Headed west. We often are. Weirdly our first stop is just a stop. No gig tonight. It’s been the run of cancelations much to my chagrin. Last night we were originally slated to be performing in Pittsburgh – but the chain that’s supported us so well for the last two years or so ceased having Live music over the winter and canceled that gig and the one in two weeks…
So tonight we were slated to run one of our nights in Charles Town at Skippers Dips. That got canceled too… on Monday. A lot of our nights have been thrown up into the air to land kind of randomly. It’s a frustration to say the least.
Well – it meant I got one more recording date in with Ash and tonight’s a low-stress late-night drive to Pittsburgh avoiding Friday afternoon traffic and slipping into the city right around midnight.
We’re passing brightly-lit baseball games listening to friends’ newly-released music, admiring the awesomeness of our peers. First was Laura Grill – her feature the other night at my open mic was simply jaw-dropping. Second was the new release from Chris and Jess: the Bumper Jacksons’ little EP is just fun and mirthful. And now a couple of new releases from our friends up in Connecticut: White Rose Confession. One tune has Heather guesting on it and the other is a cover of one of my songs.
Full-tilt wonderful growl. Great to be a little metal after all the swing and jump-jazz. And man – what they do to rearview is positively insane. And then on to all the stuff I’ve been recording for mOsno – incredible stuff if I DO say so myself. The parade of friends goes on with Matt Nakoa, Evan Nachimson, Brittany Ann, Anthony da Costa of course, Wilson Getchell and Brother Sun…
It’s a beautiful day in Columbus, IN. The sunshine that kept us company for the all the drive so far has dissolved into patchy clouds and mists – and the whole of Indiana is in bloom. From Columbus, IN it’s off to Bloomington, IN. It’s only about an hour drive but it seems like a whole other world. Whereas Columbus is a company town whose business supports a lot of art, Bloomington is an artsy town that supports small business. We drive through Nashville, IN on the way which seems appropriately betwixt those two extremes. We also debate whether or not to eat the blue cupcakes (with goldfish sprinkles) that we received at the bar last night… The Soma Cafe in Bloomington, IN demonstrating that tables don’t have to be boring! We stop in and have an absolutely exquisite drink – Dr. D’s Elixir is basically freshly squeezed lemon, fresh ginger and some honey mixed into boiling water but MAN it was delicious. Our friend Steve contemplates the sins of our forbears. An interesting structure emitting interesting sounds in Bloomington, IN. In Bloomington, IN we spotted a cool looking house and heard strains of music from within. As we got closer we saw the front doors were open and took THAT as an invitation to go on in and join the festivities. A newly-formed musicians co-op was what we encountered – they played a song for us and were generally exquisite. We were stupid and didn’t have instruments or even cards on us. Great song – wonderful harmonies. Magical moment passing through…. Jesse Lacy opening for us at Max’s Place in Bloomington, IN. I ended up running sound, but that’s okay. I ENJOY running sound. Heather and I singing our little hearts out at Max’s Place.
