For the last couple of weeks I was invited to play some music at an old age home in Brighton. It is a weekly music session where different musicians are brought into the home to to play music and interact with the folks there. Set up by my long time friend Paul Chi it is essentially an improvised session. All music is made up on the spot and the old folks are encouraged to join in. Every week four musicians turn up and bring an array of instruments. I bought my accordion and ukulele, Paul played guitar and sang, Hannah played mandolin and flute and Sarah Jane seemed to play all the instruments.
The old folks are encouraged to play percussion and get into the spirit of the music. 
I have to say it was a really great session and very inspiring. It was very free flowing, no rules, just play how you feel in that moment. 
Originally I thought Paul may want me to play some old songs for the folks, but I love the fact that it was not based around nostalgia and was all about the present moment. Genius!
At first I felt a bit awkward and wasn't sure what I was supposed to do but I soon eased into the free flowing nature of the session. Sometimes I would head over to Paul and start singing a harmony with him or play a ukulele line. Other times I would try and engage with the old folks, get them to play some percussion. 
Some of the folks were very friendly and others quite unapproachable. One such lady called Jean kept saying how terrible the music was and for a while I kept my distance from her.....at some point I built up the courage to go and speak to her and try and engage her with the music. I approached her with a small tambourine and invited her to join in. To my surprise she smiled and took the mini tambourine and put it round her wrist like a bracelet and started shaking her arm in time to the music...I was delighted to see her take such joy in the tambourine and I could see that she was finally opening up to the music. I ended up chatting to her and falling in love with her dear soul. She kept stroking my hair and telling me how lovely I was. I felt such love and affection coming from the old lady, I was really touched. 
I don't know much about Jean except that she is 93, has the biggest blue eyes full of life and the softest hands.

Anyway despite the rain it turned out to be a very beautiful evening, many of Male's friends and neighbours turned up. 
After I played I invited some people from the audience to play a song or two. John who is originally from Scotland graced us with a Talking Heads song, Male's son Tilman played a piano improvisation and Elouise sang a touching song she had written about her grandfather. Towards the end of the evening when the rain had stopped Male's good friend Katrin suprised us all with  some fire dancing in the garden.
Below are some pics from the evening and a short clip of  Male and I singing Kings and Queens in German. 

The next day we got up early, packed the car ready for our long journey to Antwerp where Els and Wim live. 
I first Met Wim and Els through my friend Esther. She had met them whilst busking on the streets of Antwerp and they invited her to play at their house party. 
The following year during our gypsy travels Esther and I went back there to play another concert for them. 
So this year with my new album Roses At The Top finished they invited me again to perform for their friends and family. 


Els and Wim are an extraordinary couple. From their home they run a dog grooming business a cat hotel and a photography studio. They have a great big open space that Wim uses for his studio which is where we played our concert. 

As we approached Wim and Els's road we saw a huge group of cyclists, maybe 50 or more, happily cycling along together. I was quite struck by the group of cyclists as it's just not something you would see in England. It's a shame! it looked like a fun thing to be part of. However we do have The Brighton Naked Cycling Event which happens once a year on Brighton sea front but that doesn't appeal as much.

After unpacking the car we spent the afternoon setting the PA up and sound checking. Around 7pm people started to arrive. Wim and Els put on a lovely spread of food and drink and after everyone had eaten the concert started.
Male opened with a couple of beautiful songs she had recently composed and then I played a couple of sets. Wim invited all his roller skating friends and they turned up for the second set - I forgot to mention that Wim is an amazing roller skater and is part of a big skating community in Antwerp. Like the cyclists that I saw they also go out as a big group skating around the town.

The concert went well but I was not sure that my music was everybody's cup of tea, however, everyone was really respectful and present during my performance and I really enjoyed playing in that space. Afterwards, Wim's friend Frank came up to me and said that he loved my voice but he thought that there was not enough pain in my music. I was quite stumped by what he had said because the songs have evolved from some very dark places and are full of longing.... but there is a spiritual aspect to my music which attempts to transform these dark places into light but obviously he was not hearing these depths. I appreciated his honest feedback and even if he didn't like my songs as much as my voice he bought the album. Quite a few folks bought the album so perhaps it went better than I thought it did.

Unfortunately that night I got eaten alive by mosquito's, I counted over 50 bites. For some reason they like my blood. The next morning Els made us a lovely breakfast and after a long packing up session we made our way to Cologne for a concert at Sabine's place. Whilst writing this blog today I remembered that I had some nice footage of Wim skating that I filmed when him and Els visited Brighton two years ago so I made the footage into a little music video for my song Simple Things. It was great fun playing around in iMovie and putting it together. I hope you enjoy it. For some reason it seems to take a while to load up so I recommend making yourself a cuppa whilst it's loading up.

Unfortunately I only have two photo's taken in Cologne and here they are:

Best things about Germany are the cakes, the bread and the tree's. The cake to the left is the one we ate and it was amazing, plums and marzipan, eat your heart out! 

On arriving in Cologne we got to see a little bit of the town, such beautiful shops. There were so many things I wanted to buy. Then we went to meet Sabine at work to pick up the keys for her flat so we could start setting up for the concert. 

Sabine has a beautiful garden and we were hoping to make a garden concert but unfortunately it was raining again so we decided to do the concert in her flat completely un-amplified. 

It was a relief not to set up the PA again as we were all so tired. It was also really nice to see Jens relaxing as he had been working so hard for us, driving, setting up the PA, doing the sound. 
Jens's friend Wilfred turned up and we chatted about his small record label that he runs in Germany and about the folk artists he has signed. 

The concert went well but during my song Waiting Game a young lady from the audience burst out crying and she didn't stop until it was over. I felt so bad for writing such sad songs but I also recognised that crying is a release, like laughter, it's healing, it's necessary...in that sense I am glad I was able to help her get some sad feelings out. Music is a healing force. 

As the evening wore on my mosquito bites seemed to swell and swell and get bigger and bigger. I am allergic to them and I was itching like crazy. Everyone at the party was so sweet and helpful, one lady recommended taking calcium tablets and searched Sabine's house for them. Male went to the late night chemist and got some cream and some pills to help ease the itching and take the swelling down. Needless to say I didn't sleep much that night. In fact I hardly slept the whole tour. I seemed to be constantly awake and sleepless like an over excited zombie.

The following day Male had plans to take me round Cologne and show me the sights but I was feeling so dreadful. Most of the bites were on my feet and I was finding it difficult to walk so we decided to head back to Herborn and spend the day relaxing. I think male was a little bit disappointed but she remained as gracious as ever. On our return to Herborn, Male booked me into see her local doctor and I got some stronger anti-histamine pills, some calamine lotion and some mosquito repellant. By this point I had so many creams, sprays and pills, I was a pharmacy on legs.

This was mainly our day off but Male organised a short lunchtime concert at this centre for mentally handicapped adults where she does art classes once a week . On arriving the manager showed us around the building. It was a very impressive place where adults with mental health difficulties do jobs for local businesses. It seemed like a really positive environment. Some people were printing flyers, others were doing electrical work like making up leads and electrical components. 
I liked the ethos of the place and wondered whether there were similar incentives like that in the UK. I hope so. I played a short concert whilst people were having there lunch break and after I played the manager presented me with a bouquet of flowers. What a sweet gesture!

Next stop Alsfeld. Luckily we didn't have far to drive to get there. Warmly greeted by Anna with coffee and sandwiches we were able to take a much needed break before setting up the PA. Phew!
Anna then took us over to her neighbours courtyard where the concert was being held and we started setting up. Nervous of the weather we noticed that the sky was looking rather cloudy again however Anna's neighbour convinced us that it was not going to rain. She was so confident about it not raining that our doubts disappeared and amazingly so did the clouds.
Luckily Anna took some really great photo's of this concert. 

Alsfeld was definitely one of the highlight concerts of the tour. The setting was lovely and a nice crowd showed up. Later that evening Anna arranged for me to stay with a couple of local English teachers. Stupidly I had forgotten to bring something to read and had been really craving a good book so I was very happy to find a whole shelf of English novels in my room. Seeing as I was so hopelessly sleepless the books helped to pass the time...

The next morning I met up with Male and Jens and we had a walk round Alsfeld. It was such a stunning old German town with Hansel and Gretel type houses, apparently the buildings are over 500 years old. We visited an amazing gift shop that seemed to go on and on forever, it really was a magical place. I brought some really cool fairy lights and some presents for friends back home then at Male's request we tried a bit of busking in the town square.

So... Beverungen Campsite in Axelsee was our next destination. This concert came about through Male's friend Frank who runs events for single parents. Unfortunately I don't have any photo's from the campsite but I do have a short video I made when we first arrived there. The campsite was set in a beautiful location by a peaceful lake, it really was quite idyllic and I wished we could have stayed there longer to just relax and chill out. It seemed like a great place for parents and children to relax and be together. The concert took place outside by the camp fire and it went pretty well except I remember feeling very tired during the second half. I think all those sleepless nights were catching up on me. After the concert we all sat round the campfire together drinking red wine and chatting whilst a man from Belgium played some gorgeous accordion music. 

The following morning Frank took us to a the sleeping beauty castle where we had tea and Frank gave my album to the owner of the castle to see if he would book me for a concert in the castle's theatre. Still waiting to hear, but what a wonderful venue it would be to play in. The castle was stunning and Frank told us all about the local folklore and how the castle came to be named Sleeping Beauty. Here are some pics from the castle:

After visiting the Sleeping Beauty Castle and saying our goodbyes to all nice folk we met at Axelsee we headed to Oberusal. Male's friend Dirk had kindly lent us his flat to use whilst he was away on his holidays. It was such a god send to have a space to ourselves to relax in and get ready for the concert. We both had our own rooms which was a real luxury. Unfortunately I didn't take any photo's at Klinik Hohe Mark which is a shame as it is an incredibly inspiring place. I managed to find one off the internet though which show it's beauty. 

I had played at the Klinik the year before and was really happy to return as it was such a special concert for me. The Klinik is for people who are suffering from depression and mental health problems, anything from burn out to eating disorders. What I love about the Klinik is it's values. Male showed me around the building and the grounds and what struck me was how many theatres and music rooms there were. There was also meditation rooms and art galleries and sculptures everywhere. The Klinik is based upon a christian ethos and Male tells me that their approach to healing is very holistic. The Klinik does not believe in drugging people into zombies it believes in group therapy, counceling and prayer. They host many concerts for patients and encourage healing through art and music. 
Friends, if I ever have a breakdown please send me here....

I played my concert in the church room which has an upright piano. It was so great to play a real piano again. The church was packed, over 100 people showed up. Seeing most of the residents at the concert made me realise how invisible depression and mental health problems are. Everyone looked 'normal',  whatever  'normal' is? 
What I mean is that you could not tell that people were suffering. It's a reminder to always have compassion for all people because you never know what is really going on in their lives. 
This concert was definitely another highlight of the tour. I felt really appreciated and the church room was the perfect setting to listen to my music.

After the concert some young women came up to me and one of them asked me why I didn't mention Jesus in my songs. I tried to explain that although my songs have a spiritual nature I was not a Christian and that my concept of god was not based around organised religion. 
She looked puzzled. I also re-assured her that I have complete respect for her religious beliefs. Thank you everyone at Klink Hohe Mark for being so receptive to my music and for showing up. It was a great night. 
We then headed back to Dirks place and for the first time during the whole tour I actually slept the whole night through.... how wonderful!

The last show of the tour was at a beautiful art and therapy centre run by an inspirational woman called Heike. She is an artist, counceler and shaman and her workshop space is big part of the community in Montabaur. It is also a music venue too.

For me, this was my favourite gig of the whole tour. It really was a beautiful evening and such a great way to end the tour. Thank you Heike for all the love and effort you put into promoting this concert and making it such a special event. Heike also hired a photographer to take photos of the concert.
Not only did Heike promote the concert she also sold quite a few of my CD's upfront. I felt there was a lot of excitement about this concert and it really spurred me on. 

This concert was the roses at the top! here are some lovely memories from the show, thanks to the photographer who made these beautiful collage pictures.

After the show we shared some delicious vegetarian food that Heike had lovingly prepared. Some of Heike's friends and colleagues from the centre joined us....