My two days at home are up and I’m off to the great upstate of New York to seek my fortune. I leave behind memories of laundry and a lovely little show at Whole Foods in Chapel Hill where I met a woman who saw me accidentally eat a moth onstage several years ago. I’d forgotten what exactly happened and she was able to fill in the details I had blanked out. Also, hello to the DSI improv wonderkids who came out on a rainy night to see me. Now I gotta pack some longjohns and get ready to hit the road. APCA Northeast, here I come!
Just arrived in Iowa. It is cold. Some of the corn fields on the way in were still standing, long past harvest season. I feel sorry for the corn that doesn’t ever ripen and get eaten. Makes me feel like an emo farmer.
Tomorrow I’m putting on a warm coat and heading up to Coralville, Iowa for APCA Midwest. I’m showcasing Monday afternoon. If you’re going to be there, we should make a pilgrimage as a group to the terrifying Ronald MacDonald statue carved out of a stump. I don’t want to visit it alone.
If you’ve driven south from Charlotte on 85, you’ve probably seen the giant peach. That’s where I’m going first. I’m heading down to play at Limestone College tonight at 9 pm, then I’ll be driving back up to the mountains of Western North Carolina for a show at Lees-McRae College at 9 pm tomorrow. Then it’s off to Iowa on Sunday. I’ll let you know how it all goes. Talk to you later, Internet!
The cc flickr image above is from jimmywayne22.
Have a look at my Shows page for the full picture, but let’s start by saying that my tour map is a little nutty this November. Next week, I’m playing just over the border in South Carolina, then in the NC mountains. The week after, I’m going out to Iowa to play an APCA showcase and book college shows in the Midwest. The next week, I’m doing the same thing near Syracuse, NY, booking shows in the Northeast, and playing a show near Pittsburgh on the way back. Then I get to go home and eat a whole bunch of turkey. Life is food! Oops, I meant “good.”
The general store in Pittsboro NC has it all. A performance space with a huge mural? Check. Giant, painted umbrellas? Check. Normally, I’m happy with just a mural, or just a half-dozen giant umbrellas, but this time I guess I got lucky.
For this show on 10/18/08, I was joined by Alex Van Gils on electric upright bass and Charles Cleaver on keyboards. The sound system took some figuring out, but it ended up sounding fine and the dinner crowd stuck around after we played to hear Jeff Crawford and Nick Jaeger play the late set. We all got amazing dinners out of the deal, too. Sweet potato and jerk chicken burritos, mmm.
As a footnote, former North Carolina senator and presidential candidate John Edwards was there having dinner and he bought one of my CDs and gave us a thumbs up. If any eagle-eye photographers caught that moment, let me know.
The usual host is on the road with Tripp right now and asked me to fill in for him tonight, so let it be known that the signup sheet will go out at 9:45 and music will start at 10. Drink specials include $2.50 pints, if I recall. There had been a little back and forth about having the open mic every other week, but they’ve brought it back to a regular thing that happens every Tuesday. Mark the calendars. See you tonight!
This Thursday I’ll be dabbing suave behind my ears and singing at Six Plates Wine Bar in Durham NC. Then on Saturday, I’m playing an acoustic band show at the Pittsboro General Store Cafe, in their Blackbird Bar. Jeff Crawford is also on Saturday’s bill, playing songs from his first CD plus sneak previews of tunes from his upcoming release “Love Is The New Hip.” My set will be a mix of old and new, but mostly new, actually. See you there!
Normally when I play outdoors, I just stand in the sun and have to slather on sunscreen and drink tons of water, but today the Holly Springs Farmers Market actually provided a tent. How’s that for taking care of the artist? By the end of the day, my “CD Seller” self-serve merch display had done its job and moved a few discs, and I got tipped a bucketful of dollars and a cookie.
This farmers market seemed to have more craftspeople than farmers, so I didn’t get the usual van load of produce, but it was really ok. I’m kind of up to my neck in peppers and tomatoes right now from last Thursday.
Next on the schedule is Six Plates in Durham on Oct 16 and then the band show at the Pittsboro General Store on Oct 18.
I’m always surprised at how hard it is to coordinate my band’s schedules for rehearsals. Can’t imagine leading a band with more than four people. The Polyphonic Spree must have mad texting skills. 
Yesterday, I returned to play at the farmers market in Pittsboro NC, and this Saturday morning I’ll be making my debut at the Holly Springs Farmers Market from ten to noon. It’s always nice to get some fresh air and a carload of produce, plus I just got a nifty new merch display called The CD Seller and fingers crossed, I’ll use it to clear out some discs from my downstairs closet, aka “The Warehouse.”
As a footnote, yesterday was also Day 2 of mixing the new record at the Mockin’ Bird Recording Co. It’s coming along, and will probably smell like incense.
