I just go absolutely ape!

"Every morning when I wake up and I see there’s a whole new other day I just go absolutely ape!"

I love these words spoken by Gaby in the movie 'Paris when it sizzles' (1964). Actually, it's what's happening to me. I wake up thinking about all these options, all the surprises a day can bring. I get out of bed, get breakfast and feel eager to go out. I feel like simply walking around our neighbourhood -the 19th arr. - and finding out what's going on in the other arrondissements. Try this place, try that place, write songs, get more gigs or do something incredibly touristy. Everything's so much fun that some of the days I don't even know where to start and run the risk of falling flat. But I don't! No, I won't! It's absolute freedom...I just go absolutely ape! I love it.

One of the things I love to do most is to check out as much live music as I can. Last night was great for that. We went to Caveau des Oubliettes (which used to be a prison in the 12th century) to see the SoulConnexion Jam featuring Rachid Guissous (see them in the pic.). Very groovy and inspiring. As are so many things around here...sigh. ;-)

Well, I hope you enjoyed Christmas and I'm wishing you a lovely New Years' party and a beautiful new year with lots of joy and freedom!

Daisy x

Paris

I'm writing this looking out of the window of our apartment in Paris. It's snowing. Last night we arrived at this nice and cosy little home which reminds me of the apartment I lived in when I was a student. I'm having my morning coffee although it's past twelve. iTunes is on shuffle and playing just the right music. I'm on the couch feeling amazed; are we really here for two entire months? Yes, we are! It feels great to be in this beautiful city to explore it and play and write songs.

Have a lovely day!

Daisy

Cold Nights & Red Wine

As the cold is slowly kicking in I'm trying hard to surrender to the winter vibe. It helps to have happy thoughts of warm coats, fireplaces, red wine, my new shoes ;), spending long evenings in cosy bars with friends and most of all: Paris! Finally, the day we're traveling to this beautiful city is approaching. We're going to stay there for 2 months, which is brilliant, but it also means no Dutch shows until we get back. The good thing is, that there's still a few shows before we go. What's even better; the shows are part of the Winebar Tour. So if the thought of music and red wine in the evening or late afternoon makes you happy...come see us! Dates are - where else would they be - in the agenda at www.daisycools.com.

Love!

Daisy

Worlds Collide

Isn't it weird to be completely uninspired? Have you been there? I've felt that way for a while. Nothing too awful; I just didn't feel like doing much. Or anything at all...

Maybe it's got to do with the fall season, but honestly, I don't really know. The good thing about this lack of inspiration is (I should say 'was', because I'm pretty sure it's over and done with now) that I simply didn't care that I was in this situation, so I didn't worry about a thing. I just stayed there - stuck in my head - accepted it and sat it out....and really relaxed my mind. :-)

And maybe this is why I didn't see it coming: The Winebar Tour is starting. I'm very excited but haven't fully gotten out of my hibernation mode yet...a weird sensation, as if worlds collide! It's time to dust myself off and get my act together. It feels good. The shows are going to be acoustic sessions and amongst the 'old' songs is some new stuff that I wrote in Palermo.

The Winebar Tour starts tomorrow November 7th and only a few days after it ends, in December, we're off to Paris. We're going to stay there for 2 months. I'll be performing and working on the new songs. I can't wait! I always wondered what it would be like to be in Paris for more than just a few days and now I'm going to find out! Yes, yes, I'm feeling it now! Pure bliss!! That thing I wrote, starting this post, something about being uninspired...what was that again? Did I write that? No way, can't be...it wasn't me. :-)

Back and Forth

Being back in The Netherlands, well...it takes some getting used to. Don't worry, this is the last dramatic line you'll hear me say for at least a while! It's particularly nice to be back and rehearse with the bands again, getting ready for shows and working on new stuff. I'm now checking out what I've written in Palermo, trying to figure out what's really there and making some improvements. This being away for a longer period has really helped finding a new approach to writing songs. I'm already planning the next trip. What else can I do? :-) If you're a songwriter, tell me, how do you find new approaches and ways of writing?

Maurizio asked me what my Palermo Top 5 is. I need some time to think about that. What I am sure of though, is that Palermo's a special place. It's going to be a lot of traveling back and forth in the future...See you there?!

All about the videos

From sunny Palermo still I'm greeting you! We've wrapped up the videoshoot for Homewrecker and it's been an exciting and intense experience. I'm dying to tell you all about it, but I don't want to give away too much too soon. We've been working with a great group including a few incredible actors (more about them soon). Check out Maarten J. Boer and Ewoud Bon working on set on these 2 pics.

Furthermore I've got some news. The video - by Turbo Turbo- for my song Crazy has been nominated for the Dutch Music Video Award- Shoot-me Festival! Congrats to Turbo Turbo and Terrence Sinclair for his amazing performance in it.

Have a great weekend! Cheers!

Ready To Go

After a few days in The Netherlands - including a lovely gig at Spijkenisse Festival and an inspiring rehearsal with The Mirror Conspiracy - we are now ready to go back to Sicily and shoot the video! First thing we're going to do when we land is visit Nino's Beach for a jamsession. Excellent opportunity for Maarten and Ewoud to check out the place before we're actually filming there tomorrow. Can't wait to get on that plane! Ooh, still gotta finish packing...

Cheers!!

Breaking Away

It's hot. It's sunny. Every single day! And I'm so used to it. :-) Our days here are laid-back no matter how much work we're doing on some of them. Still, I have to realize that we'll be taking a short break from Sicily soon, but I'm glad to say it's for a nice purpose - we're going to the Netherlands to perform at Spijkenisse Festival on Saturday. Soon after we'll be flying back to Palermo bringing with us director Maarten J. Boer (Rotterdam-based filmcompany Turbo Turbo) and Ewoud Bon (camera). They'll be shooting the music video for the new single Homewrecker! The beach bit will be shot at Nino's Beach in Cinisi, the place I mentioned before. I feel great about shooting it there, especially after meeting Nino earlier this week. Enough about the video now. Gotta leave something to your imagination, right?

I'm currently reading a funny and very interesting book that I found on the bookshelf in the apartment. It's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon. Just thought I'd let you know.

Driving and Spotting

Today we're going to continue our drive across the island. We've started it yesterday by driving southwards from Palermo to Agrigento - from there it was on to the west where we had lunch in Sciacca (with amazing sea view). We're going to experience a lot more of the island today as we'll drive to the east and learn more about the Etna and its area.

Last night Marco and I had a great time with Maurizio and Andrea (both of them are running Visit Palermo) and their lovely daughter Martina in Cinisi where we checked out a bar at the beach where we might just shoot a part of the video. It's a cool place with a few unexpected elements as you can see in picture. So who knows...:-)

Now what are we still doing inside the house? Let's hit the road!

The Magic Rooftop that we are or are not stuck on.

I'm writing from our rooftop again. I know, it seems as if we're stuck on this little piece of Palermo. Well, believe me...we're not. Although maybe we should be, because somehow it leads to productivity (why am I suddenly obsessed with productivity? Unhealthy). Not only do songs that I'm happy with emerge on this terrace - ideas and plans for the video do too. We had a short get together here with Maurizio yesterday regarding the videoshoot. He has a location in mind for the party bit of the video. We're going to check it out very soon!

Last night Marco and I went over to Piazza San Francesco. A pretty piazza, that's obviously very well known by everyone here as the place was packed. Lovely atmosphere and delicious food at Antica Focacceria. Check out Marco looking relaxed and satisfied. :-)

P.S. Did I mention the rooftop's great for reading as well? Haruki Murakami's the word.

Just lazing around...

Getting things done isn't easy when there's so much to enjoy and the heat is getting to you. It did get to me today, in a good way. It felt absolutely wrong to do anything that didn't involve just lazing around and I wasn't going to fight nature. So I went into a state of extreme relaxation. The giant, impressive trees in Giardano Inglese turned out to be the perfect place to read, as well as a nice hiding place from the sun. Back in the apartment I fell on the bed and a few hours later I found out that siësta's are quite hard to come back from. Might not do that again. But I'm awake now and eager to start and complete the mission...the 2nd song.

A song a day

After a few days of simply relaxing, I've started to add some work to the game. My goal is to write one song a day while I'm here. Hell no, just writing down or recording basic ideas does not count! Finish what you start, is my mantra. Not always easy, but I've learned that it works for me. A mix of inspiration and discipline has led to the first song this morning. I quite like it...I think. Well, let's see about that tomorrow. Anyway I like sitting and writing on the terrace (amidst the plants that I'm taking care of religiously. Sure hope they won't die, it's been incredibly hot).

It's off to the railway station for a trip to Cefalu now! Cheers!

The daily walk

Our daily walk from Via Dante to Teatro Politeama, from where we walk some more...Feels good!

Love's the word

I've been trying to take nice pictures but I turn out to be technologically challenged. Think: camera battery charger left at home and general clumsiness. But hey, nothing's stopping a girl with an iPhone and an Internet connection.

Love's the word at Villa Filippina where we saw a live performance by Angelo Duro last night. Cabaret, in Italian of course, which we don't speak. I admire his powerful voice and band. Another discovery after a beachy afternoon in Mondello, was that one can actually spend all their money on booze here - should they want to - as food is often included.

Can't wait to see what more Palermo has to offer, but I bet it rocks.

The Sicily Experience

Hello, hello! Welcome to this page that I'm going to use to keep track of our time in Sicily. A while back I was here with friends for only a few days and felt that this island would be the perfect place for writing songs and more importantly, have an incredibly cool time! So I booked the plane tickets, an apartment in the hub (or what I believed is the hub) of Palermo and started to look forward to the trip obsessively. Now that we're here - we arrived August 11th - I can say it feels very good. This city is crazy, busy, beautiful. The apartment is great, full of books and cd's (thank you, Maurizio at VisitPalermo.it).

I'll be posting pics and bits about our time here, as well as updates on the songs and the music video we're going to shoot here. More about that soon. Now back to having coffee on the sunny roof top...

Cheers!