Set up for our show at Harkins Mill Wines in Ambridge, PA on Saturday night. I’m not coping too well with the Journal being entirely cloud-based, a relatively new problem caused by the move to WordPress over COVID. It means photos and things are often late to the party, or I might lose something in various versions of a save. I’m trying to adapt and fear that at some point I’ll be having to move the Journal someplace ELSE. In any case, it means it’s harder to go and put this photo where it SHOULD be, in the entry from a couple of days ago. Still, I have faith that you’ll manage, dear reader.Most specifically it means I downloaded a couple of Kristen’s photos and am adding them late. Voila! Space for a fantastic audience at Harkins Mill Wines – that is later filled with a fantastic audience!
So – after Pittsburgh we’d normally keep ourselves to I-70 on West. Recently we’ve jagged a LITTLE bit north to visit my old friend Jason as he’s moved to Toledo from Columbus, OH and I miss him when I don’t get to see him. But then we’d be drawn inexorably back to I-70.
Today, however, is when our current mission begins to exert it’s pull on our path, and we’re drawn northward to unfamiliar places.
Madison, Jason and Allisa’s cat here in Toledo, OH, owns me now. He likes finding an inconvenient human perch and staaaaying in place.
Traveling is almost instantly a different world. Especially when traveling west, the landscape changes rapidly. You could never mistake Pittsburgh’s radical topography for home, though there are reminders of Baltimore here. By the next day, Toledo’s our backdrop for an underpopulated but strangely satisfying night at an art gallery / bar / record shop that probably would’ve been too hip for college-rob but is really appealing to me now.
As we cruise west through northern Ohio, we have thousands of miles to go before we see home again, but I’m pleasantly tired, the sky is flawless, the temperature is perfect and my coffee was served at exactly the right temperature, reminding me that coffee doesn’t have to HURT.
Our first NEW STATE! And a worthy sign. We’re able to pull over and actually be WITH IT. Wisconsin welcomes yo.Heh, our friend Sean Morse called in prep for planning his visit in November and he was amused that we were getting passed by Hell’s Angels in other-wise-inoffensive Midwest states…
This morning was sort of a comedy of errors as we struggle to regain certain tour reflexes. Cat wrangling, false starts, shower in series and timing. Starter coffee, second coffee. Folding this, packing that, unpacking that and remembering the order of the pack. Heather didn’t pack a sweater so we found one. Kristen forgot her jacket so we went back for it. I lost my hairbrush but I have a backup.
In the flats of Ohio you’d think there would be open mindedness to reflect the sky but a couple of guys sitting at a table watching us perform last night talked about how they Loved the politics of my songs and listened careful to every word cause no-one talks like that around here.
This whole Trip is part bucket-trip, checking off the states, part wellness-check. Is America still out there? You all feelin’ okay? Because shit’s on fire in Washington DC from a blockbuster-movie-villain-worthy combination of incompetence and evil and I need to be reminded that the America *I* believe in is still alive and breathing out here.
Rolling into Madison, WI I’m impressed by how PRETTY the town is. The Come Back In is sandwiched on “the Isthmus” between two lakes and I can only imagine that one day flooding might be a problem, but for the moment it is beaaayootiful. The town’s very, very bike-friendly in the way that a bike-friendly town SHOULD be, and polite-enough that when I was definitely standing in the wrong place (they’ve got pretty specific bike vs pedestrian lanes) I wasn’t threatened or cursed or even RUNG INCESSANTLY at by a stupid bike bell, just a murmering voice cluing me into my errors. Parking was easy, the sunshine was beautiful, the food was great. Madison, WI, I hope we get to come back!If you don’t know the reference, normally we’d be going up I–95 and then turn left on I-70 and just keep on going. This time around we’ve turned RIGHT on I-70 to hop up to the top of the country….
Or at the very least that y’all look great at 70mph. I think writing off ¾ of the country as “fly-over country” is a sin. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in drive-by country. Heh. That could mean dramatically different things in different moods.
Today I’m optimistic though. Pleasantly tired is about right. Not rested enough to think clearly, not tired enough to be depressed, not exhausted enough to be manic. Mood management through sleep-deprivation. Better than drugs.
Hrm, we’re just playing an open mic tonight, but mayhaps we can play HERE next time…… to this kitten…The Come Back In in Madison, WI. A blues jam happens first, then the open mic night. Jack (in front with the electric) is a … relaxed host.Singer/songwriter Marci Bean has just moved to town from California. She is looking forward to hosting her own open mic, starting next week or so. She wants to engender a sense of community like she had back home, and unlike she was getting tonight. She left immediately after her set.Frandú was an intriguing entity. What the frickin’ frack? Google him. You’ll find the right guy. He’s not the Rodian from Star Wars.Crashing tonight with Steve Pollack who’s been away from Maryland for almost a decade, but has fond memories of Takoma Park – and somehow has absolutely found the most Takoma Parkian place to Live that’s NOT Takoma Park, here in Madison, WI. He made us chili and shows off the bouzouki he rebuilt / kit bashed. Yes – he’s the guy who used to make cigar box ukuleles for House of Musical Traditions!
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