just back this week from a bellissimo time in Italy last weekend... my first gig with full band here in Europe was a concert, Friday night, in a small sweet village called Verceia. Verceia is about an hour's drive south of the Swiss border, nestled at the foot of the Italian alps. my new band-mates, Massimo Gini on guitar and bass, Damiano della Torre on guitar and bass (they take turns), and Pablo Leoni on drums, and i were set up on a custom built wooden stage at lake's edge, under the night sky, bright full moon. train tracks on one side of us, and lake and late-evening, summer-sun-soaked mountains on the other. it was a magical evening!

about 300 people in the village came out and listened, swayed, danced along. i was in heaven. played 10 of my songs and 7 or so sweet cover tunes... it was SO great to play with a band again! and i LOVE playing with Italian musicians! haha - food is SO important to them. it's essential to have a good meal together before every show. ;) and wine flowing...

met a bunch of the people after the show, all excitedly speaking italian at me. needed a translator. :) it was awesome. i had such a great time with these lovely musicians that i spontaneously stayed another 24 hours! the next day, enjoyed a robust meal complete with guitars being strummed and songs sung at the lunch table... home-made mushroom polenta from Massimo's aunt Lidia... then an afternoon garden jam session between the apple and pear trees. and in the evening i attended their next concert.

saturday night my guys backed the gentle giant, wonderful Italian singer~guitar player Silver Pozzoli. a long-white-haired, kind-faced, big-voiced singer, well known in italy from so much great music he'd made in the 80s... they put on a tight and energetic show, though the wind nearly blew them all off the open-air stage on the football field! i took pictures and helped a bit - as much as Italian gentlemen musicians would let me help. it was a special experience.

another gig to come, with the band, on September 18th in Gordona, Italy - then another to follow on October 1st - i don't know where exactly. ;) but i'm grateful.

this friday, September 11th, i am playing a solo, 3 hour evening at a hotel in Grindelwald, Switzerland. i've never been to this region, so it will be a new experience... a good gig that comes with breakfast the next morning, i love it. chocolate croissant, bitte und danke schoen... :)

and friday night i shall play my version of Bruce Springsteen's "Empty Sky" - a strong and sadly honest song of loss inflicted by the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. eight years ago...

Love and harmony...
~beth

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