Coffee debacle. Hot steamy mocha, poured onto my body… it takes a while for it to soak through the flannel so I guess it took a while for me to notice the lid / cup disconnect… but then the hot, moist warmth made it through the first layer of flannel shirt, through the second layer of flannel shirt, through the Mooninite t-shirt and finally unto skin. I’ve managed to liberally pour quite a large helping of mocha onto my body before having my attention drawn to it… and it’s now browning everything and rapidly cooling, leaving cold wet spots on this frigid, blustery grey day in Columbus, Indiana. In the process of cleaning it up it’s gotten on the table, my glasses and in my pants. Surprisingly and uncharacteristically I DIDN’T get it on my laptop.
It’s been a rough couple of days. For as promising and exciting as this tour started out, the most recent shows have been debacles followed by disasters followed by… “eh”. Last night’s performance at Zanies Too in Indianapolis was probably the best of them – simply an open mic that we’d dropped in on. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere, a nice environment. It was very homey with a separate acoustic room with big, comfy couches – it was just about everything we could ask for except for the tiny audience. Even that wasn’t much of a deterrent to enjoying myself and I had a good time playing on their little corner stage and jamming with the host, Mike. I always welcome the beauty of a good soloist, and despite how complex and tangled my tunes are, he pulled a couple of gorgeous moments out of Slight Departure that made it a little easier to no longer be traveling with our cellist, Kristen.
The night before though – playing at Felix’s… well… I don’t know how much I can gripe about that without getting into non-PC territory. It was great to be invited, it was great to get fed, and the food too – was great… but one of the singer/songwriters canceled at the last minute and another band simply didn’t show – much to the woe of their drummer who’d been EARLY, set up and ready to go. I felt so (OH FRAK – it’s in my HAIR!!! I have MOCHA drying in my HAIR!!! OH THE HUMANITY!!!) bad for the guy and helped him load his gear back out in the rain, knowing how much it sucks to be abandoned by your coworkers and left to carry all the heavy shit, embarased and alone. As the rain came down in freezing waves, we packed snares and hardware carefully around a collection of old CRT monitors that were apparently due to find a new home in the morning. He seemed like a nice guy and in a less-restricted culture I’d have given him a big hug. That night just dragged on with every artist being asked “can you play just a couple more” and our audience of two people coming out to see us being the biggest draw until late into the night. There were a couple of rough moments, but the worst was definitely when a couple of chicks came in and brushed off the doorman, sitting down before he caught up with them to explain that the cover really WASN’T a joke. The band that they were there to see hadn’t mentioned anything apparently, and they walked back out.
Not QUITE applicable but I was momentarily distracted from my performance by the blaring chorus of Ember Swift’s “FIIIIIVE DOLLARS!!!” careening through my head.
The night before though – playing at Felix’s… well… I don’t know how much I can gripe about that without getting into non-PC territory. It was great to be invited, it was great to get fed, and the food too – was great… but one of the singer/songwriters canceled at the last minute and another band simply didn’t show – much to the woe of their drummer who’d been EARLY, set up and ready to go. I felt so (OH FRAK – it’s in my HAIR!!! I have MOCHA drying in my HAIR!!! OH THE HUMANITY!!!) bad for the guy and helped him load his gear back out in the rain, knowing how much it sucks to be abandoned by your coworkers and left to carry all the heavy shit, embarased and alone. As the rain came down in freezing waves, we packed snares and hardware carefully around a collection of old CRT monitors that were apparently due to find a new home in the morning. He seemed like a nice guy and in a less-restricted culture I’d have given him a big hug. That night just dragged on with every artist being asked “can you play just a couple more” and our audience of two people coming out to see us being the biggest draw until late into the night. There were a couple of rough moments, but the worst was definitely when a couple of chicks came in and brushed off the doorman, sitting down before he caught up with them to explain that the cover really WASN’T a joke. The band that they were there to see hadn’t mentioned anything apparently, and they walked back out.
Not QUITE applicable but I was momentarily distracted from my performance by the blaring chorus of Ember Swift’s “FIIIIIVE DOLLARS!!!” careening through my head.
Monday night at the Atomic Cowboy was also tricky, to say the least. I’d have Loved for our last show with Kristen to have gone as well as the previous two (City Museum and Saint Charles Coffeehouse were both just wonderful) but instead, after a great but exhausting day at the zoo we showed up early and leisurely at a show that steadfastly refused to happen. A new venue has just been opened next door, and their loud punk show started at 6pm and was SUPPOSED to end long before Ryan Spearman’s acoustic open mic began (well, it was SUPPOSED to not be booked for a Monday night), but at 9pm (theoretical start point) they were still going strong, loud enough to drown out any attempts at music at the Atomic Cowboy and the pause at 10pm (the time for our featured set) was merely the changeover to the last band. I was surprised by how many people hung out for the open mic. Our previous experience with it had shown it to be a very talented group, but kind of sparse… but no matter how big the audience was when the night finally started, they were restless and we’d all been drinking and we didn’t get to the stage till 11.30pm. At that point of the night I was also being plyed with free tequila (Almond honey tequila?! mango habanero tequila? WHO KNEW?!!?) so it was impossible to have too negative an opinion about the night… the food and drink at the Atomic Cowboy is truly exquisite… but the sitting (we were at the venue for 6 hours before we played!) and the waiting was more exhausting than the previous couple of days of non-stop action combined.
In any case, tonight we’re off to play an open mic in Bloomington – a town we’ve often heard about but never visited – and our friend Kelly Zullo (in Maryland at the moment) reports that she really likes the venue where we’re playing. I’m optimistic, but the drizzle and snow (yes! SNOW!) that seems to be my constant companion from this particular coffeehouse lead me to believe that population will be low.
Fingers crossed and wood done been knocked. I DO wish they were playing Christmas carols – but a Lovely jazzy version of “New York State of Mind” isn’t too far from what I’m craving.
Below… massive photo dump from the City Museum and playing in the City Museum’s Cabin!
Armadillos are real! After all these years of only seeing them dead on the side of the room, it was good to see one vital and alive. We arrived at the “aquarium” portion of the City Museum just in time to see him voraciously attacking a questionable meal of earthworms. It was a pretty spectacular attack with ears a’twitchin and snout a wigglin.
Trying to broadcast from the Cabin Inn turned into a chaos of wires and cables. Heather and I with guest cellist Kristen Jones performing at the Cabin Inn in Saint Louis, MO. It turned into a powerful evening, playing hard and really, really loud. With where we were placed our audience kept shifting and changing, popping out of nooks and crannies in the walls and ceilings. I felt vicious all through the show and my voice was actually hoarse by the end of the night – a rarity. After the gig it was SO delicious to go back to Susan’s and COLLAPSE into slumber.
