Back in Mpls...

Music: none
Book: Taltos - Anne Rice

I'll just take it day by day for anyone who cares...

Atlanta - arrived at said venue and all was dark, doors were locked. Headed across the street to Miss Q's gay bar and pool house for a drink with Todd the friendly bartender who kept calling the other venue wondering why they weren't open. Nice guy to help us out like that huh? Chadly and I had some delightful conversations but finally decided to cut our loses almost 2 hours past arrival time. As we were leaving...the Red Light opened. Pissed and happy at the same time we played our set, competed for the evening and won the M.U.S.I.C. night competition. Couldn't wait to leave Atlanta though.

Birmingham - WOW! Gorgeous city and even better people. Moonlight Music Cafe could be one of the coolest listening rooms I've ever played...or been to for that matter. We had an attentive audience, sold a bunch of CDs and heard another interesting musician from Florida named Eric Himan - check him out if he's in your town. "Outskirts of you" is a beautiful song. I would recommend this town and this venue to ANY traveling musician or poet or wine lover, person, kind soul. etc. THANK YOU KEITH!

The Carolinas - my advice to you is maybe investing in some street lights, but other than that, you have a lovely state(s). Charlotte was great at the Evening Muse BUT we checked into a hotel, keyed the lock and found the room already occupied, we switched rooms only to have the plumbing not work and finally, turned down the covers to find stained sheets. Bye bye hotel, we left Charlotte immediately following the set at Evening Muse.

Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham - great fun, great cities. I fought against Greg Brown and Buddy Miller for the folk crowds and lost but enough of you came out to listen that we were pleased with the stops. Temple Ball was cool, but not our scene, the Open Eye was delightful. We even had an encore!!!! Chadly found a fabulous restaurant called the Mad Hatter in Durham so we feasted on organic veggies, killer onion rings and sinful desserts. I even scored a Nina Simone CD find in a tiny music store off Main Street. Another great band to check out is North Carolina's Parklife.

Now back to Alabama.

Opelika - Probably the most segregated community I have ever encountered. 8th and Rail was a great venue and filled with people...most of whom didn't know there was a music show happening on stage. The surprise of the evening was a "Deming" crowd in the front row who came to check me out and find out if we were all related. Oddly enough, our grandparents probably both came from Dubuque Iowa. Cool random event. Atlanta is not my favorite place to visit...it could be my favorite place to leave. And I was quite happy to land safe and sound in the Twin Cities. My pets were ecstatic at my homecoming and Mr. Manager appeared pleased as well *smile*

Thanks to those of you who came out to see me and my new friends in the south. Chadly survived traveling with me I think and hopefully I'll head back sometime soon.

I am so tired my eyes burn.

Sniffles

Music: Sinead O'Connor
Book: I'm bookless!!!!

I need to pick up some reading materials from the library before my plane leaves. I caught a cold this week and have been injesting fluids at a frightening pace to cure myself in record time. I'm not feeling quite as wretched as I did on Tuesday or even on Wednesday for that matter BUT my head feels like it weighs a ton. And it's currently full of snot. Ugh. Blasted germs. Well, I'm still looking forward to singing in new territories next week. Please come out and see a show if you can make it...

Mr. Manager will be taking care of Sweets and Miss Kitty while I'm away. I know it's sick but I hope they all miss me greatly *smirk*

Weird weekend

Music: Sinead O'Connor
Book: Lolita in Tehran

Went to see a boxing match at Rivercenter on Friday night and apparently the promoter died of a heart attack in the lobby before anything even began. Strange. The boxing was interested from afar and way too graphic up close. I enjoyed the fight from the back of the auditorium. The snow was lovely all weekend and I slept a lot. I ended the weekend with a fashion show of sorts at a friend's house in St. Paul. Weird huh? I have a short attention span as of late. Who knew. Chadly and I leave for our southern tour this weekend and I'm very excited and yet a little apprehensive. I'm thinking I might just miss Minneapolis.

no reason

Music: Peter Gabriel
Book: The Mummy - Anne Rice

Flipping freezing outside this morning. Reading books, writing songs and walking the doggie. All in all, a good way to pass the time. Very sleepy today though...

huh

Music: Peter Gabriel
Book: The Mummy - Anne Rice

Dismall day out, weird snowy fog stuff. Lovely to me though. Interesting show at the BLB last night...not much more to say than that, except that Chadly was on FIRE with his percussion magic.

I saw several movies this week, Eulogy - which was so funny I almost wet my pants ( dark humor though - just to warn you) and Shall We Dance, actually warm and enjoyable. I love watching ballroom dancing. I think I just let a skeleton out of my closet, but I'm okay with that *smile* Happy Valentine's Day. Mr. Manager is taking me ice skating this evening...I haven't done that since I was 8 years old. Hope I don't break anything...

Gigging

Music: none
Book: Sense of Evil - Kay Hooper

Played First Ave last night for Pastor Paul's showcase charity event. Many, many people there just like last year, but the sound was a little off. It's always fun to play the main stage but I feel bad when things are rushed and out of my control (musically speaking of course). I finished reading "pope joan" - great historical fiction, plus I've been fascinated by the legend since the first mention of a supposed female pope. Plans are finalized for heading south at the end of the month. I'm truly looking forward to hitting the carolinas and alabama, atlanta etc...

I MUST get back to songwriting! I've been so frustrated with my inability to finish all these songs I started over the winter. Nora Roberts (romance writer) says, "I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one" Maybe I need to take that approach and just start finishing songs and then I'll go back to re-work them later.

Valentine's day approaches and I have no gift for my honey...what to do? what to do? Any ideas?

It's the Coffee Hag in Mankato on Friday night and Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis on Sunday night - please come out to share the music with me and Chadly *smiles*

Horrible Me

Music: Book on Tape - State of Fear
Book: Pope Joan - Donna Woolfolk Cross

It's been forever since I've written in my journal. I just can't seem to get the hang of it in 2005. So far this year, shows have been amazing! In Detroit, I got to share the stage with Annie Capps and her husband Rod - who could be the finest guitar player alive. Then I traveled to Cleveland, well Lakewood actually, where I caught up with some fellow Kyle Vincent fans and picked up a copy of his latest CD.

The songwriter night at Winchester was a humbling and invigorating experience. Anne E Dechant was on fire with social angst which was breath-taking to behold. I was more than a bit overwhelmed sitting next to her, but I probably got the best seat in the house *smile*. Ever since she and I played a show at Uncommon Ground in Chicago I've been a big fan of her music, especially her songwriting. But this time, she blew me away with a new creation called "Second Class Citizen" Brilliant song with heart-wrenching poetry. I can't wait until it's recorded because I'm going to buy several copies and distribute them to everyone I now. Another great aspect of the night was hearing Randy Holfax. Amazing songwriter without a CD, but he's working on it. He hails from around Kent State and if you get a chance, please, please, please, check him out!

In random news, we rented the movie Cellular last night and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I love it when a movie you've never even heard of takes you by surprise.