EARTH DAY CELEBRATION 2008!15 Minutes of Fame!The first 15 MINUTES OF FAME was officially a success! Here are a few pics of the folks I was lucky enough to have there singing for me (and I guess everyone else!) Unfortunately I didn't get everyone but...
 Hi from all of us!  David Goldman post-great set!  LJ Murphy kickin' butt.  They have food now! Chili Fries!!!  My kick-ass featured songwriter Ann Klein with Joe Brent and the spontaneous mandolin war!  Julius noisied the room up a bit!!  Adorable and awesome Lara Ewan  Picken Chicken!! Or Hilary Hawke of Hogzilla - such a great set!  And last but not in the least least - Rick Snyder!!! What an awesome treat to end the evening! Bye Bye Hair!!So I had mentioned to a few of you that I was going to do this... and now I have!! The hair went bye bye! I got it chopped off on this past weekend at Salon Bohemia in Park Slope (thank-you Karen!).... and now it is officially on it's way to LOCKS OF LOVE in Florida! It turned out I had 14 inches to give to them! Yay!!
Here's a little photo diary of all the fun and trauma (thank-you to Angelo Merendino of JuliuS for the pictures!): Right before the cut!   Holding my breath...  14 Inches! Yikes.  The cutting begins...  And keeps going....  And going...  AND going....  GONE!       Sadness for the new bang-ed do...? Nah - it's all good!  Check out the bangs!  So I lived through it! Would I do it again? I dunno! Ask me in a couple years! Happy New YearHELP!! And cool news!Dewey Beach Americana Music FestI LOVED the Dewey Beach Americana Music Festival!! What can I say? The Rusty Rudder was a very cool place, they had 4 stages set up 2 out, 2 in and they would just switch off... so there was always someone playing while someone else was setting up! For those of you who have been to a festival before, I'm sure this isn't big news, but it was my first and I thought it was awesome!! And especially because I got to play on the big inside stage! (What did I do to deserve this??) Here is the ONLY picture I have, because I left my camera in the hotel room. I know. Lame. You don't know the half of it! You can just barely see Max on the side and Willard in the back. And Roland is sawing away on the right.  The band was amazing! Everyone signed on last minute and they all killed it. They sounded incredible, and they were ALL troopers! Willard drove himself there and back all in one night, Roland took the gig out of Joe's hands 4 days before and still played perfectly... But I have to give special props to Max who I had to wake up first thing in the morning when I discovered the flight I had booked to get back to New York on Saturday morning (so I could pick up a car and drive these boys back down to Dewey Beach) DIDN'T EXIST. That's right, the flight didn't exist and I had NO way to get to New York in time to get back! So Max got up, went into the city, picked up the rental car, picked up Roland, went back to Brooklyn to get his gear and then got them both down to Dewey Beach in more than enough time for the show. Without one little peep of a complaint. I owe you Maximiliano!! (Mom & John drove me there - thanks Mom & John!) Also, there were so many New York bands there - it was like a big reunion party, even with the people that I had not met before! I saw Gretchen Witt, Pemberton Roach (subbing for Last Charge of the Lighthorse) and met Pete & J... and I think those 2 owe me a Philly trip! All in all, great time. Was worth all the exhaustion I feel right now!!! I am Background Music!So, after some much needed rest, I took Alex wandering around in Norfolk before the show Friday night. We ran into my friend Joel who was SO happy to see us.  Ok, maybe he WAS kinda happy to see us.  We got a little windblown.  And Aromas in Williamsburg, that night, was interesting... One whole half of the room was not paying any attention to poor Alex and me....   but I got to be super goofy while playing so it was very fun. Also, Dave, who booked us, was so awesome, he gave us some free mugs - I wish I'd taken his picture... since we took pictures of almost everything else that night!! So, since no one would pay attention to me there, I will now make YOU look at my pictures!!! LOOK AT ME!! Ha ha ha. And then it will be on to Dewey Beach for my first Festival!! Alex and I post-show. Great one of me - thanks Joel!  My brother Jeff and his girlfriend, Cheryl....  Mom pontificating...  Lord have mercy, Joel and Alex got hold of the camera...   Mom and John....  I think I scared John!   Me and Mama and Jeffy!!  Akshay & the Blue Mountain CafeSo back out on the road again! But only for a few days this time... Left New York on a rainy Tuesday and it rained the WHOLE WAY. But it was a pretty uneventful trip considering! Spent all day on Wednesday just hanging around at Mom's and wishing I didn't have shows and that I could just continue to lie around (luckily I don't have pictures of this.) BUT I did make it to the show and had the best time! I got to see my friend Jenny and my friend Brian who I had not seen a long looong time!   So so so good to see them and it made me very nostalgic. I'll be going to back to visit soon, to revisit all the places in Richmond I used to hang around while in college and catch up more with my long-lost buds! As for the show itself... Alex was sick but awesome!  And here I am...  Then Akshay came up and did Damien Rice's 'Volcano' with me...  And we had a great local co-biller - Andy Moore!  Then afterward, we had some Peppermint Shakes at the Galaxy Diner with Akshay and Andrew! Akshay treated! Thank-you thank-you thank-you!!  Then back to Mom's pad in Hampton to try and get some sleep for the Williamsburg show tomorrow... How it went...So my long over due assessment of the tour!!
I never did get to stop at one of these....  I also didn't get to ride a mechanical bull. I found one in New Orleans but the bar was no empty. No fun. However, I learned some things... -There are certain shirts you should not wear for a show unless you are a stripper. Me trying to expose myself (again)  -What grackles are and that they will steal your food. - Music Row is not as exciting as it sounds! (Although the nude statue is fun!)  -58 is NOT the fast route to VA from TN. (But now I know where they grow the Christmas Trees!) -New Orleans is best done with a friend. -Houston is hot. -I'm pretty sure I could drive aournd forever! Yes... I was ready to keep going and going. The freedom was so amazing. I would love to have someone with me, but at the same time, doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted was pretty cool. And there are still a million places I need to go and maybe next time more off highway roads like 58. At the same, I gained a greater appreciation of New York while I was away... There is something wonderful about a slower pace and sometimes New York makes you crazy, and it's really hard to go BOWLING here... There is just something you get here that you don't get anywhere else. I could still do without the winters though. Maybe here in the summer, Austin in the winter? Anyway!! My favorite things about being gone were being basically barefoot ALL THE TIME,  my Mom's fried chicken (she filled my cooler with it before I left and, rather than getting sick of it, I became an addict), my awesome hotel in Nashville,  Big Wilson Creek,  eating lots of breakfast in Atlanta with Brookie and Lynn, finding the "city of the dead" in New Orleans, getting some cool pictures (before my camera broke),  and all the different coffee houses...  And not to mention getting to do show after show after show. And of course, the people I met. I feel so lucky to have come across so many awesome souls. Let me just thank Julie AGAIN for everything she did for me in Austin. She helped make it my best stop along the way. And I had such a good time visiting with Hilah's bro - he's coming to NY soon to visit - yay! I finally got to meet my MySpace friend, Kari, then got to meet Akshay and sing a little Damien Rice with him the same night... I made a friend after the show in Apex, Jason. He kept tabs on me along the way, kept me from getting too lonely (of course, Shambo, you did this for me as well - but I knew you already! :). My fellow 'Andi' in Houston - she tried to take me out after the show but, I'm spoiled in NY and couldn't handle the amount of smoke that kept collecting in the bar! Oh well. Scott and Donny kept me company in Nashville... too fun. Wanted to pack up them into the car with me! And one BIG thanks to my Mama! She made me all the chicken and hard boiled eggs AND macaroni salad, she printed all my posters and sent them out, she kept giving me directions when I ran into a glitch with the ones I had, was at 3 shows and hleped me promote them... What else? Oh, she gave birth to me! And it was good to get to hang out with her...  So, I guess I'm torn being back. Sad it's over but familiar territory is always nice. And I'm excited about the Pianos show! And the Rockwood show. And I got to go back to Sammy's and sing some backup for Alex Sweeton's new album which is coming along very nicely! AND I got to see Lenore and Andrew while seeing the lovely Mr Depp in 'Pirates'. And also, there seems to be a tubing trip & an Atlantic City in my future! So, I guess I don't have it so bad, eh? I'll keep up the blog now, but obviously not so often! I won't be writing about the cup of coffee I had this morning but I will definitely keep you up to date with any interesting things that come my way! xoxo No Sleep 'til BrooklynAnd here I am - so sleep I must. Just a quick note and a couple pictures from the last show, which was very intimate and, surprisingly, after 9 consecutive shows, I was a nervous wreck for... But Joel Haberli and Al Law kicked but with their ukelele/guitar duo!!
Gotta work on that posture!  Joel & Al or, the Hawiian Invalid Twins  Gotta work all day tomorrow but I'll have more to say about the past 3 weeks on the 4th! Have a great weekend! xo Where all the Christmas Trees Come From... I'm not kidding! There was hill after hill covered with Christmas trees just like this! Don't know if they are really farming X-Mas Trees or just filling out the hills - I kinda hope they are just filling out the hills! So I ended up here in Christmas Tree Land when I decided that the way yahoo maps was telling me to get to Hampton, Va from Knoxville was ridiculous. So I looked on the map and saw that Route 58 goes almost straight there! So I got off 81, went to THE ice cream stop for a toffee milk shake, and hit 58, which ended up adding THREE HOURS to my trip! Oops. But I wouldn't do it differently. The drive was AMAZING. It was just as beautiful and more fun (cuz it's less scary - no ocean to fall into) than the Pacific Coast Highway - which I have done twice. It was just curvy enough for me to thoroughly enjoy myself (altho, I might have scared anyone else in the car), I went through cute little towns, by neat old buildings,   it was so green,  and I drove along side a creek most of the way.  When I stopped to get this picture there were butterflies flying all over the place. It was like a freakin' Disney movie! (Speaking of butterflies, I forgot to mention that I was attacked by one in Austin while having lunch with Julie - since when are butterflies on the offensive?) So anyway, I followed this creek for awhile, the Big Wilson Creek,  and drove over a few others: Big Buffalo Creek, Butcher Creek, Rudds Creek, and then drove into Hampton and to Mom's while listening to Nickel Creek, ha! ('Why Should the Fire Die' - love this album - but I DIDN'T plan it that way!) And the beginning of the trip was new music drive for Andi. I started with Beck's 'Guero' (didn't like it as much as 'Midnight Vultures'), then Neko Case, given to me by Julie - very cool and kinda different, and Bruce Springsteen's 'We Shall Overcome - the Seeger Sessions'. Perfect for the drive! Never been a Springsteen fan but this album is great (it's all songs that Pete Seeger made famous). *Sidenote: Just saw on the news that Bush took the Prime Minister (a big Elvis fan) of Japan to Graceland yesterday. Bummer - a couple days difference in my schedule and I could have run into our illustrious prez! Apparently, I also missed some crooning by the Japanese PM...* Moving on!! My last show in a strange town, Knoxville, was interesting, but good! They have a loft above this restaurant, Oodles (where they offer a discount to performers) that has 7 beds, a little kitchen and bathroom for the artists who are coming through! Pretty awesome. So I hung there for a bit before the show (I stayed with Jodie Manross that night but she had rehearsal until 10PM). Then I was encouraged to start much later than the show was, as Knoxville is a late night town! And I was warned that this is not a listening room but it was still a bit disconcerting having people chatting away while I was playing... However! Everyone still clapped and cheered between songs and I sold CDs - so I can't complain! :) In fact, I would call it a success. Talking up the audience...  Mac Comer  Brendon James Wright  with Jodie Manross  really wanted her to play that night (she has a beautiful voice) but it didn't work out :( And Knoxville is so cute! The Preservation Pub is in this little Square full of stores (the pub has the yellow columns)   and there are other neat areas - love this sculpture that I found...  Couldn't stay long though, had to get on to (what I didn't know then would be) my 10 hour drive! Didn't feel like throwing up after this one though! Even felt good enough to get Mom to take a pic with my little Ford Focus...  I returned him yesterday. Sniff. And the last tour show is tonight! I am so sad. And I feel a little weird being back off the road (driving back to NY still but VA is also home). Almost like it never happened. I need to take a minute to reflect and absorb soon... The LONG drive to Nashville...FIRST of all... a couple of corrections from earlier...
You can find Brook's song from the show on his myspace.
And Warren's (the wonderful boy who changed my strings in Atlanta) band is here. Andi also - I wanted to you to see the cool picture I took in Texas!! (It IS Austin, but still...)  So, as you know, I left Austin on Sunday, sadly. (on a recommendation I got some Lonestar beer for my NYC friends on the way out - cheers!) I was NOT prepared for the drive I had ahead of me! Turned out to be almost 10 hours, which isn't much more than I thought, but of course, I was hoping to to cut time OFF not add it on! I drove through Arkansas (which Jamiey tried to convince me was pronounced a-RAK-na-sas)  and I was ready to throw up by the time I got to Memphis. But I DID get there and Gina's Mama and Papa were waiting for me! (but my camera broke :( - no pics of them!) So I had a nice, comfy bed and a big shower and a banana! A quick drive-by tour of Memphis (after buying a disposable digital camera) Graceland from afar - you can see the windows of the house far away!  Beale Street  Sun Studios  and then on my way to Nashville,  and my GREAT hotel! I got a little spooked at the hotel in New Orleans, so treated myself to something nicer in Nashville, but I still got a great deal through Hotwire. So I have been enjoying a little room service (yes, an unnecessary extra, but it was just a little breakfast!), some sitting by the pool, a big fluffy bed and a great view.  The show at 3rd and Lindsley was cool. It's a great club and there were a lot of people there. Clay played great, of course, amazing guitar skills (no pic - disposable camera doesn't work as well in the dark). And Keeley & Stan  managed to throw a band together a couple of days before the show and they ROCKED! This girl has a voice like no body's business! And great songs.  Yesterday I wandered around Nashville a bit. Saw Broadway  and music row (not that exciting unless you get to go in the buildings and give your CD to people. Maybe I should have done that!) I made some new, fun friends, Donny and Scott   and they took time out of their day to keep me company at lunch and at the Basement for some great live music! And, of course, the first great band I saw there was called KaiserCartel and they are from... Redhook in Brooklyn! Ha! Anyway - they are awesome - go listen! So now it is onto Knoxville! I had a little article written about me in a local paper, the Daily Times. Kinda neat. This will be the last stop in a strange city, then one more in VA and home!! Just managed to book a Pianos show so, I guess I will see you soon! Posts 1 - 12 of 20
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
