UK Part III, the Wrap-Up

There are tours that pass slowly, dragging on until you’ve lived a week of days unrecognizable one from the other. Tours that are beige food and highways marked by Walmarts and Burger Kings. The shows themselves are always a joy, but sometimes the days and weeks are long. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, because I know my career is a gift. But sometimes it’s hard to be away from home.

This UK tour was not one of those. It was a true delight, for many reasons. Here are some of them:

The Family Unit

Being on the road is a constant adventure and is, for the most part, fun and exciting. But most of the touring I’ve experienced has also been tinged with longing. Our first tour across Canada in 2008 was a total of six weeks, which began ten days after I married Colin. Missing him isn’t even the word; it is always much deeper than that.

This time around, home was with me; my little family unit on tour with my best friends and I. The best of both worlds, if you will. And while it was sometimes frustrating early on in the tour when Annie wouldn't eat or nap on schedule (see UK Part II), we managed to get a nice routine going by the last week. Just in time to go home.

Rebecca Kemp

The only place the Lovelies have ever hired a tour manager is in the UK, which makes being on tour feel like a vacation. I could extol all the virtues of Rebecca here, how wonderful she is at her job, how incredibly professional and easy she is to be around, but I won’t. It would take up way too much space (but you can read about her here – www.ontourlogistics.com/about).

Kempy, Annie and Sue
Photo Credit: Kerri Ough

What I will say is that she fits the Good Lovelies like a glove, and has become a great friend. I wish we could take her everywhere.

The Venues

The last few years we have been touring the U.S. extensively, and playing mostly theatres as part of their subscription series. In Canada we have a fair following and find ourselves in theatres or large clubs. What is different about the UK tours, so far, is that the shows tend to be smaller, and in venues that are quite varied night to night. This tour we played pubs, a theatre, an outdoor festival, a big top tent, and a few town halls. Lovely, all of them.

Kerri & Sue soundchecking for our show at the Old Queen's Head in London

That being said, our last show of tour was in the atrium of a shopping mall. Try playing a quiet love song while kids squeal on a motorized train ride and bowlers hit strikes in the alley directly behind you. “Shows” like that sure keep you humble.

The People

Two words: Listening crowds. We generally have very attentive audiences, but it is quite something to be playing in a pub and have the attention of every single person in the room. It’s disarming, almost, but appreciated.

At every turn, we met very kind promoters, really dedicated to the shows, and to bringing good music to their communities. At the end of tour, we played the Maverick Festival in Suffolk. Many of the promoters we had met along the way were there, and came to see us play the big open stage. And, they were all so generous with baby Annabelle, letting us stay in their homes, and providing her with toys, food, and snuggles.

Hanging sidestage at Maverick Festival with our Canadian friend Old Man Luedecke
and Jamie & Stevie Freeman from Union Music Store in Lewes, UK 

I can’t write about the people we encountered without mentioning Nick Lawson. Nick is a wonderful supporter of the Lovelies. We met him on our first tour of the UK three years ago, and last year when he attended six of our shows. Well this time around he came to EVERY show, and sponsored our B&B and dinner in Cottingham. Let me say that again: He came to 14 concerts. Thank you NICK!

With the Lovely Nick Lawson
Looking forward to seeing him on the next UK tour

Now we’re home in sweaty Toronto for a rest before hitting up Western Canada for Interstellar Rodeo in Edmonton, and Vancouver’s Shorefest. It’s perfect timing, as I’m dealing with a very tired voice (in fact, everything about me is tired right now). The toughest thing about losing my pipes is that I can’t sing lullabies to Annie...so her Dad is taking up the slack and singing her to sleep. At least my boobs are still working. Colin can't replace me in that department.

'Til next time,

Caroline

UK Week II

We’re heavy into week two of our UK tour, with shows in Leith, Cottingham, Cockermouth (not kidding), Bury and Kirton-in-Lindsay. We’ve also become regulars in BBC studios across the country. They are so much like CBC studios that I feel completely at home. Canada borrowed the format, and it works.

It astounds me how quickly a tour can pass. Hard to believe that we’re rounding the last bend, and that July’s already here. Especially given the weather; in typical fashion, our tour has been marked by a grey dampness. I would expect no less of Britain.

Midnight cuddle

Annabelle has been adjusting to a new schedule, three solid meals a day, bed at 9pm, wakeups at 3:30 and 6:30 for a quick feed, and then sleep until about 7 or if we're very lucky 8am. Then my sweet hubby takes her for a walk while I try to get some more rest for the sake of my voice and the show. Ideally she naps during the day, a couple of times, either in the car, or on a “soundcheck walk” with Daddy. Still, we’re dragging our feet.

So, yes the baby schedule is taking shape again, but now our big challenge has become making sure Annie drinks enough breast milk.

While I used to nurse her for 20 minutes every 3-4 hours, she has started to refuse my breast, or feeds for 3 minutes and then pulls away, making a very disgusted face. Very good for my ego, I must say. This started for the first time last week and it’s distressing for a few reasons:

1. I worry that she’s not getting all the nutrients she needs.

2. My milk production is down.

I made the mistake of letting a few days pass without pumping regularly. This was stupid of me. While nursing her to sleep last night (I know bad habit, please don’t judge me, I’m a terrible mother), I noticed that I was empty; my usually bountiful bosom was looking more like a couple of flapjacks.

So pump I must. More than my usual once a day, too. **Shudders** I do not enjoy pumping, so each time I do it I tell myself “this is good, you are a good mother, you are providing!” But then when she refuses the bottle later that day, and we end up dumping my precious milk down the drain, I cringe.

We’re trying a few things to encourage her back into nursing regularly.

We are learning for example, that Annie will nurse in a dimly lit, quiet place. If she hears another person, especially a voice that she recognizes, she’s done with her meal. It’s tough on my modesty, her popping up from behind her my hooter-hider, flaying arms and kicking legs. I’ve taken to hiding away in quiet washrooms while we’re in public places, or nursing in the van while everyone else is in the service station.

We have also been trying to give little Annie formula for the first time. Up until last week, I have breastfed exclusively. I reasoned with myself that giving Annabelle formula at bedtime would take the pressure off my breasts, and cut down on my anxiety if I hadn’t expressed enough milk during the day.

She didn’t take it. In fact, she will rarely take a bottle at all. Colin is the bottle whisperer; he seems to have the most success with getting her to latch on the bottle, but even still, she’ll often just skip nursing all together if I’m not around. And now with this breast refusal business, she’s drinking far less than I’d like.

Happy baby surrounded by her road family.

But Annie is still very happy. Her belly is otherwise full (she is eating solids like a champ). My little baby is a smiling, happy little thing, and doesn’t seem to be suffering for the change in her nursing schedule. So maybe this is just my new normal? Maybe it’s just a stage? Who the frig knows! I sure don't have a clue, and google isn't really helping.

Delicious. And yes, I ate all of it.

As for myself, I could write an entire blog about what I’ve been eating on the road. The fare here is very tasty and often unhealthy; fish & chips, Cornish pasties, meat pies, cask ale, curries…I’m gaining my UK freshman 15. It happens every time I travel across the Atlantic. I forget my good food sense at home.

It seems that Annie has forgotten her good food sense too.

‘Til next time,

Caroline