hey everybody,
if you're on this list you probably already know about the tour diary,
but i thought in case you don't know...here is my latest entry. check
the website if you want more tour diary info.
xo -k

may 7, 2003
whoa - my goodness! i KNOW
it's been TOO long since i've written in here. the end of the tour was
crazy busy and then i got home and things are incredibly strange when
you get home from a long trip. you have to re-enter your life, your
love, your home, your schedule, your community. it's a lot of work.
so i've gone through 6 weeks of mail and messages and catching up.
i've rested a little. i've tried to get used to home life. i'm
starting to book shows and such again. we had a show in the bay area
thursday night. Littlebird and i played together for the first time
since...March 6th! can you believe that? 2 months! it was an outside
gig and we were so happy it didn't rain, but it did get awfully cold
when the sun went down. frozen fingers don't play quite as well as
warm ones.

so let's see...i listened to Ani's Evolve so much during the last leg
of that tour. i drove SO much, a total of 8,259 miles in 40 days, for
26 shows! I played in 13 states, drove through 24 plus Canada and only
spent one night in a hotel! phew!

i wandered around ABQ a bit the day after that Madrid gig. it was
actually really really sunny and hot there, even though i'd seen hail
and snow the night before just 40 miles north. the show at Kelly's was
nice too. and then i drove to Tucson where my friends complained
because i was staying so short a time. the show in Tucson was
FABULOUS!! yay for all my Tucson fans who came out to support me. it
was so much fun to see you all. i really like Vaudeville Cabaret. i'd
never played there before and it was really a fun venue. my friends
and i all went to the Grill before AND after the Vaudeville show! it's
practically next door and it's the only restaurant open 24 hours (that
i know of) in Tucson. and they have fabulous coffee shakes. yum.
next morn my friends and i went to Gus Balon's, which you know is one
of my favorite breakfast places in the country(!). then i drove away
:( to San Diego :) for a show at Claire de Lune's, a cafe with
excellent food! i was tired from lack of sleep and so much driving.
so as i set up i felt kinda negative about playing. but of course my
mood changed once i started playing. i love performing and connecting
with people! my friend Ben Carson came and played guitar for me on
Gillian Welch's Everything is Free. i played a full set and then took
a break and then my friend Matt Silvia came and played a song of his
and then we did Indigo Girls' Kid Fears and Incubus' The Warmth. then
i played solo and asked him back at the end to accompany me on Give
even though i'd already done it in the first set... it was a two-Give
night. it's always great to hang out with my friends all over the
country. it's amazing how much more i get to see them now that i tour
nationally so much of the time!

i'm working on a solo northwest tour in august-september (Littlebird
will be training to be a dog trainer!), a duo southwest tour in october
and another cross-country tour in november, as Littlebird and i move to
Rhode Island!

i gotta lot a work to do!

meanwhile, the bound single proof has STILL not arrived. i hate to
tell you this icky news. we don't know what is going on with it. i'm
trying to at least find out what is going on, and then we may have to
start over, re-design the cover with a new company, to get the thing
duplicated for you all! we've been SO frustrated by this! we thought
you'd all have bound in your hands by March, and it's May and no where
in sight! eeeek. so i'm /hoping/ that i will be sending bound singles
out by summer's end. keep your fingers crossed for me.

speaking of bound singles...thanks to EVERYONE who has donated to the
next cd, The Mule. we are one third of the way to completely funding
the whole project. when we get to half we will go into the studio
(we're hoping to record in December) and when we get to three quarters
will will duplicate it. we're hoping to release it by spring 2004.
keep those donations coming!

what else... it's good to sleep in the same bed every night. i'm home
for a bit now. next month i'm doing a few CA shows. one is a
dance/music collaboration with my long-time friend and collaborator,
Dawn Frank. we'll be showing the piece in Davis. it might turn into a
longer project to be premiered in the fall. i'll also be playing a
house concert in Richmond and one in San Rafael, a queer arts festival
in San Francisco and that sweet Salada Beach Cafe in Pacifica, the one
with the best carrot cake. and our faithful former intern, Sheryl,
will be merch girl for the Salada show -- always a nice thing to have
that cheerleading going on. we haven't seen her in a while, so it will
be a happy little reunion. yay!

thanks to everybody who shows up and buys my cds and gives me priases
on the road. it's a long road, and i'll give you all the thanks and
praises cuz you really rock my world.
love and laughter,
kristi
11:35 PM


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__________________________________________________________
Kristi Martel, alt-soul piano diva
Sealed Lip Records

"a fine musician...incomparable!" - Utah Phillips

Indiegrrl Performing Member: www.indiegrrl.com

Full tour schedule: www.kmetal.net

Hear and buy CDs: www.cdbaby.com/kmartel2

Get your copy of the signed and numbered limited edition CD single,
Bound:
http://home.earthlink.net/~kristimartel/boundsingle.html

Sign onto the NEW Sealed Lip discussion group:
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opening mouths and blurring boundaries through performance & education
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