union chapel gig

Someone posted a video from the Lucette London show (Secret Sisters UK tour) featuring me and "the Brit".  I thought I'd post it since I never did post any of our actual performances. Enjoy!

tour diary: Londontown

It's the final installment of the Lucette UK tour diary! We ended the tour off with a bang in my dearest, London.  I've posted about London a lot in the past so I figured I would simply share some photos from our stay rather then do a full-on guide this post. We definitely packed a lot of the city in to a few days...

 

 

Nothing like a rainy London stroll...

 We stopped by the British Museum where "the Brit" had a staring contest with a lion...

 and I took photos of pretty girly-er things...

Lucette and her dad had never been to London before so I felt the strong urge to drag them on a little trip up the Jubilee Line to see Abbey Road Studios (very near where I lived many moons ago).

e We signed the wall outside the studio, of course. We also called my dad and I asked him to go to this website so he could see us live in front of Abbey Road! and he could see us, which was pretty entertaining :D 

Obligatory Big Ben photo-op...

 

on to the last show of the tour...

We played our final show at the breathtaking and magical Union Chapel.  I have dreamed about going to watch show there for ages but actually playing there!?! I needed someone to pinch me for fear I was just having a really vivid dream! 

 

sound check...

"The Brit's" parents came to the show all the way from Cornwall since we didn't have time to come to them this trip!(As did a few close London buddies)...

Still waiting on the photos of us performing (because, obviously, someone else had to take those ;) but I will post them once they emerge! Then the Secret Sisters took the stage and did an incredible job. It was bittersweet though since it was the last show.

 

During the last song the girls brought a surprise guest to the stage, the fabulous Brandi Carlie. It was a gorgeous end to an amazing show.

and, just like that, it was over and we were plopped back in LA. back to reality. But we had such an unbelievably wonderful time!

PS: to hear more from the band I toured with here's the link LUCETTE  and while I'm at it here is the link to the band we supported THE SECRET SISTERS < all of them are lovely lovely ladies, incidentally.

tour diary: Birmingham

Onward to Birmingham...

Please note the ungodly hour of our train's departure. And the beautiful misty countryside out the train window which put me in a better mood.

Again, I didn't know what to expect from this city either but we had two days to explore which was nice.  Here are a few places we went while we were there...

The Mailbox - an upscale shopping center which is also home to several restaurants.  This was very near our hotel so we ended up going there a couple of times. We ate at Cafe Rouge - actually, a chain of french cafes, but still very good.

Plus it has a beautiful view...

Back towards the center of town is the famous Bull Ring shopping mall (the silver spaceship-like  building in the photo below).  To be honest, I didn't go in but a few of our tour-mates went and liked it.  It just seemed very Americanized to me...they even had a Forever 21! Still the building is impressive.

We knew of some vintage stores down toward an area called The Custard Factory.  One of which was the sister store of one we visited in Manchester - COW (82 Digbeth, Birmingham) It is a very large warehouse sized store and it had some really great dresses plus a huge menswear section which made "The Brit" happy.

We wandered further down the block to the Custard Factory which is an artsy quarter located at the former site of an actual Bird's Custard Factory.  We were there on a Sunday so many of the shops and restaurants were shut but it was still a very unique area to walk around. Definitely worth a look.

Oh and here's a beautiful Church in the city center on the way back to our hotel.

 

One night we had dinner with the Secret Sisters and company at a delicious Indian restaurant called Maharaja (23-25 Hurst St) which was very near our hotel and also very near the venue we played.

Speaking of which, the venue we played was called the "Glee Club"...

pre-show...

 and post-show!

 

Only one more stop until the tour diary madness finishes....LONDON!

 PS: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! ❤❤❤❤❤ xdjrd

If you've got leavin on your mind...

Taking a quick break from the "tour posts" overload,  I wanted to share this lovely Spring 2012 Lookbook for Boy. by Band of Outsiders Spring 2012 starring Michelle Williams.  I always love their lookbooks but this time I think the clothing is absolute perfection too. Plus these photos were taken at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery - I love a little nod to old LA.

 

Michelle Williams in Band of Outsiders. 

Shot at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles, CA.

January 27th, 2012

photos via boy.bandofoutsiders.com

musical notes: Sadly, this is the best version of this incredible Patsy Cline cover done by the (lovely) Secret Sisters... I was spoiled to see it live several nights in a row and it's been in my head ever since. "Leavin On Your Mind"