California Dreamin

When I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin, I had dreams of what California was like. The huge blue skies, even bluer oceans, perfect weather.. sun every day.. To be honest, it just seemed like a dreamland to me. I couldn’t comprehend that while I was enduring 8 months of grueling winter, there was a place not that far away that was beautiful 365 of the year. Now, at the ripe old age of… ahem.. um… last week, I was lucky enough to be able to travel to California to release my new album, and I can officially say.. all of the dreams I had as a child were true. California is absolutely beautiful. From the minute I set foot at the Burbank Airport I knew I was going to have an amazing visit, and I was right.

The day after I landed I had a gig at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles. I had anticipated having a pretty relaxed day of rehearsing for the show, getting a nice dinner and then heading to the club to perform. However, at the start of rehearsal I discovered that my violin was broken. Actually “broken” is a very nice way of saying the bridge flew off and there were important pieces of the violin loose and rolling around inside of it. Not a good feeling three hours before the show in a foreign land. However, after a big scare, the wonderful folks at David Gage (who make the violin I’m using, the Realistic) found me an awesome violin maker across town who patched me up last minute and sent me off and running to the gig. Thankfully it stayed in one piece and 200 Stories closed out the show as planned!

I’ve had the pleasure of playing Hotel Cafe a few times over the past several years and it was great to be back on that stage. The first time I visited LA I actually had the opportunity to open for the great Amos Lee at Hotel Cafe before it had expanded which was a night I will always remember. This time, I was able to share the night with the Cary Brothers, and Meiko – all wonderful singer songwriters based out of Los Angeles who were very kind to me. And of course my awesome backup singer and dear friend Morgan Paige came along with me this trip to sing and share in my California adventures. The show was a blast and after a lot of flailing and a few high kicks I was off and running to our show in San Diego.

For those of you who have never been to San Diego.. it’s about as close to perfect as you can get. The beaches are stunning, the people relaxed and friendly, the air soft and billowy and the club owners are actually NICE!! It’s true! Louie, the wonderful promoter/booker at Lestats in San Diego defies the stereotype that all club owners are jerks and is just about the warmest most supportive person you could ever meet. He LOVES music, and incidentally loves Mighty Kate! Needless to say, I had an incredible time performing at Lestats.. it has become one of my favorite places to play and I hope to keep coming back for many years to come. If you’re ever there and go backstage, there’s a wall full of signatures of all of the artists who have played there. I was lucky enough to be able to sign it twice as Katy Pfaffl and now as Mighty Kate. See if you can find me!

And of course in between these gigs I had the chance to catch up with old friends and experience some of the beauty of California that I had been dreaming of. I spent a night in charming Ventura, CA and woke up to an amazing bike ride to the beach and a kayak trip around the keys leading out into the ocean. I caught an amazing sunset driving on the 101. I spent an afternoon breaking into my friends truck after locking the keys inside with the car running!! and last but not least I had the opportunity to go sailing for the first time in my life. It was a trip full of sunlight, laughter, adventure, love and music and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Many many thanks to my dear friends Erin Cottrell and Dan Toscano for housing us and to everyone else who came out and made these gigs great.

I miss you already California.. but thank you for welcoming me with such open arms. I’ll be back soon!!