Leesa's Blog

2008-01-12T05:32:00.000+04:00

Long time no blog....
Well I've just been looking over the website to see what needs updating and realised it's been ages since I've written anything here... So today's the day!
There's so much to try and catch up on, but I think maybe I'll skip to the now and the up and coming while it's fresh in the ole mind!
Julz and I are gearing up for another road trip... this time around Australia! We've been given an awesome camper van for almost 8 weeks to tour around the country, play gigs and write some of our interesting travel stories on the sponsors web site (http://www.worldnomads.com/) and we couldn't be happier with the situation. We'll be World Nomad Ambassadors (the very official title that comes with the van) from Feb 13 til we eventually drop the van off in Darwin on April 4. And we're going to be working it hard... so far our itinerary goes something like this:
Sydney - Adelaide - Perth - Broome - Darwin, with a lot of towns and gigs in between.
We're back in Broome for a couple of weeks worth of shows in March and this time we're armed with transport and camping facilities so we'll see how much fun we can have. We'll have the fabulous Trace on Bass with us for that stint as well... oooooooooohhhh the fun times ahead!
We're dedicating the tour to the launch of the Hussy Hicks first album... providing of course that we get it all finished in time! I have faith...
On top of all that we're making some pretty serious plans for our o/s trips, we've been invited to perform at the Beijing Midi Festival in China as well as the Sarzarna International Acoustic Guitar Meeting in Italy which will both be highlights and we're throwing together a string of shows throughout China and Europe to go along with those dates. We're also planning to head back to Dubai to play some shows and visit my big sister who is still living there. and of course no Hussy trip would be complete without a stint in the US of A. To all our friends over there - look out coz we're on our way!
So all this means a lot of excitement, a lot of driving, a lot of playing music, a whole bunch of new places to discover, and probably a lot of being broke after paying for our musical gypsy lifestyle. And it's right up my alley! Woo Hoo!!!!!

2007-03-03T12:32:00.000+04:00

Ain't life crazy... the past months have been an absolute roller coaster ride, but the wise believe that you cant appreciate the ups without the downs... I'll go with that to. I've been back in Australia for 6 months now, the longest stint I've done since I was 21 - that's almost 5 years... and it's been good to plant my feet in the ground, no matter how high my head has been in the clouds! I've been writing a lot, I think that's what you're supposed to do when you go through deep depression... you know, make the most out of those dire emotions... I've been singing a lot to, kind of exploring myself musically which I hope to be able to share with everyone at some stage. At the moment I'm sitting in my lounge room, alone... yesterday I sent my loved ones off to Dubai to visit my sis, I'll be heading over in two weeks as well, but for now I've got a very quiet house, an reasonable internet connection and a glass of wine... thus the blog!
I've not got a great deal of wisdom to impart, so I think this'll be reasonably short and sweet but if I did have a few lines on which to make a poignant remark, I think I would go with... It's not how you feel right now, it's about how you look upon the emotions when you are standing outside your self, and how much you allow yourself to learn... hmm... nah, that wasn't nearly as wise as I had intended...
Oh well, I still have a very full heart, the most beautiful friends to lean on and a big smile on my face... well, most of the time! Xx

2006-08-10T19:54:00.000+04:00

Wow, what an amazing month we've had... the random tour around the states has been such an incredible experience and we've had the opportunity to now only play some amazingly fun gigs but also to meet some incredible people and experience life in a whole new way. I'm back in New York now, chilling out for a couple of days before our last 2 gigs and then our flight to London. Just watching CNN right now, and it looks like the flight will be no fun at all with this latest scare. No hand lugguage... boring! Anyway, we've managed to pick up a bunch of extra gigs along the way, the Plateau festival in New Jersey was an amazing little gem that we stumbled upon... a bunch of cool people with a camp ground and a stage and big fat bundles of love surrounding it all. And we managed to find a Meshell N'degeocello gig in NYC which was extraordinary, we stood about 6 feet away from the band along with the 60 or so others lucky enough to be witness to the groove fest. Texas was awesome to, played shows in Houston and San Antonio and spent our night off jamming with the blues cats in Austin. Billions of good memories and the promise of more good times when we next make the pilgrimmage. Thanks so much to everyone who has made our month incredible, we will be sending you love from wherever we are and cant wait till next time. Xx

2006-07-28T21:17:00.000+04:00

Atlanta...
Well we've hit Atlanta and are gearing up for our gig with Halcyon tonight. Really looking forward to meeting all the crew here in Georgia... Julz and I stayed with some friends of mine from the cruise ship days last night and had a big ole IHOP breakfast this morning so it will take us a good few hours to get over that! The river house was tonnes of fun, got heaps of tracks down with Kristy Lee, ate lots more food and did a fair amount of swimming and lounging to... just for good measure. Getting ready for our next bout of driving tomorrow - Nashville then over to Texas and we might be joined by our Aussie mate Lecia - www.leciamusic.com.au, will be a blast! anyway, not to much to report... so lots a love till next time!
L Xx

2006-07-24T20:01:00.002+04:00

Tallehassee Rocks!
Ha... we had soooooooooo much fun at Down Below, Katie from WomenFolk put on an amazing night and all the crew that came to see the show were wonderful. Thanks to Sheila and Kelly who bought us dinner, Nikki who was our self appointed "beer bitch", Jessica for the Austin gig, Kathleen and Mary for the amazing effort of making it to Talle in the first place, the brunch gals and everyone else who came out to support us. We're back in Mobile now about to head out to the river house for a few days of recording with Krisy Lee, but I should get my hands on some of the photos from Down Below soon and will put them up on the web site and myspace soon as possible. I also have some video footage of Kristy Lee and Julz playing at the AIDS benefit in Huntsville on Friday night which I'll whack up soon as well. Julz has just woken up and come in to share her strange dreams with me... 12 piece bands with women dressed like russian dolls etc etc... Anyway, not much else to report so I'll send out one more big fat thanks to all the Talle crew and check in from the river house! Xx

2006-07-22T18:16:00.000+04:00

The past week has been interesting to say the least. We've played at an anarchist party with a bunch of punk kids, driven around 2000 miles to hang out with the Alabama gals to sing songs, shoot guns and play with snakes. Minnesota was a blast, but I think I've got to catch you guys up a bit... we chilled out in Thomas for an extra day and then drove to some town in Indiana, slept in the van and then drove on to Chicago. It is well and truely summer here in the states, and Chicago put on an amazing day for us. We wandered around the park, along the lakeside and got a little thirsty with all the activity, so we wandered into the yacht club and talked the lady at the front desk into letting us into the club as reciprical members of the Jebel Ali Sailing Club - Must've had something to do with the swager coz they let us in and we met some cool people who we had lunch and a few drinks with before making our way into the student part of town to experience some famous Chicago deep dish pizza and then settle in for another night in the van. Then we drove all the way to Winona, found the mississippi river and jumped on in for a swim/shower which was a welcome detour in an otherwise stinking hot day... we then went on up to the lodge where we met a bunch of the guys who were also involved in the gig, they call themselves "crusties" which may refer to the lack of bathing (which wasn't much better on our end funnily enough) and possibly the chosen lifestyle of a poor gypsy. These guys based their lives of Jack Kerouaks "On the road" and were all living it for real. We also met a fellow aussie, Chris who had joined the Crusties and was playing a few obnoxious punk songs early in the gig. But they were a cool crew who were really into music and gave us loads of respect which was nice, by the end of the night we had a bunch of drunk, dreadlocked anarchists stomping down the lodge and so we made a quiet getaway and spent another night in the van. The next 2 days were pretty uneventfull... oh, except for the "throwed rolls"... Julz and I noticed a billboard advertising throwed rolls and were so intrigued that we had to stop and check it out. It turns out that they were in fact exactly what they said... hot bread rolls that get thrown around the restuarant to the most coordinated diners! It was loads of fun, we ate far to much but giggled the whole time, and then finally made it all the way to Mobile, Alabama in the Gulf Coast. We stayed with Kristy Lee who is one of the most incredible singers I've ever had the pleasure of listening to... truely incredible! and the Alabama crew thought it was well time we popped our gun tokin cherries so hit us up with some incredibly scary weapons and made us shoot them. We shot 3 different kinds of hand guns, and also managed to find time to play with the gun enthusiats pet snake, Jake. So now I'm sitting in a motel in Huntsville, AL after hanging out with Kristy Lee and Missy at a very cool charity gig. Tomorrow we are headed back down south to Tallahassee FL to play some more music and then onward from there...So thats about it... keep on rockin and I'll try get some new video footafe from all our adventures up on the website real soon. Much love, L Xx

2006-07-13T21:18:00.000+04:00

Well, here we are in the USA... right now sitting in what is possibly the worlds coolest coffehouse - the Purple Fiddle in Thomas, West Virginia. So I'm casually emailing, sipping on mountain coffee and looking out on the beautiful countryside as the rain sprinkles down on the window. Last night was our first US gig, it was a great night filled with music, great food, local wine and some awesome new friends. In fact we liked it so much that we're staying for another night to play a support set for fellow aussie band "The Greencards" a very cool bluegrass trio. So today we're going to get all touristy and go for a hike in the mountains and check out the Blackwater falls and all the cool stuff around Thomas, before we kick back for another fantastic Purple Fiddle night! Last night we had a bunch of kids at the gig and they drew some pictures of us on stage, so i'll scan them and put them up here.
So the US is treating us well so far... we've only had one park sleep, one speeding ticket and then a whole bunch of fun! Life is grand, love to all,
L Xx

2006-07-03T14:21:00.000+04:00

Home...
life is crazy sometimes... last week I found out that my folks have sold our farm, which is by far the most beautiful place I've ever known and something I thought would always be a staple in my life. I've been a blubbering mess, thinking that I'd never get to see my home again, feeling like someone's died trying ot think of a way to raise over a million bucks so I can buy it... Ha!
So I did the only thing a girl can do a situation like this and went shopping... no not really, not that kind of girl you see! I booked the first flight back to Brisbane, finished the Dubai gig a week early and next thing I knew I was kissing my mum and dad in the arrivals court of the Brisbane International Airport. So I have 8 days at home to see family and friends and say my goodbyes to the farm before I jump a flight to New York to meet Julz for our US tour.
The place looks incredible, and it's been a nice change coming into a north coast winter (mild for most, but chilly for all us beachgoers!) from a steamy Dubai summer.
I've yet to see any friends, just been soaking up all of the goodness that is home - the warm morning sun, the crisp winter air, the tastiest home grown citrus fruit on the planet and most importantly of all, my fluffy slippers!
Been adding more shows to the states tour every day and it's shaping up to be something great. Cant wait to see all the good people over there and play tonnes of music.
Anyway, I'm extremely busy laying on the sofa in front of the heater watching a bad JLo film, so I have to run. Love to all Xx

2006-06-23T15:04:00.000+04:00

The morning after an Australian world cup game is not pretty. It's actually funny how much I sound like a bogan looking through these blogs... I actually have never watched soccer (or football) ever before in my life, but it's really easy to throw yourself into anything that allows you to be stupidly over patriotic when you've been away from home for 5 months... not to mention the 4 years that I've been tripping around the globe for 90% of the time...
Anyway, it was a great night - our mate Sean flew in to join in on the festivities and I (being very well behaved) crashed out while the rest of the crew kept the party alive in our living room.
Today it's far to hot to do anything. It's even to hot to go sailing, so again I'm nerding out on the computer while everyone else is dregging around listening to music and talking about nothing at all.
I'm starting to work my list of things that I have learnt in from my time in Dubai. Here's a couple off the top of my head:
1. Round Table Pizza is the best pizza on the planet
2. Dont, under any circumstances, give your phone number to random arabic men... they WILL call... again and again and again.
3. ummm... I am blank, my head is not working very well today...
like I said, stay tuned... it'll get better.
Anyway, here's some pics from last night.

Rock'n'Roll Xx

2006-06-13T18:11:00.000+04:00

Well, I'm very happy to be counting down the days til we head to the states. We play our last Dubai gig at Aussie Legends on the 6th of July and then catch the first flight to JFK (possibly via London to exchange hugs with loved ones) and the fun really begins!!!! Still tossing up a quick cruise to hang with my good mate Baboon in the caribbean, dependant on funds... but would be lots of fun, and whats money anyway? Ha!
So we've been running around booking flights, adjusting timetables and of course watching ridiculous amounts of football. We watched the Australia/Japan game last night suitably decked out in aussie flag parafanalia and sreamed along with the best of them when we scored. Our gig times have all been adjusted to suit the World Cup so we've been playing in between games music which is kinda odd but a lot of fun.
Today we spent the morning in Diera getting some stuff from the music shops and eating awesome indian curries and then somehow found oursleves in a bizzare little beauty salon pricing manicures and henna designs. Kristy decided to go all out for the Morrocan Bath... now I've experienced a Turkish Scrub in Marmaris, which was interesting to say the least but I think Gentz outdid me on this one. Her treatment was executed by a large Indian lady who told Kristy to remove all her clothes and then did the same... so there's Gentz naked in a steam room being scrubbed down by a large naked Indian lady who left no surfaced un-exfoliated... very amusing. I'm booked in for one tomorrow! Anyway, much love to all, I'm off to watch the Brazil game!
L Xx

Still in Dubai...

2006-06-10T12:10:00.000+04:00

Hi friends, well Im slowly getting more and more web savy so I've decided to try this whole blogging thing... So we're still in Dubai, but getting ready to head off to the states in July. Our last few weeks have been interesting, we've spent loads of time in the studio, loads of time in our apartment geeking out on the computer, a fair whack of time playing gigs and the rest of the time has been spent making unanswered calls to engineers, producers and financers... sounds like fun huh? It's hard to get things done in this country, we've learned that through experience! But we have been making the most of it here, Julz and I have been learning to sail and yesterday took a 49er out with our fearless coach Chris. It's a wild but very fun boat to sail, we had our first spinnaker lesson and our first capsize!
Anyway, I'm going to immerse myself in world cup fever and get back on the phone...
Much love,
L Xx