PORTLAND, OR - The Towne Lounge

Our first show of the tour was at lil’ joint in Portland called the Town Lounge. We played with our tour partner Rachel Robinson and a soloist from New Zealand called Bachelorette.

We ran into a few technical difficulties. A broken string before the show, followed by a lack of direct boxes for acoustic guitars, then followed by a pickup literally going dead in the middle of the set. If there was a way to make my drums spontaneously explode towards the end of the set, I would have done it just to add to the rising pile on-stage technical problems. Somehow the audience didn’t seem to mind, and we got a great response inspite of our technical issues.

The after party was a trip to a 24 hour diner called the Roxy. We have to thank our good friend and touring companion Michelle Chapman for providing us with a local cast of characters as the evening’s traveling party.

One of the things I remember most about the diner is a disturbing, warhol-like, multi-colored,portait of Quentin Tarentino that hung on the wall. The Tarentino painting seemed to be watching me as I ate my hash browns and would not let me eat in peace. I had to completely turn my body away from his stare to enjoy my late night snack.

Other than that, I really liked the place, and the company we were in. It was a fun little night out and about in Portland.


EUGENE, OR - Luckey’s

The next day on the road was tough for me. I had come down with terrible cold that gave me headaches, and drained me of energy. All I wanted to do was lie down and sleep, then I could wake up and be rid of the bad dream (and bad health) I was in.

Before leaving Portland, Courtney and I went back downtown to buy a much-needed new pick up for her guitar. Then we got on I-5 and headed down to Eugene, OR to visit my cousin David, his wife Catharine, and their two small kids, Eitan and Zev. We had planned on staying at David’s while in Eugene, and I was looking forward to some catch up.

However, I could barely keep myself upright, let alone hold a decent conversation at David’s house, so I took nap while Courtney and little 2 year old Eitan played together.

The Scene at Luckey’s was low key. It was the first Saturday night during spring break. You can imagine the quiet that can come over a college town. It was a mellow night for us, but there were a few locals at Luckeys who liked what they heard, and let us know after the show. I had a brief burst of energy to chat with the locals, but moments later, I could just barely pack up drums and pack up the car, without falling over on my face.

SEATTLE, WA -Tractor Tavern


My cold lingered on the next day as we made the 4 hour drive up to Seattle. Lead-foot Courtney was at the wheel and we made good time. We had a chance to stop in, and visit hosts Tyesha and Chad. The show was at The Tractor Tavern and we shared the bill with two local bands, Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden, and The Birthdays. We’d heard good things about the Tractor Tavern before going there. Truth be told, it was our favorite venue out of all 3 Northwestern shows.

Our show was a lot of fun. We were playing on Easter Sunday and it was hard to resist doing something festive to celebrate the holiday, so Courtney and I arranged to have an egg hunt in the bar. Michelle Chapman’s Mom, Linda Chapman was kind enough to provide us with plastic eggs, baskets, fake grass, chocolate eggs, and some peeps.

We made the announcement about the Easter egg hunt after our first two songs. It was the first time we ever asked the audience to NOT watch us and do something else. Immediately, we saw audience members scatter around the room to look for eggs. Courtney hid eggs all over the club. And she hid one ‘special egg,’ that contained a KaiserCartel button. Whoever found the special egg, would win a free cd.

The audience was great. Jeff Poteet, our friend from Gibson, was among the people in the crowd. It was amazing to play a responsive, energetic crowd. I felt like we had found a new home away from home @ the Tractor Tavern. In addition, I was feeling a bit better on stage, and a little less-sick than the night before.
Was I finally over my cold?

We had a great time at SXSW. It was a bit of a whirlwind. We took the early flight out of NYC at 5:40am...yes musicians up at that hour is a crime! But it was actually nice because there was no one on the road or at the airport. We could tell already while we were in line, that we weren't the only ones on our way to Austin. I think NYC was taking over the festival this year. We had a layover in Houston, and more musians were on the second leg. I was waiting for someone to break out into song on the airplane.

We got to Austin and had to immediatly take layers off. The weather was beautiful and sunny. We checked into the hotel and headed out to our first show at Threadgills which was a September Gurl party. We played with great bands; Romantica, Steve Paltz, and Samantha Murphy to name a few. We were there for most of the night and then headed home.

The second day we started the day with a short set at the Soup Kitchen. I had never played for a homeless audience. It was a very emotional experience for both of us. They really loved it and we will do it again. Upon finishing, we walked around and saw other people play as well as did some thrifting on S. Congress street. We had dinner with our friend Ryan from Kanagroo Press (amazing screen printer) and with one of our managers, Patrice Fehlen at Magnolia. Great place to eat!! Then we headed off to Trophy's for a two song set in a GoGirls showcase. Right after we played, we busted out of there to try to make it into The Parish where our label mate Cary Brothers and other friends were playing on the Hotel Cafe Tour bill. But, we couldn't get in. You had to have a lamenated pass as well as your wrist band which was pretty jive considering that the SXSW folks only give each band one pass. We ended up going into the Raveonettes show instead. Then we headed over to the Greenroom showcase and saw a great band named the Bedroom Walls. Love them...after that it was sleepy time.

The third day, we went to the Spin party to get our passes and busked outside the place. Direct TV with Rachel Perry (VH1) bumped into us and asked us some quiestions as well as filmed some songs. They had been covering bands playing on the street for the past few days. Then we went into the Spin party. It was 90 degrees outside and we got really hot, so we went back to the hotel to relax before our big bluhammock showcase at the Hilton Garden. The showcase was great! The sound was amazing and we really enjoyed playing with all the other bands on the label. It is a nice thing when you like all the label's choices;) We especially loved Kristoffer and his band. What kickass music, and people! It makes us want to jump on a plane to Sweden right now.

The fourth day and last day was crazy! We played a bluhammock party at the Iron Cactus and got to see our label team and the other artists again. The label had brunch for everyone which was really nice. Then we decided to head back to the other side of town and busk for new members of The Crayons (our stuffed animals that we bring with us). We were given a few new members which you will see very soon. We had lunch at a little place over their with some friends and Lucinda Williams happened to be eating lunch there too. We introduced ourselves. She was super nice! Finally, our last show at the Cock Pit! What a crazy place. The sound man was nice and the place was interesting. By that time we were super tired, so we had a very long dinner and I called it a night. Benjamin went out and saw Ting Ting who we are playing with tonight and some other people. We slept for about 3 hours tops and got on the 5:40am flight back to NYC....with the same people as our flight on the way in! It was a great time and we will look forward to going back next year.