully I have very high standards, and I go for the calorie free cinnamon roll whilst shopping there. I can even deal with the sticky fingers (I should really shop there with a wet nap). Hold on, if I have to deal with the fact that there is never an exit to be found without walking for 9 miles through the rugs and racks, then IKEA can deal with my sticky fingers. And really, you can’t go wrong with liquidy sugar on a piece of fattening sugar stuffed dough. Mmm…

Now I’m craving. It’s been a while. There must be a Horties on this friggin’ road.

Current playlist:

- Superstitious (Sergio Mendes and the New Brazil ’77) from the ‘Wonder of Stevie’ album – This song could almost make me dance, which is a HUGE feat. Head’s a bopping and feet are a knocking.

- By The Time It Gets Dark (Yo La Tengo) – Mellow. Gentle. Simple.

- Be Thankful For What You’ve Got (Yo La Tenge) – Not as mellow.

- Love Me Darlin’ Just Tonight (Vern Williams) – About as trad bluegrass as you can get.

This is a short blog, as my brain is not functioning as it should. It’s cluttered and clogged like an all girl’s campus shower drain.

I need Braino.

Lisa

I’m in Wakefield. We just drove through torrential rain to get here from Mont Tremblant. It was a long journey, though it felt much longer than it was. It felt like an eternity in the car with no fresh air coming in or going out. Just a stillness that could not be removed until the windows came down when the heavens stopped falling.

But I am out of the car now. I can breathe once again. And I can stretch my road weary body. And I can stare at the water out the window. And I can.. and I can.. and I can.

At least I think I can.

I’ve decided that I will try my hand at living life as the ‘little engine that could’. From this day forward, I will not only think I can, I will. I will see the sun in a different light. One that’s not blinding, but that both burns and heals. I will sing until my throat is hoarse from the words that I truly mean to say. I will listen. And I will understand.

If we took our advice from children’s books all the time, the world would be a much more interesting place. There would be green eggs on my breakfast plate (and it would be okay). There would be large red talking dogs prowling the streets and cats would wear hats. But there would also be a lot of love. Maybe that’s where we went wrong as we grew taller. We let the ways of this stormy world creep in, and the love out of our sails.

So I suggest that as soon as possible, we should all find a children’s book, one that teaches (not preaches) about love, and sit it on our bedside tables for that rainy day, when the sun is still blinding.

Lisa

I saw squirrels consummating their relationship last night.

We were waiting patiently for our dinner to come (I thought that they were actually out setting the lobster traps for my dinner) and Adrian pointed out that there were squirrels fornicating in the tree above our table. Funnily enough, when we scanned around the restaurant (to make sure we didn’t look like freaks for bending our necks out of shape to watch the show) we were not the only ones watching. ‘They really should have charged admission’, a gentleman next to us declared.

It was at that point when Brenley noticed that it was an inter-racial relationship. A black squirrel and a grey squirrel.

Hmm… I wonder if there are issues like that in the animal kingdom. Would it matter to the mother squirrel if the squirrel perched on top of her daughter (or rather, behind) was of a different color? Or maybe he was brought up in a socialist, rambling, birkenstock wearing hippie family of squirrels that like to be on the move, eating baked tofu, and the relationship between his partner’s more conservative pan seared tuna w/ wasabi mashed potatoes eating family, and his, would be one of constant struggle. Or maybe they’re all cut from the same cloth, crazy for nuts, and life would go on without any inconvenience. Or maybe one of them would get hit by a car shortly thereafter their tryst and it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Yes, the glass of beautifully aged bordeaux is definitely half empty in that squirrels situation. But one of these days we may take a gander up that tree trunk and that glass will be verging on half full, teetering on a branch, without a drop spilled.

I’m sure that there will be people who will get on my case, and think I have fallen off the deep end after reading my posts, with no little orange floatation devices strapped to my arms to keep me from sinking to the bottom. Maybe if I learned how to swim, people wouldn’t fear a sodden heart, and the possibility of drowning would come to a halt.

But we all know that life flows better a little watered down, so go teach your kids how to swim.

Lisa