Bowerbirds visit! Hooray!

Phil and Beth are homies from Raleigh, NC (the town from which I moved to come here). They were part of a wonderful friend group who made summer 2009 the best I’ve had yet. They play in a band called Bowerbirds, and they are good. Very, very good.

They were to play The Independent on Thursday, and I happen to live a couple of blocks from it. Perfect grounds for reunion sleepover time.

The show was lovely. Julie Doiran opened, and this photo does a good job of describing her. Her voice is absolutely beautiful and she is hilarious. She apparently got her boots from North Carolina. I am not one bit surprised.

The birds have a new addition – Dan “Yan” Westerlund. I had not met him before tonight, but I traveled around the country with his brother this summer, who is in Megafaun, who was touring with the Bowerbirds at the time. I have also stayed with his best friend in Tuscon, Arizona. Worlds colliding.

Will Hackney from Trekky Records also came along to tour manage and guest on mandolin and vocals. I had never met him before, but we both weren’t sure how this was possible, as we shared many many friends while I lived in NC.

We spent the rest of the night having a slumber party, drinking white russians and catching up on life. Come morning, we were up and ready for adventure.

All of us except Phil and Beth, that is. After a couple of hours of waiting for them to rise, we decided to greet them at the bedroom door with a morning song about breakfast. They finally got up.

We grabbed a tasty breakfast at Kate’s Kitchen, passing by Beth’s new favorite store – Silky Touch. Then we headed to Alamo Square, a block away from my house, to run around and reminisce about Full House.

We tumbled down the hill for a while.

As we all got back home, Beth and I went out into my jungle yard and I photographed her new dress and bonnet, compliments of artist Monica Canilao, while the boys packed.

With that, I reluctantly sent them off to continue their trek across the US. It was difficult not to jump in the van with them.

Seriously, go listen to them right now. bowerbirds.org. That is all.

END!

Seattle is one of of my favorite cities on the planet. Not that I’ve been to many places on the planet. But Seattle currently stands as a favorite regardless.

In college, I would take my spring breaks and, instead of going to the beach or on a cruise like everyone else, I would go to Seattle. I cared much more about the inevitable adventure I’d encounter in an unfamiliar city than the inevitable sun poisoning I’d acquire after being on a beach for more than four hours. You can read about some of my old washington adventures in my old blog entries.

I hear the weather is pretty shoddy in Seattle. I have never really had issues with it. For the most part, it was beautiful every time I was there.

Anyway. Seattle greets us with black skies and freezing rain. This must be what I’ve been hearing about all these years. I don’t care. This city is still amazing. We head straight to the house that is to host us for the night – The Beery House, which apparently hosts many great shows for Seattle music lovers. Tonight we are the guests of honor.

We enter the house to find a feast waiting for us.

I was too busy with smoked salmon to notice the 40 or 50 extra people that had filled the living area by the time I looked up.

I don’t have much experience with house shows. But I like them. It’s so fascinating to me. People opening up their home to dozens of total strangers (the majority of these people were here for Mark alone and had no personal connection whatsoever to the owners of the house), offering food and drinks, and hosting guests after the show. Door is (in our case) donation based, and people are way more generous than I could have fathomed. Musicians can easily surpass what they would make in earnings from a traditional music venue (not to discourage you from playing them – I’m just saying, there are options out there).

So yeah, that being said, the show went incredibly well.

More highlights of our stay in Seattle:
- Being told to go into the Beery House bathroom and pick any rock that I want to take with me. I picked a nice orange slug-shaped one. Apparently it was a gift from Brazil. It’s sitting in my orange room now.
- Waking up to a giant pile of bacon + a breakfast torte that measured what seemed like 2′ in diameter.
- Mark’s great + talented friend Billy joining us for breakfast, and bringing pear butter with him. Pear freaking butter. Who knew?
- Mark receiving a complimentary trumpet and hand-sewn bird (carrying a miniature banjo) as a going-away gift.

Thank you Beery House! Now, off to Portland.

I feel like I would normally pack a significantly larger amount of observation in my descriptions of these places, but it is a winter tour, and everything is dark, all the time.

Highlights of Portland:

- Eating an overwhelming amount of home-cooked chicken parmesan, fruit, oysters, cheese, bread, salad and cheesecake at new friend Justin Mackewich’s house. Justin has actually known Alex for years… me only for a few hours or so. It was great hanging out with his wife and family nonetheless.
- Mississippi Studios. One of my favorite venues to pass through. The space is spacious and complex, the lighting is great for photos, and the music I hear here is always incredible. 3 Leg Torso opened and blew. my. mind. Apparently the bassist, Mike, was playing his last show before moving to Los Angeles. (update – Mark and Mike now play together regularly in LA).
- Having Justin play violin on stage with Mark and Alex for the set, having only been told he would do this a day ago. How you manage to master that amount of material that quickly without being dysfunctionally nervous, I will never know. I was so impressed. Preston Howard, a Chico-based friend who recently moved to Portland, joined in on Uillean pipes. Wow.
- A quoteable point from our friend/host Genia: “Moby’s not a great DJ.” “He probably not a great long-distance runner either, but that’s irrelevant, isn’t it.” Well said, Genia, well said.
- Meeting Genia’s incredible little lady, who is already holding intelligent conversations at 18 months. Yeesh.

We say our goodbyes to Portland, then head south. Next stop: home.

We drop Mark off halfway at his Thanksgiving retreat in Northern California. I fall back asleep immediately. I dream that I am in a high-speed car chase for the next few hours until I wake up at my front door, much earlier than expected. Apparently Alex hauled ass to get us back to San Fran so he could finally meet back with his ladies at home.

Another tour ended. I’ve gotta say, I’ve never toured with a more appreciative, kind couple of fellas. They were great company and it was great to get back on the road again. I met so many interesting people and can’t wait to cross paths with them again next time I’m wandering around the PNW.

If you haven’t yet, check out Mark HERE and Alex HERE.

END!

Tour day 2.

We awaken in Chico, CA, greeted by heavy freezing rain. I am quickly becoming acquainted with how lovely winter touring conditions are in the northwest. We say our goodbyes to our gracious host Sara Rose and prepare to head on our way.

We take a quick tour through downtown Chico, in which Mark had previously lived for a bit, stop at a grocery store to restock our fruit supply, and pay a visit to Naked Lounge, the local coffee/tea spot. It is here that I discover “The Vietnamese Hammerhead” – a double espresso topped with coffee + condensed milk. My dreams are finally realized. Alex gets a quad-mocha, only to top it off later with two tall energy drinks from the gas station. Truly impressive.

A day of driving later, we arrive in Eugene, OR. Alex spent a few years here getting one of his degrees (he has his pHD, so it could be one of many), so we were expecting a warm welcome from Alex fans.

Mark & Alex were playing an in-store performance that night. Things began to develop in a most interesting fashion… setup became an epic battle of performance vs. feng shui.

By the time we had finished setting up, all I had to say was this. And I’ll leave it at that.

[6:42 PST]

Rargh. These are the times when I sort of wish I still had a relatively small, little-known email list where I could post detail after ridiculous detail of my tour stories. I suppose I still could, but I have unfortunately started to develop some sort of tact-filter in my effort to avoid posting any sort of blatant negative material. Alas.

Next task: find sustenance. We decide to go to the nearby mall and find some food.

We find ourselves in the middle of a department store, completely overrun by crowded store displays and agitated families, the children completely jacked from of the abundance of edible samples every few feet or so. People are looking strangely at Alex, who happens to be carrying a human-sized cello case on his back. Mark and Alex and I weave through the chaos, grabbing cheese samples as we went. Alex almost accidentally takes out a child with his cello. I am the only one who notices.

We find ourselves in the middle of the food court. It is still oddly crowded. There are children in costumes everywhere. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.

Mark wanders off to explore, and Alex and cello and I sit down to eat our delicious food court meal. Next thing we know, we are in the middle of a holiday dance recital. Yeah. In the food court. Dozens of children dancing to The Nutcracker within the confines of a 10′ x 12′ space cleared out among the food court tables.

Here’s to another normal night of tour.

Back at the venue, the show begins, and the listening room is so packed that people are overflowing into the side retail area. People were astounded, whether they be old friends of Alex, or old fans of Mark, or curious newcomers who happened to read about the show as “pick of the week” in the local paper.

After some post-show grub with old friends at a local brewery, we head to our night’s final destination – the Cortesia Sanctuary.

Hm. Where do I begin. Cortesia Sanctuary is a beautiful, secluded 22-acre property located in the woods of Oregon. It’s owned by Dr. Forrest McDowell and his wife, Tricia Clark-McDowell. Both are renowned best-selling authors of countless books, launching international movements in gardening, and becoming popular speakers at conferences around the country. They are also internationally-noted authors and contributors in the field of herbal remedies and philosophy.

I of course had no idea about any of this upon my arrival.

I knocked on their front door to be greeted by Forrest and Tricia, who I had not met until this moment. I found myself in the middle of an incredible, rustic but architecturally complex cabin, adorned with high ceilings and lofts, both of which I have a weakness for (I am an architecture nerd and originally planned to be one for a living – I’ve changed my mind approx. 80 times since then).

Forrest and Tricia were prepared for our arrival. They pulled homemade cookies out of the oven immediately and told us to feast. And that we did.

We all ended up sitting comatose around the living room, discussing life and our careers and aspirations until the wee hours of the morning. I finally decided to retire, and was led by Tricia to my own personal yurt, a domestic pod of sorts, located behind the house, for me to sleep in my own privacy. This place gets more amazing by the minute. I left the guys to play music together for the rest of the night (apparently they didn’t go to bed until 4 or so in the morning).

Morning arrives. Forrest cooks us a wonderful breakfast. We take a minute to explore the incredible property and gardens, located 1000 feet over a valley bank, then pack up our bags and say our goodbyes.

So ends another normal town adventure. Next stop: Seattle.

To see a bit more about Forrest & Tricia’s property, visit their website – onesanctuary.com.

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!

I have spent the last two weekends tagging along with some ridiculously cute and happy couples… makes me want to barf sunshine just thinking about it.

I really couldn’t ask for better people to be honorary third wheel with. First round was with Kelly and Jim. I spent last Sunday with them shooting some engagement photos. I still feel like a total novice when it comes to shooting people… with a purpose or objective… the pressure is intimidating. But they were fun and cooperative and took lots of breaks to eat diner food and dumplings (in two separate meals). My kind of folks.

This weekend I found myself with my mother and her boyfriend, Barry Barrington (who I will always refer to by his full name because it is incredible), visiting from NC. It’s much easier photographing cute couples outside of any assignment whatsoever, as it was free and pretty much comes with the territory of hanging out with me and my camera, and they can’t get mad at me if they suck.

We adventured through the city on Saturday, then rented a car and ventured northward on Sunday. Lots of good food and good views. I was pleased.

Day1:

Somewhat relevant story (that I still need to tell Andrew):

After hanging out on the top of that epic hill above, we all walked down the path that takes us back down and around the other side, towards the Castro. I suddenly found myself quite overwhelmed with deja vu. I then realized I was in fact on a museum property that I had trespassed on just a year previous while vacationing in SF (having no idea I’d be living here a year later). It was the site of one of the photos I used for my grad school portfolio (that contains the Andrew of note). I actually wrote about this experience in my old mass-travel-email-list that I used to maintain before I started this whole blog thing in May.

An excerpt from July 2008:

Once home, I got a message from Dakota to meet her in the Mission.  We had a date.  Our friend Zack, who we met at the cookout my first weekend in town, had offered to take us out to dinner at an eclectic little spot called Delfina, on 18th and Guerrero.  Italian/American/French-inspired cuisine, big emphasis on fresh ingredients and innovative food combinations.  Sounds like my cup of tea. 
 
On the way to dinner, I pass Delores Park, and see a phenomenon I could have never fathomed – bike polo.  Really.  Like… polo.  On bicycles.  How awkward and amazing!
 
We all meet up at Delfina at 9:30.  We split a bottle of sauvignon, a sheep ricotta w/ zucchini, bitter greens with pancetta and walnuts, strawberry farm short ribs with gouda polenta, rabbit something or another, salmon something or another, and some sort of puff pastries filled with espresso gelato.  Jesus Christ it was awesome.
 
As we were finishing up, we were discussing things I must do before I leave, and Zack brought up the fact that Twin Peaks is one of, if not the, best view of the city.  So I say, “well, we should go.”  Zack says, “right now?”  I say, “Why not?” 
 
So Zack bikes home to grab his car, while me and Dakota head to Amnesia to grab a drink and wait.  Oh how I love this bar.  Yet again playing eastern-european-inspired-americana-bluegrass as I walk in the door.  We order a couple of their cocktails, all made with koju, a Korean vodka that seems pretty popular in the city.  Before we know it, Zack has arrived with his chariot.  We head out, but have one extra stop before we head to Twin Peaks – we have to go pick up his friend Andrew, who is visiting from Santa Cruz, and who has apparently been drinking alone at Zeitgeist for four hours after his friends left town.  Andrew is tall (6′8″ to be exact), drunk, and hilarious.  Oh my god.  He is one of the funniest people I have met in a long time.  And I don’t think it was because he was drunk.  He made it to my favorites list quickly. 
 
So we are driving straight up windy roads that should eventually lead us to Twin Peaks.  We quickly become enshrouded in fog.  We get to the top.  We can’t see five feet in front of us.  So… you can imagine the view.  Just fog.  We could vaguely see the few lone cars in the parking lot with couples in the backseats.  Not much later, a police car came by with a spotlight and said cars were eliminated pretty quickly.  So we hung out on the edge of the highest point in the city, but saw nothing.  We decided to drive somewhere of a slightly lower altitude and maybe catch a view underneath the fog. 
 
We arrive at some museum, whose name will remain unsaid (simply because I don’t recall what it was).  The property was sitting on the edge of a cliff and seemed to have a pretty good view.  Unfortunately, the gate to the property was locked.  Good for us, we are traveling with primate-like men who can scale fences and unlock doors from the inside.  So began our scenic trespassing tour.
 
I wish I had some sort of scandalous story for you, but no cops came, the dogs were not sent for us.  We just wandered around forbidden museum property and enjoyed a fairly good view.  We eventually tired of being bad asses and headed back on our way. 

Day2:










(PC: Barry Barrington)

In other news: I leave for tour today. BTW… I’m going on tour? I’m pumped. I’ve been having tour withdrawals for a couple of months now. I’m supporting Mark Growden w/ Alex Kelly, and representing Porto Franco Records. Best job ever? It might be. If you live in CA, OR, or WA, you should come see us. It would be neat. Just sayin’.

More on that as we hit the road. Until then…. END!

The primary reason I came back to Raleigh so soon, other than to catch up with old friends by wandering the streets of my hometown neighborhood (as I accomplished in my last post), was a wedding.

My close friends Bill and Jessica are getting married. I met Bill while packing a giant van full of instruments, which we were to drive around the country in for the month immediately following. I toured with his band, American Aquarium, for a good portion of 2007 and some of 2008. I can’t even begin to cover the ridiculous adventures we’ve been through together (though I did post some old tour logs on the blog here and here). I met Jessica briefly during that tour, and we became good friends soon after. They have been dating since high school, and it was no surprise to me that they decided to tie the knot. Not one of those… we’ve-been-together-long-enough-so-we-might-as-well kind of things. They really dig each other. It’s pretty neat.

Anyway. I was a bridesmaid for this thing. The only bridesmaid that happens to live not only outside of the greater Raleigh area, but on the opposite side of the country. I was totally out of the loop as far as everything that I needed to do and how this all was going down. But I winged it.

Winging it = Me being the only bridesmaid with black shoes (the rest were wearing red with their red dresses… how logical), black nail polish, and hair down. West coast bridesmaid represent!

The wedding was great. I saw so many old friends, and met some new ones. I ate lots of glorious buffet food and danced around the top of the Clarion, Raleigh’s signature cylindrical hotel with a bar at the top.

I didn’t take many photos, as I was a bridesmaid, not the photographer. But I managed to snag a few.

I definitely planned on going out with the wedding crowd post-reception, but I ended up passing out instantly upon Logan’s couch and waking up 15 hours later.

END!

If you kept up with my blogs over the summer, you know I spent a good portion of it touring the country with Tim Lytvinenko, Bowerbirds and Megafaun. It was quite an adventure. Tim and I took countless photos and recounted all of our adventures on welldonetour.com, the photo-site we created for the tour.

It really doesn’t seem like long since tour ended, but Megafaun has already made their way all the way around the country and back to the west coast, this time touring with Bon Iver.

This was a big tour for them, as not only were the venues gigantic (and packed full of fans), but there was a huge history between these bands that made the tour particularly special.

See, there was this band. They were around long ago, and based in Raleigh, NC. Their name was DeYarmond Edison, and they were incredible. However, after a couple of albums, the band broke up, and two separate resulting bands formed: Justin went to form Bon Iver, and Bill, Brad, and Joe went to form Megafaun. This tour is a reunion that not only the bands, but a lot of folks, including myself, have been waiting for.

I went to catch the show at the Fox Theatre in Oakland. Seeing the boys playing a sold-out show in such an epically beautiful structure was wonderful. I’m so proud to see how far they have come in just a few months, and my heart was aching to be on the road again. I felt like dropping out of school and hopping on the tour bus and never coming back. One more beer and I may have been crying in the crowd.

(That’s Justin from Bon Iver playing bass in the background.)

Seriously, go listen to them right now.
Megafaun
Bon Iver

Thanks. END!

I took some fun photos this weekend, and would love to post them tonight, but I can’t find my camera charger or extra battery. So they are stuck within my dead camera for now.

Instead, I thought I’d post my favorite photos from this summer’s phototour, as well as a couple of photos that I never posted. As much as I love San Francisco, my heart aches for the road.

Enjoy!

There are all from my six-week phototour with Bowerbirds + Megafaun. If you haven’t actually looked at my tour site yet, just go do it. I bet you might like it. All of Tim’s wonderful photos are there as well. Click and enjoy. www.welldonetour.com.

Hopefully a new blog post involving SF photos will be up tomorrow, depending on if I find this elusive camera charger. Until then…

END!

After randomly deciding to continue our tour over lunch in San Francisco, we are on our way back eastward, en route to the desert. We will be in Phoenix in 11 hours.

These drives really don’t phase us anymore. It’s just time to edit photos, or write stories for the blog, or listen to Harry Potter on CD, all from the comfort of our little tourmobile.

By the time we arrive in Phoenix, it’s pretty late… around 3 in the morning. However, we are not remotely ready for sleep. Arielle is awake and ready for us. So is Guitar Hero.

Fast forward 5 hours. Andy gets up to make breakfast. Tim and I are still playing Guitar Hero. We take a break to eat with him. Tim goes back to playing Guitar Hero and I go to bed.

Highlights from Phoenix Phase 1:

- Cartel Coffee’s “cup of excellence.”

- A great Bowerbirds/Megafaun show, packed with fans. Dry River Yacht Club opened. An at-least-7-piece with an accordion and horn section, and a saucy lady with one hella voice. They were a perfect opener, embodying a lot of elements of Bowebirds/Megafaun’s style but with a clear southwestern mariachi-esque influence. I dig em. During Megafaun’s set, Mega Brad managed to successfully organize a next-day basketball game from the stage. He was ecstatic.

- Well Done Dinner night – A collaboration between master chefs Tim and Megafaun Brad. Curried ground turkey + guacamole burgers with roasted potatoes and other fun things. Holy mother of god.

- Taking whiskey shots from shotglasses made from ice, then smashing them on the ground because we can.

- Watching musicians try to play Guitar Hero.

- Bonding with Arielle & Andy’s cats. I will be forever obsessed with Turtle, the most appropriately named cat I have ever met.

We finished off Phoenix Phase 1 with a sunset excursion to a nearby mountain. The view was epic. The lighting was epic. We all played around for a while, took some photos, then sat in silence together while the sun set. It was pretty awesome.

After our successful mountain excursion, we watched Megafaun pack their things and leave for Tuscon for more desert adventure. They suggest we follow. Next thing we know, we’re on another late-night road trip across the desert to Tuscon.

More stories + photos at our official tour blog: www.welldonetour.com.

[Disclaimer: The 2007 views of Helena do not necessarily reflect the 2009 views of Helena.]

5/21/2007 – Columbia to Raleigh to Charlotte to Lake Norman

So, you remember that van exchange that was supposed to have happened right about now? It ended up falling through. To complicate matters further, we had to give back the van we were currently in TODAY. By 1:00 or something. In Raleigh. Being rideless from this point forward, we decide to just take BJ’s SUV and attach a trailer to the back to carry our junk. He has done this before for east coast tours and it’s worked fine, apparently. 

There are definitely pros and cons to both modes of transportation:

Old Van:
• It was substantially larger and wider than normal vehicles, and despite the two back rows being filled with our crap, there were still two free rows of seats behind the driver, so two people could sit in the front, and two each on the rows behind, with plenty of space to maintain a personal comfort bubble (mine is pretty large).
• Since we didn’t have a trailer, all of our junk was in the van. Sometimes we would be carrying instruments in our laps. Loading and unloading was a real inconvenience because instruments and equipment always ended being on top of personal luggage, so if you needed anything from your bag, you were out of luck.
• The van got about 400 miles to the tank, but the tank was huge and took about 90 bucks to fill up.
• The van drove horribly. Well, I take that back. Maybe the van had potential to be a good ride, but it certainly did not combine well with BJ’s already sub-par driving skills (”BJ, why are you driving in the left lane?” “It’s just the wind”).

BJ’s SUV:
• The SUV is a loooot smaller than we anticipated. Maybe it could hold BJ and five 12-year-old girls (his ultimate fantasy), but 5 grown guys and a tall Scandinavian chick – not so easy. Two in the front, three squished in the back seat, and one sitting in the very back on top of piles of pillows, clothes, and snack crackers. I will definitely be over my phobia of body contact by the end of the month.
• Our van is free of mess, besides the pile of junk/humans in the very back.
• The SUV also gets about 400 miles to the tank, but only takes about 40 bucks to fill up.
• The ride is still a little rough and dangerous, but that’s only due to BJ’s driving now.

So we’re stuck with the SUV, which is okay, despite the circumstances. Eventually we leave Raleigh and head to Charlotte. 

I have only been to Charlotte twice before this.. first on a field trip to the Discovery Place in 5th grade, then later for the Meineke Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2004 (the day before 2005, just to clarify). I was excited to return. 

Our venue, The Evening Muse, was actually located in a smaller art district on the outskirts of the city, a part of town I’d never seen before. It was small, but awesome nonetheless. We grabbed a bite to eat at an amazing sandwich shop down the street where I had one of the best burgers of all time.. sautéed mushrooms and beefness and blue cheese and other veggies. I don’t usually even like burgers. I was pleased. The spot was well decorated and wi-fied and played Widespread on repeat. It was also painted royal blue on the OUTSIDE. I tend to base my judgment of cities on their bars and restaurants.. I approve of the Charlotte art district. Good thing I don’t have to drive 8 hours to get to it.

Anyway, the show was complicated. We couldn’t load our stuff in until 10, when we were supposed to go on (we usually load in when we arrive at a venue.. 6, 7 o’clock, whenever). Well…. The band that played before us ended up playing a bit longer than expected.. about an hour longer. 

11 rolls around, and we are all fairly frustrated and still quite hung over from our night in Columbia. You could say the show lacked a little fire. We are the only ones who knew the difference though. The boys sounded great, and I had the opportunity to do some photogging and shoot some videos. We had people donate money on top of merch sales, thanks to my charm and awesome sales skills, of course. Some friends from Asheville who came to see the show kidnapped Zack and took him barhopping as we parted ways to head for Lake Norman.

BJ’s good friend Reid, who used to play drums for AA, offered us his home for the night, even though he was actually in Raleigh for summer school. His parents were ready and excited, and had even prepped the jet skis for us to take out in the morning. Score. The GPS system in BJ’s automob seems to be rigged by the city of Charlotte. It intentionally led us off of highway 77, into the city for several loops, and then back onto the exact highway 77 exit. Sketchy. BJ also came dangerously close to having us beaten and killed in a traffic jam due to late-night construction. Moral of story: if people want to cut in line THAT bad, just let them. 

I can’t forget to mention how amazing the opening band was. You may think that I’m blindly supporting every band we happen to play with, but let me tell you, we’ve played with plenty of awful bands so far. When I have a good word to say about a band, I mean it. 

Ok. So apparently there are several musicians that do shows at The Evening Muse, most out of California, all amazing. They decided to get together and do a cross-country tour this time around, and we happened to be playing a show with them. They call themselves “The North LaBrea All-Star Conquistadors.” Despite the name, you would take them very seriously if you heard them… I was blown away. They packed the house. Unfortunately, they weren’t really interested in making friends that night, probably because we were a bunch of hung over whiney little bitches at the time. Oh well.

Eventually we arrived at Reid’s house. Hmm.. to describe Reid’s house. Gigantic abode sitting on a peninsula on Lake Norman. Next lot over houses a Nascar Driver (I would have remembered the name if I actually cared about Nascar). Next-next lot over sits a five-story house with floors made of 200-year-old Chinese railway planks that cost more than our lives. All of these houses were built by Reid’s dad, who owns a luxury homebuilding company. For those of you who aren’t aware, I have a sore spot for architecture/design/building/construction. I feel like in a past life I may have been a construction worker, and loved every minute of it. 

Ok, enough about the amazing house and amazing owners. We all got our stuff together and went to our beds (yes, we each had a bed to ourselves.. that = 6+ bedrooms), but not before me, Beej, Bill, and Jessica (Bill’s girlfriend who came up for the night) snuck around the house taking pictures. We might be lame, yes, but we slept in goosedown beds in a lakefront mansion and you didn’t. We win.

5/22/2007 – FREE DAY at Lake Norman/Asheville

We all woke up rested for once! This is a rarity.. we usually get away with 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I think I slept in later than anyone, because I woke up to the boys playing guitar and imitating the grandpa/grandson blues duo we heard during early open mic hour the night before… poor chaps. I thought they did fine. Musicians can be such pretentious assholes.

We went to lunch at McAlister’s Deli, and happened to run into Ricky Rachtman, old-school VJ for the Headbanger’s Ball, did a bunch of work on MTV and VH1.. etc. It was a little before my time, but I recognized him anyway. The boys who recognized him were absolutely giddy, but didn’t quite have the balls to go say hello. Ricky even happened to walk right through our group in the parking lot, but BJ still wouldn’t talk… and so Ricky disappeared into the plaza.

We headed back to the house and spent a few hours on the lake. BJ almost killed both Bill and Jessica (Bill’s girlfriend) on the jet skis (”there’s nothing manlier than cruising on a jet ski at 65 mph… I’m glad we didn’t die”). I didn’t sunburn! I hadn’t had a real day on the water since my junior year of high school. I needed it. 

Reid’s parents invited us to stick around for dinner, and they cooked us a fantastic meal. I was pleased. I talked to Reid’s dad at length about his job, and after finding out that he started a building company with a degree in English, I am feeling inspired about having a potentially irrelevant degree for my future. He ended up giving me a copy of his portfolio and all of his contact information. I think it may come in handy. 

After some frantic attempts at updating travel logs, we all decided to head out and seek shelter in Asheville at the abode of some good friends who came to visit us in Charlotte the night before (the ones who kidnapped Zack). Once again, the GPS system misleads us a bit, but we arrive at the house around 1:00 am. We eventually hit the hay near sunrise. 

We all know and accept that this day WILL be the best day we have on tour. But that’s only judging according to amount/quality of sleep and lack of strenuous activity. We are all glad we had a break, but the boys are ready to rock more faces. Onward.

5/23/2007 – Asheville to Knoxville

Tour has been successful thus far, but there is one little problem we collectively have (besides alcoholism) – sleeping in. Every night we plan our moderately early wake-up time, then immediately disregard it and sleep in until lunchtime or later. Not that this really cuts into our schedules (as we have none besides playing shows around 10:00pm), but it would be nice to have one person drive to next destination while the rest doze off in the back, leaving us the rest of the afternoon to explore the town before showtime. It never quite works out like that though. 

This particular morning, we accidentally sleep in until 1 or so, eat some kickass granola/yogurt/fruit concoction, drink some amazing coffee (Asheville folk really know how to grub, at least in my opinion), pack our junk, and head to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our amazing hosts, Amanda and Kirsten, offered to take us to a waterfall just to satisfy the burly mountain man in us. 

Unfortunately, it seems that only Amos and I truly appreciated the majesty of our adventure. Okay, I’ll give Zack and Bill credit for being jolly, but I don’t think BJ and Chris enjoyed themselves that much. In fact, I have never seen a group of men complain so much about being outdoors. Perhaps the drive was a bit longer than expected, but after about 30 minutes on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we parked and hiked for a good while. 

I took about 300 photos, then we hiked back to the auto, said our goodbyes to Amanda, Kirsten and boyfriend, and headed off to Knoxville. 

Highway 40 between Asheville and Knoxville is stunning. Unfortunately, we drove under one of the worst downpours I have ever seen in my life. You thought our lives were in danger in Columbia? This drive mostly consisted of hydroplaning while squeezing between concrete walls and semi-trucks at 60 mph. I am glad to be alive. 

Eventually things cleared up and we made it to Knoxville. Knoxville is interesting. Very old city.. it seems like little development has occurred in the last 500 years. I guess you could say it was vintage and has character, but I just see a large dusty desolate wasteland. 

[I promise I am not normally a negative person, and don't usually have only harsh words to say about every new spot I encounter, but I think I'm just not a fan of old southern cities. I know that if I had more than a couple of hours to explore more than the radius of the city within walking distance of a venue I'd discover some great things, but I just don't have the time to find out anything more than what I do within these limits. We'll see what happens once I reach the west coast.]

We are playing at Barley’s Taproom, a HUGE restaurant and bar in downtown Knoxville. To give you an idea of the venue… this is where Lucero and other high-end alt-country acts play whenever they come through. 

We were supplied with all the free food we could possibly want. I ordered the best pizza I could possibly come up with, then immediately left the venue to explore town. I encountered an old junk shop and stepped in to take a gander. I talked to David, the owner, for a while. Apparently this was the oldest antique shop in all of Knoxville. He explained his idea of the city to me – “it’s like an awkward teenager. You know it will eventually grow up into something great, but you are just damn ready for it to go ahead and get it over with.” 

I took his photo and headed back to Barley’s to grub. We probably bought 150 bucks worth of gourmet pizza and calzones and nachos. Unfortunately, they weren’t offering us any sort of drink discounts. Being the spoiled clients we are, we were bitter and decided to play a sober show. I don’t think they realized how much $$ they lost with that decision. 

The show itself sounded great. I shot a few videos, all of which ended up flawless, despite my camera still being grainy. After the full band played a set, BJ stayed up and played another hour of solo material, while the boys sat with me and looked at pictures and Zack sat at the bar trying to find us places to stay for the night. 

We originally had a spot landed at a friend of BJ’s, but she had a family emergency and had to step out for the night, so we were out of options. Zack found a fan who wanted to put us up for the night, but he ended up turning his phone off and sketching. After some discussion, we decided that it would be best just to drive straight to Starkville, Mississippi (approx. 7 hours) and just sleep on the way. Not the most comfortable option, but it was our only one at the point. 

I was going to drive first shift. Just as I was pulling out of the parking lot, we spot a car of foxy ladies leaving the Taproom. We decide that we have nothing to lose, and BJ approaches their car to inquire about a place to stay. The girls offer their place. Success! We later find out it’s because they saw a girl with the posse (that girl being me). I knew my job was important. 

We end up staying the night with these three chicks in downtown Knoxville.. I do not remember their names. One of the girls was from Goldsboro, and I’m pretty sure we knew at least 15 people in common. We spent most of the night looking at videos of the show and playing with Nornton, their kickass dog. Seriously, I cannot express to you how freaking cool that dog was. He will forever be engrained into Bill’s and my memory. I even got to sleep in a bed instead of a couch or floor. Great random ending to a night in Knoxville.

2/24/2007 – Knoxville to Starkville to Little Rock

We all had agreed to wake up at 10am to get a head start to Starkville. Once again, we completely disregard the alarms we set and sleep in until 12. I steal a 3-minute shower from the random Tennesee ladies and we go on our way. I think all of the girls were still sleeping when we left. Thanks ladies, whoever you are!

The drive was long.. about 7 hours.. but it was gorgeous for the most part. Things are quite cozy in the SUV and we have no choice than to have a comfort bubbles constantly violated, but we’ve getting used to it. We also had an awesome lunch of leftover pizza from Barley’s in a gas station parking lot with a good view.

Once we started seeing billboards containing divine guidance such as “THOUGH SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY” or a simple, yet effective “JESUS,” we knew we were back in the dirty south. Starkville was not quite as urban as most of our stops so far. There isn’t much around. It is the home of Mississippi State, where my stepdad spent the 7 years of his undergraduate career. This is no Chapel Hill though. We got lost for a minute and ended up seeing a bit of “downtown” (a street with commercial establishments and people present), but it still wasn’t much to see. I suppose it’s a little emptier than usual since school is out for the summer. We eventually stopped and asked a police officer where Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern is. Actually, we didn’t even mention that.. Zack started off with “we’re a band playing a show tonight…” The cop lit up immediately and said “Dark Horse Tavern! Take a right and then go down 9 lights and take your next right and then a left and straight for 30 yards and a left and a right and you’re there.” Not that complicated, but that’s what it sounded like to me. 

We eventually found the place. It was old and dusty and dark, just how we like it. We had free pizza yet again, but this time we had free beer with it. Upgrade. 

At first, the venue was pretty empty for the show. By the end of it, we had a new posse of dedicated followers lined up in front, and another line to the merch stand. I sold more merch that night than ever, and the venue treated us SO much better than we expected paywise. I feel like this won’t be the last time AA visits Starkville.

Zack got exceptionally sloppy that night and almost quit the band in a drunken stupor, but we eventually calmed him down and convinced him to ride along to our next destination, Little Rock. We left that night and arrived in LR around 6 am at a house a friend loaded us for the visit. I spent some time emailing and being a general computer nerd, and eventually passed out at 8am. You could say my sleep schedule is a little warped. Good end to a busy day!

5/25/2007 – Little Rock

We had a photoshoot scheduled in LR at 2:00 this afternoon. Thank god we came up the night before, because we still came close to oversleeping. Much better than oversleeping and waking up 6 hours away.

We picked up the photographer downtown. She has done some amazing work photogging artists around the country, and came back from LA to spend the day with us. We wandered around town, and I had the best time watching the boys awkwardly pose for shots for a few hours. I could tell they were in agony.

By the time the shoot was done, she got some amazing shots, and we should be getting them within a week or so. I took another nap, and woke up just in time to head over to the venue, The Whitewater Taven. This place absolutely rocks. It almost closed down last year, but in February, a group of guys who had been drinking there since they were 14 decided to buy the place out and make it a kickass music venue. They are a huge fan of AA, and made sure to promote them well.

I’m sitting here in the bar we speak, and it is packed wall to wall. AA just finished their set, and the crows absolutely loved it. We’ll be here for a few more hours hanging out, and then the boys who own this place are taking us out for a celebration at a “late night bar,” one that stays open until 5 or so. I’m not sure how that’s legal, but I won’t question it. I have a feeling that tonight will be in the ranks with Columbia round 2. We’ll see what happens.

[Postlog]

The night ended up a bit different than expected. Nick, the co-owner who planned to take us out that night ended up leaving the bar, so late-night was a no-go. By 2:00, there would have been no freaking way we were able/willing to keep going anyway. After AA’s set, the boys came back and hung out with me at my merch perch, which was conveniently placed right beside the bar, so I had the chance to get to know all of the co-owners, sound crew, and some fans, including Heath and Jonesy, who great guys who have been to at least 15 shows and drove all the way from Oklahoma to catch us tonight.

At one point I was serenaded by some very drunk fellow who kept buying Amos shots of Jameson.

This led to the rebirth of the Baynes-monster, who spend most of his night screaming at the other band, trying to start fights, and saying inappropriate things at inappropriate times. Basically, he and BJ switched roles for the night (not that BJ does much screaming or fight-starting, but his generally inappropriate behavior makes up for it).

After getting harassed by the 3rd guy in the venue parking lot while we were babysitting Baynes, I was just ready to go. The night was beyond great, but I had been up for two nights straight already and I just needed to crash. We finally headed home and there was nothing keeping me from the big fat goosedown (yes, another) bed waiting for me.

Little Rock may be my favorite city thus far.. I like the aesthetics of Atlanta better, but the people in Little Rock absolutely rock. You can bet I’ll be at The Whitewater Tavern again before too long.

5/29/2007 – From Austin.