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Halfway Home
Left North Carolina on June 30th . . . 12 hours to Long Island New York to meet Jim Bianco at his dad’s house in Long Beach. Swam in the Atlantic Ocean. Played Brooklyn and DC, then visited our friends Al and Holly (who we’ll get back to in a minute) at Al’s folks’ place in Ocean City Maryland, miniature golf capital of the universe, for Fourth of July. Rode a rollercoaster and nearly threw-up, then rode it again so Jim could film it for our tour movie (which you can see at either of our myspace pages). Still didn’t throw up. Jim ate funnel cake, I caught a croaker, then we left.
Played Pittsburgh, Philly, Hoboken, Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Denver. We got the front windows tinted and couldn’t roll them down for 3 days on a toll road in a torrential rainstorm. It was mostly over 100 degrees. We didn’t talk to anyone except hotel front deskers and waitresses for almost three days. Finally ate Mexican food on the way from Denver to Aspen, in Glenwood Springs Colorado. Don’t remember the name, but it was a SUPER REAL taco shop in a mini-mall on the left side of the road if your driving out of Glenwood toward Aspen.
Played with the Cowboy Junkies in Aspen at the Belly-Up Tavern, same family as the one in Solana Beach. Rad club. Cowboy Junkies were cool, but their guitar tech was a dick for no reason. One of those “I hope I meet him again somewhere” kind of guys just so I can remind him of how much of a dick he is, and for no reason. If you’re reading this Mr. Cowboy Junkies guitar tech, we all live on the road and deserve at least basic politeness until we prove ourselves unworthy thereof. You are a dick, and for no good reason whatsoever. Jim was sick and getting sicker, so we split for Utah.
Played a super cool punk rock bar in Salt Lake City called Burt’s Tiki Room. Played Boise and stayed in an island-themed hotel that was very well air conditioned. Played San Francisco and visited with my friend Dominique who came and hung-out backstage, took pics, and was a regular joy to see as always. Along with just being super chill, Dominique always brings awesome gift bags . . . this year she brought me a diary and a gift certificate for In N Out, which Jim and I nearly killed ourselves with somewhere near Sacramento about a week later.
Left SF after the show over the Golden Gate Bridge, through San Quentin, and to Portland to play the next night — which is about 650 miles I think. Visited CDBaby and did a podcast the morning after the show. Jim got into a little trouble with a secret operative on our day off . . . but I’ll let him tell you that story. Drove to Seattle with Twitchy and played that night at the Crocodile where a girl fight broke out during “Falling Awake”, then to Spokane the next night at the Big Easy where we get to hang with our friend Brandy who always takes us out to eat late night and usually to sing karaoke.
The show in Spokane was on July 21st, exactly 3 weeks after opening night in Brooklyn. Woke up the next morning and started the 1400 mile journey to LA — which was awesome. Put together a band in LA . . . some old friends, some new. Al Sgro (keys, perc, bv’s), Holly Conlan (killing the harmonies and looking super hot), Jim Bianco (electric piano), Ben Peeler (lapsteel and electric guitar), Jon Button (bass for days), and Brendan Buckley (drums and drums). Played with Tears for Fears in Saratoga and Orange County. Headlined Humphry’s Backstage in San Diego with the band . . . JB opening. A good time was had by all.
Sitting in San Diego now, visiting with my whole family. Went surfing in the Pacific Ocean yesterday with my friend Kurt . . . going back to LA tomorrow for a week of meetings and traffic.
On August 18th Jim and I start heading back toward the country via Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte and Asheville.
Can’t wait.
Posted on 8.05.07