April 23rd, 2009
last night, we ’secretly’ opened for Vampire Weekend at the John M. Greene Hall, Smith College. a bit of a last-minute booking, and we could not promote it because of our big upcoming benefit show this saturday, april 25th at memorial hall in shelburne falls. nevertheless, the hall was packed and the kids enjoyed the set. VW were really good, energetic and unpretentious, and there was a very positive vibe to the whole evening.
we played more of a ‘rock’ set and had much fun doing it, leaving off the super-fragile numbers in favor of more sparkle and soar. it was pouring rain out. here are some pictures of this evening:
a fan picture of our set. we were well-lit. my legs look skinny.
after the show, the Folding of the Vampire Weekend signature image. a sacred moment, done in silence.
a panoramic shot of the VW show in full effect, from the balcony.
a panoramic of the green room/winterpills pre-show mealtime in full effect.
testing the lights at soundcheck.
the view from my head during soundcheck.
the banner.
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last saturday the 18th, we played at the amazing Bell House in Brooklyn, with our dear pals KaiserCartel and new friends Lucinda Black Bear. his venue is not to be missed for it ambience, sound, and general incredible friendliness to an audience and artist. somebody got this place right.
it was the first of three shows that we are playing with Dave Chalfant playing electric guitar in place of Dennis, who severely burned his hand doing a Mark Bittman recipe last week (no fault of Bittman’s). Dave C played great, as usual, and the show was wonderful all around. KC and LBB’s sets blew our minds. a great night.
THe next day we made it out to Williamsburg with Benjamin Cartel to eat Bahn Mi at Silent H. Here are some pictures of the weekend:
Ben waits for his grilled pork Bahn Mi sandwich, patiently, with a touch of anger perhaps.
the violinist and cellist of Lucinda Black Bear.
during soundcheck: a view of the Bell House.
April 1st, 2009
Less said the better. Very nice to meet/hear Leah Lue, the opener; the rest of it was one of those shows that kind of hurt all over. Except for the nice fan who drove from Pittsburgh and the other gent named Dan and his friend, and Mike the owner who was very nice. Instead of long existential ruminations on the last show of the tour here are some pictures of Cleveland.
March 31st, 2009
A turning point show on the tour, though there is only one show left. It can never come too late.
Cincinnati is a cool city: architecture, neighborhoods, chili, Vietnamese food, the great art deco train station, churches. Club was on the edge of a funky neighborhood, a bit remote but not too far. We arrived at 6:30 for load in, as told to, only to find that no one would be there till 8, the promoter had quit weeks ago, and there wasn’t usually music on Mondays. This did not bode well for a succesful show.
We almost left, but 4 minutes before our ‘deadline’ the club opened. So we planned to play a show for our friends the Fervor quickly, then they would too, and then we would leave and get a drink somewhere. We weren’t expecting anyone.
But our conscience won out and the sound guy Dwight was great and some fans showed up and before we knew it we had played a show we felt good about to a small bit appreciative crowd. We stayed in the moment and the moment blossomed for us and us for it.
The owner at the end was very generous and it was nice to meet fan Keeh and Wussy bandmates Lisa and Chuck… and the manhattan was delicious.
March 30th, 2009
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Dennis went home due to work stuff so this was the first of 3 shows without him. We really had no idea what we were going to do.
Al’s was kind of a Fellini movie: load-in to a rather seedy bar in a rundown neighborhood, during a tango dance party; door was held open for us by a midget. Mix of neighborhood characters and college kids. One of locals seemed annoyed the ‘rock n roll Nazis’ were breaking up the tango party.
Our last show with kaisercartel for the tour (sniff). The room was very sparse and pool was being played right in the room with us. One of the weirdest gigs we ever played, but the owners (josh and audra, I think) were super nice and served amazing Kentucky bourbon in teacups and local beef burgers with sweet potato fries that were damn good.
Fervor played a great show and afterwards pics were posed for. A couple awesome fans came out for us. A unique night, no doubt.
We are so beyond depleted and exhausted today. Dennis and his guitar are surely missed; gig was ok in that department, not great.
March 30th, 2009
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A 5 band bill: fervor, us, kaisercartel, stephanie’s id, heypenny. Full room, crazy sound, lovely folks who drove from far away to see us, wild wind outside, great BBQ the next day, awesome bookstore and curio shop with talkative lady who wove her own wool and had looms etc in the store.
March 28th, 2009
Due to absurd fatigue this post may be short. Summit City was an oasis on a somewhat trying tour: lovely wooden floors, art, free good food, really cool nice lovely promoters who were generous and friendly, good sound, buil- in audience, great drinks, free wifi…and the show was energized and loose and well-accepted. Phew.
If there was any drawback it was only that whitesburg is hours on winding weavy roads up into the heart if Kentucky Appalachia. Beautiful, poverty-stricken, a bit scary. The town itself is a true oasis, which included a filmmaking institute. The ride out the next day was truly amazing and terrifying.
Some pics.
March 27th, 2009
Birdies: another cavernous rock club. The band members were all carded upon load-in. No drink deal. Owners do not like musicians.
Vess Ruhtenberg (lemonheads) opened with rough-hewn, nihilistic charm on a scrappy acoustic. The friendly crowd cheered him on and welcomed us next.
Our set started rough but settled in a few songs. I was rushing, but still got lost in a soary ‘laughing’, and when Ben and Courtney joined us for ‘folded cloth’ a new height had ben scaled. We made some friends.
KaiserCartel had a charming set as usual made more lively by this show basically being a hometown gig — Courtney grew up here.
Fervor played perhaps the best show of the tour, filling the room with their swoony druglike sound.
March 26th, 2009
Another show where we played to a small crowd and where there was a sense of impending doom but somehow ended up being exhilarating. A weird mismatched bill, a loud rock room, but once onstage we were loose and soaring. Afterwards a gent named Rick washed our van windows and spoke of his dead mother.
Then we went to our hotwired 4 star hotel called Aloft that was crazy and amazing — rather like an Ikea hotel. Super modern, sleek and minimal and $20 cheaper than the crappy hotel we stayed in the night before. Go hotwire!!
Here’s some images.
March 25th, 2009
The End: basically a smelly rock club. Gene Ween was playing across the street, though I doubt he cut into our fanbase at all. Also, we played on New Band Nite, which we thought was funny at first, then depressing, then, we realized, all too true.
Another show with the Fervor, who played beautifully. And Pete & Jay, who were Crowded House-ish popsters of a high order.
Our set was mostly fine but hampered by a poor monitor situation that near deafened dave. In future, we will try to avoid these situations. Happy to meet new fans Dave and Kelly.
March 23rd, 2009
What does a band do with two days off on a tour?
A) get ansty and anxious
B) spend too much money in the wrong places
C) take a lot of photographs of the super weirdness of the Midwest
D) visit a friend on Oklahoma city, play music and drink beer, pet a doggie named Bear.
C) get sick
D) get well
E) catch up on one’s reading/sleep/writing
F) fail at that endeavor
G) all of the above
We ate at Jimmie’s Egg in Midwest City. The egg itself is kept in a huge nuclear reactor shaped room and is consulted like an oracle by the chef and waitstaff. Jimmie’s egg is a river to it’s people. It’s glass-domed top protects a pulsating brain.
Here are some day-off pictures.
