September 2004
What an incredible whirlwind of sights, sounds, and colors this past month has been! I wish I could have taken you all along for the journey... But the next best thing, I suppose, would be to tell you a bit of the memories and stories that we experienced. Where shall we begin? Well, as quoted in Alice and Wonderland, we'll "... start at the beginning, and when we get to the end...stop."

Our first show was in Istanbul, Turkey...what an incredible place! Bora from the Turkish Blackmore's Night fan Club met us at the airport and took good care of us while we were in Turkey! We played Yedikule: the Seven Towers and the venue was breathtaking! Special moments of the night for me were when the audience sang Soldier of Fortune along with us so passionately that we let them complete the song on their own. It was beautiful! Then an amazing traditional Turkish dancer lept out of the crowd and danced to one of our songs. We were so entranced that it was hard to concentrate on playing and singing- we just wanted to watch him! So intense... And at Clock Ticks On, so many people got up to dance! We had such a great time in Istanbul, the show, the Grand Bazaar, so many memories! Thank you all..especially Bora and Aynur (I love the jewelry you made me!) And just when I thought it couldn't get any more special- guess who I ran into in the hotel lobby? The legendary Joan Baez! I was so nervous to meet her. I told her how Diamonds and Rust is my most emotional moment of our show and how much her song means to me! I have to tell you- some people, (not many...only a few and only if you are very lucky) that you meet in this world are very old souls. Completely grounding and salt of the earth. With the wisdom of ages no matter what their age is. When you are around them they have a complete calming effect. Like hugging a tree. I have met 2 others like this in my lifetime. Ms. Baez is the third one. She is absolutely incredible. I was so lucky to have the chance to meet her.

When we performed in Arnsberg, Germany at Jagdschloss Herdringen, we were presented with a surprise by our dear promoter. It was quite a walk from the castle, where the dressing rooms were, to the stage...so they arranged for the band to be taken to the show via horse and carriage! What an entrance! Of course, I could've stayed with the horses all day... Another interesting moment was when 3 stray deer ran through the audience during the opening band! I guess they just had to see the show...The audience and the proprieters were so good to us there...And even though it rained all day, it stopped right before we took the stage! How they arranged that I'll never know...

Next we were off to just outside of Pilsen in the Czech Republic. Thanks to Richard and Petra for doing a great job! They put together a Renaissance festival with minstrels performing all day. The hospitality at the hotel and at the Rudolf II restaurant was wonderful and Ritchie and I even found time to go on the swingset (well, I went on the swing, he pushed...) and bike ride through the fields before performing at the Klaster Plasy. Our show began with the band that has been Ritchie's greatest inspiration to do this type of music: Die Geyers. And the show ended with a fantastic fireworks display that lit up the sky for miles! Thank you to all involved!!

We arrived in Budapest, Hungary just in time to get ready for the show. Thank you to Laslo and Gabor for having us play such a nice venue! We played on a very picturesque and tranquil island: Margaret Island. There was a very interesting fellow with a very large hat who danced the whole night through! At one point the front row all lit candles to the music- so lovely...It was the Moonsisters' birthday that night so we all shared cake backstage after the show. The next day, I went to the local marketplace for hand embroidered shawls and skirts like you would find nowhere else. I absolutely love the Hungarian handcrafts. No matter how modern a city gets, if you can find one stall in one craft market that has hand-embroidered traditional works- then they have held on to their culture, to where they came from.

Our next stop on our adven-tour was Castle Veldenstein, Neuhaus, Germany. We had performed here once before a few years back and couldn't wait to see our friend Oliver, his gracious daughter and his very stylish dog once again. Last time we stayed here it was a very stormy night, lots of thunder and lightening, and we rain about in the rain getting drenched. We then stayed up all night serenading the storm from the safety of the castle halls. We wrote the music to Village on the Sand that night, years ago... This time, as in Arnsberg, the rain stopped right before we stepped on stage. There was a medieval fair that was taking place at the venue while we were there. We also filmed the whole show including the underground winding tunnels we tok to get to the stage, the soundcheck and the after show jam with Die Geyers and the fans, for our upcoming DVD which will be released later this year. I am so glad that they captured the magic of that night and the fans at that show for the DVD!

Dinkelsbuhl, Germany proved to be a bit more challenging. With the excessive heat, power outages, and sewage backing up into the shower stall in our hotel room amongst other problems- performing was pretty difficult that evening. But the view was so beautiful and the audience was patient and so much fun! They really pulled us through... thank you for that!

We then traveled to Schloss Rheinfels where we did a small fan and press show to announce the release of our new compilation CD named : Beyond the Sunset- The Romantic Collection. We filmed this one for the DVD as well and performed Once In A Million Years (our new song which will be included on the Beyond the Sunset Collection), Temple of the King, Nur Eine Minute, Hanging Tree, and I Think Its Going To Rain today as well as other requests that were taken from the audience. We also had a helicopter come and take footage from the air beause of the breathtaking view! The Rhein river valley is spectacular- and home to the legend of Lorely, as you probably know. We had to bring her song home to her...Later on we did interviews with SWR radio, Orkus, Gitar & Bass and more until the wee morning hours. We also found a new furry fan who is fond of the music as well!

And so we drove to Mainz...to perform All Because of You on ZDF's Fernsehgarten. I always have such a great time on that show! Thanks Kiwi! Here's some photos from the rehearsal. We were also lucky enough to meet the talented Paul Carrack.

Some of the other places we played on this past tour include: Burg Esslingen, the Freilichtbuhne in Augsburg, the Kyffhauser Denkmal, and the overwhelming presence of the Festung Konigstein. At the end of the tour we wound it all up in Castle Abenberg where we filmed our new video for Once In A Million Years as well as a 2nd fan show complete with Felix the Flamethrower! Did you know that there were fans from 14 countries present? Wow! We also filmed a portion of a video of us all around the bonfire for our Christmas song- aptly titled Christmas Eve for release around the season to be jolly! Thanks to Andy for putting that all together! Each show was like having our own private party with you... thank you all for the special memories... thank you especially to our crew : Frank, Barry, Jim, Dave the T- troll, Carole and everyone who puts so much work in behind the scenes to make the magic happen. Thank you to Michael Bisping and Melanie from A.S.S. our German agent. Thanks to "Uncle" Alec Leslie- our everywhere else agent! And special love and kisses to : the front row with the sparklers!! Susanne, Rainer, Andy, Thomas, Anna, Dima, Marco, Elisa, Manny, Jarett, Suzanne, Tanya, Ken, Kathy, Ten, Kimi, Pete (Chester), Ton , Wendy, Alan, Toby, Maurizzio, Richard , Jo, & my Scottish kilt-promising Highlander friends and so many others I amsure are slipping my mind at this moment. You are not forgotten!! I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

So, what's next? A lot! The release of All For One- the Finest Collection of Blackmore's Night in Japan on Yamaha Records which is due out Septemebr 1st, 2004. There will be 15 tracks on that as well as the Way To Mandalay video, the new song Once In A Million Years and the new remix of All Because of You. We start our USA east coast tour on September 14th, 2004. Check www.blackmoresnight.com/tour_info.html to see if we'll be playing by you!

On September 17th, 2004 our Beyond the Sunset- the Romantic Collection will become available with 14 songs for your Renaissance Romance including our newest one: Once In A Million Years, plus new versions of Ghost of A Rose, Now and Then and a DVD sampler from our performance in Schloss Burg in Solingen show from 2003.

In October we'll be heading to Japan ! But for now- check candicenight.com/betweenus.htm for the answers to your questions for September. Also, check http://candicenight.com/reflections_art.htm for new additions of your incredible artwork collected while I was on tour. Thank you to the poets, and dreamers. Also thanks to Larry and Leenie of Lusty Leather for the beautiful Ghost of a Rose leather pouch they made for me, to Julieth from Amsterdam for the glass animal figurines, Toine and Karien from the Netherlands for the bottle, Tasya from Russia (in memory of white nights) for the presents, and Sandra Deborah from Gladjekallan for the one of a kind necklace, and everyone else for the flowers, cds and wishes... We love you.

Oh, remind me to tell you of my Broadway experience next time...
Enjoy the last rays of the summer... hope to see you on the road!

Love and light,
Candice