Iceland Airwaves Festival

This year has been packed: record-release stuff, touring non-stop in this country, Europe on our own, then with The New Pornographers, then back home for a tour, then selling our house, or trying to, then going back to England. By far, Iceland was the best stop we've made. Have you heard of the Blue Lagoon? I believe it is the fountain of youth. It's a giant hot springs with healing blue-green algae and possibly radioactive water. We felt younger after being in it. Rumor has it that Lou Reed was here a couple of weeks ago. Supposedly he hates sight-seeing and only wants to stay in his hotel when on tour. After being coaxed into visiting the blue lagoon, he apparently got up every single morning he was there and took a dip in the world's biggest bath tub. It is seriously addictive.

England Tour with We Are Scientists

Last night we tried to give Magnolia a proper Halloween in a London airport hotel. She wanted to be a tiger, and she wanted me to be the mommy tiger. So, I brought the costumes and whisker make-up and got excited with her as we paraded around the hotel lobby as the only Halloweeners. Then we all decided to take a bus ride to an indoor shopping area. Magnolia managed to get a few packs of gummy bears trick-or-treating the hotel staff when we got home.

The next morning, I woke up suddenly and reached for the phone. Then I realized it was not the phone making all the insanely loud beeping. Perhaps it was the bathroom light? So I ran for that. I didn't want our very tired toddler to wake up. Hitting every button in the room, it dawned on me that it was, in fact, the hotel smoke alarm. I opened the door to the hallway with one eye still closed and saw this sweaty little bellboy running down the hall. He nearly pulled me out of the room, shouting, "Fire!"

I mumbled, "Let me get my baby." He shouted back, "Hand me the baby! Let's go!" Um, no. She was awake at this point and I didn't need him to make things worse by carrying her. She's scared of strange men. So am I. We headed downstairs in our pjs only to find out that it was, as I expected, a false alarm. The showers apparently set off the smoke alarms due to too much steam or something. I also realized at this point, standing there in my black boots and pajamas (sans bra) that I had the flu. Throughout the ordeal, Jason was busy getting the RV. Suzi, our nanny, was downstairs waiting for the amps and organ to be delievered to the front desk. Thankfully, some genius parent thought to add a toddler gym to the hotel lobby here. I can blow my nose in peace and save my singing voice for tonight while Magnolia plays on the gym mats and makes faces in the funhouse mirror.

And so begins our fourth overseas tour this year. We promised each other last time that we wouldn't stand for the chaos associated with U.K. touring this time around. But, hey, here we are again.

See this post in its original format here.