March 5, 2012

A lot has happened since August…although nothing has happened at all with this website! I’m not so good at keeping up with these things, but after premiering a second music video yesterday for “Already Gone” off my debut album Little Bird, I became inspired to re-visit my site. So I wanted to share the videos I’ve worked on in the past many months. A student and friend who lived in my home town of Fairfield, IA (he recently moved to Los Angeles) approached me about doing a cover of The National’s “Bloodbuzz Ohio” and doing a video as well. After recording it on his Mac at the University in town, we worked on shooting the video. It was my first time doing one and I really had a blast. Wade is an extremely talented guy and he made it completely easy. So I’ll be posting two videos below, one of “Bloodbuzz Ohio” and another that we premiered yesterday “Already Gone” from my album. I hope you all enjoy the videos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 8

 

A beautiful video made by Wade Travis Koch for Spirituality Magazine featuring my song “Already Gone” from Little Bird. I had no idea what to expect from it, but it’s really touching and beautifully done.

 

 

 

 

 

July 11

 

 

HOME. After a somewhat uncomfortable nights sleep in our own bed, Nate and I have emptied out the van and are getting back into the swing of things.  I was given some wonderful advice by Lauryn Shapter (of Truck Stop Souvenir) before we went on tour: Don’t go in with any expectations. So I tried my best to follow and it truly was great advice. If I had listened to the thoughts in the back of my head, they would be saying “you’re going to fall apart, you can’t do this, you’re not going to be able to be in a car with three other people, etc etc…” I have to say I held up pretty well. I am someone who stays home most weekend nights, LOVES my bed, LOVES my home, and loves structure and organization. I love people, but in general I love people at a distance. I don’t like to be around people constantly. With all this said, though, I had a fantastic time on this tour. I had no idea what to expect from it, so I tried my best to go with the flow and it went something like this:

Our first show was in Ames last Saturday the 2nd of July. Nate and I had kind of a stressful day getting everything ready and packed and were not completely on the best of terms when we hopped in the van with Julia and Casper to drive towards Ames. But we both agreed that it wouldn’t be fair to our bandmates if we spent the whole time being pissed at each other. We had a pretty relazing first show at The Stomping Grounds. We played outside for the people eating dinner and I’d say it was a good first show. I had no idea what a cool city Ames is…for some reason I never realized Iowa State was there and I thought it was a small town.  We stayed the night at someones house we met at the show. His name was Jordan- completely sweet guy, has the purest foods in his kitchen cupboards, and one of the most gorgeous faces I’ve ever seen.  The next day Nate and Jordan made pancakes for us as we showered and got ready to hit the road. We headed out to Northfield, Minnesota to spend the next two nights. It’s a really cute little town about an hour outside of Minneapolis. Perfect tree lined streets, beautiful houses, and a cute downtown area. We got into town and parked the van next to a wooded area so we could stretch our legs and take a walk. We ended up playing at a little bar that night. I’m not sure bars are my thing, but we sold CD’s and there was a group of people about my age playing cards that really seemed to enjoy it. One of the girls was getting married and asked if I did weddings. I suppose I could I noticed that show in particular made me realize that I can’t take the faces people make, when I play music, to heart. If anyone scruntches their nose or looks like they’re not enjoying it I usually get down hearted and think that I suck, but I know that that really is not going to help me. It’s a good thing for me to remind myself while I’m performing that I’m doing something I love and not everyone has to like it. The next night we played a backyard party for the 4th. The SWEETEST and cutest family I’ve ever seen invited us in and let us play some tunes in their backyard. I had a lot of problems with my guitar that night and our contact in Northfield (who helped us get the gigs) drove to pick up a guitar at a friends house for me to play- the people we met on this tour were just the nicest. It wasn’t my strongest night, but once again I took it as a learning experience. Casper and Julia did some originals that night that sounded awesome. And I think Casper was the hit of the night…I heard him say some seriously hysterical things (the things that come out of his mouth…) So our host in Northfield knew a guy in Minneapolis that could do some work on my guitar if it needed and we got his info since we were headed to Minneapolis the next two days. We took the guitar in and it just needed to be cleaned which was a huge relief and only cost me ten bucks. We drove around a bit the rest of the day and had our first band fight, which was pretty not exciting, but probably had to happen. And after that was settled we drove to the Acadia Cafe (in Minneapolis) and hung around. Simon Brooks (of Fairfield) just so happened to be there because his friends were playing that same night before us. They played a short set, and then his other friend played a set by himself. The guy plays violin by himself, but uses looping and all this other cool stuff and it sounded insane! He improved a lot of it and I was quite impressed. We ended up playing our set to three people- our host Victoria and her friend Stephen who we found out played drums with We Are The Willows in Fairfield a while ago, and the sound guy. I was a little bummed afterward because I felt like I couldn’t figure out why everything sounded so off on stage. It’s so different from what other people are hearing and I can’t seem to get used to it. It’s also a bummer when you’re playing a show and a bunch of people get up and leave, but c’est la vie.  We drove back to Victoria’s awesome house and met her roomies and little dog, Owa (ADORABLE) and crashed on her couches for the night. We spent the next day tutting around Minneapolis and then played at Victoria’s house that night. I think that was probably my favorite show. She and her friends played some covers first and then we went on. It was really comfortable and I felt like people were enjoying it and it was an all around good night.  Stephen even ended up playing some drums for my set (well one drum) and it was nice to hear it with my music, it for sure adds something. The rest of the night was spent listening to a bunch of people play different songs and I really enjoyed myself and that is how I rang in my birthday- my 25th birthday. Unfortunately we had to wake up that morning super early to load up the van and head out to Wisconsin. Julia and I fawned over Owa one last time and we hit the road. Actually we ate breakfast first and I bought myself a birthday cupcake that turned out to be not so yummy and then we hit the road.

Our show that night was in Appleton, Wisconsin at a place called The Patti Mayonnaise. It was a house and they have house shows about once a month. We were about 30 minutes away when I let Tyler know that we would be there soon. I felt really awful because I slept most of the car ride and was so out of it that I gave him little warning that we were coming. They were super sweet though, they had a card for me and decorated the house with Happy Birthday signs. Tyler lives with his girl friend Trisha and one other room mate. They’re trying to do a thing like the Beauty Shop where it’s a no substance venue where young people can go to enjoy music and I really appreciate that a lot. In general I feel more comfortable playing music when I know people aren’t walking around stoned and drunk and I think more towns need these people that want to give young people a place to go and listen to music without alcohol and drugs floating around. After we played our set, Trisha made a bit of a speech letting everyone know that it was probably the last show at their house because everyone is showing up and not paying the cover charge. She got teary eyed and it made me kind of sad because she’s trying to do something important and it felt like not enough people cared. They weren’t  paying the cover charge for the touring bands, but then you’d see them outside smoking cigarettes and it seemed like it was bringing her down. I hope people took what she said to heart and understand that they could have something awesome there. Music in my opinion far outweighs anything smoking cigarettes, or drinking and or doing drugs could ever give you. It’s everlasting and can make an impact. After the show they presented me with a mini cake for my birthday! I couldn’t eat any because I wasn’t feeling so great and I wanted to be able to enjoy it, so instead Nate and I hit the sack while everyone else went out for a while. It was good to get some sleep that night, my body was definitely needing it. The next morning Trisha and Tyler made us an amazing breakfast of crepes with fruit and basically anything you could ever want on a crepe. Once again, awesome hosts! Tyler, unfortunately, had to go to work, but Trisha took us around to do some shopping and get lunch.  Later in the afternoon we headed to Oshkosh (about 30 minutes away). Our band mate Andy that wasn’t able to come on tour, grew up in Oshkosh and his mom still lives there. We pulled up to a gorgeous house that sits right on the lake. They fed us and we had to leave right after to go load in at New Moon Cafe. The place was pretty dead when we got there so we figured it would be a nice relaxing night. We played a good show and hung around to talk for a while and then realized we had real beds to sleep in that night at Andy’s moms house, so we packed up the van and slept a good nights sleep. The next morning was my favorite of the whole trip. We swam in the lake and Casper and I took out the kayaks. It was so nice to be in the water and out in the sun. I know now that I want a lake house. Just putting that out there. Casper got stuck in a pink floaty and I have some fantastic footage of Julia and Nate trying to get him out of it. Pictures to be posted soon. That afternoon we drove back to Appleton to meet up with Trisha and Tyler and some of their friends at an awesome brewery. I think it was called Stone Cellar Tavern. We drank some good beer and and had a nice relaxing  last day of tour. We were supposed to play a show in Milwaukee that night, but it ended up falling through for various reasons so we ended up driving to Madison and staying the night there. Julia’s parents have a friend there who was gracious enough to let us stay in her home.

We had a pretty giggly night falling asleep and woke up to another giggly morning. I was happy to know that were would be home that night sleeping in our own beds, but I was also happy about what we accomplished. We had many nights of technical difficulties and we had some nights of differing opinions, but we got through it and sold CD’s at every show. For a first tour I think we did a great job. I know I could not have done it without Nate and Julia and Casper. Going into it I thought I’d probably break down about every other day, but I’m proud to say that I did not cry once on this trip. I held it together and experienced something I never thought I could do. I have a long way to go, but I think I took a good first step and it’s nice to know that there are people out there listening to my music. Even if it’s only a few, it’s still something.

 

July 15

 

Oh my oh my…Adele is stunning in every sense of the word.

 

 

June 29

Not too much time has passed since the CD release party and we are gearing up to go on a small Midwest tour. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m excited and while, of course, I say yes I am completely nervous and a bit terrified. It seems silly to be nervous about a ten day tour of the Kind Hearted Midwest, but I am. Most who know me know that I spend a lot of time at home and prefer a quiet night at home to going out. So I am putting myself to test, but I can’t help but think I am putting the rest of my band to test. I hope they don’t walk away from the experience thinking I’m a more of a nutcase than I really . I think they know me well enough now to know that I am a total nutcase, but a nutcase with a good heart and the best intentions. I’m nervous to be without my hair dryer. I’m nervous to play shows for people that don’t know me (basically that means people who do not live in the  supportive community we call Fairfield and I call home), I’m nervous people won’t understand who it is I am and what I’m trying to do. But I suppose that as we get closer to leaving, the excitement grows. I’ll be spending my 25th birthday on the road and I was told by a coworker that your 25th birthday is the day you are truly an adult and your brain is fully developed. She told me to make some very special wishes and spend the day doing something that makes me happy as a clam. I don’t think I could spend this birthday doing something better than playing music with two good friends and the person I want to spend my life with.  Sorting out my feelings right here is making the nervousness lessen and it’s a reminder again of what writing can do for ones soul. Whether it is writing music or just writing for the sake of it, I know what it is I want to spend my time doing.  And just a side not, I realize that most of what I write has little organization to it, which I hope does not turn people off from reading what I write.  So for the sake of keeping you from clicking the x in the top right of your screens, I’ll give some details about this tour.

We’ll be kicking off the tour by playing a show at The Beauty Shop in Fairfield on Friday night at 8:30. This just happens to be art walk so there will be some art up in the front of The BS to check out. We’ll head out on Saturday to have our first out of town show in Ames at The Stomping Grounds and then the next two days we’ll have off as we move on up to Minneapolis. We’ll have two shows on the 5th and 6th and then we’ll be off to Wisconsin to finish up the tour there. We’re playing in Appleton on my birthday (7th), Oshkosh on the 8th, we’ll have a night off on the 9th and then our last show will be held at The Laundry Chute in Milwaukee. Then home to the Fairest of Fields and then HARRY POTTER on the 15th. And boy do I love Harry Potter.

I am so looking forward this trip and kind of can’t believe we’re doing it. I still don’t know how I came to be performing my own music. I always thought it would be cool when I was growing up, but didn’t think I would be doing it. And here I am. Granted I am not making waves, but I am happier than I was when I wasn’t doing this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUNE 14

 

I am so thrilled to say that my CD release concert/party was packed full of wonderful people that said they truly enjoyed the night. What a joy it is playing music in this town and what a great way to kick off my new album. We definitely started off with some issues… Friday the CD’s arrived at my doorstep and I could not WAIT  to open them, but to my surprise the track order on the backs of them were in the wrong order. HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE??? We checked over the proofs that were sent to us from Discmakers and made sure everything was correct, but alas we did not look hard enough. In the scheme of things it really isn’t a big deal and I’m just hoping that one day maybe possibly they will be a collectors item There are only 300 of them, so folks let me know if you want the one of a kind in the wrong order copy of Little Bird…just kidding. But seriously let me know. As we were setting up for the show, we realized we may not have enough mics and it was getting to be pretty complicated. People were beginning to fill in  quickly and here we were up on stage checking the sound and, of course, me not playing with a pick makes everything that much more complicated because no one in my band can hear me in the monitors. I was getting  nervous and had the feeling that I might burst into tears. Julia took the stage to open and her first song did, in fact, make me cry…but I didn’t let anyone see that.

When we took the stage we fiddled with the sound a bit more and then just went ahead and played hoping for the best. We opened the set with “I cried” which also made me cry. I looked into the audience and saw two of my aunts, that were visiting from out of town, already in tears and it made me choke up a little. This has been such an emotional roller coaster and I think part of the tears were coming from the relief, but most of them were coming from that fact that Ben (my brother) has not been here for any of this. What has made me the saddest since his passing is just knowing that we won’t get to experience this part of our lives together.  I do, however, take comfort in making this music and writing my songs because everything I write is for him and about him. I’ve only begun processing what my family has gone through since he died eight years ago and I have no idea where I would be without songwriting and just writing in general.  So thank you music and thank you pencil and paper. And thank you Ben for leaving me with something other than a completely broken heart.

 

 

JUNE 7

SONDHEIM SUCCESS

 

 

 

Last Saturdays show for The Beauty Shop compilation CD was a great success! There is so much talent in this town- it always blows me away. I have to say my favorite part of the night had to have been Surgery and Lane Weaver. AMAZING. Check out the Bandcamp site for the CD- digital download is only $5! And  seriously you will not be disappointed, there is something for everyone. I feel so blessed to live in this town and to be surrounded by young people that are creative and down to earth and really just play music and make music because they enjoy it. I LOVE YOU FAIRFIELD!!!