Indianapolis, birdies

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.

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.

Nashville, the end.

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.

2 days off on tour = weirdness.

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.

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.