lobelia.net

Right, with no advance notice at all, Steve and I have a new live EP available. It’s a pre-release of some of the tracks that will be on our live album, coming out towards the middle of next year, and features three bass ‘n’ voice duo tunes and two solo tunes of Steve’s. We weren’t planning on making any of these tunes available to the public but had so many requests for it that we decided to make the promo copies available at a discounted price. These went on sale to the street team a few days ago and then to you today and they’re almost 1/3 gone…so don’t wait around! Track list is -

Happy (7:34)
MMFSOG (4:09)
I’m Lost (5:11)
Rain (9:14)
Jimmy James (6:51)

If you haven’t seen us live before….all these tracks are just one bass and vocal…looping and layering to created a lush soundscape and a completely unique and beautiful sound.

Steve says the version of MMFSOG is by far the best take of that tune he’s ever recorded, and the version of Jimmy James is an all-fretless one. The tracks were all recorded live at Power Base Studio in Nebraska earlier in the year.

“So how do we get one of these lovely very limited edition discs?” I hear you cry… All you have to do is send £5 via paypal or nochex, which includes WORLDWIDE POSTAGE AND PACKING. (send it to steve[at]steve[dash]lawson[dot]co[dot]uk please)

What’s more, if you buy this disc now, it’ll save you £2 when the album comes out.

The CD itself is a CDR with all the info printed on the disc, and comes in a pretty plastic clam-shell case, like these -

To make it easy, here’s a paypal button which goes straight to the ‘pay Steve £5 for our delicious new CD’ page -

and in the player below, you can listen to the first track from it - ‘Happy’. It’s fab! :o)

Enjoy…

Hi there Peeps!

It’s been a while I know but I’ve been busy busy! We’ve just returned from another lovely time in continental Europe where we played some great gigs in Kent, Geneva and Amsterdam. Good times with fantastic lovelies! We drove this time (so much for carbon offsetting)…taking the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk and then trust the satnavlady (SNL) to direct us (avoiding toll roads) through France, Belgium and on to Holland. The trip from Amsterdam to Geneva was a little less smooth and included one of most hideous cities I’ve ever seen in Belgium (can’t remember the name, I think I’ve blocked it from my memory)…a wild with hunger goose-chase for veggie food in France….and SNL directing us through the ice covered roads of the Jura where we almost died a dozen times. Having avoided death we returned to the UK, finally giving in and allowing SNL to use the toll roads for part of the trip home.

So, I’m not spending much time on myspace these days…and am not updating my shows on there due to the clunky interface that only works half of the time. So I hope that you’ll come and join me elsewhere! Here are some links to the places I’m spending time these days.

Ning.com (create your own social networking site for almost anything)
The Lobelia Page of Sugary Goodness
I’ve just started a page here but it seems pretty cool. I heard about it from the lovely Pete Yorn so go visit him and become a member of his network too.

Lobelia on Reverb Nation.
if you are a musician and not a member of RN yet….fill yer boots man! The widgets alone are worth it! I use them from my regular site now and love love love them.

For facebook users.
Lobelia Facebook Band Page
This is clunky so far…but I’m sure it will be improved in the near future. You can become a fan and be privy to new info about tour dates, new songs and releases ect.

Lastly…Steve Lawson and I are working on a new site together for our combined project and in anticipation of the release of our new live CD which is….
www.steveandlobelia.net
There’s nothing there quite yet…but look for it in the near future.

Well, I guess we’ve come to the end of another blog posting but due to the fact that I almost never blog anymore…I feel I should leave you with a little something extra. Hmmmmm. Words of wisdom? Nah, I’d have to wake Steve up for that. Recipes that utilize bits of old shoelaces? Nah, that’s so in these days. How about crazy photos that one should be embarrassed to show around? YEAH! Enjoy.

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Lo. does Babs

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Steve impersonating a gnome

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Pudding!!!!

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I am controlling your mind!! Put down the computer and draw me a picture of kittens in drag!!!

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

So, I haven’t had much time for writing since I’ve been here in Belize….the weather has been so beautiful that I’ve spent all my time in the water, getting drunk with my parents…(just once..but jeez…they’re crazy!) travelling around by car (it takes forever to get anywhere out here as most all the roads are dirt ones) playing my guitar (I brought Walter), wearing the same clothes over and over again borrowed from my Mother and Father (they lost our luggage and we didn’t get it for 3 days together) which in my tall buxom stature and the new short haircut made onlookers question my sexuality, and protecting my overly white complection against the evil rays of the hot hot sun. It’s a constant battle I tell you….but worth it. (the sun protection…not the sexuality issue)

Anyway, it’s a bit rainy today so I’m inside waiting for Mr. Sun so I can join the marine life and frolic happily in the sky blue water. I’ve never felt so relxed as when I’m out there letting the waves lift and toss me…I love feeling so small…a tiny speck in the great blue ocean. Falling asleep with the sound of the waves crashing and the birds and frogs..there’s nothing like it. I can totally understand the reason why my parents took the huge risk to come here. It’s not easy to leave everything you know, with what little money you have and risk it all on a dream. They’re so amazing. They make a great addition to Belize and the people here love them.

The view from the porch of my parent’s house

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The neighbor’s Palapa

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Driftood

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Downtown Dangriga

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The Dangriga Market….(Marvin)

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Katee the Hunter with Mr. Crab

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My Mum and Me drunk on Carribean rum!

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So my lovelies, I miss you all very much but will return very soon and hopefully in a much better mood than I have been of late. It looks like Mr. Sun has reappeared and I’m off to frolic in the great sea. Wish I could share it with everyone…it’d be much more fun with all those I love here, smiling and happy…relaxing with me. Till soon!

xoxoxoLo.

Hi there! I’ve been back from Europe for quite a while now and trying to get this post going…but I just haven’t felt that inpired. It may have had something to do with the 600 emails waiting for me when I got back…or about a billion other little excuses I could make to mask the fact that I’m feeling lazy and uninspired.

Sooooooooooooo. My first trip to Paris was pretty amazing. Besides the temperature being akin to the fires of hell, it was an overwhelmingly big city filled with an amazing amount of culture. Yep. Culture out the wazoo, yin-yang, and other synonymic orifices. Being a skeptic myself…I figured all this hype about French food was, well…..hype. I couldn’t have been more wrong! The food was superb! The desserts even better! The one thing I’d have to complain about was the lack of vegetarian choices to be found….especially in Nantes. You ask for a vegetable plate and they bring you asparagus wrapped in bacon. (I’m already hearing the choruses of “mmmmmmmmm bacon!”) But I guess that’s something you’ve gotta expect when you travel to France. That’s when you break out the granola that no self respecting, tree huggin‘ vegetarian freak leaves home without. I personally had 14 of those suckers in my backpack. Almond or Peanut Butter?

We left Paris after only a few days. During our time there we did some touristy things….climbed the 236 steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe in 42 degree temps, the Louvre (my favorite), The Notre Dame Basilica where I lit another candle for Corey, le Chateau de Versailles and spent the last day hanging out at the Luxembourg Gardens at my request for a break from touristy shite. Eyes burning and red from all the smog……we were happy to be going somewhere with slightly fresher air. On the train back from Versailles….a Hispanic man with mic and amp in hand stepped onto our train and began to serenade us with his rendition of Feelings.

Off to Nantes we were. We waited for around an hour for a cab at the train station. I made a joke about it there only being 3 cabs in the whole town. Turns out I was right. It was Sunday explained the driver and 3 cabs for 400,00 people was ample, no?

Nantes is a great city. Mostly because all the touristy shit was under construction! Yippeee! Liberated from that…I was free to wander around at my leisure. I found this really cool covered passage called the Passage Pommeraye with a bunch of cool shops. Seems though…there was a man standing slightly underneath the steps looking at panties as all the girls in skirts…(myself included) climbed the passage stairs. When I caught him looking…he ran away. Too bad….I was going to run back down the stairs just to give him an extra thrill. (audible gasp from conservative blog readers) Oh hush! Like y’all don’t like to show your panties to complete strangers! Actually, didn’t Brittney Spears utter that exact same phrase during her last interview?

All in all it was a really great trip. World Cup madness made it even more interesting. There was glass breaking and Allez les Bleus! everywhere. Fireworks ablaze and some question if the abandoned building next to our hotel had caught fire. The fire trucks came and went with no hose to be seen….so I guess it was finally safe to sleep. I’ll shut up now and post some pics. Hope you enjoy!

Arc de Triomphe (random useless factoid: On July 2, 1998, the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier was extinguished when a drunk mexican national soccer fan urinated on it.)

Artsy photo of dizzying steps on the way down.

Basilica de Notre Dame

From the inside.

Ouch. I’ll leave this one to Tim.

Aww. Who knew. Nice Parisian signage. Much kinder than Stay off the fucking grass you North American imbecile.

The Eiffel Tower

The Louvre

Man soon to be aflame and the blurry crowd who loved him.

Chateau Versailles mystery photo.

Passage de Pommeraye. Underpants central.

Nantes Botanical Gardens

Within minutes, thousands had arrived in front of Theatre Gaumont to celebrate France’s victory over Portugal. A few minutes later the fire trucks came. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!