news from the midwest tour

We’ve been having a great tour out here so far. Amazing attendance and wonderful CD buying people. Thank you ALL so much!

The tour started out great with our show in Des Moines. T Bone came down from Blues wax and we had a fun night with our buddy Jeff Wagner and his pickled body parts collection!?

The next night was Lincoln Gay Pride. It was so much fun! The University of Nebraska at Lincoln was the first college to offer Gay and Lesbian studies as a major. Amazing that this happened in Lincoln, birthplace of Teena Brandon 1972-1993, the heroine of the movie Boys Don’t Cry, who was brutally murdered in nearby Falls City. All of my Lincoln friends were there, Jan, Rick, Gayle, Kara and Kelly, and I made a bunch of new friends and saw a fabulous singer songwriter, misty odell; http://www.mistysmusic.com/ It was a beautiful day in the sunshine with children, puppies and drag queens in full attendance. I hung out until the wee hours at the Panic Bar with my pals and met some really interesting people. Len, is a 70 year old farmer and peace activist who had to go home early to tend to his new baby calf and Marc Schroll who is a sci fi writer. He writes books about alien life. I asked him if he had A) ever been abducted and B) ever had an anal probe. His answers were no and yes. Very interesting!

The next two nights were at the Zoo Bar, the famous blues club of Lincoln. I have been playing the Zoo since 1990 and its always a great time. Lady Bianca came down to see us, http://www.ladybianca.com/She’s an awesome singer and pianist from Oakland, Ca who happened to be on tour at the same time. We had so much fun with our normal wild crowd down at the Zoo. Lincoln is still my favorite city in the Midwest.

After the show that night, I ate a gyro and ended up having a horrible gall bladder attack that landed me in the Emergency Room. I was surprised when the intake worker said “Hey, aren’t you Candye Kane? I have all your records! I’m a big fan!” She came and asked for my autograph while I was laying on a gurney with an IV in my arm! She was funny but I can imagine how irritated “real” stars must get if they get bothered by fans even when they are in severe pain like I was. Soon, they gave me the morphine and my pain was a distant memory but I still felt like crap two nights later in Springfield, Illinois where I played with Dwayne Burnside from Memphis. Dwayne is quite the ladies man and I dug his grill.

Kansas City: On the 70 freeway, we saw a sign for the Testicle festival in Olean Missouri. I am dying to play this festival! I will post the picture from the billboard. I am sure it’s really a rocky mountain oyster festival but it would be great to get a t-shirt from there, at least. If anyone knows how to get me booked onto this festival, please let me know.

The show in KC was rockin! Had a packed show at Knuckleheads and I heard that the kids from the new Blues Caravan were coming down. (That’s the tour I did last year with Sue Foley and Ana Popovic.) I don’t think Ian Parker, Ainsley Lister and Erja Luitenen showed up but Little Rachel did and we had a grand ol’ time. I want to apologize to my KC fans for doing half the show sitting down. I guess I was still weaker from the ER visit than I thought or maybe all the mosquito spray I had on was poisoning me, but I thought I would pass out onstage! The audience was sweet and seemed to understand. The KC blues festival was going on and so I was real happy to have such a big crowd. My friend Janniva Magness was playing at the festival the next night. Don’t know who I have to sleep with to get on that festival but I sure would love to play it!

Last night was Sioux City, Iowa at the Chesterfield. Brent and Paula used to have the Attic across the river and their new venue is just amazing. Hung out with Rob the great sound man and met cutie pie’s Mick, the bartender and Dennis who helped sell cds for me. We had a young pianist, Chris Bueller sit in from Omaha. He plays in a band from Omaha, called the Shakey Boys. They were quite good. Chris is just 20 years old and he prefers organ. But I hope he works on his left hand because he really needs to learn to boogie woogie. Then maybe I will take him on the road.

Financially, the tour has gone better than expected, THANK GODDESS. Gas prices are lower than I budgeted. (3$ instead of 4$) But we are only half way through. We still have to go to Milwaukee, Ann Arbor, Angola, Columbus and Cleveland before we end up back at home next week.

I am feeling a lot better since my bout with my gall bladder. I am modifying my diet and am trying to become a vegetarian. I am now committed to avoiding foods that had fur. I think this is a positive step towards better health for me. I don’t ever want that kind of pain again. I am much better but Evan is sick with bronchitis right now and that must be hard to play drums when you’re hacking up science projects; but like mother like son - that boy is a trouper.

Back on the home front, my house is all rebuilt after the fire and it doesn’t smell like smoke at all! I am really looking forward to getting back home and having some time on my beach this summer. I am also very proud of my youngest son Tommy. He just made the honor roll and got a special award for Math and Leadership. He will attend a Berklee School of Music workshop in Fullerton this summer and hopefully attend Berklee in the fall of ’07. He is home alone so much. It is a real testament to his dedication and determination that he made the honor roll. He is one smart and talented cookie. Check out his band skanktuary on my top 8 friends on myspace.

That’s all for now. Thanks to all of you who spend your hard earned money to see us! We just added a bay area gig on July 7th at the Center for Sex and Culture. www.sexandculture.org just before our Reno Show on July 8.
Please come down and support this wonderful center funded by good vibrations and my friends Carol Queen, Robert Lawrence and Scarlot Harlot.
Happiest of birthdays to all my Gemini and Cancer friends this month.
Love and Kisses,
Candye Kane in Milwaukee