T E X A S : Days 1 - 4

Hello, All!

I thought I'd do a quick roundup of the happenings so far down south! First off, it's hot. The air is hot, the car seats are hot, and don't forget that skillet handles are hot (oh, I guess that's for me). The drinks are HUGE and ordering a small means you will receive something marginally less jurassic than the "regular". (AKA: "Texas size") The sky is vast, the grackles are squeaky, the cigarettes are strong and the beer is lite. It's either BBQ or tacos around here and THAT suits me just fine.  Anything else is dipped in velveeta or deep fried (please see turkey legs).  

I've spent the last few days in New Braunfels with my pals Kristi and Jamie and their 3 year old, Teddie Claire. We've hit the Comol County Fair, shared already many beers and pontificated on all things music.  I even got to scoot to San Antonio on Saturday to take in my good pals Elijah and Marc Ford and Ryan Bingham at the Moonamp Festival.  It was a badass night enjoying songs under the night sky and clinking beers with my friends Grant, Sarah and Ashley. I came home with 2 tall boys in Lonestar in my purse.  Never trust a Canadian with a backstage pass!

Kristi has been so kind to book me 2 gigs this week.  One on Wednesday at The River Road Icehouse and other on Friday at The Black Whale Pub.  These gigs should be interesting as last night I decided to grab a skillet handle (that had just come out of a 400 degree oven) and gave myself quite the burn. Safety third! Luckily my host is the ultimate Mama and a remedy of a vinegar soaked cloth has done wonders.  I found it worked even better wrapped around a Miller Lite.  I'm always thinking outside the box.

I'll keep you kids posted, currently I'm drinking a horchata that's the size of my torso.

Adios Amigos!

love: g

My Rifflandia Spot!

Rifflandia Spot!!!!

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osl9g2QtvhM

Nobody Living Can Ever Make Me Turn Back

I have quite the fall lined up. 7 shows over the next 6 weeks! I'm pretty excited to be a part of not only our lil Victoria night (now monthly @ Lucky Bar) "Blender", but I've been asked to join a small 4 city tour of female artists I met in the Lilith Fair local talent search. Then, to top it all off, Rifflandia has also added me to it's roster this year.

Shaping up to be quite a September for me, but I couldn't be more stoked to be working this much.

I've recently relocated to the mainland (Vancouver, proper) to get a bit more immersed in the music movement over here. A lot of potential collaborations and connections here to develop and I plan on really maximizing my time here.

Stayed tuned for many new projects! In the meantime please check out of the many shows if you can!

Click here for the complete calendar!

Stage Fright?

So, having a hip-hop alter-ego raises some legitimate concerns. But let me start at the beginning...

About a year ago I met and befriended an MC in a hip-hop band. With a similar passion for the lyric, we bonded over our own brands of song-writing. Soon we were jamming together, fitting my folk-inspired vocal lines over his verses of rhythmic words and finally began our own brand of performance we called "flip-flop". Soon that spawned a whole other sub-career of writing and singing hooks for other hip-hop artists and groups. I always take my work seriously but I liked this type of collaboration because it was so effortless, and fun. There wasn't that added pressure that this was "my stuff". They were projects that I could come to, lay a track on and let them finish. It was almost too easy.

Then it came to perform with a certain artist with whom I would just be up there with him, singing to a beat track. No guitar. No mic stand to hide behind. Just me and a mic in my hand standing next to a real live rapper. So.....the obvious question is:

WTF do I wear?? Not to mention "Genevieve Rainey" isn't really a very bad-ass rappette name. And do I dance up there, throw my hands in the air like I don't care? You see my concern.

I'm open to suggestions...but ya'll will have to come out Thursday night to Logan's pub and see what I come up with.

Oh, and does anybody have some gold chains I can borrow? Thanks.

...first show in Austin...

So there are many people in my life who tell me on a constant, daily, sometimes hourly basis, that I am meant to be pursuing my music. They tell me to believe because they believe. They tell my I should know this, because they know this. But there is always doubt. Sometimes small, nagging, voices in the back of my head. Sometimes it is full on, soul-deadening dread. Am I good enough? Is everybody just humouring me? Am I setting myself up to fail? And even with every leg of this trip in step with my every stride, almost as if the ground is being built seconds before my foot rest on it, I feel fear.

And then a night like last night happens. A simple trip to my first open-mic night in Austin, only meant to get the ball rolling, cut my teeth, maybe meet some people, became my first gig. This show was complete with multiple people offering help, support, outrageous compliments and actual future shows...I was high on the positive feedback, drunk on the familiar but sorely missed feeling of being onstage and engaging an audience...it was in short a beautiful justification that, yes, I am here for a reason.

You all can go ahead and shake your heads, roll your eyes and practice your "I told you so's". just know, that I will need you to remind me many more times again. It's how I roll.

Thanks to all of you and your support and thanks to Austin. Here's hoping tonight is just as epic...too much to ask?

...still haven't slept yet...

41 hours....

Hour 1: 3:30-4:30pm

Stops: Pamona, CA, Ontario, CA
Soundtrack: Mirah

Family of 4 behind me. Two adult women, a sulking teenager and a toddler. As we were first leaving LA, whimpering and sniffling was audible from the teenager's direction.

Older of the two adult women: "What's a matter? Is this cause LC didn't call?"
Teenager (indignant and crying): "NO! My stomach just hurts, that's all. I don't *care* about LC!"
Silence.

An Amtrak employee comes around take reservations for dinner. He eyes my open package of sliced cheese and my bag of rice thins and says, "That won't last too long, when that runs out you call me." He winks. I smile. The family confirms they will dine at 5:00.

Outside the window: dusty, snowless mountains. Industrial/residential. A young couple making out next the train tracks.

Hour 9: 1:24am

Stop: Maricopa, AZ
Soundtrack: Iron and Wine

Sillouetted mountains behind white sand and dry brush, sit under stars and more sky than I have seen in a long time. It's getting flatter. It is the middle of the night.

Tuna, cheese and rice crackers. A movie on my laptop. A call from my sister and a call made home. Familiar voices. Gentle constant reminders that, yes, I am still crazy. Brief sleep. Hopefully more. Perhaps a nightcap.

Hour 19: 10:53am

Stop: El Paso, TX
Soundtrack: Wilco

Cotton fields. So much sky. Cotton clouds to match. I have always loved long car/train rides. As the middle child, I got the right side window seat in the back. I would stare for hours and daydream. Sometimes music in my ears..sometimes not. My parents would have to check if I was still there. Something about the movement and then side scrolling scenery, regardless of what it was, rendered me dumb, helpless to the whim of my imagination. I do some of my best thinking, goal-setting and fantasizing while gazing out the window of a moving vehicle.

Rocky dusty brush. Instant french vanilla coffee. Peanut butter crunchy oat bar. Goal-setting. I shall assemble a band when I get to Austin. I am excited.

*** that's all I managed to write on the train.*** xxx-g