Hello! Now, why not pop the kettle on and let’s have a good old catch-up. Do you mind if I do most of the talking though? Great, I’ll carry on then…
As always, we’re not ones to sit around (unless in transit, which is most of the time), but even by our standards we’ve been pretty busy. To pick up where I left off – on a personal note – I spent half an hour in the presence of a Genius who was insistent that my computer had a software problem (despite the blatant aroma of Starbucks emanating from my track pad), before declaring that this particular conundrum was outside of his very specific field of genius. I fear this saga will no doubt drag on throughout the tour. I’m sure you’re as gripped as I am by my laptop drama, so I promise to keep you informed…
Anyway, I got back in time to watch The Who rocking the Superbowl. Fantastic, but obviously not a patch on Ashlee Simpson. We then played at the Living Room in Lower East Side (easiest commute to a gig we’ve ever had), which was great fun. It was recorded for Sirius XMU satellite channel, which will be broadcast soon.
We had a few more things around NY before ignoring all sensible advice and attempting to travel through Snowmageddon (not my words, CNN’s) to Cleveland. Needless to say, we failed after several hours and surrendered to mother nature, stopping for the night in the nearest hotel we could find. Sorry, Cleveland.
However, we did manage heroically to make it to Akron, Ohio the next day, just in time to have dinner at Chrissie Hynde’s vegan restaurant, Vegiterranean, which was awesome. The next day we enjoyed another lovely meal at Papa Joe’s, Akron, finishing off with a white chocolate pannacotta with port-poached figs and a chocolate stick; anyone who knows me will understand that this will remain the highlight of my tour.
In between the perpetual eating, we managed to squeeze in a performance for WAPS radio and a gig at the lovely Akron Art Museum for the subscribers of WAPS. It was a lovely theatre and a great audience, and we were able to project our animation, so we had a great time, despite me having strained my neck and consequently walking around like C3PO for a week after.
We then drove to Detroit for a gig at the Winter Blast festival, inside The Atrium at the Compuware Corporation. We were not sure what to expect, but after the fastest set-up and soundcheck ever, we were humbled by a large, enthusiastic and attentive crowd and had a really enjoyable gig.
Next up was a gig at Valentine’s Day in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Creation Café, followed by a little performance in San Francisco to KFOG radio competition winners – this was filmed and will be broadcast on the interweb soon. Both of which were lovely.
Next up was a first (and hopefully not the last) for us – a gig for the ladies of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, UC Berkeley (special thanks to Elise Delagnes). We don’t have this sorority/fraternity culture in the UK universities, and were made to feel very welcome as I was presented with an ice cream sundae upon arrival. I think this should happen at every gig, please.
I’m happy to report that today is the first day we’re able not only to feel our toes for the first time in a month, but are actually wearing t-shirts. The sun is setting in a blue pink haze to the right of the 5 South highway, heading down from San Francisco to San Diego, where we will play live on KPRI radio tomorrow (Feb 18th) at 2pm, before we guest DJ on KBZT Big Sonic Chill. Tune in for some Michael McDonald and the Grease megamix…
On the 19th we’re playing in San Diego on the main stage at the Sunset Sessions at 6.25pm.
After that, we’re looking forward to supporting Gomez on some of their tour dates, before playing on the Sunday of the Coachella festival, Indio, California. Apparently it’s quite hot…?
Before I sign off, we’d just like to thank you all for your support in braving the weather to come out to gigs and being generally lovely. Look forward to seeing more of you out and about over the next few weeks.
Cheers!
Adam