January 18th, 2014.

One of the reasons we had to get out of Atlanta with a swiftness was so that we could drop into the Birmingham, Alabama environs. Kristen has long followed Homewood Musical Instruments and its owner Bob Tedrow online and had wanted to drop in on the place and check it out, viewing it as kin to House of Musical Traditions.

It’s a lot SMALLER than HMT – with a front room dedicated to guitars and a couple of mandolins, beautiful old resonators and accessories – a back room with banjos and then the other half of the shop is dedicated to their work shop where the build and repair instruments.

It’s a slow roam through Central Texas. Or at least that’s what I’ve been calling it. Of course we just crossed the Arkansas line so I guess we haven’t been central in Texas for quite some time.

Everything is the same colour here. The monotony of monotone has been with us since we left my cousin’s house this morning on the outskirts of Dallas – brown road, brown earth, brown tires, brown buildings, brown trees, brown grass – blue, blue, blue sky. Today we’ve got wisps of cloud streaming overhead and the sun is a quarter blazing high in the sky. Truckers are passing and being passed, trucks are pushing and cars are falling behind – all without the East Coast urgency that we’re so used to. The highways here exemplify the attitude that we’re all going to get there EVENTUALLY and there isn’t any of the aggression of home. It makes a high-speed two lane highway actually WORK.

In addition to all the other awesomeness contained in this wonderful independent music store, Homewood Music in Birmingham, AL, they also make their own concertinas! It was cool hanging out with the owner and just seeing a bit into another shop. He’s very personable and sort of a wonderful stereotype with his leather apron and glasses on strings…

Last night Kristen and I had picked up a last-minute show courtesy of Andrew McKnight who’d recommended us to a … webcast / house concert sort of thing in Waxahachie, TX. We weren’t sure what we were walking into, but I trust Andrew, and sure enough we had a great time at In the Listening Room on the Waxahachie City Limits. The webcast will be mixed and posted in a couple of weeks – we had a great time and really made some great friends on what was otherwise going to be an off night. I think they’ll be a pretty wonderful connection in the future – and if nothing else, the promo pics and recording will probably be pretty valuable to us in the future.

*A mural in George’s neighbourhood in Houston, TX.*

It sort of felt like a Texas cousin to Edith May’s Paradise – beautifully lit, good sound system, great little stage – and some dogs to boot.

Dogs are definitely the exception to the “Everything’s bigger in Texas” – we were definitely in with the teeny mammals last night. Sweet little things that had to be taken upstairs lest they jingle or yap at inopportune moments.

After the show we went home with my cousin Rachael and her family. They’d come to see the gig and had a great time, truly enamoured with the idea that they had such a cool music venue so close to home. I guess it IS difficult to find good music venues that’d be a good setting for yourself and your 13 year-old kid sometimes – and Clint and Rachael really liked the setting. I’m pretty sure it was their first brush with anything even remotely similar to a house concert and they really enjoyed how sociable, intimate and “behind the scenes” it felt.

Anywho – back at the ranch (it wasn’t a ranch) we hung out with Rachael and Clint and their kids until it was time for the kids to go to bed, and then we hung out some more until US kids really had to go to bed (so much driving – betwixt the day and the “cidre” we were toast by midnight). We chatted and laughed (harder than I have in a LONG time it seems) and tried out Clint’s experimental recipes (holy shit – srircha German chocolate cake?!?!?!?!!? You don’t even KNOW!!! And I imagine that if you DON’T know this isn’t safe to try out on your own) and generally had a really, really good time.

After a Lovely day walking around Houston and incredible dinner at a favourite-of-my-brother’s Indian food restaurant, Kristen and I signed up to play at the Avant Garden open mic in Houston, TX. This turned into a NIGHTMARE. Despite showing up 5 minutes before the place opened and about two hours before the list was advertised as going out, we were 8th on the list. Despite getting there at 5.55pm and the music theoretically starting at 8.30 we STILL didn’t play till 11pm or so and we actually forced ourselves to stick around for our friend Jeff Gaynor to play… his slot, 16th on the list, didn’t crop up till near 2am. Above – one of the ONLY good things about the night other than the ginger beer : Scarecrow the Monkey was an industrial music / performance art project that was nothing short of bad-ass. They took the stage with lights, fog machines, laptops and fuzzy hats, a potted palm and a taxidermy baboon head – and it was every bit as good as it was bizarre. Sort of White Zombie meets Ministry in the heart of the Houston underground. Still. A terrible night.

Well – one other good thing about playing the open mic at Avant Garden in Houston, TX – we got to see our new friends the Scrambled Yeggs again. Unfortunately we didn’t get to hear them. This night was just… spectacularly bad – and it all came back to the host. This guy was just incredibly inept. A bad performer, a bad sound guy, he mostly sat in the back and sucked down beers as he relied on the kindness of the performers to run the night without him. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so horrified by an open mic host before. The Scrambled Yeggs were probably awesome – but their entire set was just a long squall of feedback and overdriven guitar.

I’ve really enjoyed how SOCIAL this trip has been – but really regretted how FAST we’ve had to roll in and roll up and roll out. It means Kristen and I are both just constantly a little bit exhausted and especially last night I was horribly aware of NOT keeping UP in the conversation. Still – the Rachael and Clint show competes as one of my favourite shows EVER. Add in the awesomeness of their kids and I could’ve stayed up late, curled up on the couch, and watched all night… fallen asleep and woken up and watched some more.

But that would’ve been weird.