Pittsburgh continues to be one of my favourite cities. I guess I’m easily affected really – but the beauty of this town is rarely matched and I feel I’m in a pretty good position to comment.
It’s like Baltimore mapped over San Francisco, but without the landscaping. No-one had the money to come in and tame the place, it’s all bridges and tiers. It actually reminds me of Minas Tirith a bit with its precipices and crossings and overlooks and underlooks – and it also nestles into mountains.
I came in from the perfect angle last night. Driving all day on I-70 and then coming in on 376 through and under the mountain, your eyes just begin to adjust to the darkness and then the whole city opens up from the mouth of the tunnel. I arrived at sunset and Pittsburgh blazed orange and gold just as the Po’Girls came playing sweetly through my stereo – I swear I just about swooned with the beauty of it all.
Stone is everywhere and I wish I could’ve just pulled over and drunk it in, but I was running late for dinner with (and by) friends and so I fought the remnants of rush hour traffic (ah, back to the East Coast again) and arrived tired at the door just in time for something exquisite fresh from Holly’s garden.
Possibly the last time I’ll be able to fuel up the car for under $2 a gallon. I Love you Missouri. Hopefully the next time gasoline has a price like this I won’t be needing to purchase it.
Thursday afternoon, Rowan and I returned from Kansas City to perform at Cooper’s Landing in Columbia, Missouri. Mike, the owner, always makes a little room in his schedule for us and the weather always obliges – even though we inevitably show up right on the edge of the season, it’s always beautiful out on the Missouri River. Above – a lady bug lands on my guitar. The state bug of Ohio was on EVERYTHING in Missouri as summer threw us one last beautiful gasp of a 70 degree evening.
Last night’s gig was an excercise in flattery. Mark Wilson is one of the creators of Pittsburgh’s singer/songwriter circle / open mic / party that is the Acousticafe. I get the impression it hasn’t ALWAYS Lived at Club Cafe, but the couple of times we’ve made it there, this open mic has been here at one of the finest, tiny listening rooms we’ve ever gotten a chance to play. A great stage, great sound, good food… incredible people. In any case, Mark and his girlfriend (?) were quite smitten with us last time we were in town and she went waaaay out of her way to get me in for last night’s birthday open mic celebration. I was really, really flattered when I realized not only who he was but also the sheer calibre of the other performers..
Taking a break from performing, we watch the sun go down and the fire go up at Cooper’s Landing in Columbia, MO.
Catching the last rays of the midwest sun, playing my little squinty heart out.
Rowan and I performing at Coopers Landing in Columbia, MO. Jeff Wheeler deserves credit for this shot.
Last night’s gig was an exercise in flattery. Mark Wilson is one of the creators of Pittsburgh’s singer/songwriter circle / open mic / party that is the Acousticafe. I get the impression it hasn’t ALWAYS Lived at Club Cafe, but the couple of times we’ve made it there, this open mic has been here at one of the finest, tiny listening rooms we’ve ever gotten a chance to play. A great stage, great sound, good food… incredible people. In any case, Mark and his girlfriend (?) were quite smitten with us last time we were in town and she went waaaay out of her way to get me in for last night’s birthday open mic celebration. I was really, really flattered when I realized not only who he was but also the sheer calibre of the other performers.
The night was a veritable who’s who of Pittsburgh musicians and I made a lot of good friends over the course of the night. By the time it was time for ME to hit the stage I was actually really, really nervous. Here I was surrounded by some really AMAZING players and I didn’t have Heather or Rowan! I got up on stage and stuttered through LooseN – and when I saw people’s reaction to that I really should’ve relaxed, though in an effort to shorten the tune I totally refrained from using any of the right lyrics. In my opinion i was sloppy and clumsy… for the second song I played Slight Departure (for Kimmy) which struck the perfect follow up chord. One of the fiddlers for the evening, Bob Banerjee, leapt up on stage and turned what was a pretty rivetting performance into a riot. An amazing violinist, he gave every open moment the sweetness or the frenzy it needed.
In general i met a bunch of amazing people last night. Some incredible voices, TWO crazy violinists… I thought i’d dated all of them already… in any case, the Weathered Road is something you should look at, as is Joel Lindsey. Hwah.
SO I came back to the house sated last night, stayed up too late and was woken FAR too early by Holly doing her “I’ve just voted and it’s still only 7.36am” dance of insanity. I was JUST conscious enough to send out a cry for help to Twitter: Omg. holly’s on crack. it’s not 8 yet. she’s back from voting and apparently tap dancing. i’m going to die.
ilyAIMY as the Blues Brothers on Pepper and Friends at KOMU in Columbia, MO.
There was a certain amount of headbutting at KOMU on the morning of Halloween. Apparently we were slated to play two 2.5 minute long songs – rather than what I thought we were slated to do – one 5 minute song. Anyone who knows us knows we don’t have <3 minute tunes – that’s just insanity. So me and Paul got kind of bristly until Rowan threw out “we can do it” and we agreed to see if we could pull it off. As it was, I’d been ready to walk out – but we managed to create “sampler” versions of LooseN and Slight Departure that fit into the time requirements.
TOOOO EARRRLY.” to which she replied “Actually crack isn’t my drug of choice. & no, I’m not telling you what it is b/c you’ll take it away. They always take it away!” and Amy, bless her, replied “airlock! AIRLOCK!” which is really VERY funny if you’ve ever seen Holly grin.
And if people didn’t know who the Blues Brothers were, they thought we were the Men In Black, which allowed Rowan to say things like “You know the difference between me and you? I make this look gooood.”
The Columbia Public Library is nothing short of beautiful.
Elwood Blues admiring the library. After KOMU Rowan and I wandered Columbia in costume. The library was especially cool cause there was an old black guy who said it in the perfect voice – “Why, I do declare! The BLUUUUUUES Brothers!”
Writing the setlist out for our Halloween show.
The Blues Brothers getting dinner at the Rocheport General Store in Rocheport, MO. 10 fried chickens, some toast and a Coke please…
In any case, in a couple of hours I plan to be glued to a television to see the fate of the country unfurl. I don’t particularly have hope that either possible future “leader” has an amazing plan to put America back on track, but I certainly feel Obama is the more positive symbol and is at least not a Republican… and though I probably actually ideaologically support more of the overarching Republican concepts of independance and smaller government and such not, the current Republican party is feeling it neccessary to pander to religious zealots, bigots and hate-mongers.
People in our country are relatively moderate, but the edges are insane and very, very loud – and for whatever reason our politicians feel it neccessary to fit in. I truly don’t understand how you have the Republicans – whose religious base has this book saying something to the effect of do unto others as you’d have them do unto you and help your fellow man and forgive – creating an almost Darwinian situation where the government turns a blind eye to those in need and truly those in dire straits might just die of it – allowing the bottom of our society to decay to the detriment of the whole. And the every last needy mouth sub-sect of problematic humanity requires every iota of our attention until the top of our society bloats to the point of detriment to the whole…
I know there are plenty of photos of me from this night already, but I just liked this one. Probably can be credited to the Lovely Firedancer getting her hands all over my camera.
We play both kinds of music. Folk AND rock.
The Blues Brothers plus the Jazz Musician! Whee! Oh Jeff Wheeler, that may fly here in Missouri but there is the argument that a white man in Kinte cloth back in Maryland might just get himself lynched!
Truly, we have no concept of moderation.
But Obama could be a good symbol… and IF our culture manages not to give up after their 4 hours of waiting in line and 30 seconds of decision making doesn’t result in immediate revolution, perhaps we’ll settle in for some real work…
Democrats who believe in helping every last needy mouth sub-sect of problematic humanity requires every iota of our attention until the top of our society bloats to the point of detriment to the whole…
Truly, we have no concept of moderation.
But Obama could be a good symbol… and IF our culture manages not to give up after their 4 hours of waiting in line and 30 seconds of decision making doesn’t result in immediate revolution, perhaps we’ll settle in for some real work…
Clint is The Voice – a momument of St Louis radio. He recounted tales of interviewing Dar (Freakin) Williams back when she was a kid just making it big…
Firedancer and her vampire.
Many technical issues. My camera sometimes just needs some English.
I don’t know what I’m directing. There’s something specific happening and I think I’m trying to be in charge of it. Who knows.
Doctor Who and Satan manning the bar at the Rocheport General Store Halloween Party… the way you do. I discovered that if you embrace the devil he rubs off on you. I don’t recommend it, but apparently evil comes off with soap and warm water.
Doctor Who’s fiance, a Lovely marionette. Definitely one of the cooler costumes I’ve seen recently.
Ah, the zombie owner of the Rocheport General Store, working the crowd at our Halloween show. Unfortunately, the mask meant that every time I asked her about details for the night she went “mmmfmmmffmmm mfmffmm uhm mffm.” Sigh. It gave me pretty free reign with the evening though.
Cute as Hell, and more importantly, well-behaved – the children had their day in Rocheport, Missouri.
Though Elder Andy here won the costume contest as the Mormon Bicyclist.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
