Not sure who is waiting or wanting news … optimistically there are some of you? I hope you will wait just a week longer while I go to Sappyfest and have fun watching super talented bands and hanging with sweet Sackville people and eating the falafel wrap at Bridge Street Cafe every day.

Will you?

See you in August!

http://tinyurl.com/bronzecrumbs

or:

http://www.championcityrecords.com/artists/bronzeleaf/releases/bronzeleaf_breadcrumbs.html

The whole thing will download now, all at once, efficiently and painlessly. None of this song-by-song business.

In other news, June and July-til-now have been astoundingly fun. Lots to report. Planning a new-post-every-day barrage later this week, so getcher reading glasses out and give em a good wipe-down.

Edmonton, Edmonton, Edmonton. You are my blood and bones, and I love you to tiny, tiny pieces.

First, VUE Weekly wrote some really lovely words about Bread Crumbs, and some more really lovely words about last Thursday’s enchanted evening. In the spirit of jumping around, I will talk more about that in a second.

Next, an oven-fresh tour tale: shortly after we rolled into Montreal on May 12, we met up with Mitch Fillion of Southern Souls, who has amassed a really awesome back-videologue of some of Canada’s most talented bands. We brainstormed potential filming spots, then footstormed St. Laurent, instruments in hand, to test our ideas. One woman thought we were in desperate need of a show, and sympathetically pointed us to a nearby bar. (Someday I’d like to plan a tour in which every show is hooked up the day of, just like this.) We eventually found a nifty alleyway (does Montreal have any other kind?) and played a spontaneous version of White Noise, permeated by a lot of just that.

Can’t seem to embed the result, but you can see it if you’d be so kind as to click here.

On a side note, Montreal (I am there now, again) has really, really good noises. Living city noises. People sing to themselves. I’ve passed by four singing people in the past day and a half.

Last last thing, for the moment: The album release show (#2) last Thursday was everything I’d hoped it would be. Eric Cheng’s baby shower was held in the stately splendour of Rutherford House on the University of Alberta campus. It was my first real night out after getting back from tour, and to have such a sparkling group of friends and loves in one gorgeous place made glowing happen in my bones. Sharing the night with Jom Comyn and Giraffedactyl was an honour. Jim and Megan are two of the most gifted and generous people around, and their music reflects their awesomeness.

Rico Moran was behind the lens that night, and did a splendid job of capturing magic moments:

I can’t imagine a better last Edmonton solo show. Thanks to all who were there, or wanted to be.

Auld Kirk, Thessalon, Ontario:

We arrived to discover a delicious home-cooked potluck meal (including a tasty spice cake made with tomato soup) and the guts of an ancient piano, which made gorgeous ghost-noises. The owner, Tom, and the locals took us on a walkabout afterwards. A beautiful marina, distant salt piles, rocks as smooth as playground slides.

Next, a friend-filled stopover in Toronto. We watched a documentary about Japanese noise musicians, and treated ourselves to the unequalled late-night entertainment of Vesta Lunch:

We rolled into London through heavy, heavy rain, and played the Black Shire Pub with Kate & Moxy and Jennifer South. Crashed with a happily rediscovered old friend, whose tea and talks warmed us.

En route to Saint Catherines, we stopped at Las V Niagara Falls. You know how you can see a place or landmark with so much weight attached to it–stories, histories, honeymoons–on tv or in movies, and then it feels almost two-dimensional in real life by comparison? Niagara Falls sounded like someone left the faucet on in the other room. The best thing about it was the graveyard of unretrievables just below the railing, before the water:

Pine Needle People of Saint Catherines threw us a fun, hangouts-filled house show that night in their brand-new digs. Did it up old school: broke a wine bottle, talked hockey til 4 AM, draped ourselves over armchairs and slept in our clothes.

The Spill, Peterborough:

We’ve had a winning streak of awesomely old buildings, sights for sore Edmonton eyes. This building had its first life as a confectionery and bakery. Filigreed ceilings and creaky dark wood floor. Sweet sets from The Charming Ruins and Greg Smith Sounds (who you see in the photo above), an unintentonal theme of echoey pedal tendrils, a rad hospitality room, and vicious hockey fights on 8-bit Nintendo (Eric won) made us a very happy band.

More to follow…