The show at Marsh Woodwinds was an absolute blast. Playing alongside Greg is always amazing- he's so tasteful & creative, just one of the best musicians I've ever known. Hanging out for a weekend with him & Maura & Halle would've been awesome enough on its own, but to get to play a show during the visit was icing on the cake.
 
Greg's bandmates in The Fidgets came over around 2pm on the day of the show and set up in Greg's living room for a quick rehearsal. I was happy to finally put faces to the names I've heard so much about, and they were all so friendly and warm- great musicians & great people. I listened to them rehearse some of their tunes, just soaking in the sound... man, I wish more bands would play music like this! Solid, college rock- without sounding dated at all. Just cool new music.
 
When I stepped out to the kitchen to talk with Maura for a minute, the guitar riff from "Blood on the Statehouse" came wafting out of the living room. The Fidgets had gotten the recording & learned it for the show! I caught a bit of the run-through on video, here. I have to say, hearing that was totally surreal...
 
After rehearsal, we loaded up the gear & headed over to Marsh Woodwinds in a big caravan of cars. It's strange after playing solo for so long to sorta feel like you're in a band again.
 
Marsh Woodwinds- what a crazy-fun venue! I wish I'd taken a picture of the tiger-print blanket covering the entryway, as it totally sums up the mood for the place. Rodney, the owner, has all these bizarre/eclectic objects d'art (such as leather-covered, life-size black panther behind the drumset) placed throughout- along with a bunch of beautiful, vintage instruments that he makes available to any performers who want to use them. I played a Hammond B3 organ during the Fidgets' tunes- holy fucking awesome, batman! That thing was beef. Wow. I was afraid to turn it up too loud because the Leslie speaker was right behind my head (plus I'd only learned the tunes that afternoon), but Rodney was all "crank it up, girl!! it's your big chance to be LOUD!" He was a trip- totally supportive of music & just a really nice guy.
 
I played a few tunes solo-acoustic, then Greg joined me for a few before Greg Henshaw (Fidgets bassist) rocked out with us on "Now." Chip Meyers (guitar) totally nailed the atmosphere on "Awakening" before Eddie Mills (guitar) joined us all to close my set with "Blood on the Statehouse." I love playing with a band and I think the guys had fun playing some new tunes, too. We decided to tour together & play on each others' songs because it's just too damn much fun.
 
I'm back in Massachusetts now, working on a plan for the coming months. My life is a little chaotic at the moment- some rather major changes underway (including moving to a new place)- but things will settle down soon. I'm gearing up to record the new tunes in August and tour in the Fall. I'll keep you posted as we go...

I'm on the road... Actually, I was on the road yesterday and tonight I'm at my friends Greg (drummer man extraordinaire) & Maura's house in North Carolina!
 
I loaded up the truck with gear & merch and drove 15.5 hours yesterday from MA to Raleigh. It shouldn't have taken that long but there was a tractor-trailer rollover somewhere in Pennsylvania & traffic was stopped (literally a parking lot) for miles. Thousands of cars sitting on the pavement in 100 degree heat. That sucked. After I took another road to cut around all that mess, a HUGE thunderstorm slowed things down again- it was raining so hard you couldn't even see out the windshield- nothing but grey- and some hail mixed in.
 
BUT, it was all worth it just to get here & visit with some of my favorite people and definitely my favorite drummer in the whole wide world... We're playing a gig tomorrow night at a place called Marsh Woodwinds. It's a music store whose owner is just totally supportive of music and has this great little living-room-like space upstairs in the store for performances. He puts out a nice spread of refreshments for the audience before the show & creates a cool atmosphere. We're totally psyched to play together again, especially after running through some tunes this morning after coffee- it's just so cool to wake up & play music- and the parts Greg is working up for the new tunes sound amazing... I'm also probably driving everyone nuts playing the piano all the time, but it's been so long since I've had access to a REAL piano (not the digital yuckies) that I'm completely smitten. Drums, guitar & piano all in the living room. MY kinda house!! 
 
Okay, that's all for now- will update tomorrow after the show.
 
 

It's thundering and sort of half-raining out right now. Every once in a while the shower gathers strength and rains down with more gusto... but then, just as quickly retreats to a soft shower again.

It seems to mirror my life at the moment. I've been moving in fits & starts these days, disjointed & disorganized- sometimes full of energy & optimism & hope, then just as quickly, lost at sea. Always, there's the rumbling of thunder to remind me that the threat of a storm is real.

It's been ages since I've posted anything in here- can't seem to find the time to write when there's so much to do! I have a gig tonight in Turners Falls, MA- looking forward to sharing another show with my friend Heather Maloney! I should be changing strings & putting the gear together but I needed to just relax for a minute, so I thought I'd try to squeeze in a quick update...
 
When Heather played here in town, they crashed at my place & we spent a couple hours just jamming out all these crazy cover tunes at one in the morning. Too much fun- and we'll probably be pulling a couple of them out tonight, just for a laugh! (and trust me, they're pretty funny- NOTHING like you'd ever hear either one of us playing on our original stuff).
 
Last night, Dave Fitzgibbons (from the Rafters) and I shared a show in Cambridge at the MIT pub- we had a lot of fun playing more goofy cover songs as well as performing the originals live-to-air on WMBR. (They had some technical difficulties so as it turned out, only Dave's set made it to air but that's good enough for me!)
 
I have some new tunes that I'm dying to record but there's been no time for that yet. In addition to all the music work & gigs all over the map, I've been taking care of some family medical stuff. On top of that, my damn truck is STILL acting up (seems like the symptoms change daily!) so I have to take care of that, too. In fact, Dave & I started out for Cambridge last night in my truck but after getting on the highway, it was obvious that something was wrong & we had to turn around to go back for his car. Poor guy- I ask him to share a show & he ends up having to drive!! D'oh.
 
Keep an eye on the SHOWS page & I hope to see you 'oot & aboot!" I'll be recording those tunes soon & will be giving away some free mp3s to the mailing list, so if you're not on it, sign up. Tell your friends, too!
 
Question for you:
Would you rather download music or have a physical CD, or both? I'm debating what to do with the next batch of songs, leaning towards making a 4-5 song EP but I'm not sure about having discs manufactured... It's up to you all!
 
Email me your thoughts on the CONTACT page. (one of these days, I'll set up a blog with comments & you won't have to email!)
 
Thanks in advance!

I'm stuck at home until Monday without a vehicle. My truck's in the shop having a wheel bearing replaced along with a bunch of parts in the exhaust system (one of the drawbacks of living off the dirt road from hell is that your car takes a beating every time you leave or return home). Hopefully it'll pass inspection when that's all done.
 
I'm trying not to think about the cost for all this and instead focus on finishing some of the songs I've been working on lately. I'm not really sure what to make of my carefree attitude these days- it's almost like I've stepped outside myself to observe someone else living my life. It's weird. This is the sort of thing that should make me at least slightly stressed- or send me scrambling for a plan to make up the expenses- but I'm not stressed or worried at all. It's completely irrational but I'm totally at ease, with an overwhelming assuredness that everything will work itself out. Try as I might, I just can't seem to get worked up about it. Who the fuck is this giddy, grinning idiot and what have you done with my responsible, semi-intelligent self? I'm so happy these days, it's scary...
 
So being stuck at home, as I mentioned, I'm trying to finish off some songs for the upcoming shows in March & April. The goal is to have about six or seven new tunes this spring- and definitely at least one or two ready for the March 5th show.
 
Ever notice how each part of the process seems like the hardest part? Coming up with the idea is torture... until you've got the ideas for the first & last verse... then coming up with a way to get from the first to last verse is the hardest thing in the world... I keep taking breaks (to write a blog & procrastinate any which way possible). Here's a good procrastination destination:
 
PomplamooseMusic
 
I love these guys- they're the bomb! Love the videos & their strange little takes on some well-known songs (check out the Beyonce cover, haha!).  Their originals are awesome, too.
 
Okay, back to that middle verse.