TOUR DIARY #4

After waking up late and eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we made the rest of our drive to College Park, Maryland. It was short and sweet, and we had time before the show to check out a piano store and a used CD warehouse. The no-name CDs we purchased turned out to royally suck, but it was fun to hope.

College Perk coffee house reminded me a lot of 37 Main in Buford, GA - a haven for thirty-somethings still young at heart. We watched a lineup of acoustic acts pour their hearts out about relationships, politics, and pop songs. During the course of the evening we met a lot of really energetic people. This place was packed with music lovers, thats for sure. We got to play a long set, and I was able to invite Patrick up on stage to play one of his songs as a duet with me. The crowd seemed to love everything!

Afterwards, the three of us ordered the s'mores platter: a miniature flaming grill with marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. We even shared it with some Australians who'd never seen anything like it. Awesome. Next thing we knew, it was time to pack up and hit the road again.

We drove as far as we could that night, sleeping half the way and somehow landing at a Motel 6 in God-knows where and sharing a king sized bed. It wasn't half bad.

When morning hit, we took to the highway once again, passing through the beautiful rolling hills of Virginia on our way to Graffiti Music Hall in Arden, NC. We finally arrived, barely sane, and were allowed to play first! This was awesome 'cause Arden is only 3 hours from my home, which meant we'd be able to make it back to Flowery Branch that night.

After IHOP with our new friend Chris and his mom, we headed out on the home stretch of our journey. Conversations revolved around the supernatural, and we scared ourselves back into our home state. We were welcomed home by my pajama-clad mom, who fed us some croissants and sent us off to bed.

Despite the amount of time we'd spent on the road, the three of us stayed up till 5 AM watching scary videos on YouTube and reminiscing.

And here I am now, sitting in my bedroom. Patrick's dad came and got him a few hours ago and we said our goodbyes, as we always have and always must.

Post-Tour Anxiety/Depression Syndrome is a bitch, but I think I'll get over it.

So here's to long drives, eating Airborne like candy, IHOP in Hickory, "going to Nashville and cutting a record", 24, Mike Doyle, the impossible shower, whitecaps on the ocean, freezing cold, huge boots, layering, raspy voices, finally "seeing Connecticut," the G train, the A train, the L train, the million Starbucks in times square, video taping in the subways, walking 15 miles, playing for the bartender, Union Square, "regular slices", BAYSTON, losing our GPS, finding the best view of New York, laughing at everything, secrets, swank hotels, Cracker Barrel, granola, "huge fucking beds", being a princess, the sun in the appalachians, 0 meilen bis leer, The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon, cursing in Christian venues, orange juice parties, ghosts, love, and music.

TOUR DIARY #3

We arrived in snowy Boston on the afternoon of Thursday, Dec 20, and met up with Patrick Canaday, who some of you might recognize from the production of tracks such as "What I Need." He's often referred to as "my guy up in Boston who mixes my tracks." It's always great to see old friends! We settled into his cozy apartment and jammed around on guitars for the next few hours, something which we hadn't really had the chance to do in a while. Hours passed, his girlfriend Angela joined the group, and we all went out for sushi before the show. Unfortunately, sans Garmin Sandiego, we got lost in Boston (RHYME). Through the snow, and the ice, and the crazy roads, and the crazy drivers, we had a little trouble seeing the street signs and reaching our destination, but we did finally make it in time to play the show.

The venue? TJ Scallywaggle's, a vegan pizza place with no stage and a small square footage. It was cool, though! We were somehow able to set up in a corner of the room (maybe...3.5' x 3.5'?) and get it done. Patrick opened the night with a few of his new songs plus Angela on the melodica. The audience demanded an encore, and a questionable older gentleman named "Skelly" loudly expressed his excitement.

AJ and I were up next (headliners?) and we played the usual, and even though the space was tight, we were still able to move about in a pretty normal way.

Afterwards, the owner presented us with a free pizza. We sang some pop songs, visited the basement, chatted with a squatter, and went on our merry way, back to Patrick's apartment, where we partied like rock stars and passed out on the futon. Fucking glamour.

The next morning, Patrick went to class while me and AJ deliberated on our next move, ultimately deciding to leave that day to get a head start and split up the 7 hour drive to College Park for Saturday's show. Patrick was more than happy to adhere to our schedule (did I mention he's riding back to Georgia with us?) and we departed from Boston around 3:30. Our duo had become a trio, and the adventures really began.

We got stuck in traffic, listened to some incredible music, ate some fast food, and took a few wrong turns in New York City that turned out to be very right. And now I'm waking up in a hotel room in East Windsor, New Jersey. Fifteen minutes till check out. See you in Maryland!

"Maybe it's a good thing we got lost. We would've missed that view."

TOUR DIARY #2

*note, when I get home, I am going to add pictures to this probably.

WHOA

THE PAST FEW DAYS HAVE BEEN CRAZY! So, I'm going to try and recap it all!

Sunday 12/16:
We left Seamonster's house early and headed to Philadelphia. The drive was easy and we got in town around 5 or so. We met Chrissy and her friend Nora and ate candied squash and stew in their apartment, before heading out to do a couple touristy things. They both reminded me a lot of Athens. In fact, Philadelphia was a lot like Athens except bigger, and the houses were all connected! I walked into that apartment and it felt like I'd walked into a friend's house on Church street, or something!

Anyway, bro and I walked around downtown Philly and checked out the liberty bell, ate at a Burger King, and headed back to the show. UNFORTUNATELY, the address had been changed! We didn't figure this out until only hours before and were unable to make the necessary changes online to get the word out. The result: some of you missed the show. I'm so sorry about this. I swear I'll be back in Philadelphia and it won't happen again. Anyway, the show got switched to the ATM house. We basically played straight acoustic in a living room for a bunch of friends. It was a great atmosphere and we made some friends and heard some really nice music. We also reunited with our friend Darren Deicide, who we met this summer on our mini-tour up the midwest.

At 11:00 we got back in the car and headed to Guilford, CT, where we arrived at my friend Morgan's house at 3am after almost running out of gas and/or falling asleep at the wheel. We were greeted with warm couches and blankets and pillows, and awoke in the morning to coffee and eggs with cheese.

Monday 12/17:
Morgan's mom drove us to the train station in New Haven, where we boarded and headed into New York City! Neither of us had been here before, so it was quite an incredible trip. I can't possibly go through all the details, so here's a list of everything that happened that day:

- Got off the train and met up with our friend Joy
- Headed to Joy's apartment at Pratt
- Dropped off our stuff
- Headed back out with guitars to play at the Port Authority
- Met up with the wonderful Rosie Siman and her friend Sarah
- Set up and played our subway show at 4:00pm
- Ditched our guitars at Rosie's friend Marissa's place
- Went back to Joy's to put on our night clothes
- Met up with Rosie
- Ate dinner at S'Mac (specializes in mac n cheese)
- Went over to Terra, a blues bar Joy's friend Gabriel owns
- Got a free round of drinks
- Spilled a cosmo on my cell phone
- Interviewed some random New Yorkers
- Took a cab home
- Fell asleep like lightning

The show at The Port Authority was really fun. We were amplified, so it was kind of like we were playing a show for a million New Yorkers (KIND OF....) True, many of them were old semi-homeless guys who probably just wanted to do me...but we made some gas money which was nice! Dinner was delicious, S'Mac has the best Macaroni and Cheese you'll ever eat. And hanging out at Terra was the best. I kind of felt like Holden Caulfield. Getting home was great too. It was a long day and it was nice to sleep.

Tuesday 12/18:
- Woke up
- Ate breakfast at Mike's near Pratt
- Headed into Times Square, marveled at the millions of Starbucks
- Got a Chai Latte in a real New York Starbucks
- Met up with Rosie, checked out the company she works for, Translation, while AJ and Joy went skating in the park
- Joy went to work
- Took the train/walked to Chelsea to check out the Banksy exhibit
- Went back to Times Square, bought some touristy stuff
- Chilled with some of Rosie's coworkers O'Lunney's
- Left and went out for a sushi dinner at Azuki
- High-tailed it back to Marissa's apartment to grab our guitars
- Walked as fast as we could to Arlene's Grocery
- Played the show, met some friends
- Went to Union Square to try and meet up with Joy
- She got off late, so we busked (played for money) in Union Square
- Made 10 bucks for gas money in a half our. Score!
- Warmed up in a pizza place, ate a "regular slice"
- Watched Rosie yell at a homeless dude who tried to get our money
- Met up with Joy
- Took a cab home
- Fell asleep like lightning

The highlights of my day were definitely the show at Arlene's and seeing Translation. I don't know if you guys know this, but I have two passions in life: music and graphic design. If music doesn't work out, I'd like to work in an ad firm in the city. Seeing Translation made me more excited about that side of my life. I really hope I get to work somewhere like that someday. You know, if I'm not a rock star! Haha. Big dreams, big dreams...really though - either of those career directions would make me the happiest person on the planet.

Arlene's Grocery was great. I kind of felt like I was a character in Guitar Hero. Picture a grungy club in the city with a great sound system and a tough crowd. I loved it. By the end of the day though, I was pretty tired and almost losing my voice. But, someone told me I should keep singing too much 'cause they like the raspiness. Good to hear.

Wednesday 12/19
We woke up a little late, ate breakfast at the Pratt Coffee Shop, and boarded a train back to New Haven. We got here at 2pm, tired and a little cranky, and realized we'd forgotten our GPS in the city. It was a catastrophe, I cried and felt like a complete screw up. We had to MapQuest our way to The Space in Hamden. It told us to turn onto a one way street. We got lost. But hey! We eventually made it, and The Space was awesome. My sadness wore off as I got acclimated to the environment. Plus, Joy called and told me she found the GPS in her lingerie drawer and would overnight it to Boston so we'd have it for the rest of the tour. All hope was not lost! We played the show really well, and made a ton of new friends! I even met some people who went to the Savannah College of Art & Design in GA. Everyone is connected. Overall the turnout was awesome, and I love The Space! I sure hope I get to play there again. Happy Birthday Kevin Devine.

After the show we went to a real diner with Morgan and her friend Sarah - The Parthenon in Branford, CT. Eggs benedict. Tell me what you think about THAT. I fell asleep on the ride home, we saw a ton of deer, and I can't really type anymore because I should probably be sleeping. But the tour just keeps getting better and better. Tomorrow we head out to Boston!

TOUR DIARY #1

WINTER WONDERTOUR BLOG 1
I'm currently in the home of Seamonster, aka Todd, who we played with tonight at Volume CDs. He sounds SO similar to Neutral Milk Hotel, it's ridiculous. AND he has the most awesome house I've ever seen. He's got tons of stuff, but it's all perfect. There's a TV fireplace in the corner, a foosball table, and a framed photo of Kiefer Sutherland (in honor of 24) just to name a few things. Expect a tour on the video we're gonna make.

We got to Volume CDs today at around 6pm, right on time. We got a little held up in the morning at Cracker Barrel with Dylan Gilbert, but it's all good! Any time spent with Dylan is time well spent.

Speaking of him, our show last night in Hickory, NC at Tee & Coffee Co. was awesome! Hickory is a great town to start a tour off with. I love everyone who lives there! We played with two really great bands too: Dear Cavalier and Linus Van Pelt. And of course, we were followed by Dylan, who put on an amazing show, as usual. Afterwards, we all went out to IHOP and got an extremely long table - I think it's become a tradition! I met some great people who I can't wait to see again. We'll be back to Hickory soon!

Unfortunately, we soon realized that we had left our camera charger at Tee & Coffee Co. so we won't have any photos from the tour!!! At least not until we get ourselves some disposables. But, we will have lots of video footage.

Anyway, last night we stayed in Dylan Gilbert's house and finally got to see "where the magic happens" (as they say). We rolled in at 3am and were greeted by walls covered in pictures documenting the life of Dylan, courtesy of his parents, who were sleeping upstairs. When we woke up the next morning at 8:30 we took showers and got ready to hit the road, but not without first seeing Dylan's home studio in the basement. Imagine the coolest vintage one-room studio you could possibly imagine. There were more guitars in there than I could count. And I got to play his THEREMIN!! Holy god. That was fun.

Then it was Cracker Barrel time. A game of checkers, a long wait, an egg sandwich, and a ton of biscuits later, we hit the road for real. We had to make one Wal-Mart run halfway through the trip, but we successfully got in and out with no trouble. Thank god for the $0.97 travel aisle!

As said before, we got to Volume CDs at 6pm and set up to play the show. The crowd was minimal but ALL awesome people! We made some new friends and formed a conga line around the store (which was awkward but wonderful). Afterwards we hit up Taco Bell like demons, and followed our GPS (Garmin Sandiego) to Todd's house, where we watched two episodes of 24 with him and his roommates. We learned about Mike Doyle jokes (MIKE DOYLE: THE PERFECT STORM) and found out that Todd is not only a great musician, but a really talented cartoonist who draws for Nick magazine and has his own books!.

And, here I am now!

Tomorrow we head to Philadelphia to play at The Palindrome.

That's it. More tomorrow, or the next time I have internet!

Pancakes + Wireless Internet = Heaven

I'm in IHOP right now. Yeah, that's right. The INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES. With my COMPUTER. It seems that wireless internet is popping up everywhere, making it really easy for tech geeks like me to have fun anywhere, and giving regular people (like my friends) new places to get their study on.

Today was the best day of my life. The reason? My new Garmin Nuvi 200.



This thing kicks ass. I programmed it as soon I got in the car outside of Best Buy. It took all of 3 minutes to have up and running and ready to direct me back to my house. The display is nice and bright, and the voice is pretty damn loud, so I can hear it over my music. Okay, but the BEST PART IS it's got the ability to find places for me based on category!!

Say I was looking for food. And I wanted that food to be Barbeque. My Garmin will give me a list of all the barbeque places in the area, along with phone numbers! It does this for everything, and by everything I mean food, lodging, transit, banks, attractions, shopping, etc.

I'M IN LOVE.

Anyway, I better get back to this stack of pancakes. Here's a picture of Caroline's reaction to Chris March's departure from Project Runway.