A Day In The Life

I have been inspired by a cool post by Chuck Anderson over at MusicianWages.com...he describes his day in the life as a working musician. He's got a very different day than anything I typically do, so I figured doing my own would not result in me being accused of plagiarism. Today was a 12 hour day from when we hit the road to when we got back home. I woke up at about 8 AM. The gig was a private party, and it was 3 hours away, so we got some coffee and picked up a fellow musician and took the scenic route because most roads that are not I-35 are scenic around these parts. We spent most of the time talking and I did buy a Giddings newspaper whereupon the police blotter provided 15 minutes of entertainment because it consisted of things like, "A cow was reported wandering loose on CR 391. Deputy Durburger arrived on the scene and herded the cow into the pasture. It was all ok." I'm not lying. About 30 minutes from our destination we heard a weird rumble. Susan pulled over and we had a smoking and shredded trailer tire. Luckily, Susan is not only a kickass musician, but pretty handy with a jack. We were on the road in 15 minutes. We got to the gig, set up the PA, changed clothes, sound checked, and I handled some email stuff while I waited for the show to start because there was wifi! Yes that's Susan and Kevin Welch. Yes it was awesome. It was fun and easy and I watched a good show and afterwards we packed it all back up and headed back. No flat tires on the drive home, just caffeine consumption. I had an hour drive back to Austin and now I'm blogging. It's almost midnight. Zzzz. That's usually what a day is like when we leave home and return home in the same day. These days are rare, but appreciated. During the week a typical day for me involves waking up as early as I can stand depending on how late I was up the night before...the first half of my week is spent trying to normalize my body clock and the second half of the week is usually spent destroying it again. That's ok. I still try and get 7 hours a night regardless. Anyways, once I wake up an inject coffee into my veins, I'll handle email and do booking. I do best with booking if I have an expansive amount of time because while it is very analytic to map things and route things and put things on calendars, it is also a creative process and I like time to sit and think. I'll handle web site updates, blog, or do my own writing during the mornings, too. Sometimes it's erranding like mailing gig posters and the like...the post office is not my favorite place, but I like the do-it-yourself kiosk so I get out of there with as little human interaction as possible. Then depending on the day I'll either go work at the music school (Red Leaf School of Music) from afternoon into the evening or go work for Dan at Rubicon Recording. (A thorough Rubicon post is forthcoming. It's really cool). This past weekend we had a non-gig day, so Susan and I spent it registering for the Folk Alliance 2011 conference, arranging some travel plans for her, and making spreadsheets and plans for her new album release in February. Then we watched a Mae West movie because what else do you do after making spreadsheets? It's a varied week every week and I like it that way. Sometimes it drives me nuts, but I've done the monotonous job thing before and I wouldn't trade this for anything. And now...about that bed time thing...tomorrow is here.

Juice+Dogs

Breakfast in OKC was not only red fruit juices, but they started things out well. Mine was the tiny glass of grapefruit. I need to partake in grapefruit more. We found a dog park, which is kind of a fascinating study in human/canine interaction. The dogs were coolest with each other when their owners were cool about everyone hanging out. There was one harmless pesky puppy and one little guy that tried to pin everyone else down who was twice his size. A lot can be learned about human psychology in a dog park. More fun in Fort Worth watching Susan songswap with Elizabeth Wills. E-Dub, as I have taken to calling her with absolutely no permission from Elizabeth herself...is absolutely one of the most fantastic singer-songwriters I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. She's also a gem of a person and has helped us out here at Team SG quite a bit. Still getting the hang of this new iPhone 4...I love it. It takes pretty awesome photos. My night photos with the other one were usually pretty blurry. The fact that you can see this scene below without feeling carsick (desksick?) is a testament to how cool this phone is. One day I'll stop gushing but not any time soon.

Action...Figures.

Right, so this is my first blog with photos from an iPhone 4, which will heretofore be known as the GREAT MAGICAL WONDER GADGET. I love it. Thank you, you know who you are. Anyway, we had an unplanned day off in Oklahoma because of an unfortunate gig cancelation, but hey those things happen. We were on the road no more than 20 minutes looking for protein for breakfast when we saw on the sign for the Pauls Valley exit that there was an Action Figure Museum. Excuse me? Jana: "ACTION FIGURE MUSEUM!!" Susan: "Whaaat?" Jana: "ACTION FIGURE MUSEUM!" Susan: "Do you want to go?" Jana: "ACTION FIGURE MUSEEEUUUM!!!!!" Yeah, we went. Turns out, this guy who is an artist and lives in Pauls Valley...really like action figures. So he turned his collection into a whimsical museum. Maybe the brightest colored museum I have ever been to. Behold the wonder! Just a sliver of the main display wall... There was much nostalgia to behold...Ninja Turtles were my thing. I had to explain that I went through a variety of favorites (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael...sorry, Michaelangelo). There were Batman displays and Star Trek and Star Wars and Mickey Mouse and DC Comics and Marvel Comics and even Spinal Tap action figures. Phew. I walked away amazed at the amount of merchandising that goes into all of these big name cartoons and movies. I knew it, but to see ALL of it displayed at once was mind-numbing. Down to the underwear. Today it's a show in Oklahoma City! I wonder what kind of randomness we'll encounter...

The Essential Dixie Chicks

I won't lie. It's kind of cool that this album being released has a tiny impact on my own working life. If anything, it is something cool for Susan to discuss because see that sticker with the song titles on it? ONE OF THEM IS HERS. Awesome. My Dixie Chicks history is long and not-so-storied. I remember the music video of them sitting on an airport baggage claim spinny thing - their big debut. I don't remember the first time I heard "Wide Open Spaces," though. I owned the album long before I ever heard of Susan (apparently I didn't read liner notes much). I liked that they played their own instruments. I do remember being super excited about buying Fly (their second album) when it came out, so I was a hardcore fan by then...sometime in high school. I didn't see them live until I moved to Austin in 2006 for their Taking The Long Way release tour; it was awesome. I had just moved to town really and didn't know anyone well enough to have a concert buddy yet. It's weird to go to a big show like that by yourself, but then again, I wasn't going to pay attention to anything or anyone but what was happening on stage anyway. As I started to realize how Austin-based much of their circle is...from Terri Hendrix's composition Lil' Jack Slade (also on the Essentials list) to getting to know Lloyd Maines, it made me like them more. They are surrounded by good folks. I am fortunate to be surrounded by some of those good folks, too, all without ever having met any of the DC's themselves. They have continued to be musical pioneers, championing great songwriters and being great songwriters themselves. Sticking to their morals when mob political hysteria got ridiculous. Being all around hard-working creative folk. And for that I will quote Susan and what she says every night at every gig..."Thank you, Dixie Chicks!" Amen.

Greetings from Gulf Shores

It's pretty down here. We drove in at sunset and I have seen the Gulf Shore Beach in the dark, so I'm sure it will reveal its glorious daylight wonder tomorrow...but it was cool to walk in a good 6 inches of fine sand and sink with every step. The beaches in Texas are pretty packed. This Alabama sand is a different beast. It was pristine, with nary a weed or rock to get in the way. To recap the last few days...Virginia at Ashland Coffee and Tea was so fun; the venue is such an esteemed listening room and the folks are the nicest. We're going back in April! We saw a little of Richmond and ate some lovely Thai food downtown. The Yelp! app on my phone has helped immensely in booking motel rooms and finding places to eat that don't suck. The next day we drove to Chapel Hill, NC and Susan was interviewed on WCOM before the gig, and then she and I got to guest DJ for half an hour. We played stuff by our friends; Jess Klein, Dana Cooper, Terri Hendrix, and then...Flight of the Conchords to top it all off. Win for suSANNNG! and DJ Lady Popo. At a late night truck stop break I got a non-traditional North Carolina pig. It pained me because it is not white and does not have hearts for eyes, but this was my last chance for a NC pig so I took it. He's ok. He'll fit in. Suz at The Cave in Chapel Hill Then we stayed the night in Charlotte (which I know is a big town but for the life of me I could only come up with that it is the home of the Hornets...) and walked the dogs in a cemetery which was only slightly creepy. Then we drove from Charlotte through South Carolina to Georgia where Susan songswapped with Rachael Sage and Chris Trapper at another of the nation's great listening rooms; Eddie's Attic. What a room. It has birthed the careers of folks I love like the Indigo Girls and Jennifer Nettles. Then we drove to Alabama to stay in Montgomery for the night, which is 4 states in one day! Georgia Pig. Score. Today we left Montgomery but not before consuming more Thai food (yes, in Alabama, so?) and I had to stop and get some flip flops. I started this 2 week trip with the intention of proving I am an adult and can wear real shoes for 2 weeks, but I quickly discovered that I don't wear flip flops out of immaturity, I wear them because I don't like crap covering my feet. I was miserable, and Susan had to endure about 3 stops at truck stops and a CVS that involved me unsuccessfully searching for flip flops. (WHERE ARE ALL THE FLIP FLOPS IN ALABAMA???) I finally scored some in Montgomery. Which is also the place where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, which is not related but interesting nonetheless. And tonight we walked the Gulf Shores Beach and now I am blogging and for now you are completely up to date.

Tour Recap

Sloooow! I am slow! The thing about this tour, being our second to Montana in 3 months, is that while it was fun and the scenery was gorgeous, it was kind of the same thing as last time except I was not hunting for ceramic pigs. So there's that. We did get to detour through Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park this time, which was amazing even if it was raining when we got to Old Faithful. It started downpouring and while I like me a geyser, I like being dry. So we saw the geyser but not geysering. Still super cool. Still took a geeky photo in front of it. This is Yukon the cat who lives at The It Club in Butte, MT. He owned the place, and sat on the merchandise bag some of the night. We were best friends by the time the gig was over. I almost snuck him in the trailer. In Saratoga, WY, Susan stopped by Big Brothers, Big Sisters to talk to the kids about songwriting. She's a natural teacher along with her natural entertaining, so I think everyone had a great time! In Taos at Michael Hearne's Big Barndance Festival, Susan and Don Richmond ripped it up on stage. My buddy Dave was there as the official photographer, so I figured I'd paparazzi him. Sorry, Dave, your fans demanded it! And then there was the Amarillo show with Gary Wayne! He was a member of the Groobees with Susan, and he is one of my favorite guitarists ever ever ever. Also he's hysterical. And a nice guy. On the trip home we had 5 gigs in 5 days, and I preferred it that way. I was pretty proud of my booking that leap frogged us from northern Wyoming to Luckenbach, TX in 5 days without any horrific drives. Each day was about 5-6 hours long for driving, which is doable when you have energy drinks in bulk. Yes, it was good.

Where I've Been

Last weekend we found ourselve with a day off in Taos, where we started writing a song in the park before a high school "sophtmore" sat down at our tree and started reading us his novel. He had 2 chapters done. It made for an interesting afternoon. The next day Susan played the Larry Joe Taylor festival in Red River, NM, where I stuck my toes in the very very very cold river. Then it was up to South Fork, CO for the Rhythms on the Rio Festival. If I had my druthers for a 5th job it would be live concert photography. I bet that pays even less than playing the live concerts. THEN it was off to one of my favorite places on the planet, Centennial, Wyoming. Susan's cousins own the Friendly Store/Cafe/Bar/Motel there and they have this cool stage off in the aspen trees. It was magique, to be French about it. I highly suggest if you are around Laramie you divert for a trip to Centennial. Tell them we sent you! Have an omelet. The omelets are the best. Tomorrow we finally get to Montana! A drive through Yellowstone is on the list.

Stuff Susan Brought Back From the Store

Because we are fancy and we require fancy things. Because we are in Taos and we need to taste test both. Because Suz is the best boss evaaaaarrrr!

Susan Kerrville Interview

A great interview with Susan, some insight into what makes Kerrville Folk Festival so cool, some new record thoughts, and then she says nice things about me at the end. :) Thanks, SG!

All Nite Drive Part 5

It is most decidedly daytime now.

All Nite Drive Part 4

(Part 3 is the previously posted Coffee disaster. I prefer to think of it as an intermission).

All Nite Drive Part 2

Why Oh Wyo

All right, above is the moose photo. I added some helpful scientific labeling so you all could see exactly where the moose were. The light was bad, but they were close. Then they walked by even closer. We were very quiet. We drove through the Medicine Bow Mountains to do a radio spot in Saratoga, WY before the shows this weekend and while the weather was lovely, if we had come a week or 2 earlier I would have been crying for mercy because I am a cold weather wimp. I am also a hot weather wimp which is why I am so glad to be in this part of the country right now because it like 102 in Texas. I have a very specific temperature range I am happy with, apparently. Susan busted out her new Voyage Air Guitar for the Bigfoot 99 Radio interview, as she is an endorsed artist for the company and it FOLDS IN HALF. More on that later, but it sounds great and here it is with her duct taped pants. Artistic? I think so. We played at the Friendly Store in Centennial, WY, which is a town of 60 people and then everyone else who comes in from towns nearby...so we had a pretty packed place. Always fun, though the space to dance backs right up against the stage, so I had to run interference and be all bouncer-like to try and keep the dancers from knocking the microphone and knocking Susan's teeth out. She still got popped in the face once but no harm done. Super fun show. The next day we headed over the mountain again to Saratoga, where some friends of ours put on an awesome festival IN THEIR FRONT YARD. ON THE RIVER. It was amazing. Even more amazing the yard had been full of water a few days before due to some flooding, but it receded just in time for some music. There was a noise ordinance curfew, so while Susan and I were playing "Wide Open Spaces," the police apparently told then to shut down the sound system. It was all very polite, but it was my first time having a show ended due to the cops. Good times! We slept and slept and slept and then drove and drove and drove so we are in Billings (narrowly missing a tornado). Today we make it all the way to Flathead Lake. Google it, it's super far up there. Yay!

So Far So Great

Well I've lost track of days already. Oh well. I'll just blog when I feel like it, like usual. We are in Centennial, WY. Susan played a fun show in Arvada, CO at the Old Towne Pickin' Parlor, a killer music store where you can play anything hanging on the walls, and there are a LOT of cool guitars on the walls. I fell in love with a little small-bodied Martin, and checked the price tag: $8995. So I tried my hardest to sell $90,000 worth of merchandise to earn my 10% commission so I could buy the guitar. I fell a little short. Next time. Then we stayed with the parents of my college roomie, Beth (who is now Dr. Beth, yay for smart roommates!), and Beth's mom made us puffy pancakes with gluten free flour. Something about that flour makes them huge but very light. The only pancake where you feel like floating after eating it. After a general car maintenance check, we left Denver and headed up to Wyoming yesterday. It was errand day, so we stopped and bought a new power inverter for the car because the old one had broken, and I am pretty antsy and useless in a car without the ability to plug in my laptop. Susan understands this, thankfully. We also stopped at a Guitar Center and I got a "how to play the ukulele" book. Suz might regret that later, haha. Or she might just make me drive the whole way to cut down on my practice time. Upon arriving in Centennial, we were there no more than 20 minutes when the dogs went ballistic and we went outside to find 2 moose (mooses, meese, mice, mooi) in the yard, no more than 20 yards away. My first wild moose sighting. They walked by us and went along their moosey way. Very cool. Today is a day off and I am parked in the hotel room, about to do some booking and edit the great "All Nite Drive" epic film, sure to win me and Oscar and skyrocket us to Youtube fame and fortune. Or something.

June Tour Day 1

30 Day Tour...Day 1

Susan backstage at Kerrville All right. Let's see if I can do a blog post a day for 30 days. Don't be sad if I don't, but let's all have a party if I do. We started the weekend at the Kerrville Folk Festival, where Susan played a kick butt set on the mainstage. And then we slept, and then we drove to Galveston and Susan played with Mark Jungers and Matt Harlan at The Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe. Fun! Arkansas! Now we are in Houston for a show tonight and then we will hop in the car and drive for 17 hours to Taos. I stayed up until 4 AM and then slept as long as I could to jack up my sleep schedule. We'll see how it goes...

May May May

BLOGGING! Yes I still do it, just infrequently. What has been going on? - I have been booking in earnest to complete our June/July tour from Texas to Montana to South Dakota to back. I have never booked in South Dakota before, and while it is one of my home states, it's...big, and maybe not so hot on folk music. But the thing about a good singer-songwriter is they fit in anywhere, you just have to find a stage and some ears. I'm working on finding the stages at the moment. Look real close and you'll see a scar on Susan's arm. We didn't really know until earlier this month if Susan's arm would be out-of-state giggable by June, but she is doing SO GREAT with the playing. You would not even know that she had surgery to put in 2 plates and 11 pins and had her wrist put back together a mere 3 months ago. Bones are amazing, because clearly they will snap if you move them wrong...but they also seem to go back together and get back in the game pretty fast. Humans are hearty. - We are probably on mixing round...3? We sent our tracks to Phil in Dallas who mixed my last EP...he is great to work with and we just bounce back and forth...he sends a mix, we say, "MORE MANDOLIN!" and then he does that and we say, "GOOD!" He does an amazing job, as I liken sending a bunch of rough tracks (as many as 23 files for one tune) to sending someone a box of paint colors and telling them to have at it. Then they give you something using all the colors and you edit it. Fascinating. - The artwork is coming along, too - I can't wait to share it. Emily is working on it once again after she did a bang-up job with The Early Year. I will reveal that the title of EP 2 is...are you paying attention? THE TITLE OF EP 2 IS... For & Against Ta da! - What else? The first weekend of the Kerrville Folk Festival is coming up and we will be there...the line up is pretty amazing, with Producer Dan's band porterdavis, Sara Hickman, Terri Hendrix, and the Indigo Girls. Heck yes. I'll take pictures. And blog more.

Twaiwah!

Feelin' the Love

Last night we had a benefit to raise some funds for Susan's broken arm bills at Gruene Hall, one of my most favorite places to be, and now luckily, to play. When we knew we had it billed as "Susan and Friends," we'd thought we'd shoot some emails out to a bunch of people we'd like to see and hear, and hope that a couple of them were in town and free to come play the show with us. Turns out, everyone one of Susan's amazing peers that we asked...said yes. Hence we had quite the amazing bill with Patrice Pike, Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros, Tina Mitchell Wilkins, Michael O'Connor, Shelley King, Mark Jungers, Elizabeth Wills, and Carolyn Wonderland. For those of you who are not in the Texas music loop...these people are Texas music GOLD. All of them. The show was amazing. And we had to cram them all into half hour sets, and the amazing thing is after 8 acts over a 4 hour period, we were only running 10 minutes behind schedule. Not only are Susan's people talented, but PUNCTUAL. Be still my task manager heart. Here are some photos...thanks to every one of you all who came, threw some cash in the tip jar, and had a good time. Patrice Walt, Tina, Brian, John, and Bill Michael O! Did I mention it was PACKED? Shelley, Elizabeth, and Suz harmonize... Mark! Shelley and Carolyn and a full house. And now Carolyn has made me want a lapsteel. I need to pick an instrument and stick to it.

Fare Thee Well, Sprinter

Last month we cleaned out the Sprinter van, as it was also a casualty in Susan's accident that broke her arm (which a splint on now and is doing well). Unfortunately, as Susan put it...while the arm is fixable the van isn't. Sigh. I only had about a year and a half as full-on van passenger (and even graduated to driver sometimes), but I saw a lot of the country from its giant windows, and dropped a lot of stuff in the wheel well that I had to contort myself to claim (evidence here). Susan had quite a few years with it, and it was big enough in personality that the only name it needed was "The Van." Everyone knew when we had arrived at the gig, and many times people even knew when we were en route to the gig. The Van was hard to miss. People are always curious about that type of vehicle when you pull up in it and pile out with 3 dogs, 3 girls, a PA system, 2 - 4 guitars, a banjo, merch...and makeup. "Do you all LIVE in that?" No. "Do you all sleep in it?" No, just Susan and her dogs. "Is that a couch?" Yes. "What kind of gas mileage?" 26. Booyah! The next touring vehicle option? For now it's an Element, but it doesn't hold both gear and dogs. So I'm sure Susan will know it when she sees it. And it will become just as big a part of her road life as this Sprinter has been. And the miles put on the next one will be filled with just as much laughter, music, talk radio, dog water spills, dashboard knickknack collections, and teeth-clenching to get to the gig on time as The Van had. And very time I see a Fed-Ex van, I'll feel a little nostalgic.