Before taking the stage at Hard Rock Cafe, we spent some time wandering the neighbourhood and ended up playing the sculptures at the local noise park. That guy approaching had the air of someone who was going to tell me to stop climbing on what I was climbing on, but actually had come over to ask if we thought he did a decent Elvis impression.. 
– it was a damned hot day in Baltimore when ilyAIMY had the task of making the Harbor even hotter – here we are trying to stay cool before our set at the Hard Rock Cafe for 98 Rock’s Rock the Dock.
I’m sitting in the back this time.
Since at our furthest point West we’re actually splitting up with Heather continuing on to Reno, NV and Kristen and I turning back East, we’re taking the Weasel-mobile.
Kristen doesn’t drive stick, I don’t want to do ALL the driving on the way home. We take the Elantra. QED. And so the ladies are up front and I’m trying to keep myself occupied in the back. Everyone’s happier when I’m occupied.
West bound on I70 is probably something we could do with our eyes closed, though of course that’s inadvisable, over the years it IS a stretch of highway we know like the back of our hands, but somehow it’s all different from the back seat. We’re listening to a mix CD that one of Heather’s friends made her and it’s taking us on a nostalgia-trip with occasional forays into new-to-us material. It’s kind of fun to have someone else’s curated playlist for a change, and after this we’ve got another thing that a friend of Heather’s has recently introduced us to : Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown which is the single most inspirational thing I’ve heard since the discovery of Superbob. After that we might have to experiment with Spotify which I’ve recently realized is pretty amazing…
Joey too is ready to Rock the Dock. Our bartender assisted in the dock rocking. Our friend Janna assists DJ Matt Davis with a 98 Rock giveaway at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore, MD.
The rains have been insane but it looks like we’ve got a break in the weather to make a break for the west. I hope we get to play outside tonight, but I’ve lost all faith in meteorology and figure we’ll just have to wait and see.
After ilyAIMY Rocked the Dock it was time for Got Sol? to do the same – and they did it with wild abandon and all the funk you could possibly need. When Matt Davis asked if there was anyone we’d like to have join us and that draw wasn’t really a consideration I asked Got Sol? FIRST. They’re the type of a band that wasn’t going to be able to come play most of the venues WE play, and they’re in the type of scene that isn’t going to invite US to come play – so I figured it was a rare opportunity for us to share a stage together. And they were absolutely stunning. Friends all dancing… weirdly… to Got Sol? at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore, MD.
I was ianvited to come and perform solo at Mountville Folk Festival this year. Not wanting to travel alone I invited my friend Ana to come along!
About 200 people for Mountville Folk Festival. I don’t know how many were left after the storms came, but it was a good hill-full o’ peeps. … and dogs… two dogs kept leaping in the water and this one made eye contact as he paddled out of the muck. He kept said eye contact as he walked directly towards me and Ana, never wavering and never straying he walked right up to us never breaking eye contact till he was about a foot a way at which point he gave us a vigourous shake down of pond water and gunk. Fucker.
The Java Mammas crew has a little reunion at my open mic at the Board and Brew! I should’ve jumped in for a Java Selfie! June 25th found Heather and I playing our semi-regular gig at Parallel Wine Bistro and much to our surprise, three of our regular waitresses are pregnant! Congratulations! Well one had mentioned a hankering for funnel cake and though of course not on the classy-ass Parallel menu, the chefs figured out how to make it and made sure cravings were answered! And then they changed their mind and fed it to the band. Everyone wins!
And we’re OFF! Sunday June 28th we jet forth from Baltimore on a short mission / two week tour. Summer’s always kind of iffy for us because we try to hold our booking off to the last second so that we can be open for festival bookings – and they ALWAYS come in at the last second. Anywho, since Heather had another trip slated out to Reno, NV for her recording project we figured we’d put something together to get her halfway there. Sunday morning we struck out west on a last-minutish kind of endeavour and the first photograph? A stoic slug in a bathroom stall somewhere just shy the PA line. A beautiful grey and misty morn as we cross into Pennsylvania, westbound to Columbus, OH. we haven’t taken this particular stretch for a while and it was fun to have a flashback to older times as we found ourselves right back between Lover and Twilight.
