Disposable Beach Party

After the Boston gig, we had two days off in Salisbury Beach, which we spent with two of my wonderful friends from my Commonweal Theatre days. We also got to spend some time on Cape Cod with Angie's former Voice and Speech professor prior to our final gig.

I've never been that much of a beach girl. I like the idea of the beach, but it always seemed that once I got out there in the glare and the sand I wanted to escape fairly quickly. Now I think it's that I just never found the right beach. These Northeastern beaches with their quirky Americana filled beach towns were right up my alley. Salisbury was all pizza and corn dogs and the boardwalk, and the Cape had a quiet serenity that made me feel like I'd fallen into a Norman Rockwell painting, with a little of the longing and loneliness of a Hopper painting. Driving through from Sandwich to the gig in Truro, I said "It's like the entire place is the nice part of town."

I used a disposable camera when we went near the water, because it was just simpler. I didn't have to worry about theft or sand or water. Also, with a limited number of shots, I couldn't sit and click away until I got it right, I had to think more about what I was shooting. With no zoom or auto focus, you just make a wish and click.

With their light leaks and flaws, these remind me of family vacation photos before we went digital. In honor of that, I decided not to color correct or crop them. I know it's a little trite these days to get all nostalgic about film, but my childhood was captured on film, so it makes sense, especially added to the trapped in time essence surrounding most beach towns.


Salisbury Beach













Cape Cod

Tuesday Tunes: Live Lately

It's a given that there is live music somewhere in New York City every night of the week. Being of limited funds and time, it's impossible to actually go out every night, but we've managed to see a few sets worth talking about.

Last week I heard through the grapevine that the Spin Doctors were playing a free set at Rockwood Music Hall. They didn't bill the show under the band name, just their individual names. I'm assuming that was because Rockwood is a smaller venue, and they were just testing out some songs from their upcoming album. I'll be honest and admit that I haven't listened to the Spin Doctors in years, but I did own Pocket Full of Kryptonite once upon a time, and would listen to the entire album, not just the singles. I should buy it again, as it didn't survive the Great CD Case Pilfering of 2001.

We got in just in time to catch the last part of the Screaming Orphans' set.




They were stellar and made me wish we'd shown up a bit earlier. The band is comprised of the Diver sisters, who hail from County Donegal in Ireland. Their music is heavily influenced by their early exposure to traditional Irish music, but they also rock pretty hard. They also have some of the sweetest, soaring harmonies I've heard. Joan, the lead singer, is also the drummer, which ups the coolness ante considerably.


I never saw the Spin Doctors live in the 90s, so I had no idea what to expect from a live show. I was delighted to discover that Chris Barron is a highly entertaining showman. He's all over the place, jumping up and down one minute, then gaping in awe at Eric Schenkman's guitar god skills. They interspersed songs from their upcoming blues album with their hits, including "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and of course "Two Princes." The blues stuff was smoking hot. Much of it wasn't actually new, Chris admitted. They used to write blues songs in order to play at certain clubs in NYC when they were first starting out. I'm looking forward to it. Chris's voice does the blues exceptionally, and the whole band is so tight after more than twenty years together.



A lot of folks would write them off as washed up, but I still think they're livin' the dream. They made a bunch of money off of a hit record and then got to keep on making music without having to take day jobs. And no one died of a heroine overdose. Sounds pretty awesome to me.




Speaking of awesome, let's talk about Magic Monday at Tammany Hall. It's a weekly free show hosted by singer/songwriter/performance artist/Haus of Gaga member Breedlove. It's basically cabaret performed by a stringy haired dude in big glasses who wears things like denim jump suits with heels and sings with a beautiful glam rock voice. There is also audience participation. He is incredibly entertaining. Watch his video.



Magic Monday isn't just about Breedlove, though. There are also live bands. We went to catch Haley Bowery again, but also got introduced to the magic that is LA band Hammered Satin.

Just look at these guys.







Angie said it took her back to the days when the sexiest thing on her planet was Sebastian Bach. I agreed, though lead singer Noah Wallace has a bit of Robert Plant and Jagger in his moves as well.

The band has a definite sense of humor about their glam rock roots, but their over the top image is backed up by super tight power rock.
I got two words for you. Lonely. Tiger.



I have one more Monday left in New York, and I have a good feeling where I'll be.

In My Bags: Tour

This is definitely not a how-to, seeing as how this was my first time out on the road and I am far from an expert. However, I do think I did a decent job of packing lightly. I'm certain I can bring less on the Midwest leg.

This is what I had to take into consideration when packing:

1. We would be on the road for 2 1/2 weeks, travelling as far north as Salisbury, MA and as far south as Richmond, VA.
2. There was a total of four women travelling, and priority had to be given to the guitar, ukulele, keyboard and PA.
3. We weren't totally sure what type of car we'd get from Enterprise, we just knew it'd be a full sized sedan. We lucked out and got an Impala, which had a huge trunk.
4. Opportunities to do laundry existed, but time was a factor.


I ended up with three bags: a backpack for clothes, my laptop bag for electronics, and a tote bag as a purse/car bag.






My Kanken Backpack held all of my clothes as well as my zipper pouches. (One each for underwear/socks, makeup, toiletries, accessories.) I took two pairs of jeans--flare and skinny--two dresses, a trapeze style tank top, various t shirts and tank tops for layering, my swim suit, and a cardigan. I only took two pair of shoes: My Chucks and a pair of roll up ballet flats. The cardigan was essential for car rides and going in and out of air conditioned places.
Next leg, I think I'll be able to get by packing even less clothing, I mostly lived in the striped dress, especially once we got to the beach.



The laptop bag housed most of my electronics and their chargers, extra lenses, as well as my moleskine and book. The yellow zipper pouch held small items such as lens caps, extra memory cards and my iPad memory card adapter. I also kept my toothbrush in this bag so it would always be handy.



The red tote started out holding a dozen or so energy bars and nuts, but eventually became my catch all bag for the car and outings. I also kept my camera in there, which turned out to be a big mistake and resulted in a damaged lens. Lesson learned.
Most of the time, I kept my phone and two pouches in it. The smaller pouch carried my money, ID and cards. The larger one contained medication, lotion, my inhaler and lip balm. But at times it held everything from mic cables to beach towels.


While I'd like to cut down significantly on what I bring next time out, there are a few things that I found to be essential.

1. Zipper pouches. These are so great for organizing items within your bags. It made it so easy to find what I needed, since most of the time we weren't able to unpack and lived out of our bags.

2. Travel sized Febreze. No explanation needed.

3. Pre moistened face wipes. Good not only for taking off makeup when you're tired, but also for those mornings when the schedule is so tight that a shower is impossible.

4. Lots of plastic grocery bags for laundry and garbage.

5. White noise app on iPad. Many of the places we stayed either had a fan or one of those super loud and frosty hotel AC units, but some places were incredibly quiet. I usually sleep with a fan, so this app was a Godsend. I also used it on the train when I slept, but with ear buds in.

Hard to believe we'll be doing it all again in about six weeks. I feel more prepared, but the Midwest may end up being a whole new set of challenges.

Tuesday Tunes: Mic Check

Kelly Fragale was such an amazing addition to the tour, both as a guitarist and as a singer/songwriter in her own right. "Mic Check" is one of the songs she played during the longer sets. She was inspired by her experience with Occupy Wall Street.

I absolutely adore this song, from the melody to the message. The performance above was from the last show of the tour, at the Truro Public Library on Cape Cod. It was a beautiful day with an incredibly attentive audience. Definitely a fantastic way to close out the tour.

Tour is Over

We've been back in NYC since Saturday. Saturday itself was an insane day of driving into the sunrise, unpacking, rental car return, and even some apartment hunting for Angie. We're transitioning into post tour world, trying to keep up the momentum and not give into exhaustion. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be in the city, so we're playing it by ear.

I learned so much on tour, about myself, and Angie, the wonderful kindness of other people. I saw five new states and experienced a part of America that I've never had the opportunity to explore. I look back on it, and it seems like it lasted a year, but also about five minutes.

There's still lots of video and photos from tour to go through and lots to talk about. Angie did update her blog with a recap of the second gig, in the cutest town ever, Angelica, NY.

There's much more to come, so stay tuned!

So this one time...

The day after the first show, we had to drive back to New York to drop Kelly off and pick up Ashlie. It was a long morning of driving, then a long afternoon of figuring out logistics, since Ashlie was still in the process of moving. By the time we were ready to head out of the city again, it was rush hour. On a Friday in summer when everyone's goal is to get the hell out of the city. We ended up stuck in traffic again, this time waiting to go through the Holland Tunnel. It was frustrating, but Angie reminded us that at least this time we got to sit in traffic in Chinatown and people watch instead of just watching the litter and the concrete dividers on an on ramp.

We kept joking about running out to grab some food as soon as we saw a place. Unfortunately the stretch of Canal Street that we were gridlocked on was mostly populated by jewelry stores.

Then we spotted the $1 pizza place. There's only one thing better than New York pizza, and that's $1 New York pizza. Ashlie volunteered to run and get it. We thought about it for a minute then decided what the hell.


Of course, as soon as Ashlie disappeared inside the store, that traffic sped up alarmingly. Luckily, it slowed to a crawl again right as we got to the last intersection before the restaurant. And out comes Ashlie, just walking across Canal holding her score up like a lioness coming back with a kill for her pride. Or at least that's how it seemed at the time.



It took two hours, but we made it through the tunnel and onto the open road. While we were stuck, that moment went a long way toward breaking the tension and frustration of sitting in traffic. Until then we had been fighting an experience that we couldn't change, instead of making the most of it. It was one of those moments that made an inconvenience worth it. If I want to make one of these girls laugh, I can just say, "Hey, remember that one time when Ashlie got us pizza in the middle of rush hour traffic?"

Over at Angie's

Today I posted over at Angie's blog with some photos I took of her right before her Angelica, New York gig. She's wearing a beautiful crocheted top from softspoken. Check it out!

Tuesday Tunes: Rehearsing Everywhere

When Angie and I first started planning this tour, we hooked up with a touring partner who not only had a car, but also was able to accompany Angie on guitar. Angie plays the ukulele, but she has a chronic nerve pain condition that prevents her from being able to play the guitar. In order to get the full sound she wants, she prefers a guitarist even at acoustic shows.

About a month before the beginning of tour, our touring partner had to back out. So there we were with no car and no guitar and no touring partner. What to do? Well, the first thing Angie did was send out a blast to all of her musician friends to see if anyone was available. We were pretty nervous, because at such short notice, it was going to be an uphill battle to find musicians that could learn Angie's music quickly, were available for the dates, and didn't mind literally playing for their suppers on this tour.

We were so fortunate to find Kelly Fragale, an immensely talented singer-songwriter, and Ashlie Lauren Smith, an equally talented singer and pianist. Not only were they excited about joining the tour, but both were willing to do so even though it started right when they were moving out of the city.

Angie has all of her chords, lyrics and mp3s on Dropbox for easy access by all of her band members, so she shared the folder and started syncing schedules. We only had a chance for a couple of rehearsals in the city, so most of the rehearsing has taken place on the road. These ladies have been so outstanding in being able to pick up the music and create a solid show. Angie's chemistry with both artists has been so strong that you'd think they'd been playing together for months instead of weeks. It's been a joy to witness the process.