Last post from Iceland..

Today is my last day here in Iceland. There are so many things I'm going to miss all over again, and so many things I meant to do but there just wasn't time for... It's a beautiful sunny day today, and this summer has just been incredible! I went for one last trip out of town on sunday.. to where the Icelandic forest videos were taken, and got to relax a little :) Now I'm getting everything sort of into one place so I don't leave anything behind, and getting ready for the concert in Denmark.

Very happy with the tour and the final concert, here are some photos from the night.. Taken by Sigurdur (thank you) 
The dress was made for me by STARKILLER - an awesome Icelandic label..





Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but since you can see it so well in the pics; My guitar strap is made from catfish.. by Gustadesign

and there is a review of the final concert here..

Bye for now :) next post will either be from Denmark, Singapore or New Zealand.. xox

Picking Berries in Iceland.. and not really naked..

The tour is now officially over.. although the last concert is tomorrow night in the capital - Reykjavik..  I have to share with you a couple of photos (thank you to Guðmundur Heiðar Gunnarsson, who took them, in Ísafjörður)

This one here below made me think of a certain scene in Forest Gump.. because it looks like I'm playing naked.. (I'm not really.. you can see in the second picture)




I've been writing a lot on this tour, and have started and finished a few songs while backstage before a concert.. there's a mention of the concert in Hólmavík here... I wrote a song upstairs(backstage), finished it five minutes before the concert, then came downstairs and played it for the first time live.. :)

  Today I played at Poppland on Iceland radio Rás 2.. you can read about it here.. and should be able to listen to it in a few hours online.. it's Poppland at 15.00pm.

Tickets for the final concert are available online here at midi.is.. It will be at Domo - Þingholtsstræti 5, 101 Rvk and starts 9pm

And on friday I'll be playing in Denmark! WIll be my first visit there too.. ''Concert in Denmark - Friday 5th September @ Cafe Blasen. 9pm start  **Cafe Blasen is located @ Nørregade 6 basement, 1165 Copenhagen C. ''

Picked lots and lots of berries in Ísafjörður..Six boxes full! -five of them with blueberries.. yum! and one jam has been made (although I must admit not by me..) But instead of using sugar (there is soooo much sugar in jam..) used boiled and mashed dates! and it tastes wonderful! Here's a short berry-video blog..

Only six more nights to sleep in Iceland.. I keep saying and it's so true, this time has just gone by so fast!

The West Fjords

It's been a wonderful couple of days ! (there I go again on the 'wonderful' but truly it has..) I'm currently in Ísafjörður, the concert this evening is a 40 minute drive away so I now have just a little time to relax and write this.. I visited the museum of Icelandic sorcery and witchcraft, in Hólmavík yesterday and took some pictures..

To scare your enemy: carve this symbol into a piece of oak, and throw it at his/her feet..

To win over a woman/girl: put this symbol on a piece of pigs gut using blood from your left nipple, and make her sleep on it for one night. You won't need to ask her after that..

Uppvakningur (the Icelandic version of a zombie..)

the beautiful Icelandic Raven..

The keeper of the Museum.. 

This verse was on the wall, it's the Executioner's verse.. and here below is the translation (warning.. this is nasty..)

from the 17th century:

Beat and castrate, bite and skin,
blind and scratch and flog them.
Burn alive and exile men,
dismember and hang them.

I higly recommend you visit this place if you're travelling in Iceland. There is also an exhibition on called the Sorcerer's cottage.. I took a little video there that you can see here below..


Stayed at a wonderful old farm last night, built around 1920, and only a 20 minute drive from where the concert was.. and every inch of earth here is covered in berries! blueberries and crow-berries (krækiber) and I was given some homemade blueberry jam after the concert! and then some crowberry juice from the farm :) I'm going to pick some berries on the way home on sunday (that is, of course, after watching the game.. Iceland is in the 2008 olympic finals in handball.. playing france for the gold..)

North Iceland.. and over using the word wonderful...

I'm back in town again for two nights and then off to the West Fjords for the last part of the tour. Last week I played three concerts in North Iceland, at Sauðárkrókur, Akureyri and Dalvík. At Akureyri I played at the Green hat -græni hatturinn (which is also the name of a very famous Icelandic children's book) and did a short video there. It's a lovely venue and we had a great night there.. On saturday at Dalvík I played in the Church 'Dalvíkurkirkja'  which was built in the 50's and has recently been done up, and is a very beautiful building.

I also heard that the poem 'Dalakofinn' which I sometimes sing was written in a little hut nearby..(it's a poem that was made into two different melodies as an Icelandic folk song, I sing the version my grandmother used to sing to my dad and his 12 siblings)

Only 16 days left in Iceland and time is flying by, there will be a concert in Reykjavik at the end of the tour (around the 29th) which will be announced here in the next couple of days. I've not managed to catch up with everyone yet and it's looking like it's going to be quite hectic next week.. and I keep thinking there's a month to go... madness :)

But I get to skip the winter and hop straight into spring in New Zealand. I'll be playing at the Alexandra blossom festival at the end of September, then at Southern Amp in Christchurch, and at the Nut point gallery in November.. looking forward to another beautiful summer :)

Here is a little article in the West fjords news site bb.is..

and here's the video from the green hat: (will do some more in the west fjords, hope to show you the Icelandic horse.. ;) )

Half way..

The tour is now half way through, another six concerts to go and one in Reykjavik before I go... Three in a row at the end of this week in North Iceland, Sauðárkrókur, Akureyri and Dalvík.. where I heard there's the museum of magic! (all the old viking magic) which I really want to go and see..

Did an interview with Rúnar at Bylgjan this week, which you can listen to here, and I played 'The day before' live.

Then played at Bæjarbíó in Hafnarfjörður last friday. Instead of writing about it, here's a very quick video blog from there:

Record braking weather..

Have now been in Iceland for a month, and will be for just over a month longer.. It's been so wonderful and it's so nice to see everyone again. Time is flying by so fast and I'm so happy that the coldest bit of winter will be over when I get back to New Zealand. The weather has just been incredible, an all time high the day before yesterday when it reached 27 degrees! (celcius) and I found myself (for the first time ever - in Iceland) taking shelter in the shade!

The trip to East Iceland (Djúpivogur and Egilsstaðir) was wonderful.. Ended up having a spontaneous camping holiday with the family by the Lagarfljót (of which there is the story of the Lagarfljót Wyrm: ... A worm/dragon living in the Lagarfljót, near Egilsstaðir, Iceland. ... The unnamed dragon (referred to by the Saxon draca and wyrm) defeated by Beowulf ... And having packed only for two nights, ended up being away for 6 :) 

Here are some photos taken on the drive..



This one is my favourite (below) the ''one lane bridge but you can't see if a car's coming''


Yesterday was another stunning sunny one, and stayed warm all through the night.. I did an interview on the Iceland News program Kastljós, which you can watch online by clicking here.. It was live, and was recorded at 8pm lastnight in central Reykjavík.. in the evening sunshine...

Tonight I play at Draugasetrið á Stokkseyri.. which is the Ghost centre... and another one of my favourite places to play... I'll post some video and pics from there soon...