Days 9-10: Homes away from home
I'm writing from Daniel and Thi's in Pittsburgh, exactly one week after our last visit here.
We spent Friday in Boston hanging out with Deb. It was truly a wonderful time, and that's an understatement. Friday was our first day with no travel or shows since leaving KC, and it was fabulous to hang out and just watch the snow fall. That night we were honored to share Shabbos dinner with Deb and her friends. The conversation was delightful, as was the singing and the bountiful arrangement of amazing foodstuffs. Both Thursday and Friday were late late nights spent talking about all sorts of things. Magical stuff.
On Saturday we reluctantly piled into the car and drove through thick snow and slick roads to the house show in West Brookfield, MA. We met Skot and the nice folks who play in Calumet-Hecla and spent a few hours moving cars around to facilitate easy parking for showgoers in the absurd weather. Anne from Calumet-Hecla saved the day by re-sorting the show order and allowing me to play third. The set went over well and we met many nice and receptive people. We were able to load up and leave (after much slipping and lot of help) at about midnight. We made it to Connecticut by 2am and crashed at my Mom's place, which was covered with boxes in preparation for her move to Wisconsin next week. My Mom is a minister in the United Church of Christ, and she's recently accepted a position in LaCross.
On Sunday, we got up early, ate breakfast (I was shocked to see that my mom and I ordered exactly the same meal: a broccoli and cheddar omelette with home fries and rye toast) and took off for Pittsburgh. We arrived at around 6, ate a hurried meal at Sushi Too with Daniel and Thi and then headed to Garfield Artworks. I arrived after the official show start time, which is unusually non-professional of me, but I set up quickly and played better than I had since the tour kickoff in KC.
At the show were many friends from Pittsburgh, including Andrew Cuneo, former Whitford bassist. Andrew provided the usual quantity of Andrew-like news, including such factoids as "I earned more money last year playing pro poker than I did at my job" and "I'm now playing in three bands" and "I'm having trouble watching our wall of televisions because some of the remotes control more than one device and some of them conflict." Andrew is a mathematical and musical genius with very particular... ways. I really miss playing music with him. I was very amused that Thi thought he was upset or angry when in fact he was almost bubbly in Andrew terms. :)
It was also a pleasure to share the stage with the Black Spoons, who are acquaintances of KC's own Namelessnumberheadman, and Developer, who are fronted by Corey from Hovland, who Whitford played our first show with. Corey always has and probably always will write great songs, so you should check him out.
So now the shows are done. Tomorrow we eat lunch here at Spice Island, one of our favorite places, then we take off on the long road back to KC by way of Indianapolis.
I set out this year to play one show per month and as far as I can tell I'll finish with 17. I am proud of what I've done on my own, yet my mind is already moving on to what comes next... I will resume my search for a talented rhythm section when I return to KC and god willing, this time next year I'll be on the road again with a full band and a whole new batch of songs.
Stick with me!
Jesse
We spent Friday in Boston hanging out with Deb. It was truly a wonderful time, and that's an understatement. Friday was our first day with no travel or shows since leaving KC, and it was fabulous to hang out and just watch the snow fall. That night we were honored to share Shabbos dinner with Deb and her friends. The conversation was delightful, as was the singing and the bountiful arrangement of amazing foodstuffs. Both Thursday and Friday were late late nights spent talking about all sorts of things. Magical stuff.
On Saturday we reluctantly piled into the car and drove through thick snow and slick roads to the house show in West Brookfield, MA. We met Skot and the nice folks who play in Calumet-Hecla and spent a few hours moving cars around to facilitate easy parking for showgoers in the absurd weather. Anne from Calumet-Hecla saved the day by re-sorting the show order and allowing me to play third. The set went over well and we met many nice and receptive people. We were able to load up and leave (after much slipping and lot of help) at about midnight. We made it to Connecticut by 2am and crashed at my Mom's place, which was covered with boxes in preparation for her move to Wisconsin next week. My Mom is a minister in the United Church of Christ, and she's recently accepted a position in LaCross.
On Sunday, we got up early, ate breakfast (I was shocked to see that my mom and I ordered exactly the same meal: a broccoli and cheddar omelette with home fries and rye toast) and took off for Pittsburgh. We arrived at around 6, ate a hurried meal at Sushi Too with Daniel and Thi and then headed to Garfield Artworks. I arrived after the official show start time, which is unusually non-professional of me, but I set up quickly and played better than I had since the tour kickoff in KC.
At the show were many friends from Pittsburgh, including Andrew Cuneo, former Whitford bassist. Andrew provided the usual quantity of Andrew-like news, including such factoids as "I earned more money last year playing pro poker than I did at my job" and "I'm now playing in three bands" and "I'm having trouble watching our wall of televisions because some of the remotes control more than one device and some of them conflict." Andrew is a mathematical and musical genius with very particular... ways. I really miss playing music with him. I was very amused that Thi thought he was upset or angry when in fact he was almost bubbly in Andrew terms. :)
It was also a pleasure to share the stage with the Black Spoons, who are acquaintances of KC's own Namelessnumberheadman, and Developer, who are fronted by Corey from Hovland, who Whitford played our first show with. Corey always has and probably always will write great songs, so you should check him out.
So now the shows are done. Tomorrow we eat lunch here at Spice Island, one of our favorite places, then we take off on the long road back to KC by way of Indianapolis.
I set out this year to play one show per month and as far as I can tell I'll finish with 17. I am proud of what I've done on my own, yet my mind is already moving on to what comes next... I will resume my search for a talented rhythm section when I return to KC and god willing, this time next year I'll be on the road again with a full band and a whole new batch of songs.
Stick with me!
Jesse
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