Greetings from Northern California. I’m writing to you from the back seat of the tourmobile, in the middle of a heavy rainstorm, en route to Oregon.

The tour posse:

Mark Growden – musical mastermind/reason why all of this is happening.
Alex Kelly – cello prodigy/giggler/noise maker extraordinaire.
Helena Price – record label representative/doer of business-related tour tasks/photogger/myself.

I love my crew. We are eating fruit and listening to the Porto Franco Sampler. Mark just poured a rather large quantity of water all over his pants while driving. Things are going well.

Night one found us in Chico, CA. It was a fairly quick drive… only a few hours including some delays due to San Francisco outbound traffic and a few wrong turns along the way.

The venue was hidden quite well in what appeared to be a giant industrial vacant warehouse storage area. The exterior lot was pitch black and scattered with empty cargo trucks. Alex and I were fairly convinced that this would be where our lives would end.

However, we soon found ourselves within the venue, and my faith was restored.

The Frame. It was exactly what I previously mentioned – a giant warehouse space – but it’s been renovated into a wonderful open lofty venue area and film studio. One Night Music, a SF-based project, was presenting + shooting the show that night.

One Night Music films and showcases live performances by indie musicians around the country, incorporating quality HD film, photos, and illustration for a very Daytrotter-esque online presentation.

So yeah, One Night Music seems pretty awesome. The guys behind it certainly are – I know that for a fact. Ryan, Ian, and their Chico crew – Skylar, Daniel, + others (including the pug stage hand) – were great company and I can’t wait to see what they produce. I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted when it’s released.

Small world note – I was browsing One Night Music’s website, looking at their contributors, and who do I see other than… my good friend Scott Boone?? What? Scott and I went to college together in North Carolina. Scott was riding his bike across the US at the same time as I was driving across this summer, and we both ended up settling down in San Francisco. Looks like he found himself a good crew to work with. Crazy.

We knew it was going to be a good show, as Mark used to live in Chico, so this was a homecoming of sorts for him. And a good show it was. We hung around the venue for a good bit, then said our goodbyes to our new (and old) friends, then headed on our way to friend Sara Rose’s for post-show times.

The house was quite large, and conveniently happened to have three vacant bedrooms for us to sleep in. I crashed immediately, having spent my day packing for tour + working on projects + meeting with Porto Franco + going to grad school + taking a quiz + driving to Chico + all of the above. I would probably have additional day 1 stories for you otherwise. I heard there were hot tubs involved.

On a side note -

Random projects I’ve started on the road:

Creating a photo collection called “tour diet.” Subjects generously provided by America.

Collecting and forming a general appreciation for finding two-word combinations that wouldn’t logically go together but somehow work in specific contexts. Today’s example: “dollar spicy.” It’s a grammar revolution.

On another side note -

A few ironic things to share with you.

I’m on the road with my laptop. I am shooting RAW files with my camera. I forgot that my laptop does not have the necessary software to edit and convert RAW files. So…. I can’t edit any of the photos I shot the first night! Hooray! I’ll post them once I have the means. Hope iPhone photos will suffice for now. **(Update: the regs photos are up, obviously).

END!