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Brooklyn + Philly = tour’s over

Brooklyn consisted of a few things:  Michael Jackson/Farrah Fawcett’s deaths, Eugene Mirman sighting, seeing Ace and Travis both, our last show of this tour, and me dropping the trailer lock straight onto my shin.

I got put on the bench, while the boys packed up the trailer.  We said our goodbyes to friends who attended the show and made our way back to Philadelphia.  The sun came up as we unpacked the trailer in New Jersey at the studio, and I finally got to play piano for Andrew ( a very sleepy and sloppy performance, but a performance nonetheless.)  We dragged everything out of Bear Force One, brought it upstairs to Andrew’s apartment and Wil and I were fast asleep on Andrew’s floor by 8am.

Wil and I both had a day to spend in Philly before we flew out to our respective homes.  We spent it watching a documentary on the Mellotron, eating veggie sandwiches, some amazing macaroni and cheese and getting our tour tattoos.  We’d spent so long talking about it, I couldn’t believe we finally made it in to a shop and got them done.  This was Wil’s first, and I believe he came through the experience with flying colors.

We all said our goodbyes the following morning.  We dropped Wil at the train station and  I managed to keep it together until it was time to say goodbye to Andrew.  The last few days were so tough to not think about parting ways from my three boys, it all built up and I couldn’t hold it in any longer.  I managed to cry all over Andrew’s shoulder before I packed up my stuff to go to the airport.  It broke my heart to get on the plane home, separating myself from these guys I spent almost every waking (and sleeping) hour with for five whole weeks.

The readjustment period back to “real” life has certainly been a slow one.  I’ve heard about “post-tour depression” and I believe I experienced some version of that once I landed in Seattle.  The following week consisted of catching up with friends and getting back to work – only to be informed I was to be laid off at the end of the month.

So, here we are.  I’m home, and I’ve come upon somewhat of a rare opportunity in my life.  I have no job, and I’ve certainly just spent a large chunk of time working in a field I wouldn’t mind continuing to do for the foreseeable future.  Where will I go?  What will I do next?  This is all up in the air – and I’ll be documenting it.  Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you all up to date on my next adventure.

Jackson, Columbia, Charlotte, Charlottesville

The next few days were quite a blur.  A busy, sweaty fun blur.  We played to a packed recording studio full of kids in Jackson.  We picked up Bear Force One, transmission fixed and ready to go, and made our way to Columbia, SC to play the Whig.  Then on to Charlotte to play probably one of the dirtiest clubs I’ve ever been in (and got to meet a nice lady named Kathleen in the process!), then on to Charlottesville where we dragged all our gear up a huge flight of stairs, Wil got something weird and inedible in his dinner, a bum asked us if WE wanted change, and we drove to Washington, DC to stay in Andrew’s sister’s place, bummed there wasn’t a tv for us to watch St Vincent’s performance on Letterman.

Austin

Sound checking in Austin at the Mohawk.  This was the last show we were to play with St Vincent, and honestly, I started getting pretty damn bummed out towards the end of the night about it.  We’d spent these last four weeks together with an amazing crew, and I was sad to see it come to a halt.  There were so many learning opportunities for me, thanks to St Vincent’s FOH, Dana.  The boys in the band were top notch dudes.  Annie was a dreamboat.  The crowd at the Mohawk really brought it, and PiM delivered quite a nice set, even including a Happy Birthday to Anne in the middle.   This was my first time running sound in an outdoor venue.  A little strange at first, but I think I managed to pull it together quite nicely, despite the kiddie pool from the roof being emptied straight down the back side of the sound booth area and the sweltering heat.

We had a day off after the show that night, and we got to enjoy it thoroughly.  St Vincent was to do a taping for Austin City Limits on our day off, so we got to be a part of the live audience.  Pizza, coloring contests and drinking were to happen as well.

Dallas

The Granada in Dallas was personally one of my favorite shows, sound wise.  The room was huge and sounded amazing.  I was a little worried during sound check because of the massive amount of slapback, however, as soon as the crowd came in, I’ve honestly never been happier with how my mix came out during a PiM set.  This is Annie’s home turf, so there were lots of friends and family there at the show.  Andrew even got up during St Vincent’s encore at Annie’s request to sing on a couple of her songs.

Hot Times in Hot Springs

On our way to Hot Springs, Chris felt the transmission slipping.  This resulted in stopping in Tupelo, MS to have it looked at.  The prognosis: we shouldn’t be driving on this any longer, and it needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY.  Chris is the champion in this story:  within two hours, we had Bear Force One being worked on, a rental van rented and brought to the transmission shop, and packed all our gear into the van, and leaving Tupelo for Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It was a sweaty one.

We played The Exchange that night, then headed straight to what would be the most amazing place we stayed during our trip.  Adam’s parents were nice enough to let us stay at their summer house for the night, and we took as much time as we could to enjoy the place.  I made pancakes in the morning and got to take a hot bath.  Me and the boys went swimming before we had to get out and head towards Dallas for the show at the Granada.

Atlanta / Birmingham

We did it up at the Earl.  Awesome food, met some really cool people (hello, Tierney!), got some bug bites, saw HUGE cockroaches and played some H.O.R.S.E. outside.

Birmingham was super sweaty (kind of a running theme) but the Bottletree totally brought it in terms of venue awesomeness.  We had our own private air conditioned trailer for a green room!  We had excellent food!  I even got to see a long lost friend for a good portion of the evening.  What a treat.

I <3 Athens

Nashville, Knoxville continued

Apologies for the delay in posting….  I’m either without an internet connection or I don’t have the opportunity to use it when I’ve got one.  So… here we are in the last day of tour with St Vincent in Austin, TX.  I’ll go on more… let’s just talk about Tennessee and Georgia first.

We played the Mercy Lounge in Nashville to a good sized crowd.  David Byrne (!) was in attendance, taking photos and being generally adorable.  I managed to get a handshake in and giggle like an idiot while I introduced myself.  We stayed with Caleb from It’s Hard to Find a Friend and his roommate.  They have a Qdoba in Nashville that’s open 24 HOURS!  Needless to say we were stoked – hey, decent food on the road is hard to come by.  You’ve got to take what you can get.

Next up was Knoxville at the Pilot Light.  While St Vincent went to play up at Bonaroo, we took our day off to play with Wil’s band Senryu.  Afterward, we stayed at Carly’s house – got 4am haircuts and learned how to make fart noises with a straw in our armpit.  These are what late nights are for.

Lexington, Nashville, Knoxville – oh my

I’ll have more to report here in the next couple days – the last few days have been a whirlwind.  Hot sweaty weather, heat lightning, David Byrne, Waffle House and some serious lack of sleep.  Oh!  Also, got a haircut from Wil’s friend Carly.  Here’s our press photo for our new folk band.  HA.