Return of the pink tie. Showcase felt relaxed, took some pictures of the crowd. Hung with Ben Franklin AND Santa Claus. Did not get my RDA of Swiftkick but hopefully we’ll catch up in Valley Forge. Sang “Mrs. Robinson” at the Illegal Showcase with Del Suggs and Kijana Wiseman. Played harmonica with Maxxtone and Rebecca Loebe. Did some dancing during a mighty, mighty jam by Hooked On Tonics and Chris Cauley, including P-funk, Digital Underground, Stevie Wonder, Ginuwine, and pretty much every funk, r&b and rap jam of the last thirty years…
Met a whole bunch of new folks and caught up with some veterans of years past. I’d be more specific but there were like a hundred twenty schools. Met some very nice military folks. Oh yes, and there were multiple tornadoes in downtown Atlanta, and I had lunch with folks from Bossier Parish, Louisiana in the food court of the mall, under a glass ceiling. While the tornado was in the area. But that’s where Subway was, and I HAD to use those free coupons I got a couple weeks ago at KDEC in Iowa.
By popular demand, here is the ninja ducky that was thrown at me onstage at College of DuPage a few weeks ago.
I spent a few hours tonight figuring out the Jeff Buckley song “So Real,” listening, sifting through bad tabs and bad to ok youtube videos, consulting the man himself in Live In Chicago, and arrived at some voicings that sound and look just about right, and man oh man. To make those sounds happen under your own hands. It’s like tapping into a vein, or building a fire. There were little sparks, and I shielded them from the wind, and blew gently, and then by God it was there. And the song just doesn’t ever stop. It can’t stop, it just burns up everything you give it. It’s a horror movie and the best kiss.
I’m just not used to driving in Iowa. The hills roll so slowly, it’s unnerving, like being in a dream where you can’t outrun someone chasing you. It’s been all lunchtime shows, and after each show I drive to the next town. On Monday I was driving west at sunset and took a bunch of pictures with my cell phone. I need a real camera. You could do a great photo series on old barns off the state roads in Iowa.
I ate three pieces of pizza at Giordano’s in Chicago and had trouble bending over to get back in my car.
While I was onstage in Glen Ellyn IL, two College of DuPage guys threw me a stick of cherry chapstick and a rubber ducky dressed like a ninja. It was a squeaky rubber ducky, but the squeaker was disabled. Because it was a ninja, and ninjas are SILENT.
As a footnote, I should probably mention that I returned their chapstick, since the seal was broken. I’m not going down the way Robert Johnson did. The ghost of Sonny Boy Williamson knocked the chapstick from my hand and said, “Man, don’t you ever use a chapstick that’s been opened!” I swallowed my pride and took his advice.
In Newton, Iowa, two female fans suggested they might get Hedgepig tattooed on their body for real. They had lots of tattoos already and they seemed relatively serious.
In Calmar, Iowa, it was a lunchtime show, but they cleared out tables and danced for my last few songs.
I did a short interview and some live songs for KDEC 100.5 FM in Decorah, Iowa this afternoon, and they gave me free Subway coupons. After the free rubber ducky and the used chapstick, I am telling you, the perques in this business just keep adding up.
Last night was a Monday. I played at the Pirate Underground, in the basement of the student union at East Carolina University, to the sounds of people playing pool and ping-pong. Before the show, me and the Student Union ladies moved something like forty armchairs by hand to make a comfy, inviting seating area in front of the stage. It was a workout. We’re all basically 0% body fat now.
It’s scary to play quiet songs. I have this thing in my head that tells me I have to rock out non-stop for an entire set in order not to put people to sleep, but the truth is, no sober audience WANTS to rock continuously. I didn’t run breathalizers on anyone in the armchairs, but the sense I got was that they were content with the amount of rocking they were treated to, and enjoyed the story songs and quiet stuff, too.
I can’t vouch for sobriety or enjoyment among the dudes playing pool. That’s hard to tell sometimes. Still, nobody whacked me with a pool cue. And during “Tainted Love,” they even gave me a CLAP CLAP at the beginning of each line, without prompting. Pretty good for a Monday night :)
On Tuesday, we got up before the crack of dawn to hear Kidd Kraddick In The Morning play Taylor’s latest studio demo on the air. The show is carried on something like 70 stations and Taylor’s Myspace page instantly got thousands of hits. Pretty awesome.
That afternoon I drove out to Ruston, Louisiana and played a show in The Tonk at Louisiana Tech University. No one knew why it was called “The Tonk.” One theory was that it used to be a honky tonk. I like to think it was the site of Louisiana’s historic 1937 Tonka Truck Rally.
Lots of smiling faces and friendly people, plus I had a stage, a couple lights, and a loud sound system, so I was a happy solo acoustic rock star.
Afterwards some students from Grambling invited me to play at an event at their school a couple days later, but I had to take a rain check due to previous commitments. But I’d love to come back another time, if you’re reading this, Grambling :)
Got back to Dallas at about 2 AM and went right to sleep. Got up (relatively) early the next day and flew home to see Daniel Lee play a Chapel Hill show I set up for him. Another late night and another story entirely.
I got home from Virginia on Friday, put fresh socks in my suitcase and headed back out on Saturday to play in Texas. My winning streak of delay-free air travel was broken by ice issues in Dallas, and I ended up missing my Austin show with Taylor Davis and Bryan Dunn.
Which was a bummer, but I headed down to Austin the next day anyway and just visited a bit. My brother introduced me to Veggie Heaven, which was truly amazing. The food was cheap and delicious and I had iced “bubble tea” with pearls of tapioca root in it.
On Monday I returned to Dallas and played Opening Bell Coffee with Becky Middleton, Jackson Edwards, Chase Gassaway, and Jaimee Harris. The tortilla soup was awesome. The music was good too. And my friend Alex from the band Tripp told his parents about the show and they came and stayed to the end, which was truly impressive for a Monday night. Kudos to the Wilkins family. And to the other performers on the bill. And to Cafe Brazil or wherever it was where we got crepes afterwards. Is this a music or a food blog? Sorry.
At Shepherd today, it was inspiring to see random people go from “hmmph, french fries again…” to “let’s boogie!” and spontaneously dance in the lunchroom during my set. I was, however, utterly unprepared for the free-teddy-bear feeding frenzy that ensued afterwards and barely escaped with my life.
Punchiness arrived full-force at the day’s second show. James Madison University witnessed the emergence of “Tad Dreis, pseudo-philosophical music trivia monologist,” and his alter-ego “Sniffles, the sentimental balladeer,” who eventually strapped himself onto the sled and pushed over the edge of “This Slope Closed Due to Rocking” and did a few flips. Par for the course at a late-night Valentine’s show.
Ryan Villanueva played before me at JMU and was solid as a rock. A really chill, funky rock with a bluegrassy bounce on looper astroturf.
Footnote: no travel difficulties! What’s the big deal with that, you ask? We should discuss “Tad’s 2007 Valentine’s Day Massacre” another time.
Next up: the drive home, then Texas and Louisiana.
Two Valentine’s Day shows this Thursday!
11 AM - Shepherdstown WV - Shepherd University
8 PM - Harrisonburg VA - James Madison University
See you!
xoxo
Tad
