OK, so the happy christmas video is working again! it's a little different then before, but i like it better! So, check it out!
Keri

Hey Ya'll!
I was lucky enough to be included in the Happy Christmas project with a ton of cool local musicians. There's a video on our main myspace page, check it out! All of the proceeds for the sales of the single are going to a good cause... not sure yet if it's WEAVE or musical instruments for orphans, but, when I find out, I'll blog about it. Till then, enjoy, "Happy Christmas"!
Keri

So, I haven't blogged in a week because Larry and I are trying to take a vacation. Our week in Spain has been great, I saw my best friend Agustín, from when I was young and used to live here. Today is our last day here and as much as I miss home, I'm having a hard time holding back tears. Mostly because I saw my friend and I'm going to miss him as much as I missed him the last time I left. Imagine a brother you haven't seen in 20 years and then you see him twice in one week and then -poof- gone again. I tried to keep myself from crying when I walked away from him, but the second my back was turned, the tears just flowed. I need to get to Spain more often.
So I'll be back in Sacto. again tomorrow, and back to the grind. Back to my life in the US. It's hard to believe I'm looking out at the terrace in the apartment we're renting in Madrid right now, and tomorrow, back in Sacto...... Weird.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing...see ya next year..hopefully...

Keri

I've got to make this quick cuz I need to sleep...

So we played three shows yesterday...

1: This was at San Severia Salon, owned by Kurt, a Gram Parsons fan and a FABULOUS host. We were shocked and mystified by the fact that he gave us so many drink tickets. They really know how to take care of us here...seariously! He handed Geoff a stack of drink tickets and we thought they were for the band as a whole...nope! They were just for Geoffrey! All eleven of them! Of course, Larry and I weren't drinking, me because of my voice, Larry because of his sickness. We were both a little bitter at this point because we've both had to really take it easy this whole time,and we've really wanted to let loose and have fun...can't. Anyway, our show wasn't that great because we weren't really into it, and my voice was on the verge of going so I was being hesitant. I feel like a jerk because Kurt was so great...ah well...every show can't be great i guess.

2. Prison in Antwerp, it was fucking awesome this time!!! Dad, you would have been proud of me, I danced around the stage and didn't pay a lick of attention to what the in-mates were saying! We had the best time and I know they loved us. Geoff is becoming more and more comfortable with being an entertainer, not just a musician...wait till we get back...you all will see what i'm talking about!;-)

3: The youth center...I wish I had a youth center like this one when I was young...beer, a bar... it was SO FUN!!! The kids were great and Kurt from San Severia salon came out to see us AGAIN!!! Larry and I were just bummed once again that neither of us could drink. Although, it's been entertaining to watch drunk people while I'm completely sober. Different fora change...

So all in all yesterday was a blast...today was a different story. I won't go into it all on my blog since the whole world can read it... but let's just say it was a bad day. Mainly because of my voice, being here for so long, and tensions in general.We played a festival and I sounded terrible. My voice was pretty much gone. Then we played another prison. like I said, i won't go into it on my blog, but let's just say that was our worst gig yet. I wish my voice hadn't gone out on me, but it did. I sounded horrible, and felt horrible. It felt like someone was scratching the inside of my throat every time I spoke and especially when i sang. Excruciating. I don't ever want to feel that pain again....I need to learn when to put my foot down and say, "sorry, i've done all I can...". For my sake, the bands sake, and our reputations sake. I feel like a jerk for not being more forthright. Anyway....

Tomorrow's a new day and I'm going to be fine. It's our last two gigs and we're going to give it our all...Rowdy Kate's last PUSH!!! And then...

finally....

SPAIN!!!!! (For me and Larry at least...)

Love you and miss you all...

Keri

I almost forgot!!! Today is Robert's 40th BIRTHDAY!!!!! Happy Birthday Robert....

Keri

Waiting for Gert to pick us up...Larry's grandmother died yesterday. I think we're all getting close to wanting to go home...
Playing three shows today. Will blog later...

Miss you all...
Keri

Hey all,

Well, let's see, since I last wrote, Larry finally went to the doctor. Turns out he has an infection, so he's taking antibiotics. Finally!!! He's starting to feel and act better.

We had Monday off, and we were going to go to Brugge, but when we got up, it was pouring, so we all ended up just hanging out here at the house. That wasn't bad, I made us pasta and some good sauce and we just hung out and talked.

Yesterday it was back to the grind. Gert picked us up at 1pm and we headed out to Holland to play a gig at this bar that had an outdoor patio. I guess it was a holiday, "Queen's Day", so a lot of people were out and about. Everyone at this particular gig seemed to have a child or children. My first childrens gig ever! It was fun to see all of these cool looking Europeans with their babies.

When we were done, we packed up and headed back to Belgium, to Leuven to be exact. Leuven is the oldest university town in Belgium. So we were going to play to a college crowd. We got there, did sound check, and Rikky, the owner, took us out to dinner at his Mexican restaurant next door. The food was good, different from traditional Mexican, but never the less, good. I felt bad for Robert though, at this point the sickness is finally getting him too. The black plague, as we call it. He didn't look good, and he felt hot to the touch. And he had no appetite. Crap! The rock of the band! Sick!!! What do we do?

The show must go on as they say so we went back to the bar and played our first set. I must say, Geoff is getting better and better with each and every gig. It sounded pretty good.

In between sets, I had my first experience with offending someone, actually more than someone, more like a few people, because of a cultural difference. You all know the stereotype, "Ugly American", or "rude American". I can see now why a European might think that about us. In the United States, we aren't necessarily reliant on certain words to prove our politeness. Our politeness can be shown with a nod of the head, a look, a gesture, or even just a certain tone of voice when asking a question.

When I was trying to get off of the stage, (in my high heels), I asked a young man if he wouldn't mind giving me a hand. In the United States, my tone would have inferred politeness. But, apparently, because I didn't say, "please", I was considered rude from what I gathered from some girls nearby. I understood enough to know that they were saying something along the lines of, "Doesn't she know how to say please?" They obviously felt offended, and subsequently, because they proceeded to stand in front of the stage with their backs facing me, I also felt offended. When I woke up this morning thinking about how I was going to bad mouth them as much as possible in my blog, I realized how unfortunate it is that we all don't try to do a better job of keeping in mind the fact that we DO have cultural differences. Curiosity, compassion, and understanding might go a long way if we would all just make an effort to realize this fact.

Aside from this unfortunate incident the show was a blast. There was a man from Spain there named Francisco. I dedicated Por Un Amor to him, and he blew me kisses all night long. The place was packed and a very nice young man told me that we were his first experience with country music and that he loves it now. I told him that we only do old school country, that the new stuff sucks! (Except for the Dixie Chicks of course…talented talented girls) Another guy gave me a rose and we got a lot of compliments on our playing. Rikky made us stay and have, "One for the road". Larry and I didn't drink, but the rest of the guys were happy to hang out.

We drove home and got here last night around 3 am. I was freezing, exhausted, and homesick. I'm so tired of my hair smelling like smoke. Even after I wash it like 3 times I still can't get rid of the smell. And it's freezing here, like Sacramento winter. I'm trying to get over this damn cold, my throat still hurts and I'm all stuffed up. My singing is lacking because of my cold too. Basically, I'm feeling homesick. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a really good time, but I'm a California girl, through and through. I miss my Mom, Susanna and the girls. I miss Jerry Perry, Old I, Mindy Giles, and all of my clients. I miss my Dad, being able to talk to him, and vegetables!!! Anyway, just an insight to my brain….

I'll write again when I have time…the next few days are going to be really tough, many, many gigs in a short period of time.

Miss you all!

Keri

hey all~

So, tonight we played in Holland!! It was GREAT!! The people were SO friendly and the bar itself was beautiful!! The owner, Jos, was a singer, and when we were setting up, we could hear a Gram Parsons song playing on the speakers. We were all like, "who is this?" It was the owner!! it sounded really good too.

Our gig went well except my voice is almost gone...for real this time...don't know how tomorrow is going to go...we've got three gigs.

Something I've noticed about Holland:
I've never seen a cleaner country!! Neat and clean!!! I love it!

Thanks for all of the kind words all, it's nice to know my loved ones are watching out for me and Larry and the guys...

Miss you all and love you all....

Keri

OK, I'm back...Larry's going to the doctor tomorrow, there's a free clinic in town...so we'll be going in the morning. Early.

Anyway, it was miserable because we were crammed like sardines, but it was the most beautiful drive through the french country side. We saw beautiful old chateau's and little french villages everywhere. It was amazing. It was also a 5 hour drive...long. And towards the end of the drive, we pretty much hated the van! We got to our hotel and put all of our bags in our rooms, got back in the van, (uhgg) and went to the chateau we were supposed to play. It was old and beautiful. It had it's own little...what do you call it...? Ummm...I'll ask and tell you later. It's a place where they bury body's...like tombs. A mosilium!! Anyway, we did our sound check and it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was almost hot, not quite though. We were going to play outside in this big white tent with the best sound guy! John Pierre. They had our sound running through like a gazillion speakers so you could hear us no matter where you were standing...

After sound check we went back to our hotel to get ready and of course the plug in the bathroom of the room we chose didn't f---ing work!!! It's so frustrating, either I have SHITTY light to do my hair and make-up, or great light with no-where to plug in. I curled my entire head of hair with NO MIRROR!!! Susanna, you would have been proud...

We went back to the chateau to play and Bernard, (the owner and the man in charge), gave us REAL champagne!!! it was delicious. He also prepared the most delicious meal, I don't know what the meat was but it was tender and yummy. We also had cous-cous, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes with some kind of light dressing. (We LOVE it when we get vegetables...we don't get them often over here...) But, it got cold all of the sudden.
When we were done eating I asked Anne to show me where the bathroom, (toilet), was. She kind of gave me a look and said, "Ok". When we got to the toilet I was like...woah. It was basically a hole in the ground. Larry took a picture, I'll show you all when I get home. Anne said most public toilets in France are like that one. I used it, and it wasn't bad, (thank god I was going commando, I have to with some of my dresses...underwear lines...you know).

When it was time to play, Bernard introduced us one by one. Let me just say, that I don't care what anyone says about the french, they gave us the warmest welcome we've had so far. They cheered and clapped and danced. There were 300 people there. 300!!!! That's a lot! When we finished our first set, and after signing a bunch of autographs, (ahem), we went back to our trailer, (Yes, we had our own trailer...the french had us there in style), and Bernard had a couple of really nice bottles of wine in there for us. He kept saying it was too cold to drink them, but hey, they tasted good to me! I had to go to the bathroom again, and I was dreading using the french "toilet", when Bernard showed me to our own private americanized bathroom. Let's just say he took REALLY good care of us.

After our second set, we signed more autographs and took picture after picture. The CUTEST thing happened too. This little french boy came up tome and asked me something I couldn't really understand. At first I thought he was talking to me in french...I asked him again, "What are you saying?" And I figured it out: "First kiss please?" He wanted me to kiss him!!! So I did, and the next thing I knew there was a line of children, boys and girls wanting kisses. The funny thing was that they slowly started getting taller and taller....haha

We got back in the van and headed for our hotel, actually, everyone ended up in our room drinking wine till 3am. It was fun to hang out.

Next morning at 8am Larry and I got up to get breakfast...croissant with butter and jam and OJ. Larry was still sick and grumpy as hell, (my experience...remember?). No-one remembered to wake poor Robert up so he had like 5 minutes to get ready to go...poor guy. We got back into the van, AGAIN, and started back towards Antwerp. Next gig: The Prison.

The drive was just as pretty as the day before, and just as crammed. Geoff kept me entertained the whole way back. He's pretty funny....I taught him castillion cuss words, and since he knows some spanish, he started making up phrases.I pretty much laughed my ass off the whole way back.

So we got to Antwerp and since we had a little time Anne bought us a drink at this café and we sat outside. It was a nice day. Antwerp is pretty cool by the way. Lot's of old buildings.

We got back in the van, (YAY), and drove to the prison. What can I say about this gig...? Hmmm... I was scared. I'm going to be honest, I was terrified. I fucked up almost every song, and watching me, you'd think I'd never performed in my life. Robert came over to me in the middle of the set and was like, "Move around, take your mike off the stand and move around...". But I couldn't. They were cat-calling, whisteling and saying some not-so-nice things. It didn't help that I couldn't see anything because of the lights. I froze. I've never felt so vulnerable in my life. We're playing another prison before we leave, and I'm going to be better prepared so I can give them a better show. I'm disappointed in myself for that one.

After the show, we ate upstairs and the food was REALLY good! The french fries were so good, cut like potato chips, but thicker. And they gave us salad and vegetables...like I said, we love it when we get vegetables!!

We drove back to Lichtaart and I fell a sleep immediately. Well, not exactly. First, I lectured Larry on how he needs to go to the doctor. I'm afraid he either has pnemonia, or is going to get it, and his moodiness is driving me crazy. He had a fever again last night and this morning, he's been sick for 9 days. So tomorrow morning, first thing at 8am, we're going. Thank God!!

That's all I got. I'm having a good time, but missing the luxury's of home, and my mom, Susanna and the girls. I miss girls. I love the guys, but there's a little too much testosterone around here...

Anyway, I'll write again when I can...Love you all and miss you tons!!!

Keri

Hi all~

So the day after our last day off we had a gig in Holland. The bar we played in was BEAUTIFUL!! Peter, the owner, was super nice and bought us Chinese for dinner in another beautiful place around the corner. I only wish we would have played well. We were all pretty disappointed in ourselves when we were done...Not playing for three days showed.

Larry at this point was still sick, and grumpy as hell.

We got up early the next morning for our drive to France. The drive to France was miserable and beautiful. Miserable because there were 7 of us in a van that's only supposed to fit 5, (6 tops).

Larry needs to go to the doctor and I'm going with him. Will resume later....