music in my ears again!

AHHHH! Megan+Free iPod=happy!
Take that you meanie iPod theif!

Old Stone Churches, Part Two

A few years ago, my friend Kevin, who has impeccable taste in music, handed me a dvd filled with albums. He introduced me to Beck, Sigur Ros, Nico, and perhaps most intriguingly, to Vashti Bunyan. The album was Just Another Diamond Day, and it's full of soft little songs about nature, the seasons, and love. She has a tiny whisper of a voice, the music is empyreal.

Truthfully, up until last night, I thought Vashti Bunyan was a fairy.

But, she is real! And she played at The Bowery last night; a rare event, since she gave up music 35 years ago and has not performed much since.
I arrived early with Tamsin and Mike and we were among the first there. The show was in the actual church, not in the basement like last time, and little chairs and tables were set up in the nave. We sat up front, drank organic beer and listened to the excellent pre-show entertainment, funky piano jazz by a slick looking guy in a fedora.

The first act was questionable...some gal playing sickenly optimistic songs on ukelele. We liked her backing musicians more than her. One guy played the cello and the other played the omnichord and a snare-drum-box-thing (which seems like a pretty fantastic invention if you're in a band, travelling a lot, and don't have too much of a requirement for percussion).

The second act shocked us...two guys got up onto the stage with guitars, one guy was older and called himself Lucky Jim. Don't know what the other guy's name was, but it doesn't matter, because Lucky Jim was CAT STEVENS. Seriously, he started to sing and Tamsin, Mike and I turned to each other, with wide eyes, and we all whispered 'Cat Stevens?!'. So yeah, I know Cat Stevens is now Yousef Islam and he doesn't perform anymore but this guy was so convincing. His sang his folky love songs with Cat-like gusto and I just sat back and enjoyed it. It was pretty amazing.
By now the church was surprisingly full and anticipating the headline act. Vashti Bunyan came on stage with two other musicians. Apparently she is 64...she looks about 35-40. She sat in the centre with her guitar and started to sing, with her little voice that hasn't changed a bit. She also told us lots of stories of her hippy days...she really did the hippy thing. She walked from London to the Isle of Skye with a horse and caravan to set up a sort of dream-commune thing with Donovan. How crazy is that?
The set was a wonderful mixture of old songs and new songs and stories, and when it was over and we were all filing out of the church, you could hear everyone humming the flute melody from 'Just Another Diamond Day'...it was special.

Winning the lottery

Yesterday my friends and I went to the grocery store to get ingredients for the dinner party we were having. We all hit up the ATM outside the store before going in. When it was my turn, I went up to the machine, pushed the button to withdraw 20 pounds and out of the machine came my two tens and another ten, crumpled up in between the two.
I started yelling "I won! I won! I WON!"

Luckily I was among friends.

Winning the lottery at the ATM...it can happen to you.

Hooray, a new month!

Look what I'm waking up to this morning! Aren't they lovely?


It's definitely springtime here and I'm happy about that. I just got back from an amazing adventure in Amsterdam, Bruges and Brussels. I've got a new favourite place but more on that later.

Happy March!

On Scottish/English Food, Part 2

ahh, the Crumpet.
Quite possibly my favourite British food. Introduced to me by my friend Andriana, who was horrified when I admitted I'd never eaten one before. Seriously, I thought crumpets were just those horn-shaped chippy-things that come in a red bag...know what I mean? Well, since she has introduced me, I have become maybe a bit addicted to them.
It's like when you make pancakes, and there are extras left over and you put them in the fridge and snack on them later and realize that leftover pancakes out of the fridge are pretty tasty. A crumpet has the consistency of a thick, hole-y, leftover pancake. Put it in the toaster, spread a bit of butter on top, it's amazing. (You really should click on the picture to get the whole idea.)
Oh yeah, and they're hella cheap too.


Also, I'd just like to point out, since bragging can be fun, that today it is 11 degrees and sunny outside. Yessss. I'm going outside to read!

old stone churches and pretty songs

occasionally, magical things happen in Edinburgh.

Last night my friend Tamsin and I discovered the Bowery, a semi-secret venue in the bowels of a centuries-old church. The arts/music/culture rag The Skinny were throwing a party with music from Edinburgh folk bands My Kappa Roots, Rob St. John and eagleowl and it was a pretty special night.

After peeping around the empty interior of the church (it was MASSIVE and all in stone, quite cool) we went down to the basement and found the room where the bands were playing. We eased our way up to the front and found Rob St. John and his band playing amongst the old lamps and dusty framed pictures of what may once have been the church's parlour...a couple old ladies knitting, drinking tea and eating biscuits and the scene would have been complete.
RSJ's set was beautiful and haunting and the setting really complemented it. His songs are long, drifting, layered melodies that make you think of the sea. Guitar, double-bass, ukelele, drums and most intriguingly, the harmonium, make up the band's instruments...sometimes they have someone playing the musical saw, which is amazing to watch.
When they finished their set, Tamsin and I explored the place a bit more. Other rooms we found included a bar, a smaller room filled with sofas and old chairs, and a red-lit lounge where all the ceiling pipes had been covered with aluminum foil, making it very space-like. There were strings of lights that looked like red ring-pops and silver hanging mobiles.
We went back into the music room for the next set from eagleowl, which seemed to be Rob St. John reshuffled and with a new double-bass player. They did quite well in their new positions though, and delivered a lovely, folky set that was mostly instrumental with occasional singing from the lady bassist and the bearded guitarist (who looks EXACTLY like the ginger drummer from Brent Randall and his Pinecones). They finished with a sweet, jaunty little tune called Will You Call Me Motherfucker, which left everyone feeling pretty happy.

We all had to leave at 11:30, because of the place doesn't have a license to be open any later, which is sad because I could have stayed there all night.
It felt like a bit of a eureka moment for me, as in, 'ohhh, this is where people go for good music; here is where you've all been hiding.'

On Scottish Food, Part 1

I present to you, Haggis.

Lovingly prepared by me and fellow Canadian friend Ben for a Burns supper a couple weeks ago.
Our friend Shaun put it best..."You get excited because it looks like stuffing and you put a big forkful in your mouth but then you realize that sadly, it is not stuffing."