A day to do nothing

Today started very slowly, I must say.  I was tired out and found myself whining and in a bit of a crabby mood (don't worry, I was alone, so no one was subjected to that :o).  After making some eggs for breakfast I decided to really go all out with this day that I had to rest and to do nothing.

After my normal getting ready routine...shower, teeth brushing, etc, I gave myself a face mask, deep conditioned my hair and whitened my teeth. Now, you may be thinking "Who cares?"...well, fair enough...

I took a walk down to the train station and got some sun rays on the way. I stopped and had a döner which is like a gyro with slow roasted lamb, lettuce, tomatoes, yogurt sauce and banana peppers.  


The day was slow going, relaxing and just what I needed.  Sometimes I forget to stop and be thankful for days like this.


I hope that you find some time to do something relaxing this week.


Love,


Tammy*

House Concerts :o)

Tonight I had the pleasure of playing a house concert together with Tess Wiley in Marburg.  I've only done a few house concerts in my life (3 or 4 now) but I am really starting to love them.

It's usually 30-40 people in a living room or in the garden/yard...with a nice atmosphere...candles, lamps, cool lights...a relaxed environment and an intimate concert where the banter between the artist and the audience is welcomed.

Tonight before the concert, one of the hosts wanted me to play a song on the piano.  I played "Palm of Your Hand" which is a slower tune.  He started tearing-up and said, "I am almost crying".  He had me play the song again then and then he had me play it again after the concert. Wow! It is so rich and sweet when someone connects with a song like that.  He later bought a Cd and his son was astonished, saying "He doesn't normally buy CDs" :o)  When Tess and I were getting in the car he came over and gave us some extra pocket money.  I wanted to say, "aww, thanks dad!"

This evening, the house concert was on the stone porch with golden lights and the audience sat in the garden with long tables and little awnings overhead.  Tess and I did a few tunes together. She added melodica, some percussion and beautiful harmonies on a few of my tunes and I added a little harmony and shaker on a few of her tunes.  The audience sang with us on a few tunes which warmed the place right up!

By the end of the night we were freezing and I thought that hot apple cider which is normally for the winter time would have fit just perfectly.  We were bundled up with blankets and jackets.  Is this really summertime? I know that a lot of Germans are probably asking the same question.

It was a great night! What a sweet evening. I am thinking that a house concert tour should be in the works :o)

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Tammy*
www.tammyrochelle.com
www.youtube.com/tammyrochelle

A fabulous evening in Wetzlar, Germany!

This evening was filled with homemade appetizers, candles, cool lamps, guitars, singing, conversation, and a wonderful audience of warm hearted folks :o)  My Gerglish (German/English mix) was well received! (I think :o)

Thanks to all of the lovely people that came out to the LivingRoom concert this evening in Wetzlar.  Tess Wiley sang and played so beautifully and she even joined me on a couple tunes.  She pulled out a melodica solo on one of my tunes!

Thanks to Sven Olaf who drove a few hours to get to the show! I hadn't seen him in 10 years!  Thanks to Conny and Arne for coming out to the show after only hearing me play 3 tunes at one of the Kandern outings!  Thank you to the wonderful hosts!

For anyone in the area that missed out on the show, Tess Wiley and I will be playing a Living Room Show in Marburg tonight, Saturday, July 30th, 19:30 for 10 Euro.  Email me at tammyrochellebooking (at) gmail.com for directions.

FACEBOOK INVITE TO THE SHOW-Click Here, pretty please  Hope to see you there!

Love,

Tammy*

Marburg, Germany this Saturday!!

Greetings to you!

This Saturday, July 30th @ 19:30 I am playing a folk-rockin show with the fabulous Tess Wiley in Marburg, Germany.  There are only 35 seats total for this Living Room concert and we would LOVE to have you there.

If you would like to come to this fine evening, then RSVP to:

tammyrochellebooking@gmail.com

you can check out the event on facebook, as well.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=252159731478090

I hope to see you there!

Love,

Tammy*
www.tammyrochelle.com

Summer Tour Dates

Well, I just wanted to say hello and to let you know about the upcoming shows on my current summer tour, Liberty Spoke to Me.  It would be lovely to see you along the way! I am adding new shows each week, so you can also check the "Tour" section of my website for updates. Thanks!

Love,

Tammy Rochelle*

Jul 16 (Saturday) Herne Bay Music Night-w/Nigel Hobbins, Herne Bay, England 7:30

Jul 17 (Sunday) Whitstable Baptist Church-Whitstable, Kent, England 10:45am

Jul 19 (Tuesday) BBC Birmingham-Radio Interview-Birmingham, England

Jul 20 (Wednesday) BBC Cambridge-Radio Interview-Cambridge, England 7:15pm

Jul 21 (Thursday) The Blue Ball- 57 Broadway, Grantchester-Cambridge, England 8:30pm

Jul 22 (Friday)    Black Forest Academy Auditorium "SMI in Concert" -Kandern, Germany 7:30pm

Jul 23 (Saturday) SchallWerkStadt-Kandern, Germany 9pm 

Jul 28 (Thursday) ERF Radio Interview-Wetzlar, Germany 2pm

Jul 29 (Friday) House Concert- Wetzlar, Germany (with Tess Wiley)

Jul 30 (Saturday) House Concert- Marburg, Germany (with Tess Wiley)

Aug 2 (Tuesday) Teenstreet-Offenburg, Germany

Aug 3 (Wednesday) "Open Skys" Festival- Burg Hohen Neuffen, Germany 6pm

Aug 4 (Thursday)   Zeltstadt- Nordalb, Germany 10pm and Nachtcafé at Zeltstadt 11:30pm

Aug 6 (Saturday) Private Event-Gernsbach, Germany

Aug 19 (Friday) Hotel Pension Nord Heiden-Heiden, Switzerland-8 pm

Aug 20 (Saturday) Pfarrhaus Lohn-Lohn, Switzerland-10:30am


Aug 20 (Saturday) ICF MoserGARTENparty-Mosergarten, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Aug 21 (Sunday) Kirche Lohn, 8235 Lohn, Switzerland-10:40am (service) 7:30pm (Concert)

Aug 28 (Sunday) LKG -Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Sept 1 (Thursday) Schloss Beilstein, Germany

Sept 2 (Friday) Die Luke-Ludwigsburg, Germany-8:30 pm

Here is a little peek of the SMI Concert in the Black Forest Academy Auditorium.  I was honored to play that night alongside some great musicians.  Here are Marc and Silvi! They are the sweet couple that organized the shows in Kandern.  At the end of my stay the great Toby and Ilo gave me a ride up to Friedberg in the back of their car.  My massive suitcase was hugging me the whole way! :o)

Some photos from the Kandern, Germany show

Had so much fun in Kandern, Germany

Some Videos from Whitstable England

Here is a little video of one of my favorite folk bands in England.  I always have a smile on my face when they play.  Here is Nigel Hobbins and band in Herne Bay, England.

Back in Germany!

After one taxi, 2 buses, one plane, and then a car ride, I arrived safely into the Basel, Switzerland airport, went out on the French side and ended up in Germany. Perfect.

Tonight I got to re-connect with Mark and Silvie Egles and Anja Lehmann and play a few songs at the SMI night in Kandern, Germany.

It's been a long day and I am excited to post some photos tomorrow.

Love,

Tammy*

On a Harley and playing at the Blue Ball

Here is a pic of the fabulous Malcolm Guite and his Harley. He took me to my BBC Cambridge Radio Interview on it. Classy :o)

Man! Tonight at the Blue Ball was just so wonderful! The people, the atmosphere, Mystery Train and Malcolm were stunning.  I will have to come back to Cambridge on my way back out to the states and play a night there again.  Thanks to Malcolm for the invite to play and to all who came out!

I rode into the BBC Cambridge radio interview on a Harley

Well, you see, my friend Malcolm has a Harley.  He gave me a lift to the BBC Cambridge Radio interview with the guitar on my back.

You can hear it here :o)

http://tinyurl.com/tammybbcradio

It is the July 20th show.

Love,

Tammy*

Why?

I wrote a long blog about the lovely and surprising events of the day and sadly it disappeared :o( I will write about it tomorrow...so...

Here are some photos from today...lunch with Mike and Pippa Rimmer and the radio interview with Mike.

I arrived safely in Cambridge with a day full of surprising events...I will re-write about them tomorrow.

Love,

Tammy*

Birmingham with Mike & Pippa Rimmer

Most of today was spent asleep on the National Express Coach...5 hours of travel. sheesh! Canterbury to London, London to Birmingham.

I was greeted at the coach station by the wonderful Mike Rimmer.  He is a radio broadcaster and journalist that I met in Nashville 2 years ago.  You can check his blog out here http://www.mikerimmer.co.uk/ He and his wife, Pippa, had a small group from their church at their house tonight and asked me to play a few tunes. It was a good time.  After that we went out for Indian food, met up with a friend, Joel, and headed back to the house.

In the morning we are doing a radio interview and then taking a look around Birmingham and then it is off to Cambridge in the evening.

There are two special towers in Birmingham that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to write "Two Towers". Here is a photo of one of them.


Love,

Tammy*

An Irish man and a Scottish lady

Why are Irish and Scottish accents so beautiful and yet so hard to mimic?

Today I played a few songs at Whistable Baptist Church in Kent...I even played " This Little Light of Mine".  Lovely people.  I would like to tell you some beautiful stories but jet-lag is winning this evening. Have a great start to your week.

Heading to Birmingham tomorrow to hang with Mike and Pippa Rimmer.

Love,

Tammy*

Official Tour Poster

To start the tour off right, Heidi Frank, a very talented singer/songwriter and graphics designer created a fabulous tour poster for this summer's tour. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

This morning started off with breakfast and lunch all at once with my friends, Terry and Vicki,  in Sevenoaks. Then I caught the National Express (England's version of the Greyhound..but much nicer) from Dartford over to Whistable which is right outside of Canterbury on the coast (where I wrote the song from my new album 'Coast of Kent').  There was tons of traffic on the way and we were a little nervous about missing the bus.  Well, the bus ended up being late due to the traffic, too.  So I made it!... Just in time with my two suitcases and guitar (I am hiring a massage therapist after lugging around these bags...not really...but wouldn't that be nice? :o).  The bus was nice but smelled like bathroom air freshener.  It was quiet on the bus for the most part.  There was a man in the back near the bathroom that I am sure has played a pirate in a movie at some point in life...just had the pirate look....hard to explain.

My sweet friend Dixie was there to meet me in Whistable. It was raining today, a bit dreary, but Dixie had good news.  Nigel Hobbins, one of my favorite English folk singers, was playing a gig in Herne Bay and wanted me to play a few songs this evening. So, after 'tea', Dixie and I drove 4 miles to an old nice and pretty conservative church.  I will post a video soon so you can hear Nigel Hobbins and the Backroom Boys. I hope that you love it.  It's the  kind of jolly music with a deep message that makes you smile the whole time, but you don't know why. My favorite part of the whole show was in the middle, right before I played, one of the singers from the other band went into the backroom of the church where I was tuning up the guitar.  She said 'It's a little nerve-racking out there' I turned around and she whipped out a flask and took a few good swigs of whiskey.  I had to crack up. She was lovely.

Today I was thinking about how thankful I am ..for friends...and for friends that have amazing hospitality who really make you feel loved when you are hanging out with them.  Thanks to Terry & Vicki and Howard & Dixie for the warm meals, hugs, rides and great conversations.  Friendship makes the tour so much richer!

In the a.m. I will be playing some tunes at Whistable Baptist Church on Middlewall in Whitstable...some for the kiddos and some for everyone.  Any suggestions on the children's songs? Maybe 'This Little Light of Mine'.

Goodnight all.

Love,

Tammy*

It's the little things...

Well, I promised hedge photos.  No hedge photos, yet.  My apologies :o)

Today I spent time outdoors in SevenOaks working on booking buses, trying to book a flight and answering emails.  There was a funny convo with two workman that were fixing a few things around the house today.  One of the guys was telling me how to do a British accent by substituting the "th" sounds with and "f" sound. Like fings or somefing.  It was good fun.  Practice and let me know how that goes for ya.  In the end he asked for a song and he ended up buying a Cd and recommending that I should get up with BBC Radio 1. Will do.

Do you want to see some photos? Here is what I have so far--The plane ride (beautiful sky) and the first dinner that I had in England this time around (ham, carrots, peas, and mashed potatoes.

Today I was thinking about how expensive things in England can be...but, I was also thinking about how I love the English toffee here and I can't wait to buy some.  Have you tried it before? Trader Joe's has a chocolate covered version of English toffee which is quite good...but the toffee here is incredible. It's the little things that make me smile.

Any good suggestions of things that I MUST try while I am over here?

Well, goodnight.

Love,

Tammy*

Nashville to Atlanta to London

Hey! I hope that you've had a good day.

Well, to get started...I arrived safely in London. The flight was ok...The dinner was pretty delicious, I have to say. It was chicken breast, with garlic butter/cream sauce, orzo, and mixed veggies with red wine. Yum. I did struggle through static-filled headphones to hear the film, Jane Eyre and sleep was a bit impossible.

I had the privilege of sitting next to Crystal, a Wisconsin born daughter-of-Dairy-Farmers who brought me up-to-speed on how cows are milked (with machines), how often they should be milked (often...well, daily?), what happens to them when they aren't milked (their udders get infected and they die), the average life-span of a cow.  She is doing a 6-credit grad course abroad in England for her studies in Library Science.

I was "fetched" at the airport by my friend Terry (who, by the way, has one of the largest vinyl collections I've seen). My first day in Sevenoaks (outside of London) included making breakfast, drinking espresso with Vicki and Terry, showering, sleeping 5 hours, having a wonderful dinner that Vicki made of ham, carrots, peas, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, finished with a "pudding" (aka- dessert) of cake, custard, strawberry preserves and fresh strawberries!!!  We went for a walk in a beautiful park and around the neighborhood until I got freaked out by the bats circling overhead. Talking with my man via Skype made the evening end so sweetly.

Jet-lag isn't going to win tonight.  I am falling asleep now.  Tomorrow, I will post some photos...I want to you see the hedges in the neighborhood. (shrubbery..now thinking of Monty Python).

Thanks for reading.  Goodnight all.

Love,

Tammy*

Liberty Spoke to Me-Summer Tour 2011-Europe

The "Liberty Spoke to Me" Summer Tour 2011 begins now.  First stop-London to begin the 2 month tour.  I will post everyday from the road.  Just check my blog, facebook, or my website to see what's going on.

I am little tired from packing, washing clothes, paying bills, and finishing up some details for the tour.  Where am I heading on this 2 month adventure, you ask? England.Germany. Switzerland.France (and perhaps Poland).  

Finally I get to tour and to share these songs with you live! Want to hear or buy the new tunes?

Just click here

Click here to see the tour dates :o)

Thanks for reading!  Now, a special little video (below) that proves that I need to sleep more.

Love,

Tammy*