it was a little tight in the back of the van... 

the view from my bedroom window, again. 

the view from my bedroom window, looking out into the courtyard of Santa Chiara. 

Smokey Joe's Pub, 24.02.05. 

the ski bunny (yours truly, decked out in borrowed gear from head to toe and free skis, courtesy of the President of the Association of Tourism in Cortina. Yee-ah). 

Cortina, Italy. Wow. 

ICOM hits the slopes! That's Gabriele, our new bassist, on the left. 

here we are, crammed in the van to head back home from cortina...this picture was taken just before we pulled out of the parking lot with the keys to the van (door different from engine) still sitting on top of the van...oops... 

milano, cortina, and a whole lot of snow

ciao!

a mini-tour can be considered a success if 5 of the following 6 things occur:
1. no one breaks a leg skiing.
2. the main paper in milano writes an article calling you "la stella del Texas."
3. the snow holds off long enough for you to make it north in good time.
4. you spend less than 200 euro on gas.
5. you get to stop at an autogrill no fewer than 10 times.
6. no one loses their keys.

we woke up wednesday morning to find castiglion fiorentino blanketed in snow. it was lovely - but unfortunately, it was lovely at the wrong time, because we needed to leave for milano. the autostrada was clean, but the small winding road that you take to get from cast. f.no to the autostrada was less so. after much waffling and weighing of consequences we decided to go for it - and long story short, we made it.

the drive to milano was beautiful - seeing the rolling hills of tuscany covered in thick white powder was a pleasant first for me. it would have been more pleasant if we weren't panicked about arriving to milan on time - but we did, and our show that night at nidaba theatre was tons of fun. massimo, the head honcho, was super kind and went out of his way to do publicity for us...as a result, there was an article in the corriere della sera, milano's main paper, called la stella del Texas about the band and I. I am trying to find the link but it is eluding me at the moment.

after our show we drove to bergamo to spend the night...we drove...we drove...we drove...and after circling bergamo for an hour, we landed at 4 am. yeesh. up and out the door at 10 am to get to cortina, which is where all the fun really began. we were treated like royalty at villa resy - if you ever make it to cortina, i highly recommend staying there and letting Lai and his fantastic staff take care of you. we played thursday night in the hotel pub, smokey joe's, to an audience of brits, australians, italians, and germans. possibly my most diverse crowd ever. and one of the kindest.

the next morning we hit the slopes, thanks to Lai, who made a few phone calls around town. i heard him on the phone with a few different folks, saying the words "grandissima cantante di Texas" and the next thing I knew we all had free ski passes and skis for the day. incredible! good thing to note, should you ever go skiing in the Dolomites - the green trails are actually the ungroomed trails - the most dangerous. blue, red, then black, then green is the order, in case you are keeping track of these things.

our drive home was long and uneventful, except for the keys that were left on top of the van as we pulled out of villa resy and that are now somewhere on a mountain bend. oh well.

autogrill count: 11. not bad for 3 days.
kilometres traveled: 1400.
euro spent on gas and autostrada: at least 140 euro.

AND we were traveling with a fuel-efficient type of van that uses gas (like propane) instead of petroleum. If we had been using benzina (like American gas, which most cars here use) it would have been double. Consider that 1400 km is about 850 miles. With my Civic, I spent $50 to go 850 miles. We spent 140 euro, which is close to $200. WOW.

anyhow, more shows this week. check back for photos, and go visit the new ICOM site when you have time - sign the guestbook and let Aaron know how much he rocks.
lots of love and pastries,
vanessa

ciao dearest ones,
not to whine, but it is really cold here. this is my first winter in italy and i have to say i prefer the spring/summer/autumn. then again, i prefer the other seasons just about anywhere (not just italy).

it snowed the other day. for me, snow is the only excuse for cold weather. i confess that i ran outside in my babbo natale jacket and played in the street for a few minutes. we are in the valley, so it really doesn't snow here much, but snow-capped foothills surrounding us make for a lovely backdrop. i will upload pictures soon.

let's see...what's new? well, the ICOM site, for one! head to http://www.icecreamonmondays.com and you will be rewarding with the fantastic web-stylings of mr. aaron geis, web-designer extraordinaire. aaron is a bad-ass and i am so lucky to know him - he's also the brains behind the t-shirts and buttons and stickers.

we are headed to milano in the morning for a show, and then on to cortina for another show...and then a day of skiing!! i haven't skiied in years, and i am not the most athletic girl on the planet, so let's hope i make it home without a bandage wrapped around my head.

my good friends over at Castori have decided that they really love me, and they've decided to tell the world! See? http://castori.com/pages/home2.cfm

thanks a million to those of you who have posted reviews of the new album. please, tell your friends about it! i am not in danger of starving, but that is only because i have italians who want to feed me...an increase in album sales would make it possible for me to buy a ticket home to the States one day. :)

off to conquer the autostrada!
love
vanessa

articles and good old-fashioned begging

well, not really so much begging, per se...as asking nicely.
if you have purchased Thin Thread and you have 2 seconds, can you post a review either here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/vanessapeters2
or in my guestbook, located in the yellow square on http://www.vanessapeters.com?
vanessa (that's me) would be entirely grateful.

also, should you be bored, here is the B/CS article I mentioned:
http://www.theeagle.com/spotlight/music/2005articles/012705peters.php

There are few more coming that I will post shortly.
at ease, soldiers.
love
vanessa