Camera Obscura

Hello, having realised that i haven’t actually blogged yet (woops) i thought that was something i should rememdy now. so i am currently sitting in the back lounge of the tourbus on the way to Chicago for a day off. Everyone else is still sleeping, but i’m up cause i find it impossible to sleep when the bus is moving, and moving it currently is. last night was Milwaukee, which was exciting for us for a whole host of reasons, not in the least cause we’d never played there before, but also cause we grew up with Happy Days and Tracyanne is a massive fan of Laverne and Shirley (she even has the board game). So it was with some excitement that she got her picture taken with the Bronze Fonz. Now that is a statue and a half. Its up there with the Rocky Balboa statue that was in Philly, but the people actually want it there, rather than it just being left after a filming cause, “I thought you’d appreciate it” then people didn;t seem to appreciate it and it got removed, poor old rocky (still need to run up those steps one of these days). So anyway, we really enjoyed the show, the crowd were lovely, and as well as our currrent support Papercuts, we were joined on the bill by our summer tour support Agent Ribbons and their Auntie Lisa, which was great. Its nice when bands that have supported us in the past happen to be passing by on tour too and can make a show, either playing with us again or just hanging out. Its a bit like when old companions re-appear in Doctor Who. Fantastic! Anyway, whilst i’m wittering away, last night’s guest list was jam packed, normally we wouldn’t go printing up the guest list, but it was so exciting last night we feel obligated to put it in print for posterity:

Mr C
Marion Cunningham
Richie Cunningham +1
Joanie + Chachi
Fonz +10
Pottsy (not the guy from Monaco)
Ralph Malph
Arnold
Al
Pinkie Tuscadero
Laverne and Shirley +2

You should have seen who came to see us in Dallas.

Just wanted to thank everyone who came to see us at our recent UK and European shows. Of course the UK is in Europe but it’s not really is it? Just like I can’t do high 5’s with Americans I would also look like an idiot on a bicycle, Europeans do this very well. It’s the main difference between us, honest! Anyway, we had a blast. It’s the first time we’ve toured so extensively in Europe and I loved every day of it. Of course there were many highlights, the modern art gallery in Oslo with the Jeff Koons’ Michael and Bubbles statue, our first ever stage invader in Aarhus, Britta Persson singing with us in Stockholm, that dog that was working in that pub in Leicester, visiting La Casa del Abuelo in Madrid (one of my favourite culinary experiences ever!), the general craziness of Christiania in Copenhagen (you are now entering the EU), the Boston tea party meat platter made for young Tim by the energetic Karl in Hamburg, the cannoli I ate in Milan while watching the aftermath of a car/tram accident, sitting hungover in a sausage bar in Vienna sipping gingerly on a beer, playing in a library, this list could go on.
Thank you all,
Lee

A lot of you have been expressing how much you like the art work for this record so here is a link to the artist Julie Annis who is responsible http://julieannis.co.uk
My boyfriend introduced me to Julie’s work so I was kind of a fan prior to her working with Camera Obscura. I hope you will enjoy her site.

love
T x

Here are some of the band doing an impromptu acoustic session in the sunny haven of La Route Du Rock

Anyway, we’re just back from the lovely St. Malo in Brittany, France, where we played La Route du Rock festival as the sun went down. I love playing outdoors in the evening; as if the romance of the fading sunlight wasn’t enough, there’s also the pleasure of being that bit higher up on the bill. No ego there or anything…

I have a survivable smattering of three languages (in addition to my not very Glaswegian Scottish English), and try my best at all three whenever I get the opportunity. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to get them a bit off in terms of geography, and frequently say “por favor” or “bitte” where I should say “s’il vous plait”, for example. I compound this bumbling by attempting to speak with the most over-egged French, Spanish or German accent I can muster. The harder I try to fit in, the more apparent it is that I do not.

That said – my lingo skills are next to native when compared to the spectacular effort of another (past or present) member of this band a few years back, in Madrid. When approached by a little old woman who began chatting enthusiastically with him/her/ in a supermarket queue, this person looked around, panic-stricken, and when the help (brutally, intentionally) didn’t arrive, they blurted out “NO SPEAKO SPANO!”

There’s always someone worse off than yourself. Green Man Festival next. No speako Welsho. Respectfully.