May 8, 2006
Goin' Home
We're on our way home now, breathing the sweet air of New Jersey, looking for that first highway sign that says "New England."
Continue reading "Goin' Home"May 4, 2006
Greetings From the Grass Belt
They have all kinds of grass here in lower Appalachia: green, blue, crab, though I haven't yet heard "your ass is grass." What is the literal derivation of that phrase?
We're on our third semi-southern run in a year and we're gathering knowledge like so much Spanish moss. We're trying to do as the Romans do: wearing togas and championing man-boy love. No! Doing as the Romans is just a figure of speech for imitating the customs of the locals. We're in America now, so we're staying indoors and watching TV.
April 24, 2006
Cheekier By the Dozen
People are wondering why we didn't keep up with our road diary during our 4-week tour of Europe and the UK. In truth, we would have if we had had any time or energy left over to do so. In an effort to bring home any amount of money, no matter how small, we had very few days off and we waited until the last minute to find out what our accomodations were. Sometimes this turned out to be a mistake.
Continue reading "Cheekier By the Dozen"March 28, 2006
Two Twerps in Antwerp
Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, March 26 - Very, very tired.
Continue reading "Two Twerps in Antwerp"March 18, 2006
You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had
That's what Muddy Waters said, and I must obey. Or at least believe what he said. People want to know what I lost in Charlottesville. No, it wasn't my lunch, or my duck. To put it mildly, I lost my composure. I can't say I lost my cool because I never possessed that in the first place.
Continue reading "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had"February 22, 2006
Day 14 - Charlottesville
Before I tell the story, can anyone guess what I lost in Charlottesville?
February 16, 2006
Road Diary Day 9 - Lake Worth, FL
After we left Key West, Paul and I headed - where else? - back north. We played in Fort Lauderdale before continuing on to our big gig in Florida, the BamBoo Room in Lake Worth.
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February 4, 2006
Key West: Dante's Margaritaville
A few things we saw in Key West, the nation's southeasternmost point not counting Puerto Rico:
...Roosters. Key west is home to a large number of the free-roaming cocks. They crow to each other across the city like dogs. We couldn't find a hen anywhere, however.
...Restaurants with names like "Crabby Dick's" and other jokes of the junior-high-school variety that suggest oozing sores and pustules and are utterly unappetizing yet draw tons of customers, also unappetizing, who wisely skip the dinner course and go straight for the rum drinks.
...a cafe called "lateda", which led me to think that this restaurant catered to an upscale female clientele. It turns out I had a few things to learn about Key West.
...Conch fritters, a Key West specialty. It's a good idea to avoid the local specialty unless you have credible information from a proven source. Just a rule of thumb I thought I would pass on. If you must try them, order a plate of these large bivalves with a generous side of beer.
...The Green Parrot bar, where we played to crowd that was enthusiastic, if a little noisy. The audience seemed to be made up mostly of people from Boston, Savannah, Denver, Columbus, and Kansas City who had seen us play before. There were a few locals and some downright scary looking people, but everyone was very warm and friendly to us and we did our best to drown them out during and after the show.
... "Opera," where we got one of the best meals we've ever had in Florida. It's a family-owned Northern Italian restaurant with great food and even better service.
...The gas light, AGAIN. I'll spare you any more stories about almost running out of gas as it has happened about 6 times on this trip so far.
Next stop: Florida's Treasure Coast
February 3, 2006
Helen Hunt is Our Booking Agent
Day 10 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - 10:23 AM
You remember the old bar joke: "A woman named Helen Hunt has found a pocketbook, so if you've lost your pocketbook, go to Helen Hunt for it."
If musicians want to go on tour and they don't already have a booking agent, they can go to Helen Hunt for some gigs. This is also known as "touring in Florida." Florida, the southeasternmost U.S. state, was founded in 1955 by Sam Walton as a prototype for his future semi-eponymous chain of department stores. Its name was taken from an ancient Seminole Indian word meaning "long-ass state." Battered by hurricanes and hot sun, it hangs limply over the Gulf of Mexico, occasionally calling out to its neighboring states, "I'm OK, I just need to rest a minute." After 5 days in Florida, we feel the same way.
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January 26, 2006
Road Diary - Day 1
Voorhees, NJ, Wednesday, January 25, 7:41 PM
This is our first time keeping a road diary. It's also our first time touring for more than 2 weeks in the U.S. We almost didn't make it out of the house today. We had both burned the midnight oil getting ready for the trip. We made lists and sub-lists of things to do, things to buy, things to pack, and more. I took the van in for a tune-up, sent publicity materials out for the shows, reserved 12 hotel rooms and compiled 22 sets of directions along with gig and hotel information into a binder. Paul changed the strings on all his guitars and picked out 6 bottles of wine to get us through the long drives. I would trade places with him in a second if it didn't involve major surgery.
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2 - Recommended Listening
4 - John Sebastian
5 - Special Offer
6 - Harmonica Q&A
7 - News
8 - Road Diary
GOIN' HOME
The NEW release from
Paul Rishell and Annie Raines
