Gypsy Hut, Cincinnati

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.

Lexington, Ky, al’s bar

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.

Chattanooga TN

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.

Chicago, the darkroom

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.

Austin part 2

Ah sxsw where does one begin? How do you tell the tale of a love that fills and depletes, fills and depletes with such rapidity and tragedy?

We played 4 showcases. The four of them were all good, some better than others. We peaked early with the Septembergurl/Organic Entertainment party at Threadgills on weds. Ended up doing two shows with buddies KaiserCartel and doing a good bit of singing on ‘okay’. Weds night brought to the Velveeta Room at 1 am and a modest but vibrant crowd. The other two shows were Friday; at the first one at Mother Egans (sig sounds/red house part). I came out from a dizzy low-blood sugar moment to witness both our keyboards collapse and hit the ground hard onstage from the high energy foot stomping of the first performer (name withheld for tactful reasons — more the fault of the wobbly stage setup). We carried on with broken keyboards as we shall for the rest of the tour.

Last show was the GreenRoom Booking Cashmoneyapolis show, which was good in a unique way, though sparse. Then we were free to wander.

Third time here and so many bands and I’m always amazed how little music I end up seeing. 4 solid days and here is the meager list: Devo, Tricky, Bus Driver, Blitzen Trapper, The Silos, Japan Nite (two bands), and then some very good comedians. And of course KaiserCartel and bands we shared bills with but couldn’t focus on their sets because of pre-show preparation mode. Sprinkled in are a few ‘glimpses’ of unknown bands; heads stuck in club doors, heard over outdoor venue walls, etc.

Fold in: tons of free beer, drinks and food, miles of walking, amazing Mexican, amazing BBQ. No sleep.

Here are some pictures.

Austin part 1

Who needs words? Here’s some pictures.

New orleans, fog, vines

The least said about this show the best. We love NOLA. Holy Liars were righteous fellows. Here are pictures.

The ides of memphis

Our first show in Memphis TN ever was marked by dreams: 100 cats in a store window, a dream of a walk to Ardent studios (where one of the best albums ever recorded happened: Big Star’s ‘radio city/#1 record’) that never happened; a dream of an expensive visit to Graceland that never happened; and the dream of a packed house at the Young Ave Deli. That didn’t really happen either, but that’s ok.

Room itself was huge and boomy but charming and funky. See below some photos of the décor. Hank the soundman’s childhood tale of walking with his dad to go fishing in mornings and stopping to buy fresh baked bread and chocolate milk and dipping the bread in the milk and then fishing stood out.

There were about 10 people in the room the whole night, not counting the steady traffic in front of the stage of waitresses serving people outside and others walking past on their way to the restrooms or whatever. Love that, we do.

Fervor played first and sounded great. We were on second and after a couple of songs that felt like flying an airplane blindfolded with no arms, we found our bearings. The set flew by and as usual when playing to a huge almost empty room it’s a battle with self-consciousness and trying to get lost in the moment. For me this finally happened during ‘gentleman farmer’ when a feeling of ‘we are what we are and that’s wonderful’ came over me. Caring/not caring. The song rolled over me like a heavy wave. Flora and I sang ‘I don’t have to make you see/ I don’t have to show you anything’ with pride and openness. By the end, the songs won. But it was a hard one. Harder still when the acoustic guitar was squealing feedback all night because the sound guy gave up on trying to tame it.

KaiserCartel closed and as usual delighted. We were excited to jump up and sing/play on two songs.

Overall it was what it was. I bought a postcard of maureen stapleon for our baby collection on the ceiling of the van. Today we met with the KC at brand-new memphis Target for supplies and ended up wandering around for about an hour marvelling at the newness of it all. Dennis and Ben Cartel wrote a song on the keyboards in the music section (video to come). Brian bought a neck pillow. Today we roll down to new Orleans.

We are content with our lot.

First show: louisville ky with kaisercartel/the fervor

Our first show was last night was a relief and delight after a somewhat stressful couple days drive, highlighted by some good eats (Dogtown Hots in Rochester and Ramses in Louisville), the usual vast empty spaces of sameness that make up this strange land. As always the task is to look between the obvious around you but it’s especially hard when when there is so little time and you are isolated to the main highways where all the vicious commerce and prattle of modern life trap you in a corridor of concrete and shame. Next summer: a blue highway tour. We will only eat at people’s homes.

The venue, Vernon Club, was unique in that it is essentially the very nicely renovated basement of an active bowling alley. The tracks on which balls returning to their owners travel actually hang below the dropped ceiling height and you can watch (and hear) the balls roaring overhead. It’s great fun until you try to play a delicate acoustic number, like pals KaiserCartel did for some of their as-usual delightful set, which opened the night.

Aside from the loud balls, we loved the room. Kc opened; louisville local moody popsters The Fervor were next and it was great to hear their evolving sound bloom and grow, like eidelweiss. They made think of the dark vibe of a Low with a good touch of southern anthemic rock, and a smidgen of Guyville-era Liz Phair.

For our set, I was quite happy to be onstage in my new vest/jacket/tie combo, my new carefree demeanor, and fresh callouses on my fingers. We played a long and spirited set marred only by some monitor glitches. We’ve begun playing the Miracle Legion cover as a regular part of our sets, which is sounding so beautful. I was caught up in the sound and a great night; the room was pretty full for a Kentucky night when the Cardinals were winning the Big East championship.

Next are some random road pics.

Starting out toward inner america…

Today we begin our trek to Texas I will be experimenting with regular updates from the space telephone I now have.

Here is a picture of my packing. Including the book I am reading and a magazine that indicates with a northern liberal type I am. And yet… I am a Texan.